Dungeons and Dragons
Jun. 14th, 2008 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesSo, I played 4th edition for the first time last night.
So, the group was pretty full of novices to roleplaying in general and D&D in specific. It was made up of a group of regulars to Friday Night boardgames*, though. I also was the only woman in the group -- strangely enough, this was the first time where this was true that I didn't fell uncomfortable. Perhaps because I knew all the guys.
Anyway, the adventure was the "Keep on the Shadowfell" one that Wizards of the Coast put out. We all had pre-generated characters, aside from Geoff (Gregg the Wizard) -- standard classes covered, along with a Paladin. No, sadly, Zach took the paladin before I could get there, so I ended up playing a Dwarven Fighter.
First improvement -- WotC does a nice job at laying out what my character could do and how often on the sample sheet. Whenever I played a martial character in 3rd, I always wondered if there were things my fighter could do besides run up and stab (okay, in this case, hit -- I had a maul) things. Here it had a bunch of maneuvers I could do -- I could cleave (which damaged the enemies around me), do a reaping strike (which damaged even on a miss), power attack (take a negative to hit to do extra damage), or just do the basic melee or ranged attack. I also had a move I could do once per fight to knock an opponent off his feet, and a once a day move to do a crazy amount of damage. Now the at-will moves are all things I probably could have done in 3rd edition, but the way the character sheets laid them out made it a lot clearer.
I also liked the per-encounter and per-day moves. A lot of people (on the internet) argued that they were too MMORPG-esque, but they came to a nice, dramatic, use in our game -- at one point, we were fighting a group of Kobolds outside their HQ. Once the tide had turned towards us, one of them broke and ran for the entrance of their HQ, to warn the others that we were on the way. Dave-the-GM pointed out that meant we wouldn't have time to rest at all before the next fight, so would go in at a disadvantage. So, I spent an action point to get a double-move, then unleashed my daily attack. (in-game: Eldeth Berendsdotter put on an extraordinary burst of speed and swung at the Kobold bandits' messenger with all her might, preventing him from getting news to his cohorts.) It was cinematic, and awesome.
They also retooled the HP system so that first-level characters have some. That was one reason I was always loath to run first-level games. The D&D mentality of encouraging combat doesn't go well with the fact that the Joe Orc with a Greataxe could take down any First-level PC with a lucky hit. Here I felt like our characters wouldn't fall down if they were breathed on funny. Aside from the Minions, most of the other monsters had comparable HP, so we didn't get to mow down Kobolds. Fair enough.
(Dear 3rd Edition Writers -- four or so encounters per rest my ass.)
There was also the matter of the Wizard. I wasn't playing the wizard, but I know what it's like to play a first-level one -- you get maybe 2 spells of 1st-level awesome a day, maybe 3 cantrips, and then you're just a commoner in robes with a crossbow. Here the wizard got to sling around minor spells at will, and then bring out major effects once per fight or once per day. I'd like to see how that works with the more utility/non-combat spells.
Overall, I had fun bandit-stomping, and next week, we are promised a Death Cult. You can take my words with a grain of salt though -- I remember a quote from Granny Weatherwax about Nanny Ogg and drinking: that Nanny might say she really wants fine alcohol, but she'd just as happily take a beer. I'm the same way about gaming -- really, I might wax poetic about my favorite RPGs, but I'm happy for a good round of low-brow monster fighting in good company.
We'll see how things go next wee.
So, the group was pretty full of novices to roleplaying in general and D&D in specific. It was made up of a group of regulars to Friday Night boardgames*, though. I also was the only woman in the group -- strangely enough, this was the first time where this was true that I didn't fell uncomfortable. Perhaps because I knew all the guys.
Anyway, the adventure was the "Keep on the Shadowfell" one that Wizards of the Coast put out. We all had pre-generated characters, aside from Geoff (Gregg the Wizard) -- standard classes covered, along with a Paladin. No, sadly, Zach took the paladin before I could get there, so I ended up playing a Dwarven Fighter.
First improvement -- WotC does a nice job at laying out what my character could do and how often on the sample sheet. Whenever I played a martial character in 3rd, I always wondered if there were things my fighter could do besides run up and stab (okay, in this case, hit -- I had a maul) things. Here it had a bunch of maneuvers I could do -- I could cleave (which damaged the enemies around me), do a reaping strike (which damaged even on a miss), power attack (take a negative to hit to do extra damage), or just do the basic melee or ranged attack. I also had a move I could do once per fight to knock an opponent off his feet, and a once a day move to do a crazy amount of damage. Now the at-will moves are all things I probably could have done in 3rd edition, but the way the character sheets laid them out made it a lot clearer.
I also liked the per-encounter and per-day moves. A lot of people (on the internet) argued that they were too MMORPG-esque, but they came to a nice, dramatic, use in our game -- at one point, we were fighting a group of Kobolds outside their HQ. Once the tide had turned towards us, one of them broke and ran for the entrance of their HQ, to warn the others that we were on the way. Dave-the-GM pointed out that meant we wouldn't have time to rest at all before the next fight, so would go in at a disadvantage. So, I spent an action point to get a double-move, then unleashed my daily attack. (in-game: Eldeth Berendsdotter put on an extraordinary burst of speed and swung at the Kobold bandits' messenger with all her might, preventing him from getting news to his cohorts.) It was cinematic, and awesome.
They also retooled the HP system so that first-level characters have some. That was one reason I was always loath to run first-level games. The D&D mentality of encouraging combat doesn't go well with the fact that the Joe Orc with a Greataxe could take down any First-level PC with a lucky hit. Here I felt like our characters wouldn't fall down if they were breathed on funny. Aside from the Minions, most of the other monsters had comparable HP, so we didn't get to mow down Kobolds. Fair enough.
(Dear 3rd Edition Writers -- four or so encounters per rest my ass.)
There was also the matter of the Wizard. I wasn't playing the wizard, but I know what it's like to play a first-level one -- you get maybe 2 spells of 1st-level awesome a day, maybe 3 cantrips, and then you're just a commoner in robes with a crossbow. Here the wizard got to sling around minor spells at will, and then bring out major effects once per fight or once per day. I'd like to see how that works with the more utility/non-combat spells.
Overall, I had fun bandit-stomping, and next week, we are promised a Death Cult. You can take my words with a grain of salt though -- I remember a quote from Granny Weatherwax about Nanny Ogg and drinking: that Nanny might say she really wants fine alcohol, but she'd just as happily take a beer. I'm the same way about gaming -- really, I might wax poetic about my favorite RPGs, but I'm happy for a good round of low-brow monster fighting in good company.
We'll see how things go next wee.
