Ok so I get KOTS yesterday. I only have time to read the quick rules and immediately I see the the dwarf fighter gets a + 5 bonuses to Poison saves.
So if the Dwarf is hit by a poison effect with ongoing damage the save he needs to roll is 5 or above? Or is this referring to adding to his Defense re: poison and using the term Saving Throw in its 3.X meaning? I agree with the poster that said they should have used another term then Saving Throw for the duration mechanic, people are going to be confused while they attempt to
rewrite the neural pathways in their 3.5 wired brain.
Does anyone know what being knocked prone does mechanically? Do enemies get Combat Advantage over you? The Fighter has a power that knocks you prone but no definition of what prone does in the quick rules.
Likewise Streetwise & Heal are listed as skills, but they did not get the meager description that other skill received.
Lay on Hands is also similiarily confusing. It is an At Will power you can use once per day?! Whaaaa?! Hmm I may not have a PHD in Logic, but should that not be a *Daily* power?
Does anyone know which one it is? Is their some subtlety to an At Will power you can use Once per day I am not comprehending at this point.
I am a bit disappointed that Lay on Hands only heals others and not the Paladin. Do Evil & Neutral Paladins get different abilities.....Lay on Hands seems a bit selfless for an Neutral or Evil worshiper of a god, unless they are trying to wolf in sheep's clothing converts. The Fighter has more self healing than the Paladin at this point.
Damage output still seems geared to Melee in this game. The Fighter has a Daily that does 6d6 damage at first level against 1 enemy. The Wizard has Sleep where if the Targets are hit they are slowed, and if they fail their first coin toss Saving Throw mechanic they fall asleep. Of course no Coup De Grace mechanic is defined, nor is Slowed in the quick rules so who knows what those mean now. The Saving Throw as a duration mechanic for ongoing effects seems a bit arbitrary. Sure your ability to hit and Defenses goes up in level, but the Wizard it strikes me, is going to be much more subjected to the whims of fate than the Fighter, because I suspect the class will have more Ongoing effects that can be just as easily removed as from a 1 level orc or from a mighty 30 level dragon.
This was my complaint about spellscasters in 3.x especially at high level....too subjected to randomness due to the sheer number of dice rolls. Some spells required a roll to hit, a roll to beat spell resistance, and Saving Throws that could negate the entire spell.......meanwhile the Fighter whacks the monster and just rolls damage, only dealing with the often negligible Damage Resistance.
Also regarding Sleep, how does one Crit with it? The Fighter can potentially do max dmg on 6d6....how does one crit with Sleep, and yet you still have to roll. Fairness to me would be if a critical hit is not possible under the rules, either make an exception based critical hit effect built into the power, or do not require a to hit roll.
I am going to read more, but my great fear is that this is going to be in many creative ways a very restrictive version of the game. I read the big bads stats, no character level, designed soley as a monster which is fine...but he has this power called Rod of Ruin, where the flavor is he is emulating some of Orcus' power....pretty cool. Now you know some PC is going to want to play with the Rod of Ruin....and the rules pretty much state for anyone else it is just a stick.
Not very epic, a curse magic item, or one with serious drawbacks seems a better choice, but maybe that is just me.
So if the Dwarf is hit by a poison effect with ongoing damage the save he needs to roll is 5 or above? Or is this referring to adding to his Defense re: poison and using the term Saving Throw in its 3.X meaning? I agree with the poster that said they should have used another term then Saving Throw for the duration mechanic, people are going to be confused while they attempt to
rewrite the neural pathways in their 3.5 wired brain.
Does anyone know what being knocked prone does mechanically? Do enemies get Combat Advantage over you? The Fighter has a power that knocks you prone but no definition of what prone does in the quick rules.
Likewise Streetwise & Heal are listed as skills, but they did not get the meager description that other skill received.
Lay on Hands is also similiarily confusing. It is an At Will power you can use once per day?! Whaaaa?! Hmm I may not have a PHD in Logic, but should that not be a *Daily* power?
Does anyone know which one it is? Is their some subtlety to an At Will power you can use Once per day I am not comprehending at this point.
I am a bit disappointed that Lay on Hands only heals others and not the Paladin. Do Evil & Neutral Paladins get different abilities.....Lay on Hands seems a bit selfless for an Neutral or Evil worshiper of a god, unless they are trying to wolf in sheep's clothing converts. The Fighter has more self healing than the Paladin at this point.
Damage output still seems geared to Melee in this game. The Fighter has a Daily that does 6d6 damage at first level against 1 enemy. The Wizard has Sleep where if the Targets are hit they are slowed, and if they fail their first coin toss Saving Throw mechanic they fall asleep. Of course no Coup De Grace mechanic is defined, nor is Slowed in the quick rules so who knows what those mean now. The Saving Throw as a duration mechanic for ongoing effects seems a bit arbitrary. Sure your ability to hit and Defenses goes up in level, but the Wizard it strikes me, is going to be much more subjected to the whims of fate than the Fighter, because I suspect the class will have more Ongoing effects that can be just as easily removed as from a 1 level orc or from a mighty 30 level dragon.
This was my complaint about spellscasters in 3.x especially at high level....too subjected to randomness due to the sheer number of dice rolls. Some spells required a roll to hit, a roll to beat spell resistance, and Saving Throws that could negate the entire spell.......meanwhile the Fighter whacks the monster and just rolls damage, only dealing with the often negligible Damage Resistance.
Also regarding Sleep, how does one Crit with it? The Fighter can potentially do max dmg on 6d6....how does one crit with Sleep, and yet you still have to roll. Fairness to me would be if a critical hit is not possible under the rules, either make an exception based critical hit effect built into the power, or do not require a to hit roll.
I am going to read more, but my great fear is that this is going to be in many creative ways a very restrictive version of the game. I read the big bads stats, no character level, designed soley as a monster which is fine...but he has this power called Rod of Ruin, where the flavor is he is emulating some of Orcus' power....pretty cool. Now you know some PC is going to want to play with the Rod of Ruin....and the rules pretty much state for anyone else it is just a stick.
Not very epic, a curse magic item, or one with serious drawbacks seems a better choice, but maybe that is just me.
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