So, last week my poor gnome died in our Reign of Winter game, and I decided to replace him with a Slayer, using the brand new released updated playtest document. Here's the build I used, incorporating items (using level 5 wealth):
Thugar Sevenfold
Dwarf, Slayer 6, NG alignment
Str 16 (18), Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 6
Fort +9, Refl +7, Will +3 [Add 3 to all these for Glory of Old / Hardy]
Init +2. AC 21 (touch 12, FF 19). HP 64. CMD 22.
Feats: Improved Shield Bash, TWF, Dorn-Dergar Master.
Talents: [Ranger Weapon & Shield Style] Shield Slam, Shield Master; [Combat Trick] Big Game Hunter.
Favored Target +2, 2 targets; Track +3; Sneak Attack +2d6.
Gear: Daredevil Boots, Belt of Giant's Strength +2, Incandescent Blue Cracked ioun stone, +1 dragonhide spiked heavy shield, masterwork mountain-pattern armour, frostforged masterwork +1 Dorn-Dergar, cold iron Spiked Gauntlet, 2* cold iron Dwarven Maulaxe, wand of CLW, scrolls of Endure Elements, sundry other gear.
Skills: acrobatics, perception, stealth, survival maxed. Several extra languages learned, plus a smattering of intimidate, knowledges and outdoors skills.
So, today was a puzzle session, it seems, and I tend to enjoy those. Having 7 skill points per level meant I could contribute in a variety of places to skill checks, which is nice. In fact, the only reason I don't play more clerics and paladins is their abysmal amount of skill options. Good job on the Slayer design so far :).
First up, a very large boar. It won initiative and charged our fighter, who was standing in the mouth of the narrow passage we were in. The fighter got tore up pretty good. On my turn, I tumbled past the boar (he blocked entry to the room entirely), failing 1 check out of 3 and getting partially around him. Plan was to hit him next round with 3 attacks from the flank.
Second round saw the fighter getting critted and dropping very low, which meant that he could not set up a flank as he needed to stay near the cleric for a heal or he might die. I had the choice of tumbling and hitting once from a flank for 2d6 sneak attack, or studying and attacking once. I decided upon the latter and shield bashed him, using my +13 bull rush as a free attack. Maneuvers are still lousy, though, since I failed even though I rolled a +32. Did a bit of damage.
Third round, the fighter was mostly patched up and did good damage, and the sorceror plus druid got some nice spells in. The boar died before I got to take my full attack.
I'm afraid I didn't take much away from this fight, other than that the "study as a move" mechanism, especially for someone with multiple attacks, is disappointing. I suspected as much, but wanted to try it, this being a playtest. Should have gone for the sneak attack instead.
Second encounter, a skill/trap challenge. Combination of very good fortitude saves (yay dwarf), and some decent swim and acrobatics rolls, meant that this was cleared with minimal trouble. It's nice to have non-combat functionality.
Third encounter was very disappointing from a playtest perspective, as I rolled a natural 1 on a fear save in turn 1 and was out of the fight immediately (well, for 12 rounds; same thing, really). Since TWO people failed their saves versus fear (plus 1 person versus Confusion), this was a long and arduous fight, that almost TPK'ed us (5 man party). We burned through quite some scrolls and some wand charges to first win the fight, then recover.
It's hard to claim I learned anything here about the class. Observation shows that I should have contributed meaningfully, even with physical attacks versus an incorporeal enemy, since my very healthy 64 hp plus 3 attacks would have allowed for a much more rugged front line than a just a twohander fighter (when he wasn't babbling or self-harming), a sorceror (who rolled abysmally on his caster level checks), a cleric (taken to the dry-cleaners by hit point damage in three rounds) and a druid, who did a good job nibbling the spirit down with whatever was at hand.
The rest of the session involved more skill checks. I reminded myself to put extra points in knowledges for next level, and that Int 12 gives a low knowledge base when only some are class skills. Still, you cannot be good at everything, and I feel that Slayer is hitting a very sweet spot between rogue and ranger when it comes to skills. The lack of Knowledge (nature) is a little odd, but that's probably because I themed Thugar as a monster hunter, not a bountyhunter.
Comparing the Slayer with the other characters in the group, all of us being level 6 at this point in time, has me feeling the class is solid. The fighter has slightly better damage potential, but it's not a big gap and I'll take 6 skill points and a better skill list gladly. Everyone else was a spellcaster, so that's a tough comparison. I think that dumping charisma is perhaps not the best choice, since power attack / cornugon smash is a strong tactic, and UMD is so powerful, but the class is MAD, so it's choices. I already went for a good Con, since we needed to firm up our front line (hence, also, the TWF/shield bash build), so there really wasn't much room for a good Charisma. It will be interesting to see the results of people building Slayers with different stat priorities.
So, that's it for this week. Next Wednesday another game, and more playtest data. Hope this helped at all!