D&D 4E Let's Talk About 4E On Its Own Terms [+]

[niklinna]

I really don't get how applying a stance to a basic melee attack is that different from picking between two at-wills, especially considering Basic Melee Attack is already an at-will power. It seems like a disingenuous nitpick from people who oppose the concept of 'Powers' to begin with.

Well you pick a stance, and you are done until you decide to change stances, right? So if you want to be lazy you can just pick a stance on the first round and never change it.

...just like you can always use the same At-Will attack even though you have more than one.

 

[niklinna]

Any love for the Scales of War AP that ran for 16 adventures and took PCs from 1 to 30?

Published in the late and lamented Dungeon magazine (but still available on the DMs Guild)

Scales of War

Scales of War is an adventure path in the Points of Light campaign setting introduced in Dragon 366.[Dr366:53][Du156:4] The following articles are tagged in relation to scales of war: Characters of War [Dr366:53] Creature Incarnations: Gnolls: The Get of Yeenoghu [Dr369:40] (Related: Den of the...

dnd4.fandom.com

For what it's worth, there's an old discussion thread about it here. I only skimmed it so far. Might avoid reading it on the 0.000001% chance I'll ever get a chance to play in it! (A Shaman I would be, or perhaps a Warden.)

https://www.enworld.org/threads/scales-of-war-adventure-path-how-is-it.249857/

 

[Kannik]

It might well be that re-using the names of existing classes from the Players Handbook(s) is what so seriously confused me. I was like, wait, we already have a Fighter and a Wizard, what's going on here? Calling them Martial, Divine, etc. would have made things clear to me.

It doesn't help that some of the core classes were given bracket renames -- Cleric (Templar), Fighter (Weaponmaster) -- while other's weren't -- Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer. But that oddity aside I understand why they did it, in order to allow the newer E-classes to access powers and feats available to the base classes (and vice versa) and not need to (re)create material for a separate/new class.

With hindsight, this could have been a naming/etc pattern from the start (class grouping followed by class name), and/or keeping the ( ) classes consistent, making it more akin to the 1e class table, where Fighter was kept without a (Weaponmaster) rename as both a class and a category, with additional classes beneath it. In 1e, it was the Paladin and Ranger that were in the Fighter category, and in the case of 4e it would be the Slayer and Knight.

 

[Kannik]

A full module would be fine but if you got a full campaign laying about I'd like to check it out too. I can modify fights to make them more exciting on my own.

I have heard some some good things about the Reavers of Harkenwold. There was also the Chaos Scar as a whole sandboxy-type campaign set across many issues of Dungeon as well as the Encounters program, the latter of which I think is compiled in The Keep on the Borderlands: A Season of Serpents. A number of classic modules were also converted in Dragon over time, including Against the Giants, Village of Hommlet, and the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.

The D&D next test adventures might also be a great spot to start, as they're dual-statted and from what I remember they were quite interesting concepts.

Dungeon might be the best bet to get a tonne of adventures, as it ran for so long, with some adventures being short and some being quite lengthy. Of course, combing through so many issues is a lot to take on... but there's a few 'best of' lists out there to get some ideas. I recently ran part of The Elder Elemental Eye from Dungeon 214 for my group as an introduction to 4e. I paired it down to get right to the point and highlight the 4e differences, and I did modify things a bit to make the encounters a bit more dynamic.

 

[pemerton]

I did modify things a bit to make the encounters a bit more dynamic.

In my experience, this is a frequent necessity in using published 4e material.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

For what it's worth, there's an old discussion thread about it here. I only skimmed it so far. Might avoid reading it on the 0.000001% chance I'll ever get a chance to play in it! (A Shaman I would be, or perhaps a Warden.)

https://www.enworld.org/threads/scales-of-war-adventure-path-how-is-it.249857/

Hey - amazing thread! Looks like back then the consensus here on EW was "it's super mid (and I can't wait until we actually start to use that word in that way in the early 2020's!)"

That said, the wiki (here) seems to try to address a lot of the issues, although it also seems the wiki's main contributor lost steam about half way through

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Oh, there's also this thread started by a guy hoping to "clean up" Scales of War
I guess that guy went on to do other RPG stuff - I think he turned out ok...

https://www.enworld.org/threads/anyone-try-fixing-scales-of-war.356327/

 

[niklinna]

Hey - amazing thread! Looks like back then the consensus here on EW was "it's super mid (and I can't wait until we actually start to use that word in that way in the early 2020's!)"

That said, the wiki (here) seems to try to address a lot of the issues, although it also seems the wiki's main contributor lost steam about half way through

Glad you like it! If you need players, maybe I am available.

 

[Undrave]

I have heard some some good things about the Reavers of Harkenwold.

Oh yeah I remember hearing of that one,

In my experience, this is a frequent necessity in using published 4e material.

Sadly yes. I remember Pyramid of Shadows being filled with 5 foot corridor and rooms with a couple of guys... just boring design.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Oh yeah I remember hearing of that one,

Sadly yes. I remember Pyramid of Shadows being filled with 5 foot corridor and rooms with a couple of guys... just boring design.

After Thunderspire, my DM said PoS was just that, a PoS ( ) and forked us into a Paizo AP - the Council of Thieves taking place in Cheliax (in Golarion). He made it work, but I'm sure with a lot of his own work...