2012-06-01

review: D&DNext (summary: bleah)

I almost never post opinions, because everyone already has one and forums are better suited for discussion anyhow.  See here for my opinion post on avoiding opinion posts.

But I just read the D&DNext playtest rules.  Ahh well, I'll call this post a review.

Fighters do damage on misses?
Wizards cast no-miss magic missiles all day long?
You get umpteen saving throws against dying?

What kind of delicate flowers have modern D&D players become? The only challenge I can see with these rules is staying awake.  Never die, always hit, everybody gets a gold star and everyone's a winner all the time.

Whatever happened to succeeding through a combination of wits and luck?

Five billion thumbs down, not worth downloading, the design team is driving over a cliff (again), etc etc.

5 comments:

  1. There has got to be more to it than that. If I wanted a risk free playing experience I'd play WOW.

    If true this makes me feel infinitely less of a wuss for letting my players use 4d6(-worst) stats, bleeding out and booze for recovery rules.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds like more fun than the law ought to allow! I applaud you!

      Delete
  2. Of course there's more to it than that. You full heal over a 24 hour period, and can self-heal a number of times equal to your level per day.

    I'm not sure why they left dice in the game at all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That does seem excessive. I sort of understand the healing over a day rule, I fudge my player's healing during downtime - but mostly because otherwise they'll just wait to go back on the adventure and that's boring.

    As to self-heal - that's what the x2 a session 1D4 healing via first aid of a drink is, but what I like about it is that it doesn't scale. A first level party gets a lot of benefit, but by 2nd even it's not so useful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My understanding is that the HP will come down (Mearls has mentioned this specifically). Also, it is likely that several modes will be possible (for example, no self-healing). The lack of support for resource management play so far bothers me more, actually (infinite at-will powers, light cantrip, dwarven stonecunning ability, etc).

    ReplyDelete