DM's Log: May 28, 2012. The First Playtest
So my first playtest didn't go as well as I had hoped.
Excitement for testing out the new rules was at an all-time low. I could point to any number of factors...the late delivery of the playtesting materials, the sunny three-day weekend, looming final exams...for whatever reason, it seemed like my girlfriend and I were the only ones interested in testing out the rules. Friday morning, everyone was signed up and had downloaded their copies of the test rules...and by noon, all but two had cancelled. So that evening, it was just me and my awesome girlfriend.
We lit some candles, ordered a pizza, and printed out the playtest materials. Romance is what you make of it, folks.
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We divided up the characters...each of us would play two, we decided. She chose the Cleric of Moradin (whom she named "Ramulus") and the rogue (whom she named "Swindle.") I chose the fighter and the wizard, and keeping with her Transformers theme, named them "Mirage" and "Sunstreaker," respectively.
The characters entered the Caves of Chaos, and hacked and slashed their way through the dungeon using the "Find The Heir" adventure hook. The first game lasted about 2 hours, and ended with a TPK. (The ogre took out Swindle and Ramulus, and an owlbear took out Mirage and Sunstreaker.)
For the second game, we switched characters. This time, she played Mirage and Sunstreaker, and I played Swindle and the other cleric (whom I named "Rook.") And this time, we chose to play under the "Old School" rules...no backgrounds or themes, and we used the "Devil You Know" adventure hook. This game lasted nearly 4 hours, and was a lot more involved...we had convinced the orcs to help us overthrow the goblin and kobold factions that were opposed to the Dark Queen's return, freed the medusa, and returned to the Keep as triumphant heroes.
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Some of our observations:
1. The Reaper feat is overpowered, to the point of becoming boring. Having no negative consequences for any action removes the element of risk or surprise. "Do I really need to roll?" she asked. "Either way, I'm gonna deal damage. How about we just average the hits and the misses together, and rule that I deal 6 damage every round?" Of course, we didn't do that. But she had an interesting point.
2. At-will cantrips are bad, and some are worse than others. Spells that cause damage without an attack roll (I'm looking at you, magic missile) are very dull, for the same reasons as above. No consequences means no risk, no risk means no reward, and no reward means no interest.
At least Radiant Lance, Shocking Grasp, etc. require an attack roll to deal damage. I would prefer that there be more of a consequence to a miss when attacking with a spell...traditionally, it means wasting a spell slot...but they were still a little more exciting than MM. They felt a little out-of-balance though, especially with ranged attacks. The fighter can use a bow, but he has to conserve ammo lest he not have enough arrows later on...but the cleric can shoot laser beams until he gets bored? Doesn't seem fair.
The other minor spells, such as Light and Detect Magic, were less of a problem even when we spammed the crap out of them. I remember casting Detect Magic over and over again, practically every time we entered a room or a tunnel, until I bored myself with it. It was dull, to be sure, but it didnt really break the game...it didn't create a gross advantage or disadvantage over any of the other classes.
3. The Long Rest mechanic never came into play. When I first read through the rules, I expected this to be the first thing I would complain about...but we never used it in either test game. I'll have to get back to you guys on this.
4. I like the new save throws. It makes me weep a little inside, when I can't order a player to "Save versus poison!" and watch them quiver with terror, the way I used to back in middle school. Saying "Make a Constitution save!" had the same effect, I suppose, but it lacks a certain panache.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around Intelligence and Charisma saves, but all things considered, I like the change. I am looking forward to seeing how save throws improve with level.
5. Skills are Ability Checks. I love this. Seriously, it is my favorite thing about the new rules...I like being able to choose a variety of skills for my character (by way of Backgrounds), which in turn give me a bonus to the ability checks that are related to them. It is nearly identical to the Non-Combat Proficiencies mechanics of the BECM/Rules Cyclopedia days, and it really warms my heart to see them in action again.
Can we get some Weapon Mastery rules next?
6. Turning the Undead is a spell now. I love this as well...so clean and elegant. It makes me wonder why it took them so long to do this. But I'm curious why Radiant Lance gets to be an at-will ability, but turning the undead is not. After all, Radiant Lance is a lot more powerful and versatile compared to Turn Undead. "Oh no, skeletons! Let's see...I can make them run away, but only a couple of times today. Or I can burn them to ash from across the room with a hundred laser beams. Hmm, what to do...what to do..."
7. Advantage and Disadvantage: I love this. Serioulsly, I want to buy it a ring and take it home to meet my Rules Cyclopedia. I used this rule at least once every battle, and my girlfriend really loved the double-dice mechanics. "This is so much better than having to keep track of minis and flanking and altitude and all that," she said. "More fun, too."
8. The number of negative hit points for the characters seemed high, but it wasn't a deal-breaker for us. At any rate, it would be rather easy to just houserule it to a static number (-10, for example) and go our merry way.
9. Healing is wonky, but I think I can get used to it. Healing kits are more useful now, and the healing is a lot smoother now that it is keyed to a character's Hit Dice instead of a spellcaster's caster level.
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We will be having another playtest in a week, after final exams. Hopefully I will be able to get more players on board, and hopefully we will be able to test out more of the material (such as buying/selling equipment, preparing different spells, and fighting different monsters.)
More later.
