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How would you redo 4e?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8953415" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Squares are just a convenience so you can talk about them faster. Every square is, and was, a 5' square. Y'know, exactly what 3e and 5e use.</p><p></p><p>Material components aren't a thing in 4e, sure. They're also almost completely superfluous in <em>both</em> 3e and 5e, given a component pouch obviates them in the former case and a spell focus obviates them in the latter. I don't understand what RP benefit that provides, when it's so easily cast aside.</p><p></p><p>What, exactly, do spell schools contribute to <em>roleplay?</em> Like with components, I'm genuinely confused how this has any relevance. Why does it matter what "school" of magic your Sorcerer is using when calling upon the power of their draconic ancestor to set their enemies on fire? Isn't it <em>more</em> thematic that the game <em>doesn't</em> enforce upon you a rigid hierarchy that is completely nonsensical for an intuitive, self-taught form of magic?</p><p></p><p>All of those "fire specific effects" are given by the Fire keyword: "Explosive bursts, fiery rays, or simple ignition." The books literally instruct DMs to take that into account. It's not house-ruling, it's actually how 4e is supposed to be played. The designers even wrote a Dragon magazine article about how and why you might let players take a power but alter its keywords (the given example being someone playing a fire mage IIRC, but who wants to take a power that creates ice spikes, and swapping it from Cold to Fire to keep their pyromancer theme going; they also mentioned how this <em>could</em> be used for abuse, and so DMs should be open but cautious.) The power text isn't as evocative as a full explanation of possible ways things can go, sure, but the whole point was to make things quick and easy to use--if a power does fire damage, <em>you</em> decide what that looks like and whether it has impacts on the world or not. You-as-DM are, in point of fact, <em>empowered</em> to decide what happens when, and whether it is reasonable for a given action to achieve an effect based on its qualitative, rather than quantitative, elements.</p><p></p><p>Also? Fireball--and most other Wizard powers--<em>did get a spell school</em>. It wasn't there to begin with, but it was added in later (Rules Compendium and other Essentials books, IIRC.) So they even changed that in the actual game itself! Some (generally Wizard-linked) PPs also got spell schools.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8953415, member: 6790260"] Squares are just a convenience so you can talk about them faster. Every square is, and was, a 5' square. Y'know, exactly what 3e and 5e use. Material components aren't a thing in 4e, sure. They're also almost completely superfluous in [I]both[/I] 3e and 5e, given a component pouch obviates them in the former case and a spell focus obviates them in the latter. I don't understand what RP benefit that provides, when it's so easily cast aside. What, exactly, do spell schools contribute to [I]roleplay?[/I] Like with components, I'm genuinely confused how this has any relevance. Why does it matter what "school" of magic your Sorcerer is using when calling upon the power of their draconic ancestor to set their enemies on fire? Isn't it [I]more[/I] thematic that the game [I]doesn't[/I] enforce upon you a rigid hierarchy that is completely nonsensical for an intuitive, self-taught form of magic? All of those "fire specific effects" are given by the Fire keyword: "Explosive bursts, fiery rays, or simple ignition." The books literally instruct DMs to take that into account. It's not house-ruling, it's actually how 4e is supposed to be played. The designers even wrote a Dragon magazine article about how and why you might let players take a power but alter its keywords (the given example being someone playing a fire mage IIRC, but who wants to take a power that creates ice spikes, and swapping it from Cold to Fire to keep their pyromancer theme going; they also mentioned how this [I]could[/I] be used for abuse, and so DMs should be open but cautious.) The power text isn't as evocative as a full explanation of possible ways things can go, sure, but the whole point was to make things quick and easy to use--if a power does fire damage, [I]you[/I] decide what that looks like and whether it has impacts on the world or not. You-as-DM are, in point of fact, [I]empowered[/I] to decide what happens when, and whether it is reasonable for a given action to achieve an effect based on its qualitative, rather than quantitative, elements. Also? Fireball--and most other Wizard powers--[I]did get a spell school[/I]. It wasn't there to begin with, but it was added in later (Rules Compendium and other Essentials books, IIRC.) So they even changed that in the actual game itself! Some (generally Wizard-linked) PPs also got spell schools. [/QUOTE]
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