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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 6558653" data-attributes="member: 336">Picking 3 is going to be very difficult as so many of the good things don't exist separate from the others.Non-mechanically, my number one best thing, above all else, is that it is a pleasure to DM and a cinch to prepare.&nbsp; Of course that is non-mechanical in form, but the reason for it was all the cleaned up mechanics.&nbsp; Prep time went from being a chore to being a delight with 4e.&nbsp; I got to spend time actually devising the interesting things for the sessions rather than working out a way to effectively challenge the characters.My second non-mechanical best thing is that my wife, a non-gamer, was actually able to play the game with very little assistance, and actually enjoyed it.&nbsp; We had tried before to get her in our games and she simply gave up after trying to make it work.Mechanically I'd say that the best thing from 4e was completely decoupling hit point recovery from spell-casting.&nbsp; Just that innovation was enough to really break open the wall.&nbsp; This introduced options for self recovery.&nbsp; Expansion for recovery to all kinds of classes from martial, to psionic, to arcane, plus the classic divine classes.&nbsp; As well as a pacing mechanic that can be further stretched in multiple ways.&nbsp; The designers should have gone further and shown ways to have long term recovery and even injuries tied to other existing mechanics (disease track) but they didn't.&nbsp; Their loss on that, but since the system is so transparent including those options is rather trivial.The second one in my book is transparent mechanics, which ties directly to consistent maths.&nbsp; Somebody mentioned the &quot;fixes&quot; to mechanics that were added to the game at certain points.&nbsp; IME those are additional fixes but the game does not need them, as long as the long term fix is implemented, and that fix is the inherent bonus.&nbsp; With that &quot;fix&quot; in place you can run a low to no magic game without issues.&nbsp; Something that I've been doing since inherent bonuses where introduced is return magic items to actually being special.&nbsp; Even going as far as creating unique magic items that are totally special with hardly any mechanical combat applications, as well as magic items that &quot;grow&quot; with the characters.The third would be self-contained monsters.&nbsp; Easy to use, easy to wing, and easy to prepare.&nbsp; A delight to be used in combat and a delight for preparation time.I'd also add a ditto to everything&nbsp; [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] put on his post.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 6558653, member: 336"] Picking 3 is going to be very difficult as so many of the good things don't exist separate from the others. Non-mechanically, my number one best thing, above all else, is that it is a pleasure to DM and a cinch to prepare. Of course that is non-mechanical in form, but the reason for it was all the cleaned up mechanics. Prep time went from being a chore to being a delight with 4e. I got to spend time actually devising the interesting things for the sessions rather than working out a way to effectively challenge the characters. My second non-mechanical best thing is that my wife, a non-gamer, was actually able to play the game with very little assistance, and actually enjoyed it. We had tried before to get her in our games and she simply gave up after trying to make it work. Mechanically I'd say that the best thing from 4e was completely decoupling hit point recovery from spell-casting. Just that innovation was enough to really break open the wall. This introduced options for self recovery. Expansion for recovery to all kinds of classes from martial, to psionic, to arcane, plus the classic divine classes. As well as a pacing mechanic that can be further stretched in multiple ways. The designers should have gone further and shown ways to have long term recovery and even injuries tied to other existing mechanics (disease track) but they didn't. Their loss on that, but since the system is so transparent including those options is rather trivial. The second one in my book is transparent mechanics, which ties directly to consistent maths. Somebody mentioned the "fixes" to mechanics that were added to the game at certain points. IME those are additional fixes but the game does not need them, as long as the long term fix is implemented, and that fix is the inherent bonus. With that "fix" in place you can run a low to no magic game without issues. Something that I've been doing since inherent bonuses where introduced is return magic items to actually being special. Even going as far as creating unique magic items that are totally special with hardly any mechanical combat applications, as well as magic items that "grow" with the characters. The third would be self-contained monsters. Easy to use, easy to wing, and easy to prepare. A delight to be used in combat and a delight for preparation time. I'd also add a ditto to everything [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] put on his post. [/QUOTE]

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