So why are miniature's required... and uh.. character sheets are not?

[Evenglare]

Dungeon master guide, that seemed... confusing.

 

[Bandreus]

because WOTC sells minis for a good income while character sheets come basicly free? ;P

 

[Contents May Vary]

You could always use numbered squares of cardboard instead of minis.

Works pretty well, actually.

 

[Evenglare]

Its not that minis are required (even though my group doesnt use them) , its the fact that the character sheets are suggested. What were they thinking ? This seems completely confusing, how would you run a game of D&D with no character sheet and only minis?

 

[WhatGravitas]

because WOTC sells minis for a good income while character sheets come basicly free? ;P

Because 4E is actually simple enough to do with some scribbles on a piece of paper. Seriously, you don't need more than that:

Mr. Simple (Level 1)
Eladrin Warlock (Infernal Pact)
Str 12, Con 16, Dex 14, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 11
AC 14 (leather), Fort 13, Ref 12, Will 10
Trained Skills: Arcana (+7), Bluff (+5), Intimidate (+5), Whatever (+?)

Powers:
Fey Step (encounter), 5 squares
Eldritch Blast (at-will), +3, 1d10+3 (basic)
Hellish Rebuke (at-will) +3, 1d6+3
Vampiric Embrace (encounter)
Armour of Agathys (daily)

Okay, the values are not exactly right, because it's just improvised... but you get the gist. And, of course, because they want to plug DDM to improve the sales.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Byronic]

By buying their miniature game thingy. Don't know why they want you to buy the DMG as well though.

Silly people don't even know their own products

 

[Cadfan]

Its not that minis are required (even though my group doesnt use them) , its the fact that the character sheets are suggested. What were they thinking ? This seems completely confusing, how would you run a game of D&D with no character sheet and only minis?

I don't think they meant that "sheets with your characters info on them" were optional. I believe they meant that "official sheets produced by WOTC for the purpose of having your character's info on them" were optional. Instead, you could use notebook paper.

 

[ObsidianCrane]

Okay, the values are not exactly right, because it's just improvised... but you get the gist. And, of course, because they want to plug DDM to improve the sales.

Could just be me, but I would think that they would sell more mini's to RPG folks if the monsters were more common. Rare monsters are not a DMs friend especially in 4E were we are expected to have 1-20 critters in an encounter.

 

[ladycass]

That line made me giggle.

I vote for the cost influence. I just imagine some people sitting around a table thinking about what they want to encourage the new guy to get.

The argument that miniatures are indespensible but they meant to say "prefabricated" character sheets are not necessary when you can just use normal paper breaks down when you consider they did *not* exactly suggest that any old marker will do for a miniature on a game mat. After all you can make squares of paper with character pics or just names on them. You can use colored dice with a different # up for each monster ect. Notice they didn't bother to suggest any of that.

*grin*

 

[ThirdWizard]

I use excel for characters.