D&D 4E Things from 4E Not Done Well

[Connorsrpg]

Please limit your entries to lists - take discussion of specific parts to another forum (as several of them may generate such discussion):

I will start off:

1. Monster stats, esp Defenses, being so static and based upon level and not creature's abilities. (Seemed odd a slug of a creature having high Ref - but I always modified these on the fly).
2. Being able to do 'everything, all the time' is not fun in my mind. From powers with extra actions, to striking and critting any creature with any weapon, to removing the difference b/w weapon types (slashing, bludgeoning, piercing).
3. Poison and other effects simply being damage that you can get over in a matter of rounds. Some poisons (and other effects) could use the Disease rules/daily saves/checks.
4. Hit Points for all involved, and as a result damage had to be ramped up and made weapon damage meaningless.

 

[WoodstockBR]

Class style like Star Wars Saga (concepts, talents, customization, every character different from the other)

 

[Spatula]

1. Presentation.
2. Too many interrupts. When everyone can interrupt the flow of combat, it takes longer.
3. Treating every combat as an important set piece.
4. Too many little one round buffs and penalties.
5. Not sticking to stated design principles, especially regarding feats and items.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Nowhere near enough non-combat skills or powers/feats
Too many stacking bonuses
+x magic items
Christmas tree characters (And you gotta do it or go inherent)
Feats (I think it is time to ditch these) (Or give out one per 5 levels or so, and none that give a + to attack or damage
Too much inflation. (Going form +5 to hit to +55 is too much)

 

[BriarMonkey]

Multi-Classing;
Too many small/fleeting bonuses/conditions to track;
Too heavy a focus on combat;
Lack of non-combat skills/feats/abilities;
Too generic - every class felt like every other class;
The "feel" was too different from prior editions;
Completely up-ended cosmology;
Too many hit-points (across the board);
Namesake abilities (IE: Fireball) insignificant compared to other abilities;
Magic Item "rareity" system;
Posions/Diseases all "streamlined" - and generic, without character or uniqueness;
Weapons relegated to a somewhat insignificant factor of characters;

There are more, but that's all I can think of right now.

 

[Ahnehnois]

*The power system
*Minions, and other changes to monsters that made their stats less like the PCs'
*The standard modifier
*Residuum
*Restrictive multiclassing
*Paragon paths and epic destinies
*Tiers
*Roles
*The cosmology
*Magic
*1st level characters as heroes
*30 levels of core
*Allowing choice of ability score used for attacks and saves (a bit too flexible)
*Emphasis on miniatures
*Static defenses
*Saving throws
*Hit points

 

[Shemeska]

The cosmology

Retconning the PoL core cosmology and associated tropes into every preexisting campaign setting

 

[NewJeffCT]

1) I like the general idea of healing surges and second wind, but I think they heal too much damage each time out. Instead of 25% of hit points, plus scads more from various bonuses, it seems like my main monsters are doing almost nothing each round in terms of damage. I think the players should have fewer of them, and they should heal maybe 10, 15 or 20% of hit points instead of 25%.

2) I don't like that they took out the 9 alignments. I know there were endless arguments on alignment before, but it was easy enough to not use. Now, there is no difference between LE and NE, and NG and CG.

3) Too many races - why do we need eladrin? Were wood and high elves too confusing? Stick with the core Human, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Elf, Gnome and Dwarf, and have other races as options in non-core books. Shifters? Goliaths? Changelings? Turtle People? Heck, none of them were all that memorable from the PHB3 that I can recall.

4) Lack of non-combat abilities like Craft and Perform, as well as others.

5) Too many magic items are required in order to keep up with the monsters of that same level.

6) Too many bonuses/penalties/conditions to easily track by memory when there are so many interrupts/reactions. While it's better than 3.5E, it's still not always easy to do.
4)

 

[Incenjucar]

Arcane: It eventually became a method more than a power source, even though the edition had an opportunity to make it distinct and interesting.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Skill Challanges, good idea but not well implemented.
Rituals: ditto, though better implemented than skill challanges
Racial feats destroyed byt the math fixes. In fact all feat broadening suffered from the math fixes.
Multiclassing cost too much in feats, plus I think there should be some way to pick up class abilities and at wills.
Potentially too many fiddely bits in combat.