darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
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Curious
Sept 17, 2014 7:55:48 GMT -8
Post by darkdiamond on Sept 17, 2014 7:55:48 GMT -8
Can someone explain to me the difference for this new 5th edition, i started gaming with 4th edition, and my group hated the long combats, and now before i sink more money into DnD, i was curious how improved this edition is. (might of been talking about in the podcast, but i'm still in season 6 playing catch up.
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Curious
Sept 17, 2014 11:05:46 GMT -8
Post by lowkeyoh on Sept 17, 2014 11:05:46 GMT -8
Never played 4th, but I'm heavily invested in 3.P at the moment. The biggest change is they took all the math out, made the action economy more flexible, and finally made feats not fucking blow. God I hate feats.... Here's what I mean. In Pathfinder, I'm playing a Warpriest. I took a trait that gives me +1 attack and +1 damage. I took another that gives me +1 damage. I have a masterwork weapon, +1 attack. I use a spell that gives me +2 damage +2 to attack. I flank +2 attack. Someone cast haste, I get an extra attack SOMETIMES and +1 attack. Oh someone cast Bull Strength on me. My Strength goes up by 4, so my modifier goes up by 2, so this changes here. And I get Strength and a half on damage. Oh did someone use bless? Do I still have that +1 to attack? Wait, does bless stack with Divine Favor? 5e simplifies all that. Things don't provide numerical bonuses as much. Now you have advantage/disadvantage. Flanking someone? You get advantage! You roll two dice, and take the higher! Wearing fullplate and trying to sneak around? You have disadvantage on sneaking. Roll two dice and take the lower. Changes to the way buff spells are sustained means you can't spend the first three rounds buffing the party and turn everyone into gods. The way spells are prepared is WAY better than previous editions. You choose your spells for the day, and those are the spells you can cast in any spell slot that day. You don't forget how to cast cure wounds after you cast it once toady. ACs and Damage added to weapon attacks are lower. A CR 24 Red Dragon in Pathfinder has 40 AC. In 5e it has 22. In the action economy, things flow better. I can elaborate, but movement is more flexible and the one action per turn spells out what players can do very easily. Last, feats. I've always hated feats. They are dumb. They still are, but less so. Instead of being building blocks required for you to be an efficient character, they are now a collection of cool abilities. They are optional, and replace the bonus to attributes ever 4th level. There seems to be less power creep in 5e than other games. This is probably just because it's still a relatively new system, but it also seems like it's worked into the design of the game. Also, the rules for the system are free and located here dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrulesThey don't include all the spells, all the classes and class options, and all the races, but all the system crunch is in that PDF. It's a more elegant system and I'm excited to dive in and see if it continues to hold up over time to all my high expectation.
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plusx2a
Strategicon/RPG Section Staff
Join me at Gamex 2014 Memorial Day Weekend May 23 - May 26
Posts: 238
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds, Modiphius 2d20, FATE, PbTA
Currently Playing: Legend of the Five Rings, Cortex
Currently Running: Savage World of Solomon Cane, Modiphius Conan
Favorite Species of Monkey: Spider
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Curious
Sept 19, 2014 14:36:00 GMT -8
Post by plusx2a on Sept 19, 2014 14:36:00 GMT -8
Add in the fact that there are integral options for creating background character elements and an economy that allows you to use those narrative elements to get a mechanical advantage is also a great addition.
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Curious
Sept 22, 2014 13:54:30 GMT -8
Post by Stu Venable on Sept 22, 2014 13:54:30 GMT -8
There's still power creep with the proficiency bonus -- though maybe less so.
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 1:40:26 GMT -8
Post by The Northman on Sept 23, 2014 1:40:26 GMT -8
Quite a bit less, based on our play tests at least. It's still level-based, so if you're swallowing that pill a bit of creep is unavoidable I think.
To echo the above comments, integration of RP background into game mechanics and a huge streamlining of the combat system are both big items in the plus column for me. Also, it so far seems like they've gone to great lengths to differentiate classes from one another, which I'd say is fully the opposite of the design strategy behind 4e.
