5th Edition D&D Player's Handbook Review - A Greatest Hits Collection

[Seneschal]

snippy

Also, if I may interject, does anyone else feel that the Dragonborn don't quite fit into the new edition's visual aesthetic? Like, at all? I don't even recall seeing them outside of their race entry, e.g. in group shots and spell illustrations.

I've always felt their design was part of that (thankfully waning) "dungeonpunk" visual style that inexplicably overtook 4th edition and Pathfinder: wide snout, beady eyes, toothy mouth, sloping forehead, dreadlocks - the very image of the mid-2000s "hollywood monster." 5e is mercifully steering clear of that aesthetic, yet they still included the dragonborn, looking like they do. Eh.

 

[Metadigital]

/snip

The problem with Pathfinder (and this is coming from one who has played it for a LONG time and still does) is that it tends to start breaking at 12th level or so. After that the GM has to fudge rules/dice/etc in order to keep an adventure as well as combat interesting. The power bloat makes the game way too hard to run at later levels.

Pathfinder, like 3.5 in general, doesn't really "start" until 3rd level and begins to break down after 7th level. Really, the 3-7 range is ideal for that system. It doesn't start becoming unplayable until 12th level, which is why Pathfinder Society maxes out at level 12. One thing 5th edition has going for it is reducing this bloat and making level 1 more interesting. It's still mainly more of the same, but at least it's a better rendition of the same. From what I've seen, 5th edition looks like it might compete with Pathfinder amongst those who aren't still feeling burned by 4th edition.

 

[JonB]

Kinda wish there was a shot of a powers list or something, but either way, it looks pretty easy to read. I bought 3.5 splatbooks for reading material, because I'm a gargantuan nerd, but 4ed's books were almost invariably hard on my eyes (especially power lists, which even made 3.5's spell lists look dynamic).

Way more fun, flavorful, and readable than 4E ever was. Definitely buyable if you just like them as entertainment.

Forgive me if I missed it in the article, but is D&D 5th edition playable with three people? I've read it's recommended for four to six people.

You can certainly play it with two people. You'll mostly do very small encounters early on in the game, though, and you'll vary your rates of giving out things like healing potions if they don't have a healer. It can be really rewarding though!

 

[Scars Unseen]

And "Dragonborn" are still around. Because they were so unique and fun.

I personally like dragonborn. They're big lizard people who "(fluff-wise) fit somewhere between noble warriors and savage creatures, which is fun. And it beats having endless variations of elves. What's you're opposition to them?

OT:

You can tell it's the core rules because the section outlining the core rules is a short, sweet 27 pages. D&D hasn't been this straightforward in decades.

Somewhere quietly, you can hear the sound of "Taps" being played as the 4E Essentials are lowered into the ground, the last stake driven through their paperback hearts.

Personally, I think that Advantage and the loss of a grid are both failings. Dungeons and Dragons is, at it's core, about going into dungeons and fighting dragons. It can handle other stuff as it comes up in play, but backroom politics and the construction of a trade empire were never the system's strong suit. Stripping out some of the combat crunch makes the game feel sorta lackluster in the area where D&D always excelled, especially when other rules exist that remind you of the missing pieces, like cover and speed in feet. Narrative combat is a lot of fun, but that involves letting go of the stuff that D&D players still want.

I, on the other hand, look at the passing of the grid and say "good fucking riddance!" I never used it before 4E, and I got sick of 4E about 30 minutes into my first combat encounter. 4E brought some good things to the table, but reliance on and manipulation of absolute positioning was not one of them. I will not miss it.

Also, your assertion that D&D has always been about combat is largely a personal anecdote, and not some universal truth. Hell, most old school D&D players(i.e. players from the Gygaxian era of publishings) will tell you that being forced to actually fight was a failure state in older editions. It wasn't until XP gain was shifted from being tied to loot to monster defeat that combat became a primary focus of the system.

For my part, 5E is shaping up to be my favorite D&D. It's already my favorite WotC era D&D, but I'll need a lot of sessions under my belt before I can properly compare it to my 2E experiences. That said, I am optimistic.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

snip

I can't say I agree with you about dragonborn being generic, but I understand where you're coming from (especially with regards to the name).

Also, your assertion that D&D has always been about combat is largely a personal anecdote, and not some universal truth. Hell, most old school D&D players(i.e. players from the Gygaxian era of publishings) will tell you that being forced to actually fight was a failure state in older editions. It wasn't until XP gain was shifted from being tied to loot to monster defeat that combat became a primary focus of the system.

