4e Annoyances for those who like 4e

[cmrscorpio]

But the warlord decides whether the guy was really dying or not. If the warlord yells at him to get up, then he wasn't really dying. If the warlord doesn't yell at him, then he was really dying and dies. And the warlord is acting as if he knows this. That's where the suspension-of-disbelief issue comes in.

Then this is a case of metagame knowledge causing the suspension of disbelief. In the context of the reality of the game world as experienced by the characters, if the warlord's inspiring word brings him back, then he wasn't really dying in the first place. If the warlord doesn't use the inspiring word and the character then dies, then the guy really was dying and no amount of cajoling or berating from the warlord could have saved him.

[edit]How the events are interpreted depend entirely on whether the character survives. I see it as just another of the many abstractions inherent with using something as definite and precise as hit points to measure something as ephemeral and ever-changing as one's health.[/edit]

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I've disliked the 'squares and 1-1-1 counting are abstractions of combat for the sake of simplicity' from the start. (I use a hex grid.) I've been simmering this in the back of my head for a while, and I finally have something I want to ask:

If those squares are simply abstractions for sake of gameplay, why aren't all battle areas in published maps square/rectangle in shape? I mean, if you can swallow the idea that six diagonal squares are the same in-world distance as six horizontal/vertical squares, why not go the whole nine yards and eliminate the awkwardness of round rooms/groves/whatever? Why not draw all roads and hallways as straight lines with occasional 90 degree turns? Seems to me that would be the epitome of simplicity.

 

[Derren]

If those squares are simply abstractions for sake of gameplay, why aren't all battle areas in published maps square/rectangle in shape? I mean, if you can swallow the idea that six diagonal squares are the same in-world distance as six horizontal/vertical squares, why not go the whole nine yards and eliminate the awkwardness of round rooms/groves/whatever? Why not draw all roads and hallways as straight lines with occasional 90 degree turns? Seems to me that would be the epitome of simplicity.

Thing is, while the movement abstracts down to 1-1-1, the terrain does not. If you would change the rooms to also use this sort of geometry then all round rooms would indeed be square shaped (and horribly warped).
And I have no idea how square shaped rooms would look like in this geometry and I don't really want to think about it. The only thing I know that they would be worthy of Cthulhu.