General Playtest Speculation Thread

[Dausuul]

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

Ah, correct--I missed that part. My mistake.

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

 

[Kinak]

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

I agree. That and the rumor table were my favorite bits of that module.

It would be a great place to showcase how they're handling skills in Next, but I'd be really surprised to see it get more than a passing mention. Maybe they'll knock it out of the park and capture that flavor, but I'm really just expecting a test of the magic missile and hacking things rules.

Which, to be clear, I don't think is really a bad thing. Who would fault them for wanting to hammer out combat first, after all?

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Stormonu]

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

*Sigh* Yeah, just read Morrus's post on that. Bleh. I still think they should have gone with a secondary class - Bard, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger, etc. Two clerics is the weakest thing they could have gone with.

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

Well, if there are no 1st level multiclass characters, that would at least tell us they are not going with 1E/2E multiclassing or 4E hybrids.

 

[hafrogman]

Well, if there are no 1st level multiclass characters, that would at least tell us they are not going with 1E/2E multiclassing or 4E hybrids.

That was their intention a couple of months ago at least. *shrug*

I imagine flavors more like 1e/2e (0/0 apprentice multiclassing?) or 4e will appear in modules, optional rules and supplements later on, but it seems like they were leaning heavily towards 3e style. So this playtest is just for the very base mechanics (combat, skill resolution, etc.) and to give us a teaser on how characters will look. More complicated things like leveling, character building (and presumably multiclassing) will come along in fairly short order.

 

[Tehnai]

I agree. That and the rumor table were my favorite bits of that module.

It would be a great place to showcase how they're handling skills in Next, but I'd be really surprised to see it get more than a passing mention. Maybe they'll knock it out of the park and capture that flavor, but I'm really just expecting a test of the magic missile and hacking things rules.

Which, to be clear, I don't think is really a bad thing. Who would fault them for wanting to hammer out combat first, after all?

Of course, the goal of the playtest, especially the first one, should be to know whether or not the core mechanics work or not, which is a good reason to use KotB, in my opinion, because it's both simple and full of monsters to beat on.

Honestly though, if they don't stick in the Keep and the rumors, it's no biggie for me, I have the original module just to my right, at this very moment.

 

[am181d]

Well, if there are no 1st level multiclass characters, that would at least tell us they are not going with 1E/2E multiclassing or 4E hybrids.

This is an initial playtest only. Absence is not evidence of exclusion.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Regdar, Eberk, Mialee, Lidda, and 'Gandalf' the Human laser-cleric.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I'm curious to see how large an area the "adventure" encompasses. My guess will be a small cave complex done battlemap style with no area maps.

I hope to be completely wrong and pleasantly suprised.

 

[ren1999]

According to comments on EN World I'm guessing no Fort, Ref, Will defenses but direct AC, and Ability defenses.

Fewer opportunity attacks.

I'm hoping that ability and 1/2 level modifiers will still be included in attack and defense rules.

I'm also guessing based on EN world comments -- heavy notation next to AC and abilities.

AC15 (10+, heavy shield+2, dodge+1, dex+2)
Wisdom 18(+4) (disable device+5)

 

[Gaming Tonic]

According to comments on EN World I'm guessing no Fort, Ref, Will defenses but direct AC, and Ability defenses.

Fewer opportunity attacks.

I'm hoping that ability and 1/2 level modifiers will still be included in attack and defense rules.

I'm also guessing based on EN world comments -- heavy notation next to AC and abilities.

AC15 (10+, heavy shield+2, dodge+1, dex+2)
Wisdom 18(+4) (disable device+5)

Ability Defenses is what the playtest consisted of up to this point. Things can and will change. It is way better in my opinion because their really isn't a dump stat and you need to think seriously about deficient abilities. Every ability has more than one reason to exist. The defenses do not scale just for leveling and neither did attack bonuses. It made the few bonuses the fighter gets a big deal, it made getting advantage a big deal, it made taking cover a big deal. A couple of plusses or minuses could really swing the odds. Not like in 4E were you pretty much expected to get hit.

The notation next to the abilities is nothing that we have not seen before and less than a lot of what we have seen before. Go look at your 1st Edition PHB to see some notation.

The skills system was my favorite skill system to date but I am not somebody who needs endless charts and graphs to tell me how stealth or climbing works. Like I said, some of this is likely to change in a couple days. That is a good thing because it means that the fans voices are already being heard by the designers.