D&D 5e Playtest

Started by Arctic Blast, May 26, 2012, 03:21:40 PM

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Arctic Blast

Wondering if anyone else has downloaded this from the Wizards site, yet? It's gone to public Beta, so anyone can grab it. I just started reading it, but so far I like the few changes I've seen so far.

-Saving throws are now made against one of your 6 base stats, instead of having separate Fortitude, Reflex and Will numbers. So for a grapple save, you might roll against Strength. For something to do with resisting magic, a Wisdom or Con save might be rolled.
-More focus on opposed tests. So, if you're trying to sneak up on a bad guy, you're making Dex rolls against his Perception to see if he notices you or not. Seems like they want stuff like this to be more of a regular occurrence, which might make things a bit more interactive in terms of rolling checks and making players stick a bit more to the strengths of their characters.

Arctic Blast

Okay, some more stuff.

-Along with the normal rules where you roll a D20 to try to accomplish something, there may now be times where the DM will determine you are in a position of Advantage or Disadvantage (these can also come up for other things, like you always roll at Disadvantage when making a ranged attack at extended range). In both cases, you will roll 2 D20's. When in Advantage, you keep the highest of the 2 results. You keep the lowest when in Disadvantage.
-Every character now gets a Hit Die (and gains more as they level up) used in hit point re-gen during rests. Healing surges seem to have gone and have been replaced by this. During a short rest, you may roll a hit die and gain back hit points equal to the number rolled on your die plus your con mod. However, once used a hit die is gone until returned by taking a long rest (which also fully replenishes hit points).
-In combat, you may take an action on your character's turn, but there are no more move actions. Movement is completely separate. And you can split it to occur before and after whatever action you elect to take that round.
-Melee weapons are now in 4 categories : Simple, Finesse (lighter, so you add your Dex mod to hit and damage rolls, rather than Str), Martial (need training to use) and Heavy (small characters cannot use). Ranged are in 2 : Simple and Complex (need to be trained).
-There are 2 types of magic, Arcane (uses Intelligence) and Divine (uses Wisdom). There are likely other new rules for magic users, but I almost never play caster classes so I have no idea what they are.
-Attacks of Opportunity seem to have vanished for the time being, which seems potentially problematic. What's to stop everyone and the DM from just popping in, hitting and popping out every single round? This is one of the few real WTF parts for me.
-Once you hit negative hit points, you're unconscious. You must successfully roll 3 death saves to stabilize (a Con save with a requirement of rolling at least 10). For every failure, take an additional 1d6 damage. If your negative score equals your con + level, your ass is dead.
-Healing from negative HP has been made easier. Now, the heal action raises you from negatives to 0. So, if someone does a 4 hp heal on a character at -5, that character is now at 4 HP. As a balancer, it looks like HP totals are going to be lower in general.
-Armor is in 3 different classes with different AC bonuses : Light (AC + your Dex mod), Medium (AC + half your Dex mod) and Heavy (AC only).
-Masterwork weapons now give damage bonuses. Weapons can be silvered to help against certain monster types, but it looks to be pretty pricey (100 GP for a single melee weapon or 10 ammo for a ranged).
-There are a multitude of different damage types, with certain monster types, races and armors being more or less vulnerable to certain types of damage.
-Stealth is now a much bigger factor in combat. Hidden characters cannot be directly targeted, and they gain advantage for their first attack out of their hidden status.
-Magic users still have their spell limit, but can also memorize some spells for unlimited use.

Martok

Thanks for the info, Arctic Blast.  I've yet to feel any compulsion to move away from 3.5, but I'm still interested. 

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Bison

I signed up for it, but I haven't downloaded yet.

Arctic Blast

Quote from: Martok on May 26, 2012, 07:07:57 PM
Thanks for the info, Arctic Blast.  I've yet to feel any compulsion to move away from 3.5, but I'm still interested.

Our group was playing 4e before the usual summer shutdown, and I've actually come to quite like the way it works.

So far, I like most of the proposed changes. I want to see more racial and class stuff come out, though. More everything, actually.  ;D

Bayonet_Chris

I was an early adopter of 4E and played the hell out of it when it came out. I have since moved on to Savage Worlds, but I'll definitely take a look at it and see where they're going. I'm curious to see if they've made attempts to resolve some of the issues I ran into.
-C

Bayonet_Chris

I just signed up for the beta playtest. Of course, with work as hectic as it is right now, I haven't had time to play or run anything, much less post here.  ::)