Enjoying the playtest packet a great. Gives me just enough to play the way I want to play. Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with. I actually DO like the skill dice mechanic a lot, so a bit sad it might be going away, but I'm going to trust the alternatives will be just as interesting. Thanks for bringing in bits & pieces of the past, and reinterpreting the system with a more modern feel.
Sir Corin's got a point, there's a character in my group doing just what he says and the guy isn't greased up, just punching a lot. They're likely to beef up such feats, which would bring him onto par with the barbarian in the party, so I'm not sure Sir Corin's reservations aren't misplaced. Sorry about the triple negative. I appreciate Clan Battlerage clarifying h/h view of how maneuvers could work like powers. I think maneuvers have to be defined a lot more specifically to make their...
View full commentSir Corin's got a point, there's a character in my group doing just what he says and the guy isn't greased up, just punching a lot. They're likely to beef up such feats, which would bring him onto par with the barbarian in the party, so I'm not sure Sir Corin's reservations aren't misplaced. Sorry about the triple negative.
I appreciate Clan Battlerage clarifying h/h view of how maneuvers could work like powers. I think maneuvers have to be defined a lot more specifically to make their tactical implications more than move and damage, but it is good that somebody is still talking about maneuvers. I think they have the potential to provide many characters with interesting and believable combat options, and contribute to the identity of several martial classes.
My final observation is that in contrast to the binary Fourth Edition definition of "build," Fifth Edition subclasses as described offer a multitude of choices. In addition to having more than 2 basic subclasses (although I hope every class will have at least one subclass which is basic enough to suit mechanical purists), it appears that the class, itself or through additional choices within subclasses, will present options for varying what and how characters do things.
Word. They're far too derivative on their own. They're awesome as subclasses/paragon paths/etc. Same goes for Seeker (should be incorporated into Ranger), Warlord (should be under Fighter), and Assassin (should go into Rogue).
I like playing jesters and minstrels. I don't see them being necessary as backgrounds, but there needs to be room for a tricksy tumbling bard with magic to impress, as well as excise wounds.
I just realised I may not have been clear in my short reply. What I meant was that I understand D&D is not all simulation, and that it is a game, but it has always held a level of believability, regardless of whether the topic was magic or fantasy. The mechanics are all designed to in some way mimic or emulate life in some way (or a specific concept of life), but whenever abstraction is used, it is always done to turn something that is purely a game mechanic into something we should...
View full commentI just realised I may not have been clear in my short reply. What I meant was that I understand D&D is not all simulation, and that it is a game, but it has always held a level of believability, regardless of whether the topic was magic or fantasy. The mechanics are all designed to in some way mimic or emulate life in some way (or a specific concept of life), but whenever abstraction is used, it is always done to turn something that is purely a game mechanic into something we should "believe" approximates something we can consider "yep, that's possible". So if we abstract away AC and we are told "That's not just hits, that's glances and misses as well because your moving", then we can see some core of realism or understanding that allows us to maintain the suspension of disbelief.
I think HP just doesn't fit this possibility... there are too many disjointed concepts that have been lumped together and called "HP". For my own personal taste, I think it is too far from something I can conceive of being realistic that it breaks my ability to believe it is meant to relate to anything other than a game mechanic.
But I could wrap my head around it and accept it for what it is.. a game mechanic in a board game... But when they introduced martial healing, where an average lay person with absolutely no magical ability at all was now able to "heal" someone, that was just going too far. Now it was blatantly obvious it was a game mechanic, and all credibility of it being an abstraction covering life and will power and life force just went out the window.
They didn't add martial healing because it made sense, they added it to fill in a game mechanic hole, and I think they overstretched. Yes its needed, but to an extent... if you go too far, then this just becomes a board game and loses the realism that made it great, and I think getting into martial healing is going too far down the path of being a board game. It was the BAD pat about 4E
Lots of things were broken about it, but tons of people absolutely *loved* it anyway, because but made it practical to achieve all sorts of character concepts you could never have made otherwise. So if they can design an *optional* system that has built in mechanics for fixing game balance issues while still giving folks the things they love about having that flexibility, as far as I'm concerned, that's the best of both worlds. But already in Next, you can do a lot of things with...
View full commentLots of things were broken about it, but tons of people absolutely *loved* it anyway, because but made it practical to achieve all sorts of character concepts you could never have made otherwise. So if they can design an *optional* system that has built in mechanics for fixing game balance issues while still giving folks the things they love about having that flexibility, as far as I'm concerned, that's the best of both worlds.
But already in Next, you can do a lot of things with specialties that required multiclassing in 3e, so hopefully it will be much more rare, even when allowed.
Actually, with separate advancement rules for multiclass characters, it sounds like a compromise with hybrids -- much more flexible than just playing a hybrid (you many more degrees you can use to balance your mixture of classes), but much more level-scaled than 3E, which resembles a hybrid.
The problem with capping D&D classes to 4 comes in when we have so many different ideas on what constitutes the attributes of a class from previous editions, such as the varying views on ranger in these posts. Another example would be the bard, which could be a warrior skald, arcane trickster, advisor and keeper of knowledge, roguish gypsy, and more. A general rule I would suggest is that a class with a wide variety of potential backgrounds is worth class and alternative classes...
View full commentThe problem with capping D&D classes to 4 comes in when we have so many different ideas on what constitutes the attributes of a class from previous editions, such as the varying views on ranger in these posts.
Another example would be the bard, which could be a warrior skald, arcane trickster, advisor and keeper of knowledge, roguish gypsy, and more.
A general rule I would suggest is that a class with a wide variety of potential backgrounds is worth class and alternative classes with less variation would be more suitable as a theme.
For example paladin and warlord seem like themes instead of classes to me. Bards and psions do not. Rangers do not. :)
I think that there should be more than 4 class options, but in the modular spirit of D&D Next, it should be possible to play with ONLY those classes and still have a good variety. With Themes you could make a Hunter/Stalker Fighter or Rogue. (Of Course, where the concept of Themes really shines is the possbily of Hunter/Stalker Wizards and other combination that are not obvious and cliche :)). I agree that Rangers should not be bound to one terrain, but have options to be from any environment. I...
View full commentI think that there should be more than 4 class options, but in the modular spirit of D&D Next, it should be possible to play with ONLY those classes and still have a good variety. With Themes you could make a Hunter/Stalker Fighter or Rogue. (Of Course, where the concept of Themes really shines is the possbily of Hunter/Stalker Wizards and other combination that are not obvious and cliche :)). I agree that Rangers should not be bound to one terrain, but have options to be from any environment. I am rather worryed that the only two styles mentioned for Rangers is the "Drizzt Double Weapon" and the Archer. There should be more options - or course the same goes for Fighters. As for Marking, there should be some way for "Defender" classes to Defend besides trying to stand in the way (can be tough with no Attacks of Opportunity) or hit the monster and kill it before it hits someone else. The Guardian Theme Shield Other effect is a good example.
I appreciate Clan Battlerage clarifying h/h view of how maneuvers could work like powers. I think maneuvers have to be defined a lot more specifically to make their...
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