Community

First, some history on your author.  I've played every version of D&D from Blue Box 1st Edition back in 1979 through 4th Edition.  A bunch of us sat down over this past weekend and ran through the playtest to see what 5th Edition would be bringing.  And, I have to say, it felt a lot like playing the old editions of D&D.

And by "old editions" that carries all the good and bad aspects of the game.

The Good:

The Advantage/Disdavantage system: it cleaned up a lot of variable rules and optional rules to imply getting the better of an opponent or being disabled by some effect or another (blind, deaf, prone, immobile, etc.)

Ability progression for all classes: Seeing the Fighter and the Rogue gain additional abilities at level two and three meant that there was an actual feeling of progression, rather than the excluding the more physically oriented characters from advancement while the spell-casters got new tricks.

Addition of Backgrounds and Themes: Adding these options to character creation felt like there would be a deeper character creation system that would make where your character came from and why they were adventuring more meaningful than just roleplaying check-boxes most D&D players ticked off mentally while filling in the numbers.

Addition/return of Cantrips/Orisons for spellcasters: Giving spellcasters something to do besides falling back on besides physical combat meant that playing them felt more "magical".  Going from the older editions of throwing darts or daggers when you were out of spells to throwing magic missile or even shocking grasp regardless of spell slots meant that mages really get to bring their a-game all the time.

Classes felt distinct and unique again: Unlike 4th Edition, where everyone felt kind of the same once you got past the stat block and hit dice.

The Bad:

The return of Vancian Magic:  Being fair both to D&D and Mr. Vance, I've NEVER liked the old school magic system.  Putting spellcasters into a situation where they could just "run out of gas" never felt fair or balanced as a way to mitigate the raw power they brought to the table when they were "full."  I don't know if bringing back the old 1st - 3.5 edition rules for additional spell slots for higher casting stats would be a good fix, but it did help mitigate the spell casters feeling quite so useless back then.  It would help just as much now to help a party keep adventuring.

Healing felt weak:  I played the dwarven fighter.  I took the brunt of the beating.  I was rendered unconscious once.  I got one Healing Word from the war priest, one healing potion and one use of a healers kit to spend my 1d12 hit die for first level.  I healed a total of 9 hit points from all of it.  This was not good.  One of the things 4th Edition got right, in my opinion, was healing and the "Second Wind".  Healing, especially magical healing, should be able to keep a party moving forward past one or two confrontations.  Bringing back the healing surges and Secon Wind ideas would also help a party maintain its momentum when adventuring.  Also, if Cure Light Wounds (1d8+Wis) and Healing Word (1d6 flat) are going to FEEL as useless as they did, they should be reduced to Orison status so they can be cast at will, as necessary. 

The return of the 2 hour work day:  Both Vancian Magic and the weakness of healing REALLY brought this problem back in a big way.  At the end of the night, the party had killed the ogre, the goblins and their rats.  At that point, we were done, had to go back to town and refresh ourselves as we were out of healing entirely and the wizard was out of his major spells.  This was hardly satisfying.  Even as level 1 adventurers, a party should be able to keep its adventuring momentum past the first two fights of a given adventure.  Giving healing more weight and/or spellcasters more spell slots would go a long way to improving this.

Those are just my thoughts, since this is a playtest.  Your mileage may vary.  Offer not valid in all areas.  These ideas cannot be reproduced without the express written permission of Major League Baseball.  If your combat lasts longer than four hours, insert Viagra joke here.
 

I agree with most of this.  Been playing since 82, so I have seen my fair share of games.  I like everything said, except the healing part.  While I am not adverse to a bit greater healing, I do not mind the 2 hour work day issue.  In my games, characters are going to get beat up.  Visually, they are wearing blood-soaked bandages and limping back to town dragging their swords behind them.  It seems a bit more realistic that way.  Characters die.  Unfortunately, just statistical mathematics shows that the vast majority of 1st level adventurers die.  Your party fought 3 combats in one day, including an Ogre.  Frankly, they SHOULD look worse for wear.  However, I do understand where you are coming from regarding the POWER of the magical healing - it should be upped a bit.  Also, why not bring back the healing skill from 2E (non-weapon proficiency) where you could bind wounds right after the combat and gain back a few hp?  As DM in those days, I was very generous on what a player could recover with the healing NWP and rest so that the party was not out of action a lot, but it just felt more like real life and less like a video game.  To each their own though.  

