Very first thoughts after reading 4e PHB

[Quartz]

Someone at Amazon must have read a recent comment I made here for I received the books about an hour ago. I've had a moderately quick skim of the 4e PHB.

Wow. It's very different. In fact, I think it's sufficiently different that those converting from 3e will have more difficulty than those approaching it anew.

The bias against sword-and-board still seems to be there: both shield and bracers take the same item slot. Fortunately, this is an easy fix.

More later: I've got some serious reading to do.

 

[Cadfan]

The bias against sword-and-board still seems to be there: both shield and bracers take the same item slot. Fortunately, this is an easy fix.

It is generally believed that sword-and-board is the superior weapon option in 4e.

 

[WayneLigon]

Wow. It's very different. In fact, I think it's sufficiently different that those converting from 3e will have more difficulty than those approaching it anew.

That's generally better, though, because you can simply throw out the notions you had before and start fresh. It was a much harder thing to go from 3.0 to 3.5 than it was to go from 2E to 3E. They were similar but so many picky little details had changed (especially if you were a spellcaster) that it was impossible to keep track of them all. Even a year or more later, we were still having to look up things that previously we'd memorized and never had to check.

 

[kclark]

To be completely honest my first thought after reading the book and immediately making a character was, "Where is the oil?" They have lanterns in the equipment, but no oil. I was baffled for a while.

 

[Mengu]

To be completely honest my first thought after reading the book and immediately making a character was, "Where is the oil?" They have lanterns in the equipment, but no oil. I was baffled for a while.

Wow, you can create a 1st level character without oil? The editors must be asleep on the job, or their lanterns ran out of oil and they can't see in the dark.

 

[Andur]

They don't bathe, so they can refill their lamps with the oil from their hair once per day per character.

 

[Quartz]

It is generally believed that sword-and-board is the superior weapon option in 4e.

Do tell!

As far as I've read, a person with a two-handed weapon can have magic bracers and do better damage, but a person with a one-handed weapon can only benefit from a magic shield or magic bracers, not both.

 

[Mengu]

Do tell!

Party role-wise, the defender does a better job of defending, when he has a shield, and leaves the damage dealing to the strikers. But if you have no strikers, there is nothing wrong with building a fighter that can do a little bit of both.

 

[Cadfan]

Do tell!

As far as I've read, a person with a two-handed weapon can have magic bracers and do better damage, but a person with a one-handed weapon can only benefit from a magic shield or magic bracers, not both.

+2 ac and reflex seems to be better than the slight damage increase found in larger weapons, which tends to be approximately 1 or 1.5 per [W] in an attack.

Character with longsword and shield:
[W]=d8
+2 ac
+2 ref
Benefits from magic weapon
Benefits from magic shield

Character with greatsword
[W]=d10
Benefits from magic weapon
Benefits from magic bracers

So the question is whether increasing your die from d8 to d10 (or whatever the relevant increase is for your weapon of choice, they all come out similarly) is worth the same thing to you as +2 ac and +2 reflex.

The consensus I've been feeling on this forum is that the superior choice is the defensive one.

 

[Norhg]

Not to forget...
Character with Bastardsword and shield:
[W]=d10
+2 ac
+2 ref
Benefits from magic weapon
Benefits from magic shield