D&D 5E Which 5e Should I Propose to My Group?

[overgeeked]

Cons: I've repeatedly run into issues with encounter balance, poorly designed enemies

You could use the encounter design guidelines from 5E Revised. They kick things up a notch. Give it a bit and Blog of Holding will have a MM on a Business Card post up. Between those you’d be off to the races.

little guidance about awarding treasure.

No real help there.

My players complain that there's not enough combat options

Steal liberally from all the other 5E’s out there. Port in classes, races, spells, subclasses, etc. If Asian-themed stuff is at all of interest, check out the L5R D&D 5E book. There’s lots of extra combat stuff in there.

and that play is boring.

This might be down to how unchallenging the game is by default. Fix the monsters and encounter design and it might be more entertaining.

 

[Corinnguard]

Yes, I guess that would help. I also have access to the Gateway from being a KS backer.

I also have access to the Gateway from being a KS backer. Still getting use to this freebie.

 

[LordEntrails]

Sounds to me like it's time to totally change genres. If you stick with D&D and all the spin offs, you are going to keep having the same problems. i.e. oh but this one does that better. This one is better than that one, but...

Jump to something like Fallout, Cyberpunk, FrontierSpace, or Cthulu. The farther from D&D, the more room to breath and the fewer the expectations and comparisons will be.

 

[Charlaquin]

My group has been bouncing from system to system for over a year now, not finding anything that really suits us. A player suggested we go back to "everyone's second favorite system" in an attempt to find stability.
My issue is that there are now varieties in that system. Which do I pick to suggest to the players?

Based on that story? 2014 5e. No question. It sounds like your group is fatigued from trying alternatives and not finding one they can all agree on, and that fatigue has left them craving familiarity. Something they all know, and they can all be confident they’ll like, even if it wouldn’t be their first choice. You’re not going to get that from Level Up, or Tales of the Valiant, or even 2024 5e, because none of those are “everyone’s second favorite system.” They’re all built on the same foundation, sure, but they all take their own liberties with it, in hopes of standing out in their own ways, so that they might become someone’s first-favorite system. And that’s just not what it sounds like your group needs right now. They need boring, familiar, safe, reliable old 2014 5e. For now, at least. Maybe once you’ve gotten back to a place of stability, you might consider venturing out to one of the newer 5e variants. But don’t try to jump right to that. Take it slow, stick to the stuff you know.

( stick to the status quo )

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Traveller. Sounds to me the whole lot of you are bored of D&D in all it’s variants and rip-offs.

The rules don't matter, it's the same old generic fantasy monster bashing that gets old after a while.

 

[billd91]

For the most part, you can settle on multiple answers here. What version the players use and which version the DM uses can be independently decided.

If the Level Up crunch is too much for your players, have them use ToV or 2014 or one of the others. (I own the ToV Monster Vault and I like it and will be using it in my ongoing 5E play by post game any second now.)

If you want your monsters to have more heft, ToV, Level Up or Flee, Mortals should take care of that for you. Note that you will occasionally need the 2014 Monster Manual still to fill in some of the gaps for IP monsters, which are not always 100% replaced by other critters in these monster books.

So what is your preferred level of crunch? And what's your players' preferred level?

I'm with Whizbang on this - mix and match to taste. If you like the treasure/rewards and monsters bit from Level-Up, use them. They're DM facing in their use and administration and you can eyeball and adjust where things seem to clash with the 5e that your players are using for their side of the screen. And if they complain that there aren't enough combat options or that play is boring, tell them to step up to the plate and run their own campaign.

 

[TwoSix]

Based on that story? 2014 5e. No question. It sounds like your group is fatigued from trying alternatives and not finding one they can all agree on, and that fatigue has left them craving familiarity. Something they all know, and they can all be confident they’ll like, even if it wouldn’t be their first choice. You’re not going to get that from Level Up, or Tales of the Valiant, or even 2024 5e, because none of those are “everyone’s second favorite system.” They’re all built on the same foundation, sure, but they all take their own liberties with it, in hopes of standing out in their own ways, so that they might become someone’s first-favorite system. And that’s just not what it sounds like your group needs right now. They need boring, familiar, safe, reliable old 2014 5e. For now, at least. Maybe once you’ve gotten back to a place of stability, you might consider venturing out to one of the newer 5e variants. But don’t try to jump right to that. Take it slow, stick to the stuff you know.

( stick to the status quo )

Yea, gotta agree here. Establish a baseline, and then add in more 3pp crunch to those who are looking for more novelty and combat challenge.

 

[jayoungr]

If you use standard 2014 rules, there are some excellent third-party monster manuals that can help with encounter design. Kobold Press (who also make TotV) have four excellent ones, the Tome of Beasts volumes 1-3 and Creature Codex. As a bonus, each of those manuals also has a Book of Lairs with short adventures built around the monsters in it.

 

[Retreater]

Jump to something like Fallout, Cyberpunk, FrontierSpace, or Cthulu. The farther from D&D, the more room to breath and the fewer the expectations and comparisons will be.

Cthulhu is also going to be considered, but I already know how to pitch that one.

We are currently playing Savage Worlds in a sci-fi setting, so we've taken a break from fantasy already.
Not gonna lie, I'm not "at home" in sci-fi RPGs. It seems like everyone in my group has a different "sci fi" in mind. I'm more space opera, others are more hard sci-fi. I get reprimanded that "that's not how light speed would work." I don't get that kind of scrutiny when a wizard casts teleport.

 

[TheSword]

Swallow your distaste and go for 2024. It’s like 5e but better.
Eventually you have to stop looking back.