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Playtest report - English edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Tehnai" data-source="post: 5925357" data-attributes="member: 59518"><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><u><strong>Kevin's Report</strong></u></span></p><p></p><p><u><strong>Overall experience</strong></u></p><p></p><p>I've never really played a rogue before, so I tried to list all the rogue tropes and make my character the exact opposite. An honest, hard-working, loyal repairman. I think it worked well, which is a testament to how these classes can both capture the traditional feel of the archetype, but also be open to interpretation and reskinning.</p><p></p><p>I was supposed to be master of all skills. Unfortunately there wasn't much chance to do some skill mastering in the game so far, the best I had was a few stealth checks (and most of those ended up being 13). I started thinking that I would be constantly hiding behind someone, and shooting from advantage, but I found pretty quickly that using half my actions to attempt stealth just took up too much time. It really pushed me to look around the environment, find things I could use to get advantage and get my sneak attack in there. Combat was fast paced, I think on par with Pathfinder, although it did take us a bit of time to get used to the characters and look up spells. (I was a big fan of power cards specifically for spells in 4e, with everything you need to know right there on it, instead of looking through a big book for the five spells you have memorized.) I also kept wanting to do more on my turn, but that might just be bias from 4e.</p><p></p><p>We had both the chance to be overwhelmed (those hobgoblins almost took us down) and to overwhelm (hacking through kobolds and goblins was a cinch, especially with a big blasty wizard on our side). I had a lot of fun, and wasn't hindered at all by the rules, which I think means they worked very well. Looking forward to playing more.</p><p></p><p><em>DM's note: When/if you guys hit the kobold caves, you'll get your opportunity to use your thiefy skills.</em></p><p></p><p><u><strong>Likes</strong></u></p><p></p><p>Hit dice seemed like a good way to recover a bit after a fight, although I really can't tell at this point how well they'll work as we gain levels. I really like how themes and backgrounds are split up into combat and roleplaying, how you can min/max for combat without your character development suffering.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Dislikes</strong></u></p><p></p><p>I still have issues with the advantage/disadvantage system. First, making everyone roll 2d20 most of the time means most people will need a second d20 to play (most will want one, anyway). It also makes it feel like a different game. Instead of anything riding on one die, it's riding on two. I worry critical hits will seem less amazing when you're twice as likely to get one. I know statistically it only bumps up the expected value to 13 or 14, but I'm sure people will start saving their big attacks for when they have advantage. It'll make something like the cleric of Pelor disintegrating the ogre with Searing Light just not be as impressive, it'll be more expected. But, I know it makes the calculations so much simpler, and it really is a neat way of keeping track of things. In a non-D&D game, I'd be all over it.</p><p>Also, I glanced at the Bestiary. I really hope they develop stats blocks as easy to read as they had for 4e, those things were great.</p><p></p><p><em>DM's note: I'm just glad there's no confirming criticals, really.</em></p><p></p><p><u><strong>If you could change one thing, what would it be?</strong></u></p><p></p><p>Character abilities are all very straightforward and clear, but they're scattered. I had to flip between my class features and theme feats and basic attacks for a bit before I got the hang of everything my character can do. I know it's probably just a matter of organization on the character sheet, but I'm hoping these can be brought together, maybe into a COMBAT section.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>What was your favorite moment and why?</strong></u></p><p></p><p>Deciding what to do with the hobgoblin children was a classic D&D moment, I'm glad it was in there. I also thought it was great that we had a big discussion about it, brought them back to town to start training them for paladins of good, then the next day came back to the caves, immediately found some goblin children and killed them because we didn't want to go through it again.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Did you feel like your character got the chance to shine? How so, or why not?</strong></u></p><p>For sure. The rogue feels like the most well done character so far. From what I understand about older rogues (granted, that's mostly from the Legends and Lore column) they needed to spend every turn trying to get advantage. I was certainly desperate to, and I know that'll only get more intense as Sneak Attack increases every level. I didn't feel I was a necessary part of the group, in combat or out (especially since we didn't find any locked doors or traps), but I definitely had a chance to do interesting, rewarding things every turn.