D&D 5th edition

[tcpip]

In an attempt to spur some conversation in the community, what are people's thoughts on D&D 5th edition? Will it be enough of a game changer to dethrone the usurper regent Pathfinder? Will players from other games and editions flock to the new beacon? Am I making enough of tortured metaphors in these questions?

Comments

[trysha]

It's a streamlined simplified version of pathfinder/3.5e with roleplaying encouraged and the tactical map has been severely de-emphasized.

some players will rejoice.
other gamers will rage.
(aka: nothing changes)

I think those that liked 3.5e and /hated/ 4e felt burned by wizards and flocked to pathfinder.
Those folks probably won't coming back.
Some 4e people who hated 3.5/pathfinder and liked the tactical minis feel will be sad.

It seems like 5e gets rid of much complexity on the DM side, which is very good - that's 3.x weakest point. HERE HAVE A PILE OF MATH.

Otherwise folks don't care.
I think that organized play (d&d encounters, adventurers league) is where wizards wins.

I think it'll do well.

[tcpip]

What about skills? I prefer skill-heavier games, which is one thing I really liked about 3.x. Looking at the D&D5e character sheet it seems they have been reduced substantially. Is this really the case?

[sorceror]

That was my reaction as well: the Skill system is oversimplified, and Feats are considered optional (in the downloadable Basic D&D set). Since I happen to feel that Skills and Feats were the two greatest improvements in 3E, that makes 5E considerably less appealing. They also seem eager to lock characters into an archetype from 3rd level onward. Again, I thought that the flexibility that 3E offered was a major improvement, so anything that detracts from that is not a plus in my book.

Overall 5E seems better than 4E, but I expect to stick with D&D 3.5 and/or Pathfinder.

[tcpip]

Wait, what? Reduced skills and optional feats? What's left? Cookie-cutter archetypes? I'm going to have to look at this in some detail.

I'm more of a D&D3.x style like yourself, but I can see that there were some interesting innovations in 4e.

[apestyle]

As someone who has valued flavor over crunch, I find myself liking 5E. Remains to see if I'll love it.

[cygnia]

We picked up the 5e player's guide and we're not sure about it yet. The husband REALLY likes 3.5. so there's that.

[claidheamhmor]

Based on what I've read, it seems interesting enough...but I think it too late for me. I bought 4th edition, and really didn't like it, so I moved to Pathfinder, which seemed like an upgrade to 3.5. I've now committed a lot of money and time to Pathfinder, so to move, I'd need Pathfinder to screw up, and to have a viable "upgrade". not just what looks like a sideways move.

[tcpip]

I think a lot of people are going to fall into the category that you describe. I wonder what will happen to 4E fans now that their line has been dropped as well..

[ubergeek2012]

My group is just going to keep playing 4th Ed. It does what we want it to and it's fun. It will be a bit annoying if they take down the online tools, but we can do without them if we have to. The line being dropped doesn't mean much to us, we've always made up our own adventures and setting content anyway.

[tcpip]

Sure; it would be good if the 4E material was put in the public domain or the tools released as FOSS for fans to continue to make use of it.

[kyn_elwynn]

The idea is to be streamlined and simplified. 1d20+Attribute modifier+being proficient vs. Difficulty. A difficulty of 15 is going to be hard for most player characters. The proficiency bonus scales with level (begins with +2 and caps at +6) No attribute may go over 20 from level adjustments (so a cap of +5 for the modifier) Your class determines which saves you're proficient in and gives a small group of skills to select which you are to be proficient in. No such thing as 'untrained checks' anyone can attempt any skill, you just don't get your level-determined proficiency bonus if it's not one you selected. Effectively now you make a check with base attribute modifier and if it's something you're proficient in, then can add that bonus.
Every 4 levels, you may gain a +2 to one attribute, two +1's to two separate attributes or a Feat. There are no longer Feat 'chains' like in 3.x, as a Feat encompasses a handful of things (Two-Weapon Fighting feat is basically the old Two-weapon feats all put together in a handy cluster) Sometimes a

[kyn_elwynn]

Oh and halflings have freaky huge heads and tiny feet now.

[tcpip]

The game now cares about something called 'having advantage' (or in negative cases, being disadvantaged). When you have advantage, you roll a second 1d20 and choose the better of the two dice rolled. Having disadvantage means you roll 2d20 and take the lower roll. Period.

Given the random scale of the d20, having an advantage and avoiding disadvantages is something to be really sought after.