ppaladin123
Adventurer
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Commencing Countdown!)
Not sure if this is behind the d&di wall but I think everyone (regardless of edition preference) will be interested in this.
Here is a bullet point summary:
*Developers say that experience with system has made it, "clear that we could produce classes with different rates of class feature and power acquisition without harming the game."
*Clear that players like, "having classes that were new, different, and interesting."
*Inspired by experiment with power points and removing encounter powers in PH3
*Essentials: "introduce(s) greater differences of complexity between classes while also creating options that (will) interest veterans of the game."
*Developers have eliminated daily powers in Essentials version of some classes and simplified many encounter mechanics.
*Essentials classes are "sub-classes" of existing classes reminiscent of those in previous editions. New classes have different mechanics from existing classes.
*Using Essentials version of class will be optional. Original builds will continue to work the same. No changes to pre-existing class builds except one: wizards' encounter-level spells now have a miss effect.
*Essentials races will have "more options."
So this looks pretty big. They apparently heard people complaining about the lack of difference between classes and are going to be producing classes with a variety of mechanics, some simple and some more complex. It looks like some classes will have versions that have no dailies. This might make some of the martial classes more like the Book of 9 Swords classes.
Originally we thought these would simply be new builds for the classes that work with existing mechanics (like the tempest fighter or the vestige warlock). Instead it looks like whole new class FORMS are going to be introduced.
I expect we'll see the dual primary stat classes (paladin and warlock, for example) given single primary-stat builds with very different mechanics. Depending on what is introduce this could could lead to the de facto death of the "original" versions of some class, as people switch en masse to the new implementation. It wouldn't just be a new option; it would be a fix. For other classes, it might just be an interesting chocie to make at character creation.
As a side note, there are previews for the essentials classes coming up each Friday in July. One of the previews is for the, "Knight," which I assume is a sub-class of the Fighter.
Thoughts?
Not sure if this is behind the d&di wall but I think everyone (regardless of edition preference) will be interested in this.
Here is a bullet point summary:
*Developers say that experience with system has made it, "clear that we could produce classes with different rates of class feature and power acquisition without harming the game."
*Clear that players like, "having classes that were new, different, and interesting."
*Inspired by experiment with power points and removing encounter powers in PH3
*Essentials: "introduce(s) greater differences of complexity between classes while also creating options that (will) interest veterans of the game."
*Developers have eliminated daily powers in Essentials version of some classes and simplified many encounter mechanics.
*Essentials classes are "sub-classes" of existing classes reminiscent of those in previous editions. New classes have different mechanics from existing classes.
*Using Essentials version of class will be optional. Original builds will continue to work the same. No changes to pre-existing class builds except one: wizards' encounter-level spells now have a miss effect.
*Essentials races will have "more options."
So this looks pretty big. They apparently heard people complaining about the lack of difference between classes and are going to be producing classes with a variety of mechanics, some simple and some more complex. It looks like some classes will have versions that have no dailies. This might make some of the martial classes more like the Book of 9 Swords classes.
Originally we thought these would simply be new builds for the classes that work with existing mechanics (like the tempest fighter or the vestige warlock). Instead it looks like whole new class FORMS are going to be introduced.
I expect we'll see the dual primary stat classes (paladin and warlock, for example) given single primary-stat builds with very different mechanics. Depending on what is introduce this could could lead to the de facto death of the "original" versions of some class, as people switch en masse to the new implementation. It wouldn't just be a new option; it would be a fix. For other classes, it might just be an interesting chocie to make at character creation.
As a side note, there are previews for the essentials classes coming up each Friday in July. One of the previews is for the, "Knight," which I assume is a sub-class of the Fighter.
Thoughts?
