Penny Arcade Podcast with Mike Mearls

Iosue · Aug 7, 2012

wedgeski said:
Hah, nice analysis!

I haven't watched this yet, but I'm not sure these guys represent much except Penny Arcade. Mike had burned out on 4E some time ago, so I think he's just looking for something to excite him rather than being attached to the current edition; Jerry seems to have a voracious appetite for all games of all stripes, so your conclusion is spot-on I would say; Scott is an artist by trade and never, ever stops drawing, so in some ways might represent the attention-deficit gamer we all know and love.

Actually, fuzzlewump was spot on with Mike/Gabe. His big question was "Why do I need a new edition?"

mudbunny · Aug 7, 2012

GX.Sigma said:
lso, it's funny how Mike Krahulik has basically become a 4e grognard. Big change from the first podcast, where they had to pay him to play it.

The Acquisitions Incorporated podcasts are possibly the best advertising push that WotC has ever done. They were *all* paid for all of the podcasts that they did.

Pseudopsyche · Aug 7, 2012

So far, the podcast has done a great job of cutting to the heart of the changes brought by D&D Next. It may be the best way yet to bring somebody up to speed on what D&D Next is all about.

VinylTap · Aug 7, 2012

How do people, generally, handle HP restoration in traditional DnD games? Do you buy lots of potions? Buy your healing afterwards from an NPC? What is the most common mechanic from the supporters of the dogmatic 'zero to nil passive HP regen'/'healing surges are bad' crowd? Do people behind this ideology always run with a heal bot? How do you heal 75% health on 4+ PCs without things getting out of hand?

I mean, even if you go light healing (say one cure spell per party), you're still looking at multiple days to get everyone topped off after a tough dungeon day.

I've heard a lot of decent on the matter, but very little in the way of alternative game mechanics? I really like the idea of this hardcore/realistic, but can't figure out a solution beyond "ok we're taking a week off so the healer can reset his/her CLW 7 times."

The Human Target · Aug 7, 2012

Gabe not having it is pretty funny so far.

B.T. · Aug 7, 2012

VinylTap said:
How do people, generally, handle HP restoration in traditional DnD games? Do you buy lots of potions? Buy your healing afterwards from an NPC? What is the most common mechanic from the supporters of the dogmatic 'zero to nil passive HP regen'/'healing surges are bad' crowd? Do people behind this ideology always run with a heal bot? How do you heal 75% health on 4+ PCs without things getting out of hand?

I mean, even if you go light healing (say one cure spell per party), you're still looking at multiple days to get everyone topped off after a tough dungeon day.

I've heard a lot of decent on the matter, but very little in the way of alternative game mechanics? I really like the idea of this hardcore/realistic, but can't figure out a solution beyond "ok we're taking a week off so the healer can reset his/her CLW 7 times."

Generally, the idea is not to take damage in the first place. If you do, you have a cleric and potions and rest.

thecasualoblivion · Aug 7, 2012

VinylTap said:
How do people, generally, handle HP restoration in traditional DnD games? Do you buy lots of potions? Buy your healing afterwards from an NPC? What is the most common mechanic from the supporters of the dogmatic 'zero to nil passive HP regen'/'healing surges are bad' crowd? Do people behind this ideology always run with a heal bot? How do you heal 75% health on 4+ PCs without things getting out of hand?

I mean, even if you go light healing (say one cure spell per party), you're still looking at multiple days to get everyone topped off after a tough dungeon day.

I've heard a lot of decent on the matter, but very little in the way of alternative game mechanics? I really like the idea of this hardcore/realistic, but can't figure out a solution beyond "ok we're taking a week off so the healer can reset his/her CLW 7 times."

My "traditional D&D" experience with 5-6 years of 2E could be summed up as:

1. A few DMs just handwaved it, and we were back to full after resting.
2. A few DMs provided NPC healbot Clerics, and between the healbot and PC Clerics we'd rest until magical healing restored us to full.
3. I tended to go the route of cheap and effectively infinite potion availability when I was DM.

Across every 2E table I ever sat at, resting for days/weeks to restore HP was taboo.

CM · Aug 7, 2012

As a 4e fan, I feel that Mike, Scott, and Jerry are doing a great job of voicing the concerns I personally have with 5e so far.

MooMan68 · Aug 7, 2012

VinylTap said:
How do people, generally, handle HP restoration in traditional DnD games? "

If the party was seriously hurt, we typically rested for multiple days. Each day, each player would heal X points, and the cleric was assumed to have devoted all of his spell slots possible for healing and would have X dice to distribute. Later we ruled that heal spells cast out of combat always did maximum. If after the end of the day the party wanted to rest another day, we repeated.

If no cleric was in the party (not uncommon) either we used an NPC non-combat cleric hireling/follower, or the party was friendly with a local cleric who would provide plentiful healing potions at the price in the PBH.

Nobody had a problem with this at the time