Let's talk Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition

It's from 4E, basically some badass thing you can do once a day. Encounters are, you guessed it, once per encounter.

I've heard a lot of good things about Fifth Edition; would that I cared to play in another generic fantasy setting. Now, if I could find someone to run a Warhammer 40,000 setting game, I'd be down real fast on that. Dark Heresy, Deathwatch most definitely… Rogue Trader's probably my least favorite of what's available, but I'd still play it. It's so niche though, I know I'll never get the opportunity.

stormseeker75 wrote: It's from 4E, basically some badass thing you can do once a day. Encounters are, you guessed it, once per encounter.

You're making that up. That's too stupid an idea to put into print. Seriously, what's a daily?

How is a daily ability any more asinine than a spell you can cast once per day? I always loathed the idea that a mage had to study a spellbook and could only cast his spells once before resting/reading again. Both notions are ridiculous.

D&D is a miniatures game.

Agreed. We converted to preparing a selection and casting whatever from it, within the spells-per-level restriction to indicate mental weariness. In a pinch you could cast something you didn't prepare from your book. Our group made it hard to find spells though, which gave the magic users good reason to go adventuring.

Clerics could ask for any spell they wanted (i.e., any spell in the book) as long as they hadn't used up all their spells for the particular level.

I was a big fan of letting magic users wear armor too, because it's fun to watch a guy with 19 hit points charge an 8 hit die monster. There were rules in the original game that were as absurd as in the new versions, just less rules overall as best I can tell.

S.

Applejack wrote: I've heard a lot of good things about Fifth Edition; would that I cared to play in another generic fantasy setting. Now, if I could find someone to run a Warhammer 40,000 setting game, I'd be down real fast on that. Dark Heresy, Deathwatch most definitely… Rogue Trader's probably my least favorite of what's available, but I'd still play it. It's so niche though, I know I'll never get the opportunity.

I've been reading through the Dark Heresy 2nd edition manual. I really like the setting, I'll probably never play but at the least it makes good companion material for Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn and Ravenor books.

As for generic fantasy, I hope Jeff White and I can get some Dungeon Crawl Classics going at some point.

Sorry for the thread derail.

Green Lantern wrote: How is a daily ability any more asinine than a spell you can cast once per day? I always loathed the idea that a mage had to study a spellbook and could only cast his spells once before resting/reading again. Both notions are ridiculous.

The idea was swiped from the excellent Dying Earth setting written by Jack Vance. In his setting, even a powerful wizard can only prepare so many spells in advance. It's not just about memorizing the spell, but that the process of the casting takes something out of the caster.

You would probably be happier playing GURPS, where knowledge of an individual spell is like a very specific skill. You are still limited in how many times you can cast spells in GURPS, because casting requires magical energy. However, in GURPS, the default source of magical energy is based on the caster's strength attribute, to discourage casters from making strength a dump stat. The result is peculiar, encouraging warrior-mages more than just wizards, and a giant who is also a wizard is particularly fearsome.

Every rpg that I can readily remember seems to have some kind of restriction on spell-casting, to prevent players from seeming godlike. In Call of Cthulhu, spell-casting tends to cost sanity points. In Mage, spellcasters must use magic in subtle, coincidental-seeming ways, or else risk vicious paradox effects.

In general, I like what I've been hearing lately about 5th edition D&D, but I just don't have any compelling need for it. I have spent a lot of time with 3.5 over last 3 years, and still have at least 2 years left in my current D&D campaign. Probably the only thing that would get me into 5th would be great adventures and/or a great setting.

I've just dipped my toe back into these waters after twenty long years. There'll be some material coming from me soon: keep your eyes peeled.

Out of interest, my renewed interest in 5e has left me on the lookout for D&D miniatures. As a discontinued line, I'd assumed they'd be dirt cheap but that doesn't seem to be the case. Isn't there anywhere you can buy discounted bundles, other than ebay?