(A) Nobody's Perspective on D&D 3rd, 4th, and 5th Editions

 Hello folks my name is Nilsine /Fellstrike and before I write some on other games, I thought I’d talk about the Gargantuan Red Dragon in the Dungeon. Dungeons and Dragons has had a lot of versions over the years and funny enough I’ve pretty much played around the time the OGL was created (baring like 2 sessions of AD&D but I am definitely not qualified to talk about those.

3^rd (3.5 and Pathfinder 1e) are what I tend to think of as far as a simulation style game. Though honestly, I think that case is a bit overblown it is the game where without magic you can min-max characters who are nigh-invisible or can wrestle literal giants. However, in these games the for lack of a better word physics numbers matter. Range in foots, carrying in pounds, most things tend to be spelled out and kind of work how you might think. 3^rd edition was also when D&D stopped using THACO and instead you added a number to a d20 roll and compared it to a DC. It can be a lot of fun but I feel like most of the fun I can remember having with it is trying to make some super-oddball race/class combo work well enough that it keeps up with the rest of the team. (Yes I am a Halfling wrestler and I will suplex your face thank you.) A lot of players really seem to enjoy the side-game of min/maxing aka the “How high is your skill modifier?” and you can do some crazy and fun builds between multiclassing and just the crazy wealth of books available. Though as a note they all basically use the same mechanics but their balances are very different. If you want to try this without giving WotC money the Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might books from Drop Dead Studios are really fun books that do their best to balance magic and martial abilities and can make a lot of really fun campaigns.

 

4^th Edition I feel gets a bad rap, honestly the worst part of it was the terrible Game System License they tried to implement. It is genuinely the most balanced version of a D&D style game I’ve ever played. You can be any of the classes normal or essential versions and it works great alongside any other class. So the owlbear here is that 4^th Ed is almost impossible to play theater of the mind style. It also didn’t do a lot in what 5^th Ed call the Exploration or Interaction pillars of gameplay. However, the combat was great unless you had a bunch of players who aren’t paying attention or don’t know what their characters do. I know most probably don’t know much so the basic mechanics every class had a mixture of powers divided into three categories: At Will, Encounter, and Daily. Yes everyone, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, everyone. They did rename them for each class at least but a lot of people found this jarring. It also introduced a lot of great classes Avenger (a Vengence Paladin sort of.) Marshall (a non-magic class who could give their actions to party members with bonuses, basically a very charismatic war leader, some of them ended up in the Battlemaster Fighter), and Warden (Oath of the Ancients Paladin). If you can get over the power and needing minis thing give 4e a go. If you can’t I’ve heard that 13^th Age has perfected the best parts of this system but sadly have never had the chance to play it. (If someone reading is running a game hit me up I’d love to try it.)

 

5^th Edition I found was not my cup of tea. I’m glad it brough so many to the TTRPG system and I’ve had a few fun games in it. For pretty much all these D&D style games roleplaying is what your group makes of it and I’ve had amazing stories in all 3 systems, but the game side 5e I find quite boring after character creation. It’s a good time with a good group but in a bad or middling group there just isn’t enough game to hold my interest. (Also even before 2023 I found D&D Beyond repulsive.)  I won’t go over the mechanics and what not but I love how they did the Warlocks, and somewhat enjoyed my old buddy the Bard. I honestly don’t have strong feeling about 5e so it’s hard for me to comment to much especially since most reading this theoretically know  plenty about it.

 

Hopefully this is interesting for someone. Next time Pathfinder 2e.