- Combat Advantage: A simple +2 bonus for having combat advantage is easy and simple to keep track of compared of the myriad situational modifiers you could get in previous editions (flanking, prone, flat-footed, higher ground, etc etc etc). It's also easy for things like a rogue's sneak attack. Have combat advantage - can sneak attack.
It did simplify things, so it was a plus.
- No Rolling to "Confirm" Criticial Hits. Always hated that.
one extra roll to confirm wasn't that big a deal to me, though auto-max damage was nice.
- Being able to save against a "save or suck" effect every turn in combat. 3.5 started this with hold person, 4e applied to all such effects. I didn't like the "coin toss" saving throws, but it's still a good idea. Nothing is worse than being nauseated, paralyzed, dazed, or whatever else and being unable to do anything for the entire battle.
That was good from a player perspective, but sometimes those "save or suck" or "save or die" spells would throw the fear of the gods into the players.
- Standard, Move and Minor Actions: I liked this. No full-round actions. It's simple and straightforward while giving players enough flexibility to do the kinds of things they need to do.
agreed - this was a step up from 3E/3.5E. I do think there should be a limit to free actions as well, though.
- No "iterative" attacks. I hated that about 3rd edition. Likewise, monsters only tend to make 1 or 2 attacks also, not claw, claw, bite, wing, wing, tail slap, rake, rend, etc.
it gave the melee classes a bonus in previous editions to allow them to be closer in power to the spellcasters. However, with better balancing between classes, this was not needed. So, a net plus.
- AC that scales with attack bonus. I always thought it was ridiculous that characters got way, way better at attacking people, but not better at defending themselves without loading up on magic items.
pretty good idea, agreed.
- No Rolling for Stats or Hit Points.
disagree - loved rolling for stats and hit points. I hope it's a legit option in 5E, instead of getting "your character is not valid by the rules" or whatever you get in 4E DDI if you input stats yourself.
- At-Will Spells and Cantrips. It makes vancian casting much more bearable. I hope my wizard doesn't sit there twiddling his thumbs or pointlessly plinking things with a crossbow during all those rounds of combat where he wants to do something, but doesn't want to waste a good prepared spell. Likewise, cantrips, as the simplest of magic, should be able to be used at-will. Pathfinder likewise saw the value in that.
agreed - this helped get rid of the 15 minute adventuring day, which was the biggest plus of 4E to me.
- Implements: I liked that wands, staffs, etc improved a caster's spells in much the same way that magical weapons improve attacks. It makes much more sense for me for a wand or staff to serve as a focus for a wizard's powers than a spell battery.
good point - I like this idea.
- Spells that required Actions to "Sustain." This is a simple and effective way of balancing alot of the more "overpowered" spells, like fly, and preventing players from stacking too many buffs.
too many buffs made 3.5E spellcasters in my games primarily into buffing and debuffing specialists.
- Alignment is just fluff. No class alignment restrictions. No alignment-based magic. No detect evil. No smite evil. Alignment is there as a way of describing your character's morality, nothing more. There's probably alot of people that disagree with me, but I loved that about 4e.
I think the old 9 alignment system should be available to those who want it. I liked it and I think it helps define PCs, NPCs and intelligent monsters.
- Simple, Easy to Read and Use Monster Stat-blocks. This makes the DM's life sooooo much easier.
+1 on this. I spent about 1/20th the time I spent building encounters as I did in 3.5E.
- No Level Drain. Good riddance!
Yes, level drain was often more depressing than PC death in 1E/2E. So, I don't really miss it.
