While I bailed on 4e fairly early, I do keep hearing some variation of this from those who stuck with it longer. Even if the design intention wasn't to replicate a video game environment where only certain pre-scripted skill interactions were allowed, it sure seems like a lot of groups fell into treating them that way. And to twist a phrase, once is an accident, twice is coincidence, but if it's happening that often then it's a design flaw.
I don't think I'd agree - you dispatch the orcs and need to climb a cliff before the goblins show up. When does the encounter end? Do you take a penalty to your climb rolls from fatigue? 3.5 has no answer. You rage once in the morning and spend a few hours in relaxation, you still can't rage again. If "disassociated mechanics" are a real thing then 3.5 Barbarian Rage 100% fits any definition you'd apply to 4e mechanics.
and I prefer to be inspired by the text instead of it being sterile. The 4e text actively discourages me from reading it and by extension using 4e
That's awesome. I'd say that's an auto win. Let them have it and move on. Same with spells. The world comes first. What makes sense in the fiction comes first. If they "short circuit" the skill challenge with clever thinking or spells, they beat it. Simple as. But yeah, I 100% get the "Nah, let's just play an old-school game" sentiment. I'm right there with you.
It's really system neutral, like most settings. I've run 5E games in the Nentir Vale. It worked great.
Correct. But 3.5 does this just for the Barbarian, and as an example PF1e changed it to include rounds of duration. 3.5 doesn't have this concept as an integral part of the design like 4e does - but I understand I struck a nerve here.
Fallcrest was my starting location of choice for a lot of my own 5e games. I also replaced Kobold Hall with Sunless Citadel, using that as an intro adventure to provide some hooks into the world.
Why would that happen? Not every failiure has the same effect.
Again, they're not supposed to realize you're counting up successes and failures. They're just trying to accomplish a thing as a team and you track their success and failures to help you know what the consequences would be.
I'd ask them to describe what they are doing that requires them to be Stealthy and what they want to accomplish.
What are they trying to do? And again, they shouldn't know that stuff.
Well now that's just a classic murderhobo
Well to be fair a Wish would be something the PC could do.
I don't see what you mean no? If nothing happens for 5 minutes, you have officially taken a short rest and the encounter is over. 4e is very much non-ambiguous about its durations and I don't know why you keep hammering on that point?
Okay? then they can just use bypass the challenge by spending the ability to fly.
Yeah they were badly explained and it's pretty difficult to make a good one because sometimes you get to the end and realize you forgot to come up for a situation where the party fails. Like I said, the best way I found is to just not tell the PC 'you are in a skill challenge'.
I don't think they expected you to read the Power/Item Lists like a novel. I think I never read a class power list beyond like... level 3 encounter powers until I reached a specific level.
Nice. I keep hearing about Sunless but have never read, played, or run it. How railroady is it?
