The Shadow
Hero
I'm pleased to announce that I just got to playtest D&D Next! (I didn't get the chance with the first playtest packet, as getting a group together is dicey these days.) Please note that there will be some spoilers for the Blingdenstone adventure in here; you have been warned.
The characters were:
The Madman: Erevan Nailo, high elf Warlock. (Background: Thief, Specialty: Magic-User)
Erevan is a tall and haughty elf (is there another kind?
, a very junior member of the Shadow Thieves, who are trying to muscle their way back into Waterdeep. After a job gone bad, he got sent to Silverymoon to let the heat die down. Erevan is well known in the guild for being cracked - he'll blather on and on about his "Oak Princess" at the drop of a hat, and nobody has any idea what he means by it. He's also well-known for being able to get into places that ought to be impossible to crack. He can't be an archmage... can he?
Erevan was my DMPC. I'm the only one of the three of us to have followed the playtest, so I DM'd by default. (The other two downloaded the packet the night before we gamed.) I've been playing D&D since the red box. 3e was my favorite iteration of the rules, though I logged the most game-hours with 2e. I've played one short game of Pathfinder and enjoyed it; and my opinion of 4e is that it is brilliantly designed but not my cup of tea. Honestly, I enjoy True20 more than any version of D&D ever, and lately I've been leaning toward indie rules-lite games, though I rarely am able to actually find people to play them. But D&D is my first love, and I can't help but be interested in Next.
Two things you should know about me: Though I'm a D&D gamer from way back, I haven't played it much in recent years; and I'm a fairly inexperienced DM. (What experience I do have is very rusty.) My handling of the packet was probably not ideal. And I am infamous in my group for suffering under a Dice Curse. My rolling in this game was, as always, persistently below average, and that may well skew our results.
The Sociopath: Dagomir, affectionately known as "Dag the Weeper". He's a human Fighter (Slayer), with a background of Thug and a specialty of Survivor.
Dag grew up an orphan on the mean streets of Waterdeep. He is a huge wall of muscle, covered with scars and tattoos - including a prominent one of tears dripping from his right eye. Becoming an enforcer for the Shadow Thieves was a big step up for him... though after a job gone sour, he also has been sent to Silverymoon. The guildmaster has quietly asked him to keep Erevan from getting into too much trouble, which has led to much grousing from Dag about being a "babysitter".
Dag's player is my younger brother, I'll call him Darren. Darren played a few games of D&D with me way back in the 1e days, but hasn't had much exposure to it since. (Other than a rousing game of True20, set in the Star Wars universe.) He is more or less ignorant of the developments of 3e and 4e, but is an experienced video gamer, and is somewhat familiar with the Realms from having played Baldur's Gate I and II. (He did some research on Realmslore in creating his character, and came up with a convincing-enough story for me to tie Erevan into it.)
The Simpleton: Toran, a human War cleric of Torm. His background was Soldier and his specialty Acolyte.
Toran rose to the rank of sergeant in the endless fighting of Daggerdale. Becoming disillusioned with war, he left his home and wandered to find himself. In the process, he found religion with Torm, being inspired at the idea of fighting to protect others instead of in some lord's interests. Toran isn't the brightest Light spell in the grimoire, as he himself will cheerfully admit, but he has a good heart. He chafes under the rigid clerical hierarchy, though - he isn't good at handling stupidity from above any more, and it hasn't won him friends.
Toran's player is an old gaming buddy of mine, I'll call him Jim. He's played every version of D&D since the white box. He is an experienced, seasoned DM, but told me he was glad to get the chance to play for once. He mildly enjoyed 4e, but prefers Pathfinder of all the D&D editions, and is also very partial to True20. (He's the GM of the Star Wars game.)
Jim has an eye for exploiting rules, and I was shocked when he cynically dumped Wis as well as Int. "A cleric dumping Wisdom?!" He told me matter-of-factly, "With the spells I'm going to be casting, I'm not going to need it." It turned out that he was right. As for Int, he said it wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit; especially since we had a Warlock in the group who would need a high value. He was right about that, too.
