D&d xp

[Vael]

Any news yet from the Q&A? I listened to the Radio Free Hommlett podcast, but I was hoping for more news.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

What happened to taking all of the character sheets of PHB2 characters and scanning them so that we can dissect exactly what each of them do, months before the book actually comes out?

 

[Cadfan]

They're scanned, actually. At Hordelings.

Most of them don't tell us anything new, because they're third level characters of classes that have been previewed from levels 1 to 3. You can get some information on the Shaman, the Deva, and the Goliath, if you look.

 

[chaotix42]

Thanks for the heads-up Cadfan! *screeching tires*

Looks like the barb lost that Rage Strike at-will...

 

[Cadfan]

Or they didn't print it on the grounds that there's little reason to use it before level 5.

There's potentially some changes in the bard and barbarian, since they were playtests instead of previews. I haven't gone over them with a fine toothed comb- the only thing I can say for sure is that the barbarian now appears to get his Con modifier to AC when wearing light armor. That fits with comments WOTC has made about encouraging lighter armor for barbarians.

 

[chaotix42]

Or they didn't print it on the grounds that there's little reason to use it before level 5.

Ohhhh yeah, forgot about that part!

Shaman looks mighty nifty too...

About the AC -

+1 hide (+4 AC)
Con (+3 AC)
1/2 lvl (+1 AC)
= AC 18

Typo?

 

[Cadfan]

Here's what I see for the Shaman: the basic shtick seems to be that the shaman's powers attack one targeted enemy, and then cause the shaman's spirit companion to give off some sort of effect. For example, the shaman might cast a ranged spell on one target, and then until the shaman's next turn all enemies adjacent to the spirit companion grant combat advantage. There is no restriction that requires that the enemies attacked be the same as the enemies incommoded by the spirit companion. This lets the shaman sort of be in two places at once- he can cast a spell over here, and inflict an effect over there, all in the same action. The shaman can also command the spirit companion to make attacks as well, but at least for this shaman most of the powers that do that are at wills.

Its possible that the spirit companion previews some of the rules for summoning. Technically its not a summoned creature, its a conjuration, but the fact that it uses a single hit damage threshold instead of a set amount of hit points is one quick way to simplify damage for extra creatures created by spells.

I guess we'll know all the details on Monday.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Ohhhh yeah, forgot about that part!

Shaman looks mighty nifty too...

About the AC -

+1 hide (+4 AC)
Con (+3 AC)
1/2 lvl (+1 AC)
= AC 18

Typo?

No it's intelligence that they use for AC.

 

[chaotix42]

Sound analysis. Looks like the shaman sends his spirit companion in to work his leader mojo in melee, while the shaman himself hangs back in a less crowded area and uses his ranged powers. Me likes.

 

[chaotix42]

No it's intelligence that they use for AC.

???

+1 hide (+4 AC)
Int (+0 AC)
1/2 lvl (+1 AC)
= AC 15

Even bigger typo... if they used Int then why didn't they use Dex? The barb actually has a Dex bonus...