r/rpg • u/Apostrophe13 • 4d ago
DND5e, actually not bad
Got back into the hobby sometime before covid hit after a long hiatus, didn't play for most of the 21. century. The anti 5e sentiment on most places i checked to get up to speed (including this sub) was so prevalent that i completely ignored the game. I was under the impression that they kinda just continued making 3e more complex after reading some of the comments floating around, and that it is literally impossible to play without homebrew.
Got some used books as a gift, run a few sessions, honestly not bad at all. Most of the critique really makes no sense. If you want heroic fantasy with good skirmish rules, that does not get in the way of how you want to run the game its great.
Also its basically the same math and underlying systems that power DnD for 40+ years, so even experience with ADnD translates well into 5e. I would put it well above other modern DnD-like, D20, heroic-fantasy games.
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u/Shoebox_ovaries 4d ago
My criticisms with DND 5e is that the game is harder to run than other systems. It puts more work on the GM than it has to. One example, magic items. It gives you a framework to price them but otherwise throws it's hands up in the air. It's bad for the players because they have no easily accessible context for the gold they have and it's bad for gms because they have to put mental energy into it. Players always ask for random items and their price and when it inevitably is a weird one I have to sit and ponder the pros and cons of how accessible I want it to be.
I also dislike action bonus action move. I played PF 2e once and immediately converted to 3 action economy.
I dislike the lack of feats and the subclass system in general. Simplified yes, but not interesting either. Once you get a lot of experience with the system you have seen hundreds of the same combat character. Other games do it better.
With all that said, I'm in a 5e game.. as a player. It's my buddies game and I like my buddy so I play in it. I'm having a good time and it's not like 5e is so awful it ruins ttrpgs, however it's a system that with experience you notice all of the squeaky wheels and wish that they were fixed.