D&D 4E Help a 4e N00B

[DracoSuave]

Going from BECMI to 4e will actually end up a pretty organic experience. 4e is less table-enslaved than other versions, even more than BECMI.

The way to grok classes is to think of them as having 'martial arts styles'. So their at-wills represent their basic strikes, then they have escalating tricks they can pull out. Gone is the idea that Fighter A and Fighter B are -exactly the same-.

The spell lists (more accurately called power lists because they're no longer restricted to 'magical' classes) are potent but the rules baggage has been streamlined considerably. In fact, magic and physical attacks use the same system, roll d20, see if you hit the appropriate bonuses, and see what the effects of a hit or miss are. This changes the differences between the classes from which ruleset they use to operate, to what the effects of their powers are.

This streamlining has allowed for character classes that combine magic and swordplay to work on a level playing field with dedicated spellcasters. In previous editions this might be unbalanced, but in 4e balance is not about how you do the trick (power source, i.e., wizardly/arcane magic, divine/priestly magic, physical attacks) but what you do with it (character role).

Also, despite what you might hear, the game is a lot more open to player ideas. If the player wants to try some stupid (read: heroicawesome) stunt, there's a system in place to fire it off. Page 42 is 42 because it is the Answer.

 

[Jack99]

Argh, fat fingers ate my post (pressed the wrong button).

Here is the very short version

- Power fluff is as per the rules completely optional. Change for great effect. One cool example is the guy (from these boards) who reflavored his warlock into a voodoo-doctor.

- modifiers mostly come in +/-2 or in +/-5 modifiers, all you got to do is remember what gives conditional modifiers.

- Use the stunt rules from p42 in the DMG. They work best with a good DM that can think on his feet and who uses terrain as part of the combats.

Cheers

 

[hong]

The best way to think of martial powers is as little prepackaged stunts. They also happen to give you an extra 1[w] or 2[w] awesomeness boost to damage.

 

[Mercurius]

The core mechanic of 3ed remains the same: d20 + modifiers vs. a target number (usually a Defense).

Pick up the Players Handbook 2--the classes tend to be a bit more interesting.

Most non-combat oriented spells are now Rituals, which take longer to cast (10+ minutes).

Understand Roles, especially in terms of party building. Strikers do the most damage, Defenders can take the most damage, Controllers can cause damage to the most opponents, and Leaders help allies cause more damage . That is highly-combat oriented over-simplification, but gives the gyst.

Understand Powers and Power Sources, which include Martial, Arcane, Divine, Primal, eventually Psionic, Ki, Shadow, and Elemental. All classes have powers, but just use different power sources. Think of PCs as mini-superheroes, with mini-superpowers of different types (e.g. Captain America is a Martial character; Professor X is Psionic; Wolverine is Primal).

Oh yeah, Clerics don't suck. All classes are remarkably interesting. Avengers (PHB2) are kewl.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

If you don't have a copy of the rulebooks, either have someone else help you out with character creation, or use the character builder, which is free for levels 1-3.

Nothing has really stood out to me as all that complicated or hard to remember.

 

[Dan'L]

What one thing would you tell someone like me before they sit down to read the Player's handbook? Examples: What one expectation should I set aside?

To repeat/reinforce what someone else posted: This is not your Father's D&D. It is its own thing, leave the other editions at the door.

What's one cool thing to look out for?

IMO, forced movement (pushes, pulls, & slides) is a simple mechanic with big effects and a lot of win.

What's the AoO or THACO of this edition?

Someone else said Stealth, which was a bit underexplained in the PHB. But that's been more-or-less cleared up, just grab the PHB errata -- I mean "update" -- from the WOTC site.

I would say that the element that's been the most up-front confusing for new 4e players is Marking. Make sure you have some good, clear way to track who's marked by who, and that you know what that means.

More generally, I'd say it's good to have a way of tracking a few other conditions, too, so that you don't loose track of them. It's particularly nice to be able to look at the minis and know who's "bloodied."

What character class should I play and why?

There has been a good balancing of the classes in 4e, so that you don't have any one that stands out too obviously over the rest. It's less about making your character an army of one, as it is making the party a force to be reckoned with; teamwork is key. A good character class choice will depend on the rest of your group, but a supple mind can make any of the PHB classes fun to play.

-Dan'L

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

What character class should I play and why?

It depends, as everyone else says, on what you like and what your job's going to be.

Given your name, you might want to give a halfling dagger rogue a try. Rogues get one of the best at-wills in the game, Piercing Strike, which is basically a Weapon v Reflex melee attack. That's huge, because most attacks that don't go against AC don't get a weapon's proficiency bonus to hit, and Reflex is usually a weaker stat for most monsters.

As an example, my bugbear rogue was regularly able to hit monsters on rolls below 5 with this, and do pretty substantial damage, since I was almost always attacking with combat advantage so I could use my sneak attack. It got to the point that I had to rearrange my encounter and daily powers to look for status modifiers to inflict that made them worth using.

If y'all're going to be using mostly release 1 stuff, halfling rogue's probably best fit for you. You can move around like nobody's business and not get hit nearly as often, so going into melee's easier. It doesn't feel so bad rolling d4s for its damage, and the daggermaster paragon path is really nice.

The one downside I found to rogue is that I seemed to always need more feats.

Brad

 

[lbporter]

I strongly advise using the first half session or so to build your characters as a group. Make sure you have all of the roles (defender, leader, controler striker) covered, as an unbalanced party is way more dificult to handle for the players and DM. Remember that the fighter is not the Noob class anymore, it is as tacticaly as intrestig in its role as any other class. Mostly though this iteration of D&D is about teamwork, so think about the party and its strengths, because you cannot be a one man death machine with out help.

On a personal note, this edition is the most fun I have had as a DM or player in 20 years of gaming, so give it a try.

 

[cmbarona]

Some quick advice I'd give is to read the intro chapters, then once you are ready to go to races and such, read 1) the intro to the Classes chapter, and then 2) the combat section. Flip back and forth as needed until you get the gist. I think between those two sections, you should be able to understand most of the newer concepts in 4e. Once you get that down, reading the rest of the book (especially class descriptions and powers) will make a lot more sense.

 

[Asmor]

Regarding AoO/THAC0:

The most annoying thing in the new edition, in my opinion, is keeping track of magic item dailies. Which isn't to say it's necessarily confusing or not... But I just find it a PITA.

It goes like this: Some magic items will have powers. The powers can be at-will, encounter or daily, just like any other power.

The catch is, if it's a daily, and only if it's a daily, special rules apply. Namely, you can only use one magic item daily power per day. At level 11, you can use two. At level 21, you can use 3.

And also, after every milestone (ostensibly, after every 2 encounters), you can use one more magic item daily that day.