5E is a Superhero Game

The better I get at designing characters, the more I realize that 5E is a fantasy superhero game. The infinite use attack cantrips that scale with levels. The focus on casters and magic powers feels like different types of superheroes. I find myself building characters based on "low-level attack options" and planning how these characters will scale with level.

Even the classes feel more like "superhero archetypes" than traditional classes. This isn't even the same genre as a lot of B/X and OSR fantasy games at all; the classes can be seen as base archetypes of superheroes and the branching subtypes within that archetype.

Part of me wonders if this whole genre wouldn't be better served by dedicated superhero rules.

Take a pile of points, buy what you want and design what you want, unlimited freedom and choices.

Fantasy Champions 4th Edition

We did that back in our end days with B/X; we converted everything over to Champions 4th edition and had a lot of fun. D&D 4 reminded me of that "fantasy superhero" game we ran, and you could say 4E leaned in hard on the superhero genre. With Champions, we could design "AoE" sword swipes for our fighters, magic stun missiles for our mages, healing for our clerics, force wall shield spells, and ranged AoE entangle spells for druids. It was a very imaginative and awesomely fun game. It was a heck of a lot of work too.

While it may have been a lot of work, everything was balanced. Since power design and the interactions between point-buy and different powers were balanced, we could come up with anything and be reasonably sure it would work well with whatever else we designed and came up with. Even high-ability score characters were balanced since those were purchased with the points to buy powers, and everything worked incredibly well together. A character of X points was balanced with a monster of X points.

You can do this with the legacy 4th Edition Champions book, but it is, at its heart, a superhero game, and you will need to do more work to get the game you want. There are more focused solutions today, which get you started much faster.

Fantasy Hero Complete (Stand Alone)

The Fantasy Hero Complete book does this; it eliminates the need for a library of Champions 6th Edition books and tries to give a one-book answer to the superhero-fantasy genre. Granted, a lot of the conversions really feel like they have been square-pegged into round holes, but the one-book system works, and if you want to try your hand at freeform power and character design in a fantasy setting, this is the place to start.

I would steer clear of the full Champion's 6th Edition library - to start - since those are a lot of books, and it is too easy to get distracted by superheroes. It is better to have a book that focuses on the most common fantasy superhero tropes and start small since you will have a lot of work to do. And another suggestion is to start small, just a rogue or fighter type, and get used to the scale of attacks and combat before you get lost in power design and magic characters. I would start with low fantasy and work my way up to the total superheroic high fantasy.

And to make your life easier, use the Champions 4th Edition combat roll, 11 + OCV - DCV or less on a 3d6. The math is the same and more straightforward.

No Classes

One of the most liberating things about Fantasy Hero is you break free from classes. Do you want to be a fighting werewolf druid archer? Sure! Want to be a warlock paladin unholy smite teleporter in plate armor with a power that charges up your dark sword? Sure! Want to just point-buy as you gain experience and be a "highly skilled person" with no powers? Sure! Want to design all sorts of fantastic 3-hex front arc swipe damage plus fire effect magic melee powers? Sure!

For a referee, without a lot of predesigned foes, this game is a tough one to referee. Many of your fights will mirror superhero fights, with one-on-one battles with interesting but powerful foes taking center stage. Some fights will be over quickly because the foes will have no defense against some attacks. You will be using a lot of generic "mook" style characters just to speed up play, but that really isn't any different from other games.

Some people need classes; I get it. Sometimes I sit there and wrestle with what a game gives me versus what I could do if the game cut me free with a complete character design system. There are also times when I just can't create the character I want in a system and give up on it entirely.

Fantasy Hero (Expansion Book)

This book does have a few drawbacks, in that it is not a complete "Champions" book per-se, and you need a grasp on the Champions system to get going quickly - or you will be confused by many concepts. If you want to pay more and go all in, the excellent Fantasy Hero 6th Edition is available, but you will need the base system I and II rulebooks, along with the bestiary and grimoire books.

But you are talking about the difference between a single $30 book and a $170 book collection (current Amazon prices). My suggestion, get the single book - even though it has flaws - and see if you like the system before buying a ton of books. You get more, plus better and more complete resources in the entire set, but I still like the smaller, cheaper, more-focused book for getting started.

This version is an expansion of the core universal rules of Champions 6th Edition, so it is not a standalone book. People love this version over the smaller complete book, so it is an excellent upgrade if you go all in. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the five-book set versus the all-in-one book.

If you adopt the system, this is the way to go. Otherwise, dip your toe in with a single book.

Versus 5E?

You lose a huge player base, but no one is changing the rules on you anymore. You will never worry about your class getting nerfed. You will not worry about never having the right power or the powers not working the way you want. You won't worry about having to multiclass and do one-level dips. You won't worry about the unknown, shadow groups, ignored surveys, and inexperienced game designers hired by companies messing up your favorite game.

Don't laugh; it happens all the time.

Just look at 4E.

I feel one of the drawbacks to Champions is your character is initially very complex - there are a lot of numbers. But that complexity stays constant and increases very slowly over time. It feels like the same complexity of a level 6-8th 5E character, and then the complexity increases slowly as the 5E character continues on a steeper curve. The numbers are always "right there" and work the same way compared to 5E's interlocking layers of rules and special conditions.

Instead of wasting time and money modding the 5E rules to get them playing exactly how you want, you will be the "game designer" and have a game that is 100% yours. You will not have guidelines or safety rails, so whatever you want will be yours, and you are free to design and pick powers at will. For some, this will be amazing; for others, this will be a nightmare.

You like GURPS better, too, as the games are similar - where GURPS is more of a traditional RPG with point-buy elements; the Hero System is entirely point-buy-free for all. What I like about Champions over 5E is while there are a ton of numbers and powers, they are all in front of you, and you know what each of them does and what they are for. The rules all work the same way, attacks versus defenses, damage types and defenses versus them, and a unified power level and system.

While I am improving at designing 5E characters, it still takes considerable time. I weigh that against my solo playing, so the requirement to "play with others" goes away. The complexity of the 5E rules and characters is the factor here.

Do I play a game with a high complexity of characters and rules that gives me a small set of options?

Or do I play a game with a high complexity of characters only that gives me complete control?

Versus OSR?

No comparison. B/X and OSR games are less of a superhero game and more a "dungeon sim" game. Modern fantasy roleplaying is a superhero movie with thees, thous, and fancy tunics. B/X and the OSR don't do the modern-style of infinite blast-y cantrip superpower-style of play you get with 5E.

5E's design goals are these extremely narrow and curated class designs for experiences the designers intend you to have. Break the system, and the game gets out of balance. It is still a superhero game, but one where the company tightly controls the superheroes you can play. They control the powers, how you advance, and what your character ultimately becomes. When multiclassing exploits come up, they revise or create more attractive options.

With superhero games, you try to use a point limit and a set of powers to simulate a fantasy character. The limits are your imagination, and the rules do their best to balance the choices against each other. You are free to create the hero you want, with the powers you want, defenses, attacks, unique movements, and everything else. Your endgame is the one you control - not some "designer committee" that thinks they know better than you.

And honestly, it feels way easier to play a fantasy game these days with a game that does a better job simulating the genre than a narrow and limited-archetype game design such as 5E.

It is not that I dislike 5E; I have been around enough to know the type of game they are making and their choices to deliver on the promise. But if you change the game, you can do much more in the genre. And for some, that may be a fantastic experience worth having.