What's the most significant difference you've found with 4e from 3e?

[Asmor]

You can swap out the CR system for a blanket XP system.

You can do your taxes in base 7, too. That doesn't mean it's desirable and it definitely doesn't mean it's easy...

 

[Wormwood]

I ask because making those two changes is pretty close to what I have in mind for my next 3E campaign. I fail to see the problem.

As long as you are willing to completely change 3e encounter design---then yes, 3e encounter design is easy.

 

[I'm A Banana]

You can create treasure packets for 3E, and forget about rolling treasure.
You can swap out the CR system for a blanket XP system.

Sounds like a pretty good solution. Unearthed Arcana even had a system for converting CR to XP, IIRC.

 

[Remathilis]

Sounds like a pretty good solution. Unearthed Arcana even had a system for converting CR to XP, IIRC.

Which now that I will be switching back to my HL 3.5 game, I am TOTALLY using!

 

[Zustiur]

You can do your taxes in base 7, too. That doesn't mean it's desirable and it definitely doesn't mean it's easy...

Interesting that you'd compare the 4E encounter system with base 7
XP based on existing CR looks like a snap to me.
Page 166 of DMG (going on 3.0 here, don't have 3.5 DMG). Take each of the bold numbers as the set XP for a monster.
So: CR 1 = 300
CR 2 = 600 and so on
Then from Page 57 of DMG 4E -

XP value for a monster of the encounter's level) x (number of characters in the party)

Let's see, how can we re-arrange that to suit 3E?
We know that CR1 is supposed to be EL1 and it's worth 300 XP.
(Correct me if I'm recalling this point wrong: ) 3E is designed for a 4 character party.
Therefore 300/4 = the target amount of XP for a level 1 PC in a single encounter.
Alright. Here we go. Ready for the 'hard' bit?
Target XP Reward
To find your total XP budget, multiply the number of characters in the party by one quarter of the XP value of a monster whose CR is equal to the party's average level.
Target XP = (XP value for a monster of the party's average level)/4 x (number of characters in the party)

Done. That's it. There's your so called 'base 7' 3E encounter system.

As long as you are willing to completely change 3e encounter design---then yes, 3e encounter design is easy.

I'm more willing to change 3E encounter design than to change an entire edition to avoid a single fault in the previous edition. I didn't argue that 3E encounter design was easy. I argued that it wasn't impossible to make it easy if you had trouble with the existing system.

Sounds like a pretty good solution. Unearthed Arcana even had a system for converting CR to XP, IIRC.

I should really make a point of looking at that book someday.

 

[Hussar]

Target XP Reward
To find your total XP budget, multiply the number of characters in the party by one quarter of the XP value of a monster whose CR is equal to the party's average level.
Target XP = (XP value for a monster of the party's average level)/4 x (number of characters in the party)

That doesn't really work though since CR does not scale linearly. You can't just fill up, say, 3000 xp worth of monsters in an encounter and expect it to work since the numbers for monsters increase so sharply. Four CR 4 creatures is not the same as a single CR 8 monster, despite being worth the same xp.

 

[Shazman]

Combat takes about 3 times as long, at least at 1st level. The rounds take longer because it's harder to decide what to do compared to 3.5 where the best option was easily decided upon. It takes much longer to kill the monsters. Their ACs and hps are pretty high compared to the attack and damage modifiers of the PC's.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Conversion work is much harder in 4e.

Magic items tend to work completely different.

Levels don't align anywhere like they used to.

The Monster Manual is a gimp book and in dire need of support/reinforcement (not hard to guestimate the goods in the meanwhile but at the cost, with the reprinted art and reduced page count, I don't feel I should have to.)

I'm not saying any of these things are bad in terms of 4e being it's own game.

But when trying to do conversion work... it ain't as easy as it could be.

 

[Fifth Element]

The Monster Manual is a gimp book

I'm not saying any of these things are bad in terms of 4e being it's own game.

One of these things is not like the other.

 

[Henry]

To find your total XP budget, multiply the number of characters in the party by one quarter of the XP value of a monster whose CR is equal to the party's average level.
Target XP = (XP value for a monster of the party's average level)/4 x (number of characters in the party)

Done. That's it. There's your so called 'base 7' 3E encounter system.

Which isn't bad, until you start mixing in monsters of more than one or two levels off from the party's level. Send a couple of Babau Demons against a four person level 3 party, and they'll have a very hard time of it, and likely lose a hero or two, unless you're adding in a lot of later supplement stuff (like spell compendium and Book of Nine Swords, and even then it's pretty swingy on who wins and loses). The monsters don't scale exponentially, but they don't scale linearly, either.

I agree with Joe, though -- conversion work is quite hard in 3E to 4E, though I learned some bad conversion lessons trying to convert things like Against the Giants from 1E to 3E. Straight conversions from any version of the game to any other don't often go well, because some creatures occupy different niches entirely between systems. A group of 9th level adventurers might handle a half dozen hill giants in a single encounter without too much problem; in a 3E or 4E encounter, they might get their heads handed to them!