I think I've figured out power sources...

[Gloombunny]

Further, I see the Wizard's, Warlock's and Cleric's "Good" Spell Attack bonuses all stacking if they multiclass.

Yeah, that's the difference between the two-progressions thing and my "Alternatively..." thing. I think it's too early to guess which way it'll go, since we really have no idea how magic and multiclassing are actually going to work in 4e. It's possible that having a reduced magic attack will be necessary to keep multiclassed casters balanced. (I mean, imagine a Book of Nine Swords character who had an initiator level = character level for all three martial adept classes. That's not at all balanced with a character whose levels are all in one class.)

 

[A'koss]

Yeah, that's the difference between the two-progressions thing and my "Alternatively..." thing. I think it's too early to guess which way it'll go, since we really have no idea how magic and multiclassing are actually going to work in 4e. It's possible that having a reduced magic attack will be necessary to keep multiclassed casters balanced. (I mean, imagine a Book of Nine Swords character who had an initiator level = character level for all three martial adept classes. That's not at all balanced with a character whose levels are all in one class.)

That's really more of a "Caster Level" issue than an Attack Bonus one.

And on the Caster Level note, they may do something along the lines of Bo9S but it could get a little tricky if they decide certain classes should marry up better than others. Primary Spellcaster + Primary Spellcaster (Wizard/Cleric) vs. Primary Spellcaster + Non-Spellcaster (Fighter/Wizard) for example. Or Divine + Divine (Cleric/Paladin) and Martial + Martial (Fighter/Ranger?).

Hopefully, they'll keep it simple & straightforward.

 

[Gloombunny]

That's really more of a "Caster Level" issue than an Attack Bonus one.

I'm just saying, since we don't know how magic will work, it's too early to guess how multiclassing will affect it.

 

[Li Shenron]

The 4e previews keep mentioning power sources... martial, arcane, divine. And it never really occurred to me until now exactly what they were talking about.

We know that fighters, mages, and clerics all roll a d20 when they attack or cast spells.
In 3.5e, when you swing your sword, you add your BAB plus additional modifiers.
I propose that 4e does *not have* a base attack bonus. It has one attack bonus PER power source. A martial attack bonus, an arcane attack bonus, and a divine attack bonus.
Why? Well there needs to be some modifier to the d20 to show proficiency. Plus, the modifier must be different for fighters and wizards. Otherwise, wizards could just pick up a sword and hack people up all day.

Interesting implications for multi-classing... And surely a cleric has a decent martial attack bonus AND an excellent divine bonus... ? Not really sure.

Bonuses could be done as a formula similar to SAGA skills (I would hope it's that way, actually). Bonus = class level (Focused), half the class level (Trained), 0 (untrained).

It doesn't sound right, for two reasons:

1) It becomes complicated in multiclassing.
2) It doesn't let you add new power sources to the game (unless you retroactively assign a "nature attack bonus", "psionic attack bonus" etc to all existing classes)

A single BAB (or whatever it will be called) is enough to cover all types of physical attacks, and a CL to cover all types of spellcasting. Or perhaps in a simplification spree they might have even combined the two, unique attack progression for everyone, and Fighter bonuses only to attack rolls vs Wizard bonuses only to spell rolls.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I think power sources are like mana, "rage," combo points etc. from WoW.

 

[Gentlegamer]

I hope the descriptor "base attack bonus" is not in 4D&D. I would prefer something like "combat skill" (borrowed from Lone Wolf), or "prowess" or something less bland. If this mechanic is used for different "power sources," I hope the descriptors chosen are similarly more evocative than "arcane attack bonus" and so on.

 

[hong]

240V AC power source?

 

[Frostmarrow]

Bonuses could be done as a formula similar to SAGA skills (I would hope it's that way, actually). Bonus = class level (Focused), half the class level (Trained), 0 (untrained).

I think you might be on to something! This is really neat.

 

[A'koss]

I think you might be on to something! This is really neat.

No, the disparites would be far too great for attack bonuses.

 

[BASHMAN]

I think it will work that everyone gets a melee BAB, but only arcane people get an arcane BAB and only Divine people get a divine BAB.

For split classes, I think they will take a page from the Bo9S and make it be 1/2 your levels from other classes stack with your level in your other class to determine BAB, etc. So Suppose cleric has DaB of 1/1. A 10th level fighter takes a level of cleric-- his DaB will be 6. He'd also count as a 6th level caster. 5 for the levels of fighter, and 1 for the level of cleric. So he is not absolute crap for an 11th level character. This makes it so that changing classes is not such a crippling thing to do, and that your multiclassing is less cherry picked