D&D 4E What Star Wars Saga E. features would you like to see incorporated in 4E D&D and why?

[WhatGravitas]

Wham. SAGA edition looks better, each time I look at it. I want almost everything in 4E, except the armour rules.

But then, Star Wars has a cinematic, "swashbuckling" feel, so armour is, of course, made to be less than great.

If the same guys are doing it for D&D, they'll do it in a more fitting way.

Great stuff, great stuff. Eliminates so many peeves with D&D.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I'm quite against Sense Motive being rolled into a Perception skill. Sure Search, Listen and Spot are all one thing, looking or noticing something physical...

But reading people is a very different skill. Honestly I don't think that psychiatrists and HR managers are going to be really good scouts.


The defenses on the other hand, I like some of the ideas behind them. Always was a fan of AC that went up with level. Don't know if it'll resolve area spells better.

Losing iterative attacks, might be convenient, but that would mean you can't have the whole warrior fends off hordes of enemies. I'd like some of that to still happen and not require having great cleave or whirlwind attack (which could be a martial spell/maneuver in 4e) to be able to attack hordes.

 

[Felon]

A very premature thread, considering we have only granules of info to go on.

I definitely don't want to see the elimination of numerical bonuses just because "math suxx0rz". They're really the only way to provide a modifier on a check that is innately cumulative with any other modifiers a character might have. And for assessing penalties I don't think there's any other viable option. If you're going to rein in the amount of bonuses handed out, that's fine.

I do like the skill system on the whole. Skill points are cumbersome.

 

[Roman]

Hi Roman, I am also glad to see another soul from Central Europe, although I believe it is not fair to the other users to write in different language, they can't possibly understand.

Of course, but a friendly greeting in one's native tongue has never hurt anybody!

The other side of this could be that the power curve for spellcasters would get flatter, too. There are good reasons to like flatter power curves, in general: characters can develop organically, over time, and their abilities can improve in ways that make fewer of their older abilities obsolete. And, if characters of different levels were closer in power, DMs would have more freedom about the kind of challenges they posed.

Maybe there will be a "combat bonus" in 4e? Maybe mages would only get an attack bonus = half their level and a dmg bonus = 1/4 level?

It is certainly possible to solve the fighter/spellcaster issues the removal of iterative attacks poses either by giving fighters some other bonuses to match the exponential power increases of the spellcasters or to flatten spellcaster power acquisition progression to bring it in line with the fighters. If they pull it off successfully, and they probably, will I will be happy, but so far we just don't know.

I really like the skill system, but I suppose anything would be an improvement over the current jumble.

I think the skill consolidation they have undertaken, although going a bit too far, is still rather positive on the whole. It is the other skill rules that do not allow for sufficient differentiation and that tie skills closer to levels that I take issue with.

 

[Roman]

After some thought (mainly because I can't think of a better alternative) I can even accept Sense Motive as part of Perception. (SM is too narrow to stand alone and it doesn't fit under any other broad catergory, so Perception is it.)

I admit this is a good point - Sense Motive is too narrow to stand on its own in a consolidated system. I would probably be more inclined to place it under deception though - those who are good at decieving people are prone to be good at identifying deceptions and motives.

I love how defense goes up with level, but I don't like the SWSE armor rules. I understand the design from a SW flavor perspective, but that won't fit w/ D&D. For D&D, I think that armor should provide DR, with the offset being a penalty to Defense, attack, and physical skills.

I agree completely on this.

BTW: Racial hit dice solve not only the problem hit point differentials, but also the issue of skill point differentials between say Rogue 5/Fighter 5 and Fighter 5/Rogue 5.

I've already decided that my next D&D game will be a version of SWSE as opposed to 3.5

I am also tempted to incorporate some of the innovations into my next game, though I will wait for yet more information before I decide how or if to do so.

 

[nerfherder]

I may be wrong, but I think SWSE has a slightly flatter power curve than D&D3.5.

Hit points start at first level are (3 X max HD) + CON bonus.

A first level cleric with a +1 CON bonus would have 11HP in D&D, but 25HP in SWSE, adn wold progress as follows:

D&D
1: 9hp
2: 13hp (50%)
3: 18hp (33%)
4: 22hp (25%)
5: 27hp (20%)
6: 31hp (17%)

SWSE
1: 25hp
2: 29hp (18%)
3: 34hp (15%)
4: 38hp (13%)
5: 43hp (12%)
6: 47hp (10%)

 

[Sammael]

From what I gathered, hit points are not gained every level in SWSE.

 

[nerfherder]

From what I gathered, hit points are not gained every level in SWSE.

Woah! Where did you read this? I certainly haven't picked that up from any of the previews or the Wizards board.

 

[Baby Samurai]

The only thing I really dig is the Defence scores, but as my group uses the Save Score variant from UA, it's practically the same thing.

I also like the Skill folding, my group have implemented:

-Acrobatics (Balance + Escape Artist+ Tumble)
-Athletics (Climb + Jump + Swim)
-Deception (Bluff + Disguise + Forgery)
-Disable Device (Disable Device + Open Lock)
-Perception (Listen + Search + Spot)
-Persuasion (Diplomacy + Intimidate)
-Stealth (Hide + Move Silently)
-Use Device (Use Magic Device + Use Psionic Device)


The Condition Track seems like it could be a real pain for the DM in battles involving many enemies – "Is goblin #3 at –5 on the Condition Track, or goblin #8?" "Oh, and I forgot where goblin #11 is on the Condition Track…"

 

[FireLance]

One thing I like that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is how you can trade a standard or move action for a swift action, and how swift actions can be spent to obtain certain benefits, e.g. aiming, or recovering.