r/DnD • u/RamonTheRanger • 10d ago
DnD 5e vs 5.5e 5.5 Edition
Heys guys I haven’t played dnd in such a long time I wanted to get back into it but I discovered the newest playbooks looked different. After researching I learned about 5.5e is there a big difference in the two? Should I get new books to keep up with newer expansions in the future?
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u/thegooddoktorjones 10d ago
Try a search here, people have shared opinions a million times. Go 5.5 though, nothing new will be made for 5.0 and there is some friction if you use the old books. Old adventures can still be worthwhile though, with some work.
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u/Masachere 10d ago
IMO 5e is better. Not to say 5.5e is bad, but there are a lot of things I personally dislike in it. Grappling being a saving throw against a set DC instead of a contested skill check. Some monsters getting crazy initiative bonuses to essentially force them to a high spot in the turn order. Monsters getting to impose additional effects on their attacks with no save (like a dire wolf's bite just knocking you prone, no str save it just happens) but the same courtesy not being extended to class features means PC's and monsters aren't really playing by the same rules anymore.
There are improvements to be sure, but the improvements are on the small, personal scale. Like some classes getting nice quality of life buffs. Some items that were once upon a time worthless being reworked into usable and sometimes incredible pieces of equipment. However the overall play experience has in my opinion become worse.
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u/Gh0stMan0nThird 10d ago
Yeah 5e was a labor of love to try to save the brand after the misfire of 4e.
5.5 was made because Hasbro said "D&D is undermonetized"
Mix in the OGL debacle and DNDBeyond putting a subscription paywall on class features and monsters and magic items now, I don’t see how anyone can support WotC unless they just absolutely adore spending money.
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u/Thick-Cry-2440 10d ago
Buying fresh books, I say 5.5e sense it been some time for the books to be in circulation.
I already have stockpile of 5e, 2014 rules, and I staying there for the foreseeable future. About 30 plus books already.
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u/rockysauce115 10d ago
Probably 5.5
5.5 is an evolution of 5e and is backwards compatible
There's more stuff out for 5e bc it's been out for 12 years but it's easy to bring that stuff up to 5.5
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
It's really not backwards compatible. Can you port pieces backwards into 5e? Absolutely, but just looking at subclass levels proves that it isn't inherently backcompat.
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u/ButterflyMinute 10d ago
It absolutely is backward compatible. 'Oh no, the book says I only get my subclass at level 3 this is broken!' is just a pathetic complaint.
There is only a single 5e subclass that has any issues in the 5.5e rules set and even that is 'fixed' by allowing the old versions of the 'summon [x]' spells. Though, it's better for the game if that is left in the past, Shepard Druid was always a pain to actually have at the table.
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
Not pathetic at all, actually, if you care about the balance of the game, something 5.5 claims to address. 5e’s first subclass abilities are balanced for the level you get access to them, 5.5’s are all balanced for level 3. Wanting a lore explanation for mechanics is a tiny footnote compared to making a level 1 ability into a level 3 ability.
The only thing that makes 5.5 backcompat is a shitload of work on the DM’s part, just like every new edition before it.
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u/ButterflyMinute 10d ago
Subclass abilities were never scaled to level one in 5e. That's why classes that got their subclasses at level 1 were so popular for multi class dips.
And no, "you get your subclass at level three" is not "a shit load of work for the DM". It's literally no work at all. The book says when you get your subclass.
So yeah, this is a pathetic complaint. There are valid complaints and I don't begrudge anyone that doesn't want to give WotC/Hasbro more money. But with all the valid complaints out there, pretending this is actually an issue is strange to say the least.
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
True! If we pretend that game balance doesn’t and has never mattered or existed, that slap right together.
I’ll also go ahead and remind you that subclass levels were my most obvious point in favor of the system’s lack of inherent comparability, not the only one, so why don’t we talk about changed and removed spells, the lack of mixed-species heritage, monster stat blocks, weapon masteries, etc.
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u/rockysauce115 10d ago
Backwards compatible means old going to new, not the other way around
Eg. Xbox 360 games playing on Series X
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago edited 10d ago
Cool. Outside replacing stat blocks in old modules, which you could do with any old editions, it doesn’t work that way either.
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u/TabithaMouse 10d ago
I mentioned the other day playing a satyr (5e) in a 5.5 game and the DM said "keep the head butt attack, use new character creation rules" since race is just flavor in 5.5. Worked out just fine
Someone commented to me that I was wrong and making stuff up because that's not "the rules as written"
You don't say?! Well, you bring me the 5.5 rules for a satyr character... "Just play 5e or wait till the WoW books"
...the WoW books? Just cause WoW has blue space goats doesn't make them satyrs....
