General Playtest Speculation Thread

[Tehnai]

Alright, so what we know about the play test is:

-There will be 5 characters (one of each core class, one extra cleric, and at least one of each 4 core race)
-The adventure is a starting level adventure. A part of Keep on the Borderlands (or an adventure called The Caves of Chaos that has nothing to do with the original keep).

I am asking you guys, what do you guys believe we're going to get given the kind of information we have, both concerning the adventuring rules and the characters.

Here are my thought, sorry if it's a little scrambled:

- All characters start with their constitution in HP, and get a small, predetermined amount every level according to class. I'm assuming you get a quantity of HD equal to half of your level, possibly with extras from theme, this is only an hypothesis.

-The characters will be : A human Fighter, a Human priest (laser/support), a Dwarf Cleric(Hammer cleric), an Elven Mage and a Halfling rogue. I'd be very surprised if they deviated from that.

-The fighter is going to be the only class with an attack bonus (from class) at level 1. I also think the fighter is going to have a host of different weapons to deal with any situation, as to prove to the player base that a versatile fighter is an awesome concept.

-The rogue is going to be built as far away to the swashbuckler as they possibly could build him. They're going to show us that a rogue who's not about direct confrontation can still be awesome in combat (by planning and preparing the combat area) without making him a ninja. Might have 1-2 ninja moves still, just to remind the playtesters that building ninjas is totally possible

-The two clerics will read like they are from two completely different class, save one ability and the actual name of the class, as to showcase the importance of choosing a domain. The dwarf will have an awesome name. Like Steele Anvilhammer. (Mr. Mearls, if you are reading this, you would make me the happiest man on the internet)

-The wizard will have one iconic, first level wizard spell (not counting magic missile), hopefully color spray, and one completely new spell we never saw coming. He will also have a magic missile. It will probably hit automatically in some way.

-Going on a limb saying that the Caves of Chaos are the caves from KotB, we'll get to see monsters of various power levels and experience how we get to interact with them from level 1 to 3-ish. I'm eager to see if the minotaur or the ogre from the original adventure will have gotten the 4E solo treatment.

-I foresee that the themes of Career Adventurer (or something similar) and Warrior to make an appearance, possibly also Lurker (it's been mentionned a few times). For background, I expect Soldier to appear, perhaps criminal/thief.

What do you guys have?

 

[Kinak]

I think your race/class predictions are spot-on, but suspect they'll be sticking with combat-focused builds of every class. You could add some exploration challenges and diplomacy to the Caves of Chaos but, at it's heart, it's going to be a dungeon romp.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if we got an entire mini-setting in the vein of the original Caves. I think, for the first playtest, it'll be something more along the lines of D&D Encounters.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Tehnai]

Maybe not the whole mini setting, but the Caves of Chaos were originally shock full of negotiation. I'd be sad to see the possibility to set the tribes against one another go

Not that my players would think of that XD


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[Serendipity]

Interesting, though it's been established (I can't recall quite where) that the pregens include two elves for some reason (Wood and High). My suspicion is that the wood elf will be the secondary cleric, as an example has been trotted about in the L&L column at least once about a bow using cleric.

 

[hafrogman]

Interesting, though it's been established (I can't recall quite where) that the pregens include two elves for some reason (Wood and High).

I thought it'd actually been pretty definitively stated to the opposite. It's in the chat

Jeremy Crawford: The classic four will be in the playtest: dwarf, elf, halfling, and human.

Mearls: Halfling, human, dwarf, and elf. We're actually doing a mix of race and culture with our approach. A high elf and a wood elf share some innately elf things, but also get some things distinct to their specific culture.

Jeremy Crawford: Right out of the gate, you'll see the high elf, for instance.

Emphasis added.

Unless the wood elf is supposed be the default elf, and thus the high elf would be an addition. But in editions past, the default elf was described as the high elf, yes?

 

[Serendipity]

I thought it'd actually been pretty definitively stated to the opposite....Unless the wood elf is supposed be the default elf, and thus the high elf would be an addition. But in editions past, the default elf was described as the high elf, yes?

Hm. That might have been where I saw that (and re-reading it, I still kind of get the vibe that he's saying there's going to be the both of them) but it suits me just fine if that's not the case, as I'm not a fan of the subrace nonsense.
Ideally, if any race has to be doubled up, it should be humans.

 

[Dausuul]

There definitely won't be a human priest. One of the recent articles (I think it was a Rule of Three column) indicated they were getting rid of the priest class. The cleric killed it and took its stuff.

I expect there will be two humans, a dwarf, an elf, and a halfling. The nonhumans will belong to the classes traditionally favored by their races, so the dwarf will be a fighter, the elf will be a wizard, and the halfling will be a rogue. That leaves one of the humans to be a cleric. The other human will be either a second fighter or some "fifth wheel" class--bard, paladin, or ranger would be my guess.

 

[Tehnai]

They did mention two clerics, one being a laser/casty cleric, and the other being a warpriest type fellow. Same class, different flavor.

 

[Stormonu]

With the Paladin design goal article, my bet is on a cleric and a paladin, not two clerics.

I'm also hoping for a human fighter and dwarf cleric, but we'll see.

I'd also very much like to see an elf fighter/magic-user so we can see what their current thoughts for multiclassing are.

 

[hafrogman]

With the Paladin design goal article, my bet is on a cleric and a paladin, not two clerics.

Once again, the two clerics isn't a bet or a guess, it was stated outright.

I'd also very much like to see an elf fighter/magic-user so we can see what their current thoughts for multiclassing are.

I expect the playtest to start with level 1 characters, it's fairly traditional for the Caves of Chaos. Multiclassing would come later.

Jeremy Crawford: Here's what to expect in the packet . . .

Five pregenerated characters
The Caves of Chaos adventure
A bestiary to accompany the adventure
And rules of play, both for players and DMs

Mearls: We're doing two clerics to test the range of the domain/deity system.