Getting back into 5E for my group, and getting them into it, sucks. D&D is intimidating for new players or those returning, and getting a group to learn and explore options seems like an impossibly high wall. The patch list for 2014 is killing me, and I am not buying into 2024. Would it solve problems? Yes. Does it solve the issues I want solved? Some classes are still terrible or worse off, while others are now horribly overpowered.
On a personal level, would I buy 2024 books? Probably not. Then again, I am not convinced 2024 is the way forward for D&D. My gut feeling is the next edition is a few more years out, and 2024 won't have a complete shelf life. The x.5 games from Wizards never really last, and they are more patches for end-of-life systems. Both 3.5E and 4E Essentials (4.5E) were like this.
The work begins on the next edition when a new team joins. If money pressures mount, this version will come sooner rather than later. This is unlike Castles & Crusades, where one version of the game can last for 20+ years. 5.5E will likely have 3.5E's shelf life, about five years. It will be closer to three before the buzz starts for 6E.
It is hard enough to step down to play 2014 D&D. I would rather play any other 5E clone with this group, but this is one of those situations where it has to be "name brand" or nothing.
Tales of the Valiant is the game I would play if I had a decent character builder. I may do them by hand and give up looking for character creation and storage services for this game. Subclasses from any 5E book port effortlessly, just read the ToV Conversion Guide and start pulling them in (only the highest level feature needs a minor tweak on placement). Part of the advantage of using ToV over Level Up A5E is that you have better third-party compatibility since there are very few changes to core systems from 5E.
ToV is a direct drop-in replacement for 2014 D&D.
ToV has its own fixes; many are still better than 2024 D&D. The game was designed for maximum fun at the table, so the "fun features" are pulled forward so you can use them more at the lower levels. That makes sense for a design goal. Put the fun first.
I like Level Up A5E, but from a compatibility standpoint for existing subclasses, ToV is easier and has fewer issues. ToV is a CR+1 game, but all the monsters are also CR+1, so there is that. A5E feels like 2014's sibling, but with many of the systems redesigned for depth and pillar of play support. Level Up also feels more like a CR+0 game with extensive fixes to the math.
ToV also has more spells and monsters than 2014 with the add-on books, so you won't be short in those departments. It also has a premium game world with many adventures.
With an extensive library of character options, ToV will be a better game. If you bought those options for a VTT, then you will be doing conversions of them as you play. Get things in print! Most 3rd party content does a good job at subclass design, but you may also be tweaking power levels to be more in line with ToV subclass options. ToV is the best game for playing 3rd-party content.
Without 3rd party content, ToV is a clean and fixed version of 2014 D&D.
The game is also far easier for beginners and better organized, and character creation flows and makes logical sense. The classes are also "fun stacked" with the good powers coming earlier, so you can get more use out of them at the levels you need to have them. There is a monk power for reducing ranged damage you get in 2014 D&D, where by the time you get it, it doesn't matter, ranged attacks typically exceed what the ability can stop. In ToV, you get that at level one, and you can have the most fun with it while it matters.
I still like Level Up, but it has always been self-contained and less dependent on third-party books. It is compatible with them, but the game does its own thing many times, and it is more fun to play within the framework it creates. The math is very tight, and a solid CR+0 game that preserves the original number balance. The game has many 4E and 3E inspirations and features, and it is a love letter to the 2000-2014 era of gaming, but done with 5E rules. Many of the systems in Level Up are so good that you don't need third-party books, tons of subclasses, or book after book of player options.
Where ToV revels in options, Level Up provides so much depth that you don't need them.
Level Up is the best game if all you ever own are the three core books.
Level Up also feels strikingly old-school; it is deadly and unforgiving of stupid decisions. In D&D and even ToV, you can mitigate a run of bad luck or a plan that backfires, but in Level Up A5E, your party is likely headed to a TPK. ToV and D&D are more "casual heroic," while Level Up is more old-school.
Level Up does its own thing, and it does it exceedingly well.
If I want to play with a book like Battle Zoo Ancestries, that will work best with ToV. Any random third-party book will work better with ToV, since you are not worrying about Level Up's fighting styles, supply system for survival, expertise dice, and many other subsystems missing from "generic 5E content." Level Up will do better with settings and adventures with an old-school feeling.
I can split my library between the Level Up and ToV sides.
ToV will likely be the larger side, since 2014, D&D has collected strange character-option books like flies to honey. ToV also has the excellent Midgard campaign setting, an underappreciated gem that is a drop-in replacement for the Forgotten Realms, and far better supported.
For Level Up, my Frog God Games books for the Lost Lands setting are already on that shelf. This is an old-school game world with its roots in the classic Swords & Wizardry game, so using an old-school version of 5E feels perfect here.
Even from the covers of these two setting books, you can sense what type of game and world this is. Midgard looks like a World of Warcraft-style world and game, with over-the-top heroics and larger-than-life heroes, something ToV does perfectly. The Lost Lands setting feels more realistic, deadly, and dark, which is what Level Up does the best.
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