Behold! The Warlord?

 games  1 Response »
Mar 212013
 

The new Fighter build has clearly tried to back-end the Warlord in a way that Mike Mearls suggested it would in a recent D&D Podcast. So I thought I’d take him up on the challenge! Here then is the hidden new class in the 3/20 test packet: a warlord!

Yantok Steelforged, Dwarf Fighter [Warlord], Level 5

STR 17; DEX 10; CON 16; INT 08; WIS 13; CHA 12

HP 52; Initiative: +0; AC 18 [Chain Mail, Shield]; Speed 20 ft.

Attack: Battleaxe +5 [1d8+3]; Handaxe +5 melee or +2 ranged [1d6+3]

Class Abilities: Deadly Strike, Multiattack [Whirlwind Attack]

Feats [Mystic Healer]: Healing Initiate, Hold the Line, Interposing Shield, Magical Rejuvination

Expertise: 3d6
      — Death Dealer: Slam
      — Superior Defense: Warning Shout
      — Unerring Attacker: Attack Orders

Skills [Combat Medic]: Administer First Aid, Climb, Intimidate, Recall Lore [Military]

Trait [Combat Medic]: Military Rank

Racial Abilities [Hill Dwarf]: Darkvision; Dwarven Resilience; Dwarven Weapons Training; Dwarven Toughness; Stonecutting

Building him was pretty simple. For Fighter options, I tried to favor the Warlord-esque ability, the one that helped others instead of the Warlord himself [with one caveat, see below]. In terms of Specialty I took Mystic Healer, to give him some of that magical healing mojo — not a lit, but a bit. Then, for his bonus Fighter feats, I basically started following a second Specialty, the Defender. Finally, I played DM a bit with his Background and gave him “Combat Medic” — basically, Soldier with Ride swapped out for First Aid.

Honestly, I think he might be a fun character to play. He’d be entrenched in the front lines, swinging his battleaxe every round, using his shield both offensively and defensively, and bellowing out commands to his fellow party members. He’s tough, well-armored, and no slouch as a combatant. And if he needs to, he can always reach down to stabilize a fallen comrade.

The one issue I see even at 5th level, though, is that many of his abilities rely on using a reaction — Warning Shout, Attack Orders, Hold the Line, and Interposing Shield are all vying for that reaction each round. He’s got a useful Warlord-esque toolkit, but he can only ever use one tool at a time. That’s why I ultimately chose Slam for him at first level; it gives him a way to spend an expertise die on his own turn while still getting a helpful effect into play [disadvntage on the next enemy attack].

Now, I will admit that my 4E Warlord experience is a bit thin, so let me know: what do you think of this build? Does this satisfy the Warlord craving? Or is this a pale imitation of the class? Could I have built Yanok differently to make a better Warlord out of him? Let me know in the comments!

Let’s Get Rid Of Stat Scores

 games  2 Responses »
Dec 052012
 

As I’ve been learning the D&D Next system more and more, I increasingly begin to wonder: is it time to do away with stat scores? I think that it might be.

The reason I say that is because the actual stat score is meaningless. Only the bonus matters. What is a Strength of 16, in-game? It’s a +3 to dice rolls. What is a Strength of 17, in-game? It’s a +3 to dice rolls. Functionally, on the tabletop, there is zero difference between them. There’s literally zero value for me, as a player, in knowing whether my +3 comes from a 16 or a 17 during play. So why the distinction?

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to streamline things a little, declutter the character sheet, and just assign each stat a plus-bonus. Cut out the 3-18 base score altogether and adjust the game to … well, not really to do anything, since the game already runs on plus-bonus, not stat score.

The only justification for the 3-18 stat scores in the current system, as I can see them, are the following: Continue reading »

Balance vs. Symmetry

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Aug 232012
 

I finally got around to listening to some of the panel recordings from last weekend’s Gen Con (thanks, The Tome Show!). And something that was said during one of them really struck me. The “thing” in question was said by Jeremy Crawford about 40 minutes into the D&D Next Creating the Core panel. Here’s what he said:

The danger of following a notion of balance too dogmatically is that balance very quickly, if you’re not careful, morphs not into balance, but into symmetry, which isn’t actually the same thing; and that kind of balance, at its worst, makes everything identical. And you’ll see this sometimes in games, where it’s like, “Well, the name of what my wizard is doing is different from the name of what the fighter is doing, but if I look at the effects, they’re exactly the same thing.”

We feel that in a class-based game, a class should actually have something that it does that other classes don’t do, because that is a part of the genius of class-based design that has been in D&D from the beginning; and that is, when you pick a class, in a way you’re picking a new game experience. We want it to be so that, when you’re playing a cleric, you feel like you’re playing a slightly different game than when you’re playing a rogue.

