Catullus64
2020-06-06, 11:29 AM
I don't mean the Orb of Dragonkind or the Hand of Vecna. I'm interested in rules and systems in 5th edition D&D that are mostly artifacts of older editions of the game. Maybe they have a good reason to still be around, maybe they don't, but the most probable reason for their inclusion is a hazy feeling of "that's just something that belongs in D&D."
The thing that immediately jumps out at me as an artifact is having Ability Scores and Ability Modifiers be seperate numbers. Now, in AD&D, when there was a whole table of different modifiers and percentiles derived from your ability scores (Bend Bars and Lift Gates! System Shock! Chance to Learn Spell!) the ability score numbers probably made sense, or at least as much sense as anything in AD&D made. Now, there are maybe three or four rules that rely directly on an ability score (mostly STR), and those could very easily be changed to use modifiers. When I'm introducing a new player to the game system, and he asks why these two numbers are seperate, I really don't have a good answer.
For people more knowledgeable about the older editions than I (I've played maybe 15 sessions of non-5e D&D), what else do you notice that has survived as a vestigial organ from our gaming ancestors?
A polite request: Let's not talk about the alignment system. :biggrin:
The thing that immediately jumps out at me as an artifact is having Ability Scores and Ability Modifiers be seperate numbers. Now, in AD&D, when there was a whole table of different modifiers and percentiles derived from your ability scores (Bend Bars and Lift Gates! System Shock! Chance to Learn Spell!) the ability score numbers probably made sense, or at least as much sense as anything in AD&D made. Now, there are maybe three or four rules that rely directly on an ability score (mostly STR), and those could very easily be changed to use modifiers. When I'm introducing a new player to the game system, and he asks why these two numbers are seperate, I really don't have a good answer.
For people more knowledgeable about the older editions than I (I've played maybe 15 sessions of non-5e D&D), what else do you notice that has survived as a vestigial organ from our gaming ancestors?
A polite request: Let's not talk about the alignment system. :biggrin: