Switching editions

[Kyberwulf]

Soo.. I figure its time for a switch maybe. Going from 3.x to 5th. Can anyone tell me how its changed. I sat out the 4th edition. I want to know before I start spending money on trying for upgrade? Sidegrade? Downgrade? Also I might be picking up new playing group, so I was wondering if its easier learning 5th or just sticking with 3.x

[ImproperJustice]

5th edition is a streamlined harmony that appeals to OSR Grognards and new age Apocalypse Engine types.


Gone are the days of complex grid management and memorizing complex feat tree spreadsheets to create the ultimate Prestige Class Monstrosity and instead welcome the freedom of ambiguity and GM Fiat.

[Rukelnikov]

If you come from 3e, 5e is gonna be extremely easy to learn, and to adapt to play.

3e allows for much more than 5e, but it requires astounding ammounts of reading and planning, and running combat after lvl 10 is a pain, having to check the duration on your 17 different buffs
and the type of bonuses they give to check if they stack. It clogged a lot.

5e delivers good combat with minimal effort required. And I think that makes it the better edition overall.

[Schwann145]

5e drastically streamlines the game compared to 3.X. It takes the endless amount of math you had to keep track of an basically eliminates it in favor of an advantage/disadvantage system.
There's still math, it's still D&D, but no longer do you have to worry about keeping track of X separate bonuses and Y separate penalties from Z different sources that could change from turn to turn.

Prestige Classes have been axed in favor of Subclasses, which work a bit more like 2e's Kit system, in that it's a built-into-the-class modifications. Unlike in 2e where they were optional, in 5e they're baked-in - every class will pick a subclass. For a Cleric, this is picking your Domain. For a Wizard it's picking your School. Etc and so on. (It's a little more detailed than that, but you get the idea.)

Where older editions try to give you mechanics for everything, 5e tends to leave more choices in the hands of the DM. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is gonna be up to you. If you like a ton of crunch already designed for you, you will be a bit disappointed by 5e. If you like the game letting you make the rules as you go, you'll enjoy 5e more.

Feats are optional (but almost no one I've heard of plays without them) and are, generally, more significant than they were in 3.X, but you'll get fewer of them.

In a nutshell, I'd say that 5e is the best parts of 2e and 4e combined, while leaving out the worst parts. It plays more similarly to late 2e and 3.X in "feel," but with significantly less "crunch" than the 3.X era.
If that sounds appealing to you, you'll definitely enjoy it. If you like playing the technical math game, then you should probably stick to 3.X.

[Greywander]

5e is generally a lot more streamlined, which is pretty nice. Play is faster, a lot less fiddly rules. But it does also mean there isn't as much fun stuff you can do, a lot fewer build options, and a lot fewer crazy rules interactions.

I don't know that it's possible to give a full rundown of everything that's different, particularly since I'm not very familiar with 3.x rules. I will, however, give you two pieces of advice that are pretty common for those coming to 5e from older editions:

Don't assume that a rule works the same way as it did in 3.x. Even if it has the same name. A lot of stuff has changed in small ways, so make sure to read and reread the rules carefully. If a player (especially one who never played 3.x) tries to correct you on the rules, listen to them and check to see if they might be right.

Run the rules as-is at the start. There is often a tendency for those coming from 3.x to try and reintroduce rules from that edition into 5e. Try to resist that urge, and just run the game as written for a while. Once you get used to the new system, you might find that you actually like it a lot more than 3.x. And besides, tinkering with rules you don't yet fully understand is a recipe for disaster.

There's actually a set of basic rules that are available for free. You can find them here: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
That might be enough to run a one-shot just to see how well you like the rules before you spend any money on the books. If you do decide to drop some coin on the books, the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual are the most important books to get. After that, Xanathar's Guide to Everything and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything serve as sort of "expansion packs" to the game, offering a lot of new subclasses and optional rules. Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes gives you more monsters to work with.

If you have any specific questions about the rules, I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would be happy to chime in and try to clarify things.

[Aett_Thorn]

While a few things may have remained from 3.5, it is likely best to treat 5e as a fresh start. Terms likely mean different things, and can be used in different ways in this edition. So much so that it’s better to forget everything from 3.5 and only after a campaign to realize what has stayed the same.

Luckily, 5e is pretty easy to learn, and outside of the few core books (PHB, DMG, MM), you can just pick up the other books if they interest you. The rules are fairly straightforward, and there are very few broken combos that are either too strong or too weak compared to most things. The floors and ceilings are a bit closer together than 3.5. So it means your players can play what they want and not feel like they’re too weak.

[Kane0]

Soo.. I figure its time for a switch maybe. Going from 3.x to 5th. Can anyone tell me how its changed

- Proficiency bonus is used for skill/ability checks, attacks and saving throws instead of BAB, save progressions and skill points. It's all based off Stat + Proficiency, and the numbers are lower and scale slower. HP and abilities/options are the primary differentiation between low and high levels.
- Due to reduced scaling of basic numbers (skills, attacks, damage, AC) it is expected that low CR creatures remain a threat to higher level parties in significant numbers. This is intended.

- You have a saving throw type for each attribute.
- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.
- Movement is not an action, and actions can happen between movement. Bonus actions are like swifts, reactions are like immediates. No action can be traded for another type. You can also make one interaction (grab a weapon, open a door, etc) per turn for free.
- Attacking does not impede your ability to move (ie ‘Full Attack’) and you can in fact move between attacks if you have multiple.
- Attacks are classified oddly but they mostly boil down to a combination of [melee or ranged] and [weapon or spell]
- You cannot delay, only ready an action.
- By default only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.
- Learn the advantage / disadvantage mechanic, it replaces 90% of fiddly +1s and -2s.
- Dying works differently. You only die outright when you take damage equal to your max HP in one hit after reaching 0. When reduced to 0 you make saving throws, three successes stabilizes you and 3 failures you die. Taking damage while making death saves counts as one failure.
- Damage resistance, reduction and vulnerability is simplified. It's half damage, doesn't exist (as such) and double damage respectively.

- There are two kinds of rest: short and long. There is expected to be two short rests for every long on average, which is important to maintain balance short rest classes (monk, warlock) against long rest classes (paladin, sorcerer).
- Everybody can heal via hit die, which are spent during short rests.

- Concentration is a thing casters should learn well. Most buff, debuff and control spells need concentration, and you can only concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a chance to lose concentration each time you take damage.
- There are relatively few permanent or near-permanent bonuses/buffs
- All casting is 'spontaneous', as in you don’t put individual spells into slots, you just have a collection of spells available to you and spell slots to fuel them with. Your spells will either be prepared or known based on class.
- High casting stat doesn’t give you additional spell slots, but does affect your spell attack bonus and spell DC (which is the same across all spell levels).
- Spells scale by spell slot rather than by caster level, which makes multiclassing considerably more friendly for casters
- Cantrips are notable now, offering viable damage output based on PC level not caster level
- There is a rule that restricts how many levelled spells you can cast on your turn, but it’s… complicated.

- Levels 1-3 are supposed to go by very quickly, and 4-5 fairly quickly. The majority of PC time is angled to be spent in the level 6-11 range.
- Encounter design and challenge rating is also different. A CR 6 enemy is an easy (little resource expenditure & low chance of falling) challenge for a level 6 party of 4, not an easy challenge for a single level 6 character. You are expected to deal with half a dozen or so medium encounters during an adventuring day, not one or two hard ones.
- Don't use any optional rules to start with. This includes multiclassing and feats.
- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.

Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.

[Christew]

Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.
Solid wisdom. This was the biggest transitional hurdle for our group. We still get calls for Ref/Fort/Will every so often.

That said, 5E is awesome (preserves the feel of 3E w/o the bloated crunch). You are THE target audience of the Rules Expansion Gift Set -- enjoy.

[Unoriginal]

It's important to take into account how 5e is a whole different game than 3.X.

Not only the rules are different, but the very design principles and fundamental philosophy behind the rules are different.

So while both absolutely are D&D, one isn't a "continuation" of the other, if you get what I mean.



As for a new group, I'd say it's def. easier to learn 5e.

[LudicSavant]

Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.

Yeah. Even things like what the core attributes represent, or how AoEs are measured, are different in important ways.

[kazaryu]

- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.


super nitpicky correction here. you *can* have stats higher than 30 (nothing says you can't, that im aware of) however, modifers stop scaling after 30, as there's no rule that spells out how to calculate the modifier for a given value. just a chart that *tells* you what your modifier is at a given value.

but, for example: the tomes would still boost your ability score above 30 since there's nothing (that i know of, nor have seen mentioned in similar discussions) that explictitly says you can't go above 30. meaning that str is really the only ability score that you benefit from going above 30 (outside of effects that deal ability score damage).

[Schwann145]

super nitpicky correction here. you *can* have stats higher than 30 (nothing says you can't, that im aware of) however, modifers stop scaling after 30, as there's no rule that spells out how to calculate the modifier for a given value. just a chart that *tells* you what your modifier is at a given value.

but, for example: the tomes would still boost your ability score above 30 since there's nothing (that i know of, nor have seen mentioned in similar discussions) that explictitly says you can't go above 30. meaning that str is really the only ability score that you benefit from going above 30 (outside of effects that deal ability score damage).

Ability score modifiers are the same math they were in 3.X.
(X-10)/2, round down. X = Ability Score

So a 17 is a +3 ([17-10]/2=3.5, round to 3),
a 24 is a +7 ([24-10]/2=7),
and a 38 would be a +14 ([38-10]/2=14).

[PhantomSoul]

super nitpicky correction here. you *can* have stats higher than 30 (nothing says you can't, that im aware of) however, modifers stop scaling after 30, as there's no rule that spells out how to calculate the modifier for a given value. just a chart that *tells* you what your modifier is at a given value.

but, for example: the tomes would still boost your ability score above 30 since there's nothing (that i know of, nor have seen mentioned in similar discussions) that explictitly says you can't go above 30. meaning that str is really the only ability score that you benefit from going above 30 (outside of effects that deal ability score damage).

Curiously, PHB7 gives a "typical" range for PCs (3-18) but says "Monsters might have scores as low as 1 or as high as 30." But while the math is pretty transparent, it's true that PHB12-13 gives a table but no explicit maximum (the text doesn't say the table gives all possible values). However, PHB173 does make it explicit not just for "monsters and divine beings" ("monsters and divine beings can have scores as high as 30") and a range without exceptions for adventurers ("Adventurers can have scores as high as 20"), but goes so far as to state 1-30 is "the range of possible ability scores", so establishing an official maximum. Not that the math is hard to figure out to extend the table, of course, but the game does say 30 is the absolute ceiling, with breaking 20 needing exceptions.

[Person_Man]

There is a guide explaining this in great detail in my signature. Though it was written when 5E came out, so it does’t account for splat books. (For example, at the time 5E was released many people considered the Ranger the weakest class. Its gotten splat which arguably makes it on par with other non-full casters).

[Witty Username]

5e is generally simpler to play, generally more complex to DM from my experience. There are less rules in general, fewer classes, and less math. Character creation is much faster. Also the power level gaps between characters is smaller so optimization/build mistakes is less concerning. The DM will have to put in more prep work for games and improv is more complicated though as rules and systems from 3.5 simply don't exist in 5e, with an expectation of the DM simply making it themselves.

Overall, I think it is an improvement. I would say that ability scores are much more important. A fighter and a wizard are going to be differentiated more in melee combat by their difference in strength scores than class capabilities. If you like mold breaking characters this has some advantages. On the other hand I wouldn't recommend playing a character with less than 14 in the stats they plan to regularly use, and prefer 16 as a starting score for maximum game health.

[kazaryu]

Curiously, PHB7 gives a "typical" range for PCs (3-18) but says "Monsters might have scores as low as 1 or as high as 30." But while the math is pretty transparent, it's true that PHB12-13 gives a table but no explicit maximum (the text doesn't say the table gives all possible values). However, PHB173 does make it explicit not just for "monsters and divine beings" ("monsters and divine beings can have scores as high as 30") and a range without exceptions for adventurers ("Adventurers can have scores as high as 20"), but goes so far as to state 1-30 is "the range of possible ability scores", so establishing an official maximum. Not that the math is hard to figure out to extend the table, of course, but the game does say 30 is the absolute ceiling, with breaking 20 needing exceptions.

ooo, nice find. thank you. There is of course, an argument to be made for 'specific trumping general' afterall, the tomes increase the maximum for the score as well as the current. so it might be fair to say that it would also affect the maximum you mentioned. Also interestingly, contrary to what i'd previously believed. that same section does include a way to calculate modifiers without the table. So if you can get your score above 30, by RaW you actually can keep scaling the modifier. But this isn't really the thread for that discussion...nor is it a terribly practical discussion at all since its unlikely your party would have that easy of access to the ability score tomes. Regardless, thank you for pointing that section out to me, i've seen some extensive discussions on this without anyone bringing it up.

[Yael]

5th edition is a streamlined harmony that appeals to OSR Grognards and new age Apocalypse Engine types.


Gone are the days of complex grid management and memorizing complex feat tree spreadsheets to create the ultimate Prestige Class Monstrosity and instead welcome the freedom of ambiguity and GM Fiat.

Especially GM fiat, as most of the game is left unmade so every DM has fun making rules on-the-go. Which is a good or a bad thing, depends on who you ask.

[NotPrior]

- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.


Agree with everything else, but if a campaign involves Outsiders or other nasties (basically anything but a very low magic campaign) then martials MUST get a magic weapon, usually by about fifth level, or they might as well not bother showing up.

[Kane0]

Agree with everything else, but if a campaign involves Outsiders or other nasties (basically anything but a very low magic campaign) then martials MUST get a magic weapon, usually by about fifth level, or they might as well not bother showing up.

Not true, you have things like silvered weapons and poisons, buffs like magic weapon and class or subclass features that add damage of other types. And even if you have nothing you're usually dealing half damage and not nothing. The defensive CR calculation of a creature actually does expect a creature to benefit from damage resistance.

[JellyPooga]

Not true, you have things like silvered weapons and poisons, buffs like magic weapon and class or subclass features that add damage of other types. And even if you have nothing you're usually dealing half damage and not nothing. The defensive CR calculation of a creature actually does expect a creature to benefit from damage resistance.

Not to mention that damage isn't the be-all end-all of martial/mundane combat. If DPR is all you're bringing to the table, I suggest you've boxed yourself in. Your sword might not penetrate a wererats hide, but you can still throw the filthy sewer-rat off a cliff, hog-tie a Stone Golem with adamantium chains or put that Osyluth on the floor and tell it to sit down and shut up or you'll sic the Druid on them.

[Kane0]

or put that Osyluth on the floor and tell it to sit down and shut up or you'll sic the Druid on them.

Oh yeah monks and such just straight up get magic attacks too.

[Psyren]

I avoided 5e for the longest time because it was very light on first-party options. Their first real splat, SCAG, felt extremely weak / overly cautious to me even back then and didn't fill me with confidence.

With the release of more splat however (especially Xanathar's and Tasha's) I now feel there's enough depth here to pull me away from 3.P as my primary game.

I enjoy the simplicity of the skill/ability check system, the fact that most spell and monster entries are self-contained without needing to double-check and cross-reference a bunch of other rules elsewhere (e.g. descriptors and keywords), and while I still have some issues with bounded accuracy it's definitely grown on me overall. (For example, I like knowing that I'm "done" with my primary stat once I get it 20, and I also like knowing that I can play a low-magic-item campaign and not be completely hosed vs. level-appropriate encounters. I also like MAD classes being able to catch up to SAD ones, usually around level 12 or so, instead of the gap growing wider and wider as the campaign proceeds.)

Above all, I like the mindset shift this edition for each playgroup to make D&D their own thing and embrace table variation. Instead of every spell and class feature being written in exhaustive legalese, the GM is empowered to take a more active role with interpreting some things, and that encourages a more improv culture of "yes, and" rather than "can you find a rule that says that?"

