D&D 4E One Good Thing about 4e...

[iwarrior-poet]

They are putting out the books I would be interested in pretty early in the game. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/FR Players Handbook, Magic Item Compendium, Draconomicon, Martial Power (fighter SPLAT book) Those are all the ones that might help make me switch to 4e (besides a good D+Di implementation).

Though I would like to see Deities and Demigods, Manual of the Planes and more SPLAT books in the early pipeline...

On the other hand---if they front load the good stuff they may choke off their own revenue stream (which I doubt they will do---they've gotten pretty darn marketing/corporate minded of late)

Also---I will be EXTREMELY upset if they do another 3.0/3.5 revision blunder. I have seen comments from some of their developers stating that they have learned from this past mistake---but I wonder...

Sorry to post on different areas---I am pressed for time...

 

[Aeolius]

Different strokes, I suppose. While I have no use for FR materials and favor magic over martial supplements, I would like to see the 4e incarnations of Savage Species, the Greyhawk Gazetteer, and Stormwrack.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Different strokes, I suppose.

Yup. Although unpossible, I'd prefer a quick release of PHB II so I can get my Druid /Barbarian / Bard /Sorcerer groove on. I'm much, much prefer that to Draconomicon, Manual of the Planes or a Martial Splat.

 

[iwarrior-poet]

Different strokes, I suppose. While I have no use for FR materials and favor magic over martial supplements, I would like to see the 4e incarnations of Savage Species, the Greyhawk Gazetteer, and Stormwrack.

Yeah---I am pretty curious how a Savage Species type book will fit in. It seems like they are making it very difficult to convert monster types into PC types (Monsters don't get feats and are supposed to be much more streamlined---or so I have read).

 

[MaelStorm]

@iwarrior-poet: I agree, front-loading the goodies would have helped a lot. On the subject of 4.5 release, the game designers said in a podcast (The Tome) that 3.5 was a mistake, that it did not fix anything and that next time they will go for a new edition instead.


@Aeolius: I also agree. But as the OP mention in his post:

<snipped>they've gotten pretty darn marketing/corporate minded of late<snipped>

I would have loved to see Arcane Powers early too, but there's only 2 Arcane class in PHB I, there are still other Arcane classes in the pipeline not released yet. I would bet a 100$ that there will be 2 more Arcane classes waiting to be released before we see a Arcane Powers splatbook.


Which bring the subject of the next poster Irda Ranger. Yes, I can't agree more.

 

[Doug McCrae]

My favourite splats are PHB2+ and Complete X for when I'm a player, MM X and campaign setting books for when I'm DMing.

Don't think I'll be buying many adventures. They always need a lot of work so I'll probably convert old unused scenarios to 4e.

 

[Lacyon]

Yeah---I am pretty curious how a Savage Species type book will fit in. It seems like they are making it very difficult to convert monster types into PC types (Monsters don't get feats and are supposed to be much more streamlined---or so I have read).

That doesn't necessarily mean that converting monster types is hard. All a race seems to need in order to be playable is a pair of stat boosts, a couple of miscellaneous bonuses (weapon proficiencies/skill boosts/save boosts), and one free racial power. Everything else would be covered by optional racial feats and powers.

Kobold-as-PC might look something like:

+2 Dex, +2 Con
Darkvision (maybe only low-light as PC, darkvision as a racial feat)
Speed 6
Skills: +2 Stealth, +2 Thievery
Trap Sense: +2 to all defenses against traps
Shifty (At-will, Minor) Shift one square as a minor action.

 

[TerraDave]

Manual of the Planes is released in December. I expect some kind of Deities and Demigods pretty early on (they have the new pantheon, and dropped hints about challenging the gods).

Overall, I agree the early offerings are pretty strong...what I wonder about, for them, is what comes later. After what they have announced, PHB II (which will probably cover psionic and primal), the Diven and Arcane books...the obvious releases will be pretty much done.