D&D 4E Should I play 4e?

Azzy · Jun 6, 2019

Immortal Sun said:
Hold up there bubba. 4e was perhaps not as popular as 3.5, but it was still popular. It didn't drop D&D off the charts or turn it into an unknown game.

Something being "not as popular as this other thing" does not translate to something being "not popular".

Right. Shadowrun, Vampire, Cyberpunk, Call of Cthulhu, Rifts, and many more were never as popular as any given edition of D&D, but they were still quite popular.

Azzy · Jun 6, 2019

Tony Vargas said:
Overt IP-establishment everywhere.

Yeah, a lot of that. I blame that for all of the "the x was like this in previous editions is now something completely different" (eladrin being the first example of the top of my head) and such. I found that far more alienating than anything like warlords or whatever the more popular thing to disparage 4e about.

doctorbadwolf · Jun 6, 2019

ART! said:
If you like skills, 4E doesn't seem to care much about them. They're there, and you will use them, but why they weren't worked into the interconnected, balanced system of feats, powers, spells, etc. is beyond me.

I don't understand what you mean by this? The Skill Challenge system is an analogue to combat, but avoids going too far with it (like giving challenges some sort of HP analogue. That would have been terrible), and they are tied into Martial Practices (and possibly rituals, I don't recall at the moment), have combat uses, have Utility Powers that anyone with a given skill trained can take, interact with some feats and many many magic items.

Sadras · Jun 6, 2019

Greg K said:
I liked several things about D&D 4e. However, when I look at it, the following always crosses my mind:
1. I don't like Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies so I know that I will never run or play those levels.

Purely out of interest, why?

Garthanos · Jun 6, 2019

4e is a very Team Oriented Edition and the Warlord is a very adaptable class which very much highlights it.
I like how roles work to create a very team play system and I like how ability interactions key off of each other... (very like the source which inspired Arneson the US military four man fire team) .

ART! · Jun 6, 2019

doctorbadwolf said:
I don't understand what you mean by this? The Skill Challenge system is an analogue to combat, but avoids going too far with it (like giving challenges some sort of HP analogue. That would have been terrible), and they are tied into Martial Practices (and possibly rituals, I don't recall at the moment), have combat uses, have Utility Powers that anyone with a given skill trained can take, interact with some feats and many many magic items.

Interesting. All I can say is that was not my experience. Maybe my DM at the time wasn't incorporating skills as written, or maybe you or your DM(s) have stressed it? To me it seemed very detached from the way that feats, powers, and spells had this interconnected cascading or domino effect. We used the cards, and I just remember rearranging them frequently based on what feat was going to enable the use of what class power, etc., and that skills rarely seemed to play into that.

ad_hoc · Jun 6, 2019

Immortal Sun said:
Hold up there bubba. 4e was perhaps not as popular as 3.5, but it was still popular. It didn't drop D&D off the charts or turn it into an unknown game.

Something being "not as popular as this other thing" does not translate to something being "not popular".

3.5 is not the only other edition that can be played.

5e is available and is astoundingly popular.

It is much easier to find and sustain a group for 5e than 4e. When asking 'should I play 4e?' that is a factor to consider.

This applies not only to 4e but to all RPGs except 5e.

Joshua Randall · Jun 6, 2019

So every instance of "Should I play (any game that is not 5e)" can be answered "no, because it's not as popular as 5e and thus will be harder to find players for".

That's... sad. And blinkered.

It only takes one person to step up and run a not-D&D game for that game to take off in a local community.

Immortal Sun · Jun 6, 2019

ad_hoc said:
3.5 is not the only other edition that can be played.

5e is available and is astoundingly popular.

It is much easier to find and sustain a group for 5e than 4e. When asking 'should I play 4e?' that is a factor to consider.

This applies not only to 4e but to all RPGs except 5e.

This is a really terrible argument, you know that right?