The Evolution of D&D 5th Edition – part 1 Introductions and Character Origins

This is one of my posts on the evolution of D&D. See here for other related posts.

D&D 5^th edition has been around for ten years now, and has proven the most successful edition yet. But ten years is a long time, and now there are several successors looking to take the legacy on (as well as other different systems). The playtests are over, and the official printed versions are now coming out.

I have been trying out all three during their development, but the final versions of all three are imminent, I plan to work through in detail comparing all three against the 2014 edition and each other, showing their similarities and highlighting their differences.

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The pretenders

First and foremost of the new editions, of course, is the new edition from Wizards of the Coast, which I think is now just being called 2024 edition. I have the books on order, and I will look at the final changes once they arrive. I will refer to this as the 2024 edition, or D&D 2024. The 2024 Players Handbook isn’t released until September, so at the moment any reference to that is based on the series of Unearthed Arcana playtests and on posts on D&D Beyond.

Then there is “Level Up! Advanced 5^th Edition” (or more commonly A5E). This has actually been out for more than two years, and I took a look at their equivalent of the Player’s Handbook a couple of years ago, but their starter set has just completed its Kickstarter. I will refer to this as A5E for short.

The third pretender to the future of D&D is Kobold Press’s “Tales of the Valiant”. This started as “Project Black Flag” and the Player’s Guide and Monster Manual entered Kickstarter a year ago. (Their equivalent of the DMG is now in development via separate Kickstarter). I will refer to this as ToV for short.

And everything is being compared to the edition that we have all known and (mostly) loved for the last ten years, the 2014 release of fifth edition D&D. For clarity, when I refer to D&D 5E, or just 5E, this is the edition I am referring to and not the forthcoming 2024 edition.

This is going to take more than one post to do it justice, so this is the start of a series.

Note: I am aware there are other plenty of systems out there, in particular Pathfinder and Pathfinder 2, MCDM, DC20, Castles and Crusades, and many more, with greater or lesser similarity to D&D. I may cover some of these in other blog posts, but this series is specific to the systems which claim to be compatible with and evolutions of D&D 5^th edition.

First Impressions – the Introduction

The Introduction is the first section of each book which you come to, and that sets the tone for the rest of the book.

Tales of the Valiant Introduction

Kobold Press have built a reputation for extensions and addons to 5^th edition, including four collections of monsters – the Creature Codex and Tome of Beasts I to III, several settings and adventures including Midgard, Tales of the Old Margrave, Empire of the Gouls, The Scarlet Citadel – and much more.

Tales of the Valiant is their reimagining and extension of D&D 5^th edition. It started (publicly) at the start of 2023 as “Project Black Flag” after the whole OGL licencing fiasco, although apparently they had already been working on it behind the scenes. In July 2023, they kicked off the Kickstarter for the Player’s Guide and Monster Vault (as I mentioned in passing in my Weapon Mastery comparison), and it was funded in 30 minutes. Ultimately it had over ten thousand backers, contributing over $1million to its development. And yes, I was one of those backers.

I have just received the printed Players Guide and Monster Vault from Tales of the Valiant. They came as a gorgeous-looking box set of two, plus a GM screen…which has clearly had real GMs involved in the design because it is landscape, i.e. short enough to look over and see the table, unlike the other screens I have tried to use. (I often find myself piling two chairs one on top of the other, and then standing up anyway).

The PDFs arrived in May, but it’s much easier (and more inspiring) to read in print.

While also based on the 5^th edition rules, this is a self-contained standalone product which has no need for the WotC rulebooks. It contains all the rules for character creation and play through all the levels. However, they also offer a free Conversion Guide from 5E on DriveThruRPG.

Of necessity, the introductory chapter has similarities to the PHB, but it also has some differences. There is no example of actual play. Instead it talks about the GM presenting options, and how the players might have different responses which would lead to different adventures. It also highlights, for players, to only roll when prompted, and a reminder the GM has final say and needs your trust and support.

Like A5E, it also discusses safety in the introduction, and it actually references a technique: Lines and Veils, although of course there are many other options. ToV has fewer additions to the basic ruleset, so the introduction feels shorter.

Level Up! Advanced 5^th Edition Introduction

Level Up! Advanced 5^th Edition is by EN Publishing. It went through Kickstarter in 2021 and released in PDF form in November that year. The print edition arrived in Spring 2022 as three gorgeous hardback books: the Adventurer’s Guide (their PHB), Trials and Treasure (their DMG) and Monstrous Menagerie (their MM), and they have since brought out Dungeon Delves, and most recently, a Starter Edition box set.

While based on and extending 5E in concept, the books are complete, self-contained and standalone, and don’t require the WotC rulebooks.

The starter edition contains three adventures for 4^th and 5^th level, along with pregenerated characters, maps, tokens, a rulebook containing the additional rules over 5E needed to run the adventures with those characters, and a set of cards for the combat manoeuvres, which will prove very useful. I was a bit disappointed to realise how much had been cut out of the rulebook – it really is the rules you need to run the starter set, not a full-blown conversion guide from 5e which is what I was hoping for.

