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

[Roman]

Fails Will save and gives into to the corruption of message board...

Opens draft of PHB, goes to chapter 1, page six, and looks at last paragraph regarding Determining Your Ability Scores and low and behold you can still roll dice to determine ability scores. It says so on page 7 in the third paragraph. But if you like to use the Standard Ability Array you can do that too, it says so on page 7. Not happy? Wait there is more. If you want to use a Customized Array you can do that as well, it says so. Where you ask? If you guessed it is on page 7 you get a

If I switch to 4E I will implement rolling for ability scores regardless of what is or is not in the PHB in my games, but what is in the book and what is the default ability score generation system still matters to me for those times when I join other gaming groups and do not DM. New defaults can shift expectations... I am saddened to see 4E move away from rolling as a default system.

 

[Roman]

The article itself is written in a somewhat intentionally weird style, but contains some new interesting snippets of info.

 

[Green Knight]

Now on to your question. There are three methods to generating Ability Scores as mentioned before. When referring to a Ability Scores in the Racial Traits section it refers when you assign your scores not how you derived them. In the basics of describing character creation it just says you "Generate Your Ability Scores". There is no default from what I can see as there are three options

Any chance you can tell us how the Point Buy system works? After all, when it comes to spoilers, this is hardly what one would class as a world-shattering spoiler.

 

[catsclaw227]

Last I heard, she's a WotC Employee. I'd hope that all WotC employees have at least heard of most of the stuff in the DMG by now.

Why would the Pokemon guys be responsible for knowing the DMG? Or the Harry Potter card game guys?

She's not a veteran D&D player, which is precisely why she's been given a column. Her target audience just isn't you.

Q.F.T.

This article is written on the Wizards D&D site that is most frequented by veteran gamers, but for me, everytime she writes an article, I go get my wife to read it. They have really opened up her mind and changed her opinion about my weird hobby. I bought her the book as a holiday stocking stuffer as well.

 

[Pale]

Fails Will save and gives into to the corruption of message board...

Opens draft of PHB, goes to chapter 1, page six, and looks at last paragraph regarding Determining Your Ability Scores and low and behold you can still roll dice to determine ability scores. It says so on page 7 in the third paragraph. But if you like to use the Standard Ability Array you can do that too, it says so on page 7. Not happy? Wait there is more. If you want to use a Customized Array you can do that as well, it says so. Where you ask? If you guessed it is on page 7 you get a

Is that a chocolate chip or oatmeal with raisins cookie? If it's oatmeal with raisins I'm never playing 4E D&D. Chocolate chip cookies are just one sacred cow I can't do without.

 

[kennew142]

And a DM doing it a different way is no reflection on the rules.

I might say "Hey, no standard races sans humans - here are my homebrew races." I might say "We're playing in Eberron" or "We're playing in Ancient Arabia". I might say "No wizards - just psionics."

A DM is the lord of his table, and the rules facilitating that shouldn't upset people on the grounds that the DM might do something they don't like.

A lot of GMs seem to have this opinion on their role in the campaign. I agree that GMs have to have the final say in any game they are running, but I've never approached my role as Lord of the Table. I design the world and the scenarios, but we discuss all the important rules together. We've been discussing the next D&D homebrew I'll be running on our egroup now for a couple of months. We removed some races that no one in the group plays (just to pare down the number of non-humans I have to work into the campaign) for example. We've also been discussing some of the new races, and whether to work them in. Ultimately, if I have a storyline that requires one of these races, I will include it anyway. But I seldom make house rules or meta-game decisions without player input.

My group prefers the point-buy system, since no one wants to play the character with a score of 9-12 in every stat when someone else has 14+ in every ability.

 

[Guild Goodknife]

Asking to use alternate or optional systems is not always possible, since a DM can rightly say that it is alternate or optional. If that is the system that most DMs will expect you to use, and it is a method you do not like, or do not find adds to the fun of the game, then there's no reason to be playing that game, is there? That's what I am trying to say. I am not saying that a point buy system is wrong, I am just saying it is wrong for me.

3rd Edition uses dice rolls as standard. A very large share of groups use some sort of point buy nowadays. You see, just because some rule is the standard doesn't mean people play it that way. So what would you do if you want to play 3rd Ed. and you live in an area where everybody uses the optional point buy? Would you change to Call of Cthulhu or would you try to talk with your DM? I really have a hard time understanding how this could be a deal breaker. I mean, if your Dm lets you roll the dice now odds are he allows rolling in 4E too.

 

[Pale]

The only time I use the point-buy system is when I don't trust the people I'm playing with. It's as simple as that for me. Point-buy doesn't keep you honest, but the GM can double-check your math.

 

[vazanar]

Q.F.T.

This article is written on the Wizards D&D site that is most frequented by veteran gamers, but for me, everytime she writes an article, I go get my wife to read it. They have really opened up her mind and changed her opinion about my weird hobby. I bought her the book as a holiday stocking stuffer as well.

Have to agree. My wife and a few friends do play 3.5. Since they dont love new rule systems they aren't intrested in 4e. However, between the book and these articles she might get convinced on 4e.

 

[Mostlyjoe]

MM will still be autohit. Guys, no matter what else changes, THAT is one sacred cow no one is going to mess with.

That doesn't jive with the magic gets crits too.