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

[hong]

Acrobatics has a specific "Stunt" option that are not present in the other skills. That allows you to do something "tumble-ish" (think the example was something like "vaulting over an opponent") IF you manage to sweettalk you DM into it (read: I think the difficulty was set by the DM on a case-by-case basis, no fixed rule.)

Awesome!

 

[Rechan]

Man. It seems like the designers really got their jollies making the Infernal powers. On several levels, there's 2 infernal powers and only 1 Fey and Star.

Also, int modifies various abilities, similar to how Wisdom modifies various Paladin abilities.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

What do daggers do as implements, for wizards?

Orbs = basically make harder to save against.
Wands = bonus to hit.
Staffs = bonus damage??
Daggers = ???

 

[Destil]

What do daggers do as implements, for wizards?

Orbs = basically make harder to save against.
Wands = bonus to hit.
Staffs = bonus damage??
Daggers = ???

Wizards don't use daggers. Warlocks get rods & wands with daggers as special (along the lines of the holy avenger for a paladin).

Orbs - Better Duration for spells, Wis Based bonus
Wands - Better attack roll for spells, Dex based
Staffs - Better defense, con based

All of the basic benefits are free actions and only usually last 1 round.

EDIT: Wis affects some of the wizard At-Wills, but I haven't seen it in the normal powers (Thunderlance is now a set 4 squares, for example).

And they didn't fix Mirror Image -_-

 

[Khaalis]

What do daggers do as implements, for wizards?

Orbs = basically make harder to save against.
Wands = bonus to hit.
Staffs = bonus damage??
Daggers = ???

From what I can see, nothing. There is a "pact blade" mentioned in the warlock section which is a special magical dagger that acts as an implement for warlocks.

The only implements for wizard are: Orb, Staff or Wand, which grants its bonus to attack and damage with 'implement' keyword powers, as well as choosing your implement mastery. I suspect we will see more implement masteries in the Arcane splatbook as well.

I am sure I read somewhere that more implements will be included in the splat books to follow.

 

[Khaalis]

Can I get a clarification as to the Half-Elf racial power (ie. is it simply "another class's at-will as an encounter" like we thought)?

Half-Elf
* +2 Con, +2 Cha
* Medium, 6 squares, Low-Light
* +2 Diplomacy, +2 Insight
* Choose an at-will power from a class different from yours and use it as an encounter power.
* Can take Human or Elven feats.
* Grant +1 Diplomacy to all allies within 10 squares.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Ah, thanks folks
thought I'd read some place daggers were going ot be an implement, too.

 

[Khaalis]

Ah, thanks folks
thought I'd read some place daggers were going ot be an implement, too.

I seem to remember that in the first iteration of implements they were mentioned. However, that was way back in the development cycle when books were an implement as well. Once things were closer to what they are now, I think we heard that daggers, masks, and other such implements would make an appearance later on (thus likely in the Arcane book).

Keep in mind, they do need to keep some juicy material to put in the future books. I am certain they specifically "trimmed" the PHB taking out certain "extras" for later use in the splatbooks.

 

[Lurker37]

If I wanted to make an archer type character, could the Fighter fill this role, or am I stuck with Ranger? ie, can you make a feasible archery based Fighter?

No, because 3E fighters got split into two 4E classes, due to the concept of roles. 3E fighters could be defenders or strikers. So in 4E the fighter got split into a class for each role, and the striker killed the ranger and took all his weapon skills, and his name.

( If WoTC had just given both these classes brand new names, we wouldn't have half the trouble wrapping our heads around what they do, but then I guess it would be too much of a departure from the icons of D&D. )

The new defender class kept the name of Fighter. It wears heavy armour, goes toe to to with the enemy, and has lots of abilities to discourage any opponent it can close with from attacking other, less resilient party members, and swing at the Fighter instead. Standing back and using a missile weapon just doesn't work with that role - they need to get up close and personal to be effective.

The lightly armoured, mobile finesse fighter now goes by the name of Ranger. Despite the name of 'Ranger', this class has no magic, no animal companion, and doesn't even necessarily know that much about nature. As a striker, their role is to inflict damage on the enemy, preferably without getting hit themselves. To achieve this they can either specialise in darting in and out of combat with a melee weapon in each hand, or standing back and letting fly with arrows et al. It's really just another type of fighter with a different role - dealing damage instead of keeping the enemy occupied.

So if you want a non-magical Fighter specialised in Archery, you actually want a Ranger in 4E. It just feels weird because we're used to that class name having a lot of baggage it no longer has in 4E.

By the same token, anyone wanting to play a woodsman with nature-themed magic and a trained attack lion/tiger/bear/(oh my!) is SoL for now.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey there!

A few minor questions for anyone with the books. Curious about the number of epic monsters in the book (a general ballpark figure will do), and who are the top ten highest level (or should that be by XP Value I suppose) monsters in the book (Name, Level & Role)?

WotC mentioned Orcus is Level 33, just wondering if Levistus or any other unique beings show up?

Thanks in advance.