They got rid of the concepts of the phlogiston and crystal spheres completely simplifying things into Astral Space and they changed the Dohwar into fey instead of humanoids which I think is stupid. Dohwar are space aliens from an ice planet, not fairies!
I'd point to a book literally focused on adventures with space ships lacking any ship combat rules of any sort is probably a sign of its overall quality... Fairly sure the Dohwar change is just a fairy-penguin joke.
I actually like all the changes. I was very dissapointed with the 2e version when spelljammer first came out. They had promised us wild and weird piraty fun in space and what I got was pages and pages of rules telling me how to count hexes when I wanted to turn my ship. Whole sessions went by with two people moving ship tokens (those I did love) around on a huge map in tactical maneuvers while the rest of us watched. And all only in 2d! I mean this is space! When I want something like that I turn to a boardgame because its not playing D&D to me. The 5e version gave me that wild and weird fast paced fun and 3d shenanigans are totally possible within that ruleset. I was never a big fan of the phlogiston or the crystal spheres either. Its hard enough to get players to understand the difference between astral and etheral. So I am pretty happy with what they did with it.
Personally I think the Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres should've been kept as concepts that existed on the Physical Plane like before. They could've just said that you could travel across Systems via multiple methods such as the Phlogiston, the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos and the Deep Ethereal. Each method has it's downsides. Traveling via the Phlogiston is dangerous because it's flammable and you have to deal with passing the Crystal Spheres. Traveling through the Astral Sea is easier but time flows differently so you could miss months or even years if you're not careful.
The Ethereal Plane has similar problems to the Astral Plane but to a lesser degree and the Elemental Chaos is hard to travel because it's too chaotic and hazardous. And of course, with every method of travel you can come across each plane's respective critters.
They got rid of the concepts of the phlogiston and crystal spheres completely simplifying things into Astral Space and they changed the Dohwar into fey instead of humanoids which I think is stupid. Dohwar are space aliens from an ice planet, not fairies!
I'd point to a book literally focused on adventures with space ships lacking any ship combat rules of any sort is probably a sign of its overall quality... Fairly sure the Dohwar change is just a fairy-penguin joke.
I actually like all the changes. I was very dissapointed with the 2e version when spelljammer first came out. They had promised us wild and weird piraty fun in space and what I got was pages and pages of rules telling me how to count hexes when I wanted to turn my ship. Whole sessions went by with two people moving ship tokens (those I did love) around on a huge map in tactical maneuvers while the rest of us watched. And all only in 2d! I mean this is space! When I want something like that I turn to a boardgame because its not playing D&D to me. The 5e version gave me that wild and weird fast paced fun and 3d shenanigans are totally possible within that ruleset. I was never a big fan of the phlogiston or the crystal spheres either. Its hard enough to get players to understand the difference between astral and etheral. So I am pretty happy with what they did with it.
If you like complexity, I took this 5e Astral/Material weirdness and imagined what it could mean for the Ethereal, the Feywild and the Shadowfell.
The link is in my signature.
Expanded 5e Spelljammer Cosmology
Personally I think the Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres should've been kept as concepts that existed on the Physical Plane like before. They could've just said that you could travel across Systems via multiple methods such as the Phlogiston, the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos and the Deep Ethereal. Each method has it's downsides. Traveling via the Phlogiston is dangerous because it's flammable and you have to deal with passing the Crystal Spheres. Traveling through the Astral Sea is easier but time flows differently so you could miss months or even years if you're not careful.
The Ethereal Plane has similar problems to the Astral Plane but to a lesser degree and the Elemental Chaos is hard to travel because it's too chaotic and hazardous. And of course, with every method of travel you can come across each plane's respective critters.
Somebody on youtube did a better job than the book.
Improved Ship Combat
This is awesome, I love it. Thank you for the link.