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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brehobit" data-source="post: 5167266" data-attributes="member: 12032">Short and long of it:4e is all about balance.  The wild shape of the druid is the way it is because of that.  Face it, I can become a bird in 4e but continue to move _exactly_ my human speed.  AC stays the same too right?  I'd have preferred the game give the druid some non-combat powers in wild shape but took it out in combat ability.  But 4e doesn't do that.I do like the "you don't know how to do that" (like flying) argument, and that you do once you take the right power.  But aren't those powers darn limited (1/day or 1/encounter)?  I like 4e, I really do.  but the balance>flavor that it endorses is a huge problem in some areas.  The attempt to silo abilities would have worked if the darn utilities weren't by-and-large still combat abilities.  The notion that the game need not represent non-combat abilities is annoying.  I'm one of those that laments the lack of a craft skill. On the whole 4e is a great board game, and that can make for a great platform for a great RPG.  But 4e isn't, in-and-of-itself, a great RPG.  3e is closer.  Champions, GURPs, Shadowrun and many others (even 2e) are better at that aspect.  But those game sacrifice balance or other things (drop 3 grenades in a small area in Shadowrun and no one will die, drop 4 and they might) for what they pay back in terms of flavor-in-rules.  But please don't claim that 4e's limitations are features, not bugs.  The druid wild shape is one of the best examples IMO.  The wacked economy of magic items, the fairly odd skill challenges, the fact that a fighter may end up being stronger than an elephant, that using their encounter power a fighter can do massive damage to swarms (burst attack) once per fight but otherwise do little, etc. are bugs.  So is the fact that a 20th level wizard with no athletic training (STR 12) will be a better athlete that a 1st level fighter with an 18 STR training in athletics...  That the party has to work together, each character has an important role to play in combat, and that each character has interesting (if overly similar IMO) mechanics are great features and likely worth the fairly minor sacrifices above, especially if your group really enjoys tactical challenges with their role playing (and mine does!).</blockquote>

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