Arcanist, brawler, shaman, slayer playtest Level 5


Playtest Feedback


First of all I was not the GM so I can't tell much about the adventure. Some pieces of info in the spoiler.

We started out with the first version of the playtest and then did the second part with the new version.

Asian Ghost story:
The adventure we played was a premade one but I don't know its name. All the PCs were on their way to a remote monastery. The game first featured a haunted wayhouse full of undead, while in the monastery itself we met an outsider and some demons in addition to undead.

Besides the PCs mentioned above we had a swashbuckler but the player could only join for one of the four sessions. So I can't say a lot about that class.
The slayer player (me) started out with a bloodrager but rebuilt the PC because of spell list issues after the revision.

Arcanist: The player seemed to like the class. He didn't seem too strong but until close to the end I never noticed something special about what he did. The one thing I did notice was, that he could reduce the remaining duration of an enemy spell (something like obscuring mist) and helped us in the final fight.

Brawler: Did very solid damage with two attacks on a full attack. He complained that martial manoeuvres is too much work to prepare (too many feats to know) even before reaching level 6 when he gets to choose two. Too few uses if I understood him right.

Shaman: Was a nature spirit shaman who switched between life and flame as wandering spirit. Seemed neat. The fox familiar (companion?) didn't do much except for scouting once. The class played out like a mix of druid and cleric and looked good.

Slayer: Felt more than a fighter with out of combat utility than a ranger/rogue mix. With medium armor he was too slow to get into flanking position, with light armor he was very squishy. To be able to get ranger styles is nice, because it ignores prerequisites. With the "right" talent choices he gets nearly as many feats like the fighter with better skills and saves. If I want to play a fighter I'll look at the slayer instead. The class has the problem all mundane classes have however.

Bloodrager: Played an arcane BR with the moonlight stalker feat. I loved the class (pre revision) and can easily see me playing one again with the magus spell list (or any other spell list except its own). He was strong in combat and had some things going for him out of combat.
To be able to rage to gain a spider climb effect (bloodline power) was very handy.

Must run, perhaps I add something later.


Bloodrager part II: The bloodrager list has way too many blasts and too few buffs and utility spells. While the new list surely didn't only take stuff away little of the added spells matter for me.
Because of that I felt that I know the bloodrager enough and took the chance to play and test another class.
The blood sanctuary ability seems out of place for a class with only one good save and no evasion. Those +2 don't make any meaningful difference when it comes to calling airstrikes on my position.

Swashbuckler: Was with us for only one session. Looked interesting with some aces up his sleeve but had problems regaining panache and by that was soon too low to use it. Preferring to keep some for an emergency.
He confirmed two crits but both missed because of concealment (poor lighting) and he could not land even one killing blow. All in all he seemed somewhat overshadowed by the bloodrager and the brawler.

Playtest in general: Most classes seem rather balanced. The usual power levels remain: Full casters - partial casters - mundanes, with the barbarian being on partial caster level.

In our test game the full casters didn't seem to unleash their full potential. But at only level 5 this potential is not fully developed yet. The Bloodrager could more than hold his ground in combat and had his spells to shine out of combat, which kept him above the mundane's level.
The Brawler and slayer could dish out heavy damage in combat. The brawler was much more tanky (and, with his two attacks had slightly more damage potential) than the slayer but the slayer could shine more through his skills but was very squishy (no dex bonus and ended up wearing light armor for mobility).
The swashbuckler seemed the weakest but perhaps he could have shined more if he had been with us the whole four sessions.

Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Thanks for posting your playtest feedback! :)

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