5E: Kleenex and White Bread

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

Is it me, or does the term 5E mean anything these days? I see so many crowdfunded projects coming out for this "generic 5E framework," which could mean anything from official rules to a clone to any system based on 5E that is numerically compatible.

5E has become a word like Kleenex, Xerox, or Aspirin.

It is the white bread and facial tissues of roleplaying.

Loosely anything with +1 to +6 bounded accuracy, 2d20 advantage/disadvantage, the same hit point scale, damage output, skills, feats, and multiclassing could be called 5E. There are only a handful of common factors that make something 5E.

You could take the new Swords & Wizardry, double the hit point scale, toss a skill and feat system in there, up damage output as you level by a scaled factor, and you would have 5E.

Quick OSR to 5E Chart:

• Levels 1-3: Base damage
• Levels 4-6: 2x damage and monster hp
• Levels 7-9: 3x damage and monster hp
• ...etc, all the way to 6x damage and monster hp at 20

The damage scaling has been here since D&D 3.0 and it is no secret. This is the biggest difference between OSR games and post-2000 games. Oh, look how much damage I am doing now! Well, look at the monster hit points. it all evens out, and this is why OSR hit-point scales are better. There isn't arbitrary scaling, and the numbers are more manageable.

It just feels better as a fighter to be doing 6d8+12 at the 20th level, versus a guaranteed 1d8+2.

Look how much power I have!

Honestly, that multiplier is an illusion and slows the game down. More math and bigger numbers do not make a "high-powered game" if your character falls behind the curve - which you do, or even entire classes do.

Also, some versions of the game unlinked the damage output to a hit-point scale, like D&D 4E, and hit points soared to unmanageable levels where every opponent felt like a bullet sponge.

You have 5E clones coming out at a rate I have never seen before. All the crowdfunded 5E products are rushing to release early, before the official 5.5E releases. But I get this feeling for many people, "anything 5E will do."

Wizards have lost 5E to the community.