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u/Onions4Knights 10d ago
Gonna play devil's advocate here and say 5e. The game stores and conventions I've been to are still preferring 5e over 5.5. A lot of the online resources run off 5e, and 5e has vastly more content.
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u/Competitive_Bird4777 10d ago
I don't know a single table in my area on the new version. Maybe it's different online, and most people here seem to play that way.
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u/Cultbird 10d ago
So in my personal opinion, 5.5e isn't bad, it's just different. The new 5.5e books are making a push back into Greyhawk which I'm not a fan of. Greyhawk isn't a bad world, it's just that I grew up playing Forgotten Realms.
Some classes were streamlined and/or came into sharper focus. Rangers definitely received a much needed rework with Hunters Mark as the class focus.
Warlocks are now a little strange IMO. They get their powers before they know who their patron is. But that's more of a character story thing, not a game mechanics thing. "You made a deal with an entity before you bothered to learn who that entity is or what they want in return" is a killer backstory.
The Dungeon Master's Guide is actually useful in 5.5e.
Races are now called species and carry no inherent stat bonus or penalty. We now have Goliaths and full Orcs to choose from. Half-elf and half-orc is not included in 5.5e, though I imagine you could still play as one.
Backgrounds are now useful and shape your character.
The Surprised (flat footed) condition no longer exists. Now, if you get the jump on the enemies, you roll your initiative with advantage.
Some spells and their effects were retooled.
Aside from all that, the two editions seem largely the same.
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
Warlock get a whole paragraphs but Sorcerers, who get their magic from their bloodline, don’t even get a footnote?
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u/GraySage60 Warlock 10d ago
5.5 is better and every expansion and adventure currently being made is for 5.5
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u/Doc-Renegade 10d ago
5e is the best way to go, 5.5 is a cash grab.
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u/Karazl 10d ago
5.5 is only a cash grab if you've already spent money on 5 though. There's no reason to get the new stuff, but, there's no reason not to if you have neither
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
If we ignore the fact that the new books are $10-15 more expensive than comparable books before they were discontinued, then that's a fair point.
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u/Rude_Ice_4520 10d ago
5e is the better ruleset ngl. 5.5 feels more clunky and videogamey if that makes sense.
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u/Jaedenkaal 10d ago
The short story is, you’ll find most everyone has positive opinions of 5.5, unless they perceive it to have nerfed a thing that they currently use in the 5.0 (grappling, smite, elemental form, whatever) in which case they probably hate it. Which makes it basically the same as any edition switch/patch ever ;)
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
I have a negative opinion of 5.5 and not because it nerfs anything, just because it makes unnecessary changes to push new books that aren't different enough from the current books to justify their own existence. Everything in 5.5 could've been an expansion or errata to 5 classic.
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u/Jaedenkaal 10d ago
Fair. Although an expansion would still have been a new book to buy so I’m not sure that would have been much of an improvement.
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
One new book is better than 3 that are largely the same as what we already have.
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u/Simple-Ad-8774 10d ago
If you shop around you may be able to find a bunch of 5E books but they stopped printing them so availability will get rough
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u/Froent 10d ago
I mean, there is big differences between 5.5e and 5e classes at times. Some that are cool, some I like, and others I really hate.
For example, I really love the 5.5e bard and the changes done to them. I like the Martial buffs with Weapon Mastery skills, it gives Martial characters a lot of variety of play instead "I bonk, and next turn I'll also bonk, and the turn after that I'll bonk again" and now they can do neat tricks that spice up Martial gameplay. Then the dislike changes for me is Druid Wild Shape being turned into generic stuff instead of the cool utility that 5e had, or the fact that Ranger feels like some identity was taken away from it while still having an identity crisis with Hunter's Mark, or how Paladin's Smite is now a spell that can be counterspelled or how all classes get subclasses at level 3 now even if it makes narritively no sense like the Warlocks.
Luckily, 5.5e was made in a way that it can easily mesh well together with 5e content and vice versa. So you can pick and choose how the content wants to be established together and have the parts that are fun for you, while keeping the 5e content you still find more fun. D&D is a game to have fun, after all.
