Which concepts in 4E do you like?

[pawsplay]

I like armor use being based on proficiencies instead of a mishmash of rules about armor check penalty, Arcane Spell Failure, proficiency, and whatnot.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I liked Rituals and "Something else" and voted accordingly. The other elements I liked were minor streamlining and improvements in internal game logic, like gaining powers at the level of the same designation.

I almost liked "Implements,"- they're somewhat like HERO's Foci, but I didn't like how they were necessary.

With only 2 positives out of that list, I bet you can guess why I'm not playing 4Ed.

 

[Desdichado]

I like voting in polls. I'm largely indifferent to most of the options presented here, though. I picked skill challenges, rituals, cosmology and racial features. Other than the latter, I was using all of those already in 3.5 semi-regularly, though.

 

[El Mahdi]

The things not mentioned in the poll that I like:

• Death and Dying concept.
• Action Points.
• Balanced underlying math.
• Point spread for determining beginning ability scores.

 

[malraux]

You forgot the artifacts! I'm ambivalent on 4E at the moment, but the artifact system is Pure Win.

I was going to toss this in as well. I actually like the basic system 4e set up for both special and non-special magical items. Stuff like making the +x a function of the level while also making sure that magic items do interesting things