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Message: <blockquote data-quote="cthulhu42" data-source="post: 6561931" data-attributes="member: 6792361">First off, hello everyone and thanks for letting me bend your collective ears. I've been away from D&D since 3.5 due to general burnout (I've been playing off and on since AD&D), and being totally turned off by 4e. But it's been several years now, and recently a friend asked me to join his brand new 5e campaign. We've played maybe 6 or 8 sessions now, and are working our way through Horde of the Dragon Queen. This is my first experience with 5e, and for about half the group this is their first experience ever with a table top rpg. Also, I think this is our DM's first time running a game. Because of our inexperience and the newness of the edition, lots of ruling questions have popped up as well as my own thoughts on 5e vs older editions. I thought it might be interesting to keep a quick and dirty log of events here, as well as use this thread as a place to ask questions as they come up. Please note, I might mention a specific instance here or there, so this may contain spoilers for HotDQ. In that same vein, please don't tell me anything about the adventure past what I'll have relayed here. The PC's areCaliapie - Halfling Wizard (me)Ulktar - Half orc FighterTestecles - Dragonborn paladinDakhain - Elf Rogue Zukamesh - Dragonborn SorcererGunner - Halfling RangerCurrently we're 4th level and have just reached Balder's Gate and are attempting to insinuate ourselves into a caravan that is also being used by the cult of dragon. Thoughts so far: I loved 3.5. And then it collapsed under it's own weight. As the (more often than not) DM, it became impossible to keep track of all the feats and PrC's to the point where I'd miss key strategies for bad guys and NPC's, and just when I'd get a handle on one thing, another splat book would come out and further muddy the waters. At a certain point it just got to be too much, and it contributed to my leaving the game for several years. 5e feels like a huge breath of fresh air and an utterly clean slate, setting itself apart from older editions even more than 3.x did. It's simple, streamlined, and makes pretty good sense, once you sort of let go of all the preconceived notions that the earlier editions conditioned me to. I like the race and class selection. I like the character generation. I like the lack of scaling to hit chance and save DC's. I like the saving throw system. I like the halflings luck roll...a lot! It appears as if the to hit chance vs AC may be more balanced. I like the lack of endless combat modifiers. I love love love cantrips! I like Find Familiar. I like the new flexibility with which wizards can cast. I like the ability score bumps vs feats. I like ritual spells. I'm sure I'll think of more and add them as I go. That's not to say that it's perfect by any means. There are things I don't like about it. As much as I just complained about the endlessness of 3.5, and as much as I don't miss books full of combat mods, it almost seems as if 5e has swung way, way, WAY in the oppisite direction. So much so that there's very little room to tinker with your character and customize him. There's a feeling of it being almost TOO simple. Also there's just a hint of the generic about it; as if it's meant to appeal to everyone and be all things to all people. It feels a bit watered down. I do realize that we're just seeing the first books, and undoubtedly more will come with more options. I only hope that WOC will know when to say when. One specific example of this simplicity run amok is the fact that you can't lose your dex bonus to AC. Like, ever, apparently. That makes no sense to me, and it feels like the designers decided that we players just aren't smart enough to handle such a thing. I play wizards, and while there are some really interesting things they've done for the class in 5e, they've also neutered it prety severely. The concentration mechanic is heart breaking! i understand why they did it, but did it have to be done for the sake of the game? I don't think so. I've played and DMed high level wizards in earlier editions, and somehow we made it workI am also bemoaning the lack of magic item creation. One of the jewels of 3.x was the ability of a PC to craft magic items. Nothing makes a wizard feel like a WIZARD quite like crafting a unique magical item that he has poured gold, time and xp into. Yes, the formula was cumbersome, but, in my experience, it never got out of hand. The restrictions of gold, time and xp were such that most wizards PC's at least at my table) could never make a career out of it, or unbalance the game. I realize that the 5e DMG does mention ways in which a PC can craft an item, but so far the rules are so skeletal as to discourage a PC from even trying, not to mention that the overall attitude of the game seems to do everything in it's power to discourage it. Which brings me to the generally low magic flavor of 5e thus far. Our party is now 4th level, and thus far we have not found a single magic item. Not one. I'm not asking for rings of protection and +1 swords, but how about a potion or scroll, just to let us know that they exist! My first order of business upon reaching Balder's Gate was to go hunting for scrolls to add to my spellbook, but nobody can seem to find any rules as to how much a freaking scroll costs! And all the while I am led to believe that I can buy a potion of healing for 50gp. There are no other potions for sale, mind you, but healing pots can certainly be found. That makes no good sense to me. The point is, it ought to be up to the individual DM to decide how much magic will be in his world, and yes, I know he still has that option, but in this, an official 5e adventure, the overall feeling is of a design team determined to make finding or crafting magic items not only difficult, but almost unpleasant. Healing. The idea that you can gain back all of your lost hitpoints with a single 8 hour rest is ridiculous. Why not just give clerics a 1hp cantrip and call it good? I understand they didn't because the party would never need to rest again, but for crying out loud, 8 hours heals EVERYTHING? I have a much easier time believing that a cleric could have a 1hp cantrip than that. Lastly, (and all of this is just off the top of my head, so I'm sure I'll think of more pros and cons as I go) I'd like to meet the group of low level PC's that Horde of the Dragon Queen is designed for. At least twice now we have come extremely close to a TPK. It's not as if we're just blundering in with no tactics at all, and granted, we have no cleric, but still! Taking on the female cult leader in the hatchery almost got us killed, and it was JUST HER vs our entire party. I believe she cast Spiritual Guardians, and that tore us a collective new one. Our DM had her flee, when in reality she could probably have killed us all. The very next day we encountered her right hand man (the guy who beat the tar our of Ulktar mano a mano in Greenest), and his 4 barbarian backups. We poured everything we had at one of the barbarians. Not the right hand man, mind you, but one of HIS lieutenants, and still couldn't bring him down. By the 3rd of 4th round the sorc and I are nearly out of spells, both fighters are down to a third of their hit points, everyone else in the party is at least wounded, and we haven't even started on the right hand man yet! What the what?! I could see in our DM's eyes that he was watching his whole campaign go down the drain, so when Ulktar threw out another challenge for a 1 on 1 rematch, the bad guy took it. I guess what i'm saying is that I feel like whoever designed this adventure maybe didn't think things through all the way. Anyway, that's enough for now. I'll add to this as I can. I do have some specific ruling questions in mind which I will get to. Oh what the heck, I'll ask one now: During our last session we found ourselves in rowboats trying to get to the shore of a river from a larger boat. We were attacked by underwater lizard man bad guys who tried to capsize us. During the fight one of the lizard dudes came up beside the boat to attack our fighter, who fights with a halbred. Now apparently, under normal conditions, he gets and attack of opportunity on an opponent that enters his range. But this bad guy just appeared from below the surface of the water and was already adjacent to Ulktar. Ulktar's player argued that he should still get the AoO (never mind that he's stnading up in a rowboat while in full armor swinging a halbred), while the DM wondered if he might not get it because the foe had passed from the 10' threat range to simply appear next to Ulktar. In another context, what if a foe were to teleport or dimension door to a spot adjacent to the halbred wielder. Does he still get the AoO?Thanks in advance for any and all input.</blockquote>

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