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tehnai, post: 5925357, member: 59518"] [SIZE="2"][U][B]Kevin's Report[/B][/U][/SIZE] [U][B]Overall experience[/B][/U] I've never really played a rogue before, so I tried to list all the rogue tropes and make my character the exact opposite. An honest, hard-working, loyal repairman. I think it worked well, which is a testament to how these classes can both capture the traditional feel of the archetype, but also be open to interpretation and reskinning. I was supposed to be master of all skills. Unfortunately there wasn't much chance to do some skill mastering in the game so far, the best I had was a few stealth checks (and most of those ended up being 13). I started thinking that I would be constantly hiding behind someone, and shooting from advantage, but I found pretty quickly that using half my actions to attempt stealth just took up too much time. It really pushed me to look around the environment, find things I could use to get advantage and get my sneak attack in there. Combat was fast paced, I think on par with Pathfinder, although it did take us a bit of time to get used to the characters and look up spells. (I was a big fan of power cards specifically for spells in 4e, with everything you need to know right there on it, instead of looking through a big book for the five spells you have memorized.) I also kept wanting to do more on my turn, but that might just be bias from 4e. We had both the chance to be overwhelmed (those hobgoblins almost took us down) and to overwhelm (hacking through kobolds and goblins was a cinch, especially with a big blasty wizard on our side). I had a lot of fun, and wasn't hindered at all by the rules, which I think means they worked very well. Looking forward to playing more. [I]DM's note: When/if you guys hit the kobold caves, you'll get your opportunity to use your thiefy skills.[/I] [U][B]Likes[/B][/U] Hit dice seemed like a good way to recover a bit after a fight, although I really can't tell at this point how well they'll work as we gain levels. I really like how themes and backgrounds are split up into combat and roleplaying, how you can min/max for combat without your character development suffering. [U][B]Dislikes[/B][/U] I still have issues with the advantage/disadvantage system. First, making everyone roll 2d20 most of the time means most people will need a second d20 to play (most will want one, anyway). It also makes it feel like a different game. Instead of anything riding on one die, it's riding on two. I worry critical hits will seem less amazing when you're twice as likely to get one. I know statistically it only bumps up the expected value to 13 or 14, but I'm sure people will start saving their big attacks for when they have advantage. It'll make something like the cleric of Pelor disintegrating the ogre with Searing Light just not be as impressive, it'll be more expected. But, I know it makes the calculations so much simpler, and it really is a neat way of keeping track of things. In a non-D&D game, I'd be all over it. Also, I glanced at the Bestiary. I really hope they develop stats blocks as easy to read as they had for 4e, those things were great. [I]DM's note: I'm just glad there's no confirming criticals, really.[/I] [U][B]If you could change one thing, what would it be?[/B][/U] Character abilities are all very straightforward and clear, but they're scattered. I had to flip between my class features and theme feats and basic attacks for a bit before I got the hang of everything my character can do. I know it's probably just a matter of organization on the character sheet, but I'm hoping these can be brought together, maybe into a COMBAT section. [U][B]What was your favorite moment and why?[/B][/U] Deciding what to do with the hobgoblin children was a classic D&D moment, I'm glad it was in there. I also thought it was great that we had a big discussion about it, brought them back to town to start training them for paladins of good, then the next day came back to the caves, immediately found some goblin children and killed them because we didn't want to go through it again. [U][B]Did you feel like your character got the chance to shine? How so, or why not?[/B][/U] For sure. The rogue feels like the most well done character so far. From what I understand about older rogues (granted, that's mostly from the Legends and Lore column) they needed to spend every turn trying to get advantage. I was certainly desperate to, and I know that'll only get more intense as Sneak Attack increases every level. I didn't feel I was a necessary part of the group, in combat or out (especially since we didn't find any locked doors or traps), but I definitely had a chance to do interesting, rewarding things every turn. [/QUOTE]
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