Don’t have the PHB yet, but from what I see from the free rules, I’m also quite optimistic.
We recently started a Birthright campaign using ADnD 2e rules, but I4m seriously considering to “convert” to 5e after I have a look at the 3 core rulebooks.
I haven’t got the PHB yet, but the free rules and all the PHB and MM previews make me really optimistic about this version. Also, the concept of bounded accuracy makes DnD 5e a great fit for Birthright, even more than 2e I would say.
Regards!
Currently looking at a friend’s copy of the PHB and I’m loving it so far. Been playing 5th Edition since the Starter Set came out (though my friends and I have the Alpha version) and I’m enjoying what I’ve seen so far in the PHB. Of course, I’ve only played Rogues so far (one session I played the generic Human Noble Fighter and never once used my Ancestral Axe).
I haven’t read the book enough yet to judge on what kind of changes there needs to be, but I have enjoyed the eight sessions of games I’ve played in on so far.
Get also the free Basic PDF, they updated it recently and divided it into 2 PDFs, Player and GM. More backgrounds, monsters, magic items… And there is also a free PDF for Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
Regards!
Thanks for the heads-up, Vicente!
Yeah, thanks for the info. I don’t even think my friend who owns those two books knows about these PDFs yet and he’s usually well-informed on new PDFs and books.
EDIT: Read the backgrounds, classes, races, etc… all the same from the PHB, except the PHB has more. Nothing new in these PDFs and recall seeing the ‘Basic Rules’ PDFs in a binder with my friend’s stuff, so nevermind on him not having it.
Super excited for the new D&D. It definitely gives me OSR vibes. Birthright, Ravenloft, and Dragonlance are really overwhelming my better judgement as I have been reading over everything I can about 5E. I will probably start working on Birthright conversions again as I did for the beginning 4E games… So much stuff has come out now too… I am torn between using the old BR system, the updated system for d20 from Birthright.net, or the Pathfinder system for Regency/Kingdom management… each of them have their merits and flaws.
@Thelandrin No probs 
@JakobLiar
As far as I know, there are 4 free PDFs right now:
- Basic DnD Players v0.2
- Basic DnD DM v0.1
- Hoard of the Dragon Queen Suplement 1
- Basic DnD Adventurers League v0.1
And then a ton of free character sheets: from the Starter Set, blank (form-fillable and normal).
The idea is that the free PDFs will be updated little by little as new books are published. I’m not sure if there is going to be an update when they release the MM (as they already published the Basic DM with monsters), but I think there is going to be an update with the second Tyranny of Dragons adventure (probably another Suplement) and with the DMG.
Honestly, I think those free PDFs are a great idea. They allow people to check DnD for free, contain all the information needed to play and are a good gateway for the physical books. WotC is managing 5e so far very well, and it seems to have a very clear and interesting vision on how to handle it.
Regards!
I gotcha, man. I saw and I am a little hesitant about that Adventurer’s League, though I didn’t see it on the website for that one. However, considering that my GM is trying to push me into playing during the League game, I might end up doing it anyway. I just disliked how Pathfinder did their Pathfinder Society, because I never got to keep anything my character stole or looted from enemies. It was always annoying.
Overall, I’m still loving it and when I get paid again (this upcoming Friday), I expect to have enough money to be able to purchase the game (and possibly both books).
Finally got a chance to look at the PHB, seems there’s only 7 domains for Clerics at the moment. By looking at gods with similar portfolios among the pantheons mentioned in the PHB, I came up with this little conversion for Birthright.
Domains: Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, War.
Gods:
Haelyn = Life, War
Nesirie = Tempest, Life
Cuiraecen = Tempest, War
Erik = Nature
Avani = Knowledge, Light
Laerme = Life, Light
Ruornil = Knowledge
Sera = Knowledge, Trickery
Eloele = Trickery
Belinik = War, Death
Kriesha = Nature, Tempest
Thanks to my father for supporting my interest in Dungeons and Dragons, I was able to purchase the PHB. I’m currently reading over it and find it interesting that each one of the Gods are able to have Paladins. I’ve always thought that it should be possible, but since the old age versions they had to be LG (except in one edition where they could be LG/LE/CG/CE).
Also, love the Wild Magic Sorcerers because I could easily see it as something from the Shadow World (whether its Fey or not), something from the blood of the Gods running through them (especially if its Azrai), or even some hereditary bit of ‘radiation’ from the event at Mt. Deismarr (the explosion).
Bards would also be cool to play, considering that there is already listed two Bardic Colleges (which would be interesting to see two separate stories for events).
I also love how they did Barbarians with the Unarmored Defense.
I do realize that some of the races won’t be playable (or will be highly restricted) such as the Dragonborn and Drow for many of the games, but I will also wait until there are more races listed.
The druid class is sacred to Erik, pretty much exclusively, though I suppose you could make a case for Kriesha as well.
