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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brehobit" data-source="post: 5708381" data-attributes="member: 12032">I only made it though the first half of the replies, but I really find myself disagreeing with most of you.4e moved too far down the "simplified board game" path for me.  I'd rather it move back to simulation and say "screw balance" a bit more.  Things should, in context, make sense.  Why can the fighter only do something once/day?  Even the slayer ends up with powers like that via utilities.  Stop trying to build a good board game and make an RPG where immersion is easier.  Get back to a skill system that actually allows one to have skills unrelated to combat.  Remember that the game need not be solely balanced around combat.  It's actually okay if one character is better in combat than the other if that other character has skills and abilities that matter outside of combat.  A bard or thief in previous editions are good examples.Give more power to the DM.  One thing I do like about 4e is that you can sit down at pretty much anyone's table and from a combat viewpoint the rules are the same.  But the price for that is non-trivial.  The game seems to frown on "wacky" combat actions and actively discourages out-of-the-box uses of powers.  As a personal preference I'd move back to making magic generally more powerful but less available than bashing someone with a sword.  Perhaps removing at-wills from wizards and the like and replacing it with limited use or resourcing-eating magic items (wand of magic missiles).Encounter balance shouldn't be such an overriding concern.  If an encounter with level-2 creatures literally eats no relevant resources but takes 45 minutes to play, we've got a problem.  As a DM I feel each encounter needs to be a challenge, but challenge after challenge gets old. One way to achieve that is to have more long-term conditions.  In particular I'd like to see a fully rested party be stronger than one that just about died yesterday.  Limited recovery of powers and healing surges would be ideal.  I did something like this for 4e Dark Sun and it worked out really quite well.On the Dark Sun note: one thing great about Dark Sun 2e is that it really made the different power sources different in a cultural and game play way.  4e really lacks that--if you can do it with a sword you can probably do it with magic and visa versa.  Ick.  Make power sources matter again.One thing I really like about 4e and I seriously hope doesn't go away: easier monsters for the DM (especially at higher levels). Monsters still require a clue and organization to run, but nothing like 3.5 above level 7 or so.  I do think the random +1 status effects need to go away, but otherwise I'd not simplify it much more...</blockquote>

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