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My group and I decided to split our playtesting in 2, a series of combat encounters at level 3 and another one at level 10. So far we completed the level 3 part, and tonight we are going to continue with level 10 characters. First, some info.
Another player joined us in the last moment, so it was a 5 PC party. A sword and shield Armor Inventor, a Pet Inventor using a dueling pistol, a Weapon Inventor using a shortbow, an arquebus/musket Sniper gunslinger and a Pistolero gunslinger with a dueling pistol.
All encounters were between average and severe dificculty (the bossfight was halfway between severe and extreme). I think there is testing to be done with easy and extreme encounters too, but after 4 fights in a row we decided we had enough of level 3 gunslinger and inventor.
The encounters in question were: 2 encounters against on level enemies, a low level horde of enemies and a High AC bossfight with a sidekick/meatshield.
They had to choose an exploration activity before rolling initiative.
For the map layout I went with water pools, high grass (concealment), buildings and fences (half cover). Didn't include darkness because it would feel more of a ancestry test than a class test.
After the first fight we decided to lower unstable DC to 11, as 17 just felt too bad. Players seemed to like the change. Also as we didn't know if specialty crafting could apply or not for overdrive, in the end I decided to allow it.
All players had a +1 weapon as its only magic item. No consumables either. Every fight they regained all resources and had a single shared hero point.
Taking that into consideration lets share my player's opinions.
Armor Inventor felt good. The class worked as intended mostly, and in the boss foght he gambled for a second Searing Restoration that ended winning them the fight. He and the construct were the only frontlaners in the party, so he would have gone down the most were not for Orc Ferocity. His only caveat were level 1 inventor feats. He neither the other inventors used both rocket jump or tamper that are supposed to be level 1 combat feats.
Weapon Inventor felt good too. Overdrive with ranged weapons dealt a lot of damage. Nothing special here.
Pet Inventor liked the pet a lot, but guns + inventor felt bad as hell. He had 2 actions to work with every turn as he had to command the construct, so moving into range and shooting felt clunky. He told me that he would rather use a rapier for the level 10 testing, and I'm sure his character will be far more effective.
Sniper gunslinger managed to do almost 40 points of damage in one shot with the arquebus in the first fight, and even so, he asked me to change his +1 rune from the arquebus to the musket for the rest of the game so yeah, arquebuses feel very bad (he made more attacks and did the same damage in 3 turns against a high AC boss with the musket than what he did in 5 with the arquebus). He had lots of fun playing with a fence in the boss encounter, jumping above it to gain cover, hiding and shooting from safety. He had both firearm ace and Risky reload and with that he managed to stay almost on par with the ranged inventor. He didn't like something that I will explain later.
The Pistolero Gunslinger didn't like the experience. She picked pistol twirl, and as good as the feat would be for a bow user, firearms don't have the action economy to support it. She did the least amount of damage (she rolled slighly below average, but she is aware of that) and most of the time her turns consisted in move, reload, strike due to dueling pistol low range. She and the other gunslinger seemed to agree that anything that is not Firearm Ace + Risky reload will feel bad at low levels and honestly I kind of agree with them.
I noted the amount of damage all of them did and such but honestly, I think how the classes feel is the better feedback we can give to Paizo right now. For the most part they have done a great job at balancing classes and adjusting numbers belongs to the realm of the internal playtest anyway.
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...My group and I decided to split our playtesting in 2, a series of combat encounters at level 3 and another one at level 10. So far we completed the level 3 part, and tonight we are going to continue with level 10 characters. First, some info.
Another player joined us in the last moment, so it was a 5 PC party. A sword and shield Armor Inventor, a Pet Inventor using a dueling pistol, a Weapon Inventor using a shortbow, an arquebus/musket Sniper gunslinger and a Pistolero gunslinger with a dueling pistol.
All encounters were between average and severe dificculty (the bossfight was halfway between severe and extreme). I think there is testing to be done with easy and extreme encounters too, but after 4 fights in a row we decided we had enough of level 3 gunslinger and inventor.
The encounters in question were: 2 encounters against on level enemies, a low level horde of enemies and a High AC bossfight with a sidekick/meatshield.
They had to choose an exploration activity before rolling initiative.
For the map layout I went with water pools, high grass (concealment), buildings and fences (half cover). Didn't include darkness because it would feel more of a ancestry test than a class test.
After the first fight we decided to lower unstable DC to 11, as 17 just felt too bad. Players seemed to like the change. Also as we didn't know if specialty crafting could apply or not for overdrive, in the end I decided to allow it.
All players had a +1 weapon as its only magic item. No consumables either. Every fight they regained all resources and had a single shared hero point.
Taking that into consideration lets share my player's opinions.
Armor Inventor felt good. The class worked as intended mostly, and in the boss foght he gambled for a second Searing Restoration that ended winning them the fight. He and the construct were the only frontlaners in the party, so he would have gone down the most were not for Orc Ferocity. His only caveat were level 1 inventor feats. He
His innovation is the construct, not the weapon.
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Looking forward to the level 10 playtest write up!
Only did one moderate encounter level 3 with an arquebus sniper but I loved it. But that was primarily for the fantasy of using the surroundings to cover for the unsteady trait. Like a bar table that also then provides cover.
I would love to make a gunslinger/assassin that stalks the battlefield with single precision shots over multiple turns. Even if it is bad.