D&D 4E Where was 4e headed before it was canned?

[pemerton]

This is a difference between 4e and 5e D&D, but I don't think it's a relevant one in the context of how DCs are set and how "freeform" that is. In 5e there's a chart. In 4e every time the PCs level up you replace the old chart with a new chart. At the actual moment of adjudication both require choosing a DC from a chart expressed in the language of difficulties.

I think it's relevant and creates a difference in play and how adjudication of DC's is approached.

In 5e I am setting an actual objective difficulty for the hardest tasks in the game world... they will be that difficulty for a 1st level character and they will be that difficulty for a 20th level character and some of the higher ones are attainable by low level characters with the right attributes, skill bonuses and possibly magic.

In 4e I am setting a relative difficulty to the players power so I am not in fact setting an objective Very Hard DC, I am setting a DC for what I believe is hard relative to a X level character. What is moderately hard for a 1st level character is childs play for a 20th level character and what is moderately hard for a 20th level character is impossible for a 1st level character.

IMO this not only creates a difference in how play takes place in the world... Players in 5e know that unless a DM calls out a task as impossible or nearly impossible... even at low levels they have a chance to accomplish tasks that would be Very Difficult even for 20th level characters. It also means the DM when adjudicating a task has to think in terms of the game world as a whole.

In 4e a player knows there are tasks that while easy for a 30th level character are beyond any attempt they could make (thought honestly most DM's aren't going to ever even consider them since the DC's they would use are relative). Also a DM in 4e is adjudicating not what is easy/moderate/hard in terms of the gameworld but in terms of a level X character in the gameworld.

I don't see how any of what you say here bears upon my comment that this is a difference between 4e and 5e D&D, but not one that is relevant in the context of how DCs are set and how "freeform" that is.

How is it more freeform to decide that something is Very Hard objectively rather than Hard for a 25th level PC?

How is it more freeform for a player to know that a DC20 is something that can be achieved at 1st level?

 

[Imaro]

I don't see how any of what you say here bears upon my comment that this is a difference between 4e and 5e D&D, but not one that is relevant in the context of how DCs are set and how "freeform" that is.

How is it more freeform to decide that something is Very Hard objectively rather than Hard for a 25th level PC?

How is it more freeform for a player to know that a DC20 is something that can be achieved at 1st level?

All I can speak to is my experience...IMO it's more freeform because of less inherent overhead for a DM who has to consider one factor(objective gameworld difficulty) in adjudicating rather than two( both level of PC's relative difficulty and gameworld objective difficulty)

EDIT: It's also easier in the moment because you only have to consider 1 axis vs. 2

 

[Garthanos]

In 4e a player knows there are tasks that while easy for a 30th level character are beyond any attempt they could make (thought honestly most DM's aren't going to ever even consider them since the DC's they would use are relative).

Unless the hero invests then mr talented could be rocking some surprising numbers. But its not valuable to hinge things on that.

Also a DM in 4e is adjudicating not what is easy/moderate/hard in terms of the gameworld but in terms of a level X character in the gameworld.

sure and there in I get my level has lost a lot of its meaning and where Parm gets his I can do it while drunk its got one fewer factors.

 

[lowkey13]

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[Ratskinner]

But I don't agree that 4e "locks in" the system via powers and expectations in a way that differs from 5e. Those powers, for martial PCs, may create an opportunity to bypass the GM's interpretive and difficulty-setting function - just as spells frequently do in 5e. But I don't think this changes the approach to DC setting. After all, 5e has spells which produce the same "locking in" - which is something that has come out in this thread.

I think 4e D&D has a much clearer sense of genre and associated tropes and expectations than 5e - via its tiers of play - but that doesn't make it less freeform. That would be an example of how freeform works as per Imaro's discussion of the role of genre in adjudication upthread.

