And in 2011...

[Stormonu]

Fortune cards sound to me like the Encounter cards in Castle Ravenloft. I'll bet both the encounter cards and those from the upcoming Wrath of Ashadarlon will work fabulously with the fortune cards - with a minor tweak or two.

 

[fanboy2000]

Fortune cards sound to me like the Encounter cards in Castle Ravenloft. I'll bet both the encounter cards and those from the upcoming Wrath of Ashadarlon will work fabulously with the fortune cards - with a minor tweak or two.

Hmmm....

I hope you are right.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hmm. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the essential classes. Although there are some that are a low level of complexity (fighter, rogue), they wander upwards, and I expect that those we see in future will be far more subtle and interesting.

The main thing that the essentials classes do is remove us from the tyranny of the power acquisition table: they can do other things.

Cheers!

I agree they really shouldn't be dismissed. The new Warlock is a VERY nice looking class for instance, and really does stuff that was at best only possible in a clunky partial fashion that required reaching paragon before you could realize your character before. The Mage is a nicely cleaned up and tweaked Wizard build. I'm not sure about the Warpriest, but about the worst you can say is its build options are more distinct than the old domain system from DP, which IMHO was weaksauce.

For myself I think the 2011 product lineup overall looks pretty good. It is a lot less focused on player-oriented supplements than this last year was, but I just honestly feel so glutted with player options at this point and even DM fluff books that it does seem like time for a different emphasis.

I think we're seeing what 4e is when it is a mature system. The core of the game is there and while it will get this and that tweak and addition now and then the emphasis is now on things we can use to play it better instead of rules. I hope we see more and better adventures, more and better work on the digital stuff, and more good content in the magazines.

 

[Puggins]

The fact that they included a non-errated version of a fighter power that is completely dominated by one printed in Martial Power (and for good reason) in the weaponmaster preview seriously ratcheted down my anticipation for Heroes of Sword and Spell.

 

[bagger245]

I miss old 4e.. *hugs PHB1-3*

 

[Festivus]

I miss old 4e.. *hugs PHB1-3*

It went somewhere? I still play "old 4e"

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

It looks like we're going to go at least a full year without a new non-essentials class. I really hope 4e isn't going to be like this forever.

Do we really need more classes?

Actually, I'm starting to wonder about the need for new crunch, period.

Feats? Heck no.

Classes? Not really. Now that we've gotten the Psionic classes, we don't really need more. We need more domains for Clerics and schools for Wizards. I wouldn't mind a Psionic striker that used power points, but you can always reskin a Sorceror too.

Magic Items? We need Rares that are interesting and powerful, but that's about it.

Monsters? Yeah...could always use more monsters. Especially Paragon and doubly for Epic.

I have to admit to wondering what WotC will be trying to sell us. There's not a lot of products out there that I can think of that I'd want or would expect to see:

Feywild
DMG3
another Monster Vault

Campaign Settings
- Greyhawk
- Planescape
- Dragonlance
- Mystara
- Birthright
- Spelljammer

Adventures (can always use more adventures...but they have to be good ones).

Rebirths
- Star Frontiers 4e
- Marvel Super Heroes 4e

But other than those?

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

They described them briefly in the GenCon podcast (Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (D&D Podcast: D&D Preview Show)) at 37:55. The general gists that I took from them were:

What they are:

They are elements of fortune or luck that affect how your character is acting and add randomness to the game.

They emulate in movies when a random twist or sudden change in how the combat is flowing that results in an interesting affect.

They are not pure power-ups. They wanted them to be rare random events that could affect a fight and make the combat take a turn that was not expected.

They are cards in booster packs, like Gamma World booster packs or Magic booster packs.

They can be used in organized play events (like Encounters) or in home games.
​

How they work:

You draw a card and if you meet the conditions on the card you can use it for some benefit on your turn.

They can define what sort of thing your character is going to want to do on their turn. (I assume so you can meet the conditions so you can use the card.)
​

How they buying them:

They are "totally optional".

Players are not meant to buy an "optimized 60 card deck that destroys everything" or "buy a case and collect them all".

Collecting them all defeats the random surprise element of them if you know what cards there are. In playtesting they were the most fun when they are unexpected and are a surprise to everyone at the table.
​

Kinda sounds like the Torg drama deck to me.

 

[blalien]

Classes? Not really. Now that we've gotten the Psionic classes, we don't really need more. We need more domains for Clerics and schools for Wizards. I wouldn't mind a Psionic striker that used power points, but you can always reskin a Sorceror too.

I would like to see Incarnum brought back in a way that's more accessible to casual players. The oriental classes could be done with new builds, but I think they are distinct enough to justify their own classes. And there is a ton of design space for shadow classes, so I'm hoping Heroes of Shadow offers more than "just like the wizard, but shadowy..." *wiggles fingers* Besides that, there aren't any classes from D&D 3.5 that I miss. I have ideas for new classes, but so does everybody else and their mother.

New campaign settings would definitely be nice. Out of the ones you listed, Dragonlance seems the most likely. Planescape was absorbed into Manual of the Planes and could be handled with a Sigil book. Greyhawk is kind of generic and boring, Mystara and Birthright don't have name recognition, and Spelljammer would be awesome but won't happen unless Wizards feels like a change of pace. A new campaign setting is also a possibility, since Wizards still holds the rights to all the other settings in that contest.

As for feats, D&D 3e/3.5 had a grand total of 3304 feats, although some of those were repeats, and lasted eight years. 4e is currently at year four with 3031 feats. So you'd better learn to like new feats.

 

[Charlemagne7]

It looks like we're going to go at least a full year without a new non-essentials class. I really hope 4e isn't going to be like this forever.

Sorry, but I actually feel the exact opposite. I most sincerely hope that the new Essentials class format is the new norm for 4e here on out. No more of all classes having the exact same advancement and design.