Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="doctorhook" data-source="post: 4567482" data-attributes="member: 58401">Let's group these complaints:Group 1: Things that could easily be in 4E in the future<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A 4E character can not teleport anywhere in the world as a standard action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A 4E character cannot create an moving illusion with sound effects of anything that can fill a 40'ft cube as a standard action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A 4E character cannot change shape into a Dragon or Triceratops.</li> </ul> Group 1 is made up of complaints about things that aren't currently in 4E, but can and probably will be in the future. Faster teleportation could appear as a prepared ritual, illusions will almost certainly be expanded as the Arcane and Shadow power sources are developed, and shape-changing is nearly a given for the Primal power source, if nowhere else. Solution: Be patient, or make these elements for yourself. Group 2: Things that belong to another game, but are being expected of 4E<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A 4E character cannot deal +8d6 sneak attack... </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A 4E character cannot Power Attack for 15... </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A 4E character cannot dominate another sentient being for a significant amount of time as a standard action.</li> </ul> Group 2 is made up of game concepts from other games (primarily 3.5E, but not exclusively). These complaints are often analogous to, "This apple is a terrible orange! It's not orange and doesn't taste like an orange at all!" Sneak Attack exists in 4E, and it's still capable of pretty obscene damage, but damage scales differently in 4E. Complaints about not being able to "do "+8d6 damage with SA" are as illegitimate as, "D&D characters are weaker than WoW characters, because WoW characters can do 10000 damage with a crit!" Power Attack is a similar situation. Domination exists in 4E, just not with the same definition it had in 3.5E; the nature of 4E determines that the mechanics of domination ought to operate differently. Solution: Either let go of your hang-ups, or play the game you really want to play and forget about 4E. Group 3: Things that are ultimately narrative by nature<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A 4E character cannot kill a fully healthy being with one spell.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">[A 4E character cannot attack] with 6-8 attacks per round.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">[A 4E character cannot attack] with 3-4 attacks per round.</li> </ul> Group 3 is made up of actions that are possible within the narrative of a 4E game, but aren't explicitly mentioned in the rules. In 4E (and D&D in general), narration ultimately determines life and death, not hit points; characters reduced to the point of death live or die not by the rules but by the whims of the story and its drivers: the DM and players. Thus, your Magic Missile is fully capable of killing anyone whom you and your DM determine is adequately vulnerable to it, hit points be damned. Multiple attacks per round is much simpler; in 4E, characters usually only take one attack ACTION per round, but that attack action can be made up of numerous separate attacks, whose number is only limited by the narration your and your DM create. (For example, your Brute Strike attack might be a single smashing blow, but your friend's Brute Strike attack might instead be a furious onslaught of less dramatic cuts; either way the mechanical result is identical.) Solution: Open your mind and take control of the story you're participating in. Group 4: Several of the above<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A 4E character cannot cast a Wish spell.</li> </ul> Group 4 is made up of complaints which fit into more than one of the other three categories, to a much greater extent than most complaints. A 4E character cannot cast a Wish spell because such a spell doesn't yet exist in 4E, but it might in the future. A 4E character cannot cast a Wish spell as you remember it from 3.5E, because that spell wouldn't fit into 4E. A 4E character CAN cast a Wish spell with the help of imaginative narration by player and DM. Solution: See above solutions. I think my work here is done.</blockquote>

Verification