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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 4774819" data-attributes="member: 59082">To the OP: Well, that's because one DOES suck and the other rule, but which one is which depends upon the individual <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Seriously though, a lot of the specific differences have been outlined quite well, but I would simply address the overall feel of each edition and what type of approach each emphasizes, with the caveat that either are perfectly suitable for playing most styles of gaming.3ed is better for &quot;system thinkers&quot;--those that like lots of rules and want to customize their characters ad infinitum, or DMs that like to stat every little detail. 4ed is better for &quot;improv thinkers&quot;--those that like to play off the cuff. To put it another way, 4ed is less reliant upon rules than 3ed; in gamer vernacular, 3ed is &quot;rules heavy,&quot; 4ed &quot;rules medium.&quot;You could also look at this in terms of when they came out: 3ed in 2000, after D&amp;D had floundered for some years with an anachronistic system years, even decades, behind the cutting edge of RPGs. It was a move towards system and organization; its core mechanic allowed for countless rules exceptions, modifications, and add-ons, making it seem more cumbersome than it originally was. It was, in some sense, the pinnacle of &quot;first generation&quot; D&amp;D in that it retained the core feeling of earlier editions but with an updated game system.4ed came out in 2008, well after the booming of World of Warcraft, wuxia, anime, Hong Kong cinema, etc, so it has some very &quot;non-traditional&quot; elements making it, in some sense, the first 21st century version of D&amp;D.Let us know what your final choice is!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 4774819, member: 59082"] To the OP: Well, that's because one DOES suck and the other rule, but which one is which depends upon the individual ;) Seriously though, a lot of the specific differences have been outlined quite well, but I would simply address the overall feel of each edition and what type of approach each emphasizes, with the caveat that either are perfectly suitable for playing most styles of gaming. 3ed is better for "system thinkers"--those that like lots of rules and want to customize their characters ad infinitum, or DMs that like to stat every little detail. 4ed is better for "improv thinkers"--those that like to play off the cuff. To put it another way, 4ed is less reliant upon rules than 3ed; in gamer vernacular, 3ed is "rules heavy," 4ed "rules medium." You could also look at this in terms of when they came out: 3ed in 2000, after D&D had floundered for some years with an anachronistic system years, even decades, behind the cutting edge of RPGs. It was a move towards system and organization; its core mechanic allowed for countless rules exceptions, modifications, and add-ons, making it seem more cumbersome than it originally was. It was, in some sense, the pinnacle of "first generation" D&D in that it retained the core feeling of earlier editions but with an updated game system. 4ed came out in 2008, well after the booming of World of Warcraft, wuxia, anime, Hong Kong cinema, etc, so it has some very "non-traditional" elements making it, in some sense, the first 21st century version of D&D. Let us know what your final choice is! [/QUOTE]

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