Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
What was the big difference between 4e and "essentials"?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7451931" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>It's trivial to pick-up a feat, but that's trading a combat feat for a non-combat feat. That was generally too high of a price for most players.</p><p>(Which is another difference between Essentials and vanilla 4e... I don't think Rituals were in Essentials.)</p><p></p><p>The cost of rituals was always a little funky. Because that had a non-zero cost, there was a reluctance for a while, and I found even buying the rituals led to reluctance. It was spending money for a theoretical benefit, the possibility that this ritual might be of story use.</p><p>Justifying having the components was also funky. The party had to spend money on the components before they were to be used. You had to spend the money while in town and hope you'd find a use. Because you couldn't do that in the dungeon. </p><p></p><p>I tried a bunch of ways to encourage ritual use. I gave out free scrolls and components as bonus treasure. But nada. </p><p>I think some of the nature of 4e got in the way: the use of power cards and having everything your PC could do rolled up into the character sheet. While rituals were just listed, being too large for cards. It was easy to overlook.</p><p></p><p>-edit-</p><p>At the time, I suppose I also let the system get in my way. Because Skill Challenges had to be built in advance (to consider what skills could be used and possible benefits) I tended to consider those as solutions to problems rather than creating open ended problems that could better lead to creative solutions. (Not that I would have been averse to my players trying to think of their own.)</p><p></p><p>4e was not a game that easily supported the stories I liked to tell, and I had to change my GMing style to match the system. And with that added learning curve, I never got to a point of comfort where I could work around the system's assumptions. I was never in my comfort zone.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 7451931, member: 37579"] It's trivial to pick-up a feat, but that's trading a combat feat for a non-combat feat. That was generally too high of a price for most players. (Which is another difference between Essentials and vanilla 4e... I don't think Rituals were in Essentials.) The cost of rituals was always a little funky. Because that had a non-zero cost, there was a reluctance for a while, and I found even buying the rituals led to reluctance. It was spending money for a theoretical benefit, the possibility that this ritual might be of story use. Justifying having the components was also funky. The party had to spend money on the components before they were to be used. You had to spend the money while in town and hope you'd find a use. Because you couldn't do that in the dungeon. I tried a bunch of ways to encourage ritual use. I gave out free scrolls and components as bonus treasure. But nada. I think some of the nature of 4e got in the way: the use of power cards and having everything your PC could do rolled up into the character sheet. While rituals were just listed, being too large for cards. It was easy to overlook. -edit- At the time, I suppose I also let the system get in my way. Because Skill Challenges had to be built in advance (to consider what skills could be used and possible benefits) I tended to consider those as solutions to problems rather than creating open ended problems that could better lead to creative solutions. (Not that I would have been averse to my players trying to think of their own.) 4e was not a game that easily supported the stories I liked to tell, and I had to change my GMing style to match the system. And with that added learning curve, I never got to a point of comfort where I could work around the system's assumptions. I was never in my comfort zone. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
What was the big difference between 4e and "essentials"?
Top