D&D 4E D&D 4e Reads bad plays good?

[brislove]

This thread is intended for people have read through the PHB lite, and DDXP pregen characters.

When I read the characters they all seemed too similar, and that it didn't matter what you played. everything was just going to be a clone of each other and the classes weren't going to feel different in play.

I found that when I ran through Second Sun That the classes played very differently, and really felt like what they were designed to be, despite the mechanical similarities from reading the character sheets.

So I am looking for your opinions/experiences in this regard.

 

[hong]

That's pretty much my experience as well.

 

[Wormwood]

Definitely plays better than it reads.

Reads pretty good, though.

 

[Warbringer]

Ditto

But I think that the recent the read very similiar is that they were built that way for the DnDxp... simiply easier to manage, meaning they emphazised the new mechanic through choosing powers that were similiaracross the classes.

When roleplay kicks in players play the pre-gen against the backdrop of their experience of the class type.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah it will take a bit of getting used to for every class to have the same number of /w, /e and /d powers at a given level. Makes them look the same. However (hopefully) the differentiation in powers, especially when you combine them with other class features, will stay high. I think as the splat book come out and the number of powers increase there will be a tendency for the classes to start to become more similar 'cos there is only so many things one can do in DnD

 

[Mercule]

My group hasn't done a play test, yet, though we hope to. When we were talking about it, the same CCG/cookie-cutter/looks odd arguments came up (and this is a group where, without me telling them about it, the group wouldn't have heard about 4e being released until October 2008 or so). My hope/rebuttal was that the goals and design philosophies being touted by WotC are generally in line with what I want out of a game. The phrase "I hope this is a case of 'reads bad, plays good'" was, in fact, spoken.

Based on what I've heard, that's exactly what I think the case will be. Eventually, we'll all get used to it and it won't read bad anymore.

 

[wgreen]

Remember when the Mystic Theurge first came out?

You really do have to play it, yo.

-Will!

 

[Xorn]

I felt they read differently, and played differently.

Note that I also felt like I was reading every other page of a fantasy novel, too.

But no, they didn't look all the same, nor were they. In fact:

I thought they read differently, and played even more differently.

 

[Deep Blue 9000]

There's no option for people who have play tested and think the classes play the same.

 

[Dragonblade]

I read the classes and thought they read fine. And then I played them and thought they played even better. I thought the wizard rocked! And the cleric was ok, but I think I would've been happier if I had built the cleric myself instead of playing the pre-gen.