D&D 3E/3.5 Helping a Former 3.5 Player Get 4e

[mysticknight232]

Another thing to rememer is that monsters take a lot more damage before they go down. If you run into a bunch of kobolds, you are not going to drop them in one hit. In fact, unless they are minions, they are probably going to have more hit points than anyone in your party. It takes a lot more hits to take monsters down, which means that combat takes a lot longer. Do not expect a 1st level fight to be over in 30 minutes or less. It will most likely take three times that long.

Don't forget about minions. They added a create "class" if you will called a Minion. They are designed to harry you, but not necessarily deal you a ton of dmg or kill you. A minion can be anything from a Kobold to a humanoid and they only take one hit and they die instantly. They also deal a fixed amount of dmg. They're designed to make the battles more fun and tactical, without adding dozens of guys with a lot of HPs. But seing 4 to 8 minions or in a battle at lvl 1 mixed in with some real bralwers isn't uncommon.

 

[Garthanos]

The flavor text is optional

It may have been true in the past (for some spells) but its now a tool for everybody

How you do and visualize your powers even some very mundane seeming ones like a cleave attack are much more up to you.

Want your halflings cleave to be an attack that is accidentally a flat of the blade hit knocking the enemies weapon arm in to there ally ... not a problem. Next time want that cleave attack to be a backswing that goes to far and smacks one enemy weakening the intended attack against the other enemy... no problem.

Of course you can go the opposite route and if they are minions it might be the attack of Taarna the Tarakian beheading two in one stroke. It might be throwing a flying kick against one enemy and spinning around and slashing the other.

I am really an extremist about it ;p and I like to describe many powers different each use.

As a DM I like to use a dms best friend bonus to reward description which include the environment or things I described appropriately and the game has some definite uses defined for many environmental features

-Everyone gets better at everything as they go up in levels. A 20th level wizard is going to be better at picking pockets than most 1st level rogues because of the "half level bonus" (you add 1/2 your level to attacks, defenses, skill and ability checks).

He is approaching divinity and if he cant make a cantrip do a little more at this point it would be a sad state of affairs... ;p honest its mage hand. Or for other effects.... say he traces a rune on a lock and say snaps his fingers its how the wizard always has done lock picking he is just much better than before.

We even reflavor skill use at my house ;p not always necessary but sometimes its just the right stuff.

 

[CovertOps]

The concept of multiple attacks as your BAB increases has been replaced by abilities that just do more damage at higher levels. For example a level 15 Encounter power likely does more damage than a level 1 Encounter power. Also seen in the bump that at-wills get at level 21.

 

[wayne62682]

It's really key to remember about the powers. Another thing to remember is that the language a power uses is often a keyword, not the physical effect.

I would always have issues with my DM (and posted about it here, too) because he would basically say my Fighter couldn't use some of my powers that push things if they were a lot bigger than me (only one power has a size restriction, unless they errated some stuff), because it wasn't "realistic" that a 7' tall dragonborn could "push" a 15 foot tall giant - he kept literally thinking I was shoving the thing back because the power had the word push in it, when it meant the Push keyword, not the word "push" as defined in a dictionary.

 

[surfarcher]

When I was starting out DMing 4e I found it very useful to dry run the first few combats.

I got their character sheets and ran through the first couple of combats without them to make sure I understood it all properly and wasn't missing anything. I found it useful but YMMV.

 

[Rechan]

What's an ASF?

If you're playing, what's confusing you? Is there any class you are looking to play specifically?

-Magic items are not as powerful or crucial anymore. All you need is a Weapon, a Neck Slot (defenses) and magical armor (AC). THere are even magical robes.

-There is no spellcasting penalty, somantic/verbal/etc components, etc. So a wizard can cast spells in armor. You just need to be proficient in said armor, which requires feats.

-Everyone gets more feats, but feats are not the end-all-be-all anymore.

-Combat is focused on a grid, and using tactics that help your allies. Many powers help facilitate other players.

-Everyone can heal themselves as a standard action once an encounter.

 

[FireLance]

What's an ASF?

Arcane spell failure.

Haven't had to deal with that in a while.

 

[Robtheman]

Combat tactics and initiative

I gather that in previous versions it was the melee strikers (fighter/rogue/barbarian etc.) that wanted to go first, because you had more hps, higher AC, etc., and the baddies basically moved about and hit whoever they wanted to.

Because of the focus on roles (defender, striker, controller, leader), you may want to consider the relative importance of high initiative to various party members.

Example: Strikers don't really need to go first, though there are exceptions. The leader (for buffs), the controller (for positioning the enemy and removing a few minions fast), and the defender (to help grant combat advantage and tie down a big nasty) can all go before the striker.

 

[KarinsDad]

Because of the focus on roles (defender, striker, controller, leader), you may want to consider the relative importance of high initiative to various party members.

Example: Strikers don't really need to go first, though there are exceptions. The leader (for buffs), the controller (for positioning the enemy and removing a few minions fast), and the defender (to help grant combat advantage and tie down a big nasty) can all go before the striker.

High initiative is only somewhat important to a Controller.

It really doesn't matter too much for the rest of the roles because it takes too much of an investment in order to really do it well for the gain.

One has to a) take Improved Initiative (feats like Quick Draw are ok, but generally not good enough) and b) have a high Dex that improves every level that abilities improve, and c) find a third way (i.e. item, feat, or class feature) to really get good at it.

Many monsters have better initiatives in the game system than the average PC. Many of them have high Dex and/or either a +2 or +4 bonus added on.

The exception appears to be Brutes which are often low Dex and no bonus.

Artillery and Controllers tend to have high Dex and no bonus.

Lurkers tend to have high Dex and a +4 bonus.

Skirmishers tend to have high Dex and a +2 bonus.

And Soldiers tend to have low Dex and a +2 bonus.

This works out to Brutes being half level+1+1/tier; Artillery, Controllers, and Soldiers being half level+3+1/tier, Skirmishers being half level+5+1/tier; and Lurkers being half level+7+1/tier.


There are exceptions to this, higher levels tend to get more swingy with a +6 delta for the same role not being unheard of at high epic, but that is the general rule of thumb. So, any PC whose main or secondary ability score is not Dex is going to have a problem keeping up. That's about 2/3rds of all classes.

Since so many classes have a hard time keeping up with initiative, it's typically not something a PC should concentrate on unless it plays to that PC's strengths based on class, not role.

Edit: Forgot to mention that higher level monsters get +1 to init for every 2 levels as well (i.e. n+1 monster might be +1 more to init, but an n+2 monster is typically going to be +1 to init compared to a similar same level monster and an n+4 monster is typically going to be +2 to init).

 

[DracoSuave]

As a corrollary, often it's more important to go together than to go first.