What Star Wars Saga E. features would you like to see incorporated in 4E D&D and why?
I like the tranformation of saves into defenses and the fact that Reflex now replaces the AC. I also like the existence of a condition track and the Fortitude-based threshold. This is all great and I would like to see it implemented in D&D 4E too.
I am somewhat less keen on all classes having the same progression of all saves/defenses. Differentiation is nice to have. I am also not as thrilled by the recovery mechanics from the condition track - instead of swift actions, I would require something much more substantial, such as a 5 minute rest.
The triple hit dice at first level is really nice and will make the hit point progression flatter, while making low level characters less vulnerable. This is great and again I would love to see it in the 4th Edition of D&D. A minor nitpick is that I would also allow triple constitution bonus to count here. A somewhat bigger nitpick is that I think the first two hit dice should be racial, rather than class, hit dice (but with class skills of the class). This would avoid Barbarian 4/Wizard 4 being automatically better than Wizard 4/Barbarian 4, since the Barbarian has higher hit dice, so choosing this class first will give a better triple hit die, while starting with a wizard does not present any advantage.
The new skill system is something I do not like for D&D, though it will probably be fine in Star Wars. Although skill consolidation is not bad, I feel they have taken it too far (sense motive with perception...), which is a bit of a problem but not the main one. My main issue is with the removal of skill ranks and their replacement with a level-based bonus. This forces characters to automatically improve at skills such as swimming, which in some cases they logically should not have... Honestly, maxing skills to ease high-level character creation can be done in the current system, while a more nuanced approach cannot work with the new system. This one is a nay for 4E D&D, even though it may be appropriate in the Star Wars universe, where all characters in the films are somewhat jacks-of-all-trades.
I like the tranformation of saves into defenses and the fact that Reflex now replaces the AC. I also like the existence of a condition track and the Fortitude-based threshold. This is all great and I would like to see it implemented in D&D 4E too.
I am somewhat less keen on all classes having the same progression of all saves/defenses. Differentiation is nice to have. I am also not as thrilled by the recovery mechanics from the condition track - instead of swift actions, I would require something much more substantial, such as a 5 minute rest.
The triple hit dice at first level is really nice and will make the hit point progression flatter, while making low level characters less vulnerable. This is great and again I would love to see it in the 4th Edition of D&D. A minor nitpick is that I would also allow triple constitution bonus to count here. A somewhat bigger nitpick is that I think the first two hit dice should be racial, rather than class, hit dice (but with class skills of the class). This would avoid Barbarian 4/Wizard 4 being automatically better than Wizard 4/Barbarian 4, since the Barbarian has higher hit dice, so choosing this class first will give a better triple hit die, while starting with a wizard does not present any advantage.
The new skill system is something I do not like for D&D, though it will probably be fine in Star Wars. Although skill consolidation is not bad, I feel they have taken it too far (sense motive with perception...), which is a bit of a problem but not the main one. My main issue is with the removal of skill ranks and their replacement with a level-based bonus. This forces characters to automatically improve at skills such as swimming, which in some cases they logically should not have... Honestly, maxing skills to ease high-level character creation can be done in the current system, while a more nuanced approach cannot work with the new system. This one is a nay for 4E D&D, even though it may be appropriate in the Star Wars universe, where all characters in the films are somewhat jacks-of-all-trades.
