Tomb Under the Tor (New Playtest Report)

[Av3rnus]

Just showed up:

We work hard at Wizards, but some of our work is all play. I recruited my gaming buddies to test the game further at home and to see what its like to DM with the new rules. The players got to test the character side of things, and I got to experience adventure building and monsters.

My players like a reason to adventure together beyond being mutually employed by the same bloke who relies on the local watering hole to hire mercenaries. So they created a mostly human party of 1st level PCs who are all affiliated with a local count. The warlord, Domna, is the baron’s youngest daughter, and Tian, the rogue, is Domna’s lifelong friend and also the son of the leader of baron’s personal mercenary troop. Sasha, the wizard, is daughter to the baron’s chancellor, and guarding her is Robozcniek, a warforged fighter. Rounding out the group is Heron, and eladrin ranger who was a childhood friend of Tian and Domna. Long story short, the political situation made the count’s having a team of specialists with a little legal authority a good thing. My having a party under direct influence of a local ruler was even better.

I wanted to whip up something that showcased the new game’s tech, but I wanted to do it quickly. Using Own K. C. Stevens’s A Dark and Stormy Knight as inspiration, I designed a haunted tomb under a tor. One of the count’s barons had been rewarding retiring soldiers with frontier land near the tor, and these farmers recently spotted goblin scouts ranging toward a fallen tower built atop the tor by citizens of a long-gone hobgoblin kingdom. Then a little girl disappeared, along with some livestock. The count dispatched Domna and her friends to investigate the situation...

More at the site: Tomb Under the Tor

 

[F4NBOY]

After reading that the characters used Second Wind, I have two rules questions:
Is it a free action to bite your tongue?
How much damage does bitting your tongue deals to you?

Knowing that would be useful when you needed to use Second Wind but were unfortunatelly 1 point over the half of your maximum hit points.

 

[Rechan]

You had to take the easy route and type very little while I was making a much more involved post about this, didn't you?

 

[Reaper Steve]

Freakin' Wow! That is what I wanted D&D to be for the past 25 years. 1st level characters with 2 ranged attcks/round (not to mention the reaction) and a wizard making wizard strikes and fiery blasts...awesome. I've been hoping for 4e for the past year and have been thrilled with 98% of the info released, but that report made me an official drooling f4nboy.

 

[Rechan]

Might as well cut and paste here.

So they created a mostly human party of 1st level PCs who are all affiliated with a local count. The warlord, Domna, is the baron’s youngest daughter, and Tian, the rogue, is Domna’s lifelong friend and also the son of the leader of baron’s personal mercenary troop. Sasha, the wizard, is daughter to the baron’s chancellor, and guarding her is Robozcniek, a warforged fighter. Rounding out the group is Heron, and eladrin ranger who was a childhood friend of Tian and Domna.

1) The Warlord is in, it's a class from first level. 2) There was no mention of having issues adapting the Warforged and Eladrins, so if anything they're in the playtest material.

Now to Class abilities:

Their second impression came squarely from the three arrows with which Heron skewered the hapless goblin sharpshooter in the loft. That poor goblin fired on Heron, missing but triggering an immediate counterattack from the ranger, who followed up with two more arrows on his turn.

Domna rushed a wolf and missed it, after shouting encouragement to her friends (providing a small bonus to them). The wolves continued to tear at Heron, almost sending the unfortunate ranger to death’s door. Sasha used a wizard strike with her staff, not only injuring a wolf, but also pushing it away from the prone Heron. This gave Heron the room he needed to stand, move away from his assailants, and regain a few hit points with a second wind. On his first regular turn, Tian used his second wind, then pursued the goblin by leaving the front door and running to intercept at the tree.

Sasha maneuvered to blast both wolves with another strike from her staff, pushing the one attacking Heron away again.

Domna used her tactical acumen to attack in such a way that the wolf she hit opened itself up to Robozcniek.

Several things pop out there. First that the ranger, at first level, is able to fire several arrows - two of which are on an immediate counterattack.

Next the Warlord shouting to give her allies a boost. Later she maneuvers to make the wolf open itself to the fighter - now this is either the author's flowery prose, or her tactical acumen caused it to be hampered somehow, possibly AC?

The wizard has a "wizard's strike" that does damage and moves foes back (unless this is the author's flair for the dramatic again). This attack apparently has an Area of Effect, as it effects both wolves the second time.

Finally, both wounded characters used "second wind" to gain hit points back. So it's possible there is a mechanism to allow all characters to heal themselves.

 

[F4NBOY]

1st level characters with 2 ranged attcks/round

That's already possible since 2000 with Rapid Shot.

 

[Reaper Steve]

That's already possible since 2000 with Rapid Shot.

Yeah...I totally misworded that. I was excited at the reaction attack + his other two, for a total of three, but fumbled my syntax.

 

[hong]

Yeah, it's the "immediate counterattack" bit, at range, that is really interesting. Shoot and miss someone, and get shot in return? Yow!

 

[Green Knight]

Yeah, that was cool. The Goblin sniper shooting the Ranger, and him being able to respond immediately and firing an arrow back at the Goblin. Then on his turn he shot two more arrows into the Goblin. Fantastic.

 

[F4NBOY]

Finally, both wounded characters used "second wind" to gain hit points back. So it's possible there is a mechanism to allow all characters to heal themselves.

It's from Star Wars Saga Edition.

When your character is below half his total HP, he can regain points equal to 1/3 of his total or equal to his COn score, which is higher. Not sure about numbers, i'm not with the book right here.