I also have the books [merged] (info on upcomming Power sources and more)

[Rechan]

OMG!!! Fighters are MAD now!!!

Well, here's an example:

Paragon Feat:
Deadly Axe Pre-req: Str 17, Con 13 Treat all axes as high crit.
Heavy Blade Opportunity Str 15 Dex 15 Use At-Will power with OA.

 

[Destil]

PH Ch 2

You can take powers / skills / feats / et cetera out of the order their presented. EDIT: at 1st level.

Con does something extra for everyone (HP, Surges). In fact con seems to be is the only score everyone gets a benefit from for free...

(no mention in the 2nd chapter so far of Str affecting encumbrance, for instance. Or Dex and initiative for that matter, but we know that from previews).

16 14 13 12 11 10 is the new 15 14 13 12 10 8.

Same default dice roll as 3E (4d6 six times drop the lowest, arrange as desired). But nice shiny new hopeless reroll ... I can't even call it a rule. It simply mentioned that if your total bonuses are below +4 or above +8 before racial adjustments the DM may wish you to reroll. (there's been no mention of rule 0 in general, but I'm skimming).

I like the way they present info on deities. Each has 3-4 'commands' or 'laws' or somesuch. Actually putting some dogma into religion rocks, it's the sort of thing I've always spent a lot of time working on when playting / DMing religious types.

Random deity - Raven Queen, since I've heard some clamor about her. Seems rather cool. Death is a natural end, she's unaligned and has a Three Sisters of Fate sort of vibe from Norse / Greek myth. Her commandments are: Hold no pity for those who die; it is a natural end. Bring down those who attempt to cast off the chain of fate (PCs who treat the afterlife as a revolving door; I'm looking at you...). Put down the creations / cults of Orcus.

Language is mentioned, no mention of Int adding to starting languages (maybe the feat...). 2-3 depending on race.

Each type of check is outlines. Attack, Skill and Ability. All add 1/2 your level. Aside from two page references to where you'll find 'All Other Modifiers' these three are the exact same (I'm guessing Initiative is just a Dex ability check, or were we seeing +5s?).

Step by step level up rules... though the steps are numbered it never says 'in order' specifically. Sigh. There's a debate we haven't had enough of. This could be a problem if feats require powers or if paragon / epic require feats (I haven't looked over the level breakdown to see where these could collide). Of course that could be alleviated because next, we have:

Retraining (1/2 a page). Any single feat, skill, power. Any one of the three each level, of course stating that you can't do anything too fancy to dodging prerequisites (haven't read this for loopholes, looks good at a glance).

18 feats at 30th. Nothing else scales that high, though the utility powers entirely 'stack' (never replace old ones): you end up with 7. At will 2, encounter / daily 4 each at 30th (this is the base progression, there could be more of any of these from class). You can entirely retrain all your heroic tier to paragon and paragon tier to epic feats, as long as you only do 1 level at a time and don't break prerequisites. It'll be interesting to see how this is balanced, and looks like the single most fiddly bit so far (including parts I've only heard of and haven't read)...

On to races...

 

[Korgoth]

So... what's the fluff on Mind Flayers like?

 

[Destil]

PH C3: Races

These have been spoiled to death by now. I'm just hitting the high points (by which I mean things that are new to me).

Eladrin get a bonus trained skill (from their superior education). +1 to will saves and +5 vs charm. Considered a fey.

I'm in the 'WTF, again!?!?' camp on half-elves... A floating +2 and +2 Cha was all I think it would take to make them awesome, +2 Con... well at least everyone can use it.

Tiefling also looks underpowered, though they at least feel right.

 

[Dyrvom]

Thanks for the confirmation on Warlocks.

I am somewhat bothered by some classes and builds seeming to get noticeably better synergy and base-coverage with their abilities (demon pact Warlock vs. main-defender Paladin). However, Wizards swears by their playtesting, and I haven't touched 4E yet personally, so I'll see.

 

[MindWanderer]

Can you explain a little more about:

Inspired Recovery [Warlord, Inspiring Presence class feature]: Grant ally saving throw with Cha modifier bonus
Mounted Combat [none]: Gain access to the special abilities of your mount
Nimble Blade [Dex 15]: +1 to attacks with light blade and combat advantage
Precise Hunter [Wis 15, ranger, Hunter’s Quarry class feature]: Allies gain +1 attack against target hit by critical hit
Press the Advantage [Cha 15, rogue]: Retain combat advantage with a critical hit
Quick Draw [Dex 13]: Draw a weapon with attack action, +2 to initiative
Shield Push [Fighter, Combat Challenge class feature]: Push 1 square to target hit by Combat Challenge attack
Tactical Assault [Warlord, Tactical Presence class feature]: Ally gains bonus to damage equal to your Int modifier

and all the Channel Divinity feat powers?

Toughness [none]: Gain 5 additional hit points per tier

<Sigh> And it sucks again. The preview version (3 + 1/level) was pretty solid, but not a must-have. 5/tier--1 per 2 levels--is crap.

Skill Focus [Training in chosen skill]: +3 to checks with chosen skill

They lied to me... at DDXP, they said this no longer existed. Well, it makes some of those DCs we've seen more attainable.

 

[Rechan]

So... what's the fluff on Mind Flayers like?

Same as the old fluff.

 

[Korgoth]

Same as the old fluff.

Thanks! Also, just what I wanted to hear.

 

[MindWanderer]

The Key Abilities are:

Cleric: Wisdom, Strength, Charisma
Fighter: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Constitution (all fighters need strength, but the others can depend on weapons)
Paladin: Strength, Charisma, Wisdom
Ranger: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom
Rogue: Dexterity, Strength, Charisma
Warlock: Charisma, Constitution, Intelligence
Warlord: Strength, Intelligence, Charisma
Wizard: Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity

To follow up on this:

1) Can you give us an example of what Dex does for a wizard, what Int does for a Warlock, and what Cha does for a cleric? I think we have a good idea about the rest of them.
2) For a paladin, Str is primary and Cha secondary? That seems odd--most of the paladin stuff we've seen has been Cha primary. I was looking forward to playing a low-Str paladin, which looked possible (if limiting) so far--can you confirm whether this is at all viable?

 

[Destil]

Since it was requested: Zones are continual area effects. They overlap (don't stack) if they produce a similar effect...

No mention of when damage happens, I'm guessing in the power descriptions.