D&D 4E Playtesting and ideas: Simpler 4e

[GreyLord]

Just an idea of something to make 4e simpler for some players out there.

I've found that as you go higher in level, some players get overwhelmed with all the powers and abilities. Ironically, some want it simpler, even then essentials.

I had this idea, but it is VERY rough and needs a LOT of refining, which hopefully people here can put in their ideas.

How to make a simple 4e that retains the ability to dish out damage and the class feeling, but that doesn't have all the powers and abilities to choose from or keep track of.

My first thought is that characters ONLY get their first level abilities. Hence the At-Wills, the Encounter, and the Daily. The get an extra if they are a Half-Elf...etc.

Then, every time they get an Encounter power, or a Daily Power they get the following.

For each Encounter power they can cause maximum damage from a hit (regardless of whether it is an Encounter or Daily Power they use it in conjunction with). In addition, this damage is doubled at levels 10-20, and tripled at levels 20-30? This damage can also include bonus damages such as the Rogue's and Ranger's additional damage dice.

For each Daily power they get they can get an automatic hit and do double damage of the hit. They also get to cause the effects of whatever power they used on two targets (or if it already targeted more than one creature have the effects occur again at the beginning of the next round). This increases to 4x the damage at 10-20 and 6x the damage at 20-30.

To Powerful? To Weak? Looking for 4e ideas, but keeping it a LOT simpler.

 

[the Jester]

Too weak and too much fun stripping.

To simplify the game, basically the easiest thing is to point your players at the Essentials books, especially the fighter, ranger and rogue.

What you are suggesting is stripping out all the pcs' choices. It isn't just damage at issue, it's the ability to inflict more conditions, to fight in a tactical way. A lot of high-level powers are much better than just "moar damage"; they stun, daze, immobilize, give you a chance to lock down that skirmisher.

 

[GreyLord]

Too weak and too much fun stripping.

To simplify the game, basically the easiest thing is to point your players at the Essentials books, especially the fighter, ranger and rogue.

What you are suggesting is stripping out all the pcs' choices. It isn't just damage at issue, it's the ability to inflict more conditions, to fight in a tactical way. A lot of high-level powers are much better than just "moar damage"; they stun, daze, immobilize, give you a chance to lock down that skirmisher.

Essentials didn't do it for the group. What happens when the group doesn't like having all the pcs choices of the different powers and such. The fighter doesn't even want to have to choose between certain actions, he just wants to swing a sword and kill dealing lots of damage.

Trying to find a solution for that type of play with 4e.

 

[the Jester]

Essentials didn't do it for the group. What happens when the group doesn't like having all the pcs choices of the different powers and such. The fighter doesn't even want to have to choose between certain actions, he just wants to swing a sword and kill dealing lots of damage.

Trying to find a solution for that type of play with 4e.

Fair enough. How's this? Instead of adding encounter powers and daily powers, let them swap for a higher level one and have one extra per day or encounter? So a 3rd level pc, instead of having two encounter powers, has one 3rd level encounter power that he can use 2/encounter?

I suppose you could keep a lower level power if you preferred.

This would result in a slight pc powerup (equivalent to having multiple higher level encounter powers) at the cost of a decrease in flexibility and options.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

To Powerful? To Weak? Looking for 4e ideas, but keeping it a LOT simpler.

I think stepping outside of the usual aw/e/d/u scheme makes things hard to judge, so I'd rather stick with the standard power scheme.

But as someone who doesn't care for essentials, I've thought about this too. Some players don't want to deal with all those fancy conditions -- they just want to deal damage. So I wrote a few generic powers that fit 4e's power scheme, while creating a viable "I hit it with my stick" option.

 

[Quickleaf]

Have you checked out Old School Hack? May just be the thing for your group.

Old School Hack

 

[GreyLord]

Have you checked out Old School Hack? May just be the thing for your group.

Old School Hack

I'll check it out now.

 

[KahnyaGnorc]

Most classes (and all roles) have powers at each level that just deal damage without extra utility, so you could just make a sort-of skeletal class for those that want to be basic. Let's say at a certain level, you have two encounter powers, one deals 2[W] and one 4[W] (random examples). Give your skeletal class the ability to deal 3[W] damage twice per encounter. (If you can't average to a full [W] or die, round down and give a small bonus).