D&D 4e Playtest

[stevekenson]

Finally got to run a playtest of D&D 4th Edition for my game group last night. Overall: fun was had, but reactions were mixed, and we’re not planning on playing again any time soon.

I ran part of Keep on the Shadowfell, with a group of five characters:

Tiefling Paladin
Human Ranger
Halfling Rogue
Dragonborn Warlord
Eladrin Wizard

In just under three hours of play-time we got through the first two encounters: the kobold brigands and the kobold ambush, along with the first interlude in Winterhaven. The vast majority of the game was the two combats, with some simple roleplaying sandwiched in-between.

Combat was moderately complex. With tactical shifting (especially for the kobolds, with their at-will shifting ability), using minis and counters to track positions was absolutely essential. I’ve played all the previous editions of D&D without maps or minis, but I’d be hard-pressed to pull that off with 4e without some serious fudging or house rules.

Inflated hit points and healing surges made for a nice dynamic in combat, with characters suffering damage, bouncing back, and dishing out damage themselves. It definitely extended the fight and made things more interesting than previous “one hit and you’re down” encounters in earlier editions with 1st level characters. We encountered some confusion with powers that say “may take a healing surge” since it wasn’t clear whether or not the ally needed to spend the standard action for the surge (like Second Wind) or not. We decided not, like healing spells in earlier editions, which seemed to work fine. The fact that PCs have healing surges and monsters generally don’t definitely gives the PCs an edge.

There’s still a fair amount for the DM to track: I could have used a screen with the common modifiers and important game info. It was essential for players to have descriptions of all their characters’ powers in front of them, in order to know what they all did, what to roll, etc. Even then, the paladin’s player seemed occasionally at a loss for which power to choose (but then the dice were also not with her that evening, resulting in some power fizzles due to failed rolls). I like that daily powers generally do something even if you miss, so you don’t feel like you completely wasted the effort. Continuing damage and effects are a bit of a pain to track.

The halfling rogue used his Second Chance racial ability in the first encounter and ended up with his attacker scoring a critical hit rather than just a hit. The power really should specify the attacker uses the lower of the two rolls, rather than the second one, regardless of what it is. Several of the players wondered why a ranger with Twin Strike would ever use anything else, given the ability to make two attacks per round at full attack bonus (something the ranger used to good effect, coupled with Hunter’s Quarry). The wizard’s player thought sleep was nerfed because of its small area and the way saving throws now worked (allowing victims to throw off the effects more quickly); he preferred acid arrow as his daily power. He also felt wizards were still underpowered compared to other characters, but I think at least part of that was the wizard’s greater tendency to provoke opportunity attacks, since it’s supposed to be a ranged class. Overall, he dished out as much damage as the other characters, and targetted defenses (such as Reflex) that were lower.

Speaking of which, it was vital to have players call out what defense their attack went against, since it was necessary to track all four of the monsters’ defenses. The high AC of the kobold dragonshields made them formidable opponents.

There was a fair amount of excitement in the combats; the surprise when the players discovered the kobold’s shifting ability was fun. (”You’re just making that up, aren’t you?” one accused me.) There were sighs of relief when the characters made it through a fight and downed all their foes, so there’s definitely some dramatic tension.

There can be a lot of modifiers to track: one round, the paladin’s attack was modified by base attack bonus, flanking bonus (combat advantage), racial bonus (for the foe being bloodied), power bonus from the warlord, and the foe being marked by her divine challenge, which brought things to a halt for a moment to total up all the modifiers to the roll (which was still a miss... narrowly).

Given the speed of play, even assuming things picked up a bit more with familiarity, I could see easily getting another five or six game sessions out of the adventure with the kobold lair, burial site, and the Keep itself still to come.

