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| #1ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 4:14:38 |
Oh well I ran my current players through the LMOP. It is the 3rd time I have used it myself but the 1st time this current group has tried it. The last party I ran at level 1 consisted of the following.
1 Bard 1 War Cleric 1 Polearm Fighter 1 Wizard (diviner)
They eventually had a 2nd cleric and a ranger added to the party.
Party Number 2 had
1 Half Elf Sorcerer 1 Hill Dwarf Cleric (life) 1 Paladin (vengeance) 1 Mountain Dwarf FIghter (dual wielder)
I thought they may struggle a bit but in the 1st encounter the goblins failed to surprise the party while the biggest threat to the PCs seemed to come across every trap the PCs stumbled into as the Sorcerer is the skill monkey as such. She still would have faiiled even as a Rogue due to bad dice rolls.
They managed to clear out Klargs cave complex without having to take a short rest or long rest. They used stealth on the chimney to get into Klargs lair or at least 3 of them, 2 hid behindrock piles 1 hid in the chimney itself near the lip. Sleep nailed 2 goblins while they fought Klarg and his wolf.
Sleep number 2 was used vs the Goblin nest and it got 3/6 goblins. Not having the Bard available made things harder, one player went as far as claiming this party sucks compared to the other one. Probably because the Bard really does seem that good.
They went back to town, cleared out the mansion and headed for Thundertree. My PCs did manage to aquire the staff of Defense off Glasstaff as they found the secret door and surprised Glasstaff. The AD&D training the PCs have recieved over the last 2 years helped there. Search everywhere and look for a back door. The Sorcerer had multiclassed into warlock by this point. at level 2. They decided to rest after this and level up and went back to the dungeon, I had the bugbears ambush the PCs at the entrance to the dungeon. With some decent dice rolls and a critical hit in the surprise round the Paladin was bleedinng out and the the cleric healed up up a little before getting KOed himself. They eventually turned it around and won the fight.
The session finished fter some RP in the town and a trip to Thundertree. At low levels the fighters toughness and the polearm mastery feat made the fighter a lot more dangerous than the Paladin IMHO although he did have a higher AC. They were played by the same person.
The Bard and Warloock/Sorcerer were also played by the same person and this player is probably the biggest powergamer in the group. She is also my partner and seems to steal my builds off me as I was looking at a warlock for my PC and she changed her concept to sorcerer warlock after i pointed out Sorcerers were procient in con saves. She is going to try and abuse eldritch blast a little bit with hex and twin spell. The dual wielding strength based fighter was the other sessions Ranger player while the Cleric was played by the diviner player.
This was the 2nd group in a row where I have not seen a Rogue being played. The class seems weak, the skill monkey thing can be replicated by a high dex whatever and the criminal background or a bard. Sneak attack doesn't compare very well to Bard abilites or even eldritch blast+hex combo let alone the sleep spell IMHO. The Rogue is still better at skills on paper but good enough vs better still doesn't seem to matter to much. I am thinking relative to the other classes the current rogue may be worse than the 3.5 Rogue who could at least sneak attack multiple times. Its skill niche has become eroded, its damage spike via sneak is not really that impressive, anyone can get proficiney in thief tools, anyone gets dex to hit and damge. Its true sneak attack does scale but so do the other classes abilites like multiple attacks and feats like Great Weapon/Polearm master also enable multiple attacks at lower levels. Leaning toward the Rogue being the worst class in the game.
Everyone survived, one PC went down and failed 2 death saves before the others stabilised him. A relative lack of spell casters and a lack off buffing in comparison to the 1st party composition did make the game a bit tougher and somewhat grittier. Party composition and synergy still seems to matter more than brute damage for example.
Everyone had fun it seemed, and we had a social session for 3 hours or so after the game was over with pizza and conversation. It was my 4th time I have been ina 5E game (3 DM, 1 player) and one of my players seems to want to DM at some point. Much to my chagrin they seem to like 5E more than AD&D clones the horror!!!! Numenera and Star Wars Saga Edition/SWRPG D6 were also mentioned for follow up games as these PCs shelf life may be limited to the LMOP play through. It may go long term and I have a few 3rd ed FR adventures I can run with Dungeon magazine.
This was also the 1st new Realms camapign I have launched since 4E landed. Not planning on any sundering type events I set the game in 1373 DR and used the 3.0 FRCS and Waterdeep City of Splendor book to flesh out the PCs as the Paladin had the noble background and is a member of the Thann clan of Waterdeep. Rumours of the world include wizards of shadow in Anauroch and the return of Bane as a deity. Some of the bonus languages selected also included Netherese, Chondathan and Illuskan as they picked some of the human tongues as bonus languages.
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| #2RhennySep 14, 2014 7:47:23 |
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| #3ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 12:13:06 |
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| #4ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 12:13:07 |
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| (Reply to #4)Rhenny |
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| #6ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 17:25:33 |
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| (Reply to #6)Rhenny |
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| #8ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 18:14:54 |
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| #9MistwellSep 14, 2014 18:28:43 |
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| #10ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 18:32:02 |
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| #11MistwellSep 14, 2014 18:55:00 |
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| #12ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 19:02:25 |
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| #13MistwellSep 14, 2014 19:24:24 |
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| #14ZardnaarSep 14, 2014 19:28:38 |
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| (Reply to #14)Ashrym |
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| #16RamzourSep 15, 2014 4:23:48 |
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| #17ZardnaarSep 15, 2014 15:45:50 |
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| #18RamzourSep 15, 2014 23:58:48 | Assassin is great. I gave them the ability to apply poisons to their weapon as a Cunning Action instead of using their normal action. I feel that really plays well with the intention of the subclass. The Halfling Rogue Assassin PC in our game now is loving it.
However, objectively speaking, I would rate the Arcane Trickster as the "best" rogue subclass. They just have so much utility it's ridiculous. That said, all of them are great fun and make a valuable addition to any party. Bards and other Dex classes might get close, but they will never outshine a fully trained Rogue. |