D&D 4E Is there a "Cliffs Notes" summary of the entire 4E experience?

[Nergal Pendragon]

But I thought the humourisms are​ the really important bits!

 

[TwoSix]

And forces you to make a save against being stunned!

So, a Fart save?

 

[Lalato]

Hold on buddy, even an expert flatulater can miss sometimes. That's unrealistic, even for gnoll gas.

Come on... you have to modify the in-game fiction to account for this. Your character was "missed", because he held his breath just in time, but he didn't take a deep enough breath so his face turned blue. And blue has an odd reaction with the gas. It causes you to break out in hives... thus the damage on the miss.

It's all very clear in the fluff text.

 

[TwoSix]

OK, ha ha, I think it's time to stop making jokes now. These humourisms are just racking up the page count. C'mon, think about the people who have to catch up on this thread. Now they have to go back like 12 pages just to read the really important bits!

To be a real 4e thread, we have a long way to go. We had a few that were 1500+ posts back in the good ol' days. I think one or two crossed 2000.

 

[TwoSix]

Come on... you have to modify the in-game fiction to account for this. Your character was "missed", because he held his breath just in time, but he didn't take a deep enough breath so his face turned blue. And blue has an odd reaction with the gas. It causes you to break out in hives... thus the damage on the miss.

It's all very clear in the fluff text.

Ahh. To be fair, I haven't read the fluff text. I only play B/X.

 

[I'm A Banana]

View attachment 62849

/cagequit

 

[billd91]

Come on... you have to modify the in-game fiction to account for this. Your character was "missed", because he held his breath just in time, but he didn't take a deep enough breath so his face turned blue. And blue has an odd reaction with the gas. It causes you to break out in hives... thus the damage on the miss.

It's all very clear in the fluff text.

Oh, there's my problem. I reskinned it to mean that the damage came from my own attempt to avoid the fart damage. It seems that hiding in a circle of lit disposable lighters is a bad idea when avoiding fart gas. Who knew?!?

 

[TwoSix]

Oh, there's my problem. I reskinned it to mean that the damage came from my own attempt to avoid the fart damage. It seems that hiding in a circle of lit disposable lighters is a bad idea when avoiding fart gas. Who knew?!?

Not your fault, even though the circle of lighters has been there the whole time since I said so last round.

 

[Tony Vargas]

It's implausible that he can make a super-human effort to make a specific effect, and then can't do it again...but can do some other super-heroic effect just fine, even though the reason he couldn't use the former effect again was because he'd "drawn too deep from his reserves."

Why is that implausible? Where is it defined that these 'deep reserves' must be generic?

That's not an explanation, and doesn't present itself as being reasonable. How are completely non-magical abilities calling on different "reserves"? What exactly are those reserves and how do they work?

Why does it matter that it's not magic? Are you trying to suggest that non-magical abilities are all generic and call upon some single, undifferentiated pool of potential?

Magic gets to define itself and its parameters, physical abilities do not.

Why not? Characters in fantasy are clearly capable of quite a range of remarkable feats, yet they don't just do the most powerful/effective one every time - who's to say there aren't some limitations on which they can do how often to explain why that is?

What kind of detail are looking for in defining 'exactly' what 'deep reserves' represent?

"Deep reserves" of non-magical (ergo, physical) ability aren't prepared as discrete reserves; if you're too tired to use one again, it doesn't make sense that you can still use another.

Why can't they be discrete? You keep saying they aren't or can't be, but don't offer a reason.

I'm not sure what "neo-Vancian" means, but the reason for that is because it's the nature of spellcasting. Each spell is prepared as a discrete thing, and can't be parceled out on-the-fly into a group of weaker spells.

neo-Vancian is the 5e system of separate prepared spells and 'slots' that are used to cast prepared spells (you no longer lose memory of the prepared spells). AFAIK, 5e has yet to offer a rationalization for the system, though I coiuld've missed it.

For that matter, what's so reasonable about classic Vancian - where spells are 'impressed upon the magic-user's brain' and 'whiped clean by casting,' - which isn't so much a reason as a re-statement of the memorization mechanic? What's plausible about the energy of AD&D Vancian magic coming from a positive plane that the material components of the spell are swapped to, when not all spells have components, and some with large components arguably involve more energy than those with less or none?

Any or all of those are less reasonable or plausible than an heroic fantasy character calling upon deep reserves to perform a preternatural feat.

 

[Umbran]

OK, ha ha, I think it's time to stop making jokes now. These humourisms are just racking up the page count. C'mon, think about the people who have to catch up on this thread. Now they have to go back like 12 pages just to read the really important bits!

I think the humorisms are kind of telling. Maybe the "important bits" had started to get... just a tad repetitive and head-buttingy. Maybe those engaging in the important bits should look around them for a moment, and consider...

And yes, "head-buttingy" is a word.