Overall, most of the players had fun, and so did I. I don’t know if 4e is the game for us long-term, given its focus on tactical combats. In many ways, it’s more like a fun board game, ala Mage Knight, or would be, if there was less prep in terms of putting together player characters and referencing their powers. That, in many ways, would be more how I’d be inclined to play it: A kind of pick-up board game with no real plot, just two or three linked combats with a loose story. I’m curious to see if prep-time for DMs is significantly different, since I was using a published adventure. In-play work for the DM seems about the same to me, but things like encounter building are supposed to be easier (I don’t know, since I don’t have the Dungeon Master’s Guide as yet to find out).

D&D 4e is definitely a solid roleplaying game, with more emphasis on the “game” than the “roleplaying” per se. Still, it doesn’t look like it’s going to displace either Earthdawn or Spirit of the Century in our current game rotation.

Comments

[kosmic.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought when I played last weekend, that it was more like a board game than RPG. It was fun, but it doesn't cure the craving for role play which seemed to be missing (we switched from a d20 McWOD campaign which was mostly dialogue). I'll likely give it a miss until 4e is out of the group's system.

[codrus.livejournal.com]

A couple of thoughts:

1. You ran the healing surges correctly. A healing surge is not the same thing as a Second Wind. A Second Wind is just a Encounter Power to spend a healing surge -- there are many ways to spend healing surges.

2. The main reason you don't always use twin strike is that it is one of the few powers that DOESN'T give you ability modifiers to the DAMAGE rolls. While most of the daily and encounter powers for Rangers give you the full damage modifier, the at-will does not. In any case, two attack rolls, but slightly less damage, means a great power, but not a stupidly overpowering one.

And yeah, that one caused me to double take when I first read the power, but I see the logic, even if it is a special case.

3. My feeling from the session I've run and my perusal of the rules is that ongoing effects are far easier to keep track of than in 3.x. You really just need to know the effect, you aren't tracking durations. The time required for a bunch of saves might end up more annoying, but it definitely hasn't been so far.

4. Almost immediately in the first session, I asked people to say "I rolled xx versus yyy" "I rolled a 26 versus AC". Pretty much a requirement I think for smooth play.

5. Wizards: In my mind, the wizard excels because of the minion rules. He can and continues to hit lots of opponents at once. In my game, we watched the wizard pummel any minions that were even modestly close to each other.

Sleep wasn't used in my game (my players were very conservative with daily powers), but my read on it is that it isn't a bad spell, but other players have to be ready to take advantage of it promptly. But that's generally true of all ongoing effects. Also the slowing effect is probably best if the party wins initiative, as you can really pin down a group of enemies before they rush the party.

One good strategy for the wizard is to stand just a bit apart from the party so that if he does get swarmed by minions, he can blast them all with Burning Hands. Close attacks do not cause OAs -- but you want the party to all be at least 3 squares away from the wizard to enable that.

Bottom line is: Wizards no longer win the battle for everyone else with a single spell -- but they are a great team player.

6. Prep Time

In a nutshell, the DMG rules are: Take the xp value for the encounter level you want and multiply it by the number of characters. Then spend that xp budget on monsters within a reasonable level range of the players. For example, a level 1 encounter is 100 xp per player.

A standard level 1 monster is also worth 100xp. Minions are 25 xp, elites 200 xp, and solo monsters 500 xp at that level. Or you could mix in some higher level monsters in there. But basically, you spend the xp budget and you are done.

You don't go too much out of the level range of the players...more than 4 or 5 levels up and the monsters either hit too often or are too hard to hit. More than 5 or 6 levels below, and the monsters aren't a threat any more.

[ogier30.livejournal.com]

For my part, I found the game aspects were right at the surface, with nothing hidden or obfuscated. That definitely contributed to my own feeling of playing a boardgame, rather than a typical D&D session.

[sadrx.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how Keep on the Shadowfell is set up, but you should try some 4e skill challenges. They're an excellent blend of roll and role playing. Otherwise, just because I have found there to be more board game in 4e doesn't mean there is less roleplaying -- that depends on the DM and the group -- although I don't think the books as written will foster a good balance of the two in new players.

[kelvingreen.livejournal.com]

My response is similar. I found it fun for a simple pick up and play dungeon bash, but I can't imagine how anyone is going to get a campaign out of it.