D&D 4E messy's 4e newbie questions thread

[Balesir]

Lots of good answers, I have just one note to add:

At the time that Essentials came out, there was an intention to "update" the PHB1 classes in a "Class Compendium". The CC never appeared, but the class revisions for the AEDU classes were published in PDF and are available on the WotC site. Linkies:

Fighter (weaponmaster) here
Warlord here
Cleric (templar) here
Warlock (never got past "playtest") here

In addition, there were changes to racial ability bonuses (all races get one fixed and one choice between two alternates in Essentials) and feats that were rolled back to the PHB1 classes - they are available here and here, respectively.

Edit to add: it's worth taking a look at the "Rules Updates" section on the WotC website, too. Many changes were good fixes, but not all. I loathe the changes to magic items, personally, but it's still worth taking a look and deciding for yourself what to use.

 

[tuxgeo]

Some general 4E comments, instead of explicitly answering the questions you raised:

For the sake of survivability, the WotC people decided to start PCs at the equivalent of what would have been 3rd or 4th character level in earlier editions, but to still call that starting place "1st level" anyway. This leads to having "1st-level" PCs who have 20 - 40 (or more) hit points, and whose attacks can do massive damage.

Fewer magic item slots, more feats: they were trying to reduce the dependency on magic items. There is even an option called "Intrinsic Bonuses" that allows a DM to give the PCs the numerical effect of magic items without having to make the PCs collect those things.

The errata: The online Compendium has those included, but it takes a D&D Insider ("DDI") subscription to use it. However, the errata documents are available for free in .PDF form if you want to try to connect the changes to the original wording. (The online Character Builder also includes the errata, but it's a resource-hog running with Microsoft Silverlight.)

The WotC designers were learning as they went, so the later Monster Manuals are reportedly much better: MM3, as well as the "Monster Vault" products, have received good reviews. Likewise, some of the later adventures have been well-received, such as the one in the Essentials DM's Kit ("Reavers of Harkenwold"), and "Madness at Gardmore Abbey."

 

[sabrinathecat]

Some other items.
Shields: There is a magic item called a fighting shield that is a light blade, and you could build a Captain America type character if you wanted to, and there are some other powers. However, there is virtually no reason to get a magical shield. The to use the item and encounter powers, you have to give up your arm slot. That means you could not benefit from items like "Iron Armbands Of Power", which add to your damage every time you hit. Using a regular shield (which has the same defensive bonuses as a magic one) and having that arm slot for something else is a way better way to go.
I've been having fun with my Con-primary Dwarf Shield fighter from lvl 1 to 27 (as of tonight). Slightly lower hit odds because of hammer proficiency bonus and strength not being utterly maximized, but he hasn't been dropped below 0hp since lvl17, and that was an accounting error. Because of his feat build, he dazes with at-wills, with fighter challenge attacks, and opportunity attacks.

Epic Feats: well, it depends on the classes. Warlocks need every single feat slot they can get just to be competitive (or close to competitive) with any other striker class.

Player's Handbooks: don't forget _____ Power books, which provide a lot of the feat support you need. (Arcane Power, Divine Power, Martial Power 1 & 2, Psionic Power).

I would also recommend you avoid the WotC boards for most questions. Not only is their new board so incredibly ugly and unwieldy that most people left, but there are a lot of hostile and flamers there. Just isn't worth it. My experience has been that this board and Myth-weavers are much more friendly and sociable.

 

[messy]

13. why can't fighters use plate armor? they are martial defenders, after all.

14. why does the phb have tiefling but not aasimar? it's weird having one but not the other.

15. related to #14, do the aasimar appear in any published book?

16. since just about all powers (as far i can tell) have combat uses, why do wizards get cantrips? is it simply to retain some of their "magic?"

17. devastating critical seems too powerful. am i missing something? does it only apply to melee attacks?

18. have enhancement bonuses to ability scores (by spell or magic item) been removed?

19. where can i find more epic material (especially feats)?

20. are there rules for two-weapon fighting other than the two-weapon ranger?

21. is there a general definition for "marking" a target? there is a ranger power (which i can't recall) that marks the target, but this aspect of the power doesn't seem to have any effect.

22. can a lower tier feat be chosen with a higher tier feat slot? in other words, for his 12th level feat can bob the dwarf fighter choose weapon focus?

23. can feats be used with powers? i'm thinking of power attack, specifically. can bob the dwarf fighter use power attack with tide of iron?

