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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Am I crazy? I've just gotten a hankering to play 4e again...
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<blockquote data-quote="masshysteria" data-source="post: 7969654" data-attributes="member: 16055"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="masshysteria, post: 7969654, member: 16055"] 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. [/QUOTE]
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Am I crazy? I've just gotten a hankering to play 4e again...
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