D&D 5E Played tonight! Couple of questions.

[Evenglare]

We did the first part of the starter and cleared the cave. Anyway one thing that came up. Do spells benefit from crits? For instance I was casting firebolt and I critted. I was the DM (as well as running a wizard) and I ruled that it did.

 

[samursus]

Nope. As far as I remember from my reading of the rules anyways. A spell is not an attack; and only attacks get criticals.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Well, Firebolt is an attack, so it can crit.

"Making an Attack," p.73:

Whether you're striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a spell, an attack has a simple structure.
...
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20..the attack is a critical hit...

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah Firebolt yes, Fireball no IMO

 

[obsid]

Yea there is no attack roll for fireball so you cant crit, they are rolling a saving throw to avoid the damage.

Fire Bolt is a single target ranged spell attack with an attack roll, so you can crit that, and it works like any crit (role double damage).

 

[Evenglare]

Yea there is no attack roll for fireball so you cant crit, they are rolling a saving throw to avoid the damage.

Fire Bolt is a single target ranged spell attack with an attack roll, so you can crit that, and it works like any crit (role double damage).

Okay! Awesome, so I did make the right call. I can't even begin to explain how much I love this magic system. It's vancian but much more free, also the "slots" don't actually feel like slots at all, more like MP per level. I never even really thought of doing it this way. I think it works because the absolute best part is that many spells can be used at higher levels. It just cuts down on the bloat. AH it's so awesome. Also cantrips got a bit of a buff which provided the 4e aspect that my wizard can still do even though he ran out of spells. Love that bounded accuracy forced the developers to handle stuff like mage armor differently yet still getting the purpose and feel across. I just... I didn't expect to like this system as much as I do. I was completely 'meh' about it after using 13th age, but man... I think they actually did it, they made the best version of D&D they possibly could. I can't wait for the PHB, it's killing me haha.

 

[Lwaxy]

Do you think it would be easy to de-Vancian it altogether?

I'm not sure if to make up a new house rule system based on 5e or just update my 3.5/PF mix.

 

[Nebulous]

Okay! Awesome, so I did make the right call. I can't even begin to explain how much I love this magic system. It's vancian but much more free, also the "slots" don't actually feel like slots at all, more like MP per level. I never even really thought of doing it this way. I think it works because the absolute best part is that many spells can be used at higher levels. It just cuts down on the bloat. AH it's so awesome. Also cantrips got a bit of a buff which provided the 4e aspect that my wizard can still do even though he ran out of spells. Love that bounded accuracy forced the developers to handle stuff like mage armor differently yet still getting the purpose and feel across. I just... I didn't expect to like this system as much as I do. I was completely 'meh' about it after using 13th age, but man... I think they actually did it, they made the best version of D&D they possibly could. I can't wait for the PHB, it's killing me haha.

I like the way they did magic too, and down the road would love to see them get even more creative with the spell slot system. I think they have a great game here, nothing revolutionary but it's definitely D&D.

 

[Nemio]

We did the first part of the starter and cleared the cave. Anyway one thing that came up. Do spells benefit from crits? For instance I was casting firebolt and I critted. I was the DM (as well as running a wizard) and I ruled that it did.

Can you give some comments on how the session went?
Playing with new or veteran players?

Also, I was wondering the following when I watched the livestream

Spoiler:

Spoiler

In the livestream they captured a goblin to lead them to the cave.
How do you find the cave if you kill all of them?

 

[Evenglare]

Can you give some comments on how the session went?
Playing with new or veteran players?

Also, I was wondering the following when I watched the livestream

Spoiler:

Spoiler

In the livestream they captured a goblin to lead them to the cave.
How do you find the cave if you kill all of them?

The group I played with tonight were the exact same people who I got into RPGs with for the first time with 3.5 during launch. One player simply HATED 4th edition, I mean... it's like internet complaints incarnate. He LOVED this edition. As far as comments from the session itself, I noticed quite a few things. First let me add that we made our own characters and didn't use pregens. The game felt like a streamlined, trimmed down elegant 3.5 (to me anyway). We were playing as a halfling rogue, dwarven cleric, and I was running a High Elf Wizard. First off, the advantage disadvantage mechanic is a godsend, just as simple as that. The characters also were very squishy as you would expect from a lv1 3.x game. My wizard got taken down with one hit. It was frightening and nostalgic in a good way. I didn't die of course because of the cleric. During combat I noticed that every character felt completely unique and completely fit their role in the party, similar to how 4e had defined rolls. Of course it's not stated here explicitly in this edition.

My personal experience with my wizard was just... absolutely phenomenal. The revamp to the system is so brilliant. The new magic missile kicks ass and I can't wait until higher levels to use it. Also they completely covered the fact that once I run out of spells I can cast my cantrip Firebolt as much as needed and be useful very similar to 4e, and pathfinder, but I felt more meaningful than I would have in those other editions (especially pathfinder). We also really enjoyed the hit die mechanic for regaining HP during short rests.

All in all, I honestly expected to feel sort of "meh" about this edition, but when we played it was just like the first time I ever opened up my 3.x books and played. As for the answer to your spoiler

Spoiler

They did infact kill all the goblins, but I wanted them to find the trail so I had one of the horses dragged off the road a bit leaving a pretty noticeable trail into the woods/cavern