What do you think so far?

[Warbringer]

The goals and ideals behind 4e I appreciate and laud, but so far not too sure i'm seeing it, but that may simply because we are seeing play test mainly at low level (dragon example excl)

I like the idea of power compression between 1st and 30th, but it seems so far it will be accomplished by more power at lower levels (the whole 1st is the new 4th level along the SAGA hp distribution). Again, really the only way for this to be accomplished as hit points seem will continually to scale of the map, and the amount of damage that a character does will likewise have to scale to maintain parity between levels.

This is and always has been the issue with hit points.

But, it looks like the simplicity is that the damage is going to come from less actions at higher levels, stessing the damage from the primary attack... I still hope that SAGA's way of handling this still gets included.

I love the dismantling of the Christmas Tree, but by defnition it means that characters need to be able to do more on their own. Midnight accomplishes this by allowing classes more power by the addition of a hero background that scales with level allowing access to 'spells' and abilities that may have come from magic items.

This means that the hero has more power, to replace lack of magic items.

So again, heroes may seem more powerful becuase less magic is already factored in.

The big change is in the details - how does magic change, how do other classes gain maneuvers in relation to level, how does multiclassing interlock creating weaker/stronger than base calculations?

Anyway big rant for a wait-and-see

 

[Sun Knight]

From what I have heard and seen so far, and what I have read in the SWSE I have to say that so far 4e is going to be the worse edition out of the bunch.

 

[frankthedm]

And, frankly, there shouldn't be classes that fulfill multiple roles simultaneously (cleric, I'm looking in your direction again). If the fighter rolls his eyes and wonders why he bothered showing up, that's just stupid...and it's flawed game design.

Hope the Cleric likes the taste of foam rubber, cause it sounds like he is going to get fed a great big Nerf.

 

[Merlion]

Hope the Cleric likes the taste of foam rubber, cause it sounds like he is going to get fed a great big Nerf.

*cheers*

 

[D.Shaffer]

I'm optimistic. the good stuff I've heard outweighs the bad...but we dont really have much in the way of concrete facts. Need more input.

 

[Nikosandros]

I'm quite liking what I've read so far...

I'm not to fond of the fact that I think that battlegrids will become even more important and I'm skeptical about the new "magazine look". I'm afraid it will mean less content in the books.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

From what I have heard and seen so far, and what I have read in the SWSE I have to say that so far 4e is going to be the worse edition out of the bunch.

I fear you may have misspelled "least familiar" there, chief.

Or possibly "worst", but that's a really easy word and would imply your tastes are objective.

 

[sjmiller]

I will be perfectly honest, I am not impressed with what I have seen so far. It's just not grabbing me, making me excited about the whole thing. Right now it looks like D&D is going in a direction that I disagree with and find objectionable in many ways. In many ways it reminds me of youth athletics. In order to make everyone "feel good" about playing, everyone gets a trophy, not just the winner of the league. If everyone in D&D is made to "feel special" in every encounter, then nobody is really special, are they? Sometimes encounters in a game should highlight the abilities of certain characters over others. Otherwise why would you play one class over another?

What I have seen, with all the emphasis on electronic/online content, really makes me think that 4e is not my game. I could rant about a lot of things, but as David Noonan said, the game is coming whether I like it or not.

So far, I am not liking it. I wish I could give extremely detailed explanations on why, but I am not sure if I can. I am also not sure if they would do any good.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

In order to make everyone "feel good" about playing, everyone gets a trophy, not just the winner of the league.

Bad analogy. D&D isn't meant to be competitive. In regards to different classes, it can't work that way unless the DM is playing favourites.

If everyone in D&D is made to "feel special" in every encounter, then nobody is really special, are they? Sometimes encounters in a game should highlight the abilities of certain characters over others. Otherwise why would you play one class over another?

You're turning it on its head: It's not about everyone being the highlight all the time. It's about no class being off the stage more than the absolute minimum of time.

Everyone should be able to contribute to every fight, or almost every fight. Not just 35%, with playing Sideshow Bob the rest of the time. Sitting there doing nothing for hours on end isn't fun.

 

[hong]

I'm not sure where "make classes more flexible" morphed into "take away class identity". Just because you don't need a party medic doesn't mean clerics are obsolete. It means that clerics are now free to do stuff _other_ than be the party medic. Similarly, just because you no longer need a dedicated bomb-disposal guy doesn't mean rogues are obsolete. It means that rogues are now free to do stuff other than disarm traps. Each class is always going to be better at certain things than the other classes. The point is not to widen the gap to the point that each class can only do stuff in its niche.

This _increases_ flexibility rather than removing it, since now there's less need for the DM to tailor adventures to their specific group. Want to run a game with lots of undead, but there's no cleric? Well, maybe now you can. Or you want to run a game with lots of traps and puzzles, but there's no rogue? Again, maybe now you can. By making the classes broader in what they can do, there's more room for the DM to run whatever they want, instead of having to worry about whether it'll be a cakewalk or a TPK.