D&D 4E Are powers samey?

[Zardnaar]

Blurp.

 

[FrogReaver]

That's an argument on sameyness I can get behind. 5e offers the most options of point of decision.

Welp, after countless pages and posts you finally are starting to see some sameyness… It's a start I suppose.

 

[Zardnaar]

Mostly in agreement, I am certain I was just saying that the mechanics not being the point is fine but they are still enablers or disablers for that impact within the fiction.

Also mentioning a play style which isnt supported well by any D&D

Since play style is being bandied about incorrectly like 5e supports more of them which it does not.

I specifically said it's the 4E playstyle in particular. Formatting doesn't help it's just putting lipstick on a pig.

You still have a pig. And your target market may as well be Saudi Arabia.

 

[Garthanos]

To many the point of decision isn't important. They plan their stance based on how they want to attack, and pre-plan any riders sfter the hit. But to others that different point of decision is huge.

Totally do not get how at-will stances modifying basic attacks are different than at-will distinct style of attack to me is not important is understating, it baffles me. The only thing problematic about it however is the essentials designers were not careful and so because they modified something that already had a certain game function the basic attack it was a design foul.

 

[Garthanos]

I specifically said it's the 4E playstyle in particular.

Your definition of which is laughable

 

[Minigiant]

That's not different playstyle just a different numb

How so

A slow grind is different from a resource management trek is different from a all out brawl is different from a "mob minibosss mob big boss" schedule is different from a 2-3 form boss fight.

4e was the only edition that allowed all that out the box without turning knob mid-session.

But that's besides power system sameyness.

Welp, after countless pages and posts you finally are starting to see some sameyness… It's a start I suppose.

first time someone posted a unique aspect of power system sameyness.

 

[Garthanos]

??!!

You can absolutely use only one at-will in 4e play if you should so choose. The bolded part above is simply untrue.

Imagine that: a criticism of the game that ends up not being true.

They also want to ignore every other decision point like using that encounter power or the daily. Just bang it with your sword already and kill it tis sir spamalot.

 

[cbwjm]

I feel if they had started with essentials classes right of the bat that 4e would have lasted a bit longer. The classes have a different feel because they aren't bound completely to the AEDU system. The Knight and Slayer didn't have any dailies that made me stop and go, "wait, why can I only do this once a day?" Now that I'm looking at the essentials classes, I'm wondering how easy it would be to bring them (at least in spirit) into 5e. Right now I'm thinking of the

I do think that many powers were "samey" the worst though were base class features; healing word and inspiring word were identical and as a core ability of those classes, you'd really want there to be some sort of differentiation there which you do find with later leader classes. That's not to say there weren't differences, the warlord and cleric would play differently based on their class powers. Just looking at the level 1 encounter and daily powers in PHB1, clerics had a lot more healing and could have a couple of AoE spells whereas the warlord could only target a single creature but had effects that allowed others to make an additional attack at the warlord's target. Really though, you could have snuck in powers from a different class and your DM wouldn't have been any wiser unless they decided to sit down and look your powers up in the book.

 

[BryonD]

To me, the amount of samyness in 0e's,1e's, 2e's, 3e's, 4e's, and 5e's subsystems are so close that a person have to be able to specifically articulate the differences to purely compaign on that and that alone. I'm sure many can do this. But i rarely see it.

Ok, but, again, I have absolutely ZERO beef with anything that is "to you" or any other individual. It should not keep coming back to that.
The issue is: is this true to some set of people who may otherwise have been 4E players.
The answer is yes.

I believe te truth of 4e detectors are complaints of 4e's presentation, overall homogeneity, and its other bigger problems..

shrug If you perceive it this way, then whatever.
If you insist that nobody can perceive it differently, then that is just silly.

Power sameyness and Class sameyness are 2 different things. If we are going only highst sameyness question 3e takes the class with it's "print a book and make 2 more spell casters that do the same things kinda" nonsense.

OK. This seems to take the idea of sameness into a different axis that doesn't seem relevant. After all, just because you can find a lot of examples of so-called "new" classes and show that not that much new is really there, does not mean the game itself is characterized by this. Clearly, I agree with you that examples of this exist. But something fundamental to the core game is one thing and poorly built extensions of the game are another.

So many spells, man. So many. And feats. EVERYTHING IS BANNNED! NO, THAT BOOK ISN'T ALLOWED! Excuse me, I'mma rock in the corner in the fetal position for a bit before my game starts..

noted

 

[Garthanos]

first time someone posted a unique aspect of power system sameyness.

Thing is even the decisions about whether to use an encounter most of the time was yes, yes you do use it you have another next encounter

Short rest abilities are more of a decision and more tracking than encounter powers. They feel like daily abilities in disguise.