D&D 4E Best Resources for 4E Products?

[overgeeked]

The physical books are great to have. But be careful about trying to run a game straight from the books. The errata on 4E was extensive. Some of it quite necessary to run the game. DCs and damage being off. The early monster books using the wrong math (MM3 and MV are where the "right" math starts). Bursts and blasts being switched around. Different ranges used. Etc. The 4E DMGs are some of the best that's ever been printed for D&D. The available PDFs of the big three have the errata included, if I recall.

 

[Argyle King]

The physical books are great to have. But be careful about trying to run a game straight from the books. The errata on 4E was extensive. Some of it quite necessary to run the game. DCs and damage being off. The early monster books using the wrong math (MM3 and MV are where the "right" math starts). Bursts and blasts being switched around. Different ranges used. Etc. The 4E DMGs are some of the best that's ever been printed for D&D. The available PDFs of the big three have the errata included, if I recall.

I'm familiar enough with 4E that I already have a homebrew chart of DCs and monster math.

Between myself and the group that's interested, I think we'll be alright.

 

[Quickleaf]

I know someone who is interested in all of it.

I just sold six of the books, actually, to one person. AV, AV2, DMG2, MM2, MM3, and PHB3. Ebay moves fast! I'm gifting him the starter "red box."

Left are PHB, PHB 2, DMG, and MM. And if someone picks up a couple of those, I'll gift them the booklet version of 4e "Tomb of Horrors."

You probably have your own sheets, but I just remembered that later in my time with 4e I created this 4e DM's Cheat Sheet which may be of use in your adventures.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Indeed, I did not like the 4e systems, but I've bought a few of the sourcebooks there in pdf format, as 4e invented the shadowfell and the feywild, and the supplements are really wonderful and quite system-agnostic.

Which ones would you recommend? I've been building a campaign with feywild/shadowfell influences, and more inspiration and source material would be welcome.

 

[Argyle King]

The physical books are great to have. But be careful about trying to run a game straight from the books. The errata on 4E was extensive. Some of it quite necessary to run the game. DCs and damage being off. The early monster books using the wrong math (MM3 and MV are where the "right" math starts). Bursts and blasts being switched around. Different ranges used. Etc. The 4E DMGs are some of the best that's ever been printed for D&D. The available PDFs of the big three have the errata included, if I recall.

Is it possible to buy versions of the pdfs without errata?

There are some areas of the game in which how WoTC chose to make changes is different than what I think was the best way to change the game. (For example, I don't like how attacks with multiple damage types interacted with resistances and immunities in the later books.)

 

[overgeeked]

Is it possible to buy versions of the pdfs without errata?

There are some areas of the game in which how WoTC chose to make changes is different than what I think was the best way to change the game. (For example, I don't like how attacks with multiple damage types interacted with resistances and immunities in the later books.)

I have no idea. Sorry. I think the errata used stopped short of adopting the Essentials changes, if that matters. So the DCs in the big three PDFs are different than those listed in later DM’s Kit.

 

[Argyle King]

I have no idea. Sorry. I think the errata used stopped short of adopting the Essentials changes, if that matters. So the DCs in the big three PDFs are different than those listed in later DM’s Kit.

The list of DCs I have (as well as encounter XP budgets) are something I came up with after trial-and-error with DMG 1 & DMG 2.

I suppose I could just ignore the later way of handling resistances and such. I just can't remember if later adventure encounters were designed around assuming some of those small differences in how the game worked were true.

Errata to the Orb Wizard never really gave a satisfactory answer. The class went from being pretty OP in PHB1 to being too-heavily nerfed in later stuff. I don't foresee that as being an issue with a new* group* which has very little familiarity with the system, but it's still something I would like to look at if the group is going to switch to 4E for a while.

I vaguely remember some of the stuff from Martial Power needing errata because of something with temporary hit points, but it's been long enough that I don't remember what the issue was.

Adjusting the monster math is necessary for some of the early books, but that's something I feel confident in doing. Somewhere, I have an old notebook with my own way of doing Elites and Solos. I'll likely take the idea of lair actions and legendary actions from 5E and add them to 4E. I think I sorta did that back when I was running 4E anyway.

*One of the other members of the group and I have a lot of experience with 4E, but the rest of this particular group is new to D&D in general. They've had mixed feelings toward 5E.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I wouldn't worry too much about errata or lack thereof. 4e, more than any other edition, is incredibly robust. You can pick any combination of books or errata-ized versions of the rules and for the most part, they just work.

Yeah, skill challenges kinda suck, but that's a problem with their overall implementation. The DCs you use don't make that much difference.

Even the much debated 'feat taxes' for attacks and defenses don't matter that much, in practice.

Monster design got a lot better over the course of 4e, but came out of the gate already so good (compared to prior editions) that you can still use most of the MM1 monsters as-is and have a fine game. (I'm not saying you shouldn't use the better designed monsters in Monster Vault... you absolutely should. I'm just saying that the MM1 monsters, mechanically, work OK.)

So anyway. Don't worry about having all the late-4e books or downloading the errata. It's available if you want it; relatively safe to ignore if you don't.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I believe most, if not all, the 4e PDFs are on DMsGuild and some are print on demand. Those are all completely legal

PS - if you are not familiar with the guild, you can search by edition.