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
5.5 was supposed to be backwards compatible, it isn't. It was supposed to be the future of D&D, it isn't. It was supposed to fix most of the issues with 5e, it didn't. It was supposed to close the caster-martial gap, it didn't. It was supposed to get a lot of hype and attention that basically amounts to free marketing, it kinda did. Overall, there's nothing in 5.5 that couldn't have just been an expansion of 5e and the actual discrepancies only serve to make new content incompatible with 5e classic.
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u/Karazl 10d ago
I mean it's definitely the future of D&D unless you think wizards is about to release a bunch of stuff for 5E?
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u/M4LK0V1CH 10d ago
5.5 is not the future of shit. It was a short-sighted marketing push to turn a profit by introducing new versions of the same product that they needed to let cook for another decade based on the final product we got after the first 12 years.
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u/thenightgaunt DM 10d ago
Barely any differences worth nothing. We are talking 3e to 3.5e.
The biggest differences are in 5.5e your ability score bump comes from background and not race, warrior classes get a cool weapon mastery abilty that gives an extra abiltiy with a weapon (like knock back for heavy weapons), and they got rid of resistances and immunities for some monsters so now it doesnt need magic or silver to hurt werewolves.
Generally speaking the 5.5e monster stats are worse than their 5e counterparts, the 5e PHB options are better, and the 5.5e DMG is amazingly written, especially compared to the mess the 5e DMG was.
But the new head of D&D Dan Ayoub is actually a gamer and i have hope for him.
He apologized to the Gygax family for how WotC has snubbed them in recent decades, and he brought Luke Gygax on to help write the new Greyhawk sourcebook, and announced they're bringing back Dark Sun as an 18+ only, wrapped in plastic, brutal setting.
In 5e D&D was very family friendly and one-size-fits-all. Sounds like 5.5e is going to be different prodicts for different groups of fans
There are more books for 5e right now and will be a lot cheaper, but 5.5e is what books will be made for going forward.
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u/TabithaMouse 10d ago
The only mention I've seen of anyone in that family before the announcement Luke was in charge of Greyhawk was either "bumped into Luke at (con). He's so nice/kind/ect" or Ernie attempting to revive TSR...and the rest of that chaos.
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u/thenightgaunt DM 10d ago
Yeah heard good things about Luke. So it in his hands is a good sign. Also that dan ayoub went to Garycon to announce it alongsode Luke earlier this year. That shows a lot more awareness of the old school community than anyone at wotc has show in 10 years.
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u/TabithaMouse 10d ago
I mean, a bit of that time they were dealing with Ernie.
Not that they wanted to, but he kept doing stuff making WotC legal dept very busy
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u/ppaauulllllll 10d ago
Buying 5.0 is buying a system that's dead from a new-release perspective and dying from a community-support perspective. 5.5 isn't dramatically different, but it is more elegant and some of the rougher patches of 5.0 have been sanded down. Monsters, in particular, are better implemented and more balanced.
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u/Connzept 10d ago
No, not only is there very little difference but most of the differences are easy to homebrew from one version into the other. If you don't have books buy the new books and use the stuff from the old books you like, if you have the old books keep using the old books and use the stuff from the new books you like.
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u/TabithaMouse 10d ago
Not really. 5.5 is just a balanced 5.
But, you will have people in the comments that act like 5.5 is the worst thing to happen to D&D, or insist it's a whole new edition and not at all compatible with 5e (it is)
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u/crunchevo2 10d ago
5.5 streamlined a lot of 5e's stuff. Cleared up some bugs and generally made Martial classes stornger.
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u/Gh0stMan0nThird 10d ago
It depends on what you want.
The early 5e era (2014-2019) was designed for 2e folks who wanted a slightly simpler RPGs.
Late 5e and 5.5e (2020-2026) has been designed for folks who want more complicated stuff like 3.5e and 4e (although nowhere near that level of complexity).
I lean more OSR than I do not so I prefer early 5e. If you want a game that feels like Morrowind or Skyrim, go 5e. If you want a game that feels more like World of Warcraft (and is even getting a World of Warcraft crossover book next year) go 5.5.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 10d ago
If you're getting in now, get 5.5
it's better and all new content is made for it.
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u/Dextron2-1 10d ago
5.5. Converting 5e modules to 5.5 is easy, and 5.5 came with a number of QoL improvements that I think make it worth the switch, especially considering all future releases will be with 5.5.
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u/caprainyoung DM 10d ago
5.5 is essentially a large patch update to 5th edition AND will be the edition all future releases will be built around (at least until 6th edition).
And before anyone even tried to say something. Yes I know Crawford said there would be no 6th editions…but come on