D&D Insider - My main beef

[Markn]

First, let me say that I have played 4e since its release.

The biggest problem with 4e is that you need to play it "their way". By that I mean, WotC has deemed how D&D should be played. There is very little wiggle room for a DM to suit things to his style - which unfortunately - prevents easy house rule additions or changes. I've recognized this as a major drawback to the system and at some point I can see this driving some players away from the edition, or at the very least, not make it the sole edition they play. There is simply too much work for a DM or players to do if they want to have any significant house rules that it really isn't worth the effort. Instead, I see a lot of people complementing 4e with previous editions to get their fix for house rules.

 

[Piratecat]

The biggest problem with 4e is that you need to play it "their way". By that I mean, WotC has deemed how D&D should be played. There is very little wiggle room for a DM to suit things to his style - which unfortunately - prevents easy house rule additions or changes.

That's my wife's complaint about the system as well. I like so many things about the game that I've accepted it as an acceptable evil, but it continues to chafe a little.

 

[Dausuul]

First, let me say that I have played 4e since its release.

The biggest problem with 4e is that you need to play it "their way". By that I mean, WotC has deemed how D&D should be played. There is very little wiggle room for a DM to suit things to his style - which unfortunately - prevents easy house rule additions or changes.

This is only true for DDI users who are "locked in" to the Character Builder. If you don't use the CB, then 4E is incredibly easy to hack, tweak, and modify. It's only a cultural expectation that leads people to think it isn't.

(I'm now trying to figure out where that cultural expectation came from.)

 

[Scribble]

I think some resourceful programmer out there should work on a CS viewer, that would convert XML strings into viewable info.

The CB exports those XML documents- so if you wanted to input a house rule I think all you'd need to do is put it in the CB as XML text, then when it's exported out, and back into a CS viewer that could recompile the XML it would do all the work...

I explained that very badly.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Yeah, I've been tempted lately to run a game where I've banned the Character Builder. It may have not been intended to shut down house rules, but that's what its effect has been.

Also, it's gained a privileged place when it comes to determining the rules of the game even when it's wrong, at least for players in my group. For example, a PC in my group has the Chosen epic destiny and the CB prints out *all* the Chosen powers for all the gods, even though that PC is only a Chosen of the Silver Flame. However, because the CB printed it out that way, my DM said that the PC can choose from any of those powers at any time. Given that the CB has bugs, I think the CB should be viewed more as a convenience than a rules resource.

 

[Markn]

That's my wife's complaint about the system as well. I like so many things about the game that I've accepted it as an acceptable evil, but it continues to chafe a little.

Yeah, it chafes me more and more these days.

 

[Snoweel]

I think some resourceful programmer out there should work on a CS viewer, that would convert XML strings into viewable info.

The CB exports those XML documents- so if you wanted to input a house rule I think all you'd need to do is put it in the CB as XML text, then when it's exported out, and back into a CS viewer that could recompile the XML it would do all the work...

I explained that very badly.

Definitely not a haiku.

 

[Markn]

This is only true for DDI users who are "locked in" to the Character Builder. If you don't use the CB, then 4E is incredibly easy to hack, tweak, and modify. It's only a cultural expectation that leads people to think it isn't.

(I'm now trying to figure out where that cultural expectation came from.)

Two points to this:

First, without the CB, I wouldn't play 4e. The changes at each level are significant and there are simply too many powers, effects and such that without noting them on the sheet its not worth doing IMO. Maybe its no more than previous editions, but my perception is that there is more work. Additionally, without the CB there are much higher chances of player math being off.

Second, I disagree that 4e is easy to tweak outside the CB unless you are adding stuff to the game or changing single elements like a particular magic item. 4e is very integrated and changing something often leads to unintended results in another portion of the system. It can be done, but you need to be very careful going about it - so tweakable yes, easy, not so much.

 

[ExploderWizard]

That's my wife's complaint about the system as well. I like so many things about the game that I've accepted it as an acceptable evil, but it continues to chafe a little.

I am houseruling the hell out of my campaign. From the DM's side, this is as easy as its always been. Anything that impacts the character sheet though makes me .

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I don't see where allowing custom content would allow people to make unofficial versions of offical books to prevent buying DDI.

The unactivated version still limits you to level 3, just becuase someone made up the content for Primal Power, or PHB3, they still couldn't use anything but levels 1-3 of it without buying DDI,