or 'A Tale of Two Oozes'
Your humble host feels the need to
assert his geekhood.
Because many bloggers are commenting on
the D&D Next playtest materials, I thought that I might insert
myself into the mob. I won't gripe about downloading issues because
(1) I'm not that much of a geek and (2) I didn't encounter any
issues.
Since I'm currently in the process of
analyzing the Psi World game, is it not appropriate that I address
the topic of psionics in D&D Next?
First, let me say that I'm attempting
to absorb the playtest rules from a fresh perspective – bereft of
biases imposed by other editions, extrapolating exclusively from the
information that the materials provide. Attempting, but not
necessarily successful in doing so.
Second, apparently unlike many others,
I fully appreciate that these are playtest rules and not the final
output – many changes can (and likely will) take place. Still, it
is interesting to see what the Wizards have included and what they
have not.
So, in this frame of mind, I was
perusing the bestiary and came across the entry for gray ooze. Let
me phrase this appropriately – my impression upon reading the
description was – sages know that gray ooze has latent psionic
ability. Specifically, it has the ability to 'crush minds' (that
is, according to my impression of the meaning of the words). Nothing
else in the playtest materials expands upon or even acknowledges this
ability; from what my impressions supply, there are no rules for
implementing this ability in play.
Gray ooze was psionic in 1E, but it wasn't psionic in either Basic or the SRD. An editorial gaffe? Perhaps, but 'playtest' gray ooze has a Wisdom
score that exceeds human average (or so my impressions relate) as opposed to the SRD version where its Wisdom is minimal. Also, I gain the impression that gelatinous cubes are expressly immune to psychic damage but my impressions detect no such immunity for gray ooze. Hmmm.
Other quick observations
impressions:
– Rules for being intoxicated, but no
alcoholic beverages on the equipment list.
– The marginalization of humanity:
Two dwarf pre-gens but only one human.
This is one of the saner posts I have yet read responding to the play test materials. So thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the marginalization of humanity. I think this might just be because they have four core races and wanted to see them all represented. That being said, it probably would have been nice to see two humans rather than two dwarves (especially since neither of the clerics presented are particularly traditional).