D&D Editions Comparison | What Edition of D&D is Best? | D&D Edition Differences

[Music] this dice breaker video is sponsored by wild bills ditch the manufactured flavors your taste buds deserve better treat yourself to wild bills premium handcrafted soda pop mouth-watering beverages that allow you to escape to the most interesting places imaginable cheers to refusing the drink from the mainstream cheers to kick ass canned cheers to being veteran owned and operated at wild bills flavor isn't everything it's the only thing use discount code cheers 15 for 15 off your first order the dice breaker team has made it no secret that we love a good ttrpg and we celebrate all the differences each one has to offer however if you're to look within a single ttrpg it's unlikely that many of them will have as many iterations as dungeons and dragons from og to 5e each one of dnd's editions brings something different to the tabletop however in this video we're going to take you through each of d's editions from tsr's original creation which actually required the use of a separate gaming system to play it to wizards of the coast's acquisition of the ttrpg who wanted to perfect what was already in place what exactly is the story behind the different editions when did those not in the rpg space start considering it devil worship how did fighting man magic user and cleric become the vast array of character classes we have available now what did wizards of the coast do to make this rpg the accessible phenomenon that it is today and once that's all been discussed which of these additions is the best of them all let's find out to begin with this initial iteration of d d was simply that dungeons and dragons it has since been renamed original dungeons and dragons in order to set it apart from other editions of the role-playing game it was published as a box set in 1974 and was barely recognizable in comparison to dnd today there were only three character classes available those being fighting man magic user and cleric along with that there were only four races playable including human dwarf elf and hobbit the guide to playing the game consisted of three rule books men and magic monsters and treasure and the underworld and wilderness adventures men and magic was created as a 34-page booklet which laid out the rules for playing your character taking part in combat and casting spells this book originally suggested that the game could be played with between 4 and 50 players the dungeon master then named referee creating their own dungeon or underworld it was detailed in this set of rules that dwarves and hobbits could only play fighting men elves could switch between fighting men and magic users and humans could pretty much do whatever they wanted as the default character option to set your ability scores 3d6 are rolled by the referee this resulted in an ability score range between 3 and 18. the maximum spell level was 6th and the maximum character level was 16th the first edition of d d was basically a war game with a fun lord of the rings medieval twist and so it would follow the rules of popular war games at the time which included chainmail the medieval miniature war game which was also made by tsr interestingly d d provided a stepping stone for competing rpg publishers who wanted to break into the market with something similar tunnels and trolls for example this zeroth edition of d d as it's sometimes called was created with a budget of just two thousand dollars [Music] as you might have guessed from the moniker advanced dnd this edition wasn't for the faint of heart all those new to d d as the rules for playing were incredibly hard to follow unless you had been playing the original for a long while also there was initial trouble gaining access to each rulebook the monster manual the player's handbook and the dungeon master's guide due to the fact that tsr didn't have the money to release them all at the same time each of these three books was released over the course of three years and that resulted in widespread confusion on how exactly the game should be played however there were some major additions to this advanced version of the rpg which were important for any new player to take advantage of these included the addition of new character classes like assassin druid monk paladin thief and officially introduced bard illusionist and ranger classes too alignments were also changed instead of the previous three alignment system a new nine alignment system was introduced from 1977 until 2000 d would be divided into two categories basic dungeons and dragons and advanced dungeons and dragons hoping to inspire new players to give the basic version a chance naturally with a new addition you expect to see improvements on what was released previously one of the major benefits of using the second edition rule set was that it was simplified making it far easier to understand the rules the first ad and d offering was very much designed to be for hardcore players of the rpg and was overly complicated and difficult to take in the second edition of ad d solved this problem and effectively made the ad d that should have been created in the first place this was released a full 10 years after the first edition of advanced dnd and so any issues with the prior version were going to be very apparent with those fixed and a nostalgic kick being offered to original players it was definitely going to be something of a hit this also involved the eventual re-release of a much cleaner-looking player's handbook and dungeon master's guide in 1995. there was also a substantial amount of new artwork presented in this update the previous designer of the game gary gargax claimed that this whole rework was to deny him royalties on sales for the previous edition no it was because the previous edition of add needed perfecting gary you're not getting royalties was an added bonus it was also in part due to the fact that d d was getting some negative publicity by the god-fearing public who had gotten wind of the role-playing game and believed that it was devil worship in order to quell these worries all mention of devils and demons were removed and replaced with fiendish equivalents known as tanari and betazoo to complete this attempt at marketing ad2e as a wholesome game that was perfectly suitable for teens and up the focus was shifted towards heroics and teamwork as opposed to battling monsters and straight up murder a few additions to this addition that you may recognize include armor class movement being measured in feet and optional critical hit rules proficiencies are no longer an optional add-on but are fully supported in the core rules here we are at third edition d d the first edition published by wizards of the coast who acquired tsr in 1997. at this point wizards decided to drop the advanced element of the rpg along with the basic version which had been discontinued some years ago simplifying it down to just dungeons and dragons this third edition release also brought about a brand new system you know it you love it it's the icosagon with the most saigon it's the d20 system this new mechanic brought about a much more unified system of gameplay with the majority of actions requiring a d20 role to resolve them along with this gameplay had been simplified across the board with ability score modifiers following a set formula and saving throw is being reduced from five categories to three based on defense rather than attacking combat in dnd 3e was in the spotlight encouraging