Others, it must be said, are equally excited.
A quick glance through it shows a couple useful bits of information - monsters are pretty consistently more impressive than they were in the play test sets. A Young Green Dragon has an 18 AC, 136 HP - things like that - which sounds about right. That is the apex monster in this box - which seems to allow characters to advance to about 5th level - but that sounds about right. The set has its merits - a decent looking pre-made adventure, some okay pre made characters... It's clearly designed for newcomers, though also made to allow veterans to get a taste of the game - lots of explanation of basic concepts, though not really in an annoying way. A good start, I suppose. I await the player's handbook...
Though some of us seem to be ready to play now:
I tested the dragon against a higher level fighter and wizard, and they took it out quickly. I did ground the beast, but otherwise it was legit. Everyone hit, made their saves, it was just attrition to see who held out longer.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me feel combat is less central as a whole, rather than the focus of the game. It's about finding the thing and engaging. Killing it has become the filler bit. It may just have been the imbalance of levels, but it seems to downplay any power differences among classes if the battle means less.
That seems right - they seem to be shifting the focus from combat to story telling and exploration...
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