Post Playtest Questions for DDXPers.

[small pumpkin man]

Another thing i've been wondering, say your dcharacters get into an event where they get thrown into a solid concrete cell for years and is cleverly designed for them to break out and have escapades in escaping a prison. What's to stop the casters from just repeatedly hammering the walls with their spells until they dig a hole to the other side of the world? Theoretically casters could just drill through walls all the time with their at will powers..

What's to stop fighters from hitting/punching the wall untill they dig a hole to the other side of the wall? Theoretically Fighters could just drill through walls all the time with their at will powers.

 

[Serdain]

I assume due to the nature of their attacks. I'm more worried about at higher levels. Warriors get better tricks, better at seeing weaknesses and the like whereas casters get more powerful spells. Eventually when they're casting fireball as an at will power in the middle of a city there's going to be some breakage.

 

[small pumpkin man]

I assume due to the nature of their attacks. I'm more worried about at higher levels. Warriors get better tricks, better at seeing weaknesses and the like whereas casters get more powerful spells. Eventually when they're casting fireball as an at will power in the middle of a city there's going to be some breakage.

Quite possibly, first level Wizards can allready have a mini-fireball at-will, although it doesn't do much damage. I don't really know about higher level powers though.

 

[Iron Sky]

Yes i've also had questions

1) Can warlocks use Fey Pact (Misty Step) on monsters who are already on 0 or below. It seems like its only when you bring them to 0 or below, as if when you strike the killing blow as such. But the or fewer is a bit vague.

2)Did I read somewhere monsters fall unconcious on 0 health now? If not, am I crazy?

3)Does concealment just give a +2 bonus, as if you had cover?

For 1 and 2, as was stated eariler, monsters just die at 0(unless you houserule it and start rolling a big pile of saves for fallen monsters every round).

For 3, the best guess seems to be that, since invisibility gives an "11+" chance to hit, concealment is probably a "6+" chance to hit, meaning, if you roll a hit, roll a d20 again and hope you get better than the concealment number.

As for the wizard/warlock blasting things with magic-missiles/eldritch blasts until they get through, in their power descriptions magic missile and eldritch blast require an implement(staff/wand/orb) just as the fighter's abilities require a weapon. Unless they were thrown into the cell with their wand/hammer/whatever, they're probably not going to blast their way out.

I did have the blasting issue come up in a playtest I ran where they were on a wobbly bridge over a moat full of metal spikes with a barred door on the other side and I figured they'd build a battering ram from a broken wagon nearby, but the warlock just threw eldritch blasts at the door until it came apart. If a warrior does it, you could rule that their weapon dulls or something, but if it's arcane energy...

Seems like, given enough time, a wizard/warlock or even a cleric could just sit and throw arcane/necrotic/radiant energy at whatever barrier gets in their way until it comes apart, removing stuff like locked/barred doors and whatnot as an obstacle - unless there's something that notices them making the noise: some need to be sneaky about it. Locked door with no guardian however, no problem. Assaulting a castle? Just throw 10 magic missiles a minute at the wall until it falls apart...

Actually, the biggest issues I forsee with 4E (and there aren't many) is this no-barrier-to-at-will-magic-users issue. (The others are the fey pact warlock + bag of rats/kittens/snakes/cockroaches/whatever teleporting wherever they want and the difficulties in trying to not let the more abstract nature of hp throw off suspension of disbelief).

 

[keterys]

Concealment/Invisibility gives -2/-5 to be attacked or +2/+5 to defense (forget which way it went there), far as I know.

 

[Serdain]

So the only problem left to solve is casters leveling cities with mere persistance

 

[Surgoshan]

Just because magic missile does damage doesn't mean it does damage. Think of it along the lines of a concentrated static charge. Like when you get zapped off a doorknob, only bigger. If you get hit with that in the middle of a fight, it'll hurt and distract you, possibly enough that the big guy with the sword can stab you to death. Or, maybe, the wizard gets lucky and hits you in the head, or triggers a sever epileptic fit, or hits you in your special magic weak point*.

Rub your feet on the carpet all you want, though, you won't be melting any doorknobs any time soon.

*Those things are a liability.

 

[Oldtimer]

Concealment/Invisibility gives -2/-5 to be attacked or +2/+5 to defense (forget which way it went there), far as I know.

Are you sure? None of those confirming rolls DDM 2.0 has?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yeah, even a blast of fire burns hot & fast, sure it would light the straw mat in your prison cell pretty quick but I bet it would just leave a black soot mark on the iron-shod oak door. I mean, most of these spells are things like raw fire, not concussive explosive force.

Fitz

 

[Dragonblade]

I view it this way. Could a wizard blow his way through solid rock given enough time? Maybe. Rock will likely have a certain degree of hardness so it would take a looooong time. And guards are likely to notice both the noise and the ever-growing hole in the side of the cell.

Also, in a world with magic, NPCs will understand and anticipate it. Monte Cook said this once. A shop keeper won't be astounded by the notion of invisible thief.

More than likely prison cells will be warded against magical escape. Eladrin might be bound with enchanted wrought-iron shackles that blocks their Fey Step. The stone walls of a cell might be warded to simply absorb magic, or redirect it into the ground like a lightning rod. Or better yet, perhaps it rebounds back on the caster!