Help for a new campaign? 3.5 or 5e?

[Nox]

Hi all, I?m going to run a new campagin, and i'm not sure if i should run 5e or 3.5.

I know nothing about 5e (nor do my players), but i'm interested (I surely should ask them 2).

Fact is that i see there are lot of material for 5e about ravenloft (DM guild is publishing a lot of stuff). I already ran a short campaign on 3.5 ravenloft.
Is 5e Ravenloft books as complete as the 3.5?
is it clearer?
What do you advice?

[ewancummins]

Hi all, I?m going to run a new campagin, and i'm not sure if i should run 5e or 3.5.

I know nothing about 5e (nor do my players), but i'm interested (I surely should ask them 2).

Fact is that i see there are lot of material for 5e about ravenloft (DM guild is publishing a lot of stuff). I already ran a short campaign on 3.5 ravenloft.
Is 5e Ravenloft books as complete as the 3.5?
is it clearer?
What do you advice?

I'd go with the system you prefer to run. Setting materials and modules can be converted.

If you have not run 5E (I have played a little, but not run it) then you might want to playtest it.

[Nox]

Hi all, I?m going to run a new campagin, and i'm not sure if i should run 5e or 3.5.

I know nothing about 5e (nor do my players), but i'm interested (I surely should ask them 2).

Fact is that i see there are lot of material for 5e about ravenloft (DM guild is publishing a lot of stuff). I already ran a short campaign on 3.5 ravenloft.
Is 5e Ravenloft books as complete as the 3.5?
is it clearer?
What do you advice?

I'd go with the system you prefer to run. Setting materials and modules can be converted.

If you have not run 5E (I have played a little, but not run it) then you might want to playtest it.

I asked my player, some were interested, some were not... I think i'll stay with 3.5 for now, just because i have no knowledge about 5e. Maybe later on, if I take some time to read 5e manual will convert the campaign from 3.5 to 5e

[Skyrock]

Both are fine games. I am more partial to 5e lately, although 3.5 is still unparalleled in the amount of available crunch and the possibilities if min-maxing and customizing.

I wouldn't recommend to convert a running game from 3.5 to 5e. The paradigms are much too different, especially in the need of multiclassing/prestige classes and in character abilities.

[ewancummins]

Both are fine games. I am more partial to 5e lately, although 3.5 is still unparalleled in the amount of available crunch and the possibilities if min-maxing and customizing.

I wouldn't recommend to convert a running game from 3.5 to 5e. The paradigms are much too different, especially in the need of multiclassing/prestige classes and in character abilities.

Do you think converting AD&D2E materials to 5E is easier?

There's a lot of older Ravenloft stuff available out there.

[Skyrock]

I was mostly thinking of PCs, whose abilities are very different.

AD&D characters may actually work surprisingly well, at least the single-class ones, as they have their special abilities preset and as 5e assumes the single-classed PC as the norm (and comes with severe trade-offs for any multi-classers).
Multi- and Dual-classed PCs may create more work, as may any fancy 2E kits.

[ewancummins]

I was mostly thinking of PCs, whose abilities are very different.

AD&D characters may actually work surprisingly well, at least the single-class ones, as they have their special abilities preset and as 5e assumes the single-classed PC as the norm (and comes with severe trade-offs for any multi-classers).
Multi- and Dual-classed PCs may create more work, as may any fancy 2E kits.

Sounds fun. Thanks for the info.

I'm looking at 5E myself, but 2E (without the kitchen sink of options thrown in) works well enough for me now.
I also like B/X.

[Jester of the FoS]

I love 5e. And I think it works very well for Ravenloft.

You don't even need to buy. The base rules are available free on the D&D Website:
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

I like it better than 3.5e for many reasons. The math and balance is tighter, so the fighter doesn't start out strong but end weak and the wizard can do something at level one. Magic items are not assumed for the math. It's very open to house rules and simpler.

I'd suggest trying 5e for 2-3 sessions for a single adventure and then seeing how your group takes to it.

But I'm also the author of some of the Ravenloft content on the DMsGuild... so make of reccomendation what you will.

[Jimsolo]

Save for the alignment restriction removal (chaotic monks and evil paladins seem daffy to me) I prefer fifth over third.

