Dungeons and Dragons 5e is awesome

I wish I was as in good of shape as that dragon.  I'd be sexy...

So, for those of you who don't know me, or don't know me very well, I am a huge tabletop RPG (Role-Playing Game) gamer.  And while I've played many different systems, I've always thought that D&D has been the best, overall.  And I'm happy to finally give my opinion about D&D 5th edition.  Now like always I have to disclose a few things.  The last version of of D&D that I've played throughout is 3rd edition and by proxy 3.5.  It was highly customizable, highly experimental, and very fun but not without its many glaring flaws, and rules that could be broken or skipped over.  And while I liked the fact that it could be played with miniatures (Which really I feel like all tabletop RPGs should be played with miniatures) it was a new experience.

I tried my best to get into 4th edition, but to me it felt like playing World of Warcraft in tabletop form, and it just didn't grab my attention.  If I wanted to play World of Warcraft, I'd just play on my computer.  That and even when I wanted to play, I couldn't find a group who were willing to play alongside me.  So there was a time when fourth edition was up and coming, at it's peak, and slowly declined when I didn't have a gaming group.  So this blog post is not about comparing fourth edition to fifth edition, and you'll hear more about the comparisons and the contrasts between third and fifth.  And it's more about my impressions and experiences with Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition.  Got it?  Good.

So, as the title of this blog post would suggest, fifth edition is awesome.  I've been playing a campaign for about seven or eight weeks, once per week, for my first experience with the game, so I can't really comment on everything, since I don't know everything, but I have to say that what I've experienced with the game thus far, it's elegant.  The feel of the game and the mechanics behind the game feels far more streamlined than third edition.  Which is both good and bad.  Good in that it takes a little less time to create a character and to understand why this character works the way he does.  But it's bad in the way that it lacks the vast amount of customization that gives depth to a character.  Sure you can give customization in the role-play, and I like to think that I'm pretty expressive with my characters, but when compared to the mechanics I feel that third edition gives player customization more options than fifth.  Still, I really like the streamlining of fifth and there's nothing wrong with trying to condense it into an easier format.

I do like that there are different "Paths" that a character could go down.  For example a Fighter could branch off into a Champion, or a Battle Master, or even an Eldrith Knight.  So perhaps one fighter wants to learn how to do specific special battle moves, while another fighter wants to have magic to bolster his combat prowess.  Well, you can do so without having to reach certain requirements in skills, and levels, and having to be a certain alignment.  No, in fifth edition all you got to do is reach third level and pick your path.  And that's very cool.  And it's in the core fifth edition player's handbook.  I do wish that there were more choices for each of the character classes, but for what it's worth, it's a very good start, and I suspect more paths with supplemental books.  So it's a nitpick, but I think it's really cool.

Many of your classic monsters and wicked creatures are still featured, with amazing artwork to represent them.  Of course you have your goblins, and trolls, and drow, and dragons.  They have their own statistics, they have their own abilities, they have experience, and they range from the incredibly simple to the horrendously hard. But depending on the situation, terrain, time, or many different factors could make these creatures either easier, or harder.  And that's what I like.

But the best part about Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition, and really all tabletop RPGs is the social interaction with those who you play with.  Unlike video games, computer games, or even online games, tabletop games allow you to directly speak and interact with a group of friends or people who you just met and form new friendships as you and a cadre of other players work together in order to overcome an obstacle, defeat enemies, solve puzzles, and whatever have you.  And that's what I like best about tabletop games.  Especially if all the people you play with are your friends.

I currently play a character who is a Battle Master Fighter, big on strength, below average intelligence.  And I play him as such.  His name is Kain Lightvalour, who is a character I created way back when, when I was getting my feet wet in role-playing games almost twenty-five years ago with the tale end of second edition.  Back then he was a paladin, but over time he evolved into many different things, until now in fifth edition he became a fighter.  But I will write about his exploits another time.

It's good to be back, everyone!  And stay tuned... or whatever we call it for webpages.