So why can ANYONE use rituals?

[Storm-Bringer]

Not according to my Captain America Junior Patriot Guide To Spies and Saboteurs, (c) 1941, it isn't!

My German is very rusty, but here is what Babelfish says, which is how I remember the limited amount I can remember goes:

Sie sind der ganzer selbe!

Of course, that is the polite version (Sie). If you are on a more personal level with the person you are talking to:

Du bist der ganzer selbe!

Captain America, teach bad German to young, impressionable youth. No wonder Bucky turned into the Winter Soldier. Betrayal.

 

[Lizard]

"Ruthlessly"... come on. That's like 'brutally fair' or 'mercilessly generous' . It's a good phrase only if you mean it is as self-parody.

You've clearly never lived in San Francisco.

Try to equalize the relative number of player options doesn't mean a uniform play style. Unless you're forming your rhetoric in Newspeak.

Seems to me it does, esp. when 3x went for diversity via resource management (Wizard vs. Sorcerer vs. Psion, for example.) Likewise, the difference between sustained and burst damage output has been nullified, on a class vs. class level -- everyone has roughly equal DPS.

I think that draws the wrong conclusion from the 'weight of history'. History shows us that whichever --fundamentally different-- game gets sold as "D&D" will do well (for a while).

One could also argue that this is because the key tropes of D&D were popular, the strong class distinctions among them. Remove them, and is the D&D brand name enough?

 

[Voss]

From what I gather, everyone can use rituals. Apart from being very disappointing, why is this?

I find this the exact opposite of disappointing. Its one of the best features of 4e. The spellcasters are no longer playing the real game alone while everyone else is a bottom feeder.

As to why, well that is a reason in itself. Plus with rituals... as long as you can do the dance and say the words, why couldn't anyone do it?

It makes no sense that a fighter can cast tenser's Floating Disc. Shouldn't it have been better to leave rituals to arcane and divine power sources only? (so only wizards, paladins, clercis and warlocks could use them?)

Not really. Floating disc is a fairly high magic example, but I see no reason why someone who's put in the effort to learn can't do the ritual. I may not have a BS in computer sci, but that doesn't mean I can't write up a C program.

Is anyone else planning to houserule this right away? Since rituals don't really affect combat, at least not directly, I don't see any balance issues. Just a flavor (magic should be reserved for magic users) type thing.

I see a big balance issue. The party ends up being all martial (fighter, ranger, rogue, warlord): all rituals are denied them. Just because they can't toss spells or incant prayers doesn't mean they can't chalk out some lines in the dirt and do a little chant.

 

[hong]

When (it was thought that) some classes have lower DPS than others, they complain. When all classes have the same DPS, they complain. It must be an egalitarian thing.

 

[Rechan]

When (it was thought that) some classes have lower DPS than others, they complain. When all classes have the same DPS, they complain. It must be an egalitarian thing.

You can please most of the people some of the time, or some of the people most of the time, but you can't please nerds.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Someone's been reading their Dresden.

Now, this explains why 4E magic so close to Dresden Files magic.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Mallus]

Well, _The Fountainhead_ is kinda parodic.

Ayn is (edit: one of) my favorite self-parodist(s).

 

[The Little Raven]

When (it was thought that) some classes have lower DPS than others, they complain. When all classes have the same DPS, they complain. It must be an egalitarian thing.

To paraphrase Peter Gabriel...

"The only constant I am sure of is this accelerating rate of complaints."

 

[Lizard]

When (it was thought that) some classes have lower DPS than others, they complain. When all classes have the same DPS, they complain. It must be an egalitarian thing.

Ah, but was it the same people complaining both times?

If those who value uniformity over diversity are the majority, 4e will be a smash. If they aren't, it will be a case study. We'll know in a year or so.

(Of course, it's very possible that third party supplements and optional rules will restore a lot of what has been lost, depending on how stringent the GSL is on rewriting key rule assumptions. At the very least, the expected flood of new powers, builds, options, and so on will do a lot to remove the apparent blandness.) (I mean, really, four at-wills total per class, and you get two? Way to limit diversity in the same class...)

 

[WhatGravitas]

My German is very rusty, but here is what Babelfish says, which is how I remember the limited amount I can remember goes:

Babelfish is useless! According to me, Lizard's "Nein! You ist all the same!" should be:

"Nein! Ihr seid alle gleich!"

I'm a German soon-to-be-physicist, trust me!

Cheers, LT.