That One Guy
First Post
First-ish post. Woo.
So, I got to try out the 4th edition demo to... yesterday. (If you haven't read anything about the D&D experience module, this'll have vague spoilers) It was fun... but also sort of odd at times. Because I've been lurking about the interwebs, I had a generally better understanding of the game mechanics. Not always, but usually he could defer to me to recall rules rather than quickly rechecking the appendix. If I didn't know, we looked things up and he'd house rule some things to go more smoothly (like some things relating to dying and death).
Where am I going with this?
Well, I feel sort of sorry for him and how unprepared he was. For instance, he treated Dazed like Stunned in the first fight (and I didn't remember how it worked until I got home )... but we did well. I did rock the Defender position as a fighter and it worked perfectly. We had a wizard (who wanted to play a warlock but the dm encouraged him to play the wizard instead), a ranger, myself, and a cleric NPCed by the dm.
The second fight (The one w/ the skeletons - you know the one) he forgot about the thing in the rules about how if there are fewer PCs drop the enemies' hp and number of baddies. This meant an encounter that was a few hundred above our Experience range. Part way into the fight the dm remembered the rules and removed an injured enemy. Also the house rules on healing checks being a little more effective against dying came into effect. We Barely got out of it alive.
We then got to the bridge fight w/ the Shadar-Kai Chainfighter. I hadn't really looked at the monsters too much, but I remember being impressed by this fellow. I went into my usual defender thing and Tide of Ironed to 'serkers off of the bridge. However, he was throwing three berserkers, one mage, and the chainfighter at us (875 exp challenge if my math is rightish). With most of us rocked like a hurricane, he remembered the rules about fewer PCs and yanked out two of the 'serkers. The Chainfighter used his Shadowjaunt (for the second time in that encounter!) and fell asleep. We managed to barely get all the PCs up and at low hp looking for the guy. He woke up and wrecked the cleric and ranger. I was still barely alive. He then wrecked the wizard. I tried to heal the cleric hoping he could heal someone next round or something, but the Shadar-kai gave us a TPK. ...in spite of this it was still really fun having my character flawlessly execute the play style I was attempting.
Afterwards he showed us the monster sheets a bit. I pointed out the Chainfighter's Dance thing being recharge 6. He asked me, "What does recharge 6 mean?" ...I explained it. He had used it about five or six times in that fight.
So... what's my verdict?
In spite of the dm not knowing the rules too well, it was incredibly fun and I'll probably go to the next 4e demo (hopefully bringing some friends). The skill challenge part was actually exciting and brought me into character - the total opposite of what I had expected. I don't know if I'll use the system, but it worked well enough. I loved being a dwarf fighter... which is something I never would've said in 3e. Not saying one is better, but I think I might be sold on 4e.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I mean, where the dm doesn't fully know the rules for 4e and it greatly affects the outcome of encounters?
Thanks, and thanks if you read it all.
So, I got to try out the 4th edition demo to... yesterday. (If you haven't read anything about the D&D experience module, this'll have vague spoilers) It was fun... but also sort of odd at times. Because I've been lurking about the interwebs, I had a generally better understanding of the game mechanics. Not always, but usually he could defer to me to recall rules rather than quickly rechecking the appendix. If I didn't know, we looked things up and he'd house rule some things to go more smoothly (like some things relating to dying and death).
Where am I going with this?
Well, I feel sort of sorry for him and how unprepared he was. For instance, he treated Dazed like Stunned in the first fight (and I didn't remember how it worked until I got home )... but we did well. I did rock the Defender position as a fighter and it worked perfectly. We had a wizard (who wanted to play a warlock but the dm encouraged him to play the wizard instead), a ranger, myself, and a cleric NPCed by the dm.
The second fight (The one w/ the skeletons - you know the one) he forgot about the thing in the rules about how if there are fewer PCs drop the enemies' hp and number of baddies. This meant an encounter that was a few hundred above our Experience range. Part way into the fight the dm remembered the rules and removed an injured enemy. Also the house rules on healing checks being a little more effective against dying came into effect. We Barely got out of it alive.
We then got to the bridge fight w/ the Shadar-Kai Chainfighter. I hadn't really looked at the monsters too much, but I remember being impressed by this fellow. I went into my usual defender thing and Tide of Ironed to 'serkers off of the bridge. However, he was throwing three berserkers, one mage, and the chainfighter at us (875 exp challenge if my math is rightish). With most of us rocked like a hurricane, he remembered the rules about fewer PCs and yanked out two of the 'serkers. The Chainfighter used his Shadowjaunt (for the second time in that encounter!) and fell asleep. We managed to barely get all the PCs up and at low hp looking for the guy. He woke up and wrecked the cleric and ranger. I was still barely alive. He then wrecked the wizard. I tried to heal the cleric hoping he could heal someone next round or something, but the Shadar-kai gave us a TPK. ...in spite of this it was still really fun having my character flawlessly execute the play style I was attempting.
Afterwards he showed us the monster sheets a bit. I pointed out the Chainfighter's Dance thing being recharge 6. He asked me, "What does recharge 6 mean?" ...I explained it. He had used it about five or six times in that fight.
So... what's my verdict?
In spite of the dm not knowing the rules too well, it was incredibly fun and I'll probably go to the next 4e demo (hopefully bringing some friends). The skill challenge part was actually exciting and brought me into character - the total opposite of what I had expected. I don't know if I'll use the system, but it worked well enough. I loved being a dwarf fighter... which is something I never would've said in 3e. Not saying one is better, but I think I might be sold on 4e.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I mean, where the dm doesn't fully know the rules for 4e and it greatly affects the outcome of encounters?
Thanks, and thanks if you read it all.
