D&D Next

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:41 am

IceBear wrote:It won't be every FLGS that will have it before the July 12th street date, just those affiliated with WotC.

The basic rules, linked above, are free and there's a couple D&D Next adventures for probably about the same price on drivethrurpg that I believe are more fleshed out (though granted, pdf format).

BTW, the Age of Rebellion starter pack has been out for awhile and similar to the Age of Empire starter pack for contents. Hopefully you can still find it now, as it's worth it for the dice alone

Thanks! I've been reticent to get the whole new "Age of" rulebooks, but the starter packs are always so nice!

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:54 am

Yeah, I was at a local convention yesterday and a vendor had a stack of about a dozen boxes. I was rather surprised to see them as I thought the released followed Amazon's shipment date.

Thanks for the impressions. Based on what I saw yesterday and the reports here I've cancelled my order.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:02 am

The impressions over at rpg.net are generally very positive. People seem to feel as if the designers rewinded time back to AD&D and got to make 3rd edition all over again. The system has bits and pieces of all the game's editions, but most of its inspiration seems to come from OD&D, AD&D and D&D 3E. The basic rules available as a PDF has, in my opinion, a very OD&D-like feel.

Here's where I feel each edition has most influenced 5th edition:

1st edition (OD&D): The simplicity, most visible in the ease of creating a new character. You no longer have to spend half an evening with a dedicated character creation application to make your character. You just toss a few dice, pick between a limited amount of options, and you're ready to go. This is for the basic rules though, so there's bound to be things in the full Player's Handbook that will expand the process for those players who wish to, but it does look like each player can make this choice on his own.

2nd edition (AD&D): The "feel" of the game. This is what they're clearly trying to bring the game back to, the feeling that people had when they played AD&D. Most of the stupidity of that system is gone though.

3rd edition: The customization and general improvements of the system.

4th edition: Mostly minor things, but most importantly the monster stat blocks have been preserved for the new edition, which was one of the best parts of 4E.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:26 am

So played for a bit last night, until my son started getting too squirrely because it was past his bedtime. Some thoughts:

1. Their changes for spell use (i.e. Vancian magic) finally start to make sense for me. I always hated Vancian magic in the old editions, it bugged the hell of of me that once they used the spell it was just gone. This was one of the things that I really liked about 4E, was letting the magic users just go at it with encounter and at-will spells. This new system is a decent compromise, where you prepare a limited number of spells each day, and then you can cast any of those spells as many times as you have power, or slots for it. The ability for the wizard to recover one used spell slot during a short rest was a nice touch too.

2. Short rest and healing based on hit dice isn't too bad. It didn't help much in our first encounter, where the wizard was dropped to 1 HP twice, the cleric used up all of his daily spells in that one encounter, and on the short rest the wizard rolled a 1. Extended rest, here we come.

3. Do like the new advantage/disadvantage rules. Glad they kept them from the play test.

4. For the encounter that we went through last night, we went old school with no map. It worked out fine, but part of me still likes the maps and tactical movements from 4E. I will probably use maps for some of the later encounters.

5. Leveling up is MUCH faster. That was a surprising change to me. Only 300 XP to hit second level? As opposed to 2000 XP in say Pathfinder? I really don't mind the change, personally. Level 'em up faster through the early levels to get to more fun stuff faster.

We're planning on playing again tonight. More thoughts after that.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:41 am

I have used maps (well a checker board for a grid) and minis (well stratego pieces) since the red box. My current group are wargamers too, so they like using tactical maps and minis even in systems like Edge of the Empire where movement and ranges are more abstract and trying to use minis can be too "restrictive"

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:55 am

I read the starter rules last night. Having never played any PnP RPG but having read several different systems, I think my input is useless.

I never did get around to doing anything with my son and Pathfinder or Savage Worlds. One of these days...

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:33 pm

And on the date of it's official release, The Player's Handbook reached #1 on the Amazon best seller list.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:58 am

Looking forward to getting my hands on this. It often takes a few days/weeks longer to get hold of these things over here than in the US, but for something like this I'm expecting it to be quick.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:07 am

I am hoping to get a couple of Dungeon World games in before we start 5E. I am finding my group is getting too rigid and I want them and I to work on our roleplaying and improv skills

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 11:08 am

For my buddy's birthday last month I got him the D&D Starter Set and a notebook with the printed pre-release rules. He was so excited he immediately pre-ordered the PHB, DMG, and Monster Manual.

