What do you consider "everything is core" to mean in your game?

[catsclaw227]

After reading a few recent threads, the "everything is core" topic seems to generate some different opinions about what that means at the game table.

I believe WOTC means "everything is core" to mean that they will try to build against an internal consistency and if a mechanic comes out in Primal Power 2, it will hold the same functional and mechanical weight as one from Open Grave or PHB 3 and the options are simply extensions of the base framework.

What does 4e's "everything is core" mean to your game?

Also, as a side question, what do you think WOTC means with "everything is core"?

 

[ggroy]

Double post.

 

[Crothian]

Other as in: don't care.

I use what I use. They can call books core they can call the books optional, they can call the books elite advanced or special. Heck, call them pink elephantys and it's not going to matter to me.

Frankly, I see it as marketing gimick and I really try to ignore marketing as much as possible.

 

[ggroy]

To me, "everything is core" is anything from the 4E D&D core and splatbooks short of the stuff which I have banned. So far I haven't felt the need to ban anything yet in my 4E games.

 

[TwinBahamut]

"Core" has never meant anything with regards to what I allow into a game or not, and 4E doesn't change that.

On the other hand, "everything is core" seems to mean that I can expect classes from sources outside the PHB I to get support from supplemental materials on a regular basis, and I'm all for that. I hated the fact that many of the best classes from 3E and 3.5E never got any real support simply because they were released in later supplements, while Wizards and Clerics had new spells and feats in every single book simply because they were in the PHB.

 

[malraux]

Core has nothing to do with what is allowed in a game, though in 3e it was a shorthand references to no splat books. Core means that when WotC releases a book with additional powers in it, you can expect that they assumed that you not only own the PH1 but also might own the FRPG. So arcane power has stuff that helps the swordmage. Similarly, the next arcane power book will have stuff that adds to the artificer.

For 3e, if a class was released in a splat, the only place you'd find stuff that helped it would be in that book. New spells/feats/PrCs would often not even be aware that the class existed, but instead only added to the core 3 books. When WotC says that everything is core, they just mean that they continue to bring out additional material for stuff not in the ph1 or dmg1.

What this has to do with the allowed books for a campaign, I have no idea, other than removing the shorthand of what is allowed.

 

[Scribble]

"Core" has never meant anything with regards to what I allow into a game or not, and 4E doesn't change that.

On the other hand, "everything is core" seems to mean that I can expect classes from sources outside the PHB I to get support from supplemental materials on a regular basis, and I'm all for that. I hated the fact that many of the best classes from 3E and 3.5E never got any real support simply because they were released in later supplements, while Wizards and Clerics had new spells and feats in every single book simply because they were in the PHB.

I agree.

 

[catsclaw227]

I never mentioned my answer - All books should work with each other and be interchangeable, but the DM decides what to allow.

I did know several players during the 3.x era, though, that would argue with a DM about what they want to play because it is in a WOTC splat and therefore should be allowed.

Sometimes, they argued just to see how far they could push the DM before they put their foot down, but that's a different thread entirely.

I was just wondering if this mentality will be amplified because of the "everything is core" mantra.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Honestly, the only reason I could see to ban stuff in 4e is flavor. And that is not that comlex.

 

[Cadfan]

I selected "other."

I permit mostly everything, but that has nothing to do with WotC telling me what is or is not "core." I'm pretty sure that the "everything is core" slogan was just a quippy way of stating that all released classes and races will receive ongoing support and be included, or at least not excluded, in all settings. The statement was of course made in context of 3e's policy, which was to very rarely support classes and races from non core books (although this policy was eased later in 3e's lifetime).

I simply read it as stating something like, "Remember how we made the Hexblade, and then never released a single new thing for it except one article in Dragon, and then a few spells and a few magic items years later? We're not doing that anymore."