Rodney Thompson's Playtest Report on Gleemax

[neceros]

I bet that the Ray of Frost is an At Will Power and that Magic Missile is Per Encounter.

It could have changed, but I've heard in multiple places that magic missile was one of the at will powers, due to it's sacred status.

I'm boggled at what they fought and did at 2nd level though. I'm not sure I like it. I like the idea of starting out weak and growing in power. I just hope that was a baby dragon.

I'm one who hates starting weak then gaining power. I'd much rather make the character I want to play now, then roleplay the character; not play a paper-based mmo.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Huh. A 2nd-level group takes on 15 goblins and a dragon. Apparently what we're hearing about 4E characters able to deal with more foes at once is true.

Keep in mind that one of us died, the rest of us barely got out alive, and most of the goblins were minions. Not every fight is like that.

Also, I'm pretty sure the copper dragon was something of Chris' own invention, but I can't say for certain. We got lucky in taking it down.

 

[Jack99]

Who says they can teleport behind the door? It could easily be a line-of-sight ability - you have to actually see where you're going.

That is definitely my guess too, if they wish a balanced power, since, from the sounds of the playtest reports, we aren't exactly dealing with highlevel characters here.

 

[Rechan]

Hey Rodney, I have a question for you.

How do you feel about 4e? Just, is it Fun? Are you Enjoying it? Are you Confident in it?

 

[Rechan]

Its possible that passing through the fey wild has the same restrictions as the corporeal world. Its also possible and likely that its just a speed boost that lets one pass through enemies for combat purposes. yay flanking. We dont know if it really is a teleport or not.

My bet is that a building in the Material is likely a building (or similar) structure in the Feywild - if there's a wall there, there's a wall there. So you can't just pass through buildings.

 

[Rechan]

wide area scorching attacks

I believe the Fireblast is the per-day ability; we've seen it mentioned in the Temple of the Tor (1st level). Then a power called Scorch was used in the Eberron game (10th); it was described in more detail in the latter.

It sounds like it's a fire attack that works in a line, (as the 10th level warlord/wizard mentioned using it because they were in a line) and killed a vampire spawn and two minor mummies with it.

 

[Voss]

Keep in mind that one of us died, the rest of us barely got out alive, and most of the goblins were minions. Not every fight is like that.

Also, I'm pretty sure the copper dragon was something of Chris' own invention, but I can't say for certain. We got lucky in taking it down.

Am I the only one confused by such an 'iconic' monster as a copper dragon being the DM's invention?

I'm torn on the apparent powers of second level characters. On the one hand, I hate the useless chump-hood phase of the game (1st and 2nd level, under current and past editions), but... wow. Thats coming close to falling off the opposite edge.

 

[Rechan]

Am I the only one confused by such an 'iconic' monster as a copper dragon being the DM's invention?

Not really.

From the impression I'm getting, each dragon is different. Not like 3e's just 'differ with what plus and what d8 they get' but differ in abilities. Wyatt said the Red dragon gets an automatic tail slap if it gets flanked.

And I'm willing to bet that Perkins had to reduce the threat of the dragon.

Besides, when was the last time anyone here used a metallic dragon against PCs?

 

[Szatany]

Three impressions from this-

1. I thought it strange that magic missile (as vanilla a spell as it gets) is still being tweaked.

maybe the spell itself is fine but they are ironing force effects mechanics.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Hey Rodney, I have a question for you.

How do you feel about 4e? Just, is it Fun? Are you Enjoying it? Are you Confident in it?

Fully keeping in mind that mine is a biased opinion, yeah, I like it. I feel like I'm playing D&D, and at the end of a session I don't feel like we've done anything that we wouldn't have done in a 3E game. I'm liking my wizard, and enjoying playing an eladrin (though it's taken me a few sessions to get a good mindset down for him). There have been a few speed bumps, but each revision of the game seems to be fixing more and more of those. Am I confident in it? Well, yeah. It's hard not to be. But then again it seems like the kind of game I would like: lots of options, quick gameplay, and I never feel like the "second banana" in combat (whereas my paladin of Heironeous in the last game was largely relegated to a support role). It's also a very cooperative game, which is right up my alley; as I mentioned, finding the nice little interplay between my wizard and the warlord was one of those epiphany moments in last night's game that made me enjoy the session a lot.

I dunno, maybe it's just me (and I'll fully accept that as fact if it's true) but I really feel like the experience I'm having at the table is what I've come to expect from D&D over the last 8 years.

Putting on my game designer hat for a second, though, I think 4E is going to be SO much easier to design and develop material for. Having already done so a bit, and having seen how the mechanics are put together, it kind of amazes me that it wasn't done this way sooner. I know this is going to frustrate people a lot with its vagueness, but having all the math essentially done for us ahead of time seems to be letting us focus more on the creative side of things than on the balance side of things.