Regarding all the options that I think we all believe will be present for character customization, I concur:  big plus.   

Vancian Magic:  I am not opposed to this, but I do like your suggestion of additional cantrips and more spell slots at lower levels.  In other words, don't trash the system, but up its power to be more in-line with others, without over reaching and upsetting certain balances.  Wizard types are supposed to be weak at low levels.  They get powerful at high levels.  Being weak at low levels is a built in real-world balance, otherwise there would be thousands of 20th level wizards running around.   At some point though, throughout the day, I like the idea of the wizard being "out of power" if he/she has been using magic all day long.  Rituals is a good idea, especially for those situational spells that might get left out of the "daily prepared" list because  sometimes you just HAVE to take another Magic Missile rather than Comprehend Languages (or any other situationally useful spell).  

Glad you liked it.  I am looking forward to it as well.   

Jun 18, 2012 -- 8:53AM, AlistaireNix wrote:

..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />Addition of Backgrounds and Themes: Adding these options to character creation felt like there would be a deeper character creation system that would make where your character came from and why they were adventuring more meaningful than just roleplaying check-boxes most D&D players ticked off mentally while filling in the numbers.
 

I love this aspect of things.  I do a lot of storytelling and "back"storytelling during character creation, and it will be fun to see a rules set like this one that seems to reflect gowth and change and accomplishment BEFORE you even hit the table.  I think Decipher's TERRIBLY editted LOTR roleplaying game did a similar thing:  You are born into one thing (race), in a certain location or household as a child / teen (background), get a profession (class) and then specialize (theme).  This kind of sturcture, oversimplified here, can really form the outline of a rich character history. 

Sure, even the Blue Box (I started in 1977...nooch!) "fighting man" could be written and fleshed out as much as you wanted, of course, but here we see the rules catching up with and running in concordance with the STORY, which is hot. 

Jun 18, 2012 -- 5:16PM, Carbonfiber07 wrote:

Your party fought 3 combats in one day, including an Ogre.  Frankly, they SHOULD look worse for wear.  However, I do understand where you are coming from regarding the POWER of the magical healing - it should be upped a bit.  Also, why not bring back the healing skill from 2E (non-weapon proficiency) where you could bind wounds right after the combat and gain back a few hp?  As DM in those days, I was very generous on what a player could recover with the healing NWP and rest so that the party was not out of action a lot, but it just felt more like real life and less like a video game.  To each their own though.  

I may have used the wrong terminology in my original post.  I don't necessarily want healing to the point where combats are non-issues until you get to the "boss fight" at the end of the dungeon/tomb/lair.  That was another problem I felt with 4th Editions more "boardgame" mentality.  It never felt dangerous or risky until that final encounter with whatever was "in charge."

What I would like to see is healing made less random when it occurs.  Randomizing healing just means players have a greater chance of getting screwed when they need to heal.  And when healing potions are 50g and only give back 1d6 when characters are starting with a LOT more hit points, healing should be increased to match.  I'd like to see a moderate step back to 4th Ed with Hit Dice being the die you roll when you level up and a Heal Value equal to 1/4 your total hit points plus CON modifier that is used when you "heal".  Healing spells, potions and kits add a die value to the healing value when you use them.  Potions and kits add 1d6 (or greater if it's a masterwork kit or potion of greater healing), magical healing adds whatever the description implies.  

This would make healing less of a coin toss and give it more impact in swinging fights so if your cleric ONLY casts heals, it still has meaning.  Because what it felt like in the playtest was that the cleric wasted his time and his faith.  A dwarven priest prayed to a dwarven god to heal a dwarven warrior who just saved his dwarven butt and Moradin looked down from the heavens and said "3".  And the dwarven warrior woke up, looked up at the dwarven priest and said "And THAT is why I worship Clanggeddin.  `3,` my muscular buttocks." 

And, Grimcleaver, as someone who played a Warlord in 4th Ed., I never really liked the "beat a goblin in the face, someone 30-feet away suddenly feels better about themselves" description, either.  But damn if it wasn't funny in practice.

Our houserule in Pathfinder is that a healing effect used during combat is rolled normally, but heals max when used out of combat.  This is simply because either the caster can afford to give it their full attention or because the wounded doesn't need to chug their potion so desperately. I would be happy to see such a rule made official for Next.