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If I think about what critical threads devolve into unhelpful attacks and which result in interesting analysis, I would the difference is largely specificity. Criticisms that are broad and general almost never lead anywhere. Statements that 4e is "Too Anime" or "Is Designed to be a MMORPG"...

No complicated motivations needed. It's simply human social dynamics. I've never seen any issue that doesn't naturally gravitate towards towards people feeling like there are sides that need defending. Honest disagreements, confused misunderstandings, questionable humor, insulting comparisons...

I always think of the reeve when I envision the middle ages. Or a new red Camaro.

I like the idea of characters that can play a role in social arenas easily. I'm not so sure about how I feel about mechanics for social interactions in the game. However, it sounds as though 4e will be having 3e style social skills and a social encounter system to organize and encourage...

I think that for the skill selections in the core rules, one of the things that should be considered is how often the skill will be referenced in published adventures and settings. A DM can, of course, tailor and add skills to his own adventures and published adventures. But I believe that the...

I've seen bards in 2e and 3e several times. Each time they were actually pretty fun in play, but not due to their class abilities, but rather to the role-playing issues around a light-hearted, dramatic, performing character. In all of the cases I've seen, the bard was not contributing in many...

Very true, but I will note that in this the Warlord and the Bard may be stepping on each others' toes. The primary difference in what most of the bard conceptions to date from the Warlord are indeed 1) musical performance and 2) magical influence. So the bard as an arcane leader may be...

I see. Well, according to the blog the Swordmage is still in the early design stages, so perhaps they will decide to open up the concept more to allow more customization.

Isn't this exactly what is potentially being discussed in this thread? I understood that the Swordmage class was just that: a base starting class for a character who uses arcane power to achieve primarily martial goals. Perhaps all of the speciality classes you discuss will be possible to...

And, as should be quite clear, I consider the changes being made to the 4e rules set to be unrelated to an overall increase in player narrative power. Your examples of changes are actually intended to achieve goals other than the transfer of narrative control and can be flipped on their head...

No, much of my gaming group is responding to 4e almost exactly as they did to 3e: kneejerk rejection. If any design element is brought up, the absolute worst is immediately assumed. Again, exactly as happened during 3e. I remember all the discussion with them about initiative in 3e, some of...

How does it increase the players' power? They cannot bring allies into the fight in 4e any more than they could in 3.5e. The unpredictability of the system can benefit the players just as often as it can harm them. And DMs jury-rig to save the players just as often as they might to keep the...

Gooble, gobble, gobble..... Don't worry, I'll start looking around for what RPGs will be released after 4e, so I can convince you to wait for that. The temptation to procrastinate usually get 'em every time.

I think that asking PCs to select a number of background and flavor skills unrelated to standard adventuring sounds like a good idea. I will note that having a number on your character sheet for a skill is not at all the same as being mechanically meaningful. I think that the skill has to...

It seems to be there will be several ways you can customize monsters in 4e. Note that I'm not using hypothetical language below because it makes for clumsy writing. I don't have any special knowledge of the actual system. 1) The DM uses the guidelines in the DMG or MM and adjusts the numbers...

If you feel the mechanics of a character cannot significantly contribute to your interest in a character, then the issue with 4e would appear to be neutral. The changes in mechanics are not relevant, in which case you will be in the same situation in 4e as you were in 3e: you will provide the...

Again, this entire discussion began based on your claim that the design changes in 4e were such that they would transfer narrative control over to the player. Now you seem to want to discuss ways in which the game *could* transfer narrative control. I assure you that I am aware of many ways...

As many others have said, I am willing to accept the responsiblity for monster abilities if it comes with the consequence that I may have to improvise if they come into play in a way I did not originally consider. This is a downfall of a more open system, but I would simply not use any opponent...

All this talk of slimes has reminded me that I'd like to see more love and respect for the demon lord Juiblex. I've got a fondness for this demon lord, who is so refreshingly classic at his core and free from the complications of other lords. I've always loved the idea that Juiblex is really...

I do not regard adding cleric powers to a Fire Giant to be "ultra-cheesy" in any way whatsoever. It is a hundred time more elegant and less cheesy than the tortured and contrived methods that had to be used in previous editions. I simply cannot forget the various Giant high priests I've seen...