D&D General What Have You Liked Most About Each Edition (+)

[BookTenTiger]

Inspired by some posts in the Edition Warrior thread, I got interested in what folks have enjoyed most about each edition of D&D they have played.

Please note this is a + thread. Say things you liked about each edition you've played. If you post negative comments, I will respond with ridiculous affirmations and positive reframing. Don't force my hand!!!

I barely started with AD&D, right when 3rd Edition was in the works. I honestly don't remember it enough to compare it to the other editions.

3rd Edition - this was the edition of my halcyon geeky days. I LOVED the sandbox approach. Opening up race/class combos, multiclassing, the OGL, it felt like WotC was handing me a big set of toys and saying "Have fun!"

I was completely bored in high school so these were my days of endless house rules, new races, new classes, new campaigns...

So my favorite thing about 3e was its modularity. I loved tweaking the rules to fit a new campaign setting. I loved all the other campaigns and new rules and rulesets that popped up online. This was also when I was most into ENworld, spending hours (under the name Tsunami), so I think part of the romance was connecting to a wider world of creative geeks.

3.5 - skipped it

4e - I loved how excited this edition made my friends. Breaking all rounds into Standard/Move/Minor was a fantastic concept. I loved the introduction of backgrounds. I thought that giving classes roles (Striker, Defender) was really neat. But my favorite thing was the monsters... I loved those monster powers!

5e - My favorite things about 5e are the little rules it has that allow you to do things beyond the rules. For example, someone with the Soldier Background can give orders to lower ranking soldiers... They don't get a bonus or advantage to Intimidation and Persuasion... They just CAN! I love narrative truth rules like this. I really like how the subclasses open up different modes of play within a single class. It feels like it's possible to multiclass or "dip" into a class without actually multiclassing. Right now in the game I run, the cleric, warlock, and artificer can all heal characters. That's fun!

 

[payn]

2E - Settings. I didnt get a lot of experience with second edition. Most of this was teen years just trying to get a game going. The settings always sparked my imagination and I spent more time reading about them than actually playing the game. Dark Sun was a favorite.

3E - Chargen. I know there was a lot of pitfalls designed into 3E mechanically, but I loved the plethora of options to create characters. It allowed for hours of solo entertainment as I read about options and dreamed of representing my characters mechanically as I did with my fiction.

4E - I didnt play this edition much. I liked the idea of bloodied.

5E - This seems to be the goldilocks edition. If 5E came out when 3E did, im not sure id ever have fallen in love with chargen. It's fast and easy to grip for casuals with just enough meat on the bones for vets. The best introductory D&D system in decades. Oh, and bounded accuracy is the best!

 

[aco175]

3e must have been being able to make a PC how you see it. Multiclassing was easy and added to your concept. Monster modifying was more an opportunity in disguise with me being able to spend more time giving monsters PC levels to be able to modify them.

4e was fine overall. I liked that each class had several powers at each level to make them different than others of the same class. Monster modification was easy and fast.

 

[Mercurius]

Some of this is in hindsight, but I'll mix it in with memory of how I felt at the time.

1E: My first. My favorite thing, then and now, is the endless amounts of random lore - especially in the DMG (which feels like Gygax's brain folded inside out), but also D&D and other books.

BECMI: Didn't really play it, but loved the Death's Ride cover and the idea of playing immortal characters.

2E: Settings and more settings. It's like the "rose" of AD&D became a bouquet.

3E: System update and overhaul. It felt like D&D catching up to the rest of the RPG world in terms of game design.

4E: Healing surges made a lot of sense and made the game more playable. Powers, power sources, and tiers all were kind of fun, in a "Let's do this a bit differently for a while before getting back to D&D classic."

5E: Hit the right note between classic feel and modern system. Advantage/disadvantage is great.

 

[Oofta]

OD&D let me play a fantasy character. Even if the majority of time was spent running around dungeons looking for imaginary loot.

2E in many ways wasn't that big of a leap, although I did appreciate the (slightly) more coherent rules. I personally enjoyed Skills & Powers with more options and, of course, my CN barbarian who thought lying was a weakness so he was 100% honest always.

3.X had cleaner math, fun build options even if that did mean you could do kind of by accident build a super cheesy dual axe wielding dwarf that had flaming/holy/acidic/adamantine (from a ring) that could regularly do around 150ish points of damage per round. All I needed was around a bazillion dice and a worksheet.

4E I had a lot of fun playing a tempest cleric. Being able to be support and contribute meaningfully to combat on the same turn? Awesome!

5E Probably the best version of the game so far (for me) for a lot of reasons. Enough rules to give the game structure while still having a lot of freedom. Holds together even at higher levels better than previous editions.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

2e - reading the books. Lots of good lore in 2e.

3/.5e - the absolute maze of options, each purpose built for the concept. Theory crafting was very fun.

4e - So much. I’d ditch 5e in a heartbeat for a cleaned-up update of 4e, and I love 5e. Backgrounds, Themes, designing the game different for each tier, encounter/enemy building, being able to finely tune my character to play exactly how I imagine them, rituals, synergy between characters/incentivized teamwork, the approach to races, probably other stuff I’m forgetting.

5e - Bounded accuracy, adv/disad, subclass design, and how easily customized the system is without breaking it.

 

[Musing Mage]

BECMI - it's where I cut my teeth on D&D. I love the simplicity and how it allowed 13 year old me easily learn how the game was played. Also memories and nostalgia.

