Pheonix0114
Explorer
Two things:
First: When I ran the playtest it felt fine, actually the Wizard's MM felt less powerful than the Lazer Cleric, imo. For the fighter instakilling Kobolds, I just said that since there were so many around him he didn't always hit the one he was aiming for, but his powerful blows and the arcs he swung his weapon in always managed to take out a kobold somewhere.
Second: I'm kinda tired of people acting like there way of playing D&D should be shoved down other people's throats. Don't like how powerful a first level character is? Make a "level 0" where their hp just a HD + Con mod instead of using con score. Or make Cantrip slots. Or any other suggestion given in this thread. Then go tell wizards what you did and why it worked and why it was awesome.
BUT when I play D&D I don't imagine first level characters as sniveling weaklings barely able to survive. If they were, why would they ever be dumb enough to go adventuring?
A level 1 character has to be strong enough and skilled enough to feel the confidence to leave town and go into a cave full of unknown monsters. A kobold shouldn't be a threat, ever, 1 on 1. Or even 5 on 1. Its in number that they gain their strength. It is in being clever, being devious. By the same turn, a single orc shouldn't be able to challenge a level 1 fighter, imo. If any random orc could beat a character that can make short work of the average human soldier....well where is my verisimilitude when I the orcs haven't taken control of any human settlement not large enough to have curtain walls?
Level 1 should be fun. Level 1 should be somewhat powerful. As other posters have said, I want to be able to use level 1 without having to baby the characters to keep them from dying. If that isn't your playstyle well then great, I hope you have fun with whatever module makes the game more deadly. As for me, I like characters lives to have meaning so that their death has weight. I like high drama games, I like collaborative story telling. If I just wanted to dungeon delve, well there is Diablo for that.
First: When I ran the playtest it felt fine, actually the Wizard's MM felt less powerful than the Lazer Cleric, imo. For the fighter instakilling Kobolds, I just said that since there were so many around him he didn't always hit the one he was aiming for, but his powerful blows and the arcs he swung his weapon in always managed to take out a kobold somewhere.
Second: I'm kinda tired of people acting like there way of playing D&D should be shoved down other people's throats. Don't like how powerful a first level character is? Make a "level 0" where their hp just a HD + Con mod instead of using con score. Or make Cantrip slots. Or any other suggestion given in this thread. Then go tell wizards what you did and why it worked and why it was awesome.
BUT when I play D&D I don't imagine first level characters as sniveling weaklings barely able to survive. If they were, why would they ever be dumb enough to go adventuring?
A level 1 character has to be strong enough and skilled enough to feel the confidence to leave town and go into a cave full of unknown monsters. A kobold shouldn't be a threat, ever, 1 on 1. Or even 5 on 1. Its in number that they gain their strength. It is in being clever, being devious. By the same turn, a single orc shouldn't be able to challenge a level 1 fighter, imo. If any random orc could beat a character that can make short work of the average human soldier....well where is my verisimilitude when I the orcs haven't taken control of any human settlement not large enough to have curtain walls?
Level 1 should be fun. Level 1 should be somewhat powerful. As other posters have said, I want to be able to use level 1 without having to baby the characters to keep them from dying. If that isn't your playstyle well then great, I hope you have fun with whatever module makes the game more deadly. As for me, I like characters lives to have meaning so that their death has weight. I like high drama games, I like collaborative story telling. If I just wanted to dungeon delve, well there is Diablo for that.
