D&D 4e Rules Compendium in online!

[Bagpuss]

It's the resource you use to look up all the powers you could take when you gain a level, as it has all of them from every official D&D 4e source listed. (Or at least, that's the idea).

Erm isn't that what the Character Builder should do anyway?

This to me just looks like a basic web front end for the database the character builder should use.

It's great if it actually does keep up to date, but at the moment the data isn't even up to date with the released core books, or the errata.

If it is going to be a player resource then it still needs the races from the back of the MM adding.

I wonder how long it will take to add the information from Dragon.

If they can't do the updates quickly then it will lose value.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I like it so far. Even in the last hour it's been useful as a distinct method of reading material from the book if for nothing else.

It looks really helpful for DMs who are making classes or powers. Let's you do comparison and 'syntax' checks really easilly.

Any DB could do that, but that doesn't reduce the utility of this tool right now.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

It has definate potential to be incredably awesome. A long way to go but definate potential. Very nice for an early beta.

Add my voice as another vote to at least get the glossary up there is not the entire rule set. While I would love to be able to look anything up through this I at least want to see all the details of what the powers/feats/class features do. I know it kind of does that already but please give me a second here...

So, this power makes a critter "stunned"? What does "stunned" do and how is that different from "dazed" or any of the other dozen or so status effects? At least let me click on 'stunned' and have the system give me the details of what that status does.

 

[Samadhi]

It's nice to see some of the DDI stuff actually going live, but as someone said this could have been pulled together with 3 weeks work. By one guy.

It's free, so I'm not complaining. I know, there will be a fee at some point, and when that point comes my expectations will be a lot higher. For the time being my expectations are pretty low.

Free text searching with no filtering or intelligence? Okay.
No cross reference between entries? Sure
No master index or categorisation of similar powers / feats etc? No problem.

But using beta content with errors? Come on WotC, someone needs a light slap for that.

As another poster said, I'm happy to wait for a good product. I'm annoyed waiting (eagerly) for a shoddy one. Let's hope the full 'paid for' version is a lot better.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

At the very least, this will prevent me from flipping through my book so much to make sure the players are using their powers properly.

 

[LeaderDesslok]

Wasn't the Compendium supposed to be useful to the players and DM when using the game table? I might be wrong on this, so correct if I am, but I thought in some of the marketing stuff we've seen over the past months we were told that the compendium would be handy for the virtual table. If there's going to be no monster stat blocks, or rules for combat, I don't see much utility to the DM. He'll still have to keep thumbing through his books for that info while trying to play online. Especially since the virtual game table will not help adjudicate anything.

 

[Nebulous]

Wasn't the Compendium supposed to be useful to the players and DM when using the game table? I might be wrong on this, so correct if I am, but I thought in some of the marketing stuff we've seen over the past months we were told that the compendium would be handy for the virtual table. If there's going to be no monster stat blocks, or rules for combat, I don't see much utility to the DM. He'll still have to keep thumbing through his books for that info while trying to play online. Especially since the virtual game table will not help adjudicate anything.

That was my understand as well, it had game rules you could reference immediately. I could easily be wrong though, probably am.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Wasn't the Compendium supposed to be useful to the players and DM when using the game table? I might be wrong on this, so correct if I am, but I thought in some of the marketing stuff we've seen over the past months we were told that the compendium would be handy for the virtual table. If there's going to be no monster stat blocks, or rules for combat, I don't see much utility to the DM. He'll still have to keep thumbing through his books for that info while trying to play online. Especially since the virtual game table will not help adjudicate anything.

This is exactly what I understood, and I don't think we were wrong to understand it this way.

If this is what the final implementation of the Compendium is supposed to contain (only presumably that will have "more of the same"), I am extremely unimpressed, as it doesn't contain stuff that's actually difficult to find, only things I can locate easily anyway! Not a lot of point in that.

 

[Scribble]

This is exactly what I understood, and I don't think we were wrong to understand it this way.

If this is what the final implementation of the Compendium is supposed to contain (only presumably that will have "more of the same"), I am extremely unimpressed, as it doesn't contain stuff that's actually difficult to find, only things I can locate easily anyway! Not a lot of point in that.

Hrmm... true, right now, with everything being in the PHB, it's pretty easy to find. Will the same be true in say 2 years when there are a TON of different sources for powers?

Do you know instantly where every feat or spell is for 3e? (if you do I will seriously be IMPRESSED!)

Things like this show their utility in the future when stuff gets more complicated. Plus it gives you a way of knowing what's out there without having to comb through a ton of books.

 

[Simplicity]

I'd like to point out that it's bad schedule estimates such as "this could be done in 3 weeks by one guy!!!" that caused D&DI to come out late in the first place. You guys say you are superior to the D&DI team. But I'm noticing how you're the same.