When Did 5e Come Out? | The Origin of 5th Edition D&D
Dungeons & Dragons was initially released in 1974, through the mind of the influential Gary Gygax. Back then, the book was a supplement to the TRPG Chainmail. It took one year – 1975 – for it to become a single-minded game. It took 45 more for it to become the media empire we see today. So where does 5e fit in here? It’s the most recent addition, but how old was it? Let’s drill down into the question “when did 5E come out?”
When Did 5e Come Out?
The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition basic rulebook and starter set was released on July 15, 2014. It took a month and some change to release the Player’s Handbook, with all the options we know and love.
That’s right… 5e is almost 10 years old (at the time of this article!).
Anything Else?
Well, as you may or may not know, 5e has quite a few supplementary books that release. I won’t go over everything, because that would include a bunch of tiny books that add only one or two options. The most important books of note are Volo’s Guide to Monsters (November 2016), Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (November 2017), and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (May 2018). These books all add tons of races, class features, feats, and enemies to the game, on top of the options in the Monster Manual (September 2014) and DMG (December 2014).
Another fact for your D&D Trivia game; 5e came out 6 years after 4e, which was a 2008 release. And 4e came out 5 years after 3.5.
Will There Be a 6th Edition of D&D?
There is no way to know for sure if there will ever be 6th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. While history suggests there might be, there is no doubt that Wizards of the Coast wants to move away from the distinction of “Editions” and create a living game that is tweaked and adjusted over the years.
This desire led WOTC to announce One D&D in 2022, with the idea of reshaping 5E into Dungeons & Dragon’s final form. Their hope was to create a permanent version of the game, putting an end to new editions every few years.
These goals changed somewhat in the years to follow. The scope of One D&D has changed dramatically, and the name itself was scrapped. Before the end of 2024, we expect to have the new version of the Player’s Handbook which will represent the revamped version of 5th Edition D&D without formally transitioning to 6E.
Wrapping Up
The age of a game doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, or dying out. Wizards reported quite good reports for 2019, and it seems that more people than ever are enjoying 5e.
Even so, if you’re looking for something new… Sometimes, it can be fun to look into the past. Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition had some really cool classes, but had balance choices that people weren’t exactly happy with. 3.5 and 3 had… absolutely insane character builds. Basic and Advanced are relics of the past, but some people stoically stand by them, and… it’s not hard to see why. This is a game series based on a core idea of roleplaying in a fantasy world. All of the editions have legitimate merit that make each edition worth revisiting.
Even so, it’s hard to resist the allure of the most recent edition… Even if it’s 10 years old.
Need more 5E? See our rundown on how to calculate Challenge Rating in 5E.
