Hey WotC! Can we get leveled-up versions of the DDXP PCs?

[withak]

We've had some great fan-created adventures posted on this site, and a bunch of really entertaining and informative playtest reports as a result. I've been considering putting together a little adventure for my group to see how they like 4e (and would post it here, natch) but I'd like to go a little further than just throwing the DDXP pregens into a dungeon and hoping that I either achieve a TPK, or that my players will be satisfied enough with the one-shot to tide them over until the core books are released. Our sessions generally run 6+ hours, and I wouldn't want to leave everyone hanging if we wrap up earlier than that. (This is assuming a bunch of 2e throwbacks would like 4e -- I think they would, but we shall see.)

A really Rousetastic(tm) way to increase the value and variety of fan playtests would be to get official leveled-up versions of the DDXP pregens, to level 2 and perhaps level 3. It'd also be a great way to preview new powers, feats, and other crunchy bits.

Whaddya say, WotC?

 

[Wystan]

They may feel that this would steal too much thunder and allow too many data points on the leveling process.

 

[BASHMAN]

They may feel that this would steal too much thunder and allow too many data points on the leveling process.

Yeah, but if it is only with Pregens, I don't think that would threaten their sales any. Its not like people will be happy playing the same Halfling Paladin or Eladrin Ranger that they had no say in character creation. They could probably release the Pregens at 6th, 15th, and 25th levels and not have it hurt anything. Maybe have 10 monsters of those levels out for people to playtest with. If anything I think it would drive their sales up-- get more people interested in 4e playing it than just speculating about it.

As for reverse engineering the game-- thay'll only be able to reverse engineer stuff chosen by a handful of individual characters-- when there will likely be dozens of other powers/feats/etc for each class that were not chosen.

Also, WotC can make them harder to reverse engineer by having bonuses figured in without explaining where they came from. If a feat just gives a static bonus, it probably will not even appear on the sheet-- they just figured in the bonus w/o telling you where it came from. Same goes for racial & class abilities, that people might gain as they level up-- unless it is something that has to be actively used, or only works in certain situations, they have no need to write it on the sheet or where it came from. You can bet that as characters increase in level, there will be a LOT more of these bonuses from nowhere than the 1st level characters seemed to have.

 

[Harr]

As a current 4e DM (with said pregens), I second and third this motion.

Not only would they not hurt sales, by letting groups get regular 4e weekly games going and and continuing straight up to June 6th, even if it's with sketchy pregenned material, they'd be practically guaranteeing that said groups will immediately line up to get the books the day they're out.

I suspect it's more of a situation of 'we would do it if we needed to do it, we just don't feel we need to do it' sentiment that Scott Rouse has mentioned a couple times in other threads.

 

[Stalker0]

While I would love to see more stuff, it would be a BIG reveal.

We would get more powers, we would learn were all of the +1/2 level bonus goes to, more feats, etc.

 

[Lord Sessadore]

Not to mention it would probably steal a lot of the thunder from Keep on the Shadowfell, especially if they gave us pregenned characters all the way up to 3rd.

I have a feeling Keep on the Shadowfell will also feature pregenned characters, and probably pregenned advanced versions of them up to 3rd level, to complete the adventure. If they give us that right now, really the only thing different we get to see with KotS is different monsters/character options, and a professionally assembled, official adventure. Quite a bit less than what we'd be getting if they kept character advancement info down to what we know already.

 

[Harr]

Not to mention it would probably steal a lot of the thunder from Keep on the Shadowfell, especially if they gave us pregenned characters all the way up to 3rd.

Exactly, but KotS was originally supposed to come out a month (or was it more?) before the books, so would have fulfilled this purpose nicely. Now that that month or whatever it was got reduced to just two weeks, it fails.

I'm not too worried about it though, I think we can all improvise similarly-powerful feats and powers from what we have anyways, all you'd need is the clear understanding with your players that it is what it is and that everything will change once the actual books are out.

 

[withak]

Exactly, but KotS was originally supposed to come out a month (or was it more?) before the books, so would have fulfilled this purpose nicely. Now that that month or whatever it was got reduced to just two weeks, it fails.

Exactly. IIRC, the original release date for KotS was May 5; now it's May 20. I'll probably still purchase it, but since it's so close to the release of the core books, I probably won't be running it.

I'm not too worried about it though, I think we can all improvise similarly-powerful feats and powers from what we have anyways, all you'd need is the clear understanding with your players that it is what it is and that everything will change once the actual books are out.

Yup, I'd just as well use unofficial stuff gleaned from this forum, but it doesn't hurt to ask for official stuff.