Black Flag Black Flag Playtest 2: Magic, Luck, Fighter, Wizards!

Kobold Press has released the 2nd playtest package for its Project Black Flag, which showcases magic, the luck system, and the fighter and wizard classes.

Black Flag is the codename for Kobold Press' open source 5E 'replacement' game.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

Also, one of the biggest benefits of getting away from WotC being the only source of core books is if we can finally bury 5E and D&D using the word "level" to mean at least three different concepts. Spell "circles" is a big win for clarity.

Basic (81) edition even had a section saying somewhat like "yes, we use the word level for half a dozen unrelated things, but worry not, you'll get used to that".

That being said, I love the change to spell circles. I adopted it since the Portuguese 5e translation came out using "circulo de magia" as the translation to "spell level".

 

[James Gasik]

I'm fine with the new terminology; when I write fantasy fiction based on D&D and the like, I never use the term levels. "Second Circle of Wizardry" sounds a lot cooler anyways.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

For those who didn't catch it, they are using "circle" for power source (arcane, divine, etc) rather than spell level.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

For those who didn't catch it, they are using "circle" for power source (arcane, divine, etc) rather than spell level.

That's a bit less cool, and slightly more confusing.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

That's a bit less cool, and slightly more confusing.

Yep, and that's why it's a play test. If we would prefer they use "circle" to refer to spell level and pick a different evocative term to use for power source, feedback on this packet is the time to tell them.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh yeah, sorry. But "Ring" isn't too bad either, and it fits in with the "Circle" motif.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Im getting whiplash coming here and seeing general positivity when I just read through some Reddit threads and, yeesh, are the Reddit people not amused with this packet.

Reddit, as usual, is vastly over-reacting.

However, while I don't agree with their vehemence, I do agree with their tack. Fighter is underwhelming, while Wizard is inexplicably buffed. It looks like KP wants casters stronger and martials weaker, and I think that's a really odd direction to go.

To be fair, theres a reason the best description of r/dndnext is that its a sub populated by people still pissed off about a 10 year old playtest lol. The reddit DND communities are very hit or miss and tend to congregate the great mass of people who don't really play the game but just engage in its Lonely fun.

No, that's not really true. /r/dndnext is the main D&D sub. That's because both /r/DND and /r/DungeonsAndDragons/ are almost exclusively image boards. They're all but totally unusable for any other purpose. /r/dndnext banned image posts so you can actually have discussions there.

Now, they're often horrible discussions because they're with Redditors who don't actually play the game and just repeat the same arguments they heard from Pathfinder 2e evangelists, but they are discussions.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Oh yeah, sorry. But "Ring" isn't too bad either, and it fits in with the "Circle" motif.

I've known groups that have used "ring," "circle," or "list" instead of level, so it's confusing to me.

I'd prefer something wholly unique like "house," "aspect," "facet," or "principle" instead of "circle."

 

[James Gasik]

I've known groups that have used "ring," "circle," or "list" instead of level, so it's confusing to me.

I'd prefer something wholly unique like "house," "aspect," "facet," or "principle" instead of "circle."

It might have something to do with the fact that "Ring Magic" is already an established thing in Kobold Press products, which was my first thought.

 

[JAMUMU]

I was underwhelmed with the first packet.

I found this one more toothsome and much more interesting, so consider me whelmed.

Perhaps the third packet will actually overwhelm me and spark serious interest.