Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set First Impressions

[JonB]

Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set First Impressions

After a few days with the Starter Set, do we like it?

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[Kenjitsuka]

Hi, quick question: does it contain powers/abilities (-choices) for building Rogues and Fighters?
BASIC only has a ton of spells...

 

[JonB]

Hi, quick question: does it contain powers/abilities (-choices) for building Rogues and Fighters?
BASIC only has a ton of spells...

No, only pregenerated info. Free basic has five or so different kinds of fighters, but only one rogue.

 

[lordmanticore]

Hi, quick question: does it contain powers/abilities (-choices) for building Rogues and Fighters?
BASIC only has a ton of spells...

The basic rules have a very short list of spells, compared to previous editions. That being said, judging from the free module that Frog God Games put out to do its part of OHMYGERD ITS THE GREATEST GAME EVAR!!!!1!!!!, all you need is about 3 gaming sessions and you'll have enough XP to be 20th level [/slight sarcasm]

From my perspective, DnD (Last Chance Edition) has swung too far from the 'Everything is Awesome!!!' aspects of 4th Ed (the 'WoW' edition), to having too few options to play in this edition. Not even Palladium Books has an xp chart as low as what Hasbeen Hasbro is trying to shovel down our throats. Again, using Frog God's module (The Wizard's Amulet, to give full credit), you only need to kill the villian, a 3rd level necro with a cache of CL 5 magic items and an imp for a familiar, and your character is just shy of 3rd level. Kill off his orc mercenaries, and (if he can summon the zombies and skels that are part of the combat), and you are probably looking at 4th level. One more orc fight, and you can get access to FIVE level 3 spells! (but can only cast one or two per day). It's like Monty Haul, but for XP instead of treasure.

I'm sticking with my predictions that the Last Chance edition will be around for 2-3 years, and then HasBRO!! will lock up the IP, giving up on trying to make this into another trillion dollar franchise. Maybe if they can get Michael Bay to do a DnD movie...Is Jeremy Irons still available?

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Hi, quick question: does it contain powers/abilities (-choices) for building Rogues and Fighters?
BASIC only has a ton of spells...

No, only pregenerated info. Free basic has five or so different kinds of fighters, but only one rogue.

Thanks for the info, JonB!
Okay, that's *really* too bad! But at least I can snatch up the skills/abilities from the pre-gens, then.
Very dissapointing that they give you info in BASIC to make half a character (race, class and gear) and then nothing more in the $ 20 Starter.

The basic rules have a very short list of spells, compared to previous editions. That being said, judging from the free module that Frog God Games put out to do its part of OHMYGERD ITS THE GREATEST GAME EVAR!!!!1!!!!, all you need is about 3 gaming sessions and you'll have enough XP to be 20th level [/slight sarcasm]

I agree that it's been quite a dissapointment so far, as for what I have seen personally.
And don't even get me started on the damn PHB, MM and DMG pricing! Are they made with real gold inlay or something?!

But I will give the Starter Set a try (hope it arrives in NL in time for my first 5E game I'm hosting the 21st) and hope it's good. Because if that sucks... this edition will be dead to me too.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Some notable D&D mainstays like charge actions are absent, and . A few rules variants - like "inspiration" bonuses for players with good roleplaying - are present, though set aside in sidebars.

Typo here. I imagine that the period after "and" threw off the spell-check.

The wizard is maybe the disappointing character, with combat-focused spells and a background that actively encourages the player in question to stay out of conflicts with others - fairly disappointing to see that stereotype in the class that everyone would tell you to give to the veteran player anyways. It would have been nice if I felt comfortable with a new player taking the Wizard.

Not sure I understand this complaint. The wizard is combat-focused, but discouraged from being involved in combat? Or do you mean RP conflicts? As well, wouldn't a recommendation to caution be useful if you wanted to have a new player take the wizard, warning them that they can't handle close combat like Gandalf? Vancian wizards (or whatever the Vancian-esque system of 5E is called) do stereotype towards being cautious and looking for advantage before committing themselves, but that's a mechanical constraint that players should always be aware of.

OT: Nice to know the adventure is decent, because that's the only reason I can see a veteran player buying it. There's enough great RPGs out there that I don't feel inclined to get the "early access" version of 5E, rather than waiting for the PHB at the very least.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Plus only an idiot will allow two fighters into a game.

What do you have against two fighters? They play very differently, they are different characters RP-wise... I've never had a problem with two or even three fighters in a 5 person game.

 

[Oroboros]

Obviously Jonathan isn't a fan of the Forgotten Realms, but for me it's a bit more important, being D&D's flagship setting. WoTC has a lot to answer for with what they did to the Realms in 4e, so for me 5e and all this 'Sundering' stuff they are doing is a litmus test of sorts to see if it's salvageable and worth playing. For me at least, the offerings so far have fallen short of the mark-so the setting is a bit more important for me personally.

 

[spartandude]

Obviously Jonathan isn't a fan of the Forgotten Realms, but for me it's a bit more important, being D&D's flagship setting. WoTC has a lot to answer for with what they did to the Realms in 4e, so for me 5e and all this 'Sundering' stuff they are doing is a litmus test of sorts to see if it's salvageable and worth playing. For me at least, the offerings so far have fallen short of the mark-so the setting is a bit more important for me personally.

Couldnt you still just use the 5E rules but with an older FR setting?

 

[DeathQuaker]

Proofreading nitpick: in the paragraph under "Adventure" --

Giving the reigns over to the players fairly early on [...]"

That should be "reins." You reign over a kingdom. You control a horse with reins. The idiom "giving the reins to..." refers to letting someone else "drive the cart," so to speak.