As DM and player, what should I beware of/find for 4th ed?

[Silverblade The Ench]

Not been able to keep up with 4th ed info, and only got to play it once so far, sigh :/
So, what things should I be aware of, since the core release?
ie, major imbalances, mistakes etc?

And did the "Hide with stealth" trouble get solved?

been going through the latest errata and adding that to the core books when I can.


Any good "must have" guides, class write ups etc I should go find?

I really do like 4th ed from what I've managed to play/see. Just need a hell of a lot more powers, classes, fluff etc, IMHO.

Ta for any help!

*harrased DM, player and artist*

 

[doctorhook]

Not been able to keep up with 4th ed info, and only got to play it once so far, sigh :/
So, what things should I be aware of, since the core release?
ie, major imbalances, mistakes etc?

And did the "Hide with stealth" trouble get solved?

been going through the latest errata and adding that to the core books when I can.


Any good "must have" guides, class write ups etc I should go find?

I really do like 4th ed from what I've managed to play/see. Just need a hell of a lot more powers, classes, fluff etc, IMHO.

Ta for any help!

*harrased DM, player and artist*

Well, let me contribute the following: Stalker0's Obsidian Skill Challenge System. I love 4E, but this system is leagues ahead of the core skill challenge system. Even the slayers in my group get excited when it comes time to roleplay a skill challenge now; Obsidian is that good! I can't say enough good things!

EDIT: Don't take this to mean that the core skill challenge system is bad or broken; it's not. However, because of the particulars of the structure of the core system, skill challenge efforts can actually be seriously harmed by a player failing a check. ("Harmed" as in, not simply failing to help, but actually making the situation worse. This may seem realistic, but it sucks in cooperative gameplay.) Obsidian is an entirely new structure, dirt simple to learn, and doesn't have this problem. In short, Obsidian is great for roleplaying!

 

[frankthedm]

And did the "Hide with stealth" trouble get solved?

Oh stealth sure did get "fixed" You need Total/Full Concealment/Cover to try for a hide check in battle.

 

[doctorhook]

Oh stealth sure did get "fixed" You need Total/Full Concealment/Cover to try for a hide check in battle.

...Wait, this is a bad thing?

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

frankthedm,
well that seems good, less of the silly "I hide behind my ally and stab!" problem I saw earlier on

Doctorhook,
hm interesting, may need print that off

 

[satin]

For class write-ups - I like the Optimization Library: Optimization Library (4E) - Wizards Community

Not sure if this is what you were looking for?

While not everyone may be into min/maxing, I found reading the Char Optimization threads really helped me understand what the focus of each build was about.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Silverblade, you definitely want to check out the errata, which can be found here:

Official D&D Updates

This includes the update to Stealth as well as changes to Skill Challenges.

 

[frankthedm]

...Wait, this is a bad thing?

I didn't say it was a bad thing. I like the change to stealth. Much preferable that the character has to actually get out of the foe's LOS and give it a chance to lose track of the character rather than just spamming the stealth hotkey at every opportunity.

frankthedm,
well that seems good, less of the silly "I hide behind my ally and stab!" problem I saw earlier on

IMHO the rules for "Cover" already covered that. Cover comes from objects and obstacles. Creatures only provide cover from ranged attacks.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Sir Brennen,
aye I have, thanks! been through the MM, will do others.
had done the earlier errata, but they'd tweaked lot more since then.

Frankthedm,
well now it's been clearly spelled out