NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spinachcat" data-source="post: 3960408" data-attributes="member: 37588"> <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">NO MORE LEVEL DRAIN I am a mean bastard old school viking helm DM and I like temporary, but not permanent level drains.  I houseruled "healing" from level drain back in the early 80s. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">NO MORE ABILITY DRAIN I do not like "ability drain" that adds math to my game.  I like slapping a flat -X to totals.   The SWSE condition track could be well modified to make poisons / ability drain effects to be quite scary to players and evocative of the monster's abilities.   Whatever they do, I hope it is easy and quick to use at the table. Simpler/easier DOES = "better" at my game table </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">NO MORE ETHICAL ALIGNMENTS I have not heard any 100% confirmed reports that Law and Chaos are gone.   That would be a shame.  I am a big fan of alignment and I have ENOUGH other RPGs where morality is gray. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">SNEAK ATTACK ON ANYTHING I am uncool on the Rogue = UberWarrior and Fighter = Damage Soak Schmuck that seems to be the design decision for 4e.  I am okay with the rogue who can sneak attack most anything because he is the master of weapon targeting and weak spots.   I am cool with zombies taking sneak attacks as the rogue slashes the part of the zombie that is most rotten or least holding together. However, I expect that incorporeal creatures / amorphous blobs will be immune when we see the actual 4e books. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">FASTER GAME MECHANICS & NPC CREATION I am holding my breath on this one, but I sincerely hope that 4e is DM centered and gives us the tools to run the game with minimal time wasted on game mechanics.   The unnecessary time and trouble of running 3.X drove me away from the game as a DM. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">NO MORE EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF MAGIC ITEMS I like running Diablo style games with LOTS of disposable magic items and very cool signature items that show up in the campaign.   I do not like +X items because they are bland. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">NO MORE (or less) VANCIAN CASTING Vancian casting is good, fun and easy.   I have played many spell-point RPGs and those systems are NOT perfect and require extra pip tracking.   I suspect many people who cry against the Vancian system have little experience with playing wizards in other RPGs.   I am very glad that 4e is not going spell-point and I am intrigued to see how the at-will / encounter / day combo works in actual play. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> NO MORE SPELL SCHOOLS and FOCUS ITEMS I am confused by no more spell schools.  I wonder what style grouping they will do instead.  The spell focus items sounds fine - we have been doing that in Tunnels & Trolls and RuneQuest for 30 years now and its kewl beans.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">SKILL SYSTEM REVAMP The D20 skill system was a mess.  You spent your whole career trying to roll over 10.  The strongest base human (STR 18) got a +4 bonus to roll his STR checks.  Is Conan only 20% stronger than an average man?   Castles & Crusades did a great job with the Siege Engine and SWSE looks like it did a decent job, but neither game fixes the D20 problem that your ability scores are not reflective of actual ability. I run OD&D and your badass STR 16 Fighter rolls a D20 under his STR to kick in doors which means unless I throw some modifiers, that door is gonna splinter 80% of the time.  In D20, that same Fighter is a weenie who has to get lucky to open a stuck door.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"> BASIC RACES CHANGES It is obvious that 4e D&D is trying to brand itself as a non-generic product.  Palladium Fantasy and Tunnels & Trolls have had playable monster races for 25+ years.  They only add to the fun.   And Gnomes will be in the MM as a playable race. For those of us who have home setting that will differ from the default PoL, this just means we have some extra work ahead of us.  I am kewl with that because newbies will benefit from a default setting.   As always, I hand out my own docs to players about chargen so their characters fit my game world.  BTW "exotic races" only refers to the uncommon races in your game world.  You get to determine what is uncommon. </li> </ol></blockquote>

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