| James Bolton |
The dead first level gunslinger (Dent Westwood) was resurrected for the sake of the playtest (as Brent Northwood). He had Cha 16, Dex 16, Con 13 and the rest doesn't matter. We ignored the strength requirements for carrying around all that ammo and powder and he (being human) had rapid reload, deadly aim and point blank shot. He now has a musket AND two pistols.
Human Samurai w/ 18 str, 14 con, 13 dex, AC 18, power attack, mounted combat and weapon focus. At my prompting, he actually used the heck out his horse to great effect until the guys entered a dungeon full of orcs.
Human Ninja w/ 18 dex, 13 str, 14 con, 14 cha, TWF, weapon finesse and extra ki, AC 17
(He used a bastard sword and short sword, picked up vanish trick at level 2)
Elf Magus w/ arcane accuracy @ 3rd level, but... still doesn't matter for playtest purposes- This guy was much more consistent at dealing damage (though he still relied on using ray of frost most rounds) and with the addition of shield he had the highest AC in the group - finally able to 'off-tank'.
I will spare a lot of details this time:
The party crossed paths with a bunch of orcs, followed them home and essentially knocked down the doors and took them on.
The ninja notably took down lots and lots of basic orcs and level 1 orc fighters in single round bursts and he used vanish to skirt around the entire battlefield with relative ease before picking targets. (One issue we had was my constantly forgetting he was invisible, but that is an easy GM fix.)
The gunslinger had almost no trouble consistently hitting but not doing much damage. In a fight with a blue wyrmling - what I thought would be his shining moment - turned into him essentially standing in one spot and firing (and hitting and doing little damage) while the samurai tanked and everyone else massacred him.
Needless to say, it wasn't a very exciting session for him... he killed a total of two orcs tonight. The ninja and samurai probably downed a dozen each throughout the session, and all of us have serious doubts about the gunslinger's potential uses in a party. He can't tank because he wasn't good in melee. He can't deal any meaningful damage - even compared to the gish.
The gunslinger also had the best of chances against a level 5 orc anti-paladin in full plate w/ a shield... touch AC 11. Though this time it was more about him running and reloading and then doing little damage. The five-foot-step and full withdrawal were his only moves.
Asked about the play experience, the character said, "I think they need to fix the guns." His problem with the class itself was that he did not use a single class ability with the exception of a one-time use of 'pistol whip' (something he said he felt he should have been able to do without spending the grit point, but without the knockdown and bonus to hit, which even he said was a bit too much) and 'gunslinger initiative.'
I honestly, as a GM, have no problem with the way firearms work mechanics-wise but I'm starting to see a big gap between the gunslinger's usefulness and the other classes at this level... maybe level 4 will signal a big change? (I worry that granting the gunslinger too much in compensation would create the opposite effect though.)
Funny thing - The gunslinger kept referring to shooting his musket as, 'I throw my bag of gold at him.'
The samurai had little problem standing toe-to-toe with anything at this level, including the level 5 anti-paladin and a pair of ogres, although he did use resolve twice in one combat against the anti-paladin. Unfortunately, he burned his challenge early in the session and only got two attacks with it activated before he downed an orc barbarian 2 (really solid hits though). The creature he had the most trouble with was a hobgoblin rogue 3 with a poisoned scimitar, but probably because his rolls were low in that encounter.
The magus seems to have really come into his own, much more able to hang longer without rest and much more survivable at this level, especially with his judicious use of scrolls. I did notice that he only ever charged or full-attacked with spell combat on his turns, which, at least to me, seems like it could severely ween him of potential power at upper levels and makes for a bit of a one-trick-pony.
Over all, the samurai was MVP, tanking big bad guys and providing flanks was one thing, but as long as he was on that horse he was a real powerhouse. Challenge, while spent in an untimely way, was worth using, and resolve saved his bacon - and was probably his favorite class ability.
The ninja seemed to be just as effective as a rogue in combat, but failed to spot at least two magic traps that hurt other party members. He seems to be less of a team-player than the rogue and his sporadically using vanish essentially helped me choose monsters' targets without having to worry about him - yes, the ninja did damage, but several times the magus and samurai soaked up hits that would have been his, which might have made some fights less frantic for the others. I expect that having a healer would have helped with this.
| James Bolton |
Forgot one thing: the ninja ran out of ki on the last fight of the night, severely limiting his usefulness. (He threw shurikens and shot his crossbow for the rest of the fight, hiding behind the magus's 'grease' effect on the ground, away from the two ogres and the anti-paladin.
He tried to use at least one point per encounter and there were 5 encounters and honestly, would not have been nearly as effective without the extra ki feat - which essentially meant two to four extra sneak attacks for him.