[NotPrior]

Not true, you have things like silvered weapons and poisons, buffs like magic weapon and class or subclass features that add damage of other types. And even if you have nothing you're usually dealing half damage and not nothing. The defensive CR calculation of a creature actually does expect a creature to benefit from damage resistance.
Silvered weapons have no effect on the majority of creatures of this type, and poisons are little better. Many (or even most) martial subclasses lack alternate damage types. Zealot and storm barbarians have at least some access, but that's scant comfort to the totems and the berserkers and the ancestral guardians who are watching the golem ignore them while it body slams the wizard through a wall.

Monks are of course separate to this, as are paladins to an extent, but most fighters and barbarians are left with little to do except watch while the casters outperform them at the primary role of martial classes.

[Psyren]

Silvered weapons have no effect on the majority of creatures of this type, and poisons are little better. Many (or even most) martial subclasses lack alternate damage types. Zealot and storm barbarians have at least some access, but that's scant comfort to the totems and the berserkers and the ancestral guardians who are watching the golem ignore them while it body slams the wizard through a wall.

Monks are of course separate to this, as are paladins to an extent, but most fighters and barbarians are left with little to do except watch while the casters outperform them at the primary role of martial classes.

Magic physical damage is one of the most reliable damage types in the game, up there with Radiant and Force. Yes you're dependent on the GM to provide you with a magic weapon of some kind, but the DMG is clear that that's expected to happen by Tier 2 at the latest. If your DM is running a very low-magic campaign or setting, that's completely fine, but they should anticipate the effects this will have on various martial classes and design encounters accordingly.

[Xervous]

5e does various things differently. Depending on what you’re looking for in a system it might be a better or worse fit than 3.5e

You get greatly simplified math and bookkeeping at the cost of granularity.

You get classes that are typically functional at the cost of broad exotic customization options.

You get smoother combat that tends to hedge out Martials less frequently at the cost of (or along with if you consider it a bonus) combat flow and style not changing much across the levels.

If you look at the big picture it’s still D&D, just the mobile version rather than the self complied version running in a terminal window that is 3.5e.

[NotPrior]

Magic physical damage is one of the most reliable damage types in the game, up there with Radiant and Force. Yes you're dependent on the GM to provide you with a magic weapon of some kind, but the DMG is clear that that's expected to happen by Tier 2 at the latest. If your DM is running a very low-magic campaign or setting, that's completely fine, but they should anticipate the effects this will have on various martial classes and design encounters accordingly.

Yeah I agree, and that's entirely my point.

You can either specifically tailor what you do to a lack of magic weapons OR you give out magic weapons. If you treat creature CR as given and design encounters as presented in the table (which generally works barring cases like the intellect devourer) then you need to give out magic weapons or have a very bored barbarian. "magic items aren't needed" needs the caveat "except for one magic weapon per martial".

Incidentally this is seperate from encounter difficulty. Cr 3 Barbazu work at CR 3 regardless of magic item absence, but that's still not fun for the barbarian who is getting to play BMX bandit.

[Psyren]

If I were a martial player, I knew it was a no-magic-items campaign, and I knew the DM had no plans of changing that, I'd definitely go Path of the Beast Barbarian as they get built-in magic weapons at 6th level. (Soulknife or Kensei would also be good.)

[Unoriginal]

Incidentally this is seperate from encounter difficulty. Cr 3 Barbazu work at CR 3 regardless of magic item absence, but that's still not fun for the barbarian who is getting to play BMX bandit.

A CR 3 Bearded Devil is not immune to non-magical weapons. They're resistant to it.

They also have Magical Resistance, resistant to Cold and are straight up immune to Fire (two of the most common form of damage for casters) and to Poison (which admittedly isn't a popular for most casters, but still something that matters).

So if the Barbarian without magic weapon is playing BMX bandit in such an encounter, then so are many of the casting classes/builds.

[PhoenixPhyre]

A CR 3 Bearded Devil is not immune to non-magical weapons. They're resistant to it.