We plan on going through the Starter Set adventure in a couple of weeks.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:20 pm

I've been meaning to post a review of the new PHB. I've had it for over a week now, and have given it a pretty thorough going through.

My review notes on the system that I posted before still stand. Still like everything I'm seeing. It feels like a "greatest hits" edition of D&D, where they picked and pulled things from each edition and somehow made them all work together.

I'll try and post a more comprehensive review sometime soon, but real life is a bitch these days.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:44 pm

Yeah, I think I like it. Hard to tell without playing and for the first time ever I don't see playing anytime soon

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:50 pm

IceBear wrote:Yeah, I think I like it. Hard to tell without playing and for the first time ever I don't see playing anytime soon

I'm hoping to play some more tonight. I'll try and gather some specific thoughts around it, but since it's my family, they're pretty chaotic.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:05 pm

Yeah, the only time my group can get together is Saturdays (one of my friends lives a few hours away) and we're currently playing a Shadowrun campaign. If my GM wants a break (not likely for the short term) then I might get a shot, but want to play Dungeon World first to loosen up the group's creative juices.

The one thing that is immediately obvious is that the lower levels should blow by

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:21 pm

IceBear wrote:Yeah, the only time my group can get together is Saturdays (one of my friends lives a few hours away) and we're currently playing a Shadowrun campaign. If my GM wants a break (not likely for the short term) then I might get a shot, but want to play Dungeon World first to loosen up the group's creative juices.

The one thing that is immediately obvious is that the lower levels should blow by

So talking about the creative juices, that seems to be something that they are trying to do with this new edition, with their extensive use of backgrounds for characters, and Inspiration rewards for great roleplaying.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:25 pm

Exactly, they are just following the latest trend in games like Numenera, EotE, Fate, etc to have mechanical regards for roleplaying. I like anything that encourages roleplaying. Since Dungeon World is waaaay into improv I figure if I take them really far outside their comfort zone it will make the minor roleplaying assumptions for 5E easier for them. I also want to run a The Strange campaign which will require even more roleplaying effort than 5E (but less than Dungeon World)

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:20 pm

So.... I played a ton of 1st edition AD&D back in the 1980's. I went on to other game systems and then dropped out of role-playing for a long time. In the past couple of years I've picked up Pathfinder to read--I'm impressed with the production values and a little daunted with the complexity of the some the systems (all those skills, all those feats). I still haven't played, but I'd like to introduce it to my kids and their friends.

What's the difference between Pathfinder and D&D Next?

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:24 pm

D&D 5E is supposed to be more of a throwback to 1st edition. It's supposed to be easier to pick up and play for those that aren't that familiar with the existing rules

If you want to compare the rules, you can review them (these are the free rules that only have the 4 basic character classes and missing a few spells but otherwise the actual rules) here:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 12:27 am

Holman wrote:So.... I played a ton of 1st edition AD&D back in the 1980's. I went on to other game systems and then dropped out of role-playing for a long time. In the past couple of years I've picked up Pathfinder to read--I'm impressed with the production values and a little daunted with the complexity of the some the systems (all those skills, all those feats). I still haven't played, but I'd like to introduce it to my kids and their friends.

What's the difference between Pathfinder and D&D Next?

From what I understand, D&D 5E allows you to have individual players skip using things like feats, getting stat bonuses instead. If different people around your table have different favorite editions, they can create a character that is pretty close to that edition without affecting the other players' choices. Character creation can be just about as easy as 1st edition OD&D if you want it to.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:10 am

TiLT wrote:
Holman wrote:So.... I played a ton of 1st edition AD&D back in the 1980's. I went on to other game systems and then dropped out of role-playing for a long time. In the past couple of years I've picked up Pathfinder to read--I'm impressed with the production values and a little daunted with the complexity of the some the systems (all those skills, all those feats). I still haven't played, but I'd like to introduce it to my kids and their friends.

What's the difference between Pathfinder and D&D Next?
From what I understand, D&D 5E allows you to have individual players skip using things like feats, getting stat bonuses instead. If different people around your table have different favorite editions, they can create a character that is pretty close to that edition without affecting the other players' choices. Character creation can be just about as easy as 1st edition OD&D if you want it to.

TiLT has it. The way the game is set up, if you just want to get in and start playing without having to read every single option, there is a "quick start" for each of the classes. Choose your starting stats by your favorite method, choose the starting character package, choose an alignment, choose a background, roll for your trait, bond, ideal, and flaw, and you're ready to go. Or take your time, read over all of your options, and start building from the ground up with an end goal in mind for the character.

Here's a great article on Nerdist about the new version. 5 reasons to play 5th Edition. And here's a pretty in-depth review of the PHB. First Impressions Review: “Player’s Handbook” for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:34 am

hentzau wrote:I'm hoping to play some more tonight. I'll try and gather some specific thoughts around it, but since it's my family, they're pretty chaotic.

Chaotic Good or Chaotic Evil?

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:36 am

As I suggested, since he has played 1st edition and has the Pathfinder rules if he reads the basic rules from the PHB above he can make an informed decision for himself rather than take someone else's word for it. There were similar articles for both 3E and 4E when they both came out and while I enjoyed both those editions for what they were, the articles really were more marketing pieces than anything else.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:29 pm

Thanks for the replies. I didn't even know preview rules were available, so I'll give them a look.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:39 pm

They aren't really preview rules. They are supposed to be the full rules, but just basic in content (ie, only fighter, rogue, cleric and wizard classes). They plan on updating them as they release new books

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:56 pm

So why make form-fillable PDF files of your character sheets available, but not make them so you can save them? I know it's a little bit of work to do it, but it would have helped until they get the full character generator up and running!

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:13 pm

Didn't realize you couldn't save them... If I get a chance I'll whip up one on my own. Will probably be tomorrow at the earliest

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:16 pm

I think that's a restriction with Adobe Reader, and not something WotC decided to enforce.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:31 pm

I would think it's an oversight. I have had issues with saving forms from time to time as I think that's a setting you can turn on and off when making a pdf. It's possible they forgot to set that when making it. I think I had a similar experience with a government form I had to fill out once; I think they figured you'd fill out the form and print it. I will take a look at it when I get home.

Thought, if you fill out the character sheet, can you print it to cutepdf or something similar?

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:50 pm

IceBear wrote:I would think it's an oversight. I have had issues with saving forms from time to time as I think that's a setting you can turn on and off when making a pdf. It's possible they forgot to set that when making it. I think I had a similar experience with a government form I had to fill out once; I think they figured you'd fill out the form and print it. I will take a look at it when I get home.

Thought, if you fill out the character sheet, can you print it to cutepdf or something similar?

My forum group is using this 5e character sheet from the /dndnext subreddit. It is fillable and savable. We are starting Tyranny of Dragons now.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/dpr4cg3ar ... d_v1.4.pdf

I also like this spell list since it can be sorted and filtered.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:54 pm

Yeah, I have that spell list. They don't need another player do they? This a play by post?

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:08 pm

IceBear wrote:Yeah, I have that spell list. They don't need another player do they? This a play by post?

Yep. My old WoW guild. The one Almost Heroes merged with and then spun off into Exile. The DM is our old guild leader. We don't play WoW anymore but keep the website running for social reasons. I can ask if we are full we have 5 so far.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:48 pm

NP. One of my players lives a few hours away so he's available for gaming on Saturday but not during the week, and it seems like we constantly have people unavailable during the week. Since we currently have an ongoing Shadowrun game on Saturdays I figure the only way I am going to get any other gaming in will be online

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:54 am

Jag wrote:
IceBear wrote:I would think it's an oversight. I have had issues with saving forms from time to time as I think that's a setting you can turn on and off when making a pdf. It's possible they forgot to set that when making it. I think I had a similar experience with a government form I had to fill out once; I think they figured you'd fill out the form and print it. I will take a look at it when I get home.

Thought, if you fill out the character sheet, can you print it to cutepdf or something similar?
My forum group is using this 5e character sheet from the /dndnext subreddit. It is fillable and savable. We are starting Tyranny of Dragons now.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/dpr4cg3ar ... d_v1.4.pdf

I also like this spell list since it can be sorted and filtered.

