D&D 5E Starter Set: Excerpt 3 (actual)

[Savage Wombat]

Surely if Detect Magic is back to a 1st level spell, it does more than previously?

 

[Beastman]

Cube

The explantion of "Cube" seems somewhat clumsy or off - or I simply do not understand what they meant. Can anyone explain to me what it means / how this is handled? Thanks

 

[Remathilis]

I notice here that they do not say anything about requiring a magical focus (wand, holy symbol, spell book, etc) in order to obtain the spell casting proficiency bonus for the DC. Now you just get it. Is that new? Or did they mention they were making that change? I really thought they were planning on sticking with it. (Rereading the last playtest docs, I notice in the 10/14 classes doc they have 8 + Int + Prof (with focus), while in the 9/19 How to Play they simply have 10 + Int + Bonus. I somehow never noticed that inconsistency until now.

It could be that it mentions implements in the appropriate class area. The play test listed it there along with caster stat. So a cleric gets proficiency in holy symbols while a mage does in staves, wands and orbs.

 

[Tormyr]

Surely if Detect Magic is back to a 1st level spell, it does more than previously?

I joined the playtest late in the game, so I am not sure what it did previously. It now gives you a 25 ft. detection radius for up to 10 minutes of concentration.

 

[Thaumaturge]

The explantion of "Cube" seems somewhat clumsy or off - or I simply do not understand what they meant. Can anyone explain to me what it means / how this is handled? Thanks

To me it looks like spells will say "20' cube". When you cast a cube spell, you pick a spot, and then explain where the cube is relative to that spot.

You can put entangle (as an example) under an orc's feet and say he's in the middle of the bottom face of the cube. Then entangle (again, just picked a spell) sprouts forth 10' feet in every direction from him horizontally and 20' up vertically from him to complete the cube.

You could also say the orc is in the middle of the front edge, in which case the cube is 10' to either side, 20' behind him, and 20' up.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Nellisir]

The explantion of "Cube" seems somewhat clumsy or off - or I simply do not understand what they meant. Can anyone explain to me what it means / how this is handled? Thanks

The spell effect is cube-shaped - for instance, a 20' x 20' x 20' cube (or 4x4x4 if you're using 5' squares). The "point of origin" of the spell is some point along one of the sides (your choice), but not necessarily within the spell effect. This is different from a sphere, where the point of origin is the center of the sphere, or the cone, where the point of origin is the tip of the cone.

In short, don't designate the center of the cube as the point of origin; pick a point along one of the sides/faces.

Edit: In Thaumaturge's example, the point of origin is the orc's feet, and the center of the cube is 10' in the air.
Edit Edit: Changed my numbers to match Thaumaturge's for simplicity.

 

[occam]

Overall, its a good quick list: iconic overall. I noticed a few 4e holdouts (Sacred Flame, Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, Warding Bond, Beacon of Hope, Thunderwave, Misty Step) but it will be nice to see them done as regular spells vs. powers.

I don't think I've ever seen guiding bolt or warding bond before, at least by those names. They aren't in 4e, nor in the latest playtest doc.

 

[Scorpio616]

Interesting that there's no spare the dying​. In the public playtest, that was pretty much an auto-pick.

Kinda proves it was overpowered if it was an auto pick.

No cost and no drawback means you should always use it. There is no choice. And to me, no choice is bad.

Agree, though maybe it might not be what we expect.

Surely if Detect Magic is back to a 1st level spell, it does more than previously?

It detects magic. It might not seem like a lot to folks used to seeing magic item names in Technicolor, but for the majority of D&D's history, this was the spell that let you know if you found a weapon worth 15 gold or 1500 gold.

 

[Bugleyman]

Hmmm...I really like most of what I'm seeing, with the exception of detect magic being first level. That always felt to me like something a spell caster should just be able to do.

 

[Scorpio616]

Hmmm...I really like most of what I'm seeing, with the exception of detect magic being first level. That always felt to me like something a spell caster should just be able to do.

That might be balanced if the caster could not turn it off...
[video=youtube;2l67RK_tvaM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l67RK_tvaM[/video]