I think you're arguing the other definition of "freeform" with me. Locking in those genre expectations is precisely what I was talking about. The DCs are reflective of genre expectations. To step outside D&D, Fate makes no assumptions on what a +5 Superb Athletics check can or can't accomplish. It's totally up to the genre conventions at table. The same jump that is a +5 in say...an 80's action movie, might be +3 in a supers game or a +7 in a gritty detective game.* 5e is more similar to that. (Fate also includes a Scale mechanic that shakes that up a bit for genres where some characters are significantly more or less capable then others.)

The Jumping rules include the sentence: "In some circumstances, the DM might allow you to make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than you normally can." So those jump rules and limitations are only for jumps that are guaranteed under normal movement costs, not heroic actions. Which makes sense, as those numbers look pretty mundane overall, and are described in terms of movement costs and strict limits, not DCs. Personally, when running 5e, I just ignored those rules because the "figuring it out" seemed to cost more than just "Say yes or roll the dice." I mean, we already had Difficult Terrain.

Personally, I don't take the spells into consideration when making DC adjudications (outside of those set by the spell itself). YMMV, obviously. 5e also describes tiers of play (PHB p15.), but it is (much) less stringent/specific on what exactly those encompass in the expectations of specific actions, instead only defining them by the scope of what kind of problems the characters will face.


* For those who don't know Fate, that's a fairly significant difference. Much more than a +2 warrants on a d20 scale.

 

[Parmandur]

Meh. In play, it likely won't matter. After all, we can talk about all the DC's we like, but, at the end of the day, what matters is the chance of success. Which, for fairly typical actions that are expected to be taken by a character of a given level, in 4e and 5e, will remain somewhere in the vicinity of 60%. So, why is it important that the DC is different? Who cares? If the DC is 127 but, I have a +119 to my skill, the chances are STILL 60%.

Pointing at the numbers doesn't actually mean anything. It's no different than using AD&D's lower is better AC system or 3e's higher is better. It's still the same odds, just expressed differently.

Does the expression actually matter?

Presentation matters.

 

[lowkey13]

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[Ratskinner]

Pointing at the numbers doesn't actually mean anything. It's no different than using AD&D's lower is better AC system or 3e's higher is better. It's still the same odds, just expressed differently.

Does the expression actually matter?

I think it does, in context of the gestalt of the mechanics. I mean, I'm fair certain we have d20 DCs because when 3e came out, we already had ACs and rolling a d20. Whether or not it actually is, I think that gives folks a feeling of consistency

Meh. In play, it likely won't matter. After all, we can talk about all the DC's we like, but, at the end of the day, what matters is the chance of success. Which, for fairly typical actions that are expected to be taken by a character of a given level, in 4e and 5e, will remain somewhere in the vicinity of 60%. So, why is it important that the DC is different? Who cares? If the DC is 127 but, I have a +119 to my skill, the chances are STILL 60%.

That seems to specifically address Bounded Accuracy, and related design considerations. In D&D talking about presentation, you have the ability scores, skills, etc. and folks wanting those to matter. All those are worked into a d20 roll...so that kind of gives you a range of numbers that you're somewhat obligated to work with. (and of course, from a design perspective, you get to make all sorts of trade-offs as to what really matters and how much: ability score, level, proficiency, etc.)

Certainly you could do something else entirely with resolution. Strike!, for instance, makes the same realization you do and resolves all rolls on a d6 appropriately, taking into account only whether you have an applicable skill. However, I think the D&D audience is pretty locked into a d20 roll at this point.

 

[Garthanos]

I was watching a random video of parkour, today, and it reminded me of fairly obvious things high STR/Athletics characters would do, like jumping to avoid difficult terrain, which could cover a lot of it.

Of course in skills as in weapons D&D is guilty of segregating STR & DEX too much.

that little attribute conundrum is going to haunt things forever I suspect Parkour is Athletics and its Acrobatics because it is. Lower strength parkour people jump shorter distances but twist and twirl and roll more allowing difficult terrain less purchase or and climbing and lower body weight of less strong ones offset when its about climbing.... shrug If we do it long enough Parkour is con...oops just went down the realism primrose path.

 

[lowkey13]

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