How Flexible will 4th Edition Be?

[d20Dwarf]

Not sure how flexible it will be, but I hear it can suck a bowling ball through a garden hose.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Hear, hear! Have we heard one way or another yet about additional non-Core base classes in 4th Edition?

As I just wrote, in another thread, classes seem to be a combination of role and power source. If they introduce new power sources, they can do 4 core classes for that power source.

And since we will only have 8 classes in the PHB, they can do 4 more for the first 3 power sources (arcane, divine, martial).

I can see it going like this: The new player's handbooks (we'll get one every year) will introduce 3 power sources and 8 base classes. Later that year, other sources will provide the other 4 base classes for those power sources.

 

[Aus_Snow]

From what I have heard, and quite possibly misheard. . .

• More flexible class configuration than in 3e, by default.
• Less flexible monster modification than in 3e, by default.

So it sounds like it's all good (for you). If I'm even remotely right with the above points, of course.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Interesting thought: will humans have funky-cool racial abilities, too?

My understanding of the racial tricks was to make sure that the choice of race continues to have meaning beyond 1st level. My assumption for humans is that they won't have special racial tricks, but they will instead receive a bonus feat at level 1 and get other general bonus feats at other levels as well, so they aren't left behind by the racial tricks.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Not sure how flexible it will be, but I hear it can suck a bowling ball through a garden hose.

Nice!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

My understanding of the racial tricks was to make sure that the choice of race continues to have meaning beyond 1st level. My assumption for humans is that they won't have special racial tricks, but they will instead receive a bonus feat at level 1 and get other general bonus feats at other levels as well, so they aren't left behind by the racial tricks.

Nah. Humans will get heaps of their own racial tricks:

- Be racist towards every other race, because they're all different.
- Go to wore with itself more than all other races combined
- Develop 200 different languages to let Babel look like a walk in the park.
- Mate with whatever they find - and produce offspring with a lot of it.
- Maintain the misbelief that the world was made for them.

 

[JoeGKushner]

One of the things I advocated long ago is that the core D&D rules need to have some... switches and power levels that the GM can change that effect the basis of the campaign and can take it from high fantasy low magic items (most fiction ala Wheel of Time), to Pulp Action (Conan, Fafrhd, etc...) to the standard gaming default of D&D.

Don't think it'll happen mind you because the game system is so far up it's own behind that it really can't pull out now. It'd be too different. Since 3.0, by default, the only genre D&D has been good at emulating is the D&D game, not even the D&D fiction.