Playtest Feedback – The Skinsaw Murders Session 2 [Spoilers]
5 PCs; using PFRPG Beta + RoTR player’s Guide bonus Feats + UA Traits, UA Spelltouched Feats & Action Points (downward adjustments made to character wealth using the ‘magic item equivalency’ formula in UA).
PC breakdown:
Bard 2/Rogue 2
Barbarian 2/Monk 2
Wizard (Conjuration) 4
Rogue 2/Sorcerer 2
Ranger 2/Druid 2
In the punch-up with Grayst Sevilla (BAB +3, Str +2 = CMB +5/20).
Main player comment was that “CMB is set too high to make it worth doing” – however this was from a player with the least tolerance for failure and their Bard/Rogue only has a CMB of +3 and was trying to Trip without the Improved Trip Feat or the feat that allows Dex bonus to be used instead of Str for CMB (which would have improved the character’s CMB to +7).
From the referee’s (my) point of view it actually worked much faster than the old version and was appropriately difficult to pull off – particularly as Grayst was described as a “big lad, ex-prize fighter”.
Overall, CMB-based Trip was preferable to earlier version of Trip which was too easy, too powerful and to long-winded mechanically.
From a statblock perspective I will now be writing all CMB entries like so: +5/20 – writing down the static defence ahead of time speeds combat up – the 15+CMB number will be referred to as “CM-Defence”.
Other feedback is that the general consensus in the group is that the characters are “more skilled” and generally feel like they have higher skill totals.
Playtest Feedback – The Skinsaw Murders Session 3 [Spoilers]
CMB still proving unpopular; multiple attempts to pull off CMB maneuvers by players, almost every single one of them resulting in failure. This has the effect of players not using CMB attacks and turns the game into a grind.
I put in an on-the-fly modification of "have a +2 CMB bonus if you describe a cool maneuver".
The most CMB-orientated player, who is perfectly prepared to take AoO's to use Bull Rush, Trip etc was cooling on CMB by the end of the session.
Currently players have a choice between hitting normally and doing damage or attempting a CMB, with less chance of success. My current feeling is to allow base weapon damage to be dealt on CMB rolls that beat AC but not CMB defence. Looking at how the numbers distribute, CMB attacks are about 25% more difficult (less likely to succeed) than normal attacks.
In summary, CMB is good from a ref perspective, but the player perception is that they are more likely to be effective if they just whale away at the bad guy.
Fast Stealth rogue feature + cornfield allowing Hide rolls = very happy rogue player.
Sneak Attack damage affecting undead also greatly added to the game's enjoyment.
Playtest Feedback – The Skinsaw Murders Session 4 [Spoilers]
General observations from session 4 were that the "infinite" uses of the level 0 spells have a game-changing effect, mostly in a good way. The Druid/Ranger for example, now gets +1 to basically any roll out of combat by using guidance; the arcane casters have message which means that there's a communication link between characters in all combats (if they have time to prepare).
Mostly this is perceived as a good thing, particularly in terms of world-setting/paradigm feel; as a village with a 1st-level druid has someone who is useful all day. One concern was that message has a bit of a 'JLA-telepathic-comms' feel to it, but we worked round it by likening it to the ability to speak, not shout over the 120' range.
One CMB attempt was made; resulting in failure (again). We actually used the Iron Heroes Attack/Defence challenges & stunt maneuver rules in the last session, and they proved far more popular - they allow for characters to attempt variant actions that are still effective. The current perception of the standard non-damaging maneuvers is that the effect is not worth the increased chance of failure.
The other thing we did was to add in a rule that creatures 'immune' to crits take max damage from a confirmed crit - which is far more fun.
That said, smart play meant that this was basically a cakewalk for the characters; which was ok - they were fightig a bunch of mindless zombies and a butler - so the villain tactics weren't terribly good.