D&D 4E What don't you like about 4E so far? (Not a rant)

[Wednesday Boy]

Adding the Tiefling as a PHB race.

 

[hazel monday]

My 2 main concerns:

1. No more low level play.
2. Fighters and Rogues becoming "spellcasters"

I like low level play. I like having the option to not play a spellcaster.

 

[Baby Samurai]

The only thing I'm not so hot on is the Emerald Bunky and what not wizard orders or what have you.

 

[Baby Samurai]

2. Fighters and Rogues becoming "spellcasters"
I like having the option to not play a spellcaster.

Having abilities/powers besides 'I full attack again' does not equal spellcasting…

 

[WyzardWhately]

I'm afraid all the old-school weird wizards could do is out the window. I've got the sense the spellcasters are more damage-dealers, less Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and Glassteel.

 

[Raith5]

That I have to wait 'til May (ok, April, whatever) to play it.

Otherwise... um... that Paladin isn't a talent tree for Clerics. They're too similar to realistically warrant two separate classes.

-TRRW

Good call!

Also, while I like a lot of what I have seen about 4th ed ( the skills system, cosmology, powers, etc)

* I dont like the intentional incompleteness of 4 ed (leaving out iconic monsters and classes. The game should be good to go out of the books)

* I dont like the fact that they have wimped out of spreading the levels of characters- i was really hoping a 30th level 4th ed character was going to equal a 20th level 3rd ed character. I reckon a level will still be an big jump in power each time.

* I dont like randomness of criticals in that a 20 is automatically a crit. Confirming crits in 3rd edition brought the skill of the attacker and the AC of the target into play. With the ability to have crits with spells I think a confirmation roll is much more important than in 3rd ed.

More generally I like the idea of fighters and rogues with powers but there is this lingering feeling that 4th ed is going to give the characters too much powers too early - 1st level heroes no less. I like the early levels of 2nd and 3ed D and D where low level adventurers are essentially bums with swords who in time became heroes...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

- Monsters being constructed in a different way as characters; it's counter-intuitive and a big step back on RPG design, where almost every game treats monsters and characters in the same way.

That's the big one for me, too. I'm neutral or optimistic on most of the other changes, but treating monsters and characters differently when building them is a letdown. I mean, I can see the reasons for this - writing up high-level enemies does take a lot of time in 3.X - but I still prefer a more compatible build system.

 

[Baby Samurai]

I like the early levels of 2nd and 3ed D and D where low level adventurers are essentially bums with swords who in time became heroes...

Yeah, in a few days if you go by the 3.5 assumed 4 encounters a day malarkey.

I like what their aiming for in 4th Ed – instead of starting out as a stable boy with a longsword (1st level) and becoming a demigod later that year (15th level or so), you will start with a bit more oomph, but will gain power more incrementally.

 

[humble minion]

It's pretty hard to come down hard against anything at this point - it's just too early and we've got such little information to base an opinion on. The only things I can say unambiguously that I don't like are a) what's being done to the FR setting, and b) the horribly drab and flavourless names for the new planes.

I'm a little concerned that wizards (in particular, and magic in general) might be heading towards a more simplistic combat-focused blasterish style rather than rewarding the sort of more cerebral and calculating preparation and pre-planning that they did in 3e. Could Sep have run his story hour in 4e? Other than that, I sincerely hope that the rumours about drow being a playable race in PHB1 are false, and while I'm still a bit leery I'm willing to give the new planar structure and demon-devil business a chance.

Time will tell. But to be honest if WotC manages to get rid of some of the immersion-breakers and silly leftovers that have been hindering D&D for ages, magic item dependency in particular, the rest would have to be pretty damn terrible to put me off.

 

[HellHound]

The wailing and gnashing of teeth.