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<blockquote data-quote="ferratus" data-source="post: 5416393" data-attributes="member: 55966">Certainly I'll be importing huge swaths of 4e. The rules on conditions&nbsp; and a simplified (or more flexible) powers system would pretty much&nbsp; necessitate that I start with the 4e combat chapter.&nbsp; However, the very&nbsp; fact that I'll want a combat system that is minis optional will require&nbsp; that I can't stay there.&nbsp; Likewise because I want a combat system that&nbsp; can allow me to make full use of minis when the mood strikes me means I&nbsp; can't use 1e or 3e or the Rules Cyclopedia as my baseline for the combat&nbsp; system either.I'd do that if I was completely satisfied with 4e's gameplay mechanics.&nbsp;&nbsp; But largely 4e is designed for dungeon crawling from levels 1-30.&nbsp; It&nbsp; is how you gain XP, and XP is how you gain power.&nbsp;&nbsp; It certainly was the&nbsp; case that older editions paid lip service to having strongholds and&nbsp; noble titles, while in practice you simply abandoned your keep to do&nbsp; more dungeon crawling, and paid attention to it only when the DM&nbsp; attacked it.I'd like to make the stronghold/ruling/politics aspect of the game a way&nbsp; to gain gold and increased character power like they had in birthright.There will still be a slow increase in power, but I imagine that it will&nbsp; largely depend on gaining more wealth, magic, divine favour, elixirs of&nbsp; immortality, etc. until you gain a immortal apotheosis of some sort.&nbsp; &nbsp; However, your spells and combat will largely be capped at level 10,&nbsp; where you have become a &quot;master&quot; of your craft.&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm largely picturing&nbsp; sending out heroic tier followers to continue the adventuring for you,&nbsp; giving people chances to try out new characters (and character classes)&nbsp; while still maintaining the same ongoing campaign.Of course, this will mean that most monsters will be able to be defeated&nbsp; by a 10th level party, while an 11th-20th level party will have an&nbsp; easier time of it but not laughably so.&nbsp;&nbsp; The exception to this will be a&nbsp; special class of BBEG, which maybe have to be defeated by figuring out&nbsp; his weakness.&nbsp; The Lich would be the prototype for this type of bad guy.&nbsp;The PC's generally use the diplomacy skill as a &quot;force NPC's to comply&quot;&nbsp; skill, and get very angry when anyone tries to tell them any&nbsp; different.&nbsp;&nbsp; In fact, Diplomacy pretty much crowds out the other social&nbsp; skills from the game such as intimidate, bluff, and insight.&nbsp;&nbsp; Why&nbsp; bother with trying to fast talk them, lean on them, or figure out the&nbsp; motivations of NPC's?&nbsp;&nbsp; Just push the diplomacy &quot;do as I say&quot; button.&nbsp; &nbsp; Sure, bluff and intimidate are a bit that way, but I think it is saved&nbsp; by the fact that it is generally leads to long term unreliability.&nbsp;&nbsp; Someone who has been conned will generally figure out if they have been&nbsp; conned, and someone who has been intimidated generally finds their spine&nbsp; after the immediate danger has passed.So the PC's use the diplomacy skill as a sledgehammer to force the DM's&nbsp; NPC's to comply with their wishes.&nbsp; Granted, DM's could learn to be more&nbsp; cooperative and not think it is their job to turn down reasonable&nbsp; requests that are in the NPC's best interest. &nbsp;I'll do that while I'm still playing 4e.&nbsp; I think &quot;roleplaying bonuses&quot;&nbsp; to attack, damage, or skill checks are a good idea in general, and I'll&nbsp; think I'll boost their prominence in the all-star D&amp;D system I'm&nbsp; tinkering with.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ferratus, post: 5416393, member: 55966"] Certainly I'll be importing huge swaths of 4e. The rules on conditions and a simplified (or more flexible) powers system would pretty much necessitate that I start with the 4e combat chapter. However, the very fact that I'll want a combat system that is minis optional will require that I can't stay there. Likewise because I want a combat system that can allow me to make full use of minis when the mood strikes me means I can't use 1e or 3e or the Rules Cyclopedia as my baseline for the combat system either. I'd do that if I was completely satisfied with 4e's gameplay mechanics. But largely 4e is designed for dungeon crawling from levels 1-30. It is how you gain XP, and XP is how you gain power. It certainly was the case that older editions paid lip service to having strongholds and noble titles, while in practice you simply abandoned your keep to do more dungeon crawling, and paid attention to it only when the DM attacked it. I'd like to make the stronghold/ruling/politics aspect of the game a way to gain gold and increased character power like they had in birthright. There will still be a slow increase in power, but I imagine that it will largely depend on gaining more wealth, magic, divine favour, elixirs of immortality, etc. until you gain a immortal apotheosis of some sort. However, your spells and combat will largely be capped at level 10, where you have become a "master" of your craft. I'm largely picturing sending out heroic tier followers to continue the adventuring for you, giving people chances to try out new characters (and character classes) while still maintaining the same ongoing campaign. Of course, this will mean that most monsters will be able to be defeated by a 10th level party, while an 11th-20th level party will have an easier time of it but not laughably so. The exception to this will be a special class of BBEG, which maybe have to be defeated by figuring out his weakness. The Lich would be the prototype for this type of bad guy. The PC's generally use the diplomacy skill as a "force NPC's to comply" skill, and get very angry when anyone tries to tell them any different. In fact, Diplomacy pretty much crowds out the other social skills from the game such as intimidate, bluff, and insight. Why bother with trying to fast talk them, lean on them, or figure out the motivations of NPC's? Just push the diplomacy "do as I say" button. Sure, bluff and intimidate are a bit that way, but I think it is saved by the fact that it is generally leads to long term unreliability. Someone who has been conned will generally figure out if they have been conned, and someone who has been intimidated generally finds their spine after the immediate danger has passed. So the PC's use the diplomacy skill as a sledgehammer to force the DM's NPC's to comply with their wishes. Granted, DM's could learn to be more cooperative and not think it is their job to turn down reasonable requests that are in the NPC's best interest. I'll do that while I'm still playing 4e. I think "roleplaying bonuses" to attack, damage, or skill checks are a good idea in general, and I'll think I'll boost their prominence in the all-star D&D system I'm tinkering with. [/QUOTE]

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