Well, I Went Ahead and Did It

[InzeladunMaster]

I got the set yesterday. It actually, on the surface, looks more complicated than 3e. I am trying to look up what the color bars on the powers mean (there are several different colors, and I don't know why), but can't find anything.

I am also disappointed to find out there are no Druids or Barbarians (they are to be covered in future Player's Handbook volumes). That makes convering an existing world or campaign impossible for me. It also sets up WotC to sell lots and lots of future books, instead of just giving us three core books that cover everything, with future books being optional. That frustrates me, as my worlds tend to have a lot of druids and barbarians in them (and those are my two favorite classes to play).

Monks and Psions also are to be covered in future volumes, but that is fairly common with D&D of past editions, so that isn't as frustrating or surprising.

The epic destinies sound kind of cool, but they put so few of them in that they seem limiting. I also like the concept of the rituals in the back of the book.

 

[APewty]

My primary gripe is that they yanked 3.5 products. I suppose that this is standard practice for WOTC, but it makes me want to never buy their stuff again, except whatever 3.5 I can find that I can afford.

Like the gnome, my friend said stuff seemed to be arbitrarily left out. He played a gnome a lot. As I have told some people, this is only my second time playing as a player and not as a DM, so I've never played a gnome character, but leaving out races and classes seems very wierd to me. It seems obvious the intent is to simplify, though some might say "dumb down". I heard there are three or four elf races. Why so if you are simplifying?

I'm thinking it's all about money, trying to generate interest, especially when WOTC yanks the 3.5 products. It's a shame the rules couldn't be expanded on with alternate variations. It also occurs to me that DM's can use the rules they want if things are too complicated. There isn't a need for multiple editions, except to generate sales.

Frankly, I could have gone back to the original AD&D, except I sold all my stuff.....

 

[InzeladunMaster]

Yeah, they added an elf race (Eladrin), the Tiefling (from Planescape), and a "dragon-born" race; they got rid of half-orcs and gnomes. They got rid of some basic classes, and added some brand new ones (warlords come to mind).

Multi-classing is now a matter of feats. I am not sure I like it.

Also, and this may just be me, but they need a new layout designer. The books are actually hard to look through. Each page has about four to six different fonts, colors, etc, all in a (to me) confusing mishmash. The Monster Manual is particularly frustrating to page through.