Sunday, September 7, 2014

Thoughts on Dungeons and Dragons- 5th edition

Wizards of the Coast is releasing the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  I've played DnD since I was ten, back in first edition.  Currently, I'm in a campaign using DnD 3.5 (third edition with some rules modifications).  Some initial thoughts looking over the new Player's Handbook:

* Some background- the 1st edition was groundbreaking- but it was also complicated as hell.  If you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table , with their ridiculous charts and tables?  Yeah- 1st edition was like that.  A lot of groundbreaking work- but enough dice rolling to make your eyes bleed.

Second edition started off by simplifying things- but then they brought out splat books.  Books with variations of classes and races.  And with so many splat books out, it wasn't hard for people to find unbeatable combinations.  It was really unbalanced (all of the editions have some class balancing issues- but 2nd edition was extremely bad on this one)

Third edition- my favorite version, easily.  Allowing people to constantly switch classes gave them variety without the ridiculous rules from the 1st edition.  It was complicated, but nothing like first edition.  All in all, the best version of the game.

Fourth edition- it was a MMORPG (computer game) on paper.  It felt like less of a role-playing game and more of a combat tactical game.  And everything was so damned cookie-cutter; Every 8th level fight was one of two types.  I bought the books and tried to play, but lost interest.  Now it sits collecting dust on my bookshelf.

With all of that in mind, here's some thoughts on the new version of the game:

* Fifth edition- my first thought is that it's back to being a RPG.  Less tactics, more character development, more options.  Considering that I wasn't interested in fourth edition at all, this is a plus to me.

* It appears simpler than 3rd edition- the proficiency bonus goes up by overall level, so no more skill points.  There are backgrounds instead of feats

* I would really like to have seen some sample characters to see how everything fits together.  Just reading the descriptions, all of the powers seem jumbled together.  Some examples of each of the character classes might help clean things up.

* Balance issues?  I'm sure there are some.  Everyone who plays DnD min/maxes (aka, tries to find the best angle to help their characters succeed).  The rule in DnD used to be that wizards were really weak at lower levels and really strong at high levels.  They've strengthened spellcasters at lower levels (more spells, more HP)- so I'm curious if they've also lowered their potency at the high levels compared to other classes.

* Personally, I'm happy with third edition.  But if a player thought 3rd edition was too much paperwork, I could see where 5th edition would appeal to them.





No comments:

Post a Comment