Review of 4E on Aint It Cool News

[mmu1]

Also, was I the only one to think, "Vlad Taltos" re: the ritual magic rules?

Not really. The main characters of the Jhereg series are exceptionally ill-suited to being portrayed as 4E characters. Though to be fair, D&D in general is just not a good match for the kind of fantasy Brust writes.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Kinda dissapointed there is nothing about traps. Didn't we even get a Traps and Hazard excerpt a coulpe weeks ago? Why tease us like that if they didn't add them in the DMG?

 

[Jack Colby]

And recycled art? Say what? Hopefully he means recycled from the R&C and W&M books. Otherwise, I'm kinda pissed. All the awesome new art we've seen so far...these are core books, you can't put old art in them!

Yes you can. 3E was the first (and, I guess now, only) "advanced" edition of the game to not do this.

 

[Massawyrm]

Kinda dissapointed there is nothing about traps. Didn't we even get a Traps and Hazard excerpt a coulpe weeks ago? Why tease us like that if they didn't add them in the DMG?

There ARE Traps and hazards. Just no rules for making them yourself anymore like there is for monsters. They were in an earlier playtest version.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

There ARE Traps and hazards. Just no rules for making them yourself anymore like there is for monsters. They were in an earlier playtest version.

Given the traps in the DMG, how hard would it be to adapt them to create new ones?

 

[Jack Colby]

The brief glimpse of ritual magic we got here really intrigues me. It looks like, those who want a low-magic game can totally cut divine and arcane power sources and use ritual magic as the "only" magic in their game.

Good observation. I hadn't caught that, myself, but I love it! In my mind that's how magic ought to work, anyhow.

 

[kitoy]

Not really. The main characters of the Jhereg series are exceptionally ill-suited to being portrayed as 4E characters. Though to be fair, D&D in general is just not a good match for the kind of fantasy Brust writes.

I agree that the main characters in the Jhereg books are completely twinked out.

I was thinking more along the lines of actually making a Vlad Taltos-like character. A rogue on the Assassin paragon path with Ritual Casting as a feat. The magic that Vlad uses in the books is all ritual magic! Especially the scene on the Paths of the Dead where it takes him an entire novel to cast one spell. I forget which book that's in.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Also, was I the only one to think, "Vlad Taltos" re: the ritual magic rules?

I get more of a "Dresden Files"-vibe from the rules, down to the split between combat magic/rituals (i.e. evocation/thaumaturgy).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Not really. The main characters of the Jhereg series are exceptionally ill-suited to being portrayed as 4E characters. Though to be fair, D&D in general is just not a good match for the kind of fantasy Brust writes.

You're kidding.
The Jhereg series was loosely based on Brust's old D&D game (heavily house-ruled 1e).

Geoff.

 

[mmu1]

You're kidding.
The Jhereg series was loosely based on Brust's old D&D game (heavily house-ruled 1e).

Geoff.

It was loosely based on heavily house-ruled D&D? If anything, that proves my point.

Though I'd like to see an actual quote from Brust on the subject - just because tons of fantasy authors used to play D&D and might have brought some ideas back and forth between the game their writing does not make for books based on D&D games.