To the best of my knowledge, BECMI gave you XP equal to the value of the monsters defeated to achieve a goal, as well as treasure. 1st had the instructions, "...the Dungeon Master will award experience points to the character for treasure gained and opponents captured or slain and for solving or overcoming problems through professional means." [Players Handbook, page 106]. 2nd made treasure XP (and the other non-combat systems for gaining XP) optional. Combat, and the XP derived from it, were always non-optional parts of the system regardless of edition (and optional XP for story goals is something that continued through at least 4th edition).

I've never known someone to view combat as a whole as the failure state of D&D. There are less than optimal situations for battle, to be sure, and you rarely want to get forced into a fight that you don't want or didn't prepare for, but D&D is based on a wargame; it would be a very odd campaign where the party absolutely avoided violence to try and steal their way to godhood.

 

[Shayman]

Thanks for all the responses, I think I'll pick it up!

 

[Orekoya]

While I've played video games based on d&d since the 90s, I've never done any table top until recently when I got invited into a group using the 5th edition rules. The plan was to do introductions, world building and such until the handbooks were out. I have to say, it was great fun. I'm looking forward to more of it.

 

[moonkid]

Huh. I could almost swear they're taking inspiration from the New WoD games with the Inspiration thing (I know 3.5 had something like that, but I've never seen it used for anything but maybe bonus XP). Either way, I'm looking forward to this.

The Inspiration mechanic is a lite version of Fate points from FATE, although other indie RPGs have similar mechanics, too.

This line begs the question: what IS the best fantasy game on the market?

Burning Wheel. But 5E is the best D&D (clones included).

 

[GiveaHootStudios]

I'm gonna chime in with my 2 cents on this whole thing. So far everything I've read for the new D&D i'm liking it a lot.

I stared with back when it was just D&D. you could play or or a fighter or halfling blah blah. The came along advanced D&D. Now you could play your favorite race and be class! Woot woot super exciting stuff, but wait level caps for non human W** is this garbage? Then 2nd edition came along. lets fix some things and break others shall we? Speed factor for example and and lets make archers and throw weapons all but useless when other people are engaged in melee combat with them. *bangs head against wall* Now comes along 3rd edition the birth of D20! Exciting new rules that can seem to work but get little confusing at times and the whole grid thing.Player:"Wait you mean I have use miniatures now to play this game?" DM " Well we don't have to but it will help." pauses for second after reading an example of combat "I take it back yes we have to miniatures now." Along comes 3.5. Let fix some of these classes so they work better. Yes you still must use grids. Then Pathfinder. Hey we are sick of working for you guys we are take your rules set improve all the classes and combat maneuver system and outsell you! Ha! D&d counter well we make 4 ed rules and turn D&D into a Warhammer miniature MMO. In sense this opened table gaming to a new generation of people who had played on PC. To us old school gamers it was like pissing in Gary's coffee cup. Which bring us to 5th.

5th edition is a step in the right direction for us old school guys but the optional use of grid system won't scare away those that only played 4th. The idea of actually have to role play out encounters rather them just be rolled is a breath of fresh air. I like this advantage/disadvantage mechanic. I'm high up a grassy knoll with bow/crossbow I had advantage. Rather than trying to figure a whole bunch of numbers to plug target is prone/target is moving/ ext ext you either have advantage or disadvantage sure there are things that still affect this like cover. But talk about way simpler math. Skill system refined. No longer crazy DC of 30 making it nigh impossible to make said skill checks. (I haven't quite finished reading this part of the rules but I'm hoping they put a 1 always fails on skill check and 20 always succeed. This way even the most skilled person can fail if they get unlucky or even the most unskilled person could get lucky).

Classes: Really liked this part. No class truly outshines the other. As one my favorite reviewers wrote: Bards no longer die horribly in dungeons while singing. Mages (and by mages I mean anyone can use magic wizard, sorcerer ext ext) now have at least one cantrip that combat offensive always available to them if they chose one. No longer at first level well guys I have used my magic missile I need to rest for 8 hours before we can any further or else i'm pretty much useless for the rest of this dungeon. Nope Nope now I can do as many Firebolts as I want! You have lots of great options when making and choosing your class your class. Heck they even followed pathfinders and fixed hit dice for classes. Which by the way giving everyone starting max hit points is wonderful. No longer the 1st level wizard tripped on stick and is dead.

I could go on and on. but my advice is give 5th edition a try and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Well done Wizard of the Coast, well done.

 

[Basement Cat]

One thing that throws me about 5ed is the absolute lack of alignment requirements for character classes like paladins and monks. Did I just miss it somewhere?

If so I don't necessarily mind the change. Now you can have plenty of Chaotic Good elven monks. A favorite background piece in my personal fantasy writing is that monastic traditions among the humans of my world emerged from elven "martial dances" aka martial arts. Now I don't have be distracted by the standard issue Chaotic Good elven culture having blocks of Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral martial artists.