3.5e and 5e SRDs versus 0e

[waysoftheearth]

With the recent OGL fiasco, many authors now need to decide whether there's a viable future publishing platform for their OGL-based games.

One option is to switch from the OGL licensed 3.5e SRD to the CC licensed 5e SRD. Many authors (including me) will be wondering how practical that really is.

I've been hoping for a while that someone else would have already done this, but if they have I've not yet seen it So, in this topic I'm hoping to post some comparisons between 0e, the 3.5e SRD, and the 5e SRD. Perhaps some of this might end up being helpful...

[waysoftheearth]

Let's start with the spell lists.

[waysoftheearth]

[waysoftheearth]

[waysoftheearth]

Ignoring the spell level changes, 48 of OD&D's 136 spell names (or just over one-third) don't appear exactly in either the 3.5e or the 5e SRDs. Albeit many have near-ish substitutes.

I might just be missing where some of these are hidden in other spells or abilities, but it also appears the 5e SRD is missing equivalents of OD&D's Hold Portal, Read Magic, Ventriloquism, Pyrotechnics, Invisibility 10ft radius, Protection from Normal Missiles, Charm Monster, Extension, Massmorph, Transmute Rock to Mud, Wall of Iron, Invisible Stalker, and Turn Sticks to Snakes spells.

Happy to be schooled otherwise by anyone who knows where these may have landed

[waysoftheearth]

Onward to the player types...

[waysoftheearth]

Alignment (Division)...

[waysoftheearth]

Monsters.
There are around 360 monsters in my Official OD&D Monsters List spreadsheet.
The SRDs also contain lots more.

To keep this table to a manageable length, I've only included the monsters appearing in M&T and GH...

[waysoftheearth]

[waysoftheearth]

[waysoftheearth]

Aside from the "known" WotC IP and a handful of variant spellings, the most notable difference in the monster list is that most of D&D's "Men" monster types are missing from the SRDs. The 5e SRD does include Cultists, however; a useful addition.

[howandwhy99]

OE to 5E:
Aerial Servants became Unseen Servant, spell only
Yellow Mold is still a hazard
Ogre Magi are Oni

Good thread

[tdenmark]

Barely related, but I once did an analysis of the Monster descriptions across all the editions. Here is a table that compares Orcs:



Lines in gray are the 0e stat block, interesting that they are basically common across all (most) editions.
I didn't include 4th edition because it isn't D&D.

[waysoftheearth]

You did that for all monsters? That would be epic. You should share

Some minor amendments to consider for the OD&D column:
. M&M p9 has orcs in the Neutrality and Chaos columns.
. I'm not sure the attacks and damage stats apply for all OD&D... perhaps these stats are for GH-OD&D and beyond, but CM-OD&D (and hence Delving Deeper) would have "FC" stats for normal and fantastic combat instead

I can't recall off the top of my head if the save stat appears for monsters in the 3LBBs. I'm pretty there is one in MTA, but that was a bit later, so that one might be a back-port?

[tdenmark]

Aug 21, 2023 2:01:47 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

You did that for all monsters? That would be epic. You should share

Some minor amendments to consider for the OD&D column:
. M&M p9 has orcs in the Neutrality and Chaos columns.
. I'm not sure the attacks and damage stats apply for all OD&D... perhaps these stats are for GH-OD&D and beyond, but CM-OD&D (and hence Delving Deeper) would have "FC" stats for normal and fantastic combat instead

I can't recall off the top of my head if the save stat appears for monsters in the 3LBBs. I'm pretty there is one in MTA, but that was a bit later, so that one might be a back-port?

That would be epic if this was done for all monsters. But of course, that would be insane. While I might be crazy, I'm not that insane.

[rredmond]

[waysoftheearth]

Magic swords...



This comparison is, perhaps, a bit deceptive.

Whereas OD&D and GH have each of the above weapons listed explicitly, the 3.5e SRD instead provide generative tables that enable one to plausibly generate a sword +1, sword +2, and a ba-gillion (I didn't count them all) other combinations of magical sword or other weapons.

The 5e SRD has "generic" +1 thru +3 magic "weapons", a select list of specific, named magic weapons, plus a list of several hundred third-party published magic items (e.g., a 5e "Holy Weapon" by Monte Cook).

I have marked the generic +1 thru +5 "weapon" entries of the SRDs as common to OD&D's and GH's +1 thru +5 swords.
I have excluded all the additional swords from the SRDs above, since they don't align to D&D equivalents.

[waysoftheearth]

Magic Armor and Shields...



Similar story to swords, above.

Scoring the two for one "Armor and Shield" combination is unique to D&D

[waysoftheearth]

Miscellaneous Weapons...



Similar story to swords, above.

Edit: I noticed the 3.5e SRD includes a separate list of cursed items, which has a "-2 Sword, Cursed" and a "Spear, Cursed Backbiter". So, slight variations on the D&D spellings.

[waysoftheearth]

Potions...

[waysoftheearth]

Not sure about scrolls.

OD&D randomises whether scrolls are M-U or cleric, whether a scroll is a protection scroll, a curse, or contains a number of spells. 3.5e has a similar-ish random determination for spell scrolls (as crafted items), but without protection scrolls or curses. It's not immediately clear to me how 5e handles scrolls.

I will leave this place holder.

[waysoftheearth]

Rings...

[waysoftheearth]

Wands, Staves, Rods...

[waysoftheearth]

Miscellaneous Magic Items...

For expediency I've only included the items listed in M&T here.
Greyhawk adds another 103 items to this, and the SRDs add many more.



Almost all of the original items are covered, albeit half with minor spelling alterations.

5e appears to omit the drums of panic and helm of opposite alignment?

The 5e SRD differs from the 3.5e SRD spelling in only a few instances (the cloak of displacement, helm of comprehending lanaguges, and the horn of blasting).

[robertsconley]

Thanks for doing this.

[waysoftheearth]

The last one I'm working on is a list of game terms. Hopefully this weekend...

[hamurai]

Really interesting! Thank you very much for sharing this!

[waysoftheearth]

No problemo.

The list of game terms is a more difficult thing to assemble, so it's taking a bit more time. However, the short version is that there's a lot of difference in the combat terminology, particularly if (like DD) you're interested in CM-inspired D&D combat.