BlueBlackRed
Explorer
Yes, for the time being.
FWIW, one of my friends and I both decided to make dragonborn warlords as our first 4E characters, neither of us knowing that the other was doing so.
Our characters were virtually identical. Same feats, exploits, and ability scores (with one 2-point difference). YMMV.
Couple of POV's were once you took away the flavor text every attack is identical to the next, the versatility that Wizards once had is now gone. Yes I know they don't run out of spells now, but quantity does not equal quality. 3.5 I could have 3 human 1st lvl wizards that could still be completely different, in 4E that is not possible. Also the "forcing" of needing each role filled does suck.
I wanted to highlight this fallacy...
In BECMI: a 1st level magic-user had 2 1st level spells, chosen by the DM.
In 1e: a 1st level magic-user had between 4-9 1st level spells, depending on his Int score.
In 2e: a 1st level mage had 3d4 (3-12) 1st level spells. Specialists gained 1 additional in their specialty.
In 3e: a 1st level wizard had 3+int mod (4-7) plus all cantrips (19). A 1st level sorcerer had 4 0-level and 2 1st level.
In 4e: A 1st level wizard has 2 at-will, 1 encounter, and 2 dailies (choose 1 per day) as well as 3 rituals. (if he has expanded spel book, it increases by 1 daily, if he's human he has one more at-will).
So assuming each was a non-specialist and had an 18 in their caster score...
BECMI: 2
1e: 9
2e: 12 (max roll)
3e Wiz: 26!
3e Sor: 6
4e: 8
Clearly, the 19 cantrips for the 3e wizard creates the biggest boost. Remove them, and you find the wizard is only at a modest 7, much more in line.
I used to love the idea of power cards. It was great in theory, but poor in practice. I ended up converting my Excel character sheet so I could have all my attack powers, with all the text, on the sheet itself. I find that I, on the players' side of the screen, at least, now never have to crack open the PHB at the table. This is quite a coup for the game system, from my perspective.Now we have power cards and the like, and those take up space at the table.