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So, finally got to actually sit down and play these new rules, with some very interesting observations.
First: The Cast (players). We've been playing together for 4-5 years now, and have all had extensive experience w/ 3.5. Most of us have not played the other editions (with a little bit of 2ed thrown in there for spice)
They are some of the same players (actually all of them are) that are in my current Savage Tide Game, with all of us having some DM experience as well.
thats out of the way, now on to the characters:
Gnome Cleric 5/ Bard 1 (Played by Christa, known feats: Empower Turning, Extra Turning, ...the one that lets you exclude creatures from your turn-healing burst...)
Forest Gnome Druid 6 (Played by Susan, Shapeshifter variant, don't know her feats)
Human Fighter 6 (Played by Paul, lots of feats, not present at this session)
Human Barbarian 6 (NPC filling in for Paul's Fighter, run by the DM)
Human Rogue 6 (Played by myself, feats include Point Blank, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload, Telling Blow, Crossbow Sniper, rogue talents: Finesse Rogue, Weapon Training (Lt Crossbow), Combat Feat: Careful Targetting)
ON TO THE GAME LOG:
right off the bat, we had most, if not all, of the non-combat skills covered between all of us, so getting info in town, getting around in the wilderness, and the like was no problem. no glaring weakpoints other than a lack of full-arcane caster. not too big of an issue, methinks, at least at this level.
1st Combat: Encountered a Brown Bear on the trail of some giant-type footprints, both rogue and druid able to stealth up relatively close to it, not hostile, later approached and wild empathied. the bear seemed ok, gave us some intel, and provided a good wilderness encounter for the druid to shine. her 30 or so on survival ensured that when she went for food while we set up camp the bear was happy.
success due to wild empathy, stealth, and staying non-hostile to poor old bear.
2nd combat: on watch, rogue hears movement, sees some creatures approaching, initative.
turns out to be some wolves and a dire wolf, looking for a midnight snack. Careful Targetting and bad perception rolls on the part of the wolves meant sneak attack for the first 2-3 rounds, and the rest of the party held their own quite nicely. Barbarian did his thing, doing some significant damage to the little wolves, and the druid nipped and bit, taking out his leftovers.
The direwolf grappled the cleric, trying to make off with her, (grapple check = move yourself and them 1/2 speed and place them in an adjacent square), which we all thought was entirely appropriate, a decent threat, and quite easy to adjudicate. being able to still shoot while the wolf was grappling the cleric was also nice.
the bear even helped a bit, since we camped close by, and took out 2 or 3 of the wolves on its own.
success due to healing burst (cleric took a bunch of damage, but was able to heal herself while also helping the barbarian and druid who were getting dinged for litte bits), easy and fight appropriate grapple rules, and ability to keep up ranged attacks at enemies who are grappling!
combat 3: After resting, come across some ogres (3) hanging out at some ruins. send the druid ahead with intention to lead them into the undergrowth and entangle them there. Ogres respond by throwing javelins from behind cover, druid entangles while in place.
fight goes our way rather easily now, since the ogres can't move (failed reflex save), and we can ping them from outside the entangle zone. rogue and druid move around, shooting crossbow bolts and flying in with talons, while barbarian engages one at the edge with his reach weapon. cleric stays back and heals as necessary.
not too much different from 3.5 rules...but a fun fight nonetheless.
combat 4: underground from the above encounter, run into some undead in an old wine cellar. they move in, get shot a bit, shoot us some (Karnnathi Skeletons and Zombies, with a few normal zombies thrown in) till the cleric can get in range. Boom, Boom, Boom, 3 or 4 turns later, all the undead have been destroyed from turning damage and little bits from the others, and we're all healed up from arrow damage, almost as an incidental "thank you" for having a cleric.
success due in large part to cleric's positive energy burst, as well as the ability to sneak attack undead, not that it did too much, but meh...it was nice to shoot for a reason, rather than have absolutely nothing to do.
combat 5: more ogres, underground this time, and disguised (with illusions) as couatls. they get the drop on us, missing due to bad rolls, and combat is on. lots of damage dealt and received in the combat, mostly on the druid and barbarian...everyone was moving around to try to get me flank angles, get the party in the healing burst, and minimize AoO's, flanking by enemies, and the like. Good, solid slugfest that dropped the barb to negatives at one point (cleric right there by that point) when he was swift-action-teleported out and healed back to effectiveness next round.
success, again, due to cleric's healing burst, druid's predator form Mobility feat (love the "no AoO's from movement", so much more appropriate now), and the barbarian's rage power that acts like Smite...don't remember the name right now. Another quite satisfying encounter.
combat 6: Back outside, encountered some kind of illusion-veiled-swamp (looking like jungle), ran into 5 more Karnnathi skeletons/zombies, this time they were invisible in the bog. Pretty basic fight, was able to sneak attack one Skeleton, doing a bit of damage, barbarian was able to drop another, then the cleric turned em, and again. Took 2 or 3 attempts, but dropped them quite readily.
success due to turn undead damage, again.
combat 7: Further along in the swamp, encounter a ruined tower looking place, see more undead archers/swordsmen on top.
This fight took a long time, because the cleric and druid were able to get up close much faster. All party members were invisible due to Wand of Invis found as treasure (and rogue w/ UMD), so they flew/ran up to the tower and engaged while rogue and barbarian slogged through the swamp, running at 1/2 speed for 8-9 rounds.
Again, turn undead damaged most of the guys on the top of the tower, and what damage the cleric took (from arrows shot by the zombie guys) was being healed as she damaged the archers. The druid ended up drawing off all the melee undead, as they couldn't hit the flying cleric, got surrounded, and danced out using mobility. That lasted till backup arrived, and we put down the undead quite readily after that.
Cleric and Druid success due to Mobility (would likely have dropped if not for this) and turn-undead-damage, again. Rogue and Barbarian did next to nothing this combat, except a little light cleanup.
Final Combat: Us vs. a hag-coven. Annis, Sea, and Green hags, all inside the ruined tower. Using good stealth (and another charge off the invis wand) encountered the hags (one invis) while illusioned to look like an old lady and her cow. A kind of tough fight ensued, the invisible hag whiffed on her attack vs. the cleric (tough night for DM's dice...lots of nat-1 attack rolls), and the Green strength drained the cleric for 2 str, barbarian whacked Sea Hag, druid whiffed, rogue did some damage to Green, became visible.
The Green used a coven-power-thing to forecage the barbarian, taking him out of the fight, then the Annis grabbed druid, doing some damage, rogue was able to drop Sea hag with another crossbow shot.
Cleric took her turn to dimension hop over to the barbarian, next round brought him out of the forcecage, rogue acrobatics tumbled into the room, and barbarian was able to trip the Annis using rage power to add to him CMB score.
That was pretty much the nail in the coffin, as she was flanked by rogue and barbarian, prone, and unable to really do much beyond die.
Barbarian finished off green hag on his next action, Annis took some rapier-sneak attacks while standing, druid bit her when she dropped the druid to fight the rogue, and rogue finished her off on my next turn.
All around good fight, needed healing, tactical movement, skill use, grapples, trips, and the like, as well as flanks and AoO's.
Final thoughts: Cleric Turn-Undead positive energy burst is AWESOME. minor healing for the whole party, damage to undead (not just work/no work)