BTW, saw this character sheet on the Dungeons and Dragons Google+ community this morning. It apparently is only 3 pages long and does some calculations for you. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B87VdC ... sp=sharing

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:47 pm

I've been itching to run something, and I've decided to run a Dark Souls style D&D campaign for my local group.

In it, I make no attempts to reduce the lethality of the game, or even balance encounters beyond making sure they can at least run away. Death isn't final, but maybe having serious experience penalties if you do die.

Set after a kind of supernatural apocalypse that caught both the good and bad guys by surprise, so no one has any idea what's going on.

Speaking of which, how is this new edition now that's there's been time for the player's guide to sink in? People seem happy with it, but I'm not sure if it's any better than Pathfinder for doing this sort of thing.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:51 pm

If you're happy with Pathfinder then stick with it. What people are happy about with 5E is that it's more older school feeling with a LOT flatter power curves and got rid of the "bloat" (I put it in quotes for those that disagree) that came with 3E and on. They have also given a mechanical reason to roleplay (something that I've been trying to get my players to do for years with only a couple bothering). So, if you don't find Pathfinder "bloated" and you and your group are enjoying it then I see no reason to switch just because something is "new and shiny".

Again, read the basic rules that WotC has on their website that I linked above to get a feel for it. There's not a large skill list to keep track of anymore, feats are scaled back and optional, stacks of bonuses and penalties that you used to have to figure out with each roll before is pretty much gone and replaced with the advantage/disadvantage mechanic (roll 2d20 and take the best/worst)

I will say that a couple of the really old school guys who feel that they personally got WotC to kill 3.xE and 4E (to the point they consider themselves consultants on 5E) are actually enjoying 5E and are actually entertaining the idea of allowing characters to heal more than 1hp/night or be dragonborn.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Sun Sep 14, 2014 9:19 pm

Jag wrote:
IceBear wrote:I would think it's an oversight. I have had issues with saving forms from time to time as I think that's a setting you can turn on and off when making a pdf. It's possible they forgot to set that when making it. I think I had a similar experience with a government form I had to fill out once; I think they figured you'd fill out the form and print it. I will take a look at it when I get home.

Thought, if you fill out the character sheet, can you print it to cutepdf or something similar?
My forum group is using this 5e character sheet from the /dndnext subreddit. It is fillable and savable. We are starting Tyranny of Dragons now.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/dpr4cg3ar ... d_v1.4.pdf

I also like this spell list since it can be sorted and filtered.

That spell list has been hit with a cease and desist from WOTC. Bummer.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:26 pm

Thanks to Boudreaux's post, I'm thinking of running some 5E with my kids. I've got the starter box, and am starting to get a good feel for the rules, and have the PHB being snail-mailed to me from an Amazon seller. For context, I've played every edition of D&D from the red box through 3.5, plus Pathfinder, so I've got some time in behind the dice.

I love that they simplified combat (the game I'm a player in had a single fight go probably four hours last Friday.) I've also played quite a few games with out minis, or at least without the miniatures fulfilling any important role. That said, rumor has it that I'm fond of miniatures, and may even have a few of them lying around (OK, a few shelves of them, plus a few boxes...)

So here is what I'm wondering: How does the game perform with miniatures being used? Given that the rules were written without a need for miniatures, there is a fair amount of abstraction. How badly does the game break if you go back to 3.5 style 1"=5' grid movement? What are the caveats for including miniatures in the game?

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:19 am

The game fully supports grid-based combat and includes info about this in the rulebooks (I think more is coming with the DM guide). The difference from before is that the narrative style of combat is now default.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:58 am

That's great. I don't have the full rulebooks in hand yet, so I'm going off of some indirect impressions I've read of it that suggested that the miniature elements might be somewhat lacking. My kids would have been disappointed if they couldn't use miniatures!

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:18 am

The beautiful thing about this system is that for the easier encounters, I never break out the minis, just describe the scene and we go at it in our collective heads. But when it's an important scene, and I start drawing on the mopboard, it gets everyone's attention because they know something big is about to happen.