D&D 4E Mouseferatu weighs in on 4e

[Shroomy]

PS: You have it switched, too - Silvanesti = eladrin, Qualinesti and Kagonesti = elves. Though given the current situation in the Age of Mortals, it's more like elves of Baleph = elves, elves of Inath-Wakenti = eladrin.

I would have thought that the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti would have been eladrin, but my DL-fu has atrophied since the late 80s.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thanks for all the responses, Ari. I understand what you can and can't talk about.

Levels:

So far, most of my actual playtesting experience is with the heroic tier. We decided to start at 1 and just go for as long as we were enjoying the campaign.

This was a response to a particular question of mine, I think. The reason that I asked it is that I sense a feeling that as extensive as 3e testing was, it probably focused on the low to mid levels, and included relatively little high level testing. I don't have any way of knowing how true that might have been (perhaps anyone who was involved in playtesting 3e might chime in).

I do hope that with 4e there is a significant amount of testing done at early paragon levels, late paragon levels, early epic levels and late epic levels, to ensure that players and DMs don't run into nasty surprises later on

Cheers

 

[Wolfspider]

Hmmm. Almost seems too good to be true....

 

[Cam Banks]

I would have thought that the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti would have been eladrin, but my DL-fu has atrophied since the late 80s.

The Qualinesti aren't as focused on high magic and intellectual pursuits, which is kind of what the eladrin seem to be. They're more woodsy, closer to the forest. I suppose they're halfway between the two. The simple fix will be to just give the Qualinesti a little of each and call it done; this makes for three player races, all of them elves, but that's hardly an issue.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[A'koss]

I do hope that with 4e there is a significant amount of testing done at early paragon levels, late paragon levels, early epic levels and late epic levels, to ensure that players and DMs don't run into nasty surprises later on

Indeed.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I'm thinking more along the lines of such settings as Birthright, Dark Sun, Planescape, et al.

This is a total guess on my part, but I expect that Birthright and Planescape will translate over just fine. The only significant problem I see with Dark Sun (besides having to wait for the Psionics rules) is that Fighters are probably assumed in 4E to have heavy armor by a certain level. You'd need to address that.

Qualinesti and Kagonesti = elves.

Qualinesti? Really? They're less aloof than the Sylvanesti, but they're still civilized city-dwellers; much closer cousins to Sylvanesti, IMO.

 

[BryonD]

Previews:

I'd say that the previews you've seen are accurate as far as they go, but even the seemingly detailed ones are incomplete and out of context.

Thanks

I'm gonna try again to pretend what I've seen so far doesn't mean what it says and just assume it means something completely different. You comments and Jonrog's make me want to at least try again.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The Qualinesti aren't as focused on high magic and intellectual pursuits, which is kind of what the eladrin seem to be. They're more woodsy, closer to the forest. I suppose they're halfway between the two. The simple fix will be to just give the Qualinesti a little of each and call it done; this makes for three player races, all of them elves, but that's hardly an issue.

Since DL doesn't have drow, that leaves you an open spot for "charismatic elves".

 

[Henrix]

John, and again Ari, thank you for posting this!

I was looking forward to june before, but now I can hardly wait!

 

[Piratecat]

Well, this quote got me to chime in here, as I just got my go ahead to talk a little about playtesting.

John, let me get this straight. Begging on your blog actually got you playtesting access, and you didn't invite me to the wilds of Canada to join you?

You, sir, are a cad.