They also have Magical Resistance, resistant to Cold and are straight up immune to Fire (two of the most common form of damage for casters) and to Poison (which admittedly isn't a popular for most casters, but still something that matters).

So if the Barbarian without magic weapon is playing BMX bandit in such an encounter, then so are many of the casting classes/builds.

Yeah. A plurality, if not an outright majority, of monsters that are resistant to non-magical BPS are fiends or celestials. Both of which are outright immune to several energy damage types as well as resistant to a whole lot more. And those are also (generally) the ones for which silver bypasses the resistance.

So "needing a magic weapon" (and at what level) varies tremendously. I'll note that IMO, most features are "I'm special because I can...". And so the magic weapons that monks and moon druids get? That's them being special before such a thing is considered necessary. If it were generically necessary, the game would give that to everyone. Not hide it in an optional book (yes, the DMG is optional), locked behind DM fiat. That's not how 5e rolls.

[LudicSavant]

A CR 3 Bearded Devil is not immune to non-magical weapons. They're resistant to it.

They also have Magical Resistance, resistant to Cold and are straight up immune to Fire (two of the most common form of damage for casters) and to Poison (which admittedly isn't a popular for most casters, but still something that matters).

So if the Barbarian without magic weapon is playing BMX bandit in such an encounter, then so are many of the casting classes/builds.

Not really. Basically every single caster class has good anti-fiend tools. Magic resistance and elemental resistance only resist specific spells, not your whole kit.

For example, a fiend's resistances do nothing at all against spells like Guiding Bolt, Spiritual Weapon, Magic Missile, Cloud of Daggers, Eldritch Blast, Protection from Evil and Good, and so on and so forth.

[Unoriginal]

Not really. Basically every single caster class has good anti-fiend tools. Magic resistance and elemental resistance only resist specific spells, not your whole kit.

Indeed. The same is true for the Barbarian.

The non-magic-weapon-having Barbarian is as much the BMX Bandit as most casters in this situation. If the casters aren't, then the Barbarian isn't either.



For example, a fiend's resistances do nothing at all against spells like Guiding Bolt, Spiritual Weapon, Magic Missile, Cloud of Daggers, Eldritch Blast, Protection from Evil and Good, and so on and so forth.

And the lvl 3 Barbarian can actually survive against the Bearded Devil for long enough for the casters to unload their relevant spells on the fiend. While still contributing to the damage output.

[Psyren]

Whatever "BMX Bandit" still exists in this edition is nothing compared to what it used to be (and the same goes for "Angel Summoner" for that matter.) Are there levels past which a martial without a magic weapon is going to have a bad time, sure, but the solution as is almost always the case is to read the DMG.

[JellyPooga]

"magic items aren't needed" needs the caveat "except for one magic weapon per martial".

No caveat needed. Is the Barbarian that predicated their entire character solely around dealing damage going to be bored if he can't deal damage? Yeah probably. I also suggest they're probably pretty bored regardless of whether they have a magic item or not, because they built their entire character around a single aspect. One-dimensional characters are boring and that doesn't have anything to do with the availability of magic items.

At the end of the day, the martials that don't have access to magical attacks are basically the Barbarian, Fighter and Rogue and even they have options in their kit to do so, let alone any of the other things they're able to bring to the table other than weapon damage.
- Barbarians and Rogues are both better than your average grappler (including shoves). Fighters are no slouches here either.
- Fighters and Barbarians often bring "getting in the way" to the table, not to mention those Rogues that can do the same, which is a valuable ability to let those that can do the damage do their job.
- Rogues are pretty (in)famous for their use of equipment (with Thief Rogues being better at it), but anyone can utilise gear, terrain and the environment to manipulate a melee. Even at high levels, you can swing a battle with the right use of good old fashioned cunnin'.

5e, with it's "rulings not rules" attitude is actually pretty forgiving for the creatively minded adventurer in this regard. With movement and actions being fluid and little gatekeeping of abilities behind Feats or abilities (like in 3e), there's a lot a body can do without ever drawing a weapon.

