Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
The Best Thing from 4E
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Scrivener of Doom" data-source="post: 6561924" data-attributes="member: 87576"><p>I also accidentally answered with more than three choices not wanting to read the responses before I gave my own.</p><p></p><p>As a permanent DM, my single favourite thing about 4E are the stat blocks for monsters and NPCs. This is the only edition where I can think of a concept for a monster or NPC and stat it out such that the mechanics match the flavour without wasting an entire day looking for feats and class/prestige class abilities only for it to last 1 round (3.xE/PF) or simply writing flavour text and then rolling an attack and then damage (BECMI and the three editions of AD&D [with 5E being the third edition <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ]).</p><p></p><p>4E stat blocks are simply a thing of beauty, and I cannot help but think how easy it would be to design simpler PCs in much the same way.</p><p></p><p>Aside from that, the online tools deserve a lot of praise despite the tortuous road that was taken to get there and the fact that they are now online only. DMing any edition of D&D requires good information processing abilities and being able to look everything up, build characters and print out professional-looking character sheets, and create monsters with professional-looking stat blocks using those utilities is a godsend for a busy DM.</p><p></p><p>The fact that the game is so mechanically solid means I can spend a lot more time on RP and story, and my players can take RP risks with their characters knowing that they are not simply a single saving throw away from a TPK which is very different to the other editions.</p><p></p><p>As a group, we basically stopped dungeon crawls after the padded, poorly-designed, partly randomly-generated, and incomplete <em>T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil</em> way back in the 80s. Our game has "evolved" into a more cinematic collection of set-pieces, a process that began in 2E, began to be further refined in 3.xE until it became too much work, and has reached its apotheosis in 4E. It's the edition that <strong>best</strong> delivers our preferred playstyle and a large part of that is because the stat blocks really make the monsters/NPCs come alive.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scrivener of Doom, post: 6561924, member: 87576"] I also accidentally answered with more than three choices not wanting to read the responses before I gave my own. As a permanent DM, my single favourite thing about 4E are the stat blocks for monsters and NPCs. This is the only edition where I can think of a concept for a monster or NPC and stat it out such that the mechanics match the flavour without wasting an entire day looking for feats and class/prestige class abilities only for it to last 1 round (3.xE/PF) or simply writing flavour text and then rolling an attack and then damage (BECMI and the three editions of AD&D [with 5E being the third edition :) ]). 4E stat blocks are simply a thing of beauty, and I cannot help but think how easy it would be to design simpler PCs in much the same way. Aside from that, the online tools deserve a lot of praise despite the tortuous road that was taken to get there and the fact that they are now online only. DMing any edition of D&D requires good information processing abilities and being able to look everything up, build characters and print out professional-looking character sheets, and create monsters with professional-looking stat blocks using those utilities is a godsend for a busy DM. The fact that the game is so mechanically solid means I can spend a lot more time on RP and story, and my players can take RP risks with their characters knowing that they are not simply a single saving throw away from a TPK which is very different to the other editions. As a group, we basically stopped dungeon crawls after the padded, poorly-designed, partly randomly-generated, and incomplete [I]T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil[/I] way back in the 80s. Our game has "evolved" into a more cinematic collection of set-pieces, a process that began in 2E, began to be further refined in 3.xE until it became too much work, and has reached its apotheosis in 4E. It's the edition that [B]best[/B] delivers our preferred playstyle and a large part of that is because the stat blocks really make the monsters/NPCs come alive. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
The Best Thing from 4E
Top