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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5301699" data-attributes="member: 996">3e was more grid-oriented and tactical than prior versions of the game (which you could often run without minis at all), and 4e continued that trend, yes.  I don't think Essentials is particularly less tactical.  All the movement options remain, the roles are still there, etc.  Mostly the classes are a lot easier to create and level-up.  The martial classes have slightly fewer in-combat options, in that they lack dailies, but aside from that, have the same call to be tactical in positioning and coordinating their actions.  One thing I don't quite get is the complaint that 4e is somehow more complex than 3e.  3.x was positively nightmarish on towards the end, there, especially if the game was in one of those optimization death-spirals in which the players build uber-characters, the DM responds with uber-monsters, the players respond with broken combos, etc, etc...Where I've found complexity in 4e isn't on either side of the DM screen, but behind the curtains.  The game is simple and easy to run, simple to play.  But try to tinker with it, and you suddenly realize what a complex web of choices, interactions, and synergies you have to try to keep from screwing up.  Building a new class for instance, is a truely daunting proposition.  Even modifying a rule or two can force you to consider dozens of unintended consiquences.While the DM can, in theory, override anything ("no, your character has blue eyes, not green!"), there's really no need.  Descriptions don't affect mechanics, so how a character describes what he does won't change what he accomplishes.  Also, many of the powers imply player control of things outside of what his character does (or even knows about).  A daily divine power, for instance, could be expended on a given round not because the player called on it that round, but because he called on it each round, and it was at that moment that the god chose to act through him.  Each time a Cleric heals, for instance, it could be a miracle that he has no way of actually causing to happen, he just has to have faith that it will.  If you describe your Cleric's powers that way, you're actually making decisions for the God he whorships.  The thing is, you can go that way or not, as it suits you.  I've seen groups that really like the 'storytelling' aproach, and couldn't stand D&D really take to 4e, because it leaves them that kind of narrative flexibility.  Conversely, I've seen groups for whom D&D has always been as much or more small-scale wargame as RPG, similarly take to 4e for it's emphasis on tactical play.</blockquote>

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