Erevan and Dag are both Chaotic Neutral. Toran is Neutral Good with Lawful tendencies. If you can see conflict brewing, you're right. (Jim told me he would have gone straight Lawful Good, but figured with a warlock in the group, discretion was the better part of valor!)
The game began with Toran getting assigned a penance from a superior for insubordination: To stand in the street until asked for aid - which aid he was bound to render, no matter what it might be. Sure enough, he was approached by a grey-skinned gnome named Briddick, who'd had no luck at the Adventurer's Guild: "Oh sir, perhaps you can help me, and my people!" Toran, with a tiny sigh: "Yes. Yes, I can."
Meanwhile, Erevan is walking down the street, intending to go shopping, with Dag grousingly in tow. Erevan's on a new obsession of late: The Underdark. He's picked up a tome of lore on the subject, and is fascinated with it. "The roots of the oak go down, down, down - we must follow them! The secrets lie there, oh yes!" Dag: "Whatever."
Erevan sees Briddick and lets out a squeal of joy: "Oh yes! I know what you are! A deep gnome! You are a sign from my Oak Princess! I will follow you, indeed I will!" Briddick: "Oooookay?" Toran: "Buh whuh?" Dag: "#^@#$%!!!"
Briddick explained the plight of Blingdenstone, to which Dag bluntly replied, "What are you paying?" When told he'd get to keep whatever loot he acquired, he would have refused, but Erevan's boundless enthusiasm won him reluctantly over, plus Toran seemed like a solid chap.
The way to the city was uneventful, save for a wandering encounter with a few orcs, which gave us our first combat. Our impressions: The fight was easier than any of us expected. CS dice are awesome. And orcs are worth a ridiculously high amount of experience.
Darren really came to love the CS dice. They were very easy for a (relatively) new player to grasp, yet very versatile in their use. Jim and I were also very impressed watching him use them. Against weaker opponents like kobolds and orcs, Darren usually used Parry for the odd bit of damage he might take; but he whipped out Deadly Strike against boss monsters, and when he got Cleave at 3rd level, BOY HOWDY did he go to town! Glancing Blow saw no use at all, and we had a consensus at the end that it would be best to just let it work whenever you miss. As Jim put it, "You're just that good."
Parry meant that Dag hardly ever needed healing from Toran. And with his Survivor specialty, he had oodles of hit points anyway.
We talked to Henkala and Kargien. Dag evoked humor with his completely humorless persona: He was interested in getting paid for his work, and pretty much nothing else. Not an ounce of sympathy for anyone. It was at this point that Jim irreverently named us, "the Madman, the Sociopath, and the Simpleton," and it stuck.
As a group, we decided to go after the kobolds in the Wormwrithings first, as they sounded like easier opponents. On the way there, we met Gurmadden and agreed to get him the singing stones he needed.
After a couple kobold fights, we levelled, to our astonishment. By the time we got out of the Wormwrithings, we had levelled again, to our further astonishment. This part of the adventure was way too easy, though perhaps I could have played the kobolds better. The adventure seems to treat the blind ogre as if it's a boss monster, but in fact it is a complete pushover; granting advantage to attackers while taking disadvantage on attacks is devastating. EDIT: And its 10 foot movement means you can dart in, hit it, and get back, with no danger at all.
There was a nice bit where the taciturn and cynical gnome guide, Miglin, got brought back from the brink of death twice in quick succession by Toran. When we got out of the Wormwrithings, a shaken Miglin expressed his thanks and humbly asked to hear more about Torm, even asking if Toran had an extra holy symbol. Toran, moved, passed one on and preached the word gently to him.
The purple worm encounter made a deep impression of fear on the group, and they made their way out expeditiously after that, fortuitously finding the last singing stone they needed on the way out. (Actually, they found 2 more than they needed.) EDIT: Dag proved to drive a hard bargain when he put his mind to it. He convinced Gurmadden to buy a 7th stone, then sold the 8th to Kargien for the sake of gnomish posterity!
