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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dragonblade" data-source="post: 3998516" data-attributes="member: 2804">I was with you in complete agreement through your analysis of 1-3rd edition. but I think your analysis of 4e is completely wrong. Rather I think that 4e will become the new tabletop standard.Although I agree in some respects that 4e will be more tightly integrated in terms of story and mechanics for some monsters, I think it will actually be easier to change those mechanics than any system before it. In 3rd edition, changing a monster or adding levels to a monster or NPC was a nightmare. It took forever and you were constantly fighting the system to achieve what you wanted. 4e seems to be employing what I call structured freedom. There will be a system that provide a boundary to assist DMs with balance, but as a DM you will have much more freedom to change or create monsters to fit your vision of what they should be.The baselines they said they will provide in the 4e MM or DMG will tell you what a specific monster level should look like in terms of AC, Attack bonus, Defenses, HP, etc. But within that framework you can do anything you like. This is a radical improvement of 3e where the system constrains you from very beginning. As soon as you decide what type of creature it is, you are locked in to a specific progression of abilities. You practically had to design everything from the ground up and then there was no assurance that what you ended up with was actually a balanced or fun monster even if you did carefully follow the formulas. (Hmm, I seem to remember this sentiment echoed in one of the designer's blogs...)In fact, 4e reminds me of 1e and 2e when the DM owned the system and could do what they liked with monsters and encounters. But where 4e one ups that is that now we have guide rails to help us craft our creatures and encounters and ensure they are appropriate to the PCs we are DMing for. But we don't have to deal with the 3e straitjacket monster advancement system. I just imagine my monster, decide its power level and role in combat and BAM! all its bonuses and stats are right there. I don't need painstakingly level it up via monster HD or class levels to do what I want.4e is shaping up to be the D&D game I have always wanted to DM (and play for that matter).</blockquote>

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