D&D 4E What's the point of playing 4e now?

[Chaos Trip Studios]

Because its awesome?

Are we really going to start this over again? Why do people act like their old gaming books disintergrate everytime a new edition comes out.

 

[Dausuul]

Are we really going to start this over again?

Of course we are.

Why do people act like their old gaming books disintergrate everytime a new edition comes out.

Because they do! Everybody knows that. All D&D books come with a contingency spell triggering a self-targeted disintegrate when a new edition is released. The only way to keep playing is to memorize the rules before the trigger goes off, and before 3E they were all Vancian rules, so as soon as you invoked them at the table, you forgot them.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Of course we are.



Because they do! Everybody knows that. All D&D books come with a contingency spell triggering a self-targeted disintegrate when a new edition is released. The only way to keep playing is to memorize the rules before the trigger goes off, and before 3E they were all Vancian rules, so as soon as you invoked them at the table, you forgot them.

No, not all editions - first edition Dungeon Master's Guides are used in the construction of fallout shelters, which is why the spell was implemented on all later editions.

The Auld Grump, little known fact: a 1e DMG will block the blast from a 1 KT nuclear device....

 

[Piratecat]

I'm pretty sure 4e and 5e won't be particularly interchangeable. I'm going to play the hell out of 4e until we're not having fun, and then I'll change to a different system. I have no idea what that'll be. Gumshoe? Savage Worlds? 5e? We'll see -- but as long as we're enjoying D&D, we're sure going to be playing it.

 

[Mengu]

I'm pretty sure 4e and 5e won't be particularly interchangeable.

What gives you this impression? The impression I'm getting is that 5e will provide 4e players with what they like, and 1e players with what they like, and everything in between. They are currently advertising custom degrees of complexity. In this respect, a player who likes to play a 4e shaman, should be able to find something as engaging in 5e, and someone who likes to play a 1e dwarf, will be able to do the same.

It's all speculation based on snippets for the moment, but I'm wanting to stay positive, that 5e won't leave everything we love about 4e in an unused bin.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, the sky has fallen on the OP. Again.

Or is it, has continued to fall?

Yes, it looks like the playtest document will be out this month, maybe, and probably the new game will be out next year, most likely.

So be it. I'm looking forward to trying it, and seeing what it is, but it will change the games \i am running now not one single little bit.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

What gives you this impression? The impression I'm getting is that 5e will provide 4e players with what they like, and 1e players with what they like, and everything in between. They are currently advertising custom degrees of complexity. In this respect, a player who likes to play a 4e shaman, should be able to find something as engaging in 5e, and someone who likes to play a 1e dwarf, will be able to do the same.

It's all speculation based on snippets for the moment, but I'm wanting to stay positive, that 5e won't leave everything we love about 4e in an unused bin.

5e may give 4e lovers what they like and 5e will probably have some very rigoursly math attached ( I don't see how to make all the options work otherwise) but that math may not be 4e math.

 

[Dragonblade]

I'm pretty sure 4e and 5e won't be particularly interchangeable. I'm going to play the hell out of 4e until we're not having fun, and then I'll change to a different system. I have no idea what that'll be. Gumshoe? Savage Worlds? 5e? We'll see -- but as long as we're enjoying D&D, we're sure going to be playing it.

It better be interchangeable or all that talk of calling fans of all editions home is BS. 4e is currently my favorite edition of D&D, so 5e has a pretty high hurdle to overcome, IMO.

 

[Piratecat]

What gives you this impression? The impression I'm getting is that 5e will provide 4e players with what they like, and 1e players with what they like, and everything in between.

I will be utterly thrilled if this gets pulled off, and I'm sure that even the "friends & families" playtesters to date don't know. My conclusion is based on a reference I saw today about the next edition of D&D being less minis-based and more narrative-based, without dependency on a tabletop grid. At this point it's hard for me to reconcile that with a 4e playstyle.

That said, I've got an open mind and I'm all ears. The idea of a modular D&D, with scalable complexity, fills me with joy.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I find the announcement of potential concern - I am currently half way through a campaign that I plan to go all the way from 1-30. Given that our group is particularly dependant on DDI (the PCs all use it for building characters, I use it for monsters, and the group adopts erratta as it is implemented by DDI), the fact that they might drop DDI support (or stop erattaing things - for example, it would be nice if the various PH wizard spells get school types to be better usable by the essentials mage) for 4e is of concern.

For now, however, its forging on ahead.