The A5E Adventurer’s Guide Introduction naturally covers a lot of the same ground as the PHB. It introduces the idea of role playing (imaginative play), the difference between the “Narrator” (their term for the GM) and the Players, the three pillars of play – Combat, Exploration and Social Interaction, and the basic Describe-Response-Determine cycle. It includes a short example of play, talks about setting and worldbuilding, sessions, story arcs and campaigns, and how the idea isn’t to “win” as such. It also covers safety and accessibility in general terms and Session Zero, before introducing the d20 mechanic.

A5E extends this mechanic with a more formalised definition of group checks. It also formalises the concept of Critical Fumbles and Failures, and talks about Critical Saves, and Critical Success and Failure on group checks (all or none succeed respectively). And as well as Advantage and Disadvantage, it introduces the concept of an Expertise die which certain class features can grant on particular checks.

Finally it reminds that the rules are tools and can’t cover everything, and that the Narrator may need to may on-the-spot adjudications.

Character Origins

Both A5E and ToV then move into character creation, just like the PHB.

Obviously a lot of the details about characters are very similar, since this is intended to be a compatible update. There are the same six abilities – Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. The same ability modifier calculation – (score – 10)/5, rounded down. You choose a class, where you come from, and your starting equipment.

But there is one area where all four editions differ – the character origins; all three new editions seem to take slightly different approaches, and all of them are different from the 5E approach.

When I started, with the boxed sets BECMI D&D, class and species were rolled into one. You could be a fighter, cleric, thief or magic user, all of whom were human, or you could be a dwarf or halfling, which were fighters, or an elf, which was a fighter/magic user.

AD&D technically had class and species as separate choices, but most species apart from human were significantly limited in what classes they could take.

By the time I returned, with 5^th edition, you choose three base elements for your character: class, species and background, and these are completely independent (you almost certainly know this, but it bears stating). Class reflects your training. Species reflects your upbringing, and background reflects what sort of profession you have learned.

But this still has limitations, as I discuss here. Species combines both genetics and culture – what you inherit from your parents, and what you learn while growing up.WOTC tried to address this to an extent in Tasha’s by saying “well, swap things around if you want”, but this is both too simplistic and too free-form for my tastes as a GM and worldbuilder. Both to me come as a package based on what exists in my world.

In 2024, it appears you still have Class, race (now called Species) and Background, but it now appears a fair amount has moved from Species to Background. The Species now determines your size, speed, lifespan and special traits, while the background grants you three points of ability score bonus, two skill proficiencies, one tool proficiency, a language, a feat, and some equipment.

ToV and A5E take a different approach, one proposed nearly ten years ago by Scott Rehm, The Angry GM. They separate the genetic part of upbringing from the cultural part, and leave the background separate.

Tales of the Valiant calls the genetic part Lineage, and the cultural part Heritage. A5E unfortunately uses the same term Heritage but for the genetics, using Culture for the cultural part.

Interestingly, in ToV, none of the origin features affect any of your ability scores, so a bonus is built into the ability score generation instead. A5E takes the same approach as 2024 in putting the ability score bonuses into the background you choose.

ToV Lineage and A5E Heritage determine your age, size, speed, and some traits (called a Heritage Gift in A5E). A5E also adds a “Paragon Gift” acquired at 10^th level. The ToV Heritage and A5E Culture provide one or more languages, plus some traits.

Your ToV background provides skill proficiencies, additional proficiencies (e.g. tools of vehicles) or languages, equipment, and a Talent (the ToV equivalent to Feats). It also suggests Adventuring Motivations for the character.

The A5E background similarly provides skill proficiencies, and additional proficiencies or languages. It also provides Connections, some equipment, a memento, and some sort of background feature useful for storytelling.

Finally, A5E adds a Destiny, which is a character’s personal story arc. It provides role-playing hooks, a source of inspiration which grants bonuses in play, and an inspiration feature fuelled by this. It also has something which must be achieved to fulfil the destiny, and a special feature received when fulfilment is achieved.

Summary

In summary, these are the choices of Origin for the different rulesets:

	2014 Edition	2024 Edition	ToV	A5E
Genetics	Race	Species	Lineage	Heritage
Upbringing		Background	Heritage	Culture
Training	Background		Background	Background
Ambition				Destiny

And these are where each character attribute comes from:

	2014 Edition	2024 Edition	ToV	A5E
Ability Score bonuses	Race: variable	Background: +2, +1	Generation: +2, +1	Background: +1, +1
Size, Speed, Lifespan	Race	Species	Lineage	Heritage (Genetics)
Special Traits	Race	Species	Lineage + Heritage (Upbringing)	Heritage (Genetics)
Skill Proficiencies	Ba	Background	Background	Background
Tool Proficiencies		Background	Background	Background
Languages	Background	Background	Heritage (Upbringing) + Background	Culture + Background
Feats		Background	Background (Talent)
Starting equipment	Background	Background	Background	Background
Connections	Background			Background
Story Hooks	Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, Flaw		Background (Adventuring Motivation)	Background (Adventures and Advancement), Destiny

Conclusion

A detailed look at the different rulesets is already starting to show differences in approach, particularly in respect to character generation.

A lot can be told from how the book is structured, so the next post will take a high-level look at the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide and the A5E Adventurer’s Guide, comparing their organisation to that of the 2014 PHB.