SageofMusic
First Post
After reading most of the material, here are a few thoughts I had regarding it.
1. They really made ogres and trolls powerful didn't they? With such ridiculous amounts of hit points, it seems clear that their "dangerous at any level" sentiment is coming through. Additionally, the AC of PCs doesn't seem to be able to change that drastically over time, so it could make the seemingly low powered Orc more frightening in large numbers. However...
2. AC is completely broken. I know a lot of other people have been posting this sentiment already, but damn it's horrific. The amount of gold needed for a fighter to get some heavy armor is atrocious, and it looks like a rogue with a decent Dexterity will be able to beat him or match him indefinitely. Couple that with a decrease in speed with heavy armor, and I don't think anyone who wants to play this will attempt to go with heavy armor. Hopefully they add either some sort of disadvantage/advantage mechanic or damage reduction for those in heavy armor because it is severely impractical.
3. They state that their new standard is silver, but then have horrifically exorbitant prices for some things. If a gold is the new platinum, why does leather armor cost the equivalent of 10 platinum? Why does a bedroll cost the equivalent of 5gp? Hopefully a lot of this was copy/pasted from a previous edition (3.0 most likely) because there's a big discrepancy here.
4. There's too much extra crap with the actual PCs. In 3.5, you had your class and your race. 4th, class/race/theme (dark sun). Now you have your class, your race, a theme, and a background. Since it seems there are lots of subraces now (which is the bomb), the amount of stuff to pick seems to be a little overwhelming. However, it seems that they have disposed of feats and skills, so perhaps this will streamline the process a little. The added flavor from the latter two is interesting, and hopefully all are as cool as the Lurker and Slayer.
5. Using ability scores as your "skills" (essentially) seems to be a nice change. Additionally, the new skill system hearkens back to the AD&D "pick what you want to be good at" system. Not having a long list of skills will streamline exploration significantly.
In conclusion, it really does seem like a marriage of all the other editions. On one hand, you have the danger and low-magic setting of AD&D, and on the other the d20 mechanics of 3.5 sprinkled with a dash of 4th edition (see the Knack "benefit"). There are a few rough spots to work out, but most of it seems good. Can't wait to playtest it to get a few more impressions.
1. They really made ogres and trolls powerful didn't they? With such ridiculous amounts of hit points, it seems clear that their "dangerous at any level" sentiment is coming through. Additionally, the AC of PCs doesn't seem to be able to change that drastically over time, so it could make the seemingly low powered Orc more frightening in large numbers. However...
2. AC is completely broken. I know a lot of other people have been posting this sentiment already, but damn it's horrific. The amount of gold needed for a fighter to get some heavy armor is atrocious, and it looks like a rogue with a decent Dexterity will be able to beat him or match him indefinitely. Couple that with a decrease in speed with heavy armor, and I don't think anyone who wants to play this will attempt to go with heavy armor. Hopefully they add either some sort of disadvantage/advantage mechanic or damage reduction for those in heavy armor because it is severely impractical.
3. They state that their new standard is silver, but then have horrifically exorbitant prices for some things. If a gold is the new platinum, why does leather armor cost the equivalent of 10 platinum? Why does a bedroll cost the equivalent of 5gp? Hopefully a lot of this was copy/pasted from a previous edition (3.0 most likely) because there's a big discrepancy here.
4. There's too much extra crap with the actual PCs. In 3.5, you had your class and your race. 4th, class/race/theme (dark sun). Now you have your class, your race, a theme, and a background. Since it seems there are lots of subraces now (which is the bomb), the amount of stuff to pick seems to be a little overwhelming. However, it seems that they have disposed of feats and skills, so perhaps this will streamline the process a little. The added flavor from the latter two is interesting, and hopefully all are as cool as the Lurker and Slayer.
5. Using ability scores as your "skills" (essentially) seems to be a nice change. Additionally, the new skill system hearkens back to the AD&D "pick what you want to be good at" system. Not having a long list of skills will streamline exploration significantly.
In conclusion, it really does seem like a marriage of all the other editions. On one hand, you have the danger and low-magic setting of AD&D, and on the other the d20 mechanics of 3.5 sprinkled with a dash of 4th edition (see the Knack "benefit"). There are a few rough spots to work out, but most of it seems good. Can't wait to playtest it to get a few more impressions.
