Why you shouldn't play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Well, ok. You don't have to outright threaten to quit if that's what everyone else wants to play. But at the same time, nobody should be playing D&D Fifth Edition by default, or without even applying a selection prcoess. Here's why not.

D&D 5e isn't well balanced.

The Bard is far too powerful. The Ranger is significantly weaker. The Champion Fighter is extremely boring in play. Although a DM can work around these, any time the DM spends working around these issues is time they could have spent making up awesome worlds and adventures in a system that didn't need workarounds.

D&D 5e isn't well written.

Many terms in the system are confused, and many options that appear to be valid are not. Classic examples include:

• A "bonus action" which is not, actually, an action; it cannot be taken at times when an action can be taken, but only as an modification to an existing action.

D&D 5e endorsed horrible people.

D&D 5e listed Zak Smith/Zak Sabbath as a consultant, who has been accused of multiple sexual harassment and rape [1].

D&D 5e applied a deeply cynical marketing and development strategy.

D&D Fourth Edition was a highly innovative system which actively attempted to address previous issues with the game and with the whole nature of RPGs. Not everybody liked it, but that is in the nature of innovation. D&D Third Edition was also highly innovative at the time it was released.

D&D Fifth Edition has only very small beneficial innovations compared to Third Edition, but also takes multiple steps backwards. Any issues with the Third Edition system were not addressed or developed in Fifth Edition, but simply removed from the system and left up to the judgment of the DM. At the same time, D&D Fifth Edition hsa had the lowest level of support from the publishing company of any edition, but the highest level of marketing support, especially with regard to the burgeoning podcast market.

These make it quite apparent that Wizards Of The Coast now considered D&D so entrenched in the market that it does not need to be developed or improved on any more, and need only be maintained in order to retain that entrenchment. In other words, it's as if Microsoft had not developed or improved their operating system after Windows ME, but poured all their money into putting it fromt-and-centre in the market and squeezing out anyone with a lower budget or who applied that any part budget to innovation. This is potentially destructive to the whole industry. Playing D&D 5e as the "default" game is the purest endorsement of this strategy.