D&D Next at SnowCon
Last weekend at the local gaming convention I got in on a playtest game of D&D Next. Yes, I've signed up for the official playtest and I get an email every time a new version comes out, so I'm not breaking any rules.
I have two main thoughts about the game we played: It was too easy, and it was too hard. I think one was thanks to D&D Next and one was thanks to the adventure the DM ran.
Too easy: I had a cleric of Beory. I always had healing spells available of whatever level I could cast (0-3 for this playtest), and my healing spells did not count toward my limit of max spells. Effectively, I could cast any healing spell from Cure Minor Wounds (1 HP) to Cure Serious Wounds (3d8+13) as often as I wanted. This is too broken. No limit? Or rather, limited only by rounds? I liked it, as I was able to keep everyone else healthy, but it really is broken.
Too hard: The first things we fought were ghouls and ghasts. If I had been attacked and failed my paralyze saving throw before my action came, the party might have died. The other party members were getting attacked and failing their saving throws. Everyone was slowly getting paralyzed. Luckily, none of the attacks against my heavily armored characters broke through, and I was able to cast Channel Divinity as a Turn Undead. If that hadn't worked out, it would have been the shortest playtest ever.
Now, I'm not sure ghasts and ghouls are in Next or what their powers really are if they are in the edition. I have a feeling the GM was just using creatures from the 1e adventure he was running. However, if they are in the new "iteration," and they do paralyze...it could be a short night, even for 6th level characters like we had.
Have you playtested the game? Did you find anything disturbing?
I have two main thoughts about the game we played: It was too easy, and it was too hard. I think one was thanks to D&D Next and one was thanks to the adventure the DM ran.
Too easy: I had a cleric of Beory. I always had healing spells available of whatever level I could cast (0-3 for this playtest), and my healing spells did not count toward my limit of max spells. Effectively, I could cast any healing spell from Cure Minor Wounds (1 HP) to Cure Serious Wounds (3d8+13) as often as I wanted. This is too broken. No limit? Or rather, limited only by rounds? I liked it, as I was able to keep everyone else healthy, but it really is broken.
Too hard: The first things we fought were ghouls and ghasts. If I had been attacked and failed my paralyze saving throw before my action came, the party might have died. The other party members were getting attacked and failing their saving throws. Everyone was slowly getting paralyzed. Luckily, none of the attacks against my heavily armored characters broke through, and I was able to cast Channel Divinity as a Turn Undead. If that hadn't worked out, it would have been the shortest playtest ever.
Now, I'm not sure ghasts and ghouls are in Next or what their powers really are if they are in the edition. I have a feeling the GM was just using creatures from the 1e adventure he was running. However, if they are in the new "iteration," and they do paralyze...it could be a short night, even for 6th level characters like we had.
Have you playtested the game? Did you find anything disturbing?