How will you handle this?

[Mercule]

Honestly the way I would handle it would be to not decide to run a 4e game for my group until I know everyone is OK with it.

I don't think anyone is saying anything to the contrary. I know I sure as heck didn't. But, that doesn't mean it's unreasonable to discount a conversion out of hand.

If everyone is enjoying the game using the current edition, and one player really wants to run a Gnome Druid, I would keep running the current game and wait for books that will contain the Gnome and the Druid. I expect they will both show up within the first year.

In my case, the consideration is because I am, as the DM, no longer enjoying the game much, and haven't been for months. I had grown to despise the 3e mechanics well before 4e was announced and was considering switching systems, anyway. I'd consider dropping the campaign and starting something else, except the players have poured quite a bit into their characters and there are some extremely interesting storylines in play.

The 3.5 system is just painfully, fatally cumbersome to the sort of GM prep-work I need to do. It hit that point by eighth level or so, and has only gotten worse over the next six or seven levels. If 4e allows me to more easily manage the prep and running of my campaign, that means I get to do a better job. That means everybody has more fun.

I don't want to simply unload the pain onto one of my players, but it's worth considering whether the aggregated inconvenience to all the players will be made up for by the increased enjoyment they'll all get out of both the new system directly and my ability to provide better adventures for them. My enjoyment, or lack thereof, must be included in the equation, too. I know some people have some warped idea that the GM is there to provide for only the other players' entertainment, but I've already got a job and I don't need to put 2+ (at least one for play and one for prep) nights each week (i.e. almost 30% of my time that isn't already claimed by work or required home projects) to something that has minimal emotional payoff. As a husband and parent, I have a hard time justifying that.

If I think there is a net benefit to the group in attempting an "upgrade" and the rest of the players are unwilling to even consider it because they might have to learn a couple new rules, that shows a disrespect for my time and effort that is of a magnitude that makes me question whether they're worth the effort.

 

[Mercule]

Ditto, except i would have used a less flattering image for the halfling, especially the new one.

Yeah, but I was going for non-confrontational and grandma-friendly. Halflings have been banned from my game for a very long time. Gnomes only made it in because I want to allow a size-small PC race and gnomes are the least offense, PC-able (sorry, no kobolds) race.

 

[deathdonut]

You have 3 options:

Get her interested in playing something else.
This isn't hard, you can make it similar as the Feypact Warlock or Nature Cleric mentioned earlier, or a ranger-type if she's less set on spell casting. You can supplement this choice with some magic items later tailored to her style of play (1/encounter shapechange?). Who knows, she might get inspired by something completely different if she reads through the new books.

Write up a custom class to hold her over.
Unlike the first option, this one is hard, but depending upon your own personality, it's quite doable. I have a player in my group that is set on playing something specific, so I wrote up an unarmored defender who throws fireballs. You need a good sense of the rules and an ability to look at your own creations objectively (and trash/restart if need be). If you have someone in your group who likes this sort of thing, maybe they can get things started and you can balance things out with the DM's Editing Pen. This is the riskiest rout, and I only recommend it if you're the type that likes this sort of thing.

Wait on 4e.
Simple as that. Next year, PHB2 will be out with your druid class. If there's nothing else she's willing to go with, this is your last and final option.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Use the gnome from the Monster Manual. Play a Wizard, Warlock, or Cleric, and refluff all of the abilities to be nature themed.

 

[sjmiller]

Why would you ask this? Have you ever played through a new edition before or was 3e your first foray into D&D? You could blame 4e for not having the same wealth of options at launch that 3e has after 8 years, but that would be a bit unfair, don'tcha think?

Good lord, I have gone through every edition change from D&D to both editions of AD&D to 3.0, 3,5, and now we are approaching 4.0. Each time, so far, it has been relatively easy to either convert a character or make a new character of the same type. My players and I generally stick to the stuff you could find in all the previous Player's Handbooks. I am not trying to compare the brand new 4.0 to the 8 year old 3e. I am looking at 4.0 and seeing how someone who is used to playing a game of 3.0 with just the core books can do the same thing they enjoy in 3.0 with 4.0. Comparing the more mature 3.x game with the new 4.0 game would be unfair, but that is not what I have been doing.

 

[hexgrid]

I am looking at 4.0 and seeing how someone who is used to playing a game of 3.0 with just the core books can do the same thing they enjoy in 3.0 with 4.0.

If they really want to keep doing the same thing they already enjoy, the obvious solution is to not switch. Even switching to a race/class combo with the same names as 3e won't be a continuation of the same thing.

But you already know this, and you already know all the possible answers to the question in the OP. So what are you really looking for?

 

[AndrewRogue]

I'm going to have to agree that there are two real options. I'm also going to say that, as an experienced PnPer, those two options also make perfect sense to me.

1. Get things to work by using another class and reflavoring.
2. Do what I always do when existing material can't fit my desires: create new material.

 

[sjmiller]

If they really want to keep doing the same thing they already enjoy, the obvious solution is to not switch. Even switching to a race/class combo with the same names as 3e won't be a continuation of the same thing.

But you already know this, and you already know all the possible answers to the question in the OP. So what are you really looking for?

What I am looking for are alternatives that I might not have thought of. Other people see the game differently than I do, so they might have creative alternatives that would not come to me from my view. I am also curious to see if others might be in a similar situation. No, I do not know all the possible answers to my original questions. That is why I asked. I do not post here just for the sake of posting. I post here to get answers, or to occasionally provide them.

My finger is not firmly on the pulse of 4e news. I have not followed every single twist and turn of the various releases from WotC on this. That is the other reason I asked. Maybe things are different than what I have heard, and maybe other people know the answers to my questions. I do not post here to be inflammatory, I post these questions in hope of being better informed.

 

[Sojorn]

I do not post here to be inflammatory, I post these questions in hope of being better informed.

I think many of us on the internet would be better off assuming that questions are asked in good faith until proven otherwise. :/

I know my blood pressure would be lower...

 

[Grundgen]

Druid Shapeshifting...

I'm pretty sure I've heard there will be a shifter/changeling in the MM with dopplegangers...If we are to be given tools in the MM to allow many of those humanoid race to be played as PC's, maybe having a changeling race would emulate that aspect of the druid *shrug* Multiclass Warlock/Cleric that people have suggested actually sounds like a good substitute to me.