Solasta vs 5E

Solasta follows the D&D rules 100%.  

Experts might find a few tiny exceptions, caused often by technical limitations.  I have never seen any other game respect the rule to that point (none of the Baldur's Gate and IWD games, etc.). 

SRD are the parts of D&D which are open-source and can be used or shared freely. They are basically the parts that are not under the usual copyrights (more or less, there are legal nuances not worth discussing here). 

The core rules of D&D 5e are SRD, but that only includes a few "sub-classes" and only one Feat.  So Tactical Adventures had to create new archetypes, feats, etc.  Almost all spells are SRD, so those are pretty much rules as written.

Nothing will ever surpass ToEE :D

That game is 20 years old and it'll never be surpassed it seems :D

Solasta implemented verticality quite well tho':D

Ah, never played ToEE (Temple of Elemental Evil) : missed that one.

EDIT (based on Feo's suggestions) :
On GOG : https://www.gog.com/game/the_temple_of_elemental_evil
Modding community for ToEE (bug fixes, mods, etc.) : https://co8.org/community/

You definitely should then: for 2022 it has good graphics (very much comparable to solasta or PWotR), passable story and it's the most accurate 3.5 rendition of D&D.

Just use CO8 community patch - the only way to be played.

Also, definitely check out

https://www.moddb.com/mods/temple1

I know that I will!

Solasta is largely true to the 5e system, but there are some oversights. Off the top of my head:

- No Grappling

- You're unable to use items you're not proficient with

- Fog Cloud and Darkness spells gives a special debuff rather than counting the people inside as "blind", an effect that is already in the game

- True Sight, Tremorsense and Blind Sense are treated as if they were the same as Superior Darkvision

- Solasta counts each advantage/disadvantage and takes whichever is highest, while tabletop would remove both advantage and disadvantage if you have at least one source for each. For example, 3 disadvantage vs 1 advantage makes a regular attack in tabletop.

- There is little to no improvisation in Solasta, while that can be a viable tactic in tabletop (likely gameplay limitations there)

- The Rangers' Favored Enemy has a bonus to damage in Solasta, but no bonus language. In tabletop, you get a bonus language, but no damage bonus.

- Draconic Sorcerers get a bonus spells in Solasta that they do no get in normal 5e.

- In Solasta, we don't have the skill check for using magic scrolls, instead being limited to whatever matches our spell list, greatly reducing the usefulness of spell scrolls. In 5e, a Rogue with Arcana proficiency, for example, could very reliably use spell scrolls, but we can't in Solasta unless they are Shadowcasters (and even then only Shadowcaster spells). 

Out of all those in that list, there are only two details that annoyed me : 

#2) Scrolls reading limited to known spells, BUT there is a game setting to change that.  I used the setting called Universal Scrolls so that my Paladin could sometimes use divine scrolls (I DMed myself). 

We have to congratulate Tactical Adventures on all those many settings/options which easily allow to remove some hurdles that can annoy some players. 

#1) True Sight is really useless.  I used it once, at a moment that it should have been useful because I could guess I was walking into an ambush / betrayal... yet True Sight did not reveal any of the many enemies hidden about 20 feet all around me.  They just spawned suddenly.  That was cheesy TA :P   I suggest a design logic that some cRPG use: let the players sometimes find cunning ways of changing a situation.  In this case, it was my first playthrough of that scene (no reloads) and I cast True Sight out of intuition/guesswork. 

FEO : it is though a good game in terms of D&D combat.  As you see, TomReneath and I named a few exceptions.

I forgot one: Reducing a flying creature's speed to 0 or knocking them prone should also knock them out of the sky.

Out of all those in that list, there are only two details that annoyed me : 

The one that annoys me the most is that Tremorsense isn't treated as a unique effect, specifically because one of the archetypes available to the player is supposed to get it; Shadow Tamer Ranger. Shadow Tamers should be able to see perfectly in Fog Cloud and Darkness, (spell) and be able to see invisible enemies on the ground, but not able to see flying enemies. 

Yeah, there're some differences from PnP but that's alright.

THe thing that I find weird personally is Concentration: it kinda killed buffing/debuffing.

Yeah, there're some differences from PnP but that's alright.

THe thing that I find weird personally is Concentration: it kinda killed buffing/debuffing.

Concentration is a 5e mechanic that seems to be intended to prevent buff stacking, which was a common problem in 3rd edition and made it really hard to balance monsters and such compared to the player. And it gives non-casters an option to try to counter certain buff spells that would only be possible to do anything against with dispel magic before.

All in all, Concentration is one of the best mechanics for 5e.