So this holiday I flew back to my home town and got to hang out with my original gaming group as we were all in one place for the first time in years.
They had opted not to make the switch to 4th Edition when it came out, which is fine because it's been a while since I played 3.x
But in playing I came to realize just how much more fun 4E is...and I got to thinking about all of the innovations that the new iteration of D&D has made to the game...
Races:
In 3rd Edition, character race was a choice that really only mattered at 1st level as far as the mechanics were concerned.
4E has racial feats, racial paragon paths, racial backgrounds...all sorts of options that a player can use to bolster their choice of race, adding much more flavor in the process.
Furthermore, 3rd Edition rules tended to punish players for picking nonstandard race/class combinations....like Halfling Barbarians.
In 4E all races can play all classes effectively...and with all of the different racial options, your character isn't good at their class despite their race...they are good precisely because of it.
So while your Eladrin Fighter with his +'s to DEX/INT might not be the obstinate, immovable HP-filled wall that a Dwarven Fighter is, they can teleport across the room to deliver 3[W] worth of Stop It! to the ghouls that are eating the party Wizard.
Classes:
Classes in 4E are balanced with eachother...and no...this doesn't mean that they are on equal footing in every possible way...it means that every class can contribute meaningfully in AND out of combat.
There's no good reason that out of combat utility and fighting efficacy should be balanced against eachother...both areas are important aspects of the game, and saying that the party Fighter, with his measly 2 skill points, should be relegated to pounding out the dents in his armor while all the other players get to take part in the story, simply because he is good at swinging a sword is just stupid, backwards thinking.
People say that 4E classes feel homogenized but I just don't see it. Fighters, Swordmages, Paladins and Wardens, all defender classes, play significantly different from one another. It's the same with strikers...anyone who can honestly say that Sorcerers play like Rogues is delusional.
The bottom line is that in 4E everyone gets to participate...which bolsters the whole..you know...social aspect.
Combat:
Melee characters in 3.x were basically relegated to charging or full attacks. Unless you decided to sink your feats into some gimmick like tripping or mount charging.
Casters could end an entire encounter with the right spell....turning high level combat into a game of rocket tag.
In 4E everyone is moving around the battlefield, pulling off special attacks and stringing combos...fighting many foes all of whom have their own tricks and combos, while terrain features add a whole new element to an already exciting encounter.
I'll state this as plainly as possible...D&D has always been a game of heroic fantasy...combat in 4E actually makes your character FEEL like a hero.
System:
4E isn't a ruleslite game by any means...it is a game with a lot of complexity.
But whereas the complexity of 3rd Edition was found in the granularity of character creation, creating a subculture based around system mastery and rules exploits, 4E moves the complexity to where it belongs...at the table.
Basing the mechanics of all the classes around attack vs. static defense value really streamlined the combat round...and savings throws as a duration tracker rather than a defensive mechanic was a stroke of genius.
Unified 1/2 level stat progression was another good change...no more looking up BAB on some level progression chart. Also, you could give your Wizard an 18 STR score and all sorts of weapon feats and they STILL won't be as good a Fighter as the Fighter, so class niches are still intact even with the unified progression.
The guidelines on page 42 of the DMG allow DM's to make quick and dirty rules adjudications easily and with confidence...thus accounting for those wacky things that players come up with.
The improvements of 4th Edition over 3rd are too numerous to name...but those that I've listed will hopefully kick off a good discussion.
They had opted not to make the switch to 4th Edition when it came out, which is fine because it's been a while since I played 3.x
But in playing I came to realize just how much more fun 4E is...and I got to thinking about all of the innovations that the new iteration of D&D has made to the game...
Races:
In 3rd Edition, character race was a choice that really only mattered at 1st level as far as the mechanics were concerned.
4E has racial feats, racial paragon paths, racial backgrounds...all sorts of options that a player can use to bolster their choice of race, adding much more flavor in the process.
Furthermore, 3rd Edition rules tended to punish players for picking nonstandard race/class combinations....like Halfling Barbarians.
In 4E all races can play all classes effectively...and with all of the different racial options, your character isn't good at their class despite their race...they are good precisely because of it.
So while your Eladrin Fighter with his +'s to DEX/INT might not be the obstinate, immovable HP-filled wall that a Dwarven Fighter is, they can teleport across the room to deliver 3[W] worth of Stop It! to the ghouls that are eating the party Wizard.
Classes:
Classes in 4E are balanced with eachother...and no...this doesn't mean that they are on equal footing in every possible way...it means that every class can contribute meaningfully in AND out of combat.
There's no good reason that out of combat utility and fighting efficacy should be balanced against eachother...both areas are important aspects of the game, and saying that the party Fighter, with his measly 2 skill points, should be relegated to pounding out the dents in his armor while all the other players get to take part in the story, simply because he is good at swinging a sword is just stupid, backwards thinking.
People say that 4E classes feel homogenized but I just don't see it. Fighters, Swordmages, Paladins and Wardens, all defender classes, play significantly different from one another. It's the same with strikers...anyone who can honestly say that Sorcerers play like Rogues is delusional.
The bottom line is that in 4E everyone gets to participate...which bolsters the whole..you know...social aspect.
Combat:
Melee characters in 3.x were basically relegated to charging or full attacks. Unless you decided to sink your feats into some gimmick like tripping or mount charging.
Casters could end an entire encounter with the right spell....turning high level combat into a game of rocket tag.
In 4E everyone is moving around the battlefield, pulling off special attacks and stringing combos...fighting many foes all of whom have their own tricks and combos, while terrain features add a whole new element to an already exciting encounter.
I'll state this as plainly as possible...D&D has always been a game of heroic fantasy...combat in 4E actually makes your character FEEL like a hero.
System:
4E isn't a ruleslite game by any means...it is a game with a lot of complexity.
But whereas the complexity of 3rd Edition was found in the granularity of character creation, creating a subculture based around system mastery and rules exploits, 4E moves the complexity to where it belongs...at the table.
Basing the mechanics of all the classes around attack vs. static defense value really streamlined the combat round...and savings throws as a duration tracker rather than a defensive mechanic was a stroke of genius.
Unified 1/2 level stat progression was another good change...no more looking up BAB on some level progression chart. Also, you could give your Wizard an 18 STR score and all sorts of weapon feats and they STILL won't be as good a Fighter as the Fighter, so class niches are still intact even with the unified progression.
The guidelines on page 42 of the DMG allow DM's to make quick and dirty rules adjudications easily and with confidence...thus accounting for those wacky things that players come up with.
The improvements of 4th Edition over 3rd are too numerous to name...but those that I've listed will hopefully kick off a good discussion.
