Scott Rouse blog - Rogue ability

[JVisgaitis]

They said that they wanted to emphasize movement on the battlefield and not have characters stay in the same square and swing for the entire length of combat. I'd imagine there will be a lot of movement abilities like this in 4e.

 

[eleran]

If you're talking about the term Tank, IME that predates WoW by quite a bit. I was hearing the term back when I started playing D&D in 2000.

agreed. The group I started playing DnD with in '81 has been using the term tank since WAAAAAYYY before the internet was public knowledge, so I think its exceptionally bitter and grognardish to scold someone for that. And we have also been using short nicks for hobgoblins for almost as long. Usually its just hobs or hobbos (gobbos for regular goblins).

 

[Guild Goodknife]

Dear Scott:

Please stop talking in WoWisms.

Thanks.

The term tank is definitely older than WoW. We've used it when we played 2nd Edition.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Read the rest of the sentence.



If he's not talking about movement, then what else could he possibly be talking about?

Playing devil's advocate here (because I don't beleive it has to do with a condition track), but...

He could have been down on the condition track, shifted up 3 spaces on it, and was able to get back behind the two tanks. Perhaps being low on the condition track makes movement hampered where he normally would not be able to move back behind the tanks...

I take "shift" to possibly mean that he shifted positions with an enemy, which then placed the enemy where he was, and he now ended up behind the tanks (where the enemy was previously).

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

I'm so tired of all these video-gamey references to "hit points"! What is this, Nethack?
Anyway...

My personal based on nothing speculation/reaction: It reads a little like the L5R mass combat system, which tracks your position in the battle (Reserves / Disengaged / Engaged / Heavily Engaged), and the rogue was able to shift from trapped in the enemy lines back to behind his own lines.

Also, this left me strangely cold...not disturbed cold, just uninterested cold. I don't know why.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm wondering whether this is talking about shifting position on a condition track a la Saga, rather than being explicitly about movement.

'3 step shift' doesn't sound like something to do with movement to me... unless they've done something wacky with scale and fighting space, like making a Medium creature take up a 3ft square or something!

Which makes me think that he is talking about something other than movement with those words.

5 ft Step = 1 Square of Movement. So maybe 3 Steps are 3 Squares of movement?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Dear Scott:

Please stop talking in WoWisms.

Thanks.

Dear Reynard:

Please stop making allusions about WoW or other video games influencing D&D*

Thanks.

*) if doing so to imply that this is always bad.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Please stop talking in WoWisms.

Do you mean him calling the fighter-types tanks? I've been calling fighter-types tanks since about 1983. It ain't a WoWism, though it is used in WoW.

 

[Nebulous]

They said that they wanted to emphasize movement on the battlefield and not have characters stay in the same square and swing for the entire length of combat. I'd imagine there will be a lot of movement abilities like this in 4e.

I'm very hopeful that they can pull this idea off, as it is fundamental i think to making D&D combat more fun. Having the option of moving and dodging and making tactical decisions (not just avoiding AoO) will be great.

 

[hazel monday]

Also, this left me strangely cold...not disturbed cold, just uninterested cold. I don't know why.

I feel the same. The vast majority of 4E news leaves me feeling cold. I'm sure I'll get jumped on for saying this, but the more I hear about 4.0, the more it seems like this the corporation mandated version of D&D. It's like the designers are building a marketing strategy instead of a game.
It's like when any other subculture gets swallowed by a corporate interest because it could be marketed more efficiently. Like when punk rock sold out: instead of the Dead Kennedys we're now stuck with Blink 182. Like when hip hop sold out: instead of Biggie Smalls we get stuck with Soulja Boy.
4E seems like it's a great thing for Hasbro, but not a great thing for me and my gaming group. I hope to resist switching editions for as long as I can.