4th Ed. and Alea Rules Conversion

[Jraynack]

Well,

With some ardrous study, many of Alea's innovative rules introduced for 3.x Edition will also appear in our future 4th Edition products.

The first set of innovations I wil talk about briefly is the sub-class. The sub-class in 3.x is a minor class that further defines a character and his role. For those of you unfamiliar with the sub-class concept: for a XP fee (20%; as per the multi-classing penalty) a character can take a sub-class, and in turn, gain extra hit points, skill points, and minor abilities.

In 4th Edition, we came up with a simpler and innovative system to further define a character wishing to take a sub-class. Sub-classes in 4th Edition follow these guidelines:

1. They will no longer be called sub-classes. Though generally the same-concept, the method by which one enters a sub-class is much different and really does not warrant the name "class". We can't really reveal too much at this time because a). it might give away our extremely easy method and b). the GSL is not released at this time.

2. No more XP penalty. That's right - those wishing to gain a sub-class and its options no longer suffer a 20% XP or really no other penalty. That is the beauty of this new method. Characters have access to new abilities without overpowering those choosing not to enter a sub-class.

3. Sub-classes are for Herioc Tier characters. We did not want sub-classes in 4th Edition taking away from paragon or epic paths. Plus, they are not specialized enough to be a paragon path.

I know this is not much information, but that's why it is a teaser. When WotC releases the GSL, and it is carefully read, we hope to show a snippet of the Church Inquisitor "sub-class".

Until then play hard and we hope you are enjoying the newest edition of D&D (or at least giving it a try; we are taking through the wringer at this end).

Josh