tactical gameplay with miniatures to be played on a grid system big character changes came in the form of a new class the sorcerer and the thief becoming the rogue officially rogue having previously been used to represent both the thief and the bard class the chance was also presented to players to prestige their characters when they reach higher levels and later on allowing them to advance their characters beyond level 20 and enter epic level gameplay this edition also gave its players the freedom to make any race and any class work together having set restrictions on this before which was a little ridiculous in retrospect so thank you wizards skills and feats were also introduced allowing players to customize their characters to their heart's content a mere three years later 3e was to be overshadowed by the shiny and new edition 3.5 with wizards having completed their initial overhaul of the rule set and officially putting their mark on the rpg it was only natural that they would want to make a few edits based around player feedback and common complaints it's basically taking third edition and making it the best it can be which is why it was disturbed edition 3.5 for a lot of d d players edition 3.5 is the best of the best that doesn't mean it was completely successful upon release however as many players who had invested in the player's handbook and dungeon master's guide for 3e resented having to go and buy brand new books in order to play 3.5 according to roll 20's blog post which reported on statistics for the first quarter of 2021 d d 3.5 is still among the most played systems at the time of the report being made the only other edition of dnd listed in the report is dnd5e we'll get to that in a moment though first here's another edition for us to take a look at you may have heard that there is a lot of hate out there for 4th edition d d and there is certainly a reason for the criticism lodged against it once again with the previous editions of d only having been released four years prior some players refused to move on to 4e and instead continued to rely on d d 3.5 or even the rpgs that had spawned from it such as pathfinder from paiso publishing despite this the initial run of fourth edition sold out in its pre-order phase and a second print run had to be announced soon after fourth edition is incredibly combat focused with the use of miniatures becoming mandatory and classes taking up roles you might be more familiar with in an mmo such as tank or dps accordingly many fans accused wizards of the coast of trying to make d d more like hit online game world of warcraft losing the heart of d in the process this also included the introduction of loot box-like blind packs of miniatures that made the game exceptionally expensive to play but guess what epic level gameplay returned with characters being able to go up to level 30 as opposed to level 20 being your max level despite the subside players found that this edition was less about building an interesting character and role-playing them throughout your hero's journey but more about tactical gameplay making the experience feel very unbalanced d d4e essentials was brought out three years after this in 2010 trying to make way for new players rather than established ones it wasn't until the development of the next edition however that new players felt truly welcome [Music] the latest version of d d to date d d 5th edition was released in january 2012 and completely revolutionized the game by developing it through public open play test for the first time an early build for 5e was debuted at a 2012 dungeons and dragons event to around 500 fans and the play test ball continued rolling from there as well as this user-friendly development style a basic rules pdf was released for free in 2014 allowing new potential players to see what they were in for 5e starter set released on july 15 2014 and contained pre-generated characters instructions for basic play and an adventure module entitled lost mine of hand delver since 2014 over 45th edition books have been published some being adventure modules rulebooks or various gameplay guides according to wizards of the coast themselves dungeons and dragons 5e is the most successful of all previous editions thanks in part to the evolution of d d play streams like critical role dimension 20 and maybe even dice breakers own dnd campaigns among others this allowed for the introduction of countless new players to the game of course it makes sense that this edition has been hailed as one of the best as it has learned from previous editions from both what was done very right as well as very wrong gameplay was streamlined allowing for a focus on role play combat and character creation in equal measure some notable changes include a single proficiency bonus that increases as your character's level does a single value for armor class and saving throws that fall in line with your character's six core abilities strength dexterity intelligence constitution wisdom and charisma feats were optional and could be taken instead of an ability score increase and the dawn of the age of advantage and disadvantage was upon us this mechanic involves rolling two d20s and either taking the higher or lower raw dependent on the situation fourth edition's power system was replaced by class features a list of which expands as the characters level up clerics druids paladins and wizards prepare their spells using a slightly improved preparation system which takes a lot of influence from previous editions and healing surges were now replaced by hit dice finally it's time for us to tell you which d d edition is the best of them all and come on of course it's 5th edition with version 3.5 being a close second of course there's room to mess up later editions of a game with d4 edition being proof enough of this but 5v not only fixed what was broken and improved what was working with previous editions it also reached out to the fans themselves to hear what they wanted they continue to do so with their unearthed arcana content which allows players to try out new things and complete surveys on them for improved gameplay with that being said make sure you tell us if you agree or not with our choice if you think another addition is better what you like about certain editions what you dislike and even changes you're hoping will appear in d sixth edition also if you enjoyed this video we would super appreciate it if you would subscribe and hit the notification bell to see when we post more videos like this or go live with similar content you can also join dicebreaker plus our youtube membership platform where we post three additional videos each month on tabletop content and beyond take a look at our mesh by checking out the link in the description and find a ton more articles with content just like this over on dicebreaker.com thank you so much for watching and have a lovely day bye [Music]

Channel: Dicebreaker

Views: 16,604

Keywords: Board games, Tabletop Games, Card Games, Dicebreaker, dnd, dnd 5e, dungeons and dragons, wizards of the coast, rpg, tabletop rpg, trpg, ttrpg, dnd editions, dnd 1e, dnd 2e, dnd 3e, dnd 4e, tabletop, tabletop gaming, gaming, tsr, critical role, forgotten realms, roleplaying, roleplaying game, d20, dicebreaker, dicebreaker liv, dnd differences, dnd edition, 5th edition, dimension 20, dnd 3.5, pathfinder, video essay, essay video, essay, wargame, history

Id: fTzwBqOEsSc

Length: 15min 48sec (948 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021