Keep on the Shadowfell preview

[Kishin]

Instant Level-Ups? I'm looking at you, MMORPGs/CRPGs. Does the adventure include some nice melodies that the DM can play whenever that happens? Or Quest Cards that you can hand out saying: "LEVEL UP: You heal to your maximum HPs and all your spent powers are restored. Refer to PHB to pick your new abilities." ;P

There must be a point based prize giveaway for comments like this. Its the only reason I can figure for why people continually repeat them as if they were any sort of contribution to a discussion.

*The dominate condition allows the attacker to take control of its target for one round. They can only make the target use an at-will power

That's an incredibly lame nerf, and I'm pretty sure I won't be abiding by it.

Dunno I'll make it so that a dominated PC expends their encounter/daily if its used by the dominator, but you can rest assured they'll be able to do it.

 

[Valdrax]

Interesting...Coming from DMing/playing 1e/2e, I always levelled up the characters as soon as they hit the right amount (otherwise you were potentially screwing over the faster xp classes).

Did 3.x change this?

No.

Actually, yes. In 3e, the amount of XP you get from an encounter of a certain CR goes down as you go up in level. (Your class has no influence on how fast you level; all classes level at the same rate).

Therefore, waiting until the end of the session to calculate earned XP per CR will result in better XP gain than if you leveled ASAP. This "lower level levels faster" mechanic was also why burning XP to make magic items wasn't as bad of an idea as most people initially thought.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Winterhaven... Population 977... And according to the map, only 11 buildings in town. So that means the average building houses about 88 people. Ok...

 

[Seule]

Dunno I'll make it so that a dominated PC expends their encounter/daily if its used by the dominator, but you can rest assured they'll be able to do it.

I'd wait for the full rules before making pronouncements like this. Maybe what you are describing is possible with a more potent power? There may be other things we don't know about.

As an addendum, I just dropped by my FLGS, and they had the preview copy too. I couldn't stop to examine it closely, though.

--Penn

 

[Valdrax]

One more request... there seems to be a lot of hoopla going on about the half-elf cleric being weaker than the other classes and not matching up with the Pre-Release Rules Compilation... do you mind posting the half-elf so us designers can break it down in comparison to the half-elf from D&DXP. Thanks

Seconded. I know you've posted about their 2 at-wills and their 3 Channel Divinity encounter powers (1 of which is a feat power), and all Clerics have Healing Word.

But what about the other encounter / daily powers?

 

[Valdrax]

Winterhaven... Population 977... And according to the map, only 11 buildings in town. So that means the average building houses about 88 people. Ok...

Actual quote from the May Preview:

interhaven
Village, Population 977
The rutted King's Road leads to the foot of a broad hill that holds the walled village of Winterhaven. The village is nestled in the southern foothills of the Cairngorm Peaks. The walls are weathered stone topped by defensive palisades. Small thatched homes stand around Winterhaven, each fronting a small piece of farmland or pasture. Beyond the farms to the west and south lie dark woods, and to the north, tall mountain peaks.

(Emphasis added.)

In other words, like most castle or keep towns, people live in farms in the surrounding countryside but can flee behind the protection of the walls if an attack comes.

 

[Kishin]

I'd wait for the full rules before making pronouncements like this. Maybe what you are describing is possible with a more potent power? There may be other things we don't know about.

This is likely what I'm thinking. It seems too obvious a hole in what has been to date a very consistently explained rules system to leave it open.

However, they are referring to 'dominated' as a condition, which means its likely spread across multiple abilities. Therefore, there'd need to be a more powerful 'keyword', and I'm having a hard time thinking of just what it is.

 

[WyzardWhately]

How many trained skills do the PCs have? I'm not going to ask you to give their skill lists entire, but I'd like to know the number of slots they're getting.

Thanks for all you've posted.

 

[pukunui]

This is likely what I'm thinking. It seems too obvious a hole in what has been to date a very consistently explained rules system to leave it open.

However, they are referring to 'dominated' as a condition, which means its likely spread across multiple abilities. Therefore, there'd need to be a more powerful 'keyword', and I'm having a hard time thinking of just what it is.

It's also possible they're leaving the more powerful domination effects for the psionic power source, since it's been tipped to be where most of the enchantment, charm, and other mind-affecting effects have gone.

As for a keyword, how about "possessed" or "enslaved"? I highly doubt either of those will be in the game but they were the first things to come to mind.

 

[Seule]

However, they are referring to 'dominated' as a condition, which means its likely spread across multiple abilities. Therefore, there'd need to be a more powerful 'keyword', and I'm having a hard time thinking of just what it is.

I suspect that the dominated condition deliberately excludes using up limited resources, because if it doesn't it severely warps character tactics if facing something that has the dominate ability. It would mean you'd always use your most potent abilities as fast as possible, so you couldn't be forced to use them against your allies.
Now, there may be some critters that have the ability with a 'but can also use encounter powers' rider, but I really wouldn't expect it. I suspect they playtested the unrestricted version and found it unfun.

--Penn