Ampersand: Sneak Attack

[Scholar & Brutalman]

Well not necessarily that would be something that would happen with all characters not just rogues, so why would it be in the rogue section of the PHB?.

Because it's in the "What's New with the Rogue" article by Mike Mearls, in the "Rogue" section of R&C, and it says "Rogues get a flat bonus..."

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Because it's in the "What's New with the Rogue" article by Mike Mearls, in the "Rogue" section of R&C, and it says "Rogues get a flat bonus..."

Well it could be that since Rogues have always been viewed as being intelligent, and are skill-monkeys that they would mention such a thing in the rogues section, but that doesn't mean it is limited to the rogue.

That is like saying when a "fighter swings his sword he has to hit higher then the AC" does that automatically mean all other classes work differently.

 

[Intrope]

Biggie Smalls, the halfling rogue from WotC_Huscarl's reports on Gleemax uses a hand axe and short sword combo, or a sling. But no hand axe is listed among the rogue's proficiences. And it's unlikely to be a halfling specific weapon. Curious.

Biggie's a Ranger, not a Rogue.

 

[The Little Raven]

Because it's in the "What's New with the Rogue" article by Mike Mearls, in the "Rogue" section of R&C, and it says "Rogues get a flat bonus..."

"Bear in mind that as I write this, 4th Edition is still a work in progress. We're still hip-deep in playtesting and fine tuning, and many specifics are still in flux. So, take this book as what it is - a snapshot of the 4th Edition design and development process at this point in time (August 2007). We still have months of work before we send the core rules to the printers, and things will change between now and then." - Bill Slavicsek, Races & Classes, page 6

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

"Bear in mind that as I write this, 4th Edition is still a work in progress. We're still hip-deep in playtesting and fine tuning, and many specifics are still in flux. So, take this book as what it is - a snapshot of the 4th Edition design and development process at this point in time (August 2007). We still have months of work before we send the core rules to the printers, and things will change between now and then." - Bill Slavicsek, Races & Classes, page 6

Yeah, I know. I have the book as well. That's how I'm quoting from it. I was pointing out one of the things that appeared to have changed.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Starting hit points and hits points per level gained are all set? Wow, didn't realize they were going to use set hit points for all classes. I don't like that much at all. I also don't like the limited rogue weapons. Not looking like I'm going to be upgrading.

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

I had previously made a suggestion on the role of each of the rogue weapons earlier in the thread.

Rogue gets Five weapons - (My guesstimate)

Ranged
Long Range - Sling
Short Range - Hand Crossbow

Melee (all light blades)
Best Damage - Short Sword
Best Attack - Dagger
Best Reach - Shuriken

Shuriken I feel fall into lightblades and I also conjectured that thrown weapons would be a viable option for "ranged melee" (how's that for a juxtaposition of words) or for want of a better description "reach".

 

[Primal]

And here, it's the first thing that's really gotten me excited. I love RPing and storytelling and plot, but plot is about conflict, and if conflict resolution is too simple/boring, then, the game as awhole fails for me. I like crunch. Lots and lots of crunch. If there's a simple underlying system, bot lots of options which really matter, without a single obvious 'best choice' round after round...sign me up. The sign a game is boring is when combat consists of a lot of 'I do what I did last round'.

You were excited but I wasn't. I don't think it's really valid to say that RPGs are just about conflicts happening within plots. Some people might say that it's about beer and pretzels, or socializing with friends while gaming. I tend to think it's about interesting characters and good stories and having fun (and sometimes, not so much fun, which makes the fun all that sweeter). So, it's "fluff" over "crunch" for me and my group.

I don't know if you meant "conflict resolution" in the same sense I do, but D&D does not use not any conflict resolution system -- it's a gamist system which uses task-based resolution to resolve the outcome of individual actions, not the whole conflict.

And no, I don't think D&D should be just about combat or moving miniatures on a board. If you think a "simple underlying system with lots and lots of options" would be ideal for you, I might have an idea how to make 4E even better: a single "combat resolution" roll per encounter, modified by one of the 2000 possible combat maneuvers. And there you go -- simple and yet you get to apply the modifiers from a big list of things to do in melee.

 

[Primal]

Is this different from 3e where bad guy HP's are stated in the Monster Manual?

Or, could this possibly be another example where monster design and PC design might be different?

Which bad guy? You mean the monster HPs which are listed in parentheses? You probably know that those numbers are the *average* HPs for each monster, and you could also roll them just as well. This method adds a lot of randomness and variance to HPs. If you referred to the Hit Dice -- I doubt that a player (who has never DMed) would remember all of them by heart (including the Con modifier).

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the 'NPC - Elf - Mastermind - Wizard'-entry in MM... sorry about that! How silly of me to think that NPCs -- even BBEGs -- would use PC creation rules.

I may be the only one on this forum, but I see static HPs being rather boring... no variance (except between the number added by your Con score, which would amount to 5-10 HPs in most cases anyway) in HPs between PCs or monsters of equal level and class/role.

 

[Jim DelRosso]

I know you two are being sarcastic, but I have to wonder how many of the 4e fanboys (esp. on RPG.net) will be disappointed to find 4e may have DIFFERENT crunch from 3e, but it will have just as much...

Not me. I love me my crunch, and I was thrilled to get such a crunchy preview for the weekend.