10 months into the game

[cbbakke]

Our gaming group has been together for almost 20 years now and we have played about 20 different systems in that I bet. the DnD 4.0 has some good and some bad to it but overall our group has enjoyed it.

I think the positives:
1. Pretty clean rules
2. combat has some tactis but doesnt get bogged down.
3. Classes have a good feel too them.

Areas needing improvement:
1. More skills. If somebody wants to be a blacksmith for example. What does detective type go under? I dont want a game that has 500 skills but more then the dozen they have would be good.

2. A little more ability to develop skills. If you want to be a master in history but dont have a high INT, you are SOL. Some ability to have some skill points to spend on skills to make guys more unique would be nice.

3. A little more detail to combat. Some of the shooting through allies, and other combat mechanics are a little too simple.



The biggest thing I have seen after 10 months of playing is that either the whole party dies or nobody dies in fights. Especially once you get higher level 7+ nobody dies unless everybody does. People have too many healing potions, multi class healing spells and what not so the chance of death seems too low.

The other thing I don't care for is that if you go negative, that a healing surge puts you at zero and the heals you. Somebody could be at almost dead (close to their blooded level) get a healing surge and be at 1/4 hps.) that healing surge is really 3 surges worth of healing. It also makes for the game of wait till the party member falls to heal them. If a guy is low on hps the healers wait for them to fall since the heal has more bang for hte buck if they are way negative then at a few hps when done.

 

[keterys]

Well, I doubt it will help any, but...
1) Blacksmith is a background thing - just say you can or can't and move on. I think it even uses blacksmith as an example in the DMG where you might give the blacksmith character more information about something. Detective is covered by Insight, Perception, Streetwise, and sometimes other charisma-based skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate)
2) Skill Focus and Backgrounds can both help just as much as raw Int. Technically something like a magic book or headgear could also provide an item bonus.
3) Remember your positive #2 when you wish for this

I haven't really seen people just waiting to heal cause they weren't worried about folks being easy to heal once they fell down, but you could always houserule the game to be more lethal. Only two failed death saves til you die, for instance, dead at -surge for another. If you have failed death saves persist until you take an extended rest that increases danger - so if people let someone get knocked below 0, then that person fails a death save, it's only 2 til they die i the next combat. If you have ~4 combats before an extended rest, allowing 1 needlessly at the beginning can get someone killed.

 

[Nytmare]

2. A little more ability to develop skills. If you want to be a master in history but dont have a high INT, you are SOL. Some ability to have some skill points to spend on skills to make guys more unique would be nice.

Adding on to what Keterys said, a person who take skill training and focus IS a master of the applicable skill, they just might be outshined by someone with natural talent.

Maxing out an ability doesn't make you a master, it makes you a master's master.

 

[Mengu]

Also remember that failed death saves persist until you take an extended rest

Are you suggesting this as a house rule? Because the core rule says you die if you fail 3 death saves before you take a rest. It can be a short rest or an extended rest.

 

[keterys]

Basically yeah - it makes it a lot more... exciting/threatening. I'm iffy on the overall effect on encouraging people to just pack it up and go home, since it doesn't really come up much.

 

[Piratecat]

If you could, please be careful about not stating house rules as actual rules in this forum. It can get confusing otherwise.

Thanks.

cbbakke, the Background rules in the PHB2 may be a little helpful to you.

 

[Regicide]

If a guy is low on hps the healers wait for them to fall since the heal has more bang for hte buck if they are way negative then at a few hps when done.

There are so many negatives to this I can't believe anyone actually does this in any but the most extreme cases. Monsters will EAT the character thats down. The character IS down, as in prone. The character drops things. The character stops getting out of the way of things like swords and spears aimed at them. The character can't provide a lot of benefits to the rest of the party such as flanking, maintaining effects etc.

 

[keterys]

If you could, please be careful about not stating house rules as actual rules in this forum. It can get confusing otherwise

*blush* Yeah, I smooshed two sentences together and didn't realize - remember you need to rest, what if made it extended. I edited

At any rate, it's quite easy to make the game more lethal... the default state appears to be lethal enough for many groups, but I do suspect that some groups might be better served by things being scarier to do encounters closer to level rather than throwing lots of n+2 to n+4 encounters. Less miss strings and frustration.

 

[Elric]

There are so many negatives to this I can't believe anyone actually does this in any but the most extreme cases. Monsters will EAT the character thats down. The character IS down, as in prone. The character drops things. The character stops getting out of the way of things like swords and spears aimed at them. The character can't provide a lot of benefits to the rest of the party such as flanking, maintaining effects etc.

Between granting combat advantage and being unconscious, melee attackers only have an effective +7 to hit you. You're still dodging pretty well, under the circumstances. Note that a level 30 character with, say, 28 Int/Dex can be unconscious and not wearing armor, and level 1 kobold skirmishers still wouldn't be able to hit him except for the "natural 20s auto-succeed" rule. If his highest of Dex and Int was, say, 14 instead, this wouldn't be true

 

[keterys]

They can coup de grace just fine... sure, level 1 guys will have trouble with 20 somethings, but creature you're supposed to be fighting will be in good shape