Let's talk Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition

Let's get right to it, I think 5th edition is fantastic. 1st edition is the only edition I've not played, but I've played the others quite a bit, 3rd in particular. I can comfortably say the 5e is my favorite.

I've got two groups going, one in which I'm playing, going through Horde of the Dragon Queen, the other with Repoman, my brother, and our friend Jim, which I'm DMing Lost Mine of Phandelver. Having a blast in both.

I really love how smoothly it plays, both as a player and a DM. It certainly has more crunch that what's going on in the typical indie RPG, but the way they worked proficiency in instead of skill modifiers is great. No more feats means less special rules and exceptions to keep track of, as well as less gamey nonsense. The advantage/disadvantage mechanic is genius.

My only gripe is that I wish they had released all three core books at the same time. That being said, both adventures are pretty solid so far. I'm very pleasantly surprised with Lost Mine of Phandelver so far. It doesn't reinvent fantasy genre, but it does do a good job of introducing what this new edition does best a little bit at a time (which isn't to say that it's not deadly...because it certainly is). Horde of the Dragon Queen is good so far. The first part is a bit repetitive with its monsters, but it does keep you on your toes and provides a fair amount of challenge. I've not spoiled it for myself, but I've read that we're about to hit the point where it really gets interesting.

Anyone else playing?

I had a good time playing my Southern Baptist Cleric of Helm. I'm still a bit fuzzy with the details of combat and such. That has more to do with my laziness of not reading the PHB as thoroughly as I should. It's tough to cut through all the extraneous language to get to the specific rules I need to know. I understand that they write these things so that a novice can work their way through the game. I do wish they'd put out a two or three page pamphlet of just the important rules.

Josh Look wrote: Anyone else playing?

I'm not, I'm in a group playing Pathfinder instead which I'm giving a B+ to. But what you're saying about the removal of feats sounds like this would be a better choice. In my opinion non-weapon proficiencies really bogged down the game and we essentially removed all of their mechanical aspects in favor of just role-playing it when the opportunities came up. If you have a double proficiency in riding you can jump onto the horse as it runs by instead of stopping it, that kind of thing.

I have one thing still holding me firmly in 1st and 2nd edition -- four or five mages (magi?) and bards that have big-ass spell lists from the original books, and later editions removed those spells. So if I want to use my old characters I have to figure out some way to convert them to the new versions. Pathfinder is no better, may be worse than AD&D 3,4,5, etc.

WOTC has a free conversion guide coming out sometime in October, it's supposedly going to cover ALL editions. Not sure how much it would help in carrying over your old characters, but I'm excited to see if it will help me convert some of the old modules. I'd love to run a few of the classics, this edition seems like it would lend itself well to those.

This conversion guide might be the first time WOTC has ever decided to not neglect their old products as means of saying, "Screw you, buy our new shit."

Sagrilarus wrote: In my opinion non-weapon proficiencies really bogged down the game and we essentially removed all of their mechanical aspects in favor of just role-playing it when the opportunities came up.

You get a flat proficiency bonus, which increases as you level, and you apply that to anything you want to be skilled at doing along with the related attribute modifier. There is no extraneous mechanical BS tied to any skill. It just struck me tonight that this PHB doesn't even have a chapter on skills.

I sneered a lot at 5th edition, but now I openly confess I was wrong. I'm still playing PF, but I love what I've read so far. The rules are streamlined, but without draining away flavor. The game seems simpler to play, while still allowing players to do exciting things with their character builds. The rules are like D&D's greatest hits.

A lot will depend on how they expand this edition over the next few years. Despite its flaws, 4th edition was really killed by the expansions they made for it, those dreadful Power splat books being the worst. It would be too easy to undo all their hard work with poorly thought out expansions. But WOTC has clearly studied their mistakes and is trying to learn from them. I really hope they succeed here, because I'm terribly impressed with what they've done.

Hands down the best classic style, campaign friendly RPG ruleset I've ever played.

It's really so smooth to run and really gives both player and DM a lot of incentive to push the story elements.

repoman wrote: I do wish they'd put out a two or three page pamphlet of just the important rules.

On it.

I am fucking shocked that you guys are saying this edition is good. Not because it isn't, but I would have bet a lot of money it would suck.

I was very skeptical about the crowd development and I feel like D+D has been pretty exploitative and dumb for a couple editions at least...

I'm not that surprised. WOTC have genuine competition this time around in Pathfinder, so they have had to get it right or face the execs axing the line at a guess. Also, i suspect WOTC understand rpgs a little better now with a few years experience.

I probably won't play 5th ed in the near future, but my read of the basic rules suggested it was an accessible sound system. I've come down on Astonish Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea as my fantasy system and can't be bothered to learn any thing else. I'd play a game of 5th if a reasonable gm ran it though.

For anyone who didn't know, the Basic Rules are absolutely free.

The crowdtesting did seem to help FFG with its Star Wars RPGs, which are very, very good. The Pathfinder challenge was I'm sure certainly a part of why it might be better or more effort of a certain kind put in, but I think it also makes sense to treat D&D as its own genre and treat 5th as a best-of rather than try to derive inspiration from online RPGs or tactical board games (although, yes, I know that D&D arose from miniatures play). I would quite like to play it now, but time is agin' it. I'm having enough trouble trying to regroup the Edge of the Empire group that ran through the beginner game and at least claimed that they liked it.

Someone has done the hard work and converted 1st ed. Ravenloft to 5e. Grab it while you can (but not you, Jeff!)

Ravenloft 5e

I haven't really played the D and D since about 1983 or so. Are the fifth edition rules compatible with the fourth edition modules and what not?

My son has a mountain of Pathfinder but is looking for players.

craniac wrote: I haven't really played the D and D since about 1983 or so. Are the fifth edition rules compatible with the fourth edition modules and what not?

My son has a mountain of Pathfinder but is looking for players.

No, they're not compatible but 5e is easy to convert to. Although I don't know if it's worth the effort, 4th ed. didn't had a lot of good modules.

I suggest you get some d&d classics pdfs on rpgnow or go through your son's Pathfinder pile and see if any AP suits you.