Hey while you're at it WOTC.

[Andor]

Hey while you've still got room to add stuff to the rules o Wotcites, how about addressing how vertical movement interacts with AOOs. To the best of my knowledge 3.x ed never addressed this at all, in spite of the fact that at higher levels everyone and his brother can fly.

We know how vertical movment works. We know that vertical reach is not the same thing as horizontal reach. Nobody is sure how the hell this is supposed to work together. Does 5' of vertical movent trigger an AOO? I once had a GM give an NPC a free swing at me for vertical movement because my character did a "Death from above" off a ledge. Or does the fact that a standard dwarf has 10' of vertical reach mean that the squares are bigger? Do they vary by the creatures size?

I was just reading the blurb for the rules compendium and it reminded of this. How about fixing this fro the get-go in 4e. In fact, I know you guys keep complaining about how you can't get your heads into 3ed these days, but how about you all go pick up a copy of the compendium and make sure that the things in 3.x that make you go "Buh... what?" have all been hammered out. It would suck for 4ed to be at the printers when somebody goes "Oh crap. We forgot to kill the AOO for getting up from prone, and after we put in the "Triping people for fun and profit" talent tree."

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

. . . Wotcites . . .

Wha? :\

How do you pronounce whatever that word (?) is supposed to be.

 

[Andor]

WOTC-ites

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Wha? :\

How do you pronounce whatever that word (?) is supposed to be.

I think it's meant to rhyme with "atrocities."

 

[Aeolius]

To the best of my knowledge 3.x ed never addressed this at all, in spite of the fact that at higher levels everyone and his brother can fly.

And at any level, there are PCs that can swim. Rules that easily address aerial, subaqueous, and variable-gravity planar travel would be most welcome.

 

[howandwhy99]

During d20 3rd Edition ONLY TWO aerial combat systems were created by 3rd party publishers.

1. was by Mr. Skip Williams, a lead designer on 3rd edition. These rules are as mechanically seamless with the 3.0 rules as his Cry Havoc rules were for mass combat. They are also as complex as the Cry Havoc rules and even less popular (though mathematically very sound).

2. was by Mr. Mike Mearls, a lead developer on 4th edition. His rules were quick, easy, and required no mechanical gyrations by the user. However, they were also table based, so 4th edition may not include anything remotely like them.

However, I would say 3D combat rules are unlikely to go overlooked in the new edition.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I think it's meant to rhyme with "atrocities."

I was thinking it was supposed to be wot-see-ites.

 

[Andor]

Buying stuff for a higher level character today and noticed a few things I'd like to see changed....

1. Self-obsoleteing items. Fer example: The ring of climbing, improved. 10k for plus 10 to climbing. Wow! Except I can pay less for boots of levitation and never need to climb again. Or a winged shield for full on flight even...

2. Differentiate the item types more please. We don't know what the 4e items rules will look like, but in 3e it bugs me how pointless it is to get anything but Create Wondrous. Brew Potions doesn't even make all the potions! (Elixers I am looking at you.) If you chug it, surely brew potions ought to be the correct feat. Likewise rings. There isn't any difference between rings and wondrous items, except for the body slot, and rings are apparently hard to make. Personally my teeth hurt whenever I see a ring with charges.

 

[Plane Sailing]

2. Differentiate the item types more please. We don't know what the 4e items rules will look like, but in 3e it bugs me how pointless it is to get anything but Create Wondrous. Brew Potions doesn't even make all the potions! (Elixers I am looking at you.) If you chug it, surely brew potions ought to be the correct feat. Likewise rings. There isn't any difference between rings and wondrous items, except for the body slot, and rings are apparently hard to make. Personally my teeth hurt whenever I see a ring with charges.

I don't know whether they will keep anything like the existing system, but Monte Cook's AU had a much better division of creation feats. Something like

Craft single use item (e.g. potions)
Craft item with charges (e.g. wands)
Craft item with uses per day (e.g. some rings, some wondrous items)
Craft item that is permanently on (e.g. some rings, some wondrous items)

Something like that, anyway.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Buying stuff for a higher level character today and noticed a few things I'd like to see changed....

Grab the Magic Item Compendium. WotC designers learned a great deal about magic item creation through it. Probably some of the sensibilities there will be applied to 4e magic item design.