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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pentius" data-source="post: 5689663" data-attributes="member: 6676736">It seems to me, as someone who has put a few years in playing each system, that 3e looks more like 1e, but 4e feels more like 1e.3e(or 3.5, or whatever) has a lot of elements one can point to and say "That was also in 1e!".  You open the books, and you see alignment restrictions, you see vancian magic, you see wands with charges.  You see a 3rd level spell called Fireball, etc.  But in aggregate, the 3e rules play very differently than the 1e rules they look similar to.  PCs and NPCs were made with the same rules, but 3e brought a higher level of transparency to those rules.  This, along with a tighter core math system, meant that NPCs in 3e were very often a 'known quantity' to the players.  With multiclassing, it looked similar(my character can drop being a Fighter and start being a Cleric!), but with the restrictions gutted, and so many classes having great stuff in the first few levels, a system that was originally about a character changing careers once or maybe twice in his lifetime was changed to something where you could have a new class each level.  Class balance was still largely based around the idea that Fighting-Men were stronger at first, with Casters being better in the long haul, but loosened restrictions on casting created a system where Fighting-Men were surpassed quicker and harder by the Casters.Conversely, 4e has many elements one can point to and say, "What the heck is that and why is it in my D&D!?"  4e has encounter powers, and healing surges, and 1/2 level mod.  It has nice things for fighters, and no alignment restrictions and took out most vancian casting.  It has Rituals, and treasure parcels, and primary attack stats, I mean come on, guys, I can attack with my Charisma?  I guess looks really can kill.  But, in practice, I'm finding(especially as a DM) that 4e feels more like 1e.  Splitting the PC and NPC rules turned NPCs back into an 'unknown quantity'.  In 3e, between rules transparency and divinations, it could be really hard to surprise a party.  In 4e, though, I find my players huddled up in a safe corner, sending the Thief(an Assassin, for us) out into the next area, to scout it out.  Our caster needs our fighter.  There simply won't ever be a point where he can sit safe without his party.  But the fighter needs the caster, too.  Needs his flexibility, needs his knowledge.  4e often gets dinged for having less non-combat rules, but this too harkens to 1e.  DM adjucations and rulings are a big part of play in my 4e campaign, because the PCs are going to get into situations the rules don't cover.</blockquote>

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