First Impressions?

[Thraug]

I'm quite happy so far with what I see from this early core set of rules. The optional components will make or break this game for some and I look forward to customizing my game with them.

LOVE:

• Overall streamlining of ... everything! This will greatly speed up the ridiculously long 4e combats with very little loss in tactical depth, even with a very simple grid system.
  • Less monster powers
  • Less monster HP
  • Less complex spells/powers
  • Removal of 4e's micro-managed action choices with multiple activities in each

• Advantage/Disadvantage. Easy to remember and easy to run. This is the most important and smooth part of it. No more adding up excessive amounts of numbers, figuring out which stack and whioch don't; doing crazy math at high levels (+31, -2, -5, +2, bleh...)

• Flat math. BEST.CHANGE.EVER! I could write an essay on why this is fantastic. See above math point for just one. No more L25 Orcs, or L25 Orc "minions". Yeah! Just Orc, 1 hit them at high level but fight ranks of them quickly and they can still affect you without being L25 "minions" that are impervious to low level parties.

• More decisions and outcomes given to the DM. A good DM will be empowered, but a poor one will suffer unfortunately.

• Backgrounds and themes are great.

• Am I the only one that loves the racial immunities?

• Simple fighter class option. Folks, there are players that want to swing a sword and roll dice, that's it. This is the class for them. They have said you can make a more advanced and tactically deep Fighter if you like, but this is not him.

• No mention of Skill Challenges. WORST.FEATURE.EVER!

DISLIKE:

• Spell and monster descriptions. They need to have a well-defined gameplay box layout, in addition to the fluff and lore, but these should be separate.

• Electrum. Why? The only coin not following the power of 10 progression? Pointless and unnecessary.

• Character sheet. I found them confusing to read and disorganized. The back pages are a mess.

• Stealth rules in combat still too complex. Remove them or make them super abstract and easy. No edition has come close to having good stealth rules.

HATE

• Long Rest
  • Allowing a character to heal up to 100% HP and HD after one Long Rest:
    • eliminates story elements that stem from lasting injuries/wounds/wear or enduring treacherous journeys.
    • forces isolated combat encounters (1/day max) to be very difficult to be challenging or be a pushover at normal difficulty.
    • reduces plausibility and suspension of disbelief of being on a long and hard grueling adventure
    
    
• HP gained when leveling. Rolling is bad:
  • Lose character sheet you lost your rolls. Bad rolls encourage "lost" character sheets. Terrible.
  • Suggestion: Add optional rule to not roll. Instead, gain 1/2 HD + CON bonus (assuming minimum ability score is 8).

• Weapon and Armor charts. Both are terrible and need a complete overhaul. The armor chart is a disaster. Either make item the same or give them unique properties that give us worthy choices to make.

 

[Thraug]

Some of my first impressions:

I'm glad to see starting characters with double digit HP, though I'm still not clear on whether they are randomly generated or fixed. (I loathe randomly generated HPs).

Each character's HP are fixed:
Constitution + 1/2 HD value

 

[Sunseeker]

I love it. This give me a way to really play a Templar style cleric without being a full fledged Paladin.

I bet you will have your distinct LG Paladin as a Class in the final run.

RK

What I don't like about it is that it just grows the already incredible space the cleric takes up. With the appropriate themes and backgrounds, the Cleric can literally fill every role in the party. You don't need any other classes.

That is simply too much.

 

[Kzach]

Damage Type: All damage has a type. For example, a longsword deals slashing damage, an arrow deals piercing damage, and the fireball spell deals fire damage.

Intriguing. Very intriguing.

 

[Plissken]

I like what I'm seeing so far. Feels old-school with a mix of the new.

 

[Dykstrav]

First impressions: neutral. I've found things that I like and some things that I don't like.

On the positive side... I dig the idea of flat math and the theme/background elements. Stuff about using kits during short rests is kinda neat, I could see digging that.

On the negative... The intoxicated condition. This is just begging for certain player types to make asses of themselves, especially since it provides a mechanical benefit.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I'm liking it OK - it looks like old-school D&D. With all the little bugs (armor!) that implies.

I'm not seeing anything, though, that makes me think that the 4e flag-wavers are going to be happy at all. Of course, I haven't seen many of them posting. Are they boycotting?

 

[Incenjucar]

I'm liking it OK - it looks like old-school D&D. With all the little bugs (armor!) that implies.

I'm not seeing anything, though, that makes me think that the 4e flag-wavers are going to be happy at all. Of course, I haven't seen many of them posting. Are they boycotting?

"If you can't say anything nice..."

There ARE some good ideas in there, some of which would be worth important to previous editions, but speaking purely for myself, I'm not sure I can say anything constructive about an edition I can't see ever being modified enough for me to want to touch.

I'm just going to let it simmer, let things be said, and then try to help out where I can after some reflection.

 

[slobster]

I'm not seeing anything, though, that makes me think that the 4e flag-wavers are going to be happy at all. Of course, I haven't seen many of them posting. Are they boycotting?

I suppose I'm a 4E flagwaver, in the sense that I enjoyed the game just fine. And I'm excited by what I see so far, but haven't had a chance to actually play it yet. So I don't have much to post about the playtest .

To be honest, since this is just a basic structural playtest, it's hard to tell how much 4E or 3.x or AD&D will make it into things like class design and racial mechanics, which is where most of the differences in the editions can be found anyway. IMO this playtest feels familiar to us all because it is pretty familiar - basic D&D combat and skill resolution is a lot more similar across editions than are the fancier mechanics of making an individual character and all the bells and whistles that implies. DDN is no exception so far.

Where there are differences, like adv/disadv or the healing mechanics, I'm excited to see them making departures and anxious to see it all in action!

 

[Transformer]

I'm not seeing anything, though, that makes me think that the 4e flag-wavers are going to be happy at all. Of course, I haven't seen many of them posting. Are they boycotting?

I'm still reasonably optimistic about 5e taking what's needed from 4e. A few things are in already: high 1st-level hp, "healing surges," straightforward monster xp system. Hopefully Wizards will get the message and bring back 4e's excellent monster stat blocks, and we'll see other important encounter-based and DM-prep involving innovations from 4e.

The most characteristic thing about 4e, in my mind, is the power system, and what it brings: lots of different mechanical options in combat for every class, and a reasonable approximation of balance at all levels. If Wizards can get those things in, through martial maneuvers and good open playtesting to weed out bad and overpowered options, then the part of me that likes 4e will be very satisfied.