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We had problems remembering all of our new abilities, especially the Cleric's new healing options. I thought about using old character sheets, but the clarity that we gained in combat would be obscured by all of the questions regarding skills. There's a lot of new information and it would be nice to have some help in organizing it.
The positives included a nice selection of abilities for all of the players to be using. The familiarity of D&D tropes, with a few little fixes here and there. The characters had enough hit points to not have to worry too often, but when they got hit hard they still got hit hard. They might have more hit points but their armor classes were low enough that they were in danger nonetheless.
Having to reference multiple books right now is painful. The new system is very good, but until its all out there are those wonderful moments of passing a binder around, then a Player's Handbook. How much more material in terms of page count will be released? Are we going to see mass changes in the spells? Even having to look up one spell in the new stuff and another in the old stuff takes up a bit too much time.
However, all in all...a very pleasant time was had by all.
Thanks,
Scott
thanks for the playtest info man. how did they and you like the new skill system. did you try grapple? did you find the cleric ablitys a nice add and did yall try any wizards?
i think its gonna be soft covered but ya there gonna do a print beta
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thanks for the playtest info man. how did they and you like the new skill system. did you try grapple? did you find the cleric ablitys a nice add and did yall try any wizards?
We like the new skill system. The problem we have is passing around the book and figuring out the skills, because we haven't got everything written on a nice character sheet...I'll have to take a breath now.
Dice are a problem, and we'll be ordering some new ones. I haven't seen that many ones rolled in a very long time.
There was grappling, but I think I gooned it up. I'll have to reread the rules and brush up on attacks of opportunity. I think after the darkmantles slammed them, then they should have gotten an AOO before the grapple commenced...
The Cleric's abilities are almost too much to handle at first level, but that's great! I enjoy the sheer variety of cool things to do. The problem is differentiating between the one shot and the "on-call" abilities. A good character sheet would help with that.
The Wizard had some of the same things. I took the sheet after the session and tweaked it. Some of the schools just don't seem as oomphy, as the Clerical Domains.
Am I reading it right, that Cleric's get to use these Domain abilities at will...same as the Wizard using their school ability? The party also found a Wand of Light...but is that if much use since the Wizard can use that cantrip at will now? Can anyone else use a Wand of Light, or is that restricted to the Wizard?
I also enjoy the variable leveling...we chose the fast track, and I really like the whole CR/XP thing where its a flat amount and not adjusted by party level. This always seemed dumb to me because the XPs for the next level always went up. Why adjust for party level unless each level was the same XP amount?
Thanks,
Scott
great man thanks for talking the time to answer my questions.
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Oh...and in my last shipment from Paizo we got these item cards. Overall, they were pretty cool to use. I didn't write on them because my handwriting is jacked. They are a bit expensive, so the jury is still out on their utility. They do look nice though!
And found some character sheets on some other threads...
Thanks,
Scott
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How much more material in terms of page count will be released?By the time we get to the Beta, we expect it to be over 300 pages, and by the time we get to finished product, it will probably be about 420 pages.Thats.. A full 104 more pages than PHB? I mean... Where is all the extra material coming from? Not that I'm complaining but... that 25% more! Do you guys got a trick up your sleeve or something?
(Wonders if Paizo is got something in the works.)
I believe the book is going to essentially the PHB and DMG.
I ran a rather limited game Saturday night and my initial impression was that it was D&D.
The cleric "turning" was bad^$$. The cleric did not have to convert any of his spells to Cure Light Wounds all night. Not one!
The wizard was doing the casting thing, and ray of frost at will is cool. when he needed magic missile it was there. When he needed the sleep spell it was there.
The rogue and the fighter both took Dodge and didn't use it all night long in any fight. They both said they felt stupid for forgetting to use it.
Skills were a mixed bag, I think it is one of those changes that takes getting used to. The Class or Cross classed or nothing was the hard part, it did seed up character creation though.
All the players like net positive characters.
Cover was difficult to work out. My player involved in the cover incident stated " this is tedious crap".
CMB was put to the test once with everyone scratching their heads. It was easier than grapple but new. It might need tweaking but I need familiarity with it first. Just for fun next session I might throw out a gaggle of grappling hob-goblin monks.
The important part though was that every one had a good time.
thansk for the post man ..alpha seems to be doing good so far way to go jason.
Revshafer:
What about rules for creating magic items?
That part isn't out yet. Very similar to 3.5 to keep backward compatibility I suspect.
How hard is it for a first level wizard to scribe scrolls?
The same as a 3.5 first level wizard. I will say that in the first play test the wizard was really effective, being able to cast the cantrip ray of frost with the point blank shot feat every round. 1d3+1 damage every round with a melee touch attack.
Can she enchant her arcane bonded staff?
If I understand your question correctly yes. See page 16 second column 3ed paragraph.
The rules could be a bit clearer, as could the rules for using Combat Feats.
Well... It is the alpha play test. However if you could be a bit specific about what you found unclear that would be a help to the designer I would imagine.
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It says that it can be enchanted as if the Wizard has the required feats...but what if the required feat had a level requirement? I'd like to have a but more guidance...
I'm confused about the whole creating magic items thing. More guidance on the whole subject would be appreciated.
This is what I get for running Clerics...but my wife wanted to run a cleric!
Thanks,
Scott