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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 4921533" data-attributes="member: 19998">Well, here's a few things you can do in 4e that don't require house rules that help, mechanically, out of combat roleplaying.RitualsHallucinatory Item allows you to make illusions of objects. In fact rituals, like Animal Messenger, are specifically designed so PCs can do cool things out of combat.SkillsNature allows you to forage for food, no skill challenge required.Insight, intimidate, and bluff are quintessential roleplaying skills useful both in and out of skill challenges.PowersSpeaking of skills, the ranger utility power Crucial Advice allows people near the ranger to re-roll the skill check with the ranger’s wisdom modifier.Prestidigitation is specifically written to allow wizard’s to do magical effects out of combat. (Just like 3.x, it’s one of my favorite spells and, from an out of combat pov, really distinguishes wizards from other arcane classes.)The rogue utility power Master of Deceit allows rogues to re-roll bluff checks.Raven’s Glamor, a warlock utility power, allows the warlock to be invisible and leave behind an illusion in the location where the warlock became invisible. The out of combat uses of this should be apparent.Wizards, as one might expect, have numerous non-combat powers. First, the get bunch up front. Along the way they can get such old standbys as Disguise Self, Invisibility, and (a personal favorite) Mordenkaine’s Mansion. Druid’s get a nifty little utility power, called Skittering Sneak, that let’s them turn into a tiny (e.g. a house cat or spider) animal and sneak around. It’s awesome.ItemsWondrous Items are often sources or out-of-combat fun. Lens of reading allows you to read a language you don’t know for one hour a day.Wondrous Lair items are rooms and furniture that are specifically designed to spruce-up the PCs home. The feast table, in particular seems stolen from Hogwarts. Well Ethan, we don't have prices for tavern or strongholds yet, but we do have ships! That said, I don't think strongholds were priced and detailed at this stage of 3e's development. (IIRC the books governing those things came out just before the 3.5 core books came out.)MicWanna buy a longship? (I run a Norse campaign.) It’ll cost you 5,000gp. It’s 4 squares by 14 squares and has a “swim” speed of 5. (+/-4 depending on wind).Of course, there’s the quintessential fantasy transportation: the airship. That’ll set you back 85,000gp. It’s got a fly speed of 12 (hover) and overland speed of 15.Of course, maybe you prefer a plain old mount. If horses aren’t your thing, you can go Hannibal style and buy an elephant. Or you can buy a camel. Camel’s have some advantages over horses that shouldn’t be overlooked. These are some of the out-of-combat things a person can do in 4e. Most, if not all, of this stuff was perfectly doable in 3.x. It’s one of the reasons I play 4e, I can do all the cool out of combat stuff I liked doing in 3.x. I wouldn’t say most of it is implemented better, though some of it is. I think nature is better implemented than wilderness lore, survival, and Knowledge (Nature) were. I love the new prestidigitation. And rituals solve a lot of the problems I had conceptually with non-combat spells.What I like about 4e isn't that I can do many of things I liked about 3.x (though that's a bonus), its the homogeneity of the system. The simple design of the rules is a real bonus for me as someone who loves rpgs, but otherwise isn't really a hobby gamer. (I like board games like go and card games like euchre, generally speaking.) The homogenous rules are just easier on my poor brain.</blockquote>

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