pawsplay
Hero
I'm trying to be open-minded about the new edition. However, it's just not sitting right with me. It's like all the dials turned up, when I was hoping for a more seasoned game that learned from 3e's mistakes.
I like the idea of dragons actually fighting and breathing fire instead of casting spells. However, I think a dragon's stat block should already make it pretty formidable relative to a guy with a sword. I don't think a dragon needs 500 hit points. Or an AC of 49....my D&D brain says "That's equivalent to an old skool AC of -29." Why not just state you can only hit them on a natural 20 and be done with it? And wha the hell kind of armor does that thing have?
Likewise, I'd have preferred a new edition had less fighters doing 250+ points of damage, not more. I don't yearn for the days of D&D where a 15th level fighter did 1d8+4 damage with his +2 longsword, but it seems like there should be a middle ground between static damage, and numbers continuously escalating like a MMORPG with 15th level rabid rats, with twenty times the hit points of the 1st level paladin who once slew many a 1st level ordinary rat.
I'm not too happy with "more magic" or crits healing the party. Very JCRPG, I think. Or maybe just very Playstation.
Tieflings as a core race... I like tieflings, but they aren't common in any of my campaigns. It seems like by including them, they indirectly say, "Basic D&D campaigns are now nonstandard.... all campaigns now include fairly common intrusions of pitchfork style demons and devils." Mystara, Middle Earth, and many classic fantasy settings don't have lots of individuals running around with extraplanar ancestry, much less cute little horns. Also, I always pictured as more Star Trek alien looking, the new look seems to be more Tiefling Captain (DDM).
All in all, D&D just looks like it's going to more.... bombastic. That's the word I'm looking for.
I'll probably buy it... it will be the game to play, so if I want to play, that will be it. But I might continue to run 3e, or my own version of that. And certainly, 4e will be the game to write for. So if I want to do freelancing, it's going to be for 4e, for the most part.
People have talked about Star Wars saga influencing D&D, but I see other influences, too. I don't think the Everquest RPG can be discounted as a source of inspiration; more levels, smooth transitions to higher levels, characters recovering a lot of resources between encounters, monsters being scaled arbitrarily to challenge PCs, etc. But mainly, D&D self-pollinating. When I read the original Assassin and Shadowdancer PrCs, I thought, "Hm, it seems like there is an impulse to inject magic into just about everything. But to me, magic is a rare gift, and someone shouldn't become a spellcaster just because they have become a very good assassin." Years of PrCs, increasingly supernatural Feats, variants classes, and campaign books have ensured virtually every archetype has a huge amount of magic that could potentially be used to bolster it, and it was decided apparently that 4e would go ahead and roll it all in.
But I have fond memories of playing fighters who wore chainmail, made of steel, and used longswords.
I like the idea of dragons actually fighting and breathing fire instead of casting spells. However, I think a dragon's stat block should already make it pretty formidable relative to a guy with a sword. I don't think a dragon needs 500 hit points. Or an AC of 49....my D&D brain says "That's equivalent to an old skool AC of -29." Why not just state you can only hit them on a natural 20 and be done with it? And wha the hell kind of armor does that thing have?
Likewise, I'd have preferred a new edition had less fighters doing 250+ points of damage, not more. I don't yearn for the days of D&D where a 15th level fighter did 1d8+4 damage with his +2 longsword, but it seems like there should be a middle ground between static damage, and numbers continuously escalating like a MMORPG with 15th level rabid rats, with twenty times the hit points of the 1st level paladin who once slew many a 1st level ordinary rat.
I'm not too happy with "more magic" or crits healing the party. Very JCRPG, I think. Or maybe just very Playstation.
Tieflings as a core race... I like tieflings, but they aren't common in any of my campaigns. It seems like by including them, they indirectly say, "Basic D&D campaigns are now nonstandard.... all campaigns now include fairly common intrusions of pitchfork style demons and devils." Mystara, Middle Earth, and many classic fantasy settings don't have lots of individuals running around with extraplanar ancestry, much less cute little horns. Also, I always pictured as more Star Trek alien looking, the new look seems to be more Tiefling Captain (DDM).
All in all, D&D just looks like it's going to more.... bombastic. That's the word I'm looking for.
I'll probably buy it... it will be the game to play, so if I want to play, that will be it. But I might continue to run 3e, or my own version of that. And certainly, 4e will be the game to write for. So if I want to do freelancing, it's going to be for 4e, for the most part.
People have talked about Star Wars saga influencing D&D, but I see other influences, too. I don't think the Everquest RPG can be discounted as a source of inspiration; more levels, smooth transitions to higher levels, characters recovering a lot of resources between encounters, monsters being scaled arbitrarily to challenge PCs, etc. But mainly, D&D self-pollinating. When I read the original Assassin and Shadowdancer PrCs, I thought, "Hm, it seems like there is an impulse to inject magic into just about everything. But to me, magic is a rare gift, and someone shouldn't become a spellcaster just because they have become a very good assassin." Years of PrCs, increasingly supernatural Feats, variants classes, and campaign books have ensured virtually every archetype has a huge amount of magic that could potentially be used to bolster it, and it was decided apparently that 4e would go ahead and roll it all in.
But I have fond memories of playing fighters who wore chainmail, made of steel, and used longswords.
