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Crash Course in 4th ed.
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<blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 5118535" data-attributes="member: 158"><p>Hey, man! Long time no read. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>I've seen this blog post mentioned before (<a href="http://slyflourish.com/giving-4e-an-old-school-feel/" target="_blank">Giving 4e an Old School Feel | Sly Flourish</a>) and there are a few good ideas in there, with one exception: I certainly don't recall old-school encounters being about "fewer monsters" -- I remember gary's mods like Keep on the Borderlands and Temple of Tharizdun being about LOTS of monsters, albeit most of them smaller but more effective critters back in those days. Minions these days are PERFECT for things like those mass critter battles in WG4 and S4, and making them enough of a challenge where those mere "minons" STILL have a better chance than a nat 20 of hitting the PCs.</p><p></p><p>I would recommend looking at some of the "cheat sheets" that people have made - one by ENworld's own Kiznit, I believe, as one example: <a href="http://www.dragonavenue.com/downloads/kiznit_4eCribSheet_v1.1.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.dragonavenue.com/downloads/kiznit_4eCribSheet_v1.1.pdf</a></p><p></p><p>I would also recommend some kind of initiative card to keep track of both PC inits as well as critical stats and skills (like defenses and frequently used skill scores).</p><p></p><p>The thing to remember is that several (not all) of the design goals do hearken back to older D&D prinicipals -- in particular, reducing the amount of monster stats and just dealing with the basic monster's "shtick"; also, trying to reinforce archetypes and roles through the classes and their powers, and giving a lot of on-the-fly power to the DM. At the height of the 4E days,I used to be able to use the charts of the DMG1 page 184 and 185, season my monsters/npcs with just enough tricks to make them distinct, and not even crack a monster manual. Especially at the heroic tier (levels 1-10), and mostly still at the higher levels, the PCs powers are well enough balanced with the monster stats that you won't have to memorize every little thing a PC can do (though that never hurt anyone), and the DM mainly just has to concentrate on getting his story going, and not have to go through tons of stat creations to make it happen.</p><p></p><p>Hopefully some of this helped. PCs wil be DEFINITELY stronger and more resilient than 1st or 2nd level OD&D newbie PCs, most because of defenses and higher hit points, so that's something to watch out for when trying to get the right tone you're used to.</p><p></p><p>Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Henry, post: 5118535, member: 158"] Hey, man! Long time no read. :) I've seen this blog post mentioned before ([url=http://slyflourish.com/giving-4e-an-old-school-feel/]Giving 4e an Old School Feel | Sly Flourish[/url]) and there are a few good ideas in there, with one exception: I certainly don't recall old-school encounters being about "fewer monsters" -- I remember gary's mods like Keep on the Borderlands and Temple of Tharizdun being about LOTS of monsters, albeit most of them smaller but more effective critters back in those days. Minions these days are PERFECT for things like those mass critter battles in WG4 and S4, and making them enough of a challenge where those mere "minons" STILL have a better chance than a nat 20 of hitting the PCs. I would recommend looking at some of the "cheat sheets" that people have made - one by ENworld's own Kiznit, I believe, as one example: [url]http://www.dragonavenue.com/downloads/kiznit_4eCribSheet_v1.1.pdf[/url] I would also recommend some kind of initiative card to keep track of both PC inits as well as critical stats and skills (like defenses and frequently used skill scores). The thing to remember is that several (not all) of the design goals do hearken back to older D&D prinicipals -- in particular, reducing the amount of monster stats and just dealing with the basic monster's "shtick"; also, trying to reinforce archetypes and roles through the classes and their powers, and giving a lot of on-the-fly power to the DM. At the height of the 4E days,I used to be able to use the charts of the DMG1 page 184 and 185, season my monsters/npcs with just enough tricks to make them distinct, and not even crack a monster manual. Especially at the heroic tier (levels 1-10), and mostly still at the higher levels, the PCs powers are well enough balanced with the monster stats that you won't have to memorize every little thing a PC can do (though that never hurt anyone), and the DM mainly just has to concentrate on getting his story going, and not have to go through tons of stat creations to make it happen. Hopefully some of this helped. PCs wil be DEFINITELY stronger and more resilient than 1st or 2nd level OD&D newbie PCs, most because of defenses and higher hit points, so that's something to watch out for when trying to get the right tone you're used to. Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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