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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Ultramodern 4e or "The best 3rd party 4e supplement yet!"
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<blockquote data-quote="Kelvor Ravenstar" data-source="post: 5906758" data-attributes="member: 33291"><p>On the recommendation of this and the other thread, I picked up the pdf today. I think Ultramodern 4 has a lot of good ideas, like the ladder system, but I think the implementation of them could be improved.</p><p></p><p>Ultramodern 4 may suffer from what was said many times in the early days of 4e: doesn't read well, but play is fun. I haven't had an opportunity to play it yet, but after my first read through I have a few problems with it as is.</p><p></p><p>I think most of my criticisms could be summed up with what I think about one power: Swift Strike, from the Warrior Ladder. It is one of the At-Will powers that a character with the Warrior ladder could swap for one of their regular level 1 class At-Will attacks.</p><p><strong>Swift Strike</strong> Warrior Attack 1</p><p><em>You find a split-second opening and deliver the attack, hoping to hold the enemy back.</em></p><p><strong>At-Will • Martial, Weapon </strong></p><p><strong>Move Action Melee </strong>or <strong>Ranged</strong> weapon </p><p><strong>Attack</strong>: Dexterity vs. AC</p><p><strong>Hit</strong>: Dexterity modifier damage, and the target is dazed until the start of your next turn.</p><p></p><p>First of all, I don't agree with making Move Action attack powers that deal damage, but that's a design choice the writers of UM4 have made, and its consistent throughout the book. I like the Move Action powers that don't deal damage, but instead inflict a minor restriction or penalty to the target. I'm not sure how I feel about increasing the number of attack rolls in a turn, as every power that targets an enemy (that I can recall from my first read through) has an attack roll. </p><p></p><p>But the main issue with the above power that made me reconsider whether UM4 is going to be worth my time to run is the fact that the Swift Strike power is an at-will daze. Dazed is a condition that should not be available that frequently at level 1, IMHO. </p><p></p><p>This power is the worst example I found in the book, so perhaps the system functions better overall and this is just an anomaly. According to the introduction, pushing the design boundaries of 4th edition D&D was an intent of the writers. After four years of reading consistent and mostly easy to understand rules text from 4e, I found many powers in UM4 needlessly complex and difficult to parse.</p><p></p><p>Formatting for the book was bothersome for me as well, but some of the problems may have been caused by a space restriction do to the forthcoming print-on-demand version. Classes start in the middle of columns, I would have preferred each start at the beginning of a new page. </p><p>The new feats are presented in the same chapter as skills, which I can understand as it is only 2 pages. </p><p>Edit: There are more feats than I thought, but I missed them because of the page swapping error.</p><p>However, there is no section break to separate the skills section from the feats section. The feats begin with Iron Will after the Vehicle Operation skill, and its obvious they were intended to be grouped by Ladder, and then by class, followed by General Feats. But the title for Ladder feats is missing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kelvor Ravenstar, post: 5906758, member: 33291"] On the recommendation of this and the other thread, I picked up the pdf today. I think Ultramodern 4 has a lot of good ideas, like the ladder system, but I think the implementation of them could be improved. Ultramodern 4 may suffer from what was said many times in the early days of 4e: doesn't read well, but play is fun. I haven't had an opportunity to play it yet, but after my first read through I have a few problems with it as is. I think most of my criticisms could be summed up with what I think about one power: Swift Strike, from the Warrior Ladder. It is one of the At-Will powers that a character with the Warrior ladder could swap for one of their regular level 1 class At-Will attacks. [B]Swift Strike[/B] Warrior Attack 1 [I]You find a split-second opening and deliver the attack, hoping to hold the enemy back.[/I] [B]At-Will • Martial, Weapon Move Action Melee [/B]or [B]Ranged[/B] weapon [B]Attack[/B]: Dexterity vs. AC [B]Hit[/B]: Dexterity modifier damage, and the target is dazed until the start of your next turn. First of all, I don't agree with making Move Action attack powers that deal damage, but that's a design choice the writers of UM4 have made, and its consistent throughout the book. I like the Move Action powers that don't deal damage, but instead inflict a minor restriction or penalty to the target. I'm not sure how I feel about increasing the number of attack rolls in a turn, as every power that targets an enemy (that I can recall from my first read through) has an attack roll. But the main issue with the above power that made me reconsider whether UM4 is going to be worth my time to run is the fact that the Swift Strike power is an at-will daze. Dazed is a condition that should not be available that frequently at level 1, IMHO. This power is the worst example I found in the book, so perhaps the system functions better overall and this is just an anomaly. According to the introduction, pushing the design boundaries of 4th edition D&D was an intent of the writers. After four years of reading consistent and mostly easy to understand rules text from 4e, I found many powers in UM4 needlessly complex and difficult to parse. Formatting for the book was bothersome for me as well, but some of the problems may have been caused by a space restriction do to the forthcoming print-on-demand version. Classes start in the middle of columns, I would have preferred each start at the beginning of a new page. The new feats are presented in the same chapter as skills, which I can understand as it is only 2 pages. Edit: There are more feats than I thought, but I missed them because of the page swapping error. However, there is no section break to separate the skills section from the feats section. The feats begin with Iron Will after the Vehicle Operation skill, and its obvious they were intended to be grouped by Ladder, and then by class, followed by General Feats. But the title for Ladder feats is missing. [/QUOTE]
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