D&D 4E 4e Races and Classes: "Why we changed the gods"

[Simia Saturnalia]

Brilliant, this is exactly as it should be. Crunch first, fluff second. Once you get the gameplay right, you come up with a world to support that gameplay.

Q. F. T.

This sounds to me, in a lot of ways, like the least crufty edition ever. The rule books will contain play-supporting elements, a light flavor, and very little else. Season to taste with homebrew details or just grab a dangerous piece of metal and go bash a gribblie with a world that pretends to exist just hard enough to not feel like you're playing Nethack with paper.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

Confirmed list
(snip)
Unconfirmed list
(snip)

I like all of this.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I like the fact that D&D will be paring down the deities. I also like very much the idea of Correllon Larethian become not just an elf god but a general magic god that happens to be an elf (I assume he will still be an elf) that everyone worships. I assume this means that all gods are getting their racial identities stripped. The underlying thrust of that is that it removes racism in a way and cultural divisiveness, which are noble goals in the real world and it is good to see it spill into a game.

I don't think Corellon is an elf. I think he likes the basic image of an elf, so that's how he manifests most of the time. Whatever he is, he created/aided the fey people who would become eladrin/elves/drow and invited them to live with him in the Feywild. The drow were banished for their evil, while the elves preferred to live in primeval woodlands.

But I do like losing racial gods. Indeed, it has been said that dwarves who practice the finer arts worship Corellon. When I first read that, that was kind of dissonant. But I'm glad it there because it helps keep things to manageable levels. I also like the idea of different races having different names for the same god, just as it was done in Birthright.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I'm less offended by the statement of the ethereally sketched out deities than I am about them being nothing more than monster with epic stats. I have never thought a PC should be able to take on much less defeat a deity (avatars and the like of course do not count). Omniscience and Omnipotence (as well as Omnipresence) are categorically why gods and the like are needed in fantasy fiction, to play with, manipulate and destroy the world at their whim. (Okay, maybe not destroy, but I'm sure you get my point)

I don't begrudge those folks that do run those games (Hey, I may have thought Planescape sucked, but apparently a whole mess of other folks didn't) and I am sure this mentality will make it easier (someone clarify that please) to introduce this possibility but to say out right it happens is a little pugnacious.

I would much rather see a 'baseline' set of ethos and mentality and then introduce a rules section that allows you to "set up stats" if that what you wanted. I am however, glad it appears that they are bringing the possibility of raising characters to demi-god or such status, something I haven't seen actively extolled since 1e.


PS, don't take on deities in my games, you lose, period.

 

[KingCrab]

Ok, what WOTC needs to do to punk all the whiners is this-

First, announce that they've found the space to put the gnome and the druid back into the PHB.

Then, announce that they've dropped the gnome and the druid because, on further thought, non combat related deities are necessary to fully flesh out the game world. The gnome has been dropped in favor of Susan, Goddess of Fertility.

Bad idea. Fertility goddess - good idea. Fertility goddess named Susan - bad idea.

 

[GreatLemur]

Seems to me Silvanus...with a very fitting name...would have been a better selection. Or any other similar deity without Greyhawk baggage.

These days, that name has other baggage.

 

[mmadsen]

From what's in R&C, the implied world has a lot more than 'flimsy background.' Enough that I would like to see it fleshed out into a more-than-just-implied setting.

I agree with a caveat: fleshing-out is best done by the GM and his players. That's where the fun lies.

Trimming 30 years of fat is not dumbing down.

Well said. The goal of the game is not to be encyclopedic.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Confirmed list
Kord: strength, storms

Thor. It's spelled Thor.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

In 27 years of playing D&D I have used the "core" gods...never. They could make Bozo, the God of Clowns as a "core" god and I wouldn't really care.

Eliminate Deities from the PHB altogether and I would be fine with that.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Thor. It's spelled Thor.

At Gencon this past year, Thor was mentioned as being in the PHB. They obviously changed their minds since then.

If they were ripping off real world gods, I would have used "Ba'al" as the name for the god of tyranny.