While he doesn’t come out directly and say “This was the problem with 4E,” I think he was definitely implying it. And it’s a great articulation of what I and many others felt was a problem with the edition — why it “felt like an MMORPG” or “didn’t feel like D&D” — but much better articulated in game design terms. I’m going to keep this statement in mind the next time I see people complaining that D&D Next has done away with the AEDU Powers system.

New D&D Next Packet — Initial Impressions

 games  Comments Off
Aug 132012
 

Wow! I am happy to admit I was wrong about this one. I thought we wouldn’t see the next D&D Next playtest until after Gen Con, but WotC dropped it on us today, three days before the event! Awesome! And this feels more like an actual “playtest packet” instead of a demo, mainly because of the character creation rules. I can actually run some games with this one.

I’ll be blogging more coherently in the coming days, but here’s some of my initial observations:

  • I’m liking the fighter “expertise dice” more than I thought I would. It’s currently very Alpha / 1.0, but I can already see the potential.
  • The cleric seems mostly unchanged. I was at least hoping for some more domains. Hum.
  • The more I look at the Wizard, the more I think it feels a little … kludge-y. I love the Vancian style as much as the next grognard, but something about this feels more complicated than it needs to be. I dunno. I’ll have to play it to be sure.
  • Rogues are beginning to shape up, but I kind of wish they had expertise dice. I really do.
  • The bestiary needs to be longer. :(
  • I need to write an adventure or two!

That’s all for now. I’m off to create a dozen characters and see what I can come up with.

When Will We See The Next Playtest Release?

 games  Comments Off
Jul 272012
 

When the D&D Next playtest came out, there was a statement made somewhere (my search-fu is weak, I have been unable to find it) by Mike Mearls (I think) that they hoped to release some sort of updated rules packet for D&D Next in “five or six weeks,” with the possibility of character generation rules by the end of summer. Clearly, that first goal has come and gone, and we’ve not seen any sort of playtest document update.

I don’t hold it against them; they weren’t promising, just speculating, and I suspect that the flood of feedback was more than they anticipated [especially if they predicted feedback as well as they predicted server load on that first day of release -- i.e., poorly]. But it’s bit frustrating for those of us who were expecting a more active and continuous playtest process.

So, when will we see another public playtest release? I have a hunch.  Continue reading »

Improvising Less In D&D Next

 games  Comments Off
Jun 132012
 

I’m beginning to both love and hate the Improvised Combat Actions rule in D&D Next.

On the one hand, it’s given me great license to, well, improvise within the ruleset and see how far it can flex. I’ve been doing some formal rule-flexing in my Improvised Combat Actions document, where I’ve been trying to recreate some of the familiar combat actions in 3E/4E via the playtest rules.I’ve outlined rules calls for things like Bull Rush, Charge, and Leaping Strike, so that when my players want to do them in-game I have a fully thought-out scenario ready to go. Continue reading »

Playing Catch-Up

 games  1 Response »
Jun 112012
 

Man. I have been so swamped with life lately that blogging about D&D Next has been impossible. But that officially ended a couple of hours ago, and so I’m finally free to post!

I’m just going to bang out a quick reaction to several Daily D&D items that have come up over the past couple weeks, in no particular order, just to get the juices flowing. Let me know if you agree (or disagree!) in the comments section.

Continue reading »

D&D Next Playtest: Hitting Is More Fun Than Missing

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May 292012
 

Yesterday, I suggested that D&D Next worked better sans grid. Today, I want to talk about something else I like in the D&D Next playtest rules: the Advantage/Disadvantage system.

Advantage is awesome, because hitting is more fun than missing.

I love Advantage. When a player does something to get the upper hand, if it’s good heroics and good storytelling, I want them to pull it off. Where’s the fun in failing? Advantage lets me help them do it. It rewards the PCs in a meaningful way for playing both tactically AND creatively. Continue reading »

D&D Next Playtest: The Mind Vs. The Grid

 games  6 Responses »
May 282012
 

I got to play two games of D&D Next this weekend. I was DM for both. It was a blast, and it felt so good to be slinging dice again with D&D after an extended stay in the tabletop wargame arena.

I coud write a book about my impressions, and I will probably be cranking out thoughts all week in various blog posts. But for now, I want to focus on one thing. It’s the biggest impressions I got about the game, and to my mind, the most important:

The rules as presented play much better in the Theatre of the Mind than on a Battle Grid. Continue reading »

How NOT To Playtest D&D Next

 games  2 Responses »
May 252012
 

What a mad, crazy 24 hours this has been! My fingers are cramping from all the twittering I’ve been doing in the last day. I think I’ve doubled my pre-playtest post count! And much of my time has been spent trying to shake some sense into the more vitriolic, knee-jerky reactions to the playtest materials.

As a shortcut to shouting at people over Twitter, I thought I’d just condense my thoughts here. Warning: some salty language sneaks in. I couldn’t avoid it. Continue reading »

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