I am beginning to appreciate some of the design decisions of 4E.

[TerraDave]

I would rank the "features" of 4E relative to 3E as follows...so the top are an improvement (though that doesn't mean they are perfect in 4e), the middle about the same overall, and the bottom as weaker then 3E:

Ease of prepping, DMing monsters/npcs (+)

Player class and race balance (+)

Ease of DMing, general/other (+)

Movement along the power curve, ie the sweet spot (+)

Overall speed/ease of play (+, but something of a weakness in both)

Offering viable player options (..)

Support for non-combat stuff (..)

Style, flavor (though this has gotten better…) (..)

Limiting uneeded splat (..,a weakness in both)

Flexibility in character creation (-)

Supplements/adventures for the DM (-, also gotten better)

Connection to past D&D, D&D tradition, D&D community (-)

 

[NewJeffCT]

I DM 4E now and we've been gaming fairly regularly for about 8 months now, though we've been off for 5 weeks do to holidays/vacations now. As a DM, I love that it is much easier to prepare than 3.5E, and encounters seem to run much much faster than they did in 3.5E. I like minions a lot and the fact that not every party needs a cleric.

However, I still don't love healing surges and I miss Vancian magic... even though I often spent 20-30-40 hours between sessions preparing encounters once my 3.5E campaign got past level 10/11 or so. (OK, I often overprepared, but I was anal about not cheating & picking out every spell, feat, power, skill and magic item for each bad guy.)

I'm not sure I love the feel of 4E, but it could just be me getting used to the sytem - I was new to 3.5E when I started DMing that campaign almost 3 1/2 years ago and it took me a while to get comfortable with those rules.

 

[Reynard]

High Priest (13th level) with Simple Advanced Template: 1 minute.
Tweak to suit your ends: 5 minutes.

Except the part where you have to go through all the spells and a) know what they do, and b) pre-prep their level dependent aspects.

Here's the thing: I have nothing against "winging it" in general but I have found that it is far worse to let the game grind to a halt in order to look something up than it is to spend some time prepping. As it is we are only playing a 4 hour session (if that) every 2 weeks (if that). Letting things likelooking up rules and spells eat time is neither fun nor fair.

In addition, I consider it effectively cheating for the GM to just pick spells on the fly. I wouldn't let a PC do it, and I won't do it to them. I am something of a RBDM, so i consider it extra important to "play fair". I can't break rules or it becomes unfair when PCs die.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

One thing I'll say about prepping high level spellcasters is that the OP is right. If you do it "without fudging", and from scratch, it can take a loooong time. (Sometimes I like this...it's a fun activity like building a model and then using it.)


But often, I just need a caster for my game...and it's late and the game starts early in the morning.


So what do I do? I go to my adventures. I have dozens, if not hundreds of adventures for 3e, 3.5, and Pathfinder. Simply go with the level of the NPC and focus on adventures of that level. Even better, if you have more adventures, you can use theme, such as "drow priestess"...go for drow adventures of that lvl.

I have found that there are almost ALWAYS available characters that are premade for me...including magic items (another arduous set of decision making for NPC)...that I can use in another adventure.

Heck, I've even used the same character a few different times with a different description, maybe 1 magic item changed, and the players have never noticed...because the situations are always different.


I realize not everyone has a "library" from which to choose, but I also should mention that there are some books specifically designed for this purpose...NPC galleries that contain their stats. Addditionally, one can fairly easily build up at least a small library of free (legally) available adventures from the web.

So, while the game system is certainly not as quick for prep time as 4e, there are ways to deal with these challenges.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Except the part where you have to go through all the spells and a) know what they do, and b) pre-prep their level dependent aspects.

Here's the thing: I have nothing against "winging it" in general but I have found that it is far worse to let the game grind to a halt in order to look something up than it is to spend some time prepping. As it is we are only playing a 4 hour session (if that) every 2 weeks (if that). Letting things likelooking up rules and spells eat time is neither fun nor fair.

In addition, I consider it effectively cheating for the GM to just pick spells on the fly. I wouldn't let a PC do it, and I won't do it to them. I am something of a RBDM, so i consider it extra important to "play fair". I can't break rules or it becomes unfair when PCs die.

What is an RBDM? And, it sounds like your game is similar to mine (other than edition) in that we play every other week for about 4 hours.

Agreed on not winging it in terms of preparation - I'd feel like it was cheating to not pick out all the spells in advance, like I had the players do. And, since I knew many in my group (for the 3.5 campaign) did not center their lives around gaming, it was best that I did the majority of the prep work.

 

[Umbran]

What is an RBDM?

"Rat-Bastard Dungeon Master". A DM that is always pushing his players to the edge of their capabilities, by way of playing the monsters and NPCs as tactically intelligently as possible. Any GM can throw an overpowered monster at a party. A RBDM uses a nominally appropriate encounter, but uses the rules to the utmost advantage.

A GM who, without breaking the rules, beats a party of 10th level adventurers with a bunch of 1/4 hit die kobolds is a RBDM.

 

[Kaiyanwang]

Maybe could be a good idea, for the community of players in general, create a database of pre-made NPC of any level, even better with few notes on tatcics, and standard equipment.

On the long road, it could be create a very solid database, if well handled.

 

[Reynard]

What is an RBDM?

Rat Bastard Dungeon Master. In other words, I like to crush my PCs, see them driven before me and hear the lamentations of their players.

 

[Stoat]

I recall us chuckling when our 3E fighter commented he did more with his sword attack than their pirate galleon did with a ram.

Oh hell yeah. My high level party was heavy on fighty classes and light on magicky classes (1 Rogue, 1 Ranger, 1 Paladin, 1 Fighter, 1 Cleric with 4 levels of Fighter, 1 Sorcerer). Above 15th level it was very, very common for either the Ranger or the Fighter to dish out 100+ points of damage in one round.

 

[jaerdaph]

Reducing GM prep time is something I always appreciated about True20.