Quote from: fearsomepirate;1014704This is destined to be the most-derided, most-used part of the book.

It doesn't surprise me. Within my 2 groups who play 5e at times, we have seen use of:

• encounter tables (because why not? If you as the DM just choose, you will not get a random distribution, and are the tables you write up yourself going to be significantly better)
• name tables (again, why not? Until you've used them enough for them to get old they are as good as anything else, and you do have trouble coming up with good names after a while)
• minor magic items have started appearing in treasure (because they are just plain fun. My warlock now has a staff which becomes a fishing pole on command)
• My warlock is a celestial warlock (story reasons, he was going into the priesthood and instead became a follower of a saint)
• Hexblade (the fluff is crap, it is a fix to the bladelock concept, pure and simple)
• Downtime and tool rules.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1014712It doesn't surprise me. Within my 2 groups who play 5e at times, we have seen use of:

• Hexblade (the fluff is crap, it is a fix to the bladelock concept, pure and simple)

According to an AL source, the Bladelock was specifically designed to be cross classed with Fighter.  Which boggles my mind, but meh.

However, most of the stuff used in the games I've run, are the same as yours.  Although I've personally used the Lifepath stuff, which was pretty fun, if pointless.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1014717According to an AL source, the Bladelock was specifically designed to be cross classed with Fighter.  Which boggles my mind, but meh.

Hmmm...taking two levels of fighter to get medium armor and Action Surge does seem like a pretty good idea, now that you bring it up.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1014717According to an AL source, the Bladelock was specifically designed to be cross classed with Fighter.  Which boggles my mind, but meh.

Your source is wrong.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1014717According to an AL source, the Bladelock was specifically designed to be cross classed with Fighter.  Which boggles my mind, but meh.

Quote from: Omega;1014754Your source is wrong.

I'll be more polite about that. The designers have been amazingly consistent in not discussing design intent. I have no idea if I like that policy, but I admire their consistency. Unless your AL source has some secret backdoor avenue to Mearls and Crawford, etc., then what they said is probably just their opinion on the matter.  

It certainly feels like bladelock was either 1) not meant to be complete without some multiclassing (the semi-equivalent valor bard, for instance, gets medium armor. What is a single class bladelock to do? Power invest in Dex until light armor nets you a decent AC?), or 2) not meant to be a melee combatant, so much as just an alternative way of addressing the question of "what to do if the enemy does get across the front line and up in your face?" (instead of taking crossbow expert to be able to shoot at point blank or a get out of dodge cantrip like shocking grasp).

Quote from: fearsomepirate;1014746Hmmm...taking two levels of fighter to get medium armor and Action Surge does seem like a pretty good idea, now that you bring it up.

Before hexblade, and if you didn't have something like a starting Dex of 20 or some other fancy trick up your sleeve, it was close to required to take a level in something with medium armor. But a two level delay for warlock makes you even less of a spellcaster and more of a melee+ranged+a few tricks kinda gish character.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1014717However, most of the stuff used in the games I've run, are the same as yours.  Although I've personally used the Lifepath stuff, which was pretty fun, if pointless.

I think we might use the lifepath stuff next time we start over with everyone.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1014767I'll be more polite about that. The designers have been amazingly consistent in not discussing design intent. I have no idea if I like that policy, but I admire their consistency. Unless your AL source has some secret backdoor avenue to Mearls and Crawford, etc., then what they said is probably just their opinion on the matter.  

According to them, they do.  They're on twitter and several discussion pages, because they were part of the beta and reported directly.  And they claim that the Blade Lock is meant for those who really want to multiclass with a Fighter and still be a caster.  And given what they do for a living, they're not going to lie.

Also, neither they, nor I, actually considered that the Blade Lock had to be multiclassed to get the most benefit out of it.  Both of us are not fans of those who do.  Simply because of the propensity of multiclassers to be power gamers and rules' lawyers in the extreme.

I find that claim unlikely as multi-classing is purely optional. It is also telling that I have yet to see a single multi-class NPC in any of the hardcover adventures.

I would doubt any claim not directly from Mearls and Crawford. You can always ask them directly on Twitter to actually confirm it.

Quote from: Voros;1014884I find that claim unlikely as multi-classing is purely optional. It is also telling that I have yet to see a single multi-class NPC in any of the hardcover adventures.

Do they ever list classes for NPCs at all? They all seem built as NPCs AFAICR.

You could be right I'm away from my books right now on holidays so I can't check to confirm.

Quote from: S'mon;1014948Do they ever list classes for NPCs at all?

They do not.

Quote from: S'mon;1014948They all seem built as NPCs AFAICR.

They are.  All of them.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1015001They do not.

They are.  All of them.

Yes, and no. Kinda...

I looked at the NPCs and most are built off a class without actually saying so. All seem to be single class. But its hard to tell for sure with one.

Am I mistaken or did I see on G+ that there's some kind of special edition of this?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1016533Am I mistaken or did I see on G+ that there's some kind of special edition of this?

Preorders and the first shipment to FLGSs got alternate cover art:
"normal":
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2067[/ATTACH]

"special":
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2068[/ATTACH]

I rush into the store on Day 1 every time to get the limited edition covers, lol.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1013187Names tables can be super useful, especially if they're well designed.

Never used one in decades of gaming. Never even thought about using one.