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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Were people's expectations of "Modularity" set a little too high?
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<blockquote data-quote="slobster" data-source="post: 6001038" data-attributes="member: 6693711"><p>In my humble opinion, you could get close to invoking the feel of a 4E game by the inclusion of a few simple things.</p><p></p><p>1) Second wind. This boils down to allowing PCs to spend some of their recovery dice in combat, once per encounter. It has the added benefit of reducing mortality and making PCs feel more powerful, a la 4E.</p><p></p><p>2) Add an encounter ability for each class. Elves get their reroll, dwarves can second wind as a free action, and so on. Since everyone gets one it shouldn't wildly unbalance anything, but it puts encounter abilities in from the start and gives everyone more options to chose from during combat.</p><p></p><p>3) Add on a tactical rules module. This one is really simpler than it sounds. Include rules for different terrain types, and use them often. Allow for special attacks to push and slide enemies.</p><p></p><p>4) Add a marking mechanic. Maybe include it as a specialty, to improve the modularity. When you mark an enemy it suffers disadvantage if it attacks anyone but you, and as the specialty levels up it allows you to make attacks if they attack someone else, stop their movement if they try to get away from you, etc.</p><p></p><p>IMO the marking mechanic is a key part of achieving the 4E feel, because it solidifies the roles your characters play within the party and enriches the whole experience of tactical combat with new, consequential decisions.</p><p></p><p>5) Include action points. Should be fairly simple, you get one at the start of the day and another every other encounter. You can spend one during your turn for an extra action. Done!</p><p></p><p>6) Finally there are a lot of things you could do to achieve 4E feel that don't require any real rule changes, just GMing decisions. Allow your players to make magic item wishlists. Run interaction encounters using skill challenge frameworks. Get used to saying "yes" to your players when they want to try something crazy. Be very flexible on how players reflavor their class abilities and such to match their character concept. Build encounters that are designed to challenge your players and include a mix of enemy types as well as terrain and hazards which reward tactical thinking.</p><p></p><p>Since everyone has a subjective opinion on what the "feel" of a particular edition or playstyle entails, the above list would really produce <em>my </em>concept of a 4E game of D&D. It's also far from comprehensive, given that I just bashed it out on my keyboard after only a few minutes of thought. I'm confident, though, that most 4E players could play through a session of the game described above and recognize what I'm trying to accomplish. I think it's all doable, and hope that the designers of DDN eventually start considering something similar when they finally get around to the rules module design phase.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="slobster, post: 6001038, member: 6693711"] In my humble opinion, you could get close to invoking the feel of a 4E game by the inclusion of a few simple things. 1) Second wind. This boils down to allowing PCs to spend some of their recovery dice in combat, once per encounter. It has the added benefit of reducing mortality and making PCs feel more powerful, a la 4E. 2) Add an encounter ability for each class. Elves get their reroll, dwarves can second wind as a free action, and so on. Since everyone gets one it shouldn't wildly unbalance anything, but it puts encounter abilities in from the start and gives everyone more options to chose from during combat. 3) Add on a tactical rules module. This one is really simpler than it sounds. Include rules for different terrain types, and use them often. Allow for special attacks to push and slide enemies. 4) Add a marking mechanic. Maybe include it as a specialty, to improve the modularity. When you mark an enemy it suffers disadvantage if it attacks anyone but you, and as the specialty levels up it allows you to make attacks if they attack someone else, stop their movement if they try to get away from you, etc. IMO the marking mechanic is a key part of achieving the 4E feel, because it solidifies the roles your characters play within the party and enriches the whole experience of tactical combat with new, consequential decisions. 5) Include action points. Should be fairly simple, you get one at the start of the day and another every other encounter. You can spend one during your turn for an extra action. Done! 6) Finally there are a lot of things you could do to achieve 4E feel that don't require any real rule changes, just GMing decisions. Allow your players to make magic item wishlists. Run interaction encounters using skill challenge frameworks. Get used to saying "yes" to your players when they want to try something crazy. Be very flexible on how players reflavor their class abilities and such to match their character concept. Build encounters that are designed to challenge your players and include a mix of enemy types as well as terrain and hazards which reward tactical thinking. Since everyone has a subjective opinion on what the "feel" of a particular edition or playstyle entails, the above list would really produce [I]my [/I]concept of a 4E game of D&D. It's also far from comprehensive, given that I just bashed it out on my keyboard after only a few minutes of thought. I'm confident, though, that most 4E players could play through a session of the game described above and recognize what I'm trying to accomplish. I think it's all doable, and hope that the designers of DDN eventually start considering something similar when they finally get around to the rules module design phase. [/QUOTE]
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Were people's expectations of "Modularity" set a little too high?
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