368 – Stow it, Sledge!

Finally ran the D&D Playtest last week and overall it was… okay. I think the biggest complaint was the lack of self-healing and total reliance on the cleric for healing. I’ll write more about it later, promise, but it’s 1:00 AM as I write this and I’m going to bed. See you all Monday!

~Rob

9 Comments

Becky is going to have to pound a few things out with that hammer. You know, just to get a few things straight.

Yeah, I’m less than thrilled with Next to date. Despite what both 3rd and 4th offered to healers (especially clerics), it was still hard enough to get people to play them. The knowledge that agreeing to play the healer often meant getting saddled with that role in every single campaign you would ever play didn’t make it easier to find volunteers.

Weapons with annoying personality aside, paladins tended to have more fun. 😉

Personally I hated 4.e., realistically there is no reason for someone who wasn’t one of the “Healer” or “sub-healer” classes to be able to instantly heal without the use of a potion or other magic item, and that was one of the least annoying things about that system.

And not every group had to have a healer. I’ve seen groups that did not have a cleric or druid perform admirably, it helps if you have a pally, ranger, or bard; but if you play smart and offset the lack of a primary healer with potions, healing belts, and someone with a decent UMD check, a party that lacked any form of divine spellcasting or other caster with healing ability can still be extremely effective. You could also just go “Playing a cleric, only healing if you actually need it, and if you don’t you get to see what happens when you piss off the healer.” Had to do that for a while cause we had a guy who would complain about 6-7 hp damage as the tank when the caster only had 6-7 hp left. He wasn’t very happy when the “healer” beat his ass into the ground.

Ok,a hammer that only Becky can hear and a dagger that giggles in Jaine’s head.
“I smell a sit-com!”
Seriously though, you know how to keep an audience sir!

So rather like 1st and 2nd editions then.

Having run in a mage + 2 thieves group back in the day I have to say that total lack of magical healing is in fact survivable.

You just need to make a fine art of
Not Getting Hit.

It also helps if everyone in the party knows when to scream, “Everybody run like crazy!!”

Besides who needs a tank/healer team when someone can just yell at the mage, ” Hold off the red dragon ( and the dark clerics, and the horde of angry draconians) for a few minutes so we can get a head start.”

It also helps if the thieves are constantly telling you that victory consists of a) being alive and b) holding all of the loot. Apparently chopping bad guys into mincemeat is just a distraction from parts a and b of victory.

Why can the hammer talk to her?

@Antonio: The hammer is the Nailmoor Sledge, a powerful sentient artifact that was last wielded by a dwarven paladin of Morridin a very long time ago.

@ Ralthar, you just described one of the things I loathed most about 3rd Edition: gear dependency so bad it was more important than the people carrying it. If a rogue with UMD can replace a dedicated healer with nothing more than a wand of cure light wounds and a handful of scrolls, but not even a fully trimmed tree’s worth of goodies could replace a wizard, then something is wrong with your system.

Also, the complaint about “realism” is just an example of selective bias. A world in which healing can only be accomplished through alchemy is certainly an option, but no more “realistic” than one in which a wizard can’t cast any spells without the aid of a specifically attuned focus, such as a staff, or where every spellcasting involves risk to the caster.

Will the hammer ever say to Becki – “Trust me. I know what I’m doing!” ?

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MeatShield by Rob Chambers

Bi-Weekly D&D-style Fantasy Hijinks!

368 – Stow it, Sledge!