Rules that still feel unneeded (to me)

[Li Shenron]

I still don't see any reason for these additions to the game:

- Action points

- Second wind

- Bloodied condition

AP to generically grant an extra action... meh. I would have understood the point if they granted (a) a last-resort save from death or (b) the possibility of peforming something beyond your limits. An extra action is tactically worth, but I don't see any reason why this should be a core rule (especially since the current design is all gamist/abstract and has no in-game explanation).

Second wind is basically in the same league, although I don't know exactly what it's for. Is it just an option to get some healing? If that's it, then there is not much reason for this rules as well, since the game has already a lot of healing chances everywhere.

Bloodied at least seems to be the most likely to receive extensive support by other rules, meaning that probably there will be lots of powers or feats which work depending on being blooded (you or your target). As such at least it could become an extensive enough part of the game. However besides the metagame advantage of opening up more design options, I still don't see any in-game reason to really have it...

 

[hong]

Second wind is in-combat healing for when you don't have a medic. I suspect the great majority of groups will end up having a medic anyway.

Bloodied is a way to manage the intensity of a fight. Usually D&D combats start with a bang and fizzle out, because people use their most powerful abilities up front. Having abilities keying off bloodied means things can get more intense and dramatic later on, which is generally what happens in the movies.

APs seem a bit meh at this point.

 

[Incenjucar]

:\

AP aren't important, they're just a little add-on for extra heroics.

Second Wind is important because it removes the need for Heal Bots, which annoyed the hell out of many.

Bloodied acts as an ability trigger and represents things like fatigue and adrenaline.

AP is disposable, the others not so much. Unless you like heal bots and for damage to be absolutely meaningless until HP 0

 

[hong]

Damage being absolutely meaningless until 0 would fit in with 30 years of grand tradition, though.

 

[Khuxan]

For me, it's certain abilities (in particular the elf's bonus to Perception, the half-elf's bonus to Diplomacy, the rogue's bonus to daggers) that seem unneeded rather than actual rules.

I will agree that action points are meh at the moment. I think they'd be cooler if they were immediate actions that granted standard actions you could only use between other creature's actions: so you can run away or make a sudden desperate attack or a final charge.

 

[Belphanior]

We haven't seen the last of APs yet. The Alertness feat, which they showed us a while back, used APs too. The half-elf wizard from DDXP has a feat that says "+3 to attacks on actions gained from action points". I expect there are plenty more feats that tie into them and they'll be a real factor in determining the overall feel of 4E, but so far people seem to underestimate them because they have no direct 3E-analogue so it's hard to know what to look for (unlike, say, the ranger or magic missile because everybody knows they're coming).

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I'll add one: "milestone."

1 milestone = 2 encounters. But why the heck shouldn't "per milestone" stuff just be "per encounter"? They've got three paragraphs on Action Points explaining how often you get them and how often you can use them; would it really change game balance drastically for them to say, "1 AP per encounter"?

 

[Kilmax]

I believe APs will also be needed to activate some powers - those with the frequency of use listed as "milestone". (They call the AP you receive every two encounters a milestone, so...)

And remember Second Wind is also spent when other people heal you, so it's pretty much integrated with the system.

 

[hong]

I believe APs will also be needed to activate some powers - those with the frequency of use listed as "milestone". (They call the AP you receive every two encounters a milestone, so...)

And remember Second Wind is also spent when other people heal you, so it's pretty much integrated with the system.

? You spend healing surges when healed by other people. That has nothing to do with using up your Second Wind.

 

[the_redbeard]

What I think isn't necessary?

Squares instead of 5'.

If they wanted to simplify diagonal movement, why not just use hexes?

I'm very bummed that they've eliminated the schools of magic. To me, that was a nice bit of immersive fluff that should have received more crunch support.

I am not very enthused about how the spell descriptions read.

There's a lot of I like: I do a lot of role-playing, but I also really enjoy tactical choices during combat. 4e seems fun that way. But they're taking away my fluff, man.