Daily powers replaced with class features for Fighter & Ranger

[Jools]

Just listened to yesterday's Essentials podcast on WOTC.com and it verified the lack of dailes for the Ranger and Fighter (no word on the rogue yet). The surprising part is that not only are they not being replaced with level appropriate encounter powers, they aren't even being replaced with attack powers at all! Classes like the Fighter are going to be simpler to play than other characters and will receive class features at those levels instead. It looks like they are really going out of their way to make this fighter old school. They also mentioned some classes (and this must surely include the fighter) wont even have at will powers - just a melee basic attack! Seems kind of quirky, I'm intrigued. The simple fighter for simple people has arrived. I'm dying to see how all these class features will measure up with a lack of daily powers. By epic that's gonna be a lot of class features. Maybe they'll mostly be in the mode of extra damage/accuracy and (later on) targets. Is that how it was in 3e?

 

[erf_beto]

I couldn't listen to the podcast yesterday, no sound at work, which unfortunatly does NOT mean silence, with all the machines working outside my office, but anyway... this was one of the podcast I was really eager to listen (if there was ever one before).

I love that they are experimenting with class design this far. It was something I believed possible since before 4e arrived.

And I can totally see a fighter with only basic attacks. There was a Warrior class in the Wizard's Homebrew forums which worked like that and it was simple, effective and very nice.

 

[Hawkeye]

Seems a bit strange to me that they went to all of this trouble to make the classes more than "I just swing my sword again this round." just to change it back again a couple of years later. I'll guess we will have to wait and see what the actual results are when the books come out.

Hawkeye

 

[Pelenor]

One of the things I like about 4E is the idea that everyone has something interesting to do every round. Hopefully this "simplification" won't kill that idea.

 

[TarionzCousin]

A Fighter with no powers? No attacks? Is he just going to stand there and take damage?

Maybe this class should officially be renamed "Hit Point Sponge."

 

[abyssaldeath]

Seems a bit strange to me that they went to all of this trouble to make the classes more than "I just swing my sword again this round." just to change it back again a couple of years later. I'll guess we will have to wait and see what the actual results are when the books come out.

Hawkeye

That is one of the things I miss about the old fighter. Sometimes you just want to play a character that doesn't take any real thought. Don't get me wrong, I love that every class having meaningful choices during combat is the gold standard. It will just be nice to have a simple lazy build to go along side that.

 

[Hawkeye]

That is one of the things I miss about the old fighter. Sometimes you just want to play a character that doesn't take any real thought. Don't get me wrong, I love that every class having meaningful choices during combat is the gold standard. It will just be nice to have a simple lazy build to go along side that.

I can certainly understand that sentiment. I've certainly played my share of "simple" fighters over the years and it's often the first class that new players would play in their first few sessions under the older systems, when all they had to worry about was "Just hit the damn thing!". It just seems strange to me the sudden step backwards. Still, I'll reserve full judgment when I see the class fully fleshed out.

Hawkeye

 

[Stumblewyk]

I too love that every class has something unique to do every round if they so choose...but in the interest of teaching the game to a newbie, I can see where it would be easier to say "your fighter wades into the melee and swings his [insert nasty weapon here] at the monster," instead of "you shout at the surrounding enemies and they charge towards you; in anticipation of their assault, you swing your [insert nasty weapon here] at their stomachs as they draw near."

The second one is definitely cooler, but much harder to make sense out of for the newbie. If they can make Dumb Fighter just as "sticky" and "tankish" as Smart Fighter, then it's a win-win. My friend who wants to play the very specific spear-charging fighter build can do that, and my sister who wants to just get her feet wet learning the rules (or a 10 year old kid who is learning the game from his older cousin/dad/whatever) can play the "you just slash at stuff" build.

 

[Zaran]

That is one of the things I miss about the old fighter. Sometimes you just want to play a character that doesn't take any real thought. Don't get me wrong, I love that every class having meaningful choices during combat is the gold standard. It will just be nice to have a simple lazy build to go along side that.

You can do that with the builds we have already. How exactly is the fighter compatible with other builds when they use totally different mechanics? They are back pedaling way too much.

 

[Herschel]

That is one of the things I miss about the old fighter. Sometimes you just want to play a character that doesn't take any real thought. Don't get me wrong, I love that every class having meaningful choices during combat is the gold standard. It will just be nice to have a simple lazy build to go along side that.

Archer Ranger? It's not a fighter, but doen't get much simpler than that.