NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 4531371" data-attributes="member: 5100">Quite.  This is why I never, ever buy a Forgotten Realms product.  May the setting die a humiliating death (which it apparently has in 4e).On topic, I have yet to play a real game of 4e.  I know I dislike 3.5 and knew that before the 4e announcement.  After the first of the year, I'll be giving 4e a try, I think, and then we'll see whether it's that or something else.  I have some concerns, but I'm willing to see how it plays out.Specifically, I agree with the OP's #2 point.  The "economy of actions" is assinine.  I can see the case for having some restrictions, but the level of restriction that seems to be part and parcel of 4e is just as bad.  Too loose isn't fun because someone dominates, but too tight isn't fun because it completely kills some fundamental concepts and feels artificial.As I said, I haven't played 4e, yet, but I'm hopeful.  What I see as the risks, though, are:1) Economy of actions.  See above.2) No mechanical differentiation between fighters and wizards.  I'm taking on faith that the powers are created to feel different.  But, I can see where a unified powers mechanic and advancement might not have the best feel.  Not a pronouncement, but a concern.3) Too narrow of power definitions within a class.  I have noticed, reading through the PHB, that many of the fighter powers seem to be a variation on "you hit really hard" with little else in the mechanics.  If this is more than just "reads bad, plays good", then presenting them as powers is meaningless.  They should be scaling class features.  That brings up my #2 again, though.4) Bland magic items.  The magic items section in the PHB has to be one of the least inspiring sections of any game book I've ever read.  There seem to be a couple of interesting items in the Adventurer's Vault, but mostly more of the same.  I'm one of the people who hated the magic economy in 3e and always ran low-magic in earlier editions, so I was thrilled when they proclaimed less reliance on magic items in 4e.  What I really see is more numerically predictable reliance and formulaic, bland items.  Oh, and a hard economy of actions built in, too.5) Combat-focused balance.  Combat isn't the sum total of the spotlight.  If I play a rogue, I don't care if I'm not shining in combat -- so long as I'm not completely worthless.  My time to shine is outside combat -- ambushes, sneaking, and the like.There are some things I'm really looking forward to, though:1) Depowered wizards.  Yes, you heard me.  I like my swords and sorcery to be heavier on the swords.  I don't have any issue with players who like to play casters, but I don't.  I also don't like set-ups that require casters to be too common.2) Separation of rituals and "quick" spells.  I always hated having to trade off combat time for general utility.  Plus, it never made sense to me that you couldn't just take all the set-up time you needed for some things like knock to cast it un-hung.  Plus, I see rituals as being the more likely way non-wizards would dip into the arcane arts, anyway.  About the only thing that I'd add would be the option to hang a ritual or two if you thought you'd be needing it quickly.3) More solid advancement math.  If things scale the way they're advertised, this will be really great.4) Monster and classes designed with a role in mind.  I like flexibility and the option to break the mold, but for both new/casual players and adventure design, having a baseline concept is pure awesome.5) Refined skill system.  NWPs in 1e/2e were too coarse.  3e skills were too fine-grained.  While I have a few minor quibbles with the 4e system, I think it looks to be a great improvement.5a) Skill challenges.  Sure, these would work in 3.5, but they weren't included.  Also, that'd involve playing 3e, which isn't on the table, for me.</blockquote>

Verification