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.

 

[cbwjm]

I am a fan of circles for spells. Feels like something people would actually say in-universe.

It's a term I tend to use for the fiction. Sounds much cooler for a wizard to say they are a master of the 5th circle rather than, "I can cast 5th level spells."

 

[Shardstone]

Honestly, the fighter left me feeling really cold and disinterested. I know there is a desire for a simple fighter, but does it have to be boring too? The new bonus actions are nice, but there's just no real interesting flare to a fighter here. I was hoping for something maybe narrative, maybe something with maneuvers, maybe something that invokes "action hero" a bit more, but instead I just got a 5.05 fighter.

Meanwhile, the wizard got wined and dined. Detect magic as a class feature, two amazing subclasses, better talents, just the whole nine yards. I'm fine with the wizard being made cooler, but it really sucks that the fighter is just so bland in comparison.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Honestly, the fighter left me feeling really cold and disinterested. I know there is a desire for a simple fighter, but does it have to be boring too? The new bonus actions are nice, but there's just no real interesting flare to a fighter here. I was hoping for something maybe narrative, maybe something with maneuvers, maybe something that invokes "action hero" a bit more, but instead I just got a 5.05 fighter.

Meanwhile, the wizard got wined and dined. Detect magic as a class feature, two amazing subclasses, better talents, just the whole nine yards. I'm fine with the wizard being made cooler, but it really sucks that the fighter is just so bland in comparison.

Can anyone make a simple fighter that isn't boring? It seems like a real design challenge if the history of gaming is any indication.

 

[Emberashh]

Can anyone make a simple fighter that isn't boring? It seems like a real design challenge if the history of gaming is any indication.

I like to think my games take on the Barbarian hits that mark, though it escalates quite a bit in power beyond what 5e Barbs or Fighters could do. Its basic offensive attack can deal up to 24d12 damage in one turn if you dual wield mauls. (Which is if you assume basic quality, non-enchanted Mauls, that is)

 

[Micah Sweet]

I like to think my games take on the Barbarian hits that mark, though it escalates quite a bit in power beyond what 5e Barbs or Fighters could do. Its basic offensive attack can deal up to 24d12 damage in one turn if you dual wield mauls. (Which is if you assume basic quality, non-enchanted Mauls, that is)

Twin mauls is a cool look.

 

[Emberashh]

Twin mauls is a cool look.

Unironically when I started writing weapons I proverbially wrote in permanent marker that 2d12 was to be the damage dice for Mauls, and worked backwards from there.

Mauls are one of my favorite weapons (the other being quarterstaffs) so I took the liberty of committing to making them nutso.

 

[The Shadow]

So warlocks aren't arcane any more at all... Are wizards and clerics really losing all planar-travel spells? That seems... unlikely.

 

[cbwjm]

So warlocks aren't arcane any more at all... Are wizards and clerics really losing all planar-travel spells? That seems... unlikely.

I read the descriptions for the types of magic and where things should go, but then you look at the spell lists in the playtest and they immediately ignore it.

I have been back and reread the descriptions for converting spells and it sounds more like a suggestion, for when you port a spell and are unsure of where it should go. I expect the wizard and cleric to still have some planar magic, but maybe warlocks will be better at it.

 

[James Gasik]

I read the descriptions for the types of magic and where things should go, but then you look at the spell lists in the playtest and they immediately ignore it.

I have been back and reread the descriptions for converting spells and it sounds more like a suggestion, for when you port a spell and are unsure of where it should go. I expect the wizard and cleric to still have some planar magic, but maybe warlocks will be better at it.

Hm. I admit I didn't look closely at the spell lists themselves. Seems like this might lead to another situation like what we have with the Cleric/Wizard divide now, where there's a lot of overlap, and Wizards can cast almost anything that doesn't involve healing (or have a better version of it), and Clerics can poach Wizard spells based on Domain- there's a difference, but not a strong one.

 

[James Gasik]

I'd like to, but you told us not to comment about Luck until we use it in play, lol.

As an aside, my group's next session is the 26th, so it's going to be a bit longer, sadly. We will be test luck at the very least. Even though it's our eventual goal to convert from 5e to Black Flag (it's a Midgard campaign already), the logistics of playtesting new material without disrupting the game in progress is a little dicey. For example, we don't have a Fighter at the moment, and my Wizard is using a different subclass.

Ironically, I was almost a Cantrip Master, lol, but at this point, my Familiar is a pretty useful member of the party.