We then decided to take out the orc camp. And the party proceeded to mow through orcs like a lawnmower. It was actually kind of frightening. I ended up increasing the number of orcs they had to fight, just to give them a bit more of a challenge, and it really didn't make much difference. Toran's healing was rarely called upon; the occasional short rest to spend a hit die was more than sufficient. The occasional Healing Word did get cast, and I think one Cure Light; but Jim said, fairly satisfied, that it seemed the cleric wasn't as much a healbot as it used to be. When we took long rests, he usually had plenty of healing left over to expend, so we didn't need to spend hit dice. (EDIT: I should add we were using the slowest healing variant - no hp at a long rest, and recovering 1+Con mod hit dice.)
When we hit 3rd level, Erevan's bright blue eyes turned gold, and he announced that his Oak Princess had blessed him. This freaked out both Dag and Toran. Unfortunately we didn't have remotely enough money for me to call a familiar.
Battle Psalm plays much better than it reads. That 3 hp of extra damage often spelled the difference between wounding an orc and killing it; and killing that orc meant Dag could Cleave and kill another one.
By the time they got to the main orc camp, the handwriting was on the wall. I let them kill half the orcs, then had the orc leader, who had just arrived, challenge Dag to single combat (after complimenting Dag on the style of his insults - "You are almost worthy of being an orc!"). The leader wounded Dag, but it was no real contest; he went down in the dust. At that point I had the rest of the tribe kneel and proclaim Dag their new leader.
Not even Dag was willing to cynically kill his newfound tribe, so the group (4th level by now) faced the interesting challenge of getting the orcs out of the gnomes' hair without bloodshed on either side. Unfortunately, we were out of time by this point.
Two funny bits: I asked Darren, "Does Dag despoil the orcs?" Darren, after blinking repeatedly, "Wait, WHAT?" Me, flushing: "Of their loot! The loot!" EDIT: Darren then growled in Dag's voice, "I don't swing that way," to general merriment.
After the end of the adventure, I also asked Darren teasingly, "So how does Dag feel, being a hero?" Darren: "Huh? What?" "You're a hero to the gnomes." "I guess." "Well, he didn't want to come on this adventure. Is he now happy he came, at least?"
Darren replied in Dag's flat, humorless voice: "I had one gold piece when I came here. I have 70 gold pieces now. That makes me 70 times happier than when I came." It was so perfect that we all bust a gut laughing.
We discussed the game afterward to give feedback. I reiterate: We all thought CS were absolutely awesome, if maybe a little OP in some respects. I can't even imagine what fighters will be like at 10th level, when they get 4d12.
The damage output of the group compared to the monsters was breathtakingly skewed. We agreed it came down to the monsters' chances to hit; even despite my bad luck in die-rolling, the monsters just have way less chance to hit the PC's than the PC's have to hit them. Dag was getting +7 to hit even at 1st level, while orcs had a measly +2 - the same as a wizard with a dagger! When orcs did hit, it was often nasty, but Dag could Parry and Toran could Healing Word or Channel Divinity, and it almost never stayed nasty. The one time Erevan got badly hurt, he used Ethereal Stride to get clear with no trouble.
I kept reminding the group that they could use ability checks to improvise awesome things, but they didn't take me up on it. And no wonder: There was no reason to - their basic attacks were so good that there was no point in struggling to gain advantage or the like.
Likewise, Eldritch Blast was so good that I pretty much had Erevan spam it everywhere. That one Ethereal Stride was the only time I used another invocation. I also didn't get much mileage out of my Pact Boons, but in retrospect I could have gotten good use from Visage of the Summer Court when facing the orcs if I'd thought of it.
If I had it to do over again, I might have the humanoids try Aiding each other more to get better chances to hit. Jim also suggested that a few more orcs at critical junctures might have made all the difference.
But then again, we were a 3 man party in an adventure presumably intended for 4-5 players. Clearly, there are many balance issues to work out.
Also, 460 XP for orcs is overwhelmingly absurd. The pace of levelling had to be seen to be believed. In three days (measured by long rests), we hit 4th level and made it a good chunk of the way to 5th.
The remaining combats in the adventure I can already see will be a cakewalk for the group. The wight? Is going to go down in the 1st round, the 2nd round if it gets lucky. Oh, and its draining attack isn't NEARLY as scary as level drain used to be. Granted, level drain is a stupid mechanic, but I'd like to see scary undead remain scary in some other fashion: They should be able to suck the life right out of you.
