The transition from D&D 4e to 5e was pretty easy, mostly because 4e was such an oddball system. If they'd been more alike I might have had a harder time remembering which rule belonged to which system. But for me, 5e feels more like a simplified version of 3e. It's like 3e is chess, 5e is checkers, and 4e is... I don't know, Warhammer.
I can't say I miss D&D 4e. It was so mechanically structured that even roleplay scenarios felt forced and unnatural. But I do like certain concepts enough that I would gladly still use them in 5e. Heck, some mechanics were so popular that many tables continue to use them without even realizing those rules no longer exist.
One thing about 4e is that it was so hated, that the 5e design team went out of their way to disguise anything that made it similar to 4e. Like how you spend Hit Dice instead of Healing Surges now. And 5e has dozens of abilities that contain the text, "Once you use this ability, you can not use it again until you have completed a (short or) long rest." What a wordy way to say "Daily Power" or "Encounter Power". Imagine how much ink they could have saved if they weren't afraid of using 4e terminology.
Or look at 4e's Standard/Move/Minor action economy. To me, that is the standard RPG action economy, and I would probably use the same thing if I designed an RPG. 5e allows you to do approximately the same number of things on your turn, but it's just phrased more vaguely. In 5e you can move and take an action, and some of the things that used to be minor actions are considered part of moving.
Remember Double Moving? In 4e, you could substitute lesser actions for greater actions. So you could move again as your standard, or do a minor action instead of your move, etc. You can still move as your action in 5e, but you have to call it "Taking the Dash Action". If you actually use the words "I'm going to Double Move" in 5e, some pedantic snot will explain that that's not a 5e thing, and frankly I'm tired of trying to get blood out of the carpet.
And don't forget "Bloodied" - 4e had a lot of special rules that would trigger when a creature's hit points fell below half their maximum. 5e has a couple, but instead of having a word for it, it just says "when you are below half your hit point maximum" or some such. Plenty of 5e players still say "bloodied" today, despite the term not appearing in the PHB.
I've been looking at various RPGs and picking out rules I really like. I'm not saying they would all work in 5e. And if I were to piece them together into one big Frankenstein's RPG - well, they probably wouldn't all complement each other. But hell, it's my blog, and I'm going to babble about standout rules that I liked from 4e and other RPGs.
Square Fireballs (D&D 4e) - Look, 4e's system of magic was kind of silly, I know. But admit it: You never had to argue about whether something hit or not. If it said "area burst 3 within 20 squares", you knew exactly which creatures were affected, no protractor required. You never had to say, "Well, this part of the circle looks like it takes up about three-eighths of the square, does that count?"
Flanking (D&D 4e) - The thing about flanking is it just feels natural. If you gang up on an enemy, you expect a bonus. There are math reasons that it doesn't work well in 5e, though. Plus it defies their goal of keeping 5e's combat rules light.
Holding or Delaying an Action (D&D 4e) - A lot of people are surprised that this is no longer a thing in 5e. Like flanking, it was probably kept out for simplicity's sake. But I've also heard it was because delaying actions complicates effects that last until the end of your turn. As a DM, I would still allow it, within reason. If nothing else, in the first round of combat, I'd allow PCs use it to rearrange their initiative order.
Called Shot (Various RPGs) - I haven't seen this since 3e (though there was an unrelated 4e feat by that name). If a PC wants to target a specific body part, they can take a penalty to their attack roll. Some 5e DMs allow their players to make called shots at disadvantage, but the designers discourage it. Personally, if the player's desired effect was within reason, I might allow it.
Minions (D&D 4e) - 4e had single hit point enemies called minions, meant to annoy you with their numbers rather than to challenge you on a one-to-one basis. 1HP kobolds don't seem so weird, but when you got to higher levels, it was kind of odd to see minion Ogres and such. But as a DM, I liked not having to track the hit points of creatures that weren't supposed to last very long in the first place. Plus they were a great example of the "Conservation of Ninjitsu" trope.
Stat Generation (Pathfinder 2e) - I can't tell you enough how much I like the way stats are generated in P2e. Your stats come partly from your ancestry, partly from your class, and partly from your background. Given my personal vendetta against rolling stats, it's nice to have such a great system hard coded into the game's mechanics.
Initiative (Shadow of the Demon Lord) - There's a lot I like and don't like about SotDL, but it has one of my favorite systems for determining initiative. No rolling, just a semi-structured way of letting people go in whatever order they want.
BFF / Rival (Various) - I've seen variations of this in several RPGs. Basically, you designate one other PC to be your PC's best friend, and another one to be your PC's rival. Note that "rival" doesn't necessarily mean enemy, just someone with whom they constantly compete (think Legolas and Gimli). It doesn't matter if PC's pair off and select each other, or if player A picks player B who picks C and so on, as long as each PC has exactly one Rival and one BFF. Whenever a PC does something spectacular (like crits the final hit on a boss), their BFF describes what happened as colorfully as possible. Meanwhile, whenever a PC fumbles, their rival has the honor of describing their screw-up.
Simplified Stats (Warrior, Rogue & Mage) - I like simple rules. Sometimes I think some of the stats are kind of redundant, and I'd love to try an RPG that only uses three. Obviously this only works in a very specific kind of RPG.
Exploding Dice (Various RPGs) - This probably isn't really compatible with D&D's math, but it sure is fun in the RPGs that use it. Basically when you roll max on your damage die, you get to roll it again and add that in too. If you roll max again, you can keep rolling until you stop rolling max. So your d6 damage die might usually average you 3 or 4 damage... but sometimes you might do 38.
And now for something completely different...
Just to show both sides of the coin, here's some rules I'm glad to see gone forever. Note that some are from editions I've never actually played, so I might have the wrong impression of them, but they still sound terrible. Good Riddance to:
THAC0 and Hit Tables - (Early D&D) - Once they invented the modern system of "roll a d20, add a bonus, beat a target number", there was never any reason to look back. Even most of the "Retroclones" I've seen use modern attack rolls. There are just some things that defy nostalgia.
Facing (Various RPGs) - This is still listed as an optional rule in 5e's DMG, but I'll never use it. I'm sure it adds a little bit of realism, but it also adds an extra complication to battle without adding to the fun factor.
Descending BABs (D&D 3e) - By that, I mean having multiple attacks per round, but with a lower base attack bonus for each attack. (Example: +12/+7/+2) The system 5e uses actually works out better mathematically, as it helps keep Fighters on par with Wizards.
Level Drain (Various) - Any effect that requires you to recalculate your character sheet is annoying. But what really annoys me is that the mechanic treats "levels" as a real existing aspect of your character, instead of just skills your character happens to acquire at the same time.
Races Being Tied To Classes (OD&D) - When they created D&D, they had no idea how much character customization would be available in later editions, so I can't really fault them for having a lack of foresight. But when I look through older books, and see how non-human races can't be certain classes, it makes my heart hurt.
Gold as XP (OD&D) - You used to get experience points for finding gold. This kind of made sense at the time, since there weren't as many ways to spend your gold, so there had to be some incentive for treasure hunting. In a sense, I see OD&D's gold as your "score". But characters are deeper now, and not all of them are solely motivated by greed.
...aaaaand that's my list. Feel free to comment below if I missed any rules you love or hate.
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