[ewancummins]

Save for the alignment restriction removal (chaotic monks and evil paladins seem daffy to me) I prefer fifth over third.

Paladins are LG, yo.

Something else? Needs a new class.
But that is only my opinion.

[Five]

Do you think converting AD&D2E materials to 5E is easier?

There's a lot of older Ravenloft stuff available out there.

Converting 2E, or 1E for that matter, into 5E should be a fairly simple thing to do.

Ability checks and proficiencies, first introduced in Oriental Adventures and further expanded in Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and Wilderness Survival Guide (all 1E), are pretty much the core of 5E's ability checks, skills, and saving throws (made simple by a fixed, character level-based bonus: Proficiency Bonus). Only instead of rolling against your actual score, you roll against a Difficulty Class (3E). Your ability score is directly represented by it's modifier.

So for 2E, this translation all falls under and is lifted from the Proficiencies Optional rule found in the PHB, and Ability Checks as a Saving Throw (in the Combat chapter).

Armor Class is reversed from backward calculation to a forward calculation (or that's how I'd describe it anyway), and has been since 3E. 10+Dex+armor. Roll over this number to hit, or, skin 'em with your plus. Same thing.

So yeah. Saving Throws are now Ability Checks (different only in application), Proficiencies are now Skills (which are really Ability Checks), Secondary Skills are Backgrounds, and AC is now left-to-right.

Classes are seemingly built more towards one-offs and have a very limited (intentionally so?) number of "kits" included, available at 3rd level. The PHB includes 3 such kits per class, I think it is, but if viewed as a template it is easy enough to create your own. There's a blurb in the DMG for creating class options, backgrounds, etc.

Default healing rules are questionable: all adventurers have healing factors now - full HP heal after 8 hours rest (long rest). Variants of Resting are in the DMG (epic heroism is less time, gritty realism is delayed time), so it's all good. I'm tinkering with gritty myself...

All in all, it shouldn't be too hard or take up too much of your time to convert 2E to 5E. The biggest obstacle would be, to me, flipping the mental switch of you and your players...excluding the mountain of material that would need to be translated! haha

Could be a community project though.

Personally, I've been debating with myself in bringing over the subabilities option found in Player's Option: Skill and Powers, but I haven't quite found the drive to do so as of yet...

Edit: Come to think of it, 5E Backgounds might very well have been lifted from POSaP too.

Either way, point of all this is: 5E contains a lot of material that will come off as familiar to 1E and 2E gamers. As for converting material, that's an easy lift. Crunch is crunch (fluff, whatever you want to call it). Just edit the stat blocks and brush up on your 5E MM. Take VRGs: they're a straight read. Black Box the same. Fear and Horror checks are the same (just Wisdom and Charisma ability checks now), ...

[Five]

Save for the alignment restriction removal (chaotic monks and evil paladins seem daffy to me) I prefer fifth over third.

As for paladins, I've always viewed the LG-only rule as horsespit. A paladin is a divine militant of the dogma behind a given deity. As such, they should be restricted only to the alignment of that deity. Maybe with a fixed Lawful aspect, sure, but LG and LG only? Meh.

There is an Paladin: Oathbreaker class option in the DMG, yet I like to view religions in D&D from a neutral POV. That is, right and wrong need to be looked at from inside the church. A paladin is a paladin: a warrior for a religious cause. "Good" (ideal) to the church and its laity, "Evil" (brutal) to those that oppose it. And given the difference of right and wrong within the alignment "wheel", I personally don't see why a paladin has to be the stereotypical knight in shining armor. It's all relative really.

Monks are a little trickier, given their inner-to-outer spirituality, ie discipline, but I don't think they should be held fast to any fixed rule either. Maybe an XP penalty to represent the internal struggle for discipline for those who are chaotic by nature, but to say X can't be Y because of Z is just...a limit of player creativity. IMO.

That's just me.

Besides, the 5E PHB states, for the paladin: "As guardians against the forces of wickedness, paladins are rarely of any evil alignment. Most of them walk the paths of charity and justice."

And the monk: "As a result of the structured life of a monastic community and the discipline required to harness ki, monks are almost always lawful in alignment."

I like open suggestions such as this. It openly caters to DMs like me who are stubborn/pigheaded...and helps us back our changes in fan forums such as this. haha