24. why can a feint be attempted only once per encounter? i realize there are plenty of other ways for a rogue to do sneak attack damage, but i'm still curious.

thank you, again.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

13. why can't fighters use plate armor? they are martial defenders, after all.

They do in Essentials (the knight, anyway), but I guess someone doesn't like fighters walking about in plate. (I don't either.) Scale armor doesn't bother me nearly as much.

14. why does the phb have tiefling but not aasimar? it's weird having one but not the other.

Aasimar are in the non-core rules (renamed devas). Tieflings, dragonborn and all the other originally non-core races got a rocky reception.

15. related to #14, do the aasimar appear in any published book?

Yes, but I don't recall which one.

16. since just about all powers (as far i can tell) have combat uses, why do wizards get cantrips? is it simply to retain some of their "magic?"

Many utility powers aren't combat-relevant, and neither are most rituals (too long casting times). My own wizard PC found Light to be great for in-combat signaling, and Create Sound would have been useful at fooling people if they didn't keep making their Insight checks.

17. devastating critical seems too powerful. am i missing something? does it only apply to melee attacks?

I just read it up. No, that's actually pretty weak for paragon level. You crit 5% of the time for an average of +5.5 damage, so it's not even +1 damage.

18. have enhancement bonuses to ability scores (by spell or magic item) been removed?

Yes, and HALLELUJAH! The items are still present but aren't must-have. Gauntlets of Ogre Power, for instance, give you an item bonus to Strength checks and Strength-based skill checks, but not to combat checks. Once per day it can boost your melee damage. It's flavorful but nowhere near as powerful as the older edition versions. As I mentioned before, you only need to fill three slots.

19. where can i find more epic material (especially feats)?

Other than the DDI, there's no good answer. No edition of D&D has supported epic well.

20. are there rules for two-weapon fighting other than the two-weapon ranger?

There's a feat. It just gives +1 damage. There's also a Tempest Fighter build in Martial Power 2.

21. is there a general definition for "marking" a target? there is a ranger power (which i can't recall) that marks the target, but this aspect of the power doesn't seem to have any effect.

Marking is clearly defined in Combat Challenge, Divine Challenge and the glossary. The ranger power, called Hunter's Quarry, is not actually a "mark" but people sometimes use the wrong terminology for it. A ranger definitely does not want to mark anyone!

22. can a lower tier feat be chosen with a higher tier feat slot? in other words, for his 12th level feat can bob the dwarf fighter choose weapon focus?

Yes.

23. can feats be used with powers? i'm thinking of power attack, specifically. can bob the dwarf fighter use power attack with tide of iron?

It depends on the feat. Power Attack applies to any melee attack, whether that be a power, melee basic attack, etc.

24. why can a feint be attempted only once per encounter? i realize there are plenty of other ways for a rogue to do sneak attack damage, but i'm still curious.

Flavor. Presumably each rogue always uses the same feinting trick, and it stops working when opponents see it in use. (Of course, if the bad guy survives, he'll fall for it next time!)

 

[sabrinathecat]

13. why can't fighters use plate armor? they are martial defenders, after all.

Take the feat for Plate-mail proficiency, and they can.

16. since just about all powers (as far i can tell) have combat uses, why do wizards get cantrips? is it simply to retain some of their "magic?"

And the cantrips are vary useful in non-combat situation. And don't knock mage hand. The ability to close doors and break up the enemy reinforcements by making them use a minor action to open a door and bottleneck them can be very tactically handy. Especially when you don't have to be a squishy right next to the door when it opens.

17. devastating critical seems too powerful. am i missing something? does it only apply to melee attacks?

It isn't. Not really. Seems great at first, but then remember only about 5% of attacks actually score crits (maybe 10% at epic), and that 1d10 isn't very much considering what else comes with it.

18. have enhancement bonuses to ability scores (by spell or magic item) been removed?

Yes, they are gone

19. where can i find more epic material (especially feats)?

Epic material is scattered throughout the various books. Have you looked into the Heroes of Shadow/Feywild/Elemental Chaos yet?

20. are there rules for two-weapon fighting other than the two-weapon ranger?

Martial Power or MP2 has the 2-weapon fighter build, as well as the brawling fighter

21. is there a general definition for "marking" a target? there is a ranger power (which i can't recall) that marks the target, but this aspect of the power doesn't seem to have any effect.