[ftafp]

word of advice: if you're in a situation where you can play an edition or ttrpg other than 5e, do it. do it and never look back. this game is a burning dumpster rolling down a mountainside, and it's only when it hits rock bottom that will people realize it has learned how to dig

[Kyberwulf]

Lol. Wow so u just checked when it came out. Uh.. like 8 years ago. Still seems new to me. Is there any free rule books out there, like the d20srd?

[JNAProductions]

word of advice: if you're in a situation where you can play an edition or ttrpg other than 5e, do it. do it and never look back. this game is a burning dumpster rolling down a mountainside, and it's only when it hits rock bottom that will people realize it has learned how to dig

What is presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

To the OP!

5th Edition isn't as complex as 3rd or PF. There's a lot less buttons overall, but it's VASTLY easier to manage in-play, in my experience.
One thing to note is that, generally speaking, PCs are assumed competent. You don't need a feat to trip someone-you don't even need proficiency in Athletics. A decent Strength score is enough in many circumstances. Same for grappling, and climbing, and many other things.

[Psyren]

Lol. Wow so u just checked when it came out. Uh.. like 8 years ago. Still seems new to me. Is there any free rule books out there, like the d20srd?

The basic rules (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules) are free.



One thing to note is that, generally speaking, PCs are assumed competent. You don't need a feat to trip someone-you don't even need proficiency in Athletics. A decent Strength score is enough in many circumstances. Same for grappling, and climbing, and many other things.

I do enjoy this. You can do a lot of stylish stuff in combat without needing the Improved/Greater/Mythic Stylish Stuff in Combat feat chains.

[Demonslayer666]

Kane0 covered a lot of the new stuff, but I want to touch on some of the key differences that helped us transition to 5th from 3.5 & PF.

First off, I wan to say that I was a die hard 3.5 and Pathfinder fan. I love challenging tactical combat, and 3.5 gave me that. We tried 4th edition, but it was bland and got old quickly. We are currently playing 5th and enjoying it more than any other edition as a group. I highly recommend 5th because the rules are streamlined. You will not have any issues transitioning to 5th if you liked 3.5.

Coming from 3.5, I do not recommend avoiding the optional ones. Feats, multiclassing, and magic items are optional. :P

Removed:
First off, there is no 5' step. It's gone. This is a tough one for my group to remember.
Ranged attacks and casting a spell no longer provokes. Ranged attacks (including ranged spell attacks) attack at disadvantage.
Trained only skills aren't a thing.
Coup-de-grace
miss chance
skill points
flat footed and touch AC
Armor penalty checks, casting in armor %
partial rounds


New:
Short and long rests - Resting refreshes many abilities
Inspiration, and Advantage and Disadvantage (great addition to the game)
Tool proficiencies


Coming from Pathfinder, where everything was available online, 5th edition kinda struggles there. You can get D&D Beyond though, which will give you access to the info online. I've heard good things about it, but haven't picked it up yet.

[KorvinStarmast]

While a few things may have remained from 3.5, it is likely best to treat 5e as a fresh start.
I can't second this motion firmly enough.

I played very little 3.x, but had a lot of AD&D and Original D&D mastery. Until I just let the previous edition go and embraced 5e as a new game, I didn't enjoy it that much.

Once I did that, I grew to love it and started DM'ing again.

[Psyren]

Coming from Pathfinder, where everything was available online, 5th edition kinda struggles there. You can get D&D Beyond though, which will give you access to the info online. I've heard good things about it, but haven't picked it up yet.

The nice thing about DDB is that only one person in your group needs the paid version (Master Tier, $5.99 USD/month at time of writing.) That person can then share any books they've purchased through the service with your whole playgroup (12 people per ongoing campaign) and none of those people have to spend a dime. They can also use those books with the character creator and sheet.

The sheet can then be used during play as it has a built-in dice roller and calculates your modifiers on the fly, including being able to roll with advantage/disadvantage or apply all the various conditions like charmed, frightened, grappled etc. It can be used on both a cellphone and tablet as well.

Often I find it fun to just mess around with the character creator and try out various builds.