D&D 4E Am I crazy? I've just gotten a hankering to play 4e again...

[Scrivener of Doom]

I often think about running a bit of 4E again, but with the DDI dead, my enthusiasm just dies again. 4E was a great game, but the DDI is what kept quite a large, complex game properly organised and accessible to the players, and as it got shut down permanently not so long ago, I just can't really face leafing through books trying to find stuff, not when the DDI was there in one form or another for most of the time we seriously played 4E. I have copies of most (not all, sadly, I couldn't log in during the free period near the end, it just wouldn't take my login) of the characters we played and actually I think all of the monsters I created/modified (as PDFs) but... I want that lovely online rules encyclopedia and so on.

I guess 5E will eventually see the same fate with Beyond and stuff, but I suspect it'll last a long time after any 6E.

Um, you do realise that there are offline versions of the tools available with a simple PM? There are even cloned versions of the online compendium available on a few websites.

 

[Garthanos]

Um, you do realise that there are offline versions of the tools available with a simple PM? There are even cloned versions of the online compendium available on a few websites.

I have personally done quite a bit of custom personal content for Character Builder which for me is the biggest benefit.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Um, you do realise that there are offline versions of the tools available with a simple PM? There are even cloned versions of the online compendium available on a few websites.

Do you mean Private Message?

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Do you mean Private Message?

Yep.

 

[teitan]

.

• Semi-side initiative. Players roll, I roll once for the monsters. Players above monster roll go, monster go, players below monster roll go.

that’s how I’ve been doing initiative since at least 3e!

 

[Neonchameleon]

There's a big R20 Living 4e campaign with over 100 players in it. So 4e works in it.

R20 had its 4e integration thanks to links with the Compendium. When that disappeared so did any integration.

 

[Tallifer]

R20 had its 4e integration thanks to links with the Compendium. When that disappeared so did any integration.

The Guild is as was said a 100+ player and DM group that plays 4E by the Compendium on roll20. They do not use the roll20 4E character template, but they have developed an encyclopedia of resources, videos, FAQs and live discord advice so that everyone can easily make and play 4E characters on roll20 together. 4E lives!

 

[masshysteria]

I recently started playing 5e and found myself missing 4e. I really appreciated the design transparency of 4e and the idea that anything written was available for use at the table. When I first started designing 5e encounters I was unimpressed with the monster designs. I missed the unique powers on the monsters, like glue and stink pot slinging kobolds or the shifty goblins.

Encounter design was just so much fun with not only the monsters, but there was all sorts of terrain features and skill checks that you could mix it. My gaming groups already defaulted to minis and grids, so leaning into that was no problem for me.

I also found the reworked cosmology something I wanted to bring to the table. 4e gave us the feywild and shadowfell. We finally had an interesting fey world and underworld that were parallel to the prime world. Exploring the astral sea and elemental chaos sounded cool and not immediately lethal. I find low level D&D to often be my favorite, so for the first time I was looking forward to moving into the higher levels and exploring the planes.

Count me among the GMs (and players) that would prefer one or two big meaningful encounters than 6-8 fights between rests. It was a paradigm that 4e seemed to support much better. And I still like the idea of skill challenges and moving certain spells into rituals was a good idea.

Unfortunately, 4e was too different for a number of people in my gaming group and we drifted to Pathfinder and I never followed the line into essentials. (I actually thought the move to essentials helped kill the line as there was this tension between pre- and post-essentials material and what was really compatible with what and where to start.) The Darksun material was the last stuff I bought and unfortunately never had an opportunity to run.

4e, of course, had its faults. The monster math was off, the plethora of powers with status effects resulted in some drawn out combats, we probably didn't need every role and power source permutation covered, and it could have used another 6 months of playtesting and refinement before publishing. But, it's a cool system with a lot of neat design choices.

It's got me wondering if Pathfinder 2 might actually be the system I should buy next as it seems like good middle ground between 4e, 5e, and 3.5.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Just wanted to drop in and show support for 4e. These crazy times seem ideal for 4e, I would think, especially using a VTT.

My project right now is developing a hexcrawl. I always thought 4e would be great for this b/c I found the encounter budget worked well as an indicator of challenge (with some tweaks). So, populating the world map would be a decision of (for example) hex A1 would have an equivalent of a L1 encounter while hex E6 would have a L5 encounter budget (with appropriate rumors and clues for adventures to find to avoid or confront). Wandering Monster tables would include a range of levels, forcing players to decide whether they should run away, if the fates are unkind. Anyway, that's the idea for now.

The biggest hurdle is getting into a VTT, which I've never done before. My choices right now are Fantasy Grounds and d20 Pro (though mention of Roll20's Guild actually seems enticing). Fortunately, my scale is pretty small. I have 3-4 players lined up (which to me is my ideal party size) so only need to input PC-facing stuff relevant to them, and only when they level.

 

[Undrave]

If I get a chance to play 4e again I think I'd like to try a Warden... I wish there was a class like that in 5e. Sticky and hard to disable with cool transformation powers!