Level Up (A5E) The big difference between A5e and 5e?

[BrokenTwin]

If I'm ever convinced to run a 5e game again, I'll be getting the Level Up books to do so.
For those running O5E published campaigns with A5E characters, are you just running the O5E monsters as-is, or are you using A5E equivalents? Is it a lot of work to incorporate the new subsystems?

 

[TheHand]

If I'm ever convinced to run a 5e game again, I'll be getting the Level Up books to do so.
For those running O5E published campaigns with A5E characters, are you just running the O5E monsters as-is, or are you using A5E equivalents? Is it a lot of work to incorporate the new subsystems?

It depends... if there is an A5E equivalent I usually swap to that; if not I usually run the O5E monster as-is, however sometimes if I want to challenge my players a little more, I'll spice up the monster by adding a feature or two from some similar A5E beasties.
With groups of enemies, I've even used the A5E version of the monster as the leader, and kept the O5E versions as it's 'goons.'

 

[Corinnguard]

Heritage gift: I'll be half dragonborn and take the gnome gift that gives me an unarmed attack and a burrow speed. Bullet born!

This would be a wonderful thing to have if you are playing a half- Earth Essence Dragonborn. Play up to your element.

 

[Corinnguard]

Hmmm...if this Half-Earth Essence Dragonborn had the Dragoncult Culture and the Ethereal Umbra, you could describe it's usage as him turning into a living dust devil made of sand.

Ethereal Umbra: Common amongst the essence dragons, this umbra shimmers with draconic will. While this umbra is active you can move through nonmagical solid objects and occupied spaces as if they were difficult terrain . Opportunity attacks made against you while this umbra is active have disadvantage . You cannot move further than 5 feet into walls or other solid objects in this way. If you would end your turn in an occupied space, you are shunted into the nearest unoccupied space and take 1d6 force damage.

The beauty about A5e is that you can describe how your abilities can appear to others.

 

[mAcular]

Is the CR system in A5e compatible with 5e monsters? Or do you have to use only A5e monsters with it?

Also, how friendly is it to the resource management game of dungeon crawls? Normal 5e has a lot of features that just negate the need to actually do anything. I suppose being based off it it's going to have the same limitations there and I'll have to house rule it in a similar way.

 

[Morrus]

Is the CR system in A5e compatible with 5e monsters? Or do you have to use only A5e monsters with it?

They're the same game. The CR system is fully compatible.

(The main difference is that monsters have the correct CR).

Also, how friendly is it to the resource management game of dungeon crawls? Normal 5e has a lot of features that just negate the need to actually do anything. I suppose being based off it it's going to have the same limitations there and I'll have to house rule it in a similar way.

I'm not too sure I understand that question? We created a full exploration pillar with exploration challenges and stuff and Supply rules.

 

[TheHand]

Also, how friendly is it to the resource management game of dungeon crawls? Normal 5e has a lot of features that just negate the need to actually do anything. I suppose being based off it it's going to have the same limitations there and I'll have to house rule it in a similar way.

A5E adds a pretty robust "Supply" system for management of food/water/supplies, and modifies spells such as Goodberry to keep them from superseding the Supply system.
It also adds the concept of "Havens" for getting the best benefits for Long Rests, meaning that if you're camping out in a dungeon you're not recovering "Strife" and "Fatigue" (which replace the O5E exhaustion system).

 

[mAcular]

They're the same game. The CR system is fully compatible.

(The main difference is that monsters have the correct CR).


I'm not too sure I understand that question? We created a full exploration pillar with exploration challenges and stuff and Supply rules.

If you want to do a dungeon crawl to its full effect, as a dungeon crawl, you need to manage food, lighting, weight, and so on. Much of 5e however handwaves it by giving you infinite free light in the form of cantrips, spells and class features that let you just gather a ton of food at the drop of a hat, and most people don't actually track encumbrance. Cantips being infinite are a problem in general since they give you a way to replicate something forever (like fire) without needing a resource. Resting also needs to be more difficult.

So for a 5e game I would run that wants to emphasize more of an old school feel, I'd make resting take longer or be more difficult to obtain, enforce encumbrance, limit cantrips, enforce lighting rules, track food and water, and so on.

 

[Morrus]

If you want to do a dungeon crawl to its full effect, as a dungeon crawl, you need to manage food, lighting, weight, and so on. Much of 5e however handwaves it by giving you infinite free light in the form of cantrips, spells and class features that let you just gather a ton of food at the drop of a hat, and most people don't actually track encumbrance. Cantips being infinite are a problem in general since they give you a way to replicate something forever (like fire) without needing a resource. Resting also needs to be more difficult.

So for a 5e game I would run that wants to emphasize more of an old school feel, I'd make resting take longer or be more difficult to obtain, enforce encumbrance, limit cantrips, enforce lighting rules, track food and water, and so on.

It's too big a topic to cover in one post, but I'd say your preferences might be more gritty than core A5E. Supply (food, water, firewood, minor medicinals, other consumables) are abstracted into a single 'Supply' value which gets depleted by exploration challenges. Taking a long rest without Supply causes fatigue (exhaustion is split into fatigue and strife) and fatigue can only be recovered at a Haven (i.e. not a campsite or a dungeon). Many food/water creating spells are altered so that they don't grant Supply. Light isn't really something A5E changes. Encubrance, well the rules are there just like in O5E; it's up to you whether you use them!

But I don’t want to mislead you—A5E isn't an OSR game. If that's your preferred style of play, I suspect an OSR game would cater more to your taste?

 

[lichmaster]

The beauty about A5e is that you can describe how your abilities can appear to others.

To be fair, this should be the case for pretty much any RPG