Will "any" class be hindered by armor then? ..and elimination of CON?

[Emirikol]

Since everybody uses it, why not make it a standard score?

jh

I can see an eventual Barbarian/Berserker like class relying on Constitution. A Monk-like class might also want to rely on Con and Wis.

But if you think about it, this is definitely the way in 3rd edition, too. Every class needs its constitution score (hit points matter!), but few classes rely on it for its major effects. (Except a variant of the 3.0 Psion, IIRC).
Outside of the core rules, in Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, i think the Champion class had a few abilities relying on Constitution.

But it's still a rarity. I guess constitution as an ability is just too passive, and it doesn't fit too spellcasting, either.

--

About armor. I don't know, but I can totally see it. I wouldn't mind a few armor-clad rogues (it's not like they were not possibly in 3.x, either!)

 

[an_idol_mind]

I'd be surprised if the armor check penalty went away. I don't see rogues moving silently while wearing chain mail or anyone having an easy time while attempting to swim in full plate.

Also, I doubt there will be a heck of a lot of wizards running around in armor. You can do this same thing in 3rd edition. If you just house rule arcane spell failure away, there's still not a lot of pure arcane casters in heavy armor, because they'd need to spend three feats to have proficiency with plate mail. I don't think that would change much in 4th edition.

 

[GeorgeFields]

PCs are no longer hindered by anything, including death.

Players get to keep playing their dead PCs until the group can return to town for the local beggar to use Raise Dead to earn his coppers. This way the player of the dead PC doesn't miss out on any of the fun of playing.

 

[morbiczer]

Yes, I think that it would be (to quote a whiner), unfair to drop spell failure for armor, but still jack Rogues and Rangers (and druids?) for wearing armor for their abilities.

It should be standard across the board.

jh

I think some sort of armor penalties for some skills at least should stay. It simply makes sense, that moving silently in full armor should be more difficult than in a linen shirt.

 

[Particle_Man]

Since spells attack defenses now, the easiest house rule would be to have armor give a penalty on spellcaster "attack rolls" equal to the armor check penalty on certain skills.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

I think some sort of armor penalties for some skills at least should stay. It simply makes sense, that moving silently in full armor should be more difficult than in a linen shirt.

I think he was referring to the whole "If the Ranger bears a medium load or uses medium or heavy armor, he no longer gains the benefit of his Combat Style feat" hoohah.

 

[Mistwell]

The talk fo wizards not worrying about armor

You mean having to take feats to get armor. Hence, your premise is flawed, unless you feel feats are not a limited resource that one needs to "worry" about.

anymore begs the question: will ANY class be hindered by armor?

Apparently, wizards will, in the very least.

 

[KingCrab]

Getting rid of the 6 attribute system would be like killing the most sacred of the cows. I doubt they will drop an attribute like constitution. I'd certainly miss it.

 

[FadedC]

While it could obviously be wrong, my interpetation of this is that wizards will start off with no armor proficiency, but should they gain it through feats they can wear it without screwing with their casting. I would suspect that gaining proficiency in heavy armor will be a bit trickier then simply taking a level in class with heavy armor profiency like you can in 3E.

 

[Mistwell]

I never undestood the need to give any class heavy armor proficiency at level one, since you cannot afford heavy armor at level one anyway! Why not just have fighter-types get light armor proficiency at level 1, medium at level 2, and heavy at level 3? That way, multiclassing to dip one level for the heavy armor cannot be done, but the actual fighter-type isn't really harmed by it since it would take level 3 to be able to afford heavy armor anyway.