D&D 4E My reaction to 4e or, "A Breathe of Fresh Air"

[Villanelle]

I am super super super super excited. It's pretty much all I want to talk about right now. Particularly just in light of the fact that I'm currently playing a 12th level Druid in the Savage Tide campaign and I love summoning animals to bring to the fight, but I hate trying to figure out the best way to use the creatures I've summoned. I keep thinking that a streamlined Monster Manual will just be insanely cool.

I mean, that's just one of the many many things I'm excited about. Not having to rest after big fights? Stoked. Character roles? Stoked. Easier high level play? Stoked. On top of that, I just think 4e will be much cooler to DM. Oh man, I can't wait.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

One may note the .sig - what I'm not thrilled with so far I'm cautiously optimistic about, and it's a very small percentage of the 4e leaks that don't thrill me.

I think for our first campaign, I'm not even gonna let the players read the MM and DMG, just to keep the magic alive as long as possible.

 

[Greg K]

Right now,

What I like:
- bye bye "Christmas Tree Syndrome"
- no more exp penalty for casting certain spells or making items.

What I am interested to learn more about:
- Class Talent trees

Unsure
- Fighter weapon powers. If it is anything like ToB:B09S in terms of mechanics, it drops to What I don't like.

What I don't like:
- Star Wars Saga and Bo9s influence
- Per encounter
- magic being at will, per encounter and daily. Vancian needs to go, but I dislike the solution
- new and improved racial abilities after first level.
- focus of role enforcement
- Monster design philosopy. I disliked Mike Mearl's monster rewrites and the recent articles on designing a Monster Manual.
- tiefling replacing one of the long term core races

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

What I am interested to learn more about:
- Class Talent trees

A lot of people here on ENWorld have been talking about talent trees like it's been confirmed, which confused me because I haven't been able to find this anywhere. To the best of my knowledge, this is not confirmed, reasoned speculation at best.

Anyway, back to the point at hand:

The more I read, the more I find to like. I think all of the previews we've gotten are positive steps for the game. The DI I am more ambivalent about. It's potentially a great idea, but no one else has every really done this before. There are going to be some wrinkles that need ironing. On the other hand, it sounds like 4E is perfectly playable without the DI, which is great.

 

[Evilusion]

My opinion is that while we knew 4e was coming, it is just to soon. I guess the biggest compaint I have about this is the the whole we have plenty of stuff for 3.5 for years. Than come back six months laters and say oh look a new edition.

I'm keeping a open mind about the new edition just because they are new rules and I want to see how they play. If they are not to my liking it is back to 3.5 for me and my group.

 

[Nyaricus]

This quote has me wondering how long this feeling will last. It seems some of your frustration with 3.5 was the inability to keep up with the expanding options and rules. 4e will wipe the slate clean and for a while everyone will be using the core rules and that is about it, but inevitably there will be rules expansion and new options, whether they come in new splatbooks or via D&D Insider. I would suggest that you keep this in mind when 4e comes out. Try and control the pace that your group takes on new rules and options and don't feel you have to accept every new thing WotC publishes just because one of your players bought the book. Hopefully this will let you continue to enjoy the game for a long time.

You've actually touched upon something which I did indeed fail to address in my OP - and that is that I do intend to limit myself on 4e purchases, at least initally.

It really depends on a couple of things - how well the system has be refined, and really, what comes out. If we just get the same stuff, but converted for 4e, then my purchases will be extremely picky. If 4e turns out to be the Holy Grail of gaming, I might end up spending a bit of dough on it all. Again, it depends.

cheers,
--N

 

[kigmatzomat]

I'm on the fence. I started my campaign 3 months after 3.0 came out and it's still going solidly. We never converted to 3.5 so I only have a handful of 3.5 books, most of which were gifts.

Seeing as how I'm not getting burned by 4e (or 3.5e IMO), I'm more willing to give it a chance. However I've already proven I'm quite capable of turning into a grognard and rely solely on my existing library should it not meet my approval.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I love seeing new rules for stuff, new solutions to problems. Not just 'heres a new feat' kind of stuff, but whole rule systems and subsystems. Love it.

So the prospect of 4e is one that I find quite exciting. Especially coming on the heels of Star Wars Saga Edition, which really pushed the boat out in terms of innovative thinking (in a way that I'd not really seen from WotC for a long time IMO - it was changing core systems, not just layering something new on top of existing systems).

To summarise my thoughts on what I've heard so far about 4e:

Not sure I like?
party roles defined more strongly (?) Perhaps I don't understand what they are getting at here, but I've always found that built in restrictions like "search for traps? need a rogue in the party" rather stifling.

Pretty sure I like
Everything else!

Cheers

 

[thundershot]

Breath... no "e"... *cough* sorry...


In any case, I agree 100%. We haven't played in months (partially due to conflicting schedules, partially because the characters are preparing for their final assault on Baba Yaga's fortress and are getting burned out on feats and rules and such).

I now have the incentive to finish my campaign once and for all and go out with a bang... I'm excited!


Chris

 

[howandwhy99]

There is so much I've learned over the past few years that isn't visible in the AD&D1-4 versions that I'm crossing my fingers at least some of it will be addressed in 4E.