D&D 5E What Makes 5E "5E"?

[Charlaquin]

I think for any given feature of 5e, I could imagine a 5e clone that lacked that feature and still felt like 5e. But obviously if you remove too many such features, it will no longer feel like 5e. No individual feature is wholly responsible for the 5e feel; rather, the feel is a product of 5e’s gestalt of features, all making small contributions.

That said, I do think a few features do have particularly strong impact on the 5e gestalt. In particular, the relatively small range of modifiers (i.e. “bounded accuracy”) and use of advantage and disadvantage in place of situational modifiers plays a huge role.

 

[Smackpixi]

5e is the English of RPGs. Not only is it the most common, but I feel like it does pretty much have the ability to convey just about anything, with some work, borrowing from others. Like English, I think it’s complicated, with all the books both official and 3rd party, but not complex like very formal or tonal languages, like RPGs with fewer books, but more contingencies in everyday encounters. Even with little skill in it, meaning can still be conveyed, but with mastery, great depth and detail can also be conveyed. While it can’t say everything well, it can roughly get pretty close with additions. Inelegant, but robust. Functions with dumb brute force, flowers with more understanding.

 

[Iosue]

I was just looking through an old, unfinished Let's Read I did of the D&D Next playtest, and I would say the following were throughlines for the whole of the playtest:

-d20+modifiers vs. DC, with Advantage/Disadvantage
-Bounded accuracy
-"Chunking" of character generation, and in a wider sense, of complexity

To explain the last, while the implementation was different at various stages of the playtest, there was always an attempt to contain complexity by divying up lower-order choices among higher order choices. For example, instead of making players choose all their skills and equipment a la carte, or putting all a character's skill choices in the class basket, acquisition of skills and equipment was divided between Background and Class. Likewise, class complexity was split between the class and the subclasses, as well as by level. It seems to me that every clone of 5e likewise follows this design philosophy. Implementation of specific components may differ, but the basic chassis of Background/Class/Subclass is always there.

In the greater sense, complexity in 5e is always "opt-in." Choose whether you want to use feats. Choose whether you want to use a battle-grid. Choose whether you want to include tactical options such as marking and flanking. Choose whether you want to play a simple, straightforward character, or a more complex, optimized character; there may be differences between the two, but they are within acceptable tolerances. And this is again reflected in 5e-derived games, where you can strip it down to the minimum to get Shadowdark, or turn it up to get Level Up.

There is one last thing that was NOT present through most of the playtest, but ended up being the glue that held 5e together.
-Proficiency bonus. It seems so obvious now, but throughout D&D's history, and indeed throughout the playtest, there have always been varied bonuses of varied scales for different characters, for different aspects of the game (e.g., combat vs. skills vs. saves). Combined with bounded accuracy, this +2 to +6 over 20 levels provided an elegant unification of bonuses for all characters and aspects of the game, while still providing for distinct differences in abilities/skills.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Advantage/Disadvantage
Bounded Accuracy
Concentration
But what distinguishes it from say 3e (along with the above) is the simpler combat system. 3.x. has more fiddly bits in combat, IMO.

I can change 5e to use a skill points system like 3.x, it will still be 5e.
I can change 3.x to use Concentration or Advantage/Disadvantage for certain modifiers, but the rest of combat can be quite complex and thus will remain 3.x.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I've always believed 5e is just 3e on a diet, plus Concentration and rampant abuse of the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic.

 

[Steampunkette]

5e is just D&D as it exists, now.

It represents a lot of material tested over the course of decades. Some of the problems (like the Rogue Skill Table) have been winnowed away. Some of the more positive mechanics (like multiple attacks for fighters) have been codified. And a whole pantload of sacred cows have been solidified over the course of the same time, even if those sacred cows cause massive amounts of problems.

When 6e launches it will be one of two things. Either 5.99e or something bizarre and strange that attempts a big swing before they quickly throw out 7e which is closer to 5e than 6e but takes any kind of mechanical upgrades people liked about 6e to move forward in a slightly different manner.

It's why D&D24 cleaves as close to 5e as possible.

 

[TwoSix]

I think it’s the bounded accuracy, non-stacking bonuses, concentration and the advantage/disadvantage mechanic that stand out as the differentiators to me.

Agreed. The obvious "D&Disms" like classes and levels make it D&D-like.

The distinctiveness of the 5e engine is primarily the collapse of all numerical level bonuses into a single "proficiency" bonus, and having other features turn that bonus on or off for specific subsets of rolls.

The other main distinctive feature is collapsing most bonus features into a single on/off grant. You can generally only gain a d20 roll bonus once (via advantage). A character can generally only have 1 magical bonus running at a time (via concentration). You can gain multiple action economy grants, but only generally leverage one per round (via bonus action).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Constant complaining how it is destroying D&D over and over again.

Other than that:

• Advantage/disadvantage
• Class based system
• easy to use
• beginner friendly
• interesting to build characters using multiclass
• easy to prepare and run combats
• narrative first
• fun to play
• balanced game

 

[Reynard]

What about the conflict between short and long rest classes?

The super hero power levels?

A design that has to cater to different groups with conflicting ideals on TTRPG play?

And design by survey??

What about them? This thread is for you to talk about what YOU think makes 5E 5E.

 

[payn]

5e is just D&D as it exists, now.

It represents a lot of material tested over the course of decades. Some of the problems (like the Rogue Skill Table) have been winnowed away. Some of the more positive mechanics (like multiple attacks for fighters) have been codified. And a whole pantload of sacred cows have been solidified over the course of the same time, even if those sacred cows cause massive amounts of problems.

When 6e launches it will be one of two things. Either 5.99e or something bizarre and strange that attempts a big swing before they quickly throw out 7e which is closer to 5e than 6e but takes any kind of mechanical upgrades people liked about 6e to move forward in a slightly different manner.

It's why D&D24 cleaves as close to 5e as possible.

5.99e will be here in like 30 years.