EDIT: Oh, and most importantly of all: Despite the issues we saw with the game, everyone had a lot of fun. A good time was had by all, and that is the important thing.
The characters were:
The Madman: Erevan Nailo, high elf Warlock. (Background: Thief, Specialty: Magic-User)
Erevan is a tall and haughty elf (is there another kind?
, a very junior member of the Shadow Thieves, who are trying to muscle their way back into Waterdeep. After a job gone bad, he got sent to Silverymoon to let the heat die down. Erevan is well known in the guild for being cracked - he'll blather on and on about his "Oak Princess" at the drop of a hat, and nobody has any idea what he means by it. He's also well-known for being able to get into places that ought to be impossible to crack. He can't be an archmage... can he?Erevan was my DMPC. I'm the only one of the three of us to have followed the playtest, so I DM'd by default. (The other two downloaded the packet the night before we gamed.) I've been playing D&D since the red box. 3e was my favorite iteration of the rules, though I logged the most game-hours with 2e. I've played one short game of Pathfinder and enjoyed it; and my opinion of 4e is that it is brilliantly designed but not my cup of tea. Honestly, I enjoy True20 more than any version of D&D ever, and lately I've been leaning toward indie rules-lite games, though I rarely am able to actually find people to play them. But D&D is my first love, and I can't help but be interested in Next.
Two things you should know about me: Though I'm a D&D gamer from way back, I haven't played it much in recent years; and I'm a fairly inexperienced DM. (What experience I do have is very rusty.) My handling of the packet was probably not ideal. And I am infamous in my group for suffering under a Dice Curse. My rolling in this game was, as always, persistently below average, and that may well skew our results.
The Sociopath: Dagomir, affectionately known as "Dag the Weeper". He's a human Fighter (Slayer), with a background of Thug and a specialty of Survivor.
Dag grew up an orphan on the mean streets of Waterdeep. He is a huge wall of muscle, covered with scars and tattoos - including a prominent one of tears dripping from his right eye. Becoming an enforcer for the Shadow Thieves was a big step up for him... though after a job gone sour, he also has been sent to Silverymoon. The guildmaster has quietly asked him to keep Erevan from getting into too much trouble, which has led to much grousing from Dag about being a "babysitter".
Dag's player is my younger brother, I'll call him Darren. Darren played a few games of D&D with me way back in the 1e days, but hasn't had much exposure to it since. (Other than a rousing game of True20, set in the Star Wars universe.) He is more or less ignorant of the developments of 3e and 4e, but is an experienced video gamer, and is somewhat familiar with the Realms from having played Baldur's Gate I and II. (He did some research on Realmslore in creating his character, and came up with a convincing-enough story for me to tie Erevan into it.)
The Simpleton: Toran, a human War cleric of Torm. His background was Soldier and his specialty Acolyte.
Toran rose to the rank of sergeant in the endless fighting of Daggerdale. Becoming disillusioned with war, he left his home and wandered to find himself. In the process, he found religion with Torm, being inspired at the idea of fighting to protect others instead of in some lord's interests. Toran isn't the brightest Light spell in the grimoire, as he himself will cheerfully admit, but he has a good heart. He chafes under the rigid clerical hierarchy, though - he isn't good at handling stupidity from above any more, and it hasn't won him friends.
Toran's player is an old gaming buddy of mine, I'll call him Jim. He's played every version of D&D since the white box. He is an experienced, seasoned DM, but told me he was glad to get the chance to play for once. He mildly enjoyed 4e, but prefers Pathfinder of all the D&D editions, and is also very partial to True20. (He's the GM of the Star Wars game.)
Jim has an eye for exploiting rules, and I was shocked when he cynically dumped Wis as well as Int. "A cleric dumping Wisdom?!" He told me matter-of-factly, "With the spells I'm going to be casting, I'm not going to need it." It turned out that he was right. As for Int, he said it wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit; especially since we had a Warlock in the group who would need a high value. He was right about that, too.
Erevan and Dag are both Chaotic Neutral. Toran is Neutral Good with Lawful tendencies. If you can see conflict brewing, you're right.
