I just finished my first playthrough and wanted to share my initial thoughts. My PC was a Shield Dwarf Strength Ranger named Varis.
Companion backstory and characterization is excellent, but customization is lacking. I want to use the companion characters in my party because they are interesting and dynamic, but I also want the freedom to customize their stats and abilities. For example it is frustrating that my only option for a Domain of light/life Cleric is to use my player character slot. And since there are no Ranger/Druid companions available, I feel very torn about what to use my custom character slot on. I would also love the option to play through the campaign with a full party of custom characters. Theory crafting a party of perfectly optimized, min/maxed characters is one of the first things I did and it would be amazing to have support for that type of playthrough. The companions are really well done, They each feel unique and interesting I wish I could bring them ALL along. I just wish I could redistribute their stats and choose their subclass.
This has been said a million times im sure, but the short rest/long rest system needs more restrictions. For the first half of my play through I was afraid of long resting due to the implied negative consequences. Once I realized that there was not in fact a ticking clock on my transformation into a mindflayer I started long resting before almost every big encounter. As a result the tone and tenor of the second half of my playthrough was dramatically different than the 1st half. The sense of urgency and desparation completely evaporated and I stopped taking risks with my party for the sake of expediency. I think that it is okay to give real negative consequences for long resting too much as long as you explicitly tell players you are doing it. Once players know the stakes, it becomes a game within a game. It worked very well for XCOM, I see no reason why it couldnt work here as well. In addition, players should be very limited in where they can long rest and short rest. Being able to initiate a rest basically at will, even when in the midst of a hostile enemy dungeon makes no narrative sense and trivializes the game. I was very pleased to see that I could not take a long rest in the Hag's lair. I would like to see that same mechanic in other areas of the game such as the goblin camp.
Combat. For me personally this is the life-blood of the game and the element that keeps me interested. Im always itching for the next fight and I am always trying to maximize the combat potential of my party. The flexibility and sheer volume of options available to the player when initiating a fight is staggering. Unfortunately this means its basically impossible to be objective when talking about combat. 20 players could do the same fight 20 different ways and have 20 unique experiences. Some would think it was too hard, others would think it was trivial. It all depends on how you started the fight. For example on my first encounter with the Hag I Thunderwaved her off a cliff in round 1. Very funny, but ultimately anti-climactic. I reloaded and used Astarion to sneak down and release the girl from the cage before starting the fight. Then I ground her down the old fashioned way. Two completely different experiences with the same boss. All that I can say is that my favorite battles were the ones where I was able to get SOME advantage by scouting out the enemy ahead of time but not OVERWHELMING advantage. Getting surprised by a combat and then using my abilities to win anyway was much more rewarding than one shotting the boss before he had a chance to do anything by dropping a flaming cauldron on his head.
Advantage/Disadvantage seem like they should be harder to obtain since they are so powerful. Simply having the high ground should not be sufficient to grant advantage/disadvantage, especially since there is ample high ground available in almost every encounter. It also has the unfortunate side effect of making abilities that grant advantage/disadvantage less valuable. True Strike seems great on paper but its utterly useless when you can just walk behind the enemy and gain advantage for free. I am find with high ground conferring an advantage, but it should be less impactful than it is now.
