scadgrad
First Post
Hey Gang,
Well we jumped in yesterday w/ both feet. We only had one set of books between the 4 of us, but managed quite well. It took us roughly an hour or so to convert 5 PCs & cohorts & then on to the game. We started S2 White Plume Mountain which I'd spent hours converting (well worth it IMO...very cool, amusing & imaginative rooms, haven't played it in many, many years).
THE GOOD STUFF
The layout & organization of the new books is excellent & worth the price of admission even without any other revision if you ask me. Charts are for the most part easy to read & many NEW charts as well (love the skill synergy chart). The lone exception being the master skill chart. Man someone was asleep at the wheel on that one (cc C C cc cc cc cc ...it's like some sort of funky all cap no cap binary code, in fact that's what it reminds me of).
The MM is sooooooooo much better than what we had w/ every possible AC or attack bonus that you'll need. Even a grapple ck # is included.
So enough gushing about the books, how was our game effected?
GAME STUFF
I think the biggest change for us was the clarification of the Knowledge skills & what applies where. That section is very well done indeed. The diagonal movement part was new for us, since we had ignored it heretofore for simplicity's sake. We made use of tape measures a bit, but not as much as thought we'd have to. Ogres & their 10' bases ( and presumably other mid-level large BG) are a bit screwed, at least in certain situations. The trade off seems to be that a fireball will be less effective because they'll inherently spread out more.
The new Power attack is a whopper for 2-h damage. The buff spells were hardly missed at all & when they were used, the instant 4 point buff was quicker than the old d4+1 to start each morning. Harm & Heal didn't come into play and the lack of hasted spellcasters wasn't really missed. The Emotions spell seems to have been diced up into several different spells, which took a bit of time to decipher, but other than that, few major issues w/ spells.
In short, there were a few minor issues, but it really didn't seem that different from 3.0. Everyone had fun & that's always the key.
THE BAD STUFF
Well, the news of the "vastly improved & more dangerous monsters" seems like a complete wash to this DM. Sure a few get better (a few get zoinked as well), but my guys still plowed through them with little difficulty. I could be wrong here, with only 5 encounters played & a good skimming of the MM. At least the layout & ease of use of the new MM makes up for it. Better AC & saves would have helped more than "here, have some more hit points." At least the CR system/ratings is probably closer to what it should be. It's an imperfect system, but with so many variables how could it not be. It's still better than nothing at all.
In short, I think the biggest change to your game will probably be the necessary time for everyone to adapt. There are more subtle rule changes than earth shattering ones or at least so far. Getting used to where things are in the books, 1.5 pts for diagonal movement & other similar issues will probably be our biggest challenge.
As always YMMV...
Well we jumped in yesterday w/ both feet. We only had one set of books between the 4 of us, but managed quite well. It took us roughly an hour or so to convert 5 PCs & cohorts & then on to the game. We started S2 White Plume Mountain which I'd spent hours converting (well worth it IMO...very cool, amusing & imaginative rooms, haven't played it in many, many years).
THE GOOD STUFF
The layout & organization of the new books is excellent & worth the price of admission even without any other revision if you ask me. Charts are for the most part easy to read & many NEW charts as well (love the skill synergy chart). The lone exception being the master skill chart. Man someone was asleep at the wheel on that one (cc C C cc cc cc cc ...it's like some sort of funky all cap no cap binary code, in fact that's what it reminds me of).
The MM is sooooooooo much better than what we had w/ every possible AC or attack bonus that you'll need. Even a grapple ck # is included.
So enough gushing about the books, how was our game effected?
GAME STUFF
I think the biggest change for us was the clarification of the Knowledge skills & what applies where. That section is very well done indeed. The diagonal movement part was new for us, since we had ignored it heretofore for simplicity's sake. We made use of tape measures a bit, but not as much as thought we'd have to. Ogres & their 10' bases ( and presumably other mid-level large BG) are a bit screwed, at least in certain situations. The trade off seems to be that a fireball will be less effective because they'll inherently spread out more.
The new Power attack is a whopper for 2-h damage. The buff spells were hardly missed at all & when they were used, the instant 4 point buff was quicker than the old d4+1 to start each morning. Harm & Heal didn't come into play and the lack of hasted spellcasters wasn't really missed. The Emotions spell seems to have been diced up into several different spells, which took a bit of time to decipher, but other than that, few major issues w/ spells.
In short, there were a few minor issues, but it really didn't seem that different from 3.0. Everyone had fun & that's always the key.
THE BAD STUFF
Well, the news of the "vastly improved & more dangerous monsters" seems like a complete wash to this DM. Sure a few get better (a few get zoinked as well), but my guys still plowed through them with little difficulty. I could be wrong here, with only 5 encounters played & a good skimming of the MM. At least the layout & ease of use of the new MM makes up for it. Better AC & saves would have helped more than "here, have some more hit points." At least the CR system/ratings is probably closer to what it should be. It's an imperfect system, but with so many variables how could it not be. It's still better than nothing at all.
In short, I think the biggest change to your game will probably be the necessary time for everyone to adapt. There are more subtle rule changes than earth shattering ones or at least so far. Getting used to where things are in the books, 1.5 pts for diagonal movement & other similar issues will probably be our biggest challenge.
As always YMMV...
