D&D 4E 4E WoT

[KarinsDad]

Tonight at our game, our group collectively expressed interest in running a 4E Wheel of Time campaign when the 4E rules come out.

I am familiar with the campaign setting having read all of the books, however, I am not familiar with the WoT campaign setting rules (i.e. as per the D20 WoT RPG).

Does anyone have familiarity with that RPG to the point that given the 4E information that we have so far, it either does or does not sound like it will mesh well with the 4E rules? If so, why or why not?

Thanks.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Does anyone have familiarity with that RPG to the point that given the 4E information that we have so far, it either does or does not sound like it will mesh well with the 4E rules? If so, why or why not?

Well, two points:

1. We don't know what 4E's "core mechanic" is yet; how they've "fixed the math." But math is pretty setting neutral, so you'll probably be able to use it.

2. The WoT setting is very low magic compared to regular D&D. The recent podcast included a discussion with a player whose Fighter had gotten to 10th level without having any magical items; and he didn't miss them either. I think that's very promising for playing in WoT world.

As for the magic system, so far we don't have enough info I think.

But the REAL problem with converting 4E to WoT-world will be the class balance issue. In D&D, classes are balanced. In Wheel of Time, Aes Sedai are just better than anyone else. Way better even than Jedi are in the Star Wars movies. An "accurate" representation of WoT would not be fun for anyone not a channeler.

Of course, you could always play in a post-Rand world, and claim that whatever Rand does to fight the last battle so drastically changes the True Source that Aes Sedai aren't overpowering anymore.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

WoT does practically beg for a custom built magic system. Regardless of the edition. I hear the one for the 3.0 book was really pretty good. Know a few people who replaced the DnD magic system completely with it.

If all else failed I think you could use the system from the Black Company Campaign Setting or True Sorcery without too much adaptation. If you futzed with the math it might even work pretty well in 4E.

Though on that note, we don't know. 4E spellcasters could very easilly be a great fit for the setting.

Aes Sedai might be more powerful, but they also come with plenty of great incentives for troupe play in that there are all sorts of necessary things they can't do or won't do as well as other characters.

You can't throw a rock in a tavern without hitting someone who is described as competent precisely because they can, in some sense, go toe to toe with an AS.

 

[The Lost Muse]

Honestly, from what we've heard about 4e magic, I think it'd be fairly easy to convert the weaves to the appropriate 4e power level (tweaking damage dice, graduation of effects, etc).

The trick comes in categorizing which ones are per day, per encounter, and at will, although to stay truer to the setting, those weaves which are per encounter and at will will vary from caster to caster.

The other mechanic which may or may not cause issues is overchannelling (basically allowing a second use of a per day or per encounter weave), but I bet that 4e will be very easy to run WoT with from what we've already heard.

 

[KarinsDad]

The trick comes in categorizing which ones are per day, per encounter, and at will, although to stay truer to the setting, those weaves which are per encounter and at will will vary from caster to caster.

We were hoping that by comparing which spells in 3E changed to per day or per encounter in 4E, we could convert the WoT ones similarly.

 

[drothgery]

2. The WoT setting is very low magic compared to regular D&D. The recent podcast included a discussion with a player whose Fighter had gotten to 10th level without having any magical items; and he didn't miss them either. I think that's very promising for playing in WoT world.

Err... the WoT setting is low in magic items. It's not low in numbers of casters (there are thousands of men and women who can channel around) or in the power of the effects they can manage (the most powerful can manage near-instant transportation, big boom blast effects, seriously mess with people's minds, etc.). I don't call that low magic, myself.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Does anyone have familiarity with that RPG to the point that given the 4E information that we have so far, it either does or does not sound like it will mesh well with the 4E rules? If so, why or why not?

After the magic system, the main thing might be sorting out and balancing some of the PC races (Ogiers, I'm thinking of), and some of the superplusbonus feats which WoT used the interesting mechanism of having 'Latent xyz' as a prereq for 'xyz; (e.g. Latent Old Blood, Latent Dreamwalker etc). The latent version of the feat is pretty much wasted, but eventually pays for a much more potent feat.

The fact that you don't need clerics in 4e to allow healing to happen sounds very positive in terms of Wot. The differentiation between weapons and the martial power sources sound really promising too.

Regarding magic, the +6 wands and so forth sound as if they might work really well in terms of the 'angreal', since many of the magic items were caster-boosters.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Oh yes, it would be fun to port across the WoT 'rotting madness' rules for male channellers

 

[JohnSnow]

Okay, I'm a huge Wheel of Time fan, and I have to say that, with the exception of a couple of subsystems, the Campaign Book did a pretty poor job of emulating the setting - mechanically, that is. Especially when it comes to magic.

If you want to take a crack at playing in the world of the Wheel of Time, I'd recommend picking up Fantasy Flight's Midnight campaign setting. The setting isn't perfect but the magic system and some of the subsystems (like Heroic Paths) are a much better fit for that series than the standard 3e ones. The casting class is even called the Channeler and they introduce rules for casting in groups and using talismans (which play a lot like angreal and sa'angreal). I'd use those channeling rules in combination with the "powers" from the WoT game would be much better than the default magic system in the game.

However, I have a feeling 4e might require much less conversion than 3e. For example, you might just have to come up with elemental traditions for wizards to take care of the Aes Sedai. Porting over the madness rules from the 3e WoT game would be one of the only necessary changes. 4e characters certainly sound less item-dependent, which is only a good thing as far as emulating the feel of Jordan's world. That means you may be able to do with a couple minor new subsystems rather than a whole new game system.

Game-breaking characters like the ta'veren might need a couple "extra powers." Converting Midnight's Heroic Paths might take care of that. There's ones for being more powerful channeler (oddly called "Dragonblooded"... ), for being a born tactician, for having a special bond with a type of animal, and even predicting the future.

All in all, very interesting.

 

[carmachu]

Tonight at our game, our group collectively expressed interest in running a 4E Wheel of Time campaign when the 4E rules come out.

I am familiar with the campaign setting having read all of the books, however, I am not familiar with the WoT campaign setting rules (i.e. as per the D20 WoT RPG).

Does anyone have familiarity with that RPG to the point that given the 4E information that we have so far, it either does or does not sound like it will mesh well with the 4E rules? If so, why or why not?

Thanks.

No need for rules....just have plots that endlessly go on forever and dont tie anything up and you'll have th essence of WoT