Jason Bulmahn Speaks about DDXP(His take on the system)

[Wolfspider]

I think some of his points are well taken, but I will say this. I'm getting tired of people mentioning combats being repetitive when its 1st level!!!

I mean a 1st level wizard throws a couple of magic missiles and then is shooting a crossbow (often badly) for the rest of the day.

I'm afraid "casting magic missile" is going to become the new "shooting a crossbow" for 4e wizards....

 

[Geron Raveneye]

I'm afraid "casting magic missile" is going to become the new "shooting a crossbow" for 4e wizards....

Only when 5E rolls around, and designers will convince us that using one main "at will" ability every round is so no fun, and that it will be a lot more exciting if you have 3-5 at will abilities that are roughly equal in combat power but completely different in effect. Hmmmm, shifting the choosing phase a pre-4E wizard has to do once a day to having it once per round...what better way to satisfy the guy who loves to juggle spell slots.

 

[Zinovia]

Thank you for the review. It raises some interesting concerns. Granted that some of them may be due to the factors of this being a first level adventure run at a convention by people new to the game.

I'm surprised to hear that the people writing the scenarios weren't told which characters would be running through it. That seems like a significant oversight. The first thing a DM does when creating an adventure is take a look at his group and their skills, and balance the encounters around that. Knowing the 6 player group had no rogue and 2 defenders certainly would impact the challenges you throw at them. I guess it boils down to lack of communication.

 

[Andur]

I think the big part of what is missing, is the options available to the PC's that were NOT taken in the build.

I would hope that MM or FB are not the only two choices for a Wizard for at will attacks. And what about the whole "different weapons have different effects" that was mentioned a while back, maybe the cleave ability is only available with the war pick, but that seems sorta strange.

The problem with only seeing the tip of the iceberg is it generally gives the worst reaction to it. (With icebergs that is typically, how beautifu, it is small, let's get closer for a better picture, riiiiiiiiiipppppp, glug, glug, glug.)

 

[Zinegata]

I think the big part of what is missing, is the options available to the PC's that were NOT taken in the build.

True.

I would hope that MM or FB are not the only two choices for a Wizard for at will attacks. And what about the whole "different weapons have different effects" that was mentioned a while back, maybe the cleave ability is only available with the war pick, but that seems sorta strange.

Actually, I also wonder if there's a way for abilities to evolve. For instance, a level 1 "Encounter-only" ability might morph into an At-will ability by level 5.

 

[Benimoto]

I think part of the problem with static options is that after everybody had done their initial positioning and blew their encounter powers, the combats themselves would occasionally get static. To put it another way, if nobody's moved, and the situation hasn't drastically changed since your last round, are you going to change your action?

I actually think that the random recharge mechanics, and monsters that did something different when they or their foes were bloodied did a lot more to keep players from just continuing the take the same action round after round than anything.

That and like I said on another forum, responding to Jason's post, most of the PCs seemed to have two types of at-will powers. They had a situational one, and a general purpose one. A good example is the ranger, with Nimble Shot (situational) and Careful Shot (all-purpose) Once the combat got to the point where they wouldn't have to use the situational one, they'd use the general purpose one every round.

I'm not sure what to do about that. Probably when the PCs have a few more powers, especially ones that only kick in when the enemy is bloodied, I'd guess they'd take more varied actions. Like most people here though, I'd have to see and play the full system to know for sure.

 

[kclark]

I'm afraid "casting magic missile" is going to become the new "shooting a crossbow" for 4e wizards....

Well the "shooting a crossbow" has two main problems. One, it isn't what you would expect a magic using person to be doing. Two, it rapidly gets ineffectual. With a +2 to hit from dex compared to a +5 or 6 of an archer character you have a rather large gap in performance.

The magic missile solves point 1 (although it is mainly just window dressing) and point 2 pretty well.

 

[Wolfspider]

Well the "shooting a crossbow" has two main problems. One, it isn't what you would expect a magic using person to be doing. Two, it rapidly gets ineffectual. With a +2 to hit from dex compared to a +5 or 6 of an archer character you have a rather large gap in performance.

The magic missile solves point 1 (although it is mainly just window dressing) and point 2 pretty well.

Very true. I still think it has the potential to be just as boring, which was really my point.

At least the wizard will look cool as he casts magic missile at the darkness...and misses.

 

[Cadfan]

Once you face a monster, you know what to expect the next time you face that monster. This was very true in Scalegloom Hall. We faced the same kobolds again and again, and they performed pretty similarly over and over again.

That seems a little unfair. In 3e, you'd get one type of kobold that the DM would kit out with different weapons and tactics. In 4e, you get several types of kobolds already kit out with different weapons and tactics. Its unfair to pick out one type of kobold in 4e and complain that it doesn't have the same breadth of the entire 3e kobold race.

As for other points, I do think it will be easy to create characters that just do one thing every round after they're out of limited use abilities.

But just looking at the powers available, I don't think that will automatically happen. Look at the Rogue preview- there was one attack that had improved accuracy, and one attack that had improved mobility. Which one you use will vary by situation. Or look at the Fighter. There's one attack for pushing people, and one attack for hitting multiple adjacent foes. Which one you use depends heavily on your situation. Or look at the Warlock, who has three at will powers, each which attack a different defense, and two of which come with rider effects.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the diversity of options. For non spellcasters, the diversity of choice available to these first level characters basically outstripped what you'd get in 3e until moderately high levels.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm afraid "casting magic missile" is going to become the new "shooting a crossbow" for 4e wizards....

Well, it's already in 3E for high level wizards - either thanks to Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer or Wands. And it's not that different from a fighter's "I make a full attack".
"Same procedure as last year, Ms. Sophie?" "Same procedure as every year, James."

But I agree, it was boring then, and there is little reason to assume it changes in 4E.
But we really need to see more of the at-will and per encounter powers to see how fast it can get boring...