Picked it up recently after much deliberation. Decided I wanted to make my own opinion of it. And so far, I'm pleasantly surprised. Much easier to navigate. And I think it's going to do a much better job at onboarding new players.
I'm very pleased with the Weapon Masteries. I'm playing a level 1 Orc Fighter and he's immediately more fun for me than I've ever had with any other Fighter outside of 4th Edition, probably because the Weapon Masteries basically _are_ the at-will Powers from 4th Edition. That said, because I'm level 1, I haven't used anything other than my Greatsword to Graze people on a miss. Because having that safety net is fantastic to keep my damage consistent for my level.
Nice review. Like you, I hadn't starting reading the book until now. I have to say it is much improved over the 2014 version. FYI the fighter can use additional weapon mastery traits once they reach level 9. I think its the only class that can do so. I suppose they wanted to give the fighter a specialty, and it makes sense its the use of weapons. Also, there are class character sheets available on the DM Guild. You can also still use the 2014 version , which has a separate spell casting sheet. The character sheet still takes two pages though. I wasn't too sure about the 2024 version, but its better as a fillable PDF. I honestly think if you condensed the first page anymore you would not have enough room to fit all the details.
The changes sounds pretty good! Wouldn't mind more videos on class specific changes, as I haven't had the time to read the book either and this video helped give me a good idea, but I wouldn't mind knowing what else changed.
I wasn’t planning on getting into it but somehow a store that doesn’t normally sell this stuff actually is now. It was well priced $60 AUD. I read most of it and it’s okay. I run Dark Souls D&D Campaign so I don’t really think it will impact much. I personally prefer AD&D1e but it rarely played these days.
While the book looks nicer than a previous one, I still don't feel it brings me something that I don't already have with 4e. Going to continue using that
@ some quality of life improvements here and there, but all the new hunter’s mark focused level up features straight up fall between bad and meh. At low levels my wolf mounting dual wielding halfling beast master is pretty fun tho lol
I'm on the "not happy about" camp when it comes to species not giving stat bonuses, though I also dislike how none of them give penalties (like slower movement or sensitivities). The sheets seem universal enough to me, since every character will dip into a spellcaster sooner or later. And once again we see how 5e is being improved by making it more like 4E.
Fair enough about the species bonuses. With regards to giving them penalties, I’m personally of two minds. On the one hand, weaknesses and flaws can create interesting characters and it encourages other party members to cover for you, enhancing teamwork amongst a group. On the other hand, you don’t want players to feel like they’re being penalised for making a choice (having a penalty is different to not having a benefit/feature), and it may discourage players from trying certain character builds.
@@lesshero9982 If there are no good and bad things about the choice you made, then you didn't really make a choice. Playing a halfling with the same capabilities as a human is not really playing a halfling.
@@MurfBXthat’s not what I said or insinuated. When I said “you don’t want players to feel like they’re being penalised for making a choice”, I mean that you don’t want a player to be punished in some scenarios based around a choice (ie. Drow having disadvantage on all perception checks when in sunlight - because if your campaign has a lot of wilderness encounters, then it would be understandable if a player feels that way). But obviously I said that I can also see and understand the desire to have those penalties in a game. And I never said anything about removing benefits from species. I insinuated that I like the ASIs being tied to backgrounds, because I feel that what you did/learnt in your life prior to being an adventurer would have a bigger effect on your physical/mental capabilities than your species, and it encourages and inspires new species/class combos than before. Also, with your halfling/human example, they wouldn’t be the same anyway, as they still have different abilities; being lucky, brave and nimble are halfling features, whereas being more versatile and having inspiration everyday are human features. And all of this is ignoring that the starting ASIs, while they give you a better start, there’s still a score limit of 20 that everyone would be equal in their capabilities at anyway, as it doesn’t increase your max threshold.
I won’t be picking it up, partly because I don’t like hasbro’s corporate direction, partly because I don’t think the quality of their products since the pandemic has been up to snuff, and partly because I have a TON of third party supplements for ‘14, and hybridizing all that together sounds like a nightmare 😂
@@EndyHawk I'm generally of the same mind, but I've been expressing that by dropping out of their digital push. I'm only purchasing physical books and I'm not using any of their digital tools or content.
@@wereguy That's also a good message to send regarding their subscription plans! Stymie their recurrent spending forecast! Grey's been doing a great job tuning me in to 4e, but I've also been going indie to OSR stuff for that itch, and Fabula Ultima for my story campaign itch.
I would personally have liked to see a higher standard array + more points for point-buy, instead of moving the ability score boosts from species to background. It still forces you into a bucket if you want to play "the strongest" [insert whatever class] as possible. They could also keep the standard array as-is, and grant you +1 to three different ability scores, thus forcing a more diverse ability score spread. Just my two copper pieces.
Never apologize! Thanks for making the video
Thanks Greybeard! ❤
Picked it up recently after much deliberation. Decided I wanted to make my own opinion of it. And so far, I'm pleasantly surprised. Much easier to navigate. And I think it's going to do a much better job at onboarding new players.
