Analysis of Initial release of PCs

[Saishu_Heiki]

The idea seems to be as follows:

High damage weapons (axes, etc) are prof:1 - unwieldy but powerful

Normal weapons (longsword, etc) are prof:2 - middle of the road, good damage, but not overly fast

Fast weapons (dagger, etc) are prof:3 - not much on damage, but far easier to hit with

 

[Xanaqui]

The idea seems to be as follows:

High damage weapons (axes, etc) are prof:1 - unwieldy but powerful

Normal weapons (longsword, etc) are prof:2 - middle of the road, good damage, but not overly fast

Fast weapons (dagger, etc) are prof:3 - not much on damage, but far easier to hit with

Hmmm. Then the question is how to rectify the fighter's weapons. Idea:

Warhammer prof 1
Handaxe prof 1
Fighter (and/or Dwarven weapons training, but then kept to a set of weapons including Warhammer and Handaxe) +2 to hit with all weapons

 

[mach1.9pants]

My one diagreement, and it is on feeling rather than knowing, is that hide and leather are not both +3 to AC, and both 0 AC check penalty. I know the Ranger is shown in hide with +3 to AC from it but it is a typo IMO. I think the Ranger has been statted out with leather, but they accidentally put hide on his possessions.
It would make much more sense if you got +3 with Leather, +4 with hide, then for heavy +6 or more. I also reckon that hide will give a -1 AC check penalty, as it is mentioned in the PHB armour fluff that it can be restricting.

But that is a total guess, I am saving this post to see if I am right in June- be nice for once!

 

[Xanaqui]

My one diagreement, and it is on feeling rather than knowing, is that hide and leather are not both +3 to AC, and both 0 AC check penalty. I know the Ranger is shown in hide with +3 to AC from it but it is a typo IMO. I think the Ranger has been statted out with leather, but they accidentally put hide on his possessions.
It would make much more sense if you got +3 with Leather, +4 with hide, then for heavy +6 or more. I also reckon that hide will give a -1 AC check penalty, as it is mentioned in the PHB armour fluff that it can be restricting.

But that is a total guess, I am saving this post to see if I am right in June- be nice for once!

Here's an alternate scenario that would give +4 armor bonus to Hide Armor:

They kept Max Dex bonus as an attribute to armor

Max Dex bonuses:
Leather: at least +0
Hide: +3
Scale: +0
Plate: +0
Chainmail: at least +0

However, I can't think of math that would give an armor check penalty to Hide Armor. If you can come up with something that's consistent, let me know.

And yes, you're right that typos (and defects in the originals) are possible.

 

[ShinRyuuBR]

@Shinryuu: The Cleric gets the bonus from his Human feat. I guess the Halfling gets it from his small size?

Hmm, although the feat only says +1 to saving throws, which have nothing to do with defenses, it IS possible that it ALSO gives +1 to all defenses, or +2 to Will. In fact, I think a mere +1 to saving throws is too small a benefit for a feat, even at 1st level. They probably chose not to repeat a static information already included in the main stats. As for the halfling, he was errata'd, and his Will decreased by 2.

Yep; that's what I'm basing my guess on - the Rogue write-up.

Not exactly. As Saishu said, it has been explicity stated that some weapons give a better or worst proficiency bonus and this comes in the weapons table, as was seen in the Design & Development about critical hits, with the warpick (Prof. 2). The rogue +1 is a freebie from the class, yes, but daggers, shortswords and rapiers are Prof. 3, while warhammer, handaxe etc. are Prof. 1 (Dwarven Weapon Training gives +2 to hit and damage).

My one diagreement, and it is on feeling rather than knowing, is that hide and leather are not both +3 to AC, and both 0 AC check penalty. I know the Ranger is shown in hide with +3 to AC from it but it is a typo IMO. I think the Ranger has been statted out with leather, but they accidentally put hide on his possessions.
It would make much more sense if you got +3 with Leather, +4 with hide, then for heavy +6 or more. I also reckon that hide will give a -1 AC check penalty, as it is mentioned in the PHB armour fluff that it can be restricting.

But that is a total guess, I am saving this post to see if I am right in June- be nice for once!

No, I don't think so. Races and Classes says leather is favored by rogues and warlocks, and hide is favored by rangers, barbarians and druids. The leap from +3 to +6 is clearly intentional as a compensation for not adding any ability modifier to defense. I don't think they would go through all this trouble only to keep max dex bonus. I wholeheartedly believe max dex bonus is dead and buried.

 

[Xanaqui]

Not exactly. As Saishu said, it has been explicity stated that some weapons give a better or worst proficiency bonus and this comes in the weapons table, as was seen in the Design & Development about critical hits, with the warpick (Prof. 2). The rogue +1 is a freebie from the class, yes, but daggers, shortswords and rapiers are Prof. 3, while warhammer, handaxe etc. are Prof. 1 (Dwarven Weapon Training gives +2 to hit and damage).

Updated accordingly

 

[White Tornado]

As a AD&D second edition player, I don't know anything about this point-buy system. How does it work? Is every ability score set to 8, and you can distribute a given number of points (i.e. 28, 30, etc) between your six scores?

I really like the hard-core dice-rolling methods, though. Rejoicing over an ability score of 16 or 17, playing a fighter with Dex 6 or a fighter/thief with Cha 3... Never know what you'll end up with, and you have to make up crazy backgrounds/descriptions to account for the numbers. Ah, well.

 

[Xanaqui]

As a AD&D second edition player, I don't know anything about this point-buy system. How does it work? Is every ability score set to 8, and you can distribute a given number of points (i.e. 28, 30, etc) between your six scores?

I really like the hard-core dice-rolling methods, though. Rejoicing over an ability score of 16 or 17, playing a fighter with Dex 6 or a fighter/thief with Cha 3... Never know what you'll end up with, and you have to make up crazy backgrounds/descriptions to account for the numbers. Ah, well.

Note that simply because I can almost get the stats from a point buy methodology, it doesn't mean that they're using point buy as the standard generation method. My assumption above is that they are using such a method in this particular instance.

3.x formula:
8: 0 points
+1 point per number over 8
+1 point per number over 14
+1 point per number over 16

Max 18 (at cost 16) for any single score. Racial ability modifiers are applied afterwards.

 

[Nightson]

I think dice rolling is a lot more fun and it's what I use in my campaigns, but it doesn't make for very good convention characters when you want to show off the system with equal characters.

 

[HP Dreadnought]

Based on the rogue class, we can surmise the hit points gained per level for each class based on the starting hit points given here. They are:

Wizard: 4hp/level
Warlock/Ranger/Cleric/Rogue: 5hp/level
Fighter/Paladin: 6hp/level

That's a very narrow spread between fighter and wizard hit points.

I hope when they come out with the barbarian class that they bump him up to 8hp/level and starting hps of 20+con!