(Jim told me he would have gone straight Lawful Good, but figured with a warlock in the group, discretion was the better part of valor!)The game began with Toran getting assigned a penance from a superior for insubordination: To stand in the street until asked for aid - which aid he was bound to render, no matter what it might be. Sure enough, he was approached by a grey-skinned gnome named Briddick, who'd had no luck at the Adventurer's Guild: "Oh sir, perhaps you can help me, and my people!" Toran, with a tiny sigh: "Yes. Yes, I can."
Meanwhile, Erevan is walking down the street, intending to go shopping, with Dag grousingly in tow. Erevan's on a new obsession of late: The Underdark. He's picked up a tome of lore on the subject, and is fascinated with it. "The roots of the oak go down, down, down - we must follow them! The secrets lie there, oh yes!" Dag: "Whatever."
Erevan sees Briddick and lets out a squeal of joy: "Oh yes! I know what you are! A deep gnome! You are a sign from my Oak Princess! I will follow you, indeed I will!" Briddick: "Oooookay?" Toran: "Buh whuh?" Dag: "#^@#$%!!!"
Briddick explained the plight of Blingdenstone, to which Dag bluntly replied, "What are you paying?" When told he'd get to keep whatever loot he acquired, he would have refused, but Erevan's boundless enthusiasm won him reluctantly over, plus Toran seemed like a solid chap.
The way to the city was uneventful, save for a wandering encounter with a few orcs, which gave us our first combat. Our impressions: The fight was easier than any of us expected. CS dice are awesome. And orcs are worth a ridiculously high amount of experience.
Darren really came to love the CS dice. They were very easy for a (relatively) new player to grasp, yet very versatile in their use. Jim and I were also very impressed watching him use them. Against weaker opponents like kobolds and orcs, Darren usually used Parry for the odd bit of damage he might take; but he whipped out Deadly Strike against boss monsters, and when he got Cleave at 3rd level, BOY HOWDY did he go to town! Glancing Blow saw no use at all, and we had a consensus at the end that it would be best to just let it work whenever you miss. As Jim put it, "You're just that good."
Parry meant that Dag hardly ever needed healing from Toran. And with his Survivor specialty, he had oodles of hit points anyway.
We talked to Henkala and Kargien. Dag evoked humor with his completely humorless persona: He was interested in getting paid for his work, and pretty much nothing else. Not an ounce of sympathy for anyone. It was at this point that Jim irreverently named us, "the Madman, the Sociopath, and the Simpleton," and it stuck.
As a group, we decided to go after the kobolds in the Wormwrithings first, as they sounded like easier opponents. On the way there, we met Gurmadden and agreed to get him the singing stones he needed.
After a couple kobold fights, we levelled, to our astonishment. By the time we got out of the Wormwrithings, we had levelled again, to our further astonishment. This part of the adventure was way too easy, though perhaps I could have played the kobolds better. The adventure seems to treat the blind ogre as if it's a boss monster, but in fact it is a complete pushover; granting advantage to attackers while taking disadvantage on attacks is devastating. EDIT: And its 10 foot movement means you can dart in, hit it, and get back, with no danger at all.
There was a nice bit where the taciturn and cynical gnome guide, Miglin, got brought back from the brink of death twice in quick succession by Toran. When we got out of the Wormwrithings, a shaken Miglin expressed his thanks and humbly asked to hear more about Torm, even asking if Toran had an extra holy symbol. Toran, moved, passed one on and preached the word gently to him.
The purple worm encounter made a deep impression of fear on the group, and they made their way out expeditiously after that, fortuitously finding the last singing stone they needed on the way out. (Actually, they found 2 more than they needed.) EDIT: Dag proved to drive a hard bargain when he put his mind to it. He convinced Gurmadden to buy a 7th stone, then sold the 8th to Kargien for the sake of gnomish posterity!
We then decided to take out the orc camp. And the party proceeded to mow through orcs like a lawnmower. It was actually kind of frightening. I ended up increasing the number of orcs they had to fight, just to give them a bit more of a challenge, and it really didn't make much difference. Toran's healing was rarely called upon; the occasional short rest to spend a hit die was more than sufficient. The occasional Healing Word did get cast, and I think one Cure Light; but Jim said, fairly satisfied, that it seemed the cleric wasn't as much a healbot as it used to be. When we took long rests, he usually had plenty of healing left over to expend, so we didn't need to spend hit dice. (EDIT: I should add we were using the slowest healing variant - no hp at a long rest, and recovering 1+Con mod hit dice.)
