Thought it'd be different than all the "just played my 1st 4e game" threads we have around. 
You can find a slightly fuller account of what happened in the sessions in my blog, but I wanted to discuss a couple of things I discovered in recent sessions:
Missing a Wizard (controller) hurts when you face minions. Especially when there's a pit between you and them and they're throwing javelins.
There's a belief by people who've only read the rules or played one session that every class is basically the same: all attacks deal the same damage, etc. The more I play, the more I see how false that is. Missing a controller meant the group didn't have anyone with an area attack that could take out several kobolds at once. All that bonus damage the strikers get is completely wasted on minions.
If you fight a solo creature, you want a defender to protect the strikers. A solo Ogre fought a Fighter, Cleric, Warlock and Rogue.
This was a fascinating combat, because it was the first time I'd used a solo creature. Yes, I made up the stats for the solo Ogre myself, using the guidelines in the DMG. The Rogue had been having a lot of problems in previous sessions because getting into a good Combat Advantage (flanking) situation had been pretty hard... the monsters kept dying. Against the Ogre, which had about 260 hp, getting into position was easy. Then it was just a case of not being hit...
That's where the fighter came in. The Ogre had to concentrate on him. If he didn't, then the fighter got free attacks and the Ogre had penalties to hit. The Warlock had been doing his bonus damage consistently, but the Rogue finally got his day - his bonus damage is more because it's harder to apply. And it helped them kill the Ogre before the Fighter went down for the second time. (The Cleric kept the fighter alive, whilst also helping attack the Ogre).
You want a leader; you really want a Cleric. Especially when you're up against an Ogre.
Groups can survive without a leader. The group certainly did so last session when they didn't have a leader (cleric or warlord) with the group. However, radford rejoined the group with a Cleric this session, and we noticed the difference. The Cleric is just so much better at healing people than anyone else.
The other thing that Bradford kept noticing and enthusing about was this: the Cleric was fun to play. With Healing Word being a minor ability, he could still attack. And the attacks were giving bonuses to his friends as well as dealing damage to the monster, he was feeling both involved and useful.
Cheers!
You can find a slightly fuller account of what happened in the sessions in my blog, but I wanted to discuss a couple of things I discovered in recent sessions:
Missing a Wizard (controller) hurts when you face minions. Especially when there's a pit between you and them and they're throwing javelins.
There's a belief by people who've only read the rules or played one session that every class is basically the same: all attacks deal the same damage, etc. The more I play, the more I see how false that is. Missing a controller meant the group didn't have anyone with an area attack that could take out several kobolds at once. All that bonus damage the strikers get is completely wasted on minions.
If you fight a solo creature, you want a defender to protect the strikers. A solo Ogre fought a Fighter, Cleric, Warlock and Rogue.
This was a fascinating combat, because it was the first time I'd used a solo creature. Yes, I made up the stats for the solo Ogre myself, using the guidelines in the DMG. The Rogue had been having a lot of problems in previous sessions because getting into a good Combat Advantage (flanking) situation had been pretty hard... the monsters kept dying. Against the Ogre, which had about 260 hp, getting into position was easy. Then it was just a case of not being hit...
That's where the fighter came in. The Ogre had to concentrate on him. If he didn't, then the fighter got free attacks and the Ogre had penalties to hit. The Warlock had been doing his bonus damage consistently, but the Rogue finally got his day - his bonus damage is more because it's harder to apply. And it helped them kill the Ogre before the Fighter went down for the second time. (The Cleric kept the fighter alive, whilst also helping attack the Ogre).
You want a leader; you really want a Cleric. Especially when you're up against an Ogre.
Groups can survive without a leader. The group certainly did so last session when they didn't have a leader (cleric or warlord) with the group. However, radford rejoined the group with a Cleric this session, and we noticed the difference. The Cleric is just so much better at healing people than anyone else.
The other thing that Bradford kept noticing and enthusing about was this: the Cleric was fun to play. With Healing Word being a minor ability, he could still attack. And the attacks were giving bonuses to his friends as well as dealing damage to the monster, he was feeling both involved and useful.
Cheers!
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