Marking target means that it has -2 to attack anyone except you. (Area effects include you). The Fighter is even better because of combat superiority, which give it special benefits to enforce the mark (mainly an attack if the target doesn't include the fighter, and even an attack if the marked target attempts to shift away).

22. can a lower tier feat be chosen with a higher tier feat slot? in other words, for his 12th level feat can bob the dwarf fighter choose weapon focus?

Yes. Likewise, a lower level power can be chosen. Don't like your lvl13 options? Take a second lvl 9 power. Or don't retrain and keep your lvl3 power.

23. can feats be used with powers? i'm thinking of power attack, specifically. can bob the dwarf fighter use power attack with tide of iron?

Check the wording. Power Attack certainly.

24. why can a feint be attempted only once per encounter? i realize there are plenty of other ways for a rogue to do sneak attack damage, but i'm still curious.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." The monster isn't dumb enough to fall for the gambit twice. A fighter flank-buddy is a rogue's 3rd best friend. Maybe 4th best...

 

[Neonchameleon]

13. why can't fighters use plate armor? they are martial defenders, after all.

To make plate special.

14. why does the phb have tiefling but not aasimar? it's weird having one but not the other.

Because a lot of people play tieflings, very few aasimar. Also 4e tweaked the cosmology so aasimar in the 4e default settings aren't very likely.

Quick version: Angels are servitors of the Gods, and near will-less. All gods including evil ones get angels. Devils are tempters and corruptors who believe they should be the ones in control but want to take over, and are thus the most likely group to breed with mortals. Demons come from outside, normally having been banished there because they just want to watch the world burn. And when push comes to shove the devils will throw the demons back out because they don't want to rule over nothing - but they'd rather be paid for that thank you.

15. related to #14, do the aasimar appear in any published book?

Most PCs that could be aasimar end up as Devas.

16. since just about all powers (as far i can tell) have combat uses, why do wizards get cantrips? is it simply to retain some of their "magic?"

Not all do - powers are just special moves that people can reliably pull off. Whether spells or stunts (and most rogue tricks/utility powers are much more common out of combat than in).

18. have enhancement bonuses to ability scores (by spell or magic item) been removed?

Good riddance! This means that you don't have to recalculate your character sheet in detail when you add magic items, remove magic items, or dispel magic.

One of the fundamental guidelines for 4e is that everything you need to play is on your character sheet and you don't need to recalculate it. Your spells? Powers - on your sheet. Your special attacks? Powers. Your magic items? Magic items. All automatically printed out. It's designed so the game might sometimes be slow (there's too much analysis paralysis) but never grinds to a complete halt.

20. are there rules for two-weapon fighting other than the two-weapon ranger?

Martial Power contains the Tempest (two weapon) fighter, Primal Power the Whirling (two weapon) barbarian, and Essentials has a fluffier two weapon ranger.

21. is there a general definition for "marking" a target? there is a ranger power (which i can't recall) that marks the target, but this aspect of the power doesn't seem to have any effect.

Target takes -2 to attack rolls that don't include the marker as a target. You may only be marked by one person at a time with the new one superceding the old.

22. can a lower tier feat be chosen with a higher tier feat slot? in other words, for his 12th level feat can bob the dwarf fighter choose weapon focus?

Yes.

23. can feats be used with powers? i'm thinking of power attack, specifically. can bob the dwarf fighter use power attack with tide of iron?

Yes. Although people don't often power attack.

24. why can a feint be attempted only once per encounter? i realize there are plenty of other ways for a rogue to do sneak attack damage, but i'm still curious.

Two reasons.

1: People are harder to fool a second time.
2: To guide people away from bad choices. Feinting is rarely a good option.

 

[Lindeloef]

btw Devas appear in PHB2

 

[messy]

25. there don't seem to be any restrictions on spellcasting in armor. is this correct?

26. do ranged attacks (bow, sling) still provoke opportunity attack (like in 3e)?

27. is there a handy way to print out the specific power cards i need?

thank you, yet again.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

25. there don't seem to be any restrictions on spellcasting in armor. is this correct?

Correct. Of course, you get penalties for wearing armor you're not proficient with, so there's that to think about.

26. do ranged attacks (bow, sling) still provoke opportunity attack (like in 3e)?

Yes. Any ranged or area attack provokes OAs. (Note that only powers which actually say 'area' count as area powers; close powers do not provoke.)

27. is there a handly way to print out the specific power cards i need?

Yes, but I write mine by hand on index cards, so I can't help ya here.