TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
This isn't to help with anything you might be working on?
D&D 5E Playtest +basic? Anyone run anything yet?
- Thread starter Evenglare
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This isn't to help with anything you might be working on?
rastus_burne
First Post
That sounds great Grazzt!I have. Somewhat. Ran a few one-off adventures (top of my head or using random dungeon charts from 1e DMG) to get a feel for Basic. Pretty much to see how well combat flows. Also potentially running U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh this weekend. (U1 was one of the first converted modules I ran when 3e came out. Seems fitting to run it again using 5e...with almost all the same players even.)
Out of interest, how do people find combat flows compared with say 4th or 3rd (or even 1e or 2e)? I haven't run the play test rules, but they seem a bit more lite than the basic rules. Is this correct?
Grazzt
Demon Lord
Grazzt
Demon Lord
Combat (for us at least) flows quite fast compared to the 3.x. We never got into grids and battlemats; most all our games since 1e have been TotM...toss down some lead figures for marching order, proceed to play.
We never played 4e. Tried it. Didn't like it. Moved on. So I can't really do a fair comparison.
To us, thus far, 5e feels almost like an updated and streamlined version of 1e/2e (combat-wise anyway). Sure there are things we will change to fit our style, but so far, it seems to work well for us.
rastus_burne
First Post
That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to know. I'm in a similar boat. Never played 4th, it just didn't appeal. I love AD&D and we played/still play 3.x (Pathfinder at the moment), so this is welcome news. I've already preordered everything for 5th, so I'm looking forward to playing.
We had our first Age of Worms session with the updated characters. They used 5B where possible, a modified playtest where appropriate (i.e. reduced numbers of skills, languages, point buy, etc.), and playtest for other stuff like missing spells. The session primarily consisted of a set piece combat that was a trap/ambush designed to kill the PCs if they fall for it. They pulled through by the skin of their teeth in no small part because of role play choices they made.
* There was a verbal standoff between the bad guys and the party. If the party had gone in the arena, the doors would have been closed behind them and they would probably have TPKd. The wizard was already out of spells and there was no opportunity to rest. The half-gnoll paladin broke the standoff by peeing on the statue of Hextor in the middle of the arena. The half-orc cleric of Hextor attacked and then everyone retreated.
* Combat flowed really well except for keeping track of spells that had changed. Looking up the new spells, finding there was not a new version of the spell and having to look it up in the playtest was a bit annoying. Partly that was me not having time to make notes of the mechanics of the new spells.
* The Tiefling Wizard had become a master chef in our game. That was used to convince some of the Tiefling guards to switch loyalties (the Hextor food was really bad and the PC had already made several Tiefling delicacies in game).
I handed out 3 inspiration points. Near the end, the big bad cleric was going to cast a major heal on himself and stretch out the combat. The half-gnoll paladin chose that moment to pipe up, "I peed on your god." The cleric lost it and attacked him instead and missed. 1 inspiration point. The party finished him off soon after. One of the Tiefling Guards had been charmed by the wizard and snuck in behind the evil clerics and finished off one of them. The wizard told the other Tiefling guards to surrender and he would cook them dinner. Another inspiration point plus advantage on the persuasion roll. The rest of the bad guys surrendered.
The session took 4 hours. About a third of that was roleplay, and the players came up with unique ideas on how to deal with the situation since they were so low on powers. Aside from having to look up spells, everything flowed as smoothly as with the playtest, and the inspiration points helped encourage them to not just announce their attack and move on.
The bad guys had not been converted from the playtest to 5e yet (my starter set comes on the 15th), but the combat still worked out fairly well. I am really looking forward to the monster manual to properly balance out the encounters, but I think I will be able to use the starter set for a rough idea on what to do in the meantime.
EDIT: I should also say that we play with tiles that I make a la dmscraft. We also use maps when it would be too difficult to build, a wet erase map for ad hoc, or TOTM for simple stuff. The map does help a lot for tactical decisions as well as keeping track of everyone. We had 6 PCs, 3 evil clerics, and 6 Tiefling guards. It allowed everyone (including me) to keep track of where everyone was, and the 20 foot (i.e. 4 inch) walls around the arena helped the players realize that they did not want to go in the arena. We use measuring sticks instead of grids, and everyone has adapted to that pretty well.
Any questions?
* There was a verbal standoff between the bad guys and the party. If the party had gone in the arena, the doors would have been closed behind them and they would probably have TPKd. The wizard was already out of spells and there was no opportunity to rest. The half-gnoll paladin broke the standoff by peeing on the statue of Hextor in the middle of the arena. The half-orc cleric of Hextor attacked and then everyone retreated.
* Combat flowed really well except for keeping track of spells that had changed. Looking up the new spells, finding there was not a new version of the spell and having to look it up in the playtest was a bit annoying. Partly that was me not having time to make notes of the mechanics of the new spells.
* The Tiefling Wizard had become a master chef in our game. That was used to convince some of the Tiefling guards to switch loyalties (the Hextor food was really bad and the PC had already made several Tiefling delicacies in game).
I handed out 3 inspiration points. Near the end, the big bad cleric was going to cast a major heal on himself and stretch out the combat. The half-gnoll paladin chose that moment to pipe up, "I peed on your god." The cleric lost it and attacked him instead and missed. 1 inspiration point. The party finished him off soon after. One of the Tiefling Guards had been charmed by the wizard and snuck in behind the evil clerics and finished off one of them. The wizard told the other Tiefling guards to surrender and he would cook them dinner. Another inspiration point plus advantage on the persuasion roll. The rest of the bad guys surrendered.
The session took 4 hours. About a third of that was roleplay, and the players came up with unique ideas on how to deal with the situation since they were so low on powers. Aside from having to look up spells, everything flowed as smoothly as with the playtest, and the inspiration points helped encourage them to not just announce their attack and move on.
The bad guys had not been converted from the playtest to 5e yet (my starter set comes on the 15th), but the combat still worked out fairly well. I am really looking forward to the monster manual to properly balance out the encounters, but I think I will be able to use the starter set for a rough idea on what to do in the meantime.
EDIT: I should also say that we play with tiles that I make a la dmscraft. We also use maps when it would be too difficult to build, a wet erase map for ad hoc, or TOTM for simple stuff. The map does help a lot for tactical decisions as well as keeping track of everyone. We had 6 PCs, 3 evil clerics, and 6 Tiefling guards. It allowed everyone (including me) to keep track of where everyone was, and the 20 foot (i.e. 4 inch) walls around the arena helped the players realize that they did not want to go in the arena. We use measuring sticks instead of grids, and everyone has adapted to that pretty well.
Any questions?
Last edited:
unan oranis
First Post
My only advice would be to immediately fall back on whatever rule you like from whatever edition you like instead of slowing down the game looking for rules that might not even be available yet.
Also, the monsters are pretty freaking tough, especially if you are playing with people new to dnd.
Also, the monsters are pretty freaking tough, especially if you are playing with people new to dnd.
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