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6 months ago ::
Dec 06, 2012 - 5:11PM
#1
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Took part in a Next game last night, played Caves of Chaos for a few hours. Here are my notes.
General
- As I understand the Hit Dice mechanic, each day I can spend my level's worth of HD to regain health. A level one wizard can roll 1d6 per day and a level 2 wizard can roll 1d6 up to two times per day. Add Constitution modifiers to this roll. In order to use this mechanic during a short rest, you must expend one use of your Healer's Kit. Is this right? The table was kind of confused about non-magical healing rules.
- The +1 Skill Bonus at even levels feels kinda pathetic compared to more hit points, more spells, and bigger expertise dice. It would feel more satisfying to maybe get another skill, but that might unbalance the Rogue.
- Having the skills listed on the Character Sheet would help give people ideas of what to do.
- No one's characters know any monstrous languages. This makes it really hard to be a social character or use historical knowledge around orcs, goblins, and kobolds.
- Attunement feels destined to be one of those mechanics that no one uses. Also, no one can remember the crit rules without looking them up which kills the moment.
-Advantage was rare enough to feel really special, disadvantage was almost never used. I think this was more of a DM trait.
I played a Stout Rogue.
- The weak fighter line still applies, but I still really enjoyed the robust skill choices. It's weak, but when everything's a minion I didn't really feel it until I got hit. If I didn't take Parry for a maneuver, I'd be screwed.
- An encounter with 15 cave rats had us reliving Aliens shot for shot. The monsters don't usually hit, but there are 15 damn rats dealing 1d4 damage to my Level 1 Rogue's 7 HP. Partly justified.
- Earning that d6 expertise die was possibly the sexiest thing I've seen since getting fireball for the first time in 3rd Edition.
DMAIA: DMs Against Immediate Actions - Turning 6 seconds into 15 minutes since 2008.
Vampire Class/Specialty in 2013!
Wizard: I cast Burning Hands.
Rogue: I grab a torch and a can of hairspray.
I prefer Next because 4E players and CharOpers can't find their ass without a grid and a power called "Find Ass."
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6 months ago ::
Dec 08, 2012 - 4:44AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Dec 21, 2011
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You got the HD recover part right! I also agree with a lot of what you've written, except, I don't like the idea of putting all the skills on the sheet. I feel that Next is attempting to encourage players and dms to think about ability scores more as the way to define what actions players might try. The focus should be on the ability scores (augmented by any special bonuses through training). So, a high dexterity player should think about diving and tumbling, even if he or she isn't trained in that specific skill. Too many times in the past, I've had players who just look at the skills that they are good at, and limit their action choices to just those. Also, with bounded accuracy, +1 in a skill becomes more pronounced. By 6th level a rogue could specialize in disabling device, and have a + bonus +10 (+4 for Dex, +3 trained, +3 for adds from leveling). That pretty much assures that the rogue will be able to be quite stellar at that skill (especially if he adds expertise dice to the task).
The bump in expertise die is awesome! Wait until you get 2 dice...whoopy!
Here's a question, just for kicks (my own personal quest to find what people like better):
Would you rather have monsters hit more and do less damage, or do you like the feel of them hitting less and doing more damage?
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6 months ago ::
Dec 08, 2012 - 3:16PM
#3
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I agree with you on the skills thing. Players would tend to look strictly at their skill list rather than really thinking about what would happen in the situation or asking around the table.
In a game that's a little bit fiercer and more deadly, I think I would prefer hitting less and dealing more damage. I like the gritty feel.
DMAIA: DMs Against Immediate Actions - Turning 6 seconds into 15 minutes since 2008.
Vampire Class/Specialty in 2013!
Wizard: I cast Burning Hands.
Rogue: I grab a torch and a can of hairspray.
I prefer Next because 4E players and CharOpers can't find their ass without a grid and a power called "Find Ass."
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