D&D 4E 4e/Essentials compatibility?

[pathfinderq1]

So I've been paying only a little attention to the whole Essentials line and appropriate debates (mostly as I don't have the money to purchase much product right now). With the holidays coming up, I might get some of the Essentials material as gifts, so I have a general question- how compatible is Essentials crunch (feats/powers/etc.) with normal 4e? Both in terms of the ideas, and in terms of what people have seen in actual play- how well do they mesh? Work freely, with modifications, don't work?

Would it be possible to have a normal 4e wizard (for instance), and choose Essentials powers to round out one's selections?

 

[Cyronax]

It'd be more plausible to play an Essentials Wizard and choose normal wizard powers instead. Currently the Essentials characters have some elements that don't match with the normal progression of all earlier 4e classes.

Essentials is a lot of fun, but its not as modular as the older system.

WotC is putting out a revamped conversion guide or something in February I think.....


The Class Compendium:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Product (Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell)

 

[Bold or Stupid]

In most cases they are completely interchangable, the Essentials classes are new builds rather than a replacement class. several classes are very different running off a completely new power structure (eFighters, Rogues and Rangers) many of the others are closer to 'normal' classes and in most cases the poewers can be chosen from the other type.

 

[DracoSuave]

Basically, if 4e never had multiclass/hybrid, Essentials and Core would be fully compatible. Multiclass/hybrids are pretty much the only thing that do not currently dovetail... which if that's all you can say is pretty damn compatible.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Basically, if 4e never had multiclass/hybrid, Essentials and Core would be fully compatible. Multiclass/hybrids are pretty much the only thing that do not currently dovetail... which if that's all you can say is pretty damn compatible.

Well, there are no hybrid versions of the Essentials classes YET at least. Maybe there never will be, but since the e-classes cover the same concepts that PHB1 style classes do you aren't really held back by that, just make your guy a GWF/Wizard. Hybrids are an advanced concept anyway, not many people are going to want to combine them with essentials style martial classes. If you really want a GWF/Mage you could squint your eyes a tiny bit and it will work. A Knight or Slayer as a hybrid would be a custom job, but even that you CAN do if you really really want to.

Multiclassing MOSTLY works fine with e-classes. The classes that lack certain types of powers can't take those types of power swap feats and thus can't PMC, but is PMC any big loss? Not really... Again we might see something in the new book, say a couple replacement power swap feats that work with specific e-classes (trade a stance for an at-will of another class, etc).

So MC does work, Hybrid doesn't really officially but can be made to work, but there is very little point to bothering.

 

[Vaeron]

Basically, if 4e never had multiclass/hybrid, Essentials and Core would be fully compatible. Multiclass/hybrids are pretty much the only thing that do not currently dovetail... which if that's all you can say is pretty damn compatible.

And I would say MC still works fine if you're and Essentials char MCing into an older build. It's just if you're an older build you can't MC specificially into an essentials build, just a general cleric instead of warpriest for example. Interesting, in the new CB, a warpriest can MC into cleric, which means that even though they are classified as clerics they aren't fully coded as such yet.

 

[DracoSuave]

MCing into an essentials cleric works surprisingly well. The channel divinity power can be taken through multiple means, and the encounter and at-will powers are just as available as anything else, really.

The thing is, essentials characters that aren't the wizard have less ability to multiclass into anything else. They can't power swap powers they don't have a choice about.

 

[Votan]

Finally bought Essentials and I was surprised (in a good sense) by the quality of the books. Very well done. It looks quite compatible with 4E (in general) but the classes themselves are a joy to read.

I was especially interested by the "Slayer" sub-class of the Fighter. Seems to have a really nice feel as a combat class and I look forward to play-testing it at some point.

 

[zoroaster100]

The Essentials classes seem to have been designed to make it easier for a player to experience the right "feel" with the class that someone likely was looking for when choosing the class, including cinematic moments like the paladin leaping in front of a companion to take the blow meant for the companion, etc. All that is good. The one thing that worries me about compatibility is that the Essential classes seem largely more powerful. Some not by much, but some more so at least upon reading. To really know for sure I'll have to see how they do in play. If all players use Essentials classes they should be balanced. And some regular 4E classes were pretty strong anyway, and should do just fine side by side with Essentials classes (probably most of or all of the Player's Handbook 2 and 3 classes).

 

[Marshall]

In most cases they are completely interchangable, the Essentials classes are new builds rather than a replacement class. several classes are very different running off a completely new power structure (eFighters, Rogues and Rangers) many of the others are closer to 'normal' classes and in most cases the poewers can be chosen from the other type.

This is Flatly Untrue, tho the marketing department loves that people keep claiming this.

Wizards? Clerics? About 80% compatible. Major changes to class features make much of the previous non-power support completely worthless and much of the post-e support worthless to 4e classes.

Every other class that shares a name with a pre-e is more than 90% incompatible. Drastically different features, a completely different(and incompatible) power set than AEDU, role changes and changing even starting HP,HS, skills and profs.

No, they arent just new builds, they ARE new classes. Most of which are at least overpowered, have little or nothing to do with their supposed 'role'(every class is based on extra damage) and are extremely boring in their implementation.

...and all that is before we arrive at the braindead idea that is Item Rarity....