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[D&D 5E] Playtest of Chaos (Post-Playtest Discussion)

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  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Yeah go ahead and switch it out.

  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    forgot to mark which spells I memorized.

    Suffice to say the idea for my first level was magic missile plus one of the other two.

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    That was... expected?

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Of course if they had won initiative you would probably be dead, but yeah that was the expected result from that.

  • texasheattexasheat Registered User regular
    edited December 2012
    Ugh, mis posting, dont mind me.

    texasheat on
  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    Denada wrote: »
    Of course if they had won initiative you would probably be dead, but yeah that was the expected result from that.
    Oh, for sure. I forgot to buy alcohol :(

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • tzeentchlingtzeentchling Doctor of Rocks OaklandRegistered User regular
    edited December 2012
    So the rogue makes an attack roll and is able to kill a goblin. The wizard says, "I cast this spell," (nothing to roll, either) and the rest of the goblins pretty much flat out die, even if they save vs attack. Clearly, Wizards aren't good enough in this edition.

    tzeentchling on
  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    flattened HP curves at work.

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • NealnealNealneal Registered User regular
    I have no problem with not wasting arrows on One-Ear. Then again, I expect this to continue being the way things break down until we fight something that isn't killed on a successful save and then we'll probably all die.

  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    So how do you guys want to handle the bodies right now? They're on fire (because of Burning Hands) and burning pretty strongly (because of greasy goblins). Putting them out with cooking supplies obviously isn't going to work, but if you want to get your dagger back you can do so quickly without getting burned. Looting the corpses without putting out the flames first will cause 1 fire damage per corpse.

    You can also leave them burning there if you don't care that much about what's on them. They're close enough to the cave entrance that the smoke won't become hazardous.

    Normally I wouldn't care about this sort of thing, or at least not to this degree, but 5E stresses that specificity is important. I can't assume that you're doing anything that you don't say you're doing, so if you don't say that you put out the fire before searching the bodies, then you get burned. 5E also makes a point of mundane items being important, like not being able to heal without a Healer's Kit or pick locks without a set of lock picks. So you can't put out the fire if you don't have something to put out the fire with, whether that be a mundane item, a spell, or whatever.

  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    Fire extinguishers are not listed in the gear listing, but I did take a belt with pouches to contain utility items... a sort of "utility belt," as it were.

    I'm going to claim that one of the pouches in my utility belt contains some sort of individually branded flame retardant material dispersion unit, or a "Bruce-fire-extinguisher."

    There may also be shark repellent in there, so... heads up on that if this will become an underwater campaign.

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • NealnealNealneal Registered User regular
    I'll just keep telling the halfling what to do. I may be a thief too, but one of us is of superior breeding and I can promise you it isn't the hair-footed toddler. I will develop some sort of a personality for ol' Kal.

  • tzeentchlingtzeentchling Doctor of Rocks OaklandRegistered User regular
    edited December 2012
    Derp. Never mind.

    tzeentchling on
  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    judging by the amount of goblins and that ogre on the map, I will assume a second set of adventurers is going to be needed.

    I may be sticking to 3.5 and 4 for awhile if 21 goblins + an ogre is the norm for a fresh party

    uNMAGLm.png Mon-Fri 8:30 PM CST - 11:30 PM CST
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    DM empowerment actually just means a high ratio of dice rolled by the DM compared to the players.

    OrokosPA.png
  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    edited December 2012
    Its pretty much a straight conversion of the dungeon part of Keep on the Borderlands.


    Mind, this was a module ostensibly designed for use with a reaction table and most(?) monsters had a morale stat.

    Der Waffle Mous on
    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    edited December 2012
    We haven't even gotten to the most ridiculous things in these caves.

    Just let that sink in.

    Edit: I'm working on the goblins' turns. It's a lot of rolling to get through. I'm just glad you killed a few so that I don't have to keep track of them anymore.

    Denada on
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Leper, I hope you roll well on that d4.

  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Almost everything about what just happened is like my anti-adventure. I've made frequent use of minions in my 4E games, but the thing about minions in 4E that makes them work is that the PCs aren't also minions.

