Star Wars, Sorcerers, and Warlocks oh my!

Not having computer access for a few days during Gen Con has its disadvantages.  I've missed out on a lot!  Still sifting through a lot of the new updates, but a few things stick out.

First, there's already an update to the most recent D&D Next playtest packet.  An adventure, Reclaiming Blingdenstone (which I haven't even skimmed yet) is included, but more importantly playtest versions of the Sorcerer and Warlock classes!  The Sorcerer uses a spell point system, with spell points being "Willpower."  You spend Willpower to cast spells, and spending too much causes your bloodline to start manifesting, resulting in physical (and mechanical) changes.  The bloodline that we have is Draconic Heritage, and from what I've read (skimmed) so far it seems like as you deplete your Willpower you start getting better at melee.  In other words, it's a gish class, but whether you're better at spells or melee depends on how much Willpower you've spent.  Interesting.

The Warlock looks like it's more my style.  The example pact is Fey (may favorite, yay!), and the class mostly functions via using "favors" from their patron that recharge after any short or extended rest.  So, encounter powers, yep.  Favors can be used for social-type stuff, as well as casting more powerful invocations, and not surprisingly the Warlock gets some at-wills (including Eldritch Blast) for free.  And Eldritch Blast is NICE!  This is definitely a striker-y spellcaster, with damage nearly matching a Fighter spending an Expertise dice on Deadly Strike.  Of course the Fighter is much more durable, but the Warlock seems to have its fair share of very cool magical abilities, so I'd say it's pretty balanced.  Now I can't decide whether the Fighter or Warlock is my favorite D&DN class!

Finally, this is happening.  It seems to roughly mirror the initial release schedule of The One Ring, but for Star Wars.  It seems like it's more its own system as opposed to trying to fit the Star Wars universe into D20 (as with Saga Edition), which is intriguing.  And here I thought my best option would be to use Savage Worlds to run a Star Wars campaign.  I'll have to do some more research, because I really like Savage Worlds on paper (still haven't played yet), but this game looks like it has some potential.  I'll wait until people who bought the beta rules give feedback online, and then I'll decide whether it's worth pursuing.  Star Wars is still one of those things that I've always wanted to run as an RPG, but just never got the chance to.