D&D NEXT: Infinite Posts of the Abyss

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LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Even with faster levelling, bards only get level 2 spells at the same time as a pure mage, and are behind by quite a bit for all the others, and in any Baldur's Gate game will be stuck with lower level spells by the end. Bards don't even beat F/M to new spells most of the time.

Bards do get HP pretty quickly, especially in the very early game, and their fireballs and such will be cast at a higher level when they do get them, but I don't think they're that great as far as munchkin-y powergaming goes.

Edit- One thing I do like about Next is that bards are apparently 9th level casting fight-mages, as opposed to poorly thought out hybrids.

LeastActionHero fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Sep 26, 2014

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 02:00

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:12

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Bards get:
level 1 spells at character level 2, 1,250 XP
level 2 spells at character level 4, 5,000 XP
level 3 spells at character level 7, 40,000 XP
level 4 spells at character level 10, 160,000 XP
level 5 spells at character level 13, 666,000 XP
level 6 spells at character level 16, 1,320,000 XP

Mages get
level 1 spells at character level 1, 0 XP
level 2 spells at character level 3, 5,000 XP
level 3 spells at character level 5, 20,000 XP
level 4 spells at character level 7, 60,000 XP
level 5 spells at character level 9, 135,000 XP
level 6 spells at character level 12, 750,000 XP

Fighter/mages get
level 1 spells at character level 1, 0 XP
level 2 spells at character level 3, 10,000 XP
level 3 spells at character level 5, 40,000 XP
level 4 spells at character level 7, 120,000 XP
level 5 spells at character level 9, 270,000 XP
level 6 spells at character level 12, 1,500,000 XP

And they generally have 1 spell caster level over a pure mage, or 2 over a F/M. That's nice, but it's not double.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 02:58

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Honestly, I really like the "hit points are actual wounds" theme, but I also like the idea that the fighter, or any PC, recovers from having his guts ripped out by shoving the guts back in there and walking it off. To within a certain limit per day or whatever, of course.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2014 00:20

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

OfChristandMen posted:

Unarmored Defense (Barbarian 1):
While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

So you can use a shield, but does it provide any benefit to AC? Or anything that might increase AC, for that matter?

# ¿ Oct 20, 2014 23:17

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Power Player posted:

For finesse weapons, would you make it that Dex affects both damage AND attack rolls, like 5E, or make it only affect attack rolls, like 3.0/Pathfinder? I think right now one of the problems is that there's little reason to use a strength-based weapon since now finesse weapons affect both attack and damage rolls, and the only time you really need a good Strength score is for two-handers and Athletics. Meanwhile, Dex affects finesse weapon damage rolls and attack rolls, initiative, a bunch more skills, and dex saves (which are way more common then strength saves).

If this were 3.X, I'd say that finesse should definitely add to hit and damage, because losing somewhere between 4 and 10 damage per hit is just way too much to miss out on. In Next, though, that's only up to 5 damage you're missing out on, and you can get 4 for 'free' by using gauntlets of ogre strength to just set your str to 19. That's annoying and basically an item-slot-tax though, so I'd be inclined to add dex to damage anyway, even if it's overpowered.

The better way to make str desirable would be to add in something else to make it good. Off-hand, combining str with con would accomplish that handily. Failing that, I dunno, make heavy armour give (14 + str), and while wearing it you can use str in place of dex for saves (because honestly, you need a chance at being survivable when fireballs are flying around). That way str gives slightly better numbers (1d12 vs 1d8, AC up to 19 vs 17), but dex gives initiative and a bunch of skills.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2014 21:38

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Boars are a thing that actually exist, and you've probably even heard of people fighting them. A boar somehow appears in the mall and starts attacking people. You are a cop with a handgun and a nightstick. Please detail your tactics for dealing with the situation, given that you have 6 seconds to start acting.

Just because people are aware that spellcasters exists, doesn't mean that the shlubs you find guarding the kobold's garbage pit are going to know how to deal with one in a fight. Just because every so often Barks-Weirdly the town wizard casts a spell and can suddenly read whatever weird human writing you occasionally get, and one time during a wolf attack he mumbled something and then half of them fell down on the spot, doesn't mean they all have the insight to ignore the guy stabbing them and focus fire on the guy in robes who hasn't done anything yet (because if he had done something, then he's already won the fight).

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 22:32

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Maybe it will change, depending on how the splatbooks pan out, but at the moment it's a really good mechanic to prevent endlessly stacking buffs. Are there other ways to achieve a similar effect? Yeah, sure, but it's still a good feature.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2015 06:59

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

A good half of heroic victories are preceded by someone going "are you mad? It's a million to one change of success!". I don't know why I'd listen to some schlub in a NPC uniform who thinks he knows better than I do.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2015 01:30

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

goatface posted:

Just list every type of damage under resistances except for... what's magic really unlikely to do? Bludgeoning?

Nah, you've got flip things around. Double the HP, make it vulnerable (2x damage) to non-magical attacks.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2015 21:53

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

I like that Orcus can make up to 4 tail attacks per round, despite there being no visible tail in the picture of him. His description is "He has the lower torso of a goat", so I assume he's attacking with a teeny little goat tail.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2015 06:51

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

It could still use something like:
"entropic field: all ranged attacks and spells that target the tarrasque and/or any space around it within 200 ft, that originate further than 50 ft away from the tarrasque (or whatever space is targeted instead), scatter harmlessly at it's feet or dissipate harmlessly into nothingness. Any flying creature or object of any sort, with any means of mundane or magical flight, that comes within 200' of the tarrasque, is limited to only flying 20' off the ground. Flying creatures above 20' that enter the area immediately fall, but can recover harmlessly at 20 feet."

Alternatively:
"Durable carapace: the tarrasque is completely immune to all spells and attacks of any sort that do not target it's (relatively) soft underbelly. The carapace completely blocks line of sight to the vulnerable belly from all directions except a cone projecting straight down from the centre of the tarrasques space, which on the ground extends to a radius of 30 feet around the tarrasque".

# ¿ Aug 31, 2015 23:42

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

Covok posted:

As someone who is strangely intrigued by dice math, can you elaborate further? What do people think multiple dice do that they really don't? I didn't follow that part.

If you use 3d6 instead of d20, any particular roll is still a pass/fail. 3d6 roll 13 or better has a 25.9% chance of success, so it's almost exactly the same as rolling 1d20 and getting 16 or better. The 3d6 or the 1d20 have the same variance of passing/failing: the only way they differ is if you can add modifiers to the roll. Another way to put it: 3d6 is the exact same as 1d20, but with the DCs modified a bit. Instead of rolling 3d6, figure out what you need to roll, then check this table, and roll 1d20 vs the new target.

code:

old new target
3   1
4   1
5   1
6   2
7   3
8   4
9   6
10  9
11  11
12  14
13  16
14  18
15  19
16  20
17  21
18  21

Another way to look at it: on a 3d6, bonuses are worth somewhere between +0 and +3, depending on how close you are to a target of 11. Going from needing a 18 to needing a 17 is just so small that it's essentially worth nothing (unless you are rolling way too many dice for a tabletop game).

# ¿ Dec 13, 2015 21:50

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:12

LeastActionHero: Oct 23, 2008

I'm sure there's an fascinating game to be had based on fighting monsters you don't understand, but it certainly isn't d&d.

Like, maybe Dark Souls, but not really because you are expected to respawn and try again.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2015 04:44

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