Enchanter Tom
First Post
It was the Murder at Baldur's Gate playtest, and our GM was really great. Rather than giving a comprehensive rundown of everything that happened (I'm lazy), let me address a few things.
• It felt like D&D. This was the big one for me. The game played a lot like the D&D I know and am used to. It was fast, it was simple, it was fun.
• Most enemies died in 1-2 hits. You have no idea what a refreshing change of pace this is from 4e. A single good dropping a monster is definitely a positive. Players didn't need to worry about critical hits for this to happen, either. A good roll on your damage die was usually enough to bring a monster down or at least weaken him enough that a follow-up attack would.
• The fighter was good, but not different enough from other classes. I played the dwarf fighter, which I regretted a little. Not because he was bad, but because he didn't have anything to really differentiate him from other classes. Even a slight boost to damage rolls would have been nice. Other than that, though, I felt competent in and out of combat, even though my character didn't have expertise dice and his stats were focused on combat (Str/Con/Dex priorities). I do wish the fighter had expertise dice on at least one type of check.
• Advantage mechanic is great.
• Magic missile starting out with three missiles is a good idea. At-will spells are not so great. My friend (who played a wizard) really disliked having an at-will spell (I believe it was ray of frost). He said that it resulted in him defaulting to the at-will spells rather than using his crossbow or another weapon.
• The fighter's second wind ability I did not like. It takes an action (not so great in the middle of a fight), and the amount it healed was trivial at first level. It's also kind of stupid for the fighter to have self-healing in addition to HD.
• I dislike that the playtest occurred at first level because first level is easy to get right. It's every other level that's the problem.
I'm still on the fence about DDN. If the playtest is anything to go by, I'm going to be interested in it, but I don't know if it's going to be worth the money--especially if we're coming up on the last playtest packet in September. The move to internal development without external feedback is worrisome to me.
• It felt like D&D. This was the big one for me. The game played a lot like the D&D I know and am used to. It was fast, it was simple, it was fun.
• Most enemies died in 1-2 hits. You have no idea what a refreshing change of pace this is from 4e. A single good dropping a monster is definitely a positive. Players didn't need to worry about critical hits for this to happen, either. A good roll on your damage die was usually enough to bring a monster down or at least weaken him enough that a follow-up attack would.
• The fighter was good, but not different enough from other classes. I played the dwarf fighter, which I regretted a little. Not because he was bad, but because he didn't have anything to really differentiate him from other classes. Even a slight boost to damage rolls would have been nice. Other than that, though, I felt competent in and out of combat, even though my character didn't have expertise dice and his stats were focused on combat (Str/Con/Dex priorities). I do wish the fighter had expertise dice on at least one type of check.
• Advantage mechanic is great.
• Magic missile starting out with three missiles is a good idea. At-will spells are not so great. My friend (who played a wizard) really disliked having an at-will spell (I believe it was ray of frost). He said that it resulted in him defaulting to the at-will spells rather than using his crossbow or another weapon.
• The fighter's second wind ability I did not like. It takes an action (not so great in the middle of a fight), and the amount it healed was trivial at first level. It's also kind of stupid for the fighter to have self-healing in addition to HD.
• I dislike that the playtest occurred at first level because first level is easy to get right. It's every other level that's the problem.
I'm still on the fence about DDN. If the playtest is anything to go by, I'm going to be interested in it, but I don't know if it's going to be worth the money--especially if we're coming up on the last playtest packet in September. The move to internal development without external feedback is worrisome to me.