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What is the essence of 4E?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 7449423" data-attributes="member: 46713"><p>I'm a big fan of 4e, but I didn't care for the Essential classes. I felt it was a mistake to stray from the 'perfect symmetry' of classes they achieved by using the AEDU framework. To me, it felt like the solution to a problem that didn't exist.</p><p>An anecdote I always mention in this context is that one player in my group who had never played anything but fighters and paladins in earlier editions suddenly created a Wizard character in 4e and had the time of his life, playing that character. This, to me, was 4e's greatest achievement: All classes were simple enough to be playable by any player.</p><p>Well, almost all of my campaigns have started with a TPK. It's a great way to get the players' attention and get them to focus on creating a functioning party.</p><p></p><p>I don't think there's a single thing that was the essence of 4e. It was a combination of several excellent ideas and the willingness of the designers to slaughter some holy cows to make D&D a better game.</p><p></p><p>Never before or after have I seen such a great implementation of dynamic, suspenseful tactical combat encounters.</p><p></p><p>For a DM, especially after being burnt out by the tedium of high-level 3e prep-work with monster stat blocks encompassing several pages and combats slowing down to a crawl, taking hours to resolve a single turn, 4e was a gift from heaven.</p><p></p><p>The transparency of the underlying math was another high point in RPG design.</p><p></p><p>And the skill system didn't feel like it was tacked on for the first time in D&D's history. Skill challenges worked well for me, because I never told my players they were participating in one. Instead they were woven seamlessly into normal roleplaying or combat encounters.</p><p></p><p>4e also marked the end of tracking xp for me: Players simply leveled up whenever it made sense for the story.</p><p></p><p>I also did away with the nonsense of having new characters start at a lower level and followed the recommendations on retraining.</p><p></p><p>To me, 4e is and was the greatest achievement in the long history of D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jhaelen, post: 7449423, member: 46713"] I'm a big fan of 4e, but I didn't care for the Essential classes. I felt it was a mistake to stray from the 'perfect symmetry' of classes they achieved by using the AEDU framework. To me, it felt like the solution to a problem that didn't exist. An anecdote I always mention in this context is that one player in my group who had never played anything but fighters and paladins in earlier editions suddenly created a Wizard character in 4e and had the time of his life, playing that character. This, to me, was 4e's greatest achievement: All classes were simple enough to be playable by any player. Well, almost all of my campaigns have started with a TPK. It's a great way to get the players' attention and get them to focus on creating a functioning party. I don't think there's a single thing that was the essence of 4e. It was a combination of several excellent ideas and the willingness of the designers to slaughter some holy cows to make D&D a better game. Never before or after have I seen such a great implementation of dynamic, suspenseful tactical combat encounters. For a DM, especially after being burnt out by the tedium of high-level 3e prep-work with monster stat blocks encompassing several pages and combats slowing down to a crawl, taking hours to resolve a single turn, 4e was a gift from heaven. The transparency of the underlying math was another high point in RPG design. And the skill system didn't feel like it was tacked on for the first time in D&D's history. Skill challenges worked well for me, because I never told my players they were participating in one. Instead they were woven seamlessly into normal roleplaying or combat encounters. 4e also marked the end of tracking xp for me: Players simply leveled up whenever it made sense for the story. I also did away with the nonsense of having new characters start at a lower level and followed the recommendations on retraining. To me, 4e is and was the greatest achievement in the long history of D&D. [/QUOTE]
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