I prefer 5.5e to keep the pattern going
I'm very pleased with the Weapon Masteries. I'm playing a level 1 Orc Fighter and he's immediately more fun for me than I've ever had with any other Fighter outside of 4th Edition, probably because the Weapon Masteries basically _are_ the at-will Powers from 4th Edition. That said, because I'm level 1, I haven't used anything other than my Greatsword to Graze people on a miss. Because having that safety net is fantastic to keep my damage consistent for my level.
Nice review. Like you, I hadn't starting reading the book until now. I have to say it is much improved over the 2014 version.
FYI the fighter can use additional weapon mastery traits once they reach level 9. I think its the only class that can do so. I suppose they wanted to give the fighter a specialty, and it makes sense its the use of weapons.
Also, there are class character sheets available on the DM Guild. You can also still use the 2014 version , which has a separate spell casting sheet. The character sheet still takes two pages though. I wasn't too sure about the 2024 version, but its better as a fillable PDF. I honestly think if you condensed the first page anymore you would not have enough room to fit all the details.
The changes sounds pretty good! Wouldn't mind more videos on class specific changes, as I haven't had the time to read the book either and this video helped give me a good idea, but I wouldn't mind knowing what else changed.
Thanks for your thoughts on the new PHB! I'm delving into myself
I call it 24e. Because it makes everyone happy. 😅😂
On a new adventure to go with the new rules: there put out one called Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn, and it's free on D&D Beyond!
I've taken the notion of calling it 5.24 edition lol
I wasn’t planning on getting into it but somehow a store that doesn’t normally sell this stuff actually is now. It was well priced $60 AUD. I read most of it and it’s okay. I run Dark Souls D&D Campaign so I don’t really think it will impact much. I personally prefer AD&D1e but it rarely played these days.
While the book looks nicer than a previous one, I still don't feel it brings me something that I don't already have with 4e. Going to continue using that
5.5e phb is really great. All the classes just feel better now (except maybe ranger kekw)
Does that one feel worse or the same?
@ some quality of life improvements here and there, but all the new hunter’s mark focused level up features straight up fall between bad and meh. At low levels my wolf mounting dual wielding halfling beast master is pretty fun tho lol
I'm on the "not happy about" camp when it comes to species not giving stat bonuses, though I also dislike how none of them give penalties (like slower movement or sensitivities).
The sheets seem universal enough to me, since every character will dip into a spellcaster sooner or later.
And once again we see how 5e is being improved by making it more like 4E.
Fair enough about the species bonuses. With regards to giving them penalties, I’m personally of two minds.
On the one hand, weaknesses and flaws can create interesting characters and it encourages other party members to cover for you, enhancing teamwork amongst a group.
On the other hand, you don’t want players to feel like they’re being penalised for making a choice (having a penalty is different to not having a benefit/feature), and it may discourage players from trying certain character builds.
@@lesshero9982 If there are no good and bad things about the choice you made, then you didn't really make a choice. Playing a halfling with the same capabilities as a human is not really playing a halfling.
@@MurfBXthat’s not what I said or insinuated. When I said “you don’t want players to feel like they’re being penalised for making a choice”, I mean that you don’t want a player to be punished in some scenarios based around a choice (ie. Drow having disadvantage on all perception checks when in sunlight - because if your campaign has a lot of wilderness encounters, then it would be understandable if a player feels that way). But obviously I said that I can also see and understand the desire to have those penalties in a game.
And I never said anything about removing benefits from species. I insinuated that I like the ASIs being tied to backgrounds, because I feel that what you did/learnt in your life prior to being an adventurer would have a bigger effect on your physical/mental capabilities than your species, and it encourages and inspires new species/class combos than before.
Also, with your halfling/human example, they wouldn’t be the same anyway, as they still have different abilities; being lucky, brave and nimble are halfling features, whereas being more versatile and having inspiration everyday are human features. And all of this is ignoring that the starting ASIs, while they give you a better start, there’s still a score limit of 20 that everyone would be equal in their capabilities at anyway, as it doesn’t increase your max threshold.
I won’t be picking it up, partly because I don’t like hasbro’s corporate direction, partly because I don’t think the quality of their products since the pandemic has been up to snuff, and partly because I have a TON of third party supplements for ‘14, and hybridizing all that together sounds like a nightmare 😂
@@EndyHawk I'm generally of the same mind, but I've been expressing that by dropping out of their digital push. I'm only purchasing physical books and I'm not using any of their digital tools or content.
@@wereguy That's also a good message to send regarding their subscription plans! Stymie their recurrent spending forecast! Grey's been doing a great job tuning me in to 4e, but I've also been going indie to OSR stuff for that itch, and Fabula Ultima for my story campaign itch.
Do you plan on maybe reviewing Tales of the Valiant by Kobold Press?
I almost picked up the core books for TotV the other day. I do want to take a look at them. Not sure when. But I will.
5.24
I would personally have liked to see a higher standard array + more points for point-buy, instead of moving the ability score boosts from species to background. It still forces you into a bucket if you want to play "the strongest" [insert whatever class] as possible. They could also keep the standard array as-is, and grant you +1 to three different ability scores, thus forcing a more diverse ability score spread. Just my two copper pieces.