AD&D 1st Edition - my current go-to and favourite edition. I can't quite quantify it, but it seems to have a 'soul' to it that I can't find in other editions. Perhaps it's the gritty, simulation-esque minutiae, or perhaps the right balance of options and restrictions. More than any other edition your character's growth feels 'earned.'

1E's chaotic presentation, with contradictions and 'Gygaxisms' make it a blessing and curse. There are so many ideas and notions, with suggestions to make it your own. I have seen so few people agree on many of the rules, but it also really forces DMs to constantly evaluate and grow their understanding. In retrospect, the countless variations I have tried (and failed at!) when interpreting the rules until finally settling on what works for me has honed my DM skills quite nicely.

AD&D 2nd Edition - my main bread and butter for a very long time before going retro and making 1E my main thing. Even so, there are many wonderful things 2nd Ed offered (and still offers). Probably the most expansive of the editions, with options coming out of the wazoo, so players aren't wanting for supplements. Splatbooks offered interesting takes on character classes, and barring mechanical options specific to 2E, the roleplaying notes and tips can apply to any edition quite readily.

Of all of the 2nd materials, I am a HUGE fan of the Player's Option: Combat and Tactics book and would never run another 2E game without using it. The other Player's Options books had merits too, but definitely require a DM to surgically choose what they want in order to flavour their campaign. (Do not under any circumstance just allow anything and everything from those books... you have been warned!)

3rd Edition - Um... heh... nothing negative... <sweats profusely> er... okay... AH! Someone mentioned the OGL! Yes, I approve most heartily of the OGL which came out of the 3rd Edition era.

4th Edition - Never played.

5th Edition - I have to admit, while at first I was entirely dismissive of 5th Edition, it has indeed grown on me in a number of ways. I plan to run a 5e Campaign concurrent to my 1E game once the world normalizes a bit and we are able to have gatherings again.

5E has a few strengths that I must credit. First, it's easy to learn for new players. Very easy. Second only the BASIC D&D in that regard, the system is noob friendly and that's a solid accomplishment. Also, I admire how flexible the system is, which lends to very easy house ruling and adjustments. The system as written is clear and well laid out enough that anyone can just pick up the book and learn to play as written with only a few growing pains along the way... but also allows more experienced or enterprising players and DMs to dissect it and add their own flavour in some aspects without collapsing the whole thing.

I feel that D&D 5E is kind of a good halfway point between the really granular old-school Advanced editions, and the really pared down BASIC editions.

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

Mentzer Basic & Expert - This is how I learned Dungeons and Dragons. I bought these two boxed sets and the original Forgotten Realms gray boxed set at Toys-R-Us. Without these 3 boxed sets, I probably would have never played rpgs.
AD&D 1st Edition - The vibe of the PHB is great.
AD&D 2nd Edition - The edition that I've played the most. Loved the variety of settings and the Monster Compendiums.
3rd Edition - Streamlining of Saving Throws and ascending AC. OGL opening up lots of rules (even beyond D&D) to people to make things without worrying about a lawsuit.
5th Edition - Easy to play a basic version using the Starter boxed set as your core rules and only adding in elements from other books if you want to do so. Advantage/Disadvantage as an easy modifier to rolls.

 

[overgeeked]

B/X. It was my first. Even though AD&D was out and super popular. They were the only books my older brother would let me touch. Loved the art and writing. Smooth, simple, and quick. The rules are just suggestions and anything not covered by the rules make a save or roll under an ability score. And the Known World. Mystara to you youngens. So wonderful and pulpy and goofy.

AD&D. Played this one the most. Had a hand typed packet of house rules for things like skills, dodge, and parry. My once shiny new books are now ancient, decaying tomes. So many memories.

2E. Skipped the edition rules and kept playing AD&D...but holy hell the settings. These books still hold up and inspire today. Al-Qadim, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer. These settings are what got me started collecting. I wanted to know everything about these places.

3E. Read the rules and liked a few of the changes, like ascending AC, but largely ignored it and kept playing AD&D.

4E. I fell in love with literally everything they did with this edition...except how it actually played at the table. I loved the lore changes, the points-of-light setting, big magic rituals for everyone, residuum, solving linear fighter vs quadratic wizard, roles, power sources, powers, layout, design, monster variety, monster stat blocks, monster roles, MM3 on a business card, the DMGs were amazing...I loved literally everything they did with this edition...except for how it actually played. We played from the start to the finish with this one but could never get a simple combat to be anything less than a multiple hour slog. We tried everything and nothing ever worked. If only they revised the combat rules for speed of play.

5E. The quickest and simplest edition WotC has produced. Tossed everything I hated (and loved) about 4E. I like that D&D is having a cultural moment again. And this is the edition our second generation started with. Me and my brothers grew up on B/X and AD&D and now our kids are playing 5E with us.

 

[dave2008]

1e: The Monster Manual & MM II, Deities and Demigods, and introducing me to RPGS, art work
BECMI: crazy high levels and Immortals!, dragons with some real bite, art work
2e: monster ecology (I didn't play this edition, but I got the Monstrous Compendium binders)
3e: Draconomicon & updated dragon designs (I didn't play this edition either)
4e: bloodied condition, healing surges, skill challenges, monster design & roles, cosmology / lore
5e: bounded accuracy, advantage / disadvantage, epic boons & supernatural gifts, legendary and mythic monsters, art work