D&D 4E Making the Character I Want to Play in 4e (Long)

[GoodKingJayIII]

Good points as usual MR, thanks.

As a general advice, and knowing how hard it is, I always recommend to try to assume the best until proven otherwise. That usually creates a much friendlier climate and also more interesting results. If you sense a troll and can't see any merit in discussing the topic, ignore him and alert a moderator.

I didn't really see a need to notify a moderate. ISP has been somewhat snarky, but not terribly rude to anyone. Rather, I think he is genuinely interested in recreating his character and will be genuinely disappointed if he cannot. I understand, even empathize with the problem. I was not trying to "mercenary moderate" or anything like that. ISP seemed incredulous about certain responses received, and I was just trying to point out why that might be the case.

I'm sorry if it seemed otherwise, but I was just trying to make an observation. I'll try and be more clear about that next time.

That's assuming such feats exist.

That's the crux right there; we don't know that they do exist, and there's no evidence to indicate that they do. The designers may have decided that sneak attack is better suited for specific weapons, and that's that. They've already come out and said that straight up character conversion is not really possible. A half-orc assassin with a greatsword is not an outlandish concept in 3e, but for 4e it's a whole new ballgame.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Good points as usual MR, thanks.



I didn't really see a need to notify a moderate. ISP has been somewhat snarky, but not terribly rude to anyone. Rather, I think he is genuinely interested in recreating his character and will be genuinely disappointed if he cannot. I understand, even empathize with the problem. I was not trying to "mercenary moderate" or anything like that. ISP seemed incredulous about certain responses received, and I was just trying to point out why that might be the case.

I'm sorry if it seemed otherwise, but I was just trying to make an observation. I'll try and be more clear about that next time.

Yes, I understood that. But my point was that if people begin to act hostile because they "mistrust" the motives of a poster, they are making a mistake. Either they are not helping, (possibly thread-capping), or just feeding a troll. Neither serves the discussion. I should have probably put the option "don't do anything at all about it" in there, too.

 

[Henry]

...if people begin to act hostile because they "mistrust" the motives of a poster, they are making a mistake.

A quote so nice, it's worth seeing twice.

 

[Inyssius]

... if people begin to act hostile because they "mistrust" the motives of a poster, they are making a mistake.

I'm no mod, but I'd say thrice.

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

That is the problem with text based communication. It is difficult to convey emotion and tone.

I have approached this from a point of view that we can't assume that 4e will be like 3.x, and as the OP has stated he would like to not houserule something, then I just went with what was available to us at this point. Sorry for the confusion. I am not trying to say that any one way is wrong or any one way is right, just that it would be possible to do it the way that I have stated.

To the OP, could you give us a really good description of the characters actions in combat, and then a good description of who the character is and his place in the world, and do this without reference to current or past game mechanics? This really would help me to get to know the character. Then I can help with the number crunching.

 

[muffin_of_chaos]

I think the person who thought that you should use a short sword and pretend it's a greatsword was probably most on-track.

I don't agree that the agile rogue fighting style holds with someone lugging around a 4' sword. It would take an incredible amount of strength and control to maneuver a sword that unwieldy to strike at vital points in the window that they open up. Unless the enemy is completely still and not reacting at all, and you have a span of time to get into position, but in those cases I'd count them as prone anyway.

 

[MyISPHatesENWorld]

Yes, I agree. At this point, we still haven't seen enough. The 4E PHB is supposed to contain more feats and powers then the 3E PHB, and we can't really predict them all. (Would you have expected a Spring Attack Feat after having seen Alertness, Empower Spell and Power Attack?)

Still, it can be fun to see how the character could be translated.
Rogue / Fighter multiclass with feats to make the greatsword work for a Rogue is my choice. That's assuming such feats exist.

Yeah, there's no nailing anything down, but there is always the hope that someone will drop something new that you haven't heard that is encouraging. And it is fun to work out conversions. I think you learn a lot from researching and testing (with the material available) the different things people suggest. I got (way too many) hours of enjoyment this weekend just running through things people suggested, even the ones I had looked at before, to see how they played or how they might fit. And, I came up with a possible workable build, or at least another option to look at adding when the books are out that brings back some nice memories of sessions and campaigns past.

With the Martial Handbook also having multiclass feats and more things coming from the PHB, it seems like there is going to be a lot added to open things up over time. I still cling to the Classes design and development article, even though it is a year old:

"What won’t change is that fighters care about which weapons they use much more than other characters. Other character classes have specific weapons and weapon types that they tend to rely on while still maintaining access to a larger chunk of the weapon chart. The fighter is the only current 4th Edition class with capabilities that depend on the weapon they have chosen to train the most with. Even at 1st level, a fighter who uses an axe has a different power selection than a fighter who relies on a flail or a rapier or a pick."

And a couple lines from the Races and Classes book are also keeping me excited, even knowing some stuff has changed since then:

"Darting between shadows, jumping over enemies and deftly scaling walls are simple for rogues, who can use their skills more effectively than other classes and can move in ways utterly impossible for other characters."

"Rogues are now the best skill users in the game. Not only do they get more skills than other classes, but they also have more options and abilities relating to those skills."

Not all of that stuff is likely to have changed and we haven't seen it all yet. There are some things that aren't as encouraging, but there are always things to work around.

 

[SSquirrel]

There might be one more obsession... metagame constructs, metagame constructs, metagame constructs, metagame constructs, metagame constructs, metagame construcs. That's six times in a three-sentence, one-paragraph post man.

Ok so I'm quoting MyISP to ask Precocious a question, but I just have to say....Metagame Construct would be an AWESOME band name Dibs?

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

Go for it SS. I am a husband, father, medical student, and athlete. The time I spend on EnWorld is more than I have, so my only use for it is to toss is around willy nilly and annoy people. Could be a good band name, but might get you tossed out of bars, and has a tendency to get you in fights.

 

[SSquirrel]

Was more just a funny idea than anything else, it just struck me as a good one, esp if you were going to write geek oriented songs