D&D 5e Test Run

I played a game of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition!

My buddy Lord Grimskull ran a session of D&D 5e about a month ago. There were 4 PCs, although one player couldn't make it.

We started with some experience. Since 3rd level is a big power boost and there is a career path choice, the DM decided we would be 2nd level.

As soon as we started "rolling" up characters I was taken aback... point... buy... abilities... !?!?! Yep, the standard in 5e is stat buy... no rolling 3d6 for your abilities. This was different. I know 3rd and 4th edition had optional point buy rules, but in some way it felt wrong. 

The basic stat block is 15/14/13/12/10/10. I think everyone else took that. I chose to take the extreme of 15/15/15/8/8/8. With my racial bonus, I ended up with 17/15/15/10/8/8. The game is designed so you CAN NOT have a starting character with an ability over 17. In fact you would have to take the extreme starting stat block like I did and put two of the 15s in your racial prime stats to end up with two 17s (17/17/15/8/8/8).

It took about 2 hours to get 4 2nd-level characters rolled-up created. We were an adventuring group that had been together for at least 2 missions. The most recent was simple goblin extermination. Our party consisted of a Dragonborn Rogue (me), a Human Wizard, a Gnome Cleric (NPC), and an Elf Paladin. The game starts as we arrive back at the small logging village that hired us to hunt gobbos.

After a night of kicking back and spending our recently acquired coin, things started going awry late that night: Weird sounds, a dead body, missing grave stones, and a dense wall of fog surrounding the village. We survived the night. The next day, the fog spoke to us, threatening our lives. We dug here the missing grave stones were to find there were no bodies at all. Mid-day, the leader of the village guards went into the fog and never came back. We rallied the villagers to build up defenses.

Before night-fall we built a roof-bridge between the watch tower, the temple and the barracks. We put all of the food and supplies in the temple, and anyone who couldn't fight went in the barracks. we tried digging pits between buildings and boarding up windows, but we only managed to get the south face finished before the second night.

We were attacked by strange undead. I lost track of how many varieties, but it was at least 3--The "grunts", a long legged fast type, and ones with a 20' tongue attack that grabbed you like a lasso. The night did not end well.

The map shows were we left things. The figures laying down in buildings are actually on the roof (and alive). The one figure in the upper right laying down in the street was a prominent figure. We lost over half the fighting villagers (most of them were guard-types). If things go the same the next night, Im not sure we will make it through! 

This was supposed to be a one-night test drive of 5e, but things ran long. Everyone had fun and thants the point of all this anyway, right! We are planning to finish up in the near future.