Some Thoughts about D&D 5e

 

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition was released on July 15th, 2014 and has since released countless supplements and books that changed how various systems or procedures work and ret-coned various aspects. Fifth Edition came off the heels of 4th edition that was met with mixed opinions (regardless of what side you were on, 4th Edition was a completely different game then its predecessors) and the success of Pathfinder. 

I was ecstatic when 5th Edition was released and I felt like it really streamed that what the game was in the 3.x era. It made things across the board easier and was a better polished game compared to most of the editions. 

 

Now, the years have gone by and the varnish has worn off. Now before I go into my issues with D&D 5e, I want to discuss the things it has done well.

• Bounded Accuracy (Proficiency Bonus)
• Magic Users (Cantrips and such have made spell casters viable across the board)
• Streamlined Mechanics 
• Accessibility 
• Good Dungeon Master's Guide
  

I do not know if this has anything to do with the actual game of 5e or marketing but Dungeons and Dragons as well as other role playing games have became popular and mainstream in a sense. This can be seen in its accessibility, the Critical Role effect, how various Hollywood stars have publicly talked about or played Dungeons and Dragons as well as other games. Regardless of why, I think this has been a positive situation with the hobby for countless reasons and gives me hope people who role play will not have to deal with another Satanic Panic.

Now, with that being said, it is time to discuss the issues with it. I have not played 5e in over a year and really did not do anything in the table top realm. Now, I have been playing in a 5e campaign and just catching up in general including a deep dive back into the 5e books and my experiences. These are not going to be in any particular order...

1. The rules are not as streamlined as I initially thought. It is true that 5e has came a long way since its 3.x days but it is not enough. 5e has required countless Q&A "Sage Advice" for answers how rules are suppose to work. Even with this, there is still debate among players but at least there is a Compendium for the most common issues which acts as a living errata document. Though, language as not been updated in subsequent printings. Now, errata being what it may and there is some expected instances of "editing missed that" this is ridiculous. Things should not be so poorly written or convoluted that they need consistent sage advice or a living errata document. In addition to even after sage advice, it still causes contention between players. 
2. After what? 45+ years there is still a consistent struggle of created a viable Barbarian, Monk, Ranger, and to a lesser extent Rogue class? It took Pathfinder a years and a whole supplement Unchained to hammer out common issues and attempts in Unearthed Arcana were made to revisit the Ranger but the minor changes helped the class but it still was not enough and other classes have not been revisited at or or barely touched upon. In addition to spell casters get the most support out of all of the other classes across the board. The frosting on this cake is Unearthed Arcana is unofficial or play test material so Dungeon Masters across the board do not have to allow it.
3. Just because 5e is popular, does not make it a good intro RPG for new players or DMs and #1 supports this greatly. 
4. Feats have obscenely different power levels and usability. 
5. One of the Sacred Cows that WOTC seems to be holding on to is Challenge Ratings. This creates a lot of complicated math for trying to build encounters even with the formulas given. There is also the additional issue where Challenge Ratings do not always match the creature they are attached to and there is even fractions! This places a ton of extra work on the DM for no reason at all. D&D needs to bring back using HD and special abilities for encounters and get rid of all the extra math and matching issues with CR. 
6. Another Sacred Cow is Vatican Magic, there are better more intuitive ways to handle magic.
   
7. Since 3.x tactical combat and combat in general is a consistent focus which makes using fists to solve every problem a common tactic which is systematically supported. 
8. Yet another Sacred Cow is the 9 point alignment system.
9. Adventure Paths have been consistently poorly written and require a lot of work from the DM. They should work right out of the box with minimal effort by the DM - that is the whole point of adventure paths. 
10. There are huge differences in what classes have better use of the action economy (standard, reaction, and bonus actions) and a lot of times, actions are unused. This also relates to #2.
11. Skill resolution is tired to the same system as combat and both of them are meant for different types of outcome ranges. The attempt at a unified mechanic falls short here with skill points. 

I think that is everything off of the top of my head for now.

Ok, I lied. there is one more point I already mentioned but I want to reiterate is that 5e is not a good game for beginners as people do not want to sit through hours of rules or how to play discussions. This is also includes spending entire sessions on character creation and reviews. I think people who are interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons or any role playing game for the matter do not want to sit through rule and how to slogs and just want to get into the game, the character, and start playing. Even me (being a veteran player) tends to role their eyes when people start discussing rules or the entire game is put on pause when the DM or another player has to bust out the rule book. These points right here is where I think we lose a lot of new people and frustrate a lot of veteran players. I believe we should strive to get people in the game as quickly as possible, keeping immersion deep as best we can, and then keeping the game moving without rule breaks. 

Once again, I have ended up with more to say when I thought I was down. I guess that is why I rarely post things as soon as I am finished so I can let them simmer for a day or two but I digress...

To begin, Wizards of the Coast has released their publishing schedule for 2024. The biggest title on the list is the new Players Handbook... From there it looks like there is going to be 48 sub classes? And a return to rules bloat! WOTC's habit of turning RPGs into a commercial product for mass consumption have driven the game as a concept and an art into a money grab that leaves little room for quality control. It has been a long slide since at the release of 4th Edition into fully devolving the game into a cRPG/MMO model. A game played on a character sheet with players looking to hit character sheet “buttons” to solve problems and waiting for the next seratonin hit from the next level, magic item, spell, or whatever else they earn. Creative problem solving, exploration of procedurally generated places, rolep laying, and encounters has waned. It seems that WOTC continues to hammer nails in the coffin of the idea of neither the DM nor the Players knowing which way a session will end.

With that being said and what I have seen of all of the current and past play test materials the New Players Handbook is going to bring a lot of positive mechanical changes to the process of character creation, races, classes, feats, and so on. Though a lot of these changes have already been seen in Pathfinder 2e and other places. I also believe the book is even going to be re-organized to make it more intuitive and user friendly. Even with all of this, The Monk, .Barbarian, and Ranger still need work.

This is in addition to I have yet to see any reworks of important subsystems like Challenge Ratings, role play focused abilities, backgrounds, and so on. Though, I am sure we are going to see a revised Monster Handbook and Dungeon Masters Handbook at some point. Regardless of all of this, it is rounding back to my original point. 5th Edition did not go far enough and neither is D&D One going far enough to file off the burs and really adjust things that need to be fixed. I have zero faith that the new players handbook is not going to need official sage advice to clarify things and adventures will be good to go out of the box...