I suppose that Kartathok would be War and Trickery and Moradin maybe War and Life.
Druids will always be a problem with any conversion because of how 2nd Ed handled priests via specialty priests. In 2nd ed Birthright, there were no clerics, but everyone was a specialty priest. A priest of Haelyn felt very different from a priest of Eloele, etc.
Now however, we have the problem that the priest of any faith must be a cleric, except for Erik whose priests are druids. So the priest of every faith is nigh-identical (save for a few tweaks), whereas the priests of Erik are vastly different. It gives almost a special status to the faith that i’ve always felt was out of balance (ironic isn’t it?) somehow.
-Fizz
I would probably consider the Druid like something very different from a Cleric in Birthright.
A cleric gets his power from a god (like Erik) while a druid takes his power from Nature itself, from the world, from the mebhaighl. Probably a druid respects Erik’s faith, in the same way as he respects Nesirie, goddess of the seas, but does not “venerate” him.
In that sense, I’d even let elves be druids. And I would have Druids use Sources instead of Temples.
New Subrace: Cerilian Dwarf
Dense Body. You have resistance against bludgeoning damage.
Non-magical. You have advantage on saving throws agains spells, but you cannot choose choose following classes / archetypes:
Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Rogue (Arcane Trickster), Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard.
PS: didn’t give an additional ability increase, since the two above traits seem powerful enough.
This is what I was thinking for the humans of Cerilia:
ANUIREAN
Bonus Ability: +1 to Wisdom and one other of your choice
Bonus Skill (choose one): Deception, History, Insight, Persuasion
Bonus Feat (choose one): Inspiring Leader, Mounted Combatant, War Caster
BRECHT
Bonus Ability: +1 to Dexterity and one other of your choice
Bonus Skill (choose one): Acrobatics, Athletics, one type of artisan tools, navigator’s tools
Bonus Feat (choose one): Defensive Duellist, Dual Wielder, Linguist
KHINASI
Bonus Ability: +1 to Intelligence and one other of your choice
Bonus Skill (choose one): Animal Handling, Arcana, Insight, Persuasion
Bonus Feat (choose one): Elemental Adept, Keen Mind, War Caster
RJURIK
Bonus Ability: +1 to Constitution and one other of your choice
Bonus Skill (choose one): Nature, Perception, Stealth, Survival
Bonus Feat (choose one): Alert, Observant, Resilient
VOS
Bonus Ability: +1 to Strength and one other of your choice
Bonus Skill (choose one): Animal Handling, Intimidation, Perception, Survival
Bonus Feat (choose one): Durable, Mage Slayer, Savage Attacker
I suppose you mean the “optional” traits for humans, where they get +1 to two abilities?
Or would you add this to the +1 to ALL ability scores?
EDIT: the improved formatting clarified it for me…
Well, in 2nd Ed it was quite clear that druids were the sole priests of Erik, implying that druid abilities were only available through him. That is- druid powers did not come from mebhaighl. Officially.
That said, we have more flexibility in the conversion. And what you say does have some logic to it. But can you envision a cleric of Erik? Hmmmm. It may depend on how flexible 5E clerics are, (which i’ve not read yet).
-Fizz
Unless you are going to separate mages from mebhaighl, linking druids to it instead of a god may be confusing - although one could argue that such an approach would both strengthen the churches of Erik (drawing strength from both populous and unpopulated lands) allowing more sub-division of the faith of Erik, and perhaps something similar in Vosgaard.
Re: Karamhul and Halflings not being mages, that was a 2e limitation which makes no sense in BR - both races are more magical than humans, allowing them to be mages would possibly marginally reduce cross-race holdings since wizards could no longer petition the karamhul to draw power from Karamhul lands, but equally it could do the opposite - the Karamhul could use sources like their guilds to extend their reach beyond their borders.
Hmm, after 4e I’m a bit reluctant to buy another D&D set, but it sounds like an improvement from everything that people are saying.
That depends on what you mean by “making sense”. Iirc, in the original Birthright book, dwarves are described as being completely non-magical, so it’s not just a 2nd Ed thing, but the very nature of dwarves in the setting.
So i’d say a dwarf can be a wizard only if they are blooded. Now could a dwarf be a magician? Ergh… based on the description of “entirely non-magical”, i’d want to be a purist and say no.
As for halflings, they may come from the Shadow World and have powers related to that, but does that make them “magical” enough to be able to case True Magic without being blooded? I’m not sure. But they could be a magician without issue.
One of the things i like about Birthright is that magic is not normal, so hefty requirements for magic are a must.
Hmm, after 4e I’m a bit reluctant to buy another D&D set, but it sounds like an improvement from everything that people are saying.
Yes, what they did in 4E has been largely undone. I like to describe it as half-way between 2nd ed and 3E. There may be a few 4E things remaining (warlock), but i think those are easily ignored if desired.
-Fizz