D&D (2024) The 2014 vs 2024 PHB Compatibility Thread

[Minigiant]

Do you happen to remember anyone / any group reporting about playing with the same class, 2014 version and 2024 version, in the same party?

That's the core of my concern based on my read of UA thus far.

In my playtest game, we have 2 champion fighters NPCs that we use as flankers using different rules.

2014 did more damage.
2024 offered more tactics and versatility.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

There was a ton of discussion about this, and at the time, we heard over and over that the books would be compatible. As I suspected, this isn't really going to be true, and the expectation is that you'll adopt the new classes. And it makes sense because we're going from the perspective of "please keep buying the 2014 PHB" to "please buy the 2024 PHB."

There isn't anything wrong with that attitude, of course, because WotC wants everyone to adopt the new material. That completely makes financial sense. What I find cynically amusing is all the people who argued so vehemently that of course the old books and classes would be compatible and you could keep using them.

Well, I am no WOTC apologist and until the last month thought it unlikely I would purchase 5.5. The quality they are teasing has me changing my mind and I am intrigued. I will buy.

That said, I bought it hook line and sinker. To me, fully compatible meant mix and match. Not so.

Hey they got a foot in the door and slid it past me. They held back the full story long enough to get me interested. Props?

My conundrum is that my brother and I will likely but but our pals and most frequent DMs won’t.

If I run a game it will be 5.5 likely and that’s about it. I am a bit naive afterall.

 

[MockingBird]

I think @Clint_L played with both playtest and 2014 characters. From what I remember they didn't seem to think it was an issue. I apologize if my memory is wrong though.

 

[Minigiant]

Seriously, I don't see how people thought mix and match was the definition of backwards compatibility. Too many aspects of the 2014 version of 5th edition were too out of step with everything else. We all knew they were over powered or underpowered. So there was no way these broken elements would be allowed to be mixed with fixed elements as a core design.

There is no way you can allow the old broken versions of the aspects of 5th edition and create fixed versions of those broken aspects and then let people choose which one they want to use.

Who would choose the fixed 2024 version feats/subclasses over the overpowered 2014 version?

Who would choose the underpowered 2014 version feats/subclasses over the fixed 2024 version?

You really can't fix things and not change it.

There is no way the 2014 Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter or Beastmaster Ranger or 4Elements Monk would be allowed to mixed with the fixed game's subsystem content

 

[mamba]

What I find cynically amusing is all the people who argued so vehemently that of course the old books and classes would be compatible and you could keep using them.

you can keep on using the old classes and subclasses alongside the new ones, what you cannot do is mix an old subclass and a new class (without some level of adjustment)

 

[mamba]

Do you happen to remember anyone / any group reporting about playing with the same class, 2014 version and 2024 version, in the same party?

That's the core of my concern based on my read of UA thus far.

no idea, I am not sure why an old Fighter would work alongside a new Ranger but not alongside a new Fighter however, that seems completely unrelated, so I am not sure what your concern is

 

[TwoSix]

There is no way you can allow the old broken versions of the aspects of 5th edition and create fixed versions of those broken aspects and then let people choose which one they want to use.

I mean, I certainly will, because the balance difference doesn't rise to the level of actually being worth worrying about.

 

[Minigiant]

I mean, I certainly will, because the balance difference doesn't rise to the level of actually being worth worrying about.

As someone who saw Twenty-four spam Topple to set up Fourteen to -5/10 Great Weapon the group's right flank to death....

Mixing and matching anything but races on the players side before Tasha's seems like a bad idea.

 

[Parmandur]

you can keep on using the old classes and subclasses alongside the new ones, what you cannot do is mix an old subclass and a new class (without some level of adjustment)

That isn't really accurate based on what we've seen, it will likely be as painless as it was in the UA iterations, particularly the latter ones.

 

[TwoSix]

As someone who saw Twenty-four spam Topple to set up Fourteen to -5/10 Great Weapon the group's right flank to death....

Mixing and matching anything but races on the players side before Tasha's seems like a bad idea.

Oh no, the PCs win. How will I deal from this crushing setback to my DMing?