When we hit 3rd level, Erevan's bright blue eyes turned gold, and he announced that his Oak Princess had blessed him. This freaked out both Dag and Toran. Unfortunately we didn't have remotely enough money for me to call a familiar.
Battle Psalm plays much better than it reads. That 3 hp of extra damage often spelled the difference between wounding an orc and killing it; and killing that orc meant Dag could Cleave and kill another one.
By the time they got to the main orc camp, the handwriting was on the wall. I let them kill half the orcs, then had the orc leader, who had just arrived, challenge Dag to single combat (after complimenting Dag on the style of his insults - "You are almost worthy of being an orc!"). The leader wounded Dag, but it was no real contest; he went down in the dust. At that point I had the rest of the tribe kneel and proclaim Dag their new leader.
Not even Dag was willing to cynically kill his newfound tribe, so the group (4th level by now) faced the interesting challenge of getting the orcs out of the gnomes' hair without bloodshed on either side. Unfortunately, we were out of time by this point.
Two funny bits: I asked Darren, "Does Dag despoil the orcs?" Darren, after blinking repeatedly, "Wait, WHAT?" Me, flushing: "Of their loot! The loot!" EDIT: Darren then growled in Dag's voice, "I don't swing that way," to general merriment.
After the end of the adventure, I also asked Darren teasingly, "So how does Dag feel, being a hero?" Darren: "Huh? What?" "You're a hero to the gnomes." "I guess." "Well, he didn't want to come on this adventure. Is he now happy he came, at least?"
Darren replied in Dag's flat, humorless voice: "I had one gold piece when I came here. I have 70 gold pieces now. That makes me 70 times happier than when I came." It was so perfect that we all bust a gut laughing.
We discussed the game afterward to give feedback. I reiterate: We all thought CS were absolutely awesome, if maybe a little OP in some respects. I can't even imagine what fighters will be like at 10th level, when they get 4d12.
The damage output of the group compared to the monsters was breathtakingly skewed. We agreed it came down to the monsters' chances to hit; even despite my bad luck in die-rolling, the monsters just have way less chance to hit the PC's than the PC's have to hit them. Dag was getting +7 to hit even at 1st level, while orcs had a measly +2 - the same as a wizard with a dagger! When orcs did hit, it was often nasty, but Dag could Parry and Toran could Healing Word or Channel Divinity, and it almost never stayed nasty. The one time Erevan got badly hurt, he used Ethereal Stride to get clear with no trouble.
I kept reminding the group that they could use ability checks to improvise awesome things, but they didn't take me up on it. And no wonder: There was no reason to - their basic attacks were so good that there was no point in struggling to gain advantage or the like.
Likewise, Eldritch Blast was so good that I pretty much had Erevan spam it everywhere. That one Ethereal Stride was the only time I used another invocation. I also didn't get much mileage out of my Pact Boons, but in retrospect I could have gotten good use from Visage of the Summer Court when facing the orcs if I'd thought of it.
If I had it to do over again, I might have the humanoids try Aiding each other more to get better chances to hit. Jim also suggested that a few more orcs at critical junctures might have made all the difference.
But then again, we were a 3 man party in an adventure presumably intended for 4-5 players. Clearly, there are many balance issues to work out.
Also, 460 XP for orcs is overwhelmingly absurd. The pace of levelling had to be seen to be believed. In three days (measured by long rests), we hit 4th level and made it a good chunk of the way to 5th.
The remaining combats in the adventure I can already see will be a cakewalk for the group. The wight? Is going to go down in the 1st round, the 2nd round if it gets lucky. Oh, and its draining attack isn't NEARLY as scary as level drain used to be. Granted, level drain is a stupid mechanic, but I'd like to see scary undead remain scary in some other fashion: They should be able to suck the life right out of you.
EDIT: Oh, and most importantly of all: Despite the issues we saw with the game, everyone had a lot of fun. A good time was had by all, and that is the important thing.
Last edited:
