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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fumetti" data-source="post: 5427247" data-attributes="member: 6667461">Yep.  Missed it.  I went through the PHB and DMG and missed it.  Two pages in the PHB that does actually address activity in real world, non-combat terms.  And weather and starvation are discussed, terms of DC checks, on pg 158-9 of the DMG.  So I can't say "removed" anymore, although non-combat is still under-developed in 4E.Mea Culpa!I'm not making a case that there aren't resources for non-combat activity.  For certain, everything has been addressed in the past 30 years.  But new players aren't going to be aware of all that, and/or won't have access to those older books.  I'm going on the premise that new players will play the new edition--and if certain elements aren't in the new edition, then players aren't going to see them as a part of the game.4E looks to me like a one-dimensional game because virtually everything is described in in-combat terms.  Not in feet, but squares; not in minutes or 1-minute rounds, but in "encounters" (an indistinct measurement that can theoretically be anywhere from one minute into infinity).Older versions of spells were written perfectly for both combat and noncombat.  AoE was in feet/yards, distance was in feet/yards, time was in fixed measurements (one minute rounds or ten minute turns or days, etc).  4E spell effects are almost entirely limited to combat effects.  For example, Freezing Burst stats read like just another magical attack.  It does not convey that this spell has non-combat use (the flavor description does, but players are warned that flavor text is not to be used in-game).  An experienced player or DM might readily see that powers can be used in noncombat situations (which might require some house-ruling on the specifics).  But what will this look like to a new player or DM who doesn't have veterans around to point these things out?</blockquote>

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