Things that you've heard that you especially like

[Baby Samurai]

-More emphasis on Fey (love that drow are now fey)

-New take on devils/demons

-New cosmology

-Less gear dependency (no more Christmas tree effect)

-Better math

-Per day, per encounter and at will abilities

-No more full attacks

-No more 5 ft. step

-Defences

-Removal of Touch and Flat-footed AC

-Monster design model

-Power sources

-Roles

-Alignment no longer having a mechanical affect on play

-No more save or die/suck

-Removal of critical confirmation rolls

-Less exponential growth of characters (sweet spot over 30 levels etc)

 

[Wormwood]

I like essentially everything that I've heard so far, but my real loves would have to be (and off the top of my head here):

Simplified monster generation/stat-blocks
Death of the CR system
Reduction of Alignment's mechanical effects
Per-encounter abilities
Streamlined skills system
Planar Fluff
Fewer, more flavorful magic items
Reduced dependence on magic items for character advancement
Action points core

 

[Baby Samurai]

Fewer, more flavorful magic items
Reduced dependence on magic items for character advancement

I'm so glad to see that this one seems to be really popular.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Rules for social encounters; wizards' implements (I'm still hoping for them to get rid of most material components); new skill system based on SWSE. Those are the big ones for me.

 

[Wormwood]

I'm so glad to see that this one seems to be really popular.

Let's be honest here: lots of us love the innovations that 3e brought to the game, and it remains my favorite iteration of D&D to this day.

But that hasn't stopped me from realizing that in the wake of 3e's sweeping changes, a few elements were introduced that (for lack of a better term) sucked.

That so many of those 'unintended consequences' are squarely in the cross-hairs of the 4e design team is the *primary* reason I'm such a 4e fanboy.

 

[Baby Samurai]

That so many of those 'unintended consequences' are squarely in the cross-hairs of the 4e design team is the *primary* reason I'm such a 4e fanboy.

I agree with you totally.

…But don't call yourself a fanboy; you know how these sites are…

Maybe we should call ourselves 4th Ed Enthusiasts? Otherwise people will call you a 4th Ed Fantard or whatever it is in the parlance of out times…

 

[Raven Crowking]

I'm so glad to see that this one seems to be really popular.

Indeed, even I am happy about it.

My home brew based on 3.X has:

* Weapon choice affecting how you fight

* Magician build thast includes staff and athame as tools

* Faerie as a plane you can wander into

* Demons and devils as imprisoned wannabe celestials

* Faster combat

* Faster prep time

* Social "combat" from Dynasties & Demogouges

* A mix of per-day and per-encounter that works

So I know that all of these things can be done, and done well. I am really skeptical about how 4e will do them, thus far, based upon what I have read. I suppose in this case my glass is half-empty.

Happy about the points-of-light default.

I like the Shadowfell as a plane you might cross into; I'll have to add this idea to my own Grey Lymbo.

If they pull off the extended sweet spot, that would be great.

Oh, and CR suffering the agonizing death that it deserves.

RC

 

[Cadfan]

I like basically everything. I only have two reservations, and they're small. So here's some favorites.

Rules: We haven't seen either yet, but the designers have indicated that they understand how these became problems, and intend to fix them. And that's good enough for now. First, the sweet spot effect being eliminated. I'm glad the designers took a look at the math and the spells that made levels 3 to 12 so cool, and are trying to extend that effect across the whole array of levels. Second, fixing primary spellcasters so they don't have the nova/sleep effect built in- what I used to call the Narcoleptic Mage. I know that a skillful DM can stop players from doing this, but the pure vancian system didn't add enough to justify making the DM learn this skill. Having some abilities per day, some abilities per encounter, and some abilities at will gives players the best of each world.

Fluff: The Shadowfell. Making the flavor and the mechanics of raise dead align in a reasonable way is such a good idea. And the idea of a plane of existence exactly like reality except horribly wrong is so fun. I await the Shadowcaster's 4e reawakening.

 

[Masquerade]

Death of the Christmas tree.

At will / Per encounter / Per day.

Powers for fighters.

Simpler cosmology.

 

[TerraDave]

Promises, promises

What I like are basically the aspirations...streamlined play, every class with a clear place in the game, easier to DM, easier to run monsters with clear roles, less magic item dependence but treasure is still important, magic-users with more "endurance", better balance at higher and lower levels, a rethink of the implied world and cosmology.

BUT, it mostly remains aspirations. We know some skills will be consolidated, saves combined with defense, no CR (but replacement still not 100% clear)...but we do not really know how all these aspirations will be met.

Attempting to be positive here about actual incorporate material and not just rumors:

Feywilde: Hate the name, but 'Faerie' as party of the basic setting mirrors my homebrew and so is a potential source of flavor and ideas that might influence it. It's the sort of thing that could prompt me to buy modules or sourcebooks even if I don't adopt the system.

Wizard Implements: Items are just wizardly. Even if I don't incorporate this, it is again a potential sources of ideas.

Warlord: I love the concept behind a non-magical 'spell caster', but Mearls 'Iron Heroes' made me feel that the concept wasn't broad enough to support multiple classes in an interesting way. Consolodating the best ideas from that work into a single class seems to me to be the best way to go. This is the sort of idea that I could port to 3rd edition almost intact or at the least is likely to influence how I view the game.

YES...they also fit nicely with my alt earth homebrew...but again, the details, just not there.

On the other hand, they have 8 months or so. Important to keep that in mind.