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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5687964" data-attributes="member: 58197">I'm not sure I agree with this. Here are the big design elements that set 4E apart from 3E/Pathfinder in my mind:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Healing surges and full hit point recovery with extended rest.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All classes use a modified Vancian power system.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Extremely position-dependent combat effects requiring a battlemat to adjudicate.</li> </ul>There's lots of little stuff, but those are the biggies, the things that make a player of earlier editions go "Whoa. What happened there?" And these are major points of contention for 3E/Pathfinder fans. But consider the design goals underlying them:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Reduce the need for somebody to play a cleric.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Provide a baseline of per-encounter resources, so a party that has exhausted its daily resources isn't totally drained.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Make sure everyone has interesting mechanical options other than "roll to hit."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Balance the classes across the level range.</li> </ul>While not everyone agrees that these are good things, I don't think you'd find nearly as much objection to them. As a 4E fan, I want a game that solves these problems. As a 4E critic (yes, I'm both), I don't like 4E's particular solutions. Both halves of me could be satisfied by a game that used 4E's design insights and experience to tackle the problems in a different way. Essentials made a good start by moving away from the single universal Vancian mechanic.I will add that for me, the biggest knock on 4E is not so much any one design element as the overall design priority; the sense that verisimilitude and flavor go on the chopping block the instant there's a small mechanical concern, and the focus on nitpicky "crunch" elements where the flavor is painted on as an afterthought. (Feats and magic items, I'm looking at you.) But that's a separate issue, and it's an issue I have with 3E as well.</blockquote>

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