Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2990600" data-attributes="member: 2012">That's true, but also think of this possibility.We all know that D&D 3E is designed with very specific "parts" such as races, classes, skills, feats, spells, and the like and not everyone likes all aspects of current version (or previous editions) of D&D. Not everyone likes PrCs or the Vancian spell system, for example, for D&D 3E.Now, imagine that the 4E core rulebooks have only the most "basic" structure of what makes the edition, D&D. In the PHB, things like ability scores, standard races, core classes, skills, basic combat rules, equipment, and any other basic rules are included. Things like feats, prestige classes, spells, and non-core classes aren't part of the "core" of D&D. Instead, these options are "add-on rulesets" that integrate seemlessly into the basics of the game, sort of how psionics is a add-on system.For example, the creatures in the 4E Monster Manual wouldn't have any feats listed or any rules for how to use monsters as PC races. (It might list how many feats the creature is suppose to have, if the DM decided to use feats in their game. i.e. # of Feats: 5) There would be a 4E Feats Sourcebook that would describe how to add the feats ruleset into the "basic" rules system and might give example feats for a few of the iconic monsters. There would be a "Savage Species"-style sourcebook that would have an add-on ruleset for using monsters as PC races.New books would be made for the option of including prestige classes or new, non-core base classes. The DM could use one or the other, or both, depending on how he/she want the game to be run. Vancian spells would have their own sourcebook, but there would also be more "spell" options such as a Spell Points sourcebook and a Channeling sourcebook. You pick which version of spellcasting you want to use in your game.Psionics would have it's own sourcebook (or even two or three different options, like spells), of course, as would the Epic rules. New add-on systems will be built on the basics, with the ability to integrate the Feats sourcebook into them by having new feat-based sourcebooks (i.e. an Epic Feats sourcebook). There would be seperate sourcebooks for prestige classes and non-core base classes that builds on the new systems.The Power of such a 4E game would be customization. Players and DMs would only have to buy the "add-on rulesets" they want, and forget the rest. There would be some crossover regarding feats, clesses, spells, and the like but most of those crossovers would be for unique playing options that reward players and DMs for using multiple "add-on rulesets" in their game. Plus, WotC would gain the benefit of having more books to sell to a wider base of players. 4E feat & prestige class sourcebooks would, basically, be compatible with D&D 3.x, while new, unique 4E rulesets would be considered Closed, regarding the OGL. (I don't believe 4E will be Open.)The Drawback of such a 4E game would be complexity. Players and DMs would have to come to an agreement on which rules to use BEFORE the game could even start. And what if the DM decides that he doesn't want feats and prestige classes in the game, but his players insist on using those rulesets? Plus, the game would have less portablity from game table to game table, as each D&D game will become uniquely different. Plus, some sourcebooks will likely not sell as well, and WotC will decide to drop those rulesets from their support of the game. Plus, how do you address campaign settings and other types of sourcebooks such as the Draconomicon?Agreed.Cheers!KF72</blockquote>

Verification