Level Up (A5E) Thoughts on A5E classes from your table(s)?

[Distracted DM]

It only costs the bard a reaction if he wants to activate a new hymn but if it is still active (or sustained) they can just declare a target whenever.

Oh sure, I just mean that the Bard (like many a5e classes) gets a load of super cool options and multiple players have forgotten that they can do a number of said things.
The cards idea is a great one, but most of my games nowadays are over FoundryVTT

What's the problem with the player who doesn't like flexibility in his spell levels? He can always cast them at highest level. And while probably "wasting" some of the spell power he would most often still have more spells than an O5E warlock has (or have I overlooked something?)

I think she enjoyed the simplicity, the complete avoidance of analysis paralysis that Warlock provides; by giving spell points means that she COULD be doing something different, better, etc etc by breaking those points up.
I like the a5e warlock better (I like many of the a5e classes better!) but it was just an interesting reaction.

The biggest draw for me is honestly just the sheer volume of player facing mechanical support, particularly once you start throwing in the quite abundant 3PP material.

The biggest character-builder/optimizer dove head-first into 3pp, largely Purple Martin Games' stuff

 

[Burnside]

Some of my players were a little overwhelmed at first by exertion and maneuvers, but now the rogue, barbarian, and ranger all love them after getting used to them, and they add a lot of fun to combat. We have an eladrin elf barbarian that plays very differently than any regular 5E barbarian could.

I suspect there is a level of mechanical complexity that really will be more than some players want to deal with, but I've found that if anybody is really struggling, they can run regular 5e characters right alongside A5E ones in the same party and it's really fine.

After our next session, my group will enter tier 2, which will be my first time running A5E above level 4, and I'm curious to see how smoothly the players come to grips with the higher-level ability mechanics.

 

[Stalker0]

I posted a feedback thread after my A5e campaign finished up: https://www.enworld.org/threads/my-level-up-campaign-has-ended-level-up-feedback.699198/

 

[thuter]

We are lvl 8. Berserker feels somewhat immortal. It is more tanky than the O5E variant for sure but I think they deal similar damage compared to an O5E one. Of course, as soon as the crit train starts, enemies drop, but I have yet to see the Berserker in our game out-damage my Cutthroat Rogue that uses a spear thrower (from 1 lvl Fighter mc, that also gives archery fighting style and superb maneuver scaling which rarely matters as maneuvers for ranged are rare and mostly bad). Given some way to sneak attack (either with Aim Cunning Action or just a buddy in melee) I deal 2d6+Dex+PB+4d6+3d6 without maneuver usage, and can do so 3 times before running out of Blackblade, at which point I go to either Spider Queen Venom (4d8 at DC 14 ignoring resistance) or the recently acquired Wyvern Venom (7d8 at DC 15 save halves). Averaging 38.5 damage on a normal hit. I have extended crit range from the Rogue as well, so crits happen sometimes and when they do, things fall over.

I think the worst part of this is that our Marshal wields my rogue as well, doubling the dpr (not counted in comparison to the Berserker, obviously).

 

[Distracted DM]

I posted a feedback thread after my A5e campaign finished up: https://www.enworld.org/threads/my-level-up-campaign-has-ended-level-up-feedback.699198/

Very interesting, especially the player feedback.

We are lvl 8. Berserker feels somewhat immortal. It is more tanky than the O5E variant for sure but I think they deal similar damage compared to an O5E one. Of course, as soon as the crit train starts, enemies drop, but I have yet to see the Berserker in our game out-damage my Cutthroat Rogue that uses a spear thrower (from 1 lvl Fighter mc, that also gives archery fighting style and superb maneuver scaling which rarely matters as maneuvers for ranged are rare and mostly bad). Given some way to sneak attack (either with Aim Cunning Action or just a buddy in melee) I deal 2d6+Dex+PB+4d6+3d6 without maneuver usage, and can do so 3 times before running out of Blackblade, at which point I go to either Spider Queen Venom (4d8 at DC 14 ignoring resistance) or the recently acquired Wyvern Venom (7d8 at DC 15 save halves). Averaging 38.5 damage on a normal hit. I have extended crit range from the Rogue as well, so crits happen sometimes and when they do, things fall over.

I think the worst part of this is that our Marshal wields my rogue as well, doubling the dpr (not counted in comparison to the Berserker, obviously).

Nice to hear I'm not alone with the berserker experience- do they use the maneuver that expands crit range as well, and stun or blind their crits?
And yeah with regular-use poison I can see your damage going up quite high!

 

[thuter]

Very interesting, especially the player feedback.



Nice to hear I'm not alone with the berserker experience- do they use the maneuver that expands crit range as well, and stun or blind their crits?
And yeah with regular-use poison I can see your damage going up quite high!

Berserkers do not get access to the Razor's Edge tradition. Which is a shame, because the class that has class features designed for crits does not get the maneuvers that enable them more than any other. But Furious Critical absolutely gets applied

 

[Distracted DM]

Berserkers do not get access to the Razor's Edge tradition. Which is a shame, because the class that has class features designed for crits does not get the maneuvers that enable them more than any other. But Furious Critical absolutely gets applied

Ah, they're not trying hard enough! One of my berserker players took the Surgical Combatant feat to get it.

 

[thuter]

Oh there are ways to get it for sure. e.g. Going 1 level Fighter nets you a Fighting Style and any traditions that you might ever want in addition to the best maneuver progression.

 

[Distracted DM]

We are lvl 8. Berserker feels somewhat immortal. It is more tanky than the O5E variant for sure but I think they deal similar damage compared to an O5E one. Of course, as soon as the crit train starts, enemies drop, but I have yet to see the Berserker in our game out-damage my Cutthroat Rogue that uses a spear thrower (from 1 lvl Fighter mc, that also gives archery fighting style and superb maneuver scaling which rarely matters as maneuvers for ranged are rare and mostly bad). Given some way to sneak attack (either with Aim Cunning Action or just a buddy in melee) I deal 2d6+Dex+PB+4d6+3d6 without maneuver usage, and can do so 3 times before running out of Blackblade, at which point I go to either Spider Queen Venom (4d8 at DC 14 ignoring resistance) or the recently acquired Wyvern Venom (7d8 at DC 15 save halves). Averaging 38.5 damage on a normal hit. I have extended crit range from the Rogue as well, so crits happen sometimes and when they do, things fall over.

I think the worst part of this is that our Marshal wields my rogue as well, doubling the dpr (not counted in comparison to the Berserker, obviously).

Btw how do you get regular access to poison? It's fairly costly to purchase, and that's per dose! I'm curious how your GM handles availability.

 

[thuter]

Btw how do you get regular access to poison? It's fairly costly to purchase, and that's per dose! I'm curious how your GM handles availability.

Pretty easily as a Rogue with some Skill Tricks Everytime we encounter a creature with a poison attack, I use the poisoner's kit to harvest poison from it (usually autosucceed since I have d10 expertise and Resident Expert from Human which means I roll a 10 at the d20 mininum). Then I use Analysis to determine the recipe for the poison in 10 minutes, then Unstable Poison to brew one dose for free (but can't have more than one). Then use the poison on three pieces of ammunition as per the rules. I use the "real" poison only in emergencies, but with PB uses of Blackblade from subclass I rarely run out.

Also: Just scavenging with the poisoner's kit has a good chance of netting you free poison.