The Essential Knight

[Melkor]

And yes, there are players who really do just want "I swing my sword every round," or at least close to it. I've played with them.

Although I have never had the pleasure of playing with Mouseferatu, I am one of these player types. I really did enjoy the Fighter class way-back-when because he was easy to play and I didn't have to manage much more than the arrows or crossbow bolts I shot in ranged combat.

I really like that WotC seems to be adapting the game to several different types of play styles.

 

[Klaus]

You're all making me hungry! <shakes fist to heavens> Hungreeeeee!!!

 

[mearls]

@Aegeri: There is a one-line quote that the Essentials line will influence future class design.

You can expect that most classes going forward will have:

1. A unique mechanic, either in terms of actual rules or flavor/effect. Knights have stances, warpriests have domains, mages have schools.

2. The option to use a standard 4e power advancement scheme, like the mage and warpriest, or something that alters or removes a power category, like the knight.

 

[Hawke]

I just looked at the release calendar, and with the first book out in September, aren't these previews a little earlier than they usually do previews? I was guessing these were out in August until I looked...

...that's a good sign though, I was excited enough by this preview to start budgeting for the product!

 

[MrMyth]

I will keep ragging on Psionics all the time until I get my point across. Psionics are broken because they completely dismantled part of the encounter/daily system for them. At low levels they perform okay, but once they get the PP to turn an encounter power into an at-will some become broken or far more effective than if they take a higher level power (Battleminds with Lightning Rush for example, is a night and day difference as a defender).

Psionics are broken because they have low level powers with stat-based riders, or that are otherwise just too good for their level.

The power point system is not inherently flawed - they just dropped the ball in the execution of it.

 

[Joshua Randall]

1. A unique mechanic, either in terms of actual rules or flavor/effect. Knights have stances, warpriests have domains, mages have schools.

Thanks Mr. Mearls.

Will we ever see one of those unique mechanics borrowed by another class? Like a rogue stance or a non-warpriest domain.

 

[MrMyth]

The good:

-This class absolutely feels simpler and easier to play. I think the claims about 'not being able to switch stances while dazed' or 'what about theoretical interrupts?' are downright silly objections.
-The defender aura is an excellent replacement for standard marking abilities, and so much easier than Combat Challenge / Combat Opportunity.
-I really like the feel of how this works, and am eager to see it in play.

The bad:
-I do worry about the potential abuse of having something so outside the normal approach. As has been mentioned - there are quite a few options balanced entirely around melee basic attacks being rare, rather than the core of a build.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Aren't analogies totally useless for actual debate? Challenge to myself and future generations, stop mentioning menus.

These are a nice addition to the game.

 

[Jhaelen]

I love the fact that the knight can swing with his at-wills all day long, and then when he strikes a critical, he can just say "Power Attack!" and add another maximized [W] onto the beast.

Reading about 'Power Attack' immediately made me smile. The ability to make a power attack once per encounter (or more often if your ability scores were exceptional) was one of well-received innovations I had included in my own RPG

Apart from that I'm rather pleased that the knight is closer to what I suspected and not at all what many had feared

And I think some of the reactions to it are hilarious

 

[mneme]

Have to agree--while Disenhearten and Mind Thrust are overpowered, the design is sound--it's just that a 30th level power needs to be at least as good as a 1st level power (and likely better) with a level 2 augment -- not "more damage, but basically worse" as it is now.

Oh, and the knight is great, though yes, one has to look at how it will interact with the basic attack boosting feats. OTOH, we already had classes that basically swung with basics all day long.