Penny Arcade Podcast with Mike Mearls

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."

Click to expand...

You've answered your own question: resting for as long as it takes is a solution.

If the party has a cleric or druid, it will require very little time, most often just one day of rest, since you can assume that all spell slots will be used for healing.

If the party has no cleric or other healer, it definitely takes longer but not an enourmous amount of time: in 3ed the slowest rate of natural healing is 1 hp/level, which means that a PC that has e.g. ~10 HP per level (probably a Fighter-type) heals about 10% of HP per day. Thus in the worst case of no healing resources other than natural healing AND some of the tough PC in the party are near-zero HP, it might take 10 days to heal completely.

In 3ed someone with the Heal skill can increase the natural healing ratio of everyone (except herself) to 3 times that, so you end up with 3-4 days unless she also was close to zero HP.

It's a problem only if you like all your adventures to be fast-paced with exhausting combats every single day and no downtime, in which case you should definitely change how healing works in your campaign.

For me these rules are not a problem, they are an opportunity for more planning, more varied strategy (i.e. not just rushing into every single combat but also consider avoidance) and even more creativity (because when you cannot fight for a day you can come up with some ideas on minor but still useful things to advance the story).

Mike is selling me on 5e. I'm getting excited while listening to the podcast.

Part 2 is now up!

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Penny Arcade/PvP [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=2]#2 (of 4))[/url]

Things I recall from listening to it just now:

Clerics start with no armour or weapon proficiencies - their domain decides that, as well as what minor (at-will) spells they can cast and the spell list they have to cast from 3E-Sorcerer style.
Wizards will have a tradition, that does something..
Backgrounds (which appeared to be 3 skills and a trait) mentioned included Noble (you get henchmen!), Soldier, Bounty Hunter, Artisan, Knight.
Themes are now specialities or something, mentioned are Leader (Feat 1 Battle Commander will give allies advantage and a move, for your action), Magic-User.
Skills are from a fixed list (sort of) at the moment, including Commerce, Trade, Bluff, Insight.

The PA guys are either playing stupid, or find it really difficult to learn/recognise new things.

I like the PA guys a lot, watch most of their TV show even, but I think it would be a little naive to think that their reaction to this play-test is completely straight-up. They realize WOTC's business model, like the guys (Chris Perkin's Dmed their DND PODcasts), and are looking for a different game, anyway (from what I've gathered, they're a little frustrated with late-game balance). Their response to this will be glowing by the end... Still a great listen.

Iosue said:

I don't think he ever stopped playing it. His long-running campaign stalled at 20th level, and he was burned out on that. Not surprising since WotC never did come out with a DMG covering Epic play. But he was still playing in Jerry's Dark Sun game, and I imagine still playing in lower-level games.

Click to expand...

He is actually playing an entirely different system, Mouseguard. Though I haven't heard a lot about how that experiment has gone for him.

Chris_Nightwing said:

The PA guys are either playing stupid, or find it really difficult to learn/recognise new things.

Click to expand...

Or they have not been hanging out on D&D message boards for the past few months.

VinylTap said:

I like the PA guys a lot, watch most of their TV show even, but I think it would be a little naive to think that their reaction to this play-test is completely straight-up.

Click to expand...

PA has made it a point of their site that they pull no punches, and will tell exactly what they think about a game no matter how much money the company pays to advertise on it. If it sounds like they like the game, then chances are very, very good that it is legit.

The only thing I take exception with in part 2 is the idea that the 'wheels wobble' at 20th level and above because of some inherent, yet unsolvable, issue that justifies moving on to a new edition. 20+ is so spotty because Epic was not given the attention it needed, or the larger support many of us still want. It's not an unfixable issue, as the clones and heartbreakers are showing (really impressed with them, actually). And DMs like myself are making their own adjustments and facilitating play just fine.

I can see the argument that rogues level 20+ become wizards with knives, but what does any Epic character become by level 20+? You're doing things on a demigod level, and even that is largely dependent on the context of the game. If he's speaking toward too much uniformity between classes for his taste, why at level 20 did this become an issue and not level 4? I'm having trouble following their sudden epiphany beyond the 'Ooo, shiny new edition! Different approach!' which is, admittedly, the only reason I lurk New Horizons hehe. It's cool to be excited and want to try something new, I just don't see a logical evolution they're expressing from 4e to 5e , ie I can't make the jump with them that 5e is some sort of advancement/fix/reaction to 4e. Maybe in a few ways, though it feels more like inclusion than advancement from following the L&L on here. Were they speaking solely to the idea that every class now gets its own mechanical schtick, which 4e forgoes for a uniform AEDU model? Is that what they're saying 5e advances from 4e? I'm just a little confused there.

I do understand the excitement of a new edition in its own right, though.

mudbunny said:

PA has made it a point of their site that they pull no punches, and will tell exactly what they think about a game no matter how much money the company pays to advertise on it. If it sounds like they like the game, then chances are very, very good that it is legit.

Click to expand...

I think you're right, but its slightly more complicated... I think they're intentionally bringing up larger issues that the community is digesting and making sure those issues are framed in a way that's good for WOTC. I believe they like where the game is going, but i think there's a bit of PR going on too. I think they're acting tough in regards to their questions so the final glowing recommendation at the end of it is that much more convincing.

I'm also really looking forward to next, and hope it does really well. Currently only playing pathfinder, but the more modern mechanics really have me interested.