D&D 4E The Great d20 Books that shaped 4E
- Thread starter Aldarc
- Start date
masshysteria
Explorer
Prodigal_Sun said:
You mean the picture where they killed off Nebbin the iconic Gnome?
vic20
Fool
as already mentioned, Iron Heroes. this was the first d&d experience as a DM in many many years (since childhood) that my default answer to player's attempted actions that my answer was almost always "yes! and this is how!" instead of "hmmmm... that might break something... i'm going to have to say no".
also mentioned (and here again) the Arcana Unearthed. "Players Roll All The Dice" write-up alone kicked up the fun factor. the rules as written are mechanically incorrect, iirc. i believe that the book says that the player is rolling against creatures attack, plus a static +11. it needs to be +12 to emulate properly, to account for the fact that players always win ties. i played a 7 or 8 session Iron Heroes Wilderlands game with players rolling a lot of dice, kicking butt, and the whole time i was translating the attacks by +11. this effectively gave the entire party +1 active defense for every combat roll. i'm not entirely sure, but that might be broken.
still: players love rolling dice! an excellent defense roll can get the table rolling A LOT more dramatically then the DM rolling a 2 behind The Screen.
i look fwd to stealing 4th edition ideas for my Iron Heroes campaign. i'll buy the books, but i'll never turn my back on a system where a 1st level character can be the captain/owner of a ship, and a 15th level character may only own a damaged beach-ball. without any balance problems at all.
edit: edited it
also mentioned (and here again) the Arcana Unearthed. "Players Roll All The Dice" write-up alone kicked up the fun factor. the rules as written are mechanically incorrect, iirc. i believe that the book says that the player is rolling against creatures attack, plus a static +11. it needs to be +12 to emulate properly, to account for the fact that players always win ties. i played a 7 or 8 session Iron Heroes Wilderlands game with players rolling a lot of dice, kicking butt, and the whole time i was translating the attacks by +11. this effectively gave the entire party +1 active defense for every combat roll. i'm not entirely sure, but that might be broken.
still: players love rolling dice! an excellent defense roll can get the table rolling A LOT more dramatically then the DM rolling a 2 behind The Screen.
i look fwd to stealing 4th edition ideas for my Iron Heroes campaign. i'll buy the books, but i'll never turn my back on a system where a 1st level character can be the captain/owner of a ship, and a 15th level character may only own a damaged beach-ball. without any balance problems at all.
edit: edited it
Last edited:
Justin D. Jacobson
First Post
It seems clear to me that their attention to more robust poison rules is a direct result of Poisoncraft. 
BASHMAN
Basic Action Games
I cannot believe that nobody has said this yet Diablo II: Diablerie. It has a lot of the things that 4th ed will have, and is also inspired by a blizzard videogame.
Talent Trees for the barbarian, amazon, and paladin just as there will be for Fighter/Ranger/Paladin in 4e
Special abilities that aren't used x times per day, but instead can be used over and over (make
a save each time you use it, when you fail it runs out)
Special abilities that are totally wuxia/video-game based for non magical characters (like the Amazon's ability to make arrows catch on fire, or split into multiple arrows mid-flight, etc)
A traditionally evil caster class as a hero class (Necromancer / Warlock)
Emphasis on kicking @$$ and doing super-kewl powerz over in depth role-playing or realism
Talent Trees for the barbarian, amazon, and paladin just as there will be for Fighter/Ranger/Paladin in 4e
Special abilities that aren't used x times per day, but instead can be used over and over (make
a save each time you use it, when you fail it runs out)
Special abilities that are totally wuxia/video-game based for non magical characters (like the Amazon's ability to make arrows catch on fire, or split into multiple arrows mid-flight, etc)
A traditionally evil caster class as a hero class (Necromancer / Warlock)
Emphasis on kicking @$$ and doing super-kewl powerz over in depth role-playing or realism