    But hey, we can't judge:
    WotC wrote:
    The Caves of Chaos isn’t meant to be a hard test of the play balance between characters and monsters.

  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    What? The playtest of their new system isn't meant to include combat? :rotate:

    OrokosPA.png
  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    I don't think its meant to include testing.

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    good lord I just looked at the new post from the goblin's turn, that is far too many goblins, and yeah, 20 goblins would be fine, if the players weren't running around with similar hp

    might want to bring in level 3-5 characters if this is how its going to be haha

    uNMAGLm.png Mon-Fri 8:30 PM CST - 11:30 PM CST
  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    I've tested this before, but not with one of their modules--the guy who ran the game sat down and actually built his own adventure using the rules as a guide, and combat was so damned swingy that we either decimated encounters on round 1-2 or all nearly died. No in between whatsoever. What I found out later that blew my mind is that, because he's kinda lazy, (which is cool with me) all 4 combats we did were MECHANICALLY IDENTICAL.

    Let that sink in.

    I keep meaning to ask, but always forget to: Is Monty still heavily involved with the development?

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    how many god damn javelins are those gobbos each carrying arround?

    Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    how many god damn javelins are those gobbos each carrying arround?

    Three (I decided). It doesn't actually say, but it would be stupid for them to only carry one when they prefer to throw them.

    And it looks like we've hit our first TPK. It only took what, four total rounds of combat?

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    And, according the notes in the module, the goblin cave is supposed to be the easiest one there.

    Who's up for the minotaur? :)

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    And even if you guys had wiped them out, that would have been just 90 xp each for that combat. You'd have to wipe out the chieftain too, just to get to second level, which is apparently supposed to happen early in your career.

  • NealnealNealneal Registered User regular
    edited December 2012
    I'll post up a fighter for the next round, sometime tomorrow morning.

    Maybe he can recover poor Kal's body and stuff.

    Nealneal on
  • bssbss Brostoyevsky Madison, WIRegistered User regular
    edited December 2012
    Is it too early to sarcasta-snarkily say that the TPK just means you guys didn't play intelligently enough?

    bss on
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  • NealnealNealneal Registered User regular
    The hurt of Kal's loss is still close, but I think I can take it.

  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    bss wrote: »
    Is it too early to sarcasta-snarkily say that the TPK just means you guys didn't play intelligently enough?
    If only we had that 10ft pole

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    I am saddened that not once did Bruce have to opportunity to say "I am the night."

    I do kindof wish there was a bard class... just so we could at least... I dunno... create some sort of defensive fortification or something.

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    @Kilnaga, @GrimmyTOA, @wildwood, or anyone else: Do any of you want to swap in for the next excursion?

    Current Team: Do any of you want to volunteer to swap out if someone else wants in?

  • LeperLeper Registered User regular
    I can take a seat on the bench for now.

    Just out of curiosity, how objective are we being with this playtest? Because I'm wondering how a full group of casters would do in this.

    If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    I'm willing to throw any and everything at this playtest, even if it goes against what I would normally do at my table.

    For example, the horrible cluster that just happened in scenic Cave D would never have happened in my own campaign, but I'm trying to treat this first couple of passes as a new DM who's going by the book. After a couple of tests of that scenario, I'm probably going to switch to "good DM" mode and beat the crap out of that horrible adventure until it resembles something I might actually run.

    Basically, I want to put to the test the whole "but a good DM will..." argument when considering the playtest rules.

    So to actually answer your question, if you guys want to run Team Magic I'm totally cool with that. There are no roles in 5E, and no prescriptions for a balanced party, so everything should work equally well together, right?

  • GrimmyTOAGrimmyTOA Registered User regular
    I'll happily swap in, any class, but I'm also content to watch from the sidelines for a bit longer.

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    I think I'll stay on the sidelines for now, unless the next party comes up short. That was pretty horrific.

  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    I wonder if the roster is going to wrap around.

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    If there aren't enough people on the wait list I can roll another character

    Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
  • DenadaDenada Registered User regular
    Alright, for now we'll have GrimmyTOA tag out Leper, and the rest of the party will stay the same. We'll head back to the caves as soon as you guys have your characters in order.

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