On Friday night I ran a 5e playtest with my normal 4e group. The group is composed of mostly experienced D&D players (some with experience back to 1e).
The group entered the valley and after some scouting around decided to enter cave B (the orc lair). The initial skirmishes with the orc watcher and the orcs from the two guard rooms went pretty well for the PCs.
They then went to the dining hall and after some exploring they decided to storm the next room over where they could hear and partially see some humanoid creatures (that they assumed were orcs). They were right about them being orcs but did not expect to see 30 of them.
Thinking they couldn't win, they made a fighting retreat. Using all their spells and after losing a lot of hp they finally made it out of the cave. Since 20 of he 30 orcs were killed in the battle the orcs didn't pursue.
The group returned to the keep, healed up, refreshed, and then returned to the valley to finish off the orcs. However, this time the orcs were ready for them. The PCs found the 10 orcs they left behind along with the orc chieftain, his two bodyguards, and six reinforcements.
After a tough battle the fighter and wizard were unconscious, and the dwarf cleric was dead (after taking a hit from the chieftain that killed him outright). The human cleric and rogue finished off he last couple orcs, except for one that ran away.
The PCs revived the two down PCs and then looted the now vacant orc lair.
In the end one PC was dead and the others were 2/3rds of the way to 2nd level.
We played the adventure using a grid and borrowed a few rules from 4e (movement and spell area of effects). The rules played pretty smoothly. I ran the combats without tracking anything except for the chieftain's hit points. The orcs each had 11 hp and if the PCs hit one of them for anything close (at least 8 or 9) then I counted it as close enough and said that the orc was dead.
I thought the players would miss the opportunity attacks but they didn't. I did house rule that squares adjacent to an enemy cost extra movement so that allowed the dwarfs to defend the rest of the party decently. In addition to helping defend, the fighter was a killing machine (as a fighter should be). The dwarf cleric was tough and was a pretty good defender. His defender/shield block ability was pretty effective.
The rogue was pretty effective in combat with his sling helping him stay out of reach of the orcs. He did hide and use sneak attack a few times, but it wasn't his bread and butter like it would be for a 3.x/4e rogue. He was like an old school thief but better in combat. He also was helpful by sneaking around and scouting (but he should have had a higher wisdom).
The human cleric and wizard were very effective with their at-will attack spells, but not overpowered. The wizard never used ray of frost but I think it is too good as an at-will spell. It should be first level.
Overall we all had fun and thought that 5e is off to a really good start.
The group entered the valley and after some scouting around decided to enter cave B (the orc lair). The initial skirmishes with the orc watcher and the orcs from the two guard rooms went pretty well for the PCs.
They then went to the dining hall and after some exploring they decided to storm the next room over where they could hear and partially see some humanoid creatures (that they assumed were orcs). They were right about them being orcs but did not expect to see 30 of them.
Thinking they couldn't win, they made a fighting retreat. Using all their spells and after losing a lot of hp they finally made it out of the cave. Since 20 of he 30 orcs were killed in the battle the orcs didn't pursue.
The group returned to the keep, healed up, refreshed, and then returned to the valley to finish off the orcs. However, this time the orcs were ready for them. The PCs found the 10 orcs they left behind along with the orc chieftain, his two bodyguards, and six reinforcements.
After a tough battle the fighter and wizard were unconscious, and the dwarf cleric was dead (after taking a hit from the chieftain that killed him outright). The human cleric and rogue finished off he last couple orcs, except for one that ran away.
The PCs revived the two down PCs and then looted the now vacant orc lair.In the end one PC was dead and the others were 2/3rds of the way to 2nd level.
We played the adventure using a grid and borrowed a few rules from 4e (movement and spell area of effects). The rules played pretty smoothly. I ran the combats without tracking anything except for the chieftain's hit points. The orcs each had 11 hp and if the PCs hit one of them for anything close (at least 8 or 9) then I counted it as close enough and said that the orc was dead.
I thought the players would miss the opportunity attacks but they didn't. I did house rule that squares adjacent to an enemy cost extra movement so that allowed the dwarfs to defend the rest of the party decently. In addition to helping defend, the fighter was a killing machine (as a fighter should be). The dwarf cleric was tough and was a pretty good defender. His defender/shield block ability was pretty effective.
The rogue was pretty effective in combat with his sling helping him stay out of reach of the orcs. He did hide and use sneak attack a few times, but it wasn't his bread and butter like it would be for a 3.x/4e rogue. He was like an old school thief but better in combat. He also was helpful by sneaking around and scouting (but he should have had a higher wisdom).
The human cleric and wizard were very effective with their at-will attack spells, but not overpowered. The wizard never used ray of frost but I think it is too good as an at-will spell. It should be first level.
Overall we all had fun and thought that 5e is off to a really good start.
