D&D 5E ... and we have a wizard!

[gideonpepys]

Disappointed that access to a rulebook is needed to cast spells. I got used to not needing rulebooks at the table.

Hope that any new character builder allows the player to print off their spellbook.

 

[Wolfskin]

Never cared for those types of mechanics. They remove dome of the challenge of being a caster. But I can live with it.

Well, it was quite bothersome to me. I remember preparing Fireball or Cloudkill or whatever and, just when I was ready to cast it, some ally got into the area and suddenly I was all "Well, there goes my striking power. Ok, I... shoot it with my crossbow -.-".

Of course, YMMV and all that.

 

[Imaro]

Disappointed that access to a rulebook is needed to cast spells. I got used to not needing rulebooks at the table.

Hope that any new character builder allows the player to print off their spellbook.

If it doesn't... which I highly doubt, couldn't you just copy it down? I mean essentially it wasn't that you didn't need the rulebook in 4e for spells... it was that you (in whatever way you chose) copied the rules for the spells down and referenced that... couldn't you do that with any edition... including 5th?

 

[Mistwell]

I note the Wizard has proficiency in perception. An Elf thing, or a Wizard thing? Probably Elf.

 

[thalmin]

I note the Wizard has proficiency in perception. An Elf thing, or a Wizard thing? Probably Elf.

Or a background thing?

 

[Dausuul]

While it was full of flavor, it was also full of problems. Check out SKR's rant why it was switched to Darkvision here: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/infravision.html

I wish more D+D developers published rants like these.

Some of his complaints are valid (e.g., it's silly to have a distance limit on infravision). However, a lot of his problems are the result of his not understanding the difference between heat and radiation. For example, a darkness spell doesn't have to prevent the transmission of heat in order to block infravision; it just has to block infrared radiation the same way it blocks visible light. Unless the heat is so intense that it warms the air on the other side of the darkness, the spell works fine. Likewise, his complaints about wall of force and Otiluke spells are silly. Are the spells transparent to visible light? Then they can be transparent to infrared too, and infravision works fine through them. Whether they block the transmission of heat is immaterial.

Many of his other concerns strike me as opportunities for really neat skills and abilities, like the ability to track a creature for a few seconds by the residual heat of its footprints.

To me, the main reason to favor darkvision over infravision is thematic rather than mechanical. Infravision is too "sciencey" for my taste. Perhaps if D&D had stayed true to its pulp sword-and-sorcery origins, which often mixed science and magic, it would fit better. But for better or worse, D&D went the pure-fantasy Tolkien route instead.

Well, it was quite bothersome to me. I remember preparing Fireball or Cloudkill or whatever and, just when I was ready to cast it, some ally got into the area and suddenly I was all "Well, there goes my striking power. Ok, I... shoot it with my crossbow -.-".

Wow, you're really nice to your allies.

 

[doctorhook]

Disappointed that access to a rulebook is needed to cast spells. I got used to not needing rulebooks at the table.

Hope that any new character builder allows the player to print off their spellbook.

Yeah it kinda sucks that the info isn't right on the character sheet, but looking up spell descriptions is by far the norm across various editions of D&D.

 

[Obryn]

If it doesn't... which I highly doubt, couldn't you just copy it down? I mean essentially it wasn't that you didn't need the rulebook in 4e for spells... it was that you (in whatever way you chose) copied the rules for the spells down and referenced that... couldn't you do that with any edition... including 5th?

Not nearly as easily. If you weren't using the Builder, you still generally had a rather small and static list composed mostly of functional keywords.

On the other hand, Wizards and clerics in Next will have an ever growing pool of spells to pick from, and fall into two pools of Known and Prepared. At low levels, it's not a huge difference, but it grows rapidly.

Also, 5e spells tend to be a lot more wordy, which makes a difference, too.

 

[Wolfskin]

I note the Wizard has proficiency in perception. An Elf thing, or a Wizard thing? Probably Elf.

Elf thing I guess, since the "Keen Senses" racial feature in the Elf entry of the latest playtest didn't make it to the pregen. Perhaps the Perception proficiency is the new Keen Senses feature?

 

[tuxgeo]

Missing from this Elf Wizard:

"Keen Senses: You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks."

I'm guessing that this trait would have interfered with any calculated "Passive Perception" values, so it didn't make it into the final game from the playtest.

I was going to ask about that. Now I don't have to.

Edit: Wolfskin and I each posted about "Keen Senses" at the same minute, but with different takes on it. Hmm. . . .