D&D 4E New "Confessions of a Full Time Wizard" - 4e tidbits!

[Wolfspider]

+1 to hit and +2 to damage assuming a two handed weapon.

Yeah, but the math still doesn't quite add up. An 18 Strength is not that much of an overwhemling advantage over a 16 Strength....

 

[Rechan]

Yeah, but the math still doesn't quite add up. An 18 Strength is not that much of an overwhemling advantage over a 16 Strength....

And yet, for some reason, because of that +2 to str, half-orcs get dumped on as a race.

Compared to say, the dwarf.

 

[The_Gneech]

And yet, for some reason, because of that +2 to str, half-orcs get dumped on as a race.

Compared to say, the dwarf.

Not to worry, 4E will fix that.

-The Gneech

 

[dmccoy1693]

Shelly is actually an Associate Brand Manager and manages our Young Adult book Line. She was a Promo Coord. over seven years ago when I was her boss and has worked on pretty much every product at the company from M:TG to kids games. She is a very bright and talented marketer plus she writes her own plays, volunteers at a dog shelter, and can bake cookies that will make your heart stop.

Don't try to cut her down (you know who you are) because she doesn't fit into some preconception of who should be writing D&D articles. She's not writing The Cute Girls Guide to Curing Cancer in the JAMA. It's D&D, a game, and it is supposed to be fun. :\

Although it took her a few years at WOTC before she discovered D&D and doesn't have the depth of knowledge of a Chris Perkins, she is passionate about playing the game and shows up at our game every week to kick ass.

I wanted to send this privately, but since I was not able to quickly locate an email address, I'll write this publickly.

I am sorry for what I wrote. I was clearly using bad form. While it was never my intention to disparage Ms. Mazzanoble, that was the result nonetheless. For that I am sorry.

Things I didn't say, but should have said, previously about the article is that it did an excellent job of sharing with both new and old fans some details of how chargen will work in the new edition and have always enjoyed her previous writings that I have read.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

For you, yes, you were playing D&D. That is how you want to play the game, so it is D&D for you. For me, I would not want to play in that game. Why? In nearly every point-buy game system I have played in I have encountered more min/max, munchkin, fun-sucking "players" then I have in any other game. Point buy systems for D&D is, to me, the antithesis of fun. For me, one of the core aspects of D&D is rolling up your character. So for me, what you were playing was not the kind of D&D I want to play. It is, however, the kind of D&D that you want to play. That is all I have been triyng to say.

This opinion is compatible with "I can just keep rolling stats into 4th edition." It does not, however, explain why you think that point-buy as the default is such a disaster. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it. If someone else likes it, they can do it, as you've explained. It's not your style of game, but that doesn't say a darn thing about 4th edition that it doesn't say about 3rd edition, or even 1st edition when you take Unearthed Arcana into account. So I think you're contradicting yourself.

Either there's a reason that point buy is less optional in 4th edition than in 3rd edition, and we haven't seen any evidence for this, or it's no more of a problem than in 3rd edition, which means it's one of many presented options for chargen.

 

[Firevalkyrie]

Shelly is actually an Associate Brand Manager and manages our Young Adult book Line. She was a Promo Coord. over seven years ago when I was her boss and has worked on pretty much every product at the company from M:TG to kids games. She is a very bright and talented marketer plus she writes her own plays, volunteers at a dog shelter, and can bake cookies that will make your heart stop.

Don't try to cut her down (you know who you are) because she doesn't fit into some preconception of who should be writing D&D articles. She's not writing The Cute Girls Guide to Curing Cancer in the JAMA. It's D&D, a game, and it is supposed to be fun. :\

Although it took her a few years at WOTC before she discovered D&D and doesn't have the depth of knowledge of a Chris Perkins, she is passionate about playing the game and shows up at our game every week to kick ass.

In case this is directed at me, I was CERTAINLY not intending to impugn Shelly's gamer cred or her value to WotC in any way! I enjoyed Confessions (and am thinking about which of my non-gaming women relatives to inflict it on ) and I really enjoy her article, and I think Shelly is exactly the kind of person who we really do need to be attracting into the hobby, regardless of gender.

My only intention in mentioning her (former) job title was that, well, a promo coord - and presumably a brand manager - doesn't need to have the system knowledge of, say, an R&D guy, and that system knowledge presumably isn't a prerequisite for entering such a position, even at WotC.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

In case this is directed at me, I was CERTAINLY not intending to impugn Shelly's gamer cred or her value to WotC in any way! I enjoyed Confessions (and am thinking about which of my non-gaming women relatives to inflict it on ) and I really enjoy her article, and I think Shelly is exactly the kind of person who we really do need to be attracting into the hobby, regardless of gender.

My only intention in mentioning her (former) job title was that, well, a promo coord - and presumably a brand manager - doesn't need to have the system knowledge of, say, an R&D guy, and that system knowledge presumably isn't a prerequisite for entering such a position, even at WotC.

It was directed at multiple posts.

Only the first paragraph was directed towards your post and it was intended to provide factual clarity.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I wanted to send this privately, but since I was not able to quickly locate an email address, I'll write this publickly.

I am sorry for what I wrote. I was clearly using bad form. While it was never my intention to disparage Ms. Mazzanoble, that was the result nonetheless. For that I am sorry.

Things I didn't say, but should have said, previously about the article is that it did an excellent job of sharing with both new and old fans some details of how chargen will work in the new edition and have always enjoyed her previous writings that I have read.

Thanks. Shelly appreciated the gesture too.

 

[Dragonblade]

Scott, thanks for posting! Coming on these message boards must be a tiring and stressful experience considering all the grief you guys sometimes get!

I really appreciate it! There was a time when 3e first came out that people like Chris Pramas, Valterra, Monte, Dancey, and others would post here regularly. Then that all stopped. I presumed it was because they all left WotC and the new guard just wasn't willing to wade through the muck to reach out to us gamers.

But since the 4e announcement, there seems to be an about face in the visibility of WotC employees on the boards. I really like the responsiveness that you and other WotC staffers have shown by coming on here and posting and engaging in a dialogue with the community. So thank you!

And by the way, I really enjoy Shelly's articles. I hope she doesn't get discouraged by the occasional anti-Shelly poster.