D&D 5E Dungeons and Dragons at Origins


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I understood it as "Theater of the Mind"

Thanks for the in-play report! Sounds a lot like I was hoping. I am enamored of the speed and the potential flexibility and depth that offers, and from where I'm sittin', Rules Mastery can take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut (though I'm happy that "advanced" may include some better options for that for those who are into it).

I wonder if the need for a cleric/dedicated healer will be as high when using certain HP modules or items. It makes some sense in Basic (ah, the legacy!), but I am certainly interested in getting the heck out of that.
 


This has been, and will remain, my main actual "dealbreaker"-type concern about 5E. I'm hoping this is just a factor of Clerics being the only real "healing class" in the pregens, and that in practice, any "healing class" will do as well (or close enough as makes no difference). If we're back to 2E levels of "needing a Cleric", though, gosh, that's not going to fly with any of the groups I play with.

So, fingers crossed that Bards, Druids, maybe even Warlocks or the like can do a "good enough" job.

FWIIW our playtest campaign (1-9) has been doing decently with just a paladin as healer. Looking at the druid, I am pretty sure he will be able to fill the healer slot as well.
 


And (and I know I'm not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction) if alternate rules systems are employed, will that hurt the simplicity that attracts those new players?

That parenthetical epitomizes your entire post. Just because a few sentence composition experts made a ruling a century ago doesn't mean it always has to be followed today. Most rules are meant to be broken at one time or another. It's all about the flow.

VS
 

This has been, and will remain, my main actual "dealbreaker"-type concern about 5E. I'm hoping this is just a factor of Clerics being the only real "healing class" in the pregens, and that in practice, any "healing class" will do as well (or close enough as makes no difference). If we're back to 2E levels of "needing a Cleric", though, gosh, that's not going to fly with any of the groups I play with.

So, fingers crossed that Bards, Druids, maybe even Warlocks or the like can do a "good enough" job.

I'm going to go out on a limb here.

The spells the heal in the playtest are: Cure Wounds (touch, but high amount) Healing Word (lower amount but at range) and Prayer of Healing (multiple targets in a small area) Heal (large amount back + status removal) and mass versions of the above. Since they all improve with level, if you know one (and can get high level spell slots) you can use them just a well as a cleric can. (No delayed acquisition of Cure Light/Mod/Serious/Critical, etc)

Bards get Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and Mass Cure Wounds (based on the 5 level version, we now know they will be getting 9 spell levels) Additionally they get Lesser Restoration and Raise Dead(!)

Druids get Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, and Heal. (They also get regenerate and the restoration spells, and probably reincarnate based on the leaked PHB page)

So bards and druids can do the healing job well enough to fill the cleric's role.
 


So bards and druids can do the healing job well enough to fill the cleric's role.

In our playtest group, we have a cleric, bard, and druid. The cleric isn't too used to the role, so he hasn't been paying any attention to when people are hurt. The druid and bard have more than compensated, so that now the cleric claims healing is beneath Umberlee.

Thaumaturge.
 

So bards and druids can do the healing job well enough to fill the cleric's role.

Along with Thaumaturge above, I'll add:

any other spellcaster can take 1 level of cleric and be able to cast cure wounds to great effect by using higher level slots (remember, spells per day are one table, regardless of multiclass...multiclass gives you more spells). Half-casters like Paladins wouldn't reach the higher slots as fast as a full caster, but it works. Divine Initiate Feat gives 1/day cleric spell, but that is not such a great choice but could bolster a weaker healer (at my table, I'm inclined to let casters use the spell gained from Divine Initiate as if it was on their list and let the 1/day line be for non-casters. Yes, thats really good, but I prefer that over a dip in cleric level for RP reasons)
 

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