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Rambling thoughts about D&D 4th Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8701740" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>Defenses in 4e mostly replaced saving throws – instead of a wizard's fireball just happening, and then everyone in it has to roll a save to mitigate the damage, the caster rolls an attack against each target's defense. That's also why a "miss" often deals half damage, particularly with AOE powers. The overt effect is to make it so the active character is in charge of all the rolling, but a more subtle effect is to put martial and magic abilities on more equal footing. For example, a <em>bless</em> in 3e and 5e is mostly useful for martial characters, because they're the ones making attack rolls. A 3e/5e wizard doesn't much care about a <em>bless</em> (other than the marginally useful bonus to saves vs fear), because the wizard almost never makes an attack roll. A 4e wizard on the other hand makes lots and lots of attack rolls, so they love attack roll bonuses. As to whether that's a good or a bad thing, that's a matter of taste. Some would argue that it's good to keep all abilities on an equal footing, but others would argue that the option to use save abilities when dealing with attack penalties is an important bit of nuance that gets lost.</p><p></p><p>There is also a mechanic in 4e named "saving throw", but it's a duration mechanic. Many debuffs (particularly ongoing damage) say "save ends". For example, a fire ray that dealt both initial damage and set someone on fire would say something like "3d6 fire damage plus 5 ongoing fire (save ends)". That meant that at the end of every round, you'd get to roll a d20 for every such effect, and on a 10+ it would end.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 8701740, member: 907"] Defenses in 4e mostly replaced saving throws – instead of a wizard's fireball just happening, and then everyone in it has to roll a save to mitigate the damage, the caster rolls an attack against each target's defense. That's also why a "miss" often deals half damage, particularly with AOE powers. The overt effect is to make it so the active character is in charge of all the rolling, but a more subtle effect is to put martial and magic abilities on more equal footing. For example, a [I]bless[/I] in 3e and 5e is mostly useful for martial characters, because they're the ones making attack rolls. A 3e/5e wizard doesn't much care about a [I]bless[/I] (other than the marginally useful bonus to saves vs fear), because the wizard almost never makes an attack roll. A 4e wizard on the other hand makes lots and lots of attack rolls, so they love attack roll bonuses. As to whether that's a good or a bad thing, that's a matter of taste. Some would argue that it's good to keep all abilities on an equal footing, but others would argue that the option to use save abilities when dealing with attack penalties is an important bit of nuance that gets lost. There is also a mechanic in 4e named "saving throw", but it's a duration mechanic. Many debuffs (particularly ongoing damage) say "save ends". For example, a fire ray that dealt both initial damage and set someone on fire would say something like "3d6 fire damage plus 5 ongoing fire (save ends)". That meant that at the end of every round, you'd get to roll a d20 for every such effect, and on a 10+ it would end. [/QUOTE]
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