With all the ruminations on Essentials, are Power Cards even worth buying any more?

[Amphimir Míriel]

[RANT]

What WotC should have done from the beginning was to program the D&Di using Java instead of .NET

That way the tools would work on Windows Mac and Linux and many more of us would gladly pay for subscriptions.

[/RANT]

 

[evilbob]

...are Power Cards going to be even worth buying any more?

My opinion is that power cards were never worth purchasing, ever. They were out of date the moment they were printed.

(My opinion is that the books are never worth purchasing. They are out of date the moment they are printed. The only exceptions to this are books that are not mechanic-heavy, and even then, I would borrow them from a friend or read them in a bookstore.)

If you're interested in having the utility of power cards, I strongly suggest any of the myriad of methods people have listed for making your own. It's easy to do and only costs a few sheets of paper. However, remember that the moment you print them they will be outdated, so I would discourage you from laminating them or otherwise making them more permanent. I also wouldn't bother doing anything fancy, printing in color (waste of ink), or creating any solution that doesn't allow you to quickly make small changes and print the cards out again (at which point they will also be outdated). You might consider ignoring the print option and just writing the details yourself in pencil. Be sure to have lots of erasers handy.

 

[Festivus]

A quick look at the page suggests that the .Net runtimes don't work reliably for Crossover so it seems very unlikely to help run the character builder.

Magic 8 ball says "No"

Compatibility - Search - CodeWeavers

 

[Nahat Anoj]

[RANT]

What WotC should have done from the beginning was to program the D&Di using Java instead of .NET

That way the tools would work on Windows Mac and Linux and many more of us would gladly pay for subscriptions.

[/RANT]

I'm not sure what the technical hurdles for this would be, but I'd like some kind of online interface. That way we wouldn't have to download Character Builder updates, and we could access content from any computer (much like what we can do with the Compendium). So an online Character Builder and Monster Builder, is what I'm trying to say.

As far as Power Cards go, I hate 'em. I agree with those who think it's convenient to have power text close at hand, but I hate card format. I don't know why - perhaps I'm channeling CCG hate, perhaps it's because the guy in my group who cuts out his cards and puts them into backings is the guy I'm most annoyed with, or some other ridiculous, irrational reason on my part. I'm just irritated by them. Give me a list of powers, arranged by action type a la monster powers - that makes me happy.

 

[GRStrayton]

Huh thats weird. You Mac people must be mounting some kind of resistance and plotting to overthrow the rest of us.

Ha! I love that!

 

[possum]

I agree with Power Cards being a waste. I haven't bought any packs because of this. I have pretty much all of the books, and I simply make my own out of notecards. Sure, some of the bigger powers can be a pain to fit in the space provided, but I've always managed to do it.

 

[J. R. Scherer]

See, what I was thinking about doing was buying my Warden Power Cards, updating my powers every six months and re-laminating the fresher powers on the old cards so they'd still be of use, and be nice and stable, and durable instead of just.. laminated pieces of paper.

This seems like an awful lot of work. I'm thinking that printing the power cards using either Character Builder or one of the other power card options you can find online and inserting them into a Top Loader style hard plastic sleeve would be a whole lot easier and more economical than buying power cards.

 

[Mad Hamish]

I'm not sure what the technical hurdles for this would be, but I'd like some kind of online interface. That way we wouldn't have to download Character Builder updates, and we could access content from any computer (much like what we can do with the Compendium). So an online Character Builder and Monster Builder, is what I'm trying to say.

Considering how bad it is finding anything on the Wizards web site I'm down firmly on the side of wanting the character builder to stay as it is on the whole.

Saying that if it's been designed sensibly it should be possible to have a web interface on the Wizards site as well.

 

[webrunner]

Plus you wouldn't need the latest-and-greatest windows, right? An OEM copy of Windows XP home should be sufficient...

 

[Holy Bovine]

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You can call this LEGO Wilden Warden wildly confused.

Power cards, in their barest most essential form seem to be a brutally wonderful implement to any D&D 4e gamers arsenal.

The sheer concept of being able to tell what Encounter, Daily and other powers I've used without having to pay for the Character Creator seems..well.. extraordinarily beneficial to someone on a limited budget.

However, with all the ruminations on Essentials, are Power Cards going to be even worth buying any more? Especially, if you're like me and your playing a class in PH2, or PH3, or dare I say it, a class out of the AP, DP or PP books?

You claim to be on a limited budget yet you are buying power card packs for what? $10 each? For $10 you can get the Character Builder, Monster Builder, every issue of Dragon and Dungeon published since WotC took over 3 years ago and access to the online Compendium for a month. Your budget looks really weird to me.

Oh and I agree with others - Power Card packs were worthless the instant they were printed. The CB does all that they do and have errata accounted for.