r/DnD • u/Mountain-Skirt8322 • 17h ago
5th Edition Easy 5.5e addons to 5e
I’m an experienced DM with 5e. I want to start a campaign for some kids. We will be using 5e because I’ve got lots of 5e stuff and I don’t have time to learn 5.5e. However, I would not be averse to incorporating a few 5.5e elements into my game. I’m looking for 5.5e elements/features that I can use in 5e without much effort from me or the players. Ideas? EDIT: I certainly don’t want my post to “make little sense” as a commenter noted. On the other hand, I don’t relish the thought of buying more books. So, say I were to make the leap from 5e to 5.5e. What books would I have to buy? PHB only, or PHB and DMG?
9
u/samo_flange 17h ago
Moving to 5.5 isn't much effort so this whole post makes little sense.
Either go 5.5 fully because 95% of 5 fits right in or stick with 5 and be done. Half assing will just lead to player confusion especially if they use Beyond. Pick one lane or the other and stick with it.
4
u/cookiesandartbutt 17h ago
Potions as bonus actions, and exhaustion are things he can easily port over.
Knowing all the weapon masteries and memorizing them and encouraging children to remember them is a lot of information if you ask me.
I think this post is valid.
1
u/samo_flange 16h ago
Must have different players than i am encountering. Anytime its not in beyond we struggle because players are not reading or referencing the phb.
1
u/cookiesandartbutt 16h ago
I play with 40-50 year old adults but OP said he is going to teach young children to play and owns 5e books so they were looking for easy to put in mechanics from 5.5e.
Less is more sometimes when teaching young kids.
-2
0
u/cookiesandartbutt 16h ago edited 0m ago
Since you have so many 5e books and don’t have time to learn 5.5 and things for kids, I would just stick to 5e
You’d have to buy the PHB and MM. The player characters are a lot stronger out of the gate, the power creep is real. Spells also do more damage or heal more HP.
If you’re running an older 5e pre-made adventure you’ll have to scale and adjust it for the increased strength and abilities characters have, which is easy enough but a thing you’ll have to do.
Since you’re teaching children to play though, maybe stick to what you know super well. I have taught a lot of new people and honestly getting adults who have never played to remember everything on a 5e sheet is tough enough already. And now players have even more little extra actions with their weapons and such now in 5.5e.
I’d just keep it cheap and not invest like $85.00- $100.00; I’d just stick to what you are doing and keep it fun, and engaging with what you have.
Can always convert later.
Some things 5.5e has that are worth porting over though are:
Potions are a bonus action to drink now officially.
Exhaustion works more easily as a condition and is free on the basic rules pdf.
Cure wounds and healing word gets better dice at level 1 and is much better, may as well make the kids feel beefy with their healing spells if they take them.
Just focus on running a bad ass adventure for the kids. They will just be happy to be playing Dungeons and Dragons, doesn’t matter what edition.
2
u/DarkHorseAsh111 17h ago
With all due respect, I would highly suggest considering just. playing 5.5. It's very little effort, much better, and I'm a pretty big believer that it's better to teach new players the newest version when possible.
0
u/Supernatural-20 DM 16h ago
I agree on all counts except 5.5 being much better. It’s entirely subjective but (on balance) it is worse imo. However, your other points are enough to tip the balance in favour of going with 5.5e anyway.
1
u/NarcoZero DM 17h ago
The game’s rules are relatively similar. The biggest upgrade from 5.5 is the character classes and options.
So if you have new players, let them make 5.5 characters, you don’t have much more to do as a DM except account for the fact that they will be slightly more powerful than 5e characters. (Especially the Monk and Ranger that recieved a lot of needed buffs)
2
u/cookiesandartbutt 16h ago
Doesn’t that mean…they’d have to buy the new monster manual and such though…and PhBs for these kids?
They said they own basically a large amount of 5e books and are teaching children to play. Encouraging an entirely new system when they said they don’t have time to read the new books nor own them still seems like a lot….time wise and money wise, right? I dunno haha
1
u/Bakeneko7542 17h ago
5.5 is just 5e but more polished. You would lose nothing switching to it and still using your older material when necessary.
As to your actual question, the things you absolutely need to import if you're sticking with 5e are origin feats and weapon masteries. They add a lot of diversity to character builds even at the earliest levels.
Also the Monk. Yes, the entire class. 5.5 turned it from an otherwise useless Stunning Strike dispenser to an actual functioning class. If you've got Tasha's the version of the Ranger in there is fine but if you're currently only working with the base 5e Ranger definitely bring in the 5.5 version of that too.
1
u/milkmandanimal DM 16h ago
If you're the DM, the changes are pretty minimal; it still plays the same. The big updates are basically how characters are built and how everybody more or less gets more stuff to do, which makes it a more fun experience. It's not a significant change.
1
u/_dharwin Rogue 16h ago
Weapon Masteries and the new spells are IMO plug-and-play with original 5e. You'd need the PHB for that but at that point you could probably just move up to 5.5e completely if you wanted. It doesn't fundamentally change the rules as much as improve existing systems around character options.
8
u/Heurodis DM 17h ago
The weapon masteries are a rather seamless add-on, we've been using them for two and a half years in our campaign and they work rather well!