D&D 4E The Indispensable 4e

[theuglyamerican]

I suppose it's pointless to ask for people to refrain from flaming or trolling, but what the hell, I've always enjoyed tilting at windmills.

NO FLAMING OR TROLLING!

With that out of the way, nobody's going to get everything they want in a compromise, gestalt edition like 5e. Therefore, I'm asking 4e enthusiasts what they feel are the key, essential elements of that edition that ought to be ported to 5e, at least in some form. Why do you pick those elements? And, if you have familiarity with previous editions as well, what problems do those elements solve? I look forward to your responses.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

My favorite thing about 4e is how easy it is to design monsters.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

I'm not a huge 4e enthusiast, but I would love, LOVE for them to incorporate minions in some way, shape or form into 5e.

Ideally, I'd like them to have slightly scaled hp (e.g. 1 hp per level or somesuch) or to use the old (2e?) heroic fray rules. Basically, I don't want commoners or henchmen finding minions too easy (though they can still be easy).

But man...minions for 4e...stroke of genius.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Consistent and transparent mechanics and simplicity of prep.

 

[Ratskinner]

Prep speed, hands down.

I'm not a big 4e fan overall, but the prep speed alone makes it tempting to run.

 

[theuglyamerican]

Forgive my ignorance, because it's just that and not a troll. What makes it easy to prep, specifically?

 

[Lanefan]

I'm no 4e supporter but I wouldn't mind if 5e carried forward a scaled-down version of 4e's combat movement effects, somehow. I wouldn't want these effects to be automatic, as in slide 3 squares (15') on any hit; but if there was a separate save vs. the movement and it was a declared part of the action as in "as part of my attack I'm intentionally trying to push this guy out of the way", I'd rock with it.

4e also has some interesting magic items that should come forward - but if 5e is truly going to be big-tent it really should have every magic item* from each edition anyway.

* - where all editions have had a similar item e.g. Flying Carpet, just have one such item rather than four.

Lan-"slip-slidin' away"-efan

 

[CM]

• Quick NPC/monster prep, even at high levels
• Quick adventure pacing (via surges, full rest total recovery)
• No linear fighter/quadratic mage issues
• Heavy restriction of adventure-ruining effects (alignment detection, flight, invisibility, long-distance teleportation, etc).
• Heavy restriction of save-or-suck|die on common foes (the ghoul bit me and I'm paralyzed HOW LONG?)
• Extra care taken on rules for summoned or companion creatures (no spending 30 minutes of game time waiting for the druid to buff his summoned menagerie before combat).
• Lots of interesting monster races playable without the kludge of ECL
• Low-level characters have increased survivability (no meatgrinders here)
• Mundane healing (removal of divine magic as only competent healing source)
• Rituals (in theory if not always in execution)
• 46 (!) fleshed-out base classes, many of which were niche prestige class concepts in 3e.
• Dynamic combats with lots of movement (3e punished weapon-wielding characters for moving, while spellcasters were free to do so)
• Implements (now it actually matters if you prefer rod/staff/wand/orb/tome/totem/dagger/etc)

 

[Raith5]

4th ed is my favourite edition by far - I have just found that it played really well at the table. But I dont think it reads as well as previous editions, so I think more thought needs to go into the writing and considering non-combat aspects more fully.

But my biggest beef with 4th is the some of the terms - like noting movement by squares rather than feet. I just found there to be a (100% unncessary) disconnect between myself and the game world. But I had no problem with terms like healing surges or second wind.

The thing I like about 4th ed are interesting powers and abilties for all classes - I really enjoy all my party members being able to do interesting tactical things in combat

 

[jshaft37]

Balance amongst classes, NPC/monster design, essentials design, defenses rather than saves, ease of DMing.