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Post by Kainguru on Sept 23, 2014 2:35:54 GMT -8
I like the way they reduce a lot of bonuses to 'advantage/disadvantage' in combat - and that they don't stack. This means clever RP in combat can give one a chance, even against overwhelming odds - no one is 'safe' anymore eg: a group of kobolds can still take down a 15th level fighter and a 1st level rogue can still threaten a 10HD monster. Aaron
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darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 7:00:44 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by darkdiamond on Sept 23, 2014 7:00:44 GMT -8
This sounds like 5th edition has come a long way since 4th, almost wish i had waited a year tonplay D&D and gotten into 5th instead of 4th (used to play wow and warhammer 40k, so 4th edition. Wasnt different enough but i was gm not a player)
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darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 9:02:55 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by darkdiamond on Sept 23, 2014 9:02:55 GMT -8
I was thinking of making a story arc that is a direct rip off of an anime, sword art online, where its like wow but uses virtual reality and puts you to sleep when you log in.
Anyways once logged in someone takes over and no one can log out, and if thy die in the game they die in real life. Do you think 5e would be a good system for rhis idea?
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 13:49:10 GMT -8
Post by lowkeyoh on Sept 23, 2014 13:49:10 GMT -8
I think a cool idea with that would be to use 5e in game, and then another roleplaying system when the players are not in the virtual world. It would take a bit more bookkeeping but would work out just fine.
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 13:55:35 GMT -8
Post by ayslyn on Sept 23, 2014 13:55:35 GMT -8
I think a cool idea with that would be to use 5e in game, and then another roleplaying system when the players are not in the virtual world. It would take a bit more bookkeeping but would work out just fine. I can obviously only speak for myself, but that would annoy the hell out of me.
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 15:27:49 GMT -8
Post by lowkeyoh on Sept 23, 2014 15:27:49 GMT -8
I think a cool idea with that would be to use 5e in game, and then another roleplaying system when the players are not in the virtual world. It would take a bit more bookkeeping but would work out just fine. I can obviously only speak for myself, but that would annoy the hell out of me. It's not for everyone, but have a FATE game or some kind of narrative game for the 'real world' and when you're in the 'game world' you pull out your character sheets and switch into a more 'gamey' game. The break from narrative to game makes sense and parallels your characters transition from reality into game. Probably a huge pain in the ass but I think that sounds rad, and my players would be totally down for it as we tend to enjoy overcomplicated things.
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darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
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Curious
Sept 23, 2014 16:55:20 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by darkdiamond on Sept 23, 2014 16:55:20 GMT -8
I was actually thinking of just roleplaying teenagers after school they log on to hang out together and use 5e then, but whenever they arent in the game it would be just all played out (ie no need for a system) and this would occur for 3-5 sessions when they then become trapped inside the game
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HyveMynd
Supporter
Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
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Curious
Sept 24, 2014 2:37:19 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by HyveMynd on Sept 24, 2014 2:37:19 GMT -8
Is that surprise actually necessary though? I get why you want to do it. Having the characters switch back and forth between "real life" and "game life" at set times for a few sessions will (hopefully) really shock them them their characters get trapped in the game. But is all that set up worth it? Couldn't you just start the game with them being trapped?
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darkdiamond
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 36
Preferred Game Systems: any
Currently Playing: Song of fire and ice
Currently Running: Trying to create a Wild talents one shot
Favorite Species of Monkey: Gorrilla
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Curious
Sept 24, 2014 8:56:07 GMT -8
Post by darkdiamond on Sept 24, 2014 8:56:07 GMT -8
i guess it's not necessary, but it's always run to get people into a false sense of security before you tear out their hearts
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Post by yojimbohawkins on Sept 24, 2014 9:07:58 GMT -8
We started a new 5E campaign a couple of weeks ago. Armed with 2 PHB's between 5 players, we managed to get characters ready in about 45 minutes and plunged straight into the adventure. The character backgrounds lend an interesting and much-needed flavour to new characters; for me they replace feats and skills in defining your new PC.
I'm impressed with how easily it plays. Calculating your attack and damage rolls is very easy, and combat flows smartly. Advantage/disadvantage is an elegant method of removing a lot of unnecessary crunch for everyone at the table; a great improvement in my mind. All in all, I'm very encouraged by the new shiny.
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