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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
4e DDI rules database vs D&D print books?
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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4086201" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>WOTC said at DDXP that the reason they are not going this route is a technical one. They want DDI subscribers to be able to post characters online and have everyone see them(presumably on the personal pages of Gleemax) and that their database kept trying to assess whether or not anonymous people on the internet had purchased the books in order to show them the full description of the feats on the character. Which it couldn't do because they weren't logged into DDI. Plus, when DDI subscribers were trying to view a character which was made using a feat from one book they didn't have, how would that work?</p><p></p><p>Plus, I got the impression that creating unique codes that could only be added to one account ever that stayed secret without shrink wrapping all the books was an issue as well.</p><p></p><p>So, they solved this simply by giving ALL users, even anonymous ones access to all the feat, power, and class lists in the Rules Database and all logged in, registered DDI users full access to everything.</p><p></p><p>Keep in mind, however, that from the way that the Rules Database was described it still doesn't negate the need for books. It sounds like it will allow you to search for, say, all feats from X books or all feats starting with S. It won't, however, give you the descriptive text at the beginning of X book explaining how Divine Feats or Reserve Feats work.</p><p></p><p>It might allow you to select Swordmage as a class, and it will fill in the class features on the character sheet. It likely will list class features like: "+1 to hit X monster" rather than "+1 to hit X monster, and it increases to +2 at 11th and +3 at 21st". It's likely to just fill in the numbers based on the level of your character.</p><p></p><p>You MIGHT be able to look up the stat block for a creature, but you probably won't get its descriptive text and the like.</p><p></p><p>I mean, it's possible it tells you everything, but it sounds more like a rules catalog than a full copy of the book.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 4086201, member: 5143"] WOTC said at DDXP that the reason they are not going this route is a technical one. They want DDI subscribers to be able to post characters online and have everyone see them(presumably on the personal pages of Gleemax) and that their database kept trying to assess whether or not anonymous people on the internet had purchased the books in order to show them the full description of the feats on the character. Which it couldn't do because they weren't logged into DDI. Plus, when DDI subscribers were trying to view a character which was made using a feat from one book they didn't have, how would that work? Plus, I got the impression that creating unique codes that could only be added to one account ever that stayed secret without shrink wrapping all the books was an issue as well. So, they solved this simply by giving ALL users, even anonymous ones access to all the feat, power, and class lists in the Rules Database and all logged in, registered DDI users full access to everything. Keep in mind, however, that from the way that the Rules Database was described it still doesn't negate the need for books. It sounds like it will allow you to search for, say, all feats from X books or all feats starting with S. It won't, however, give you the descriptive text at the beginning of X book explaining how Divine Feats or Reserve Feats work. It might allow you to select Swordmage as a class, and it will fill in the class features on the character sheet. It likely will list class features like: "+1 to hit X monster" rather than "+1 to hit X monster, and it increases to +2 at 11th and +3 at 21st". It's likely to just fill in the numbers based on the level of your character. You MIGHT be able to look up the stat block for a creature, but you probably won't get its descriptive text and the like. I mean, it's possible it tells you everything, but it sounds more like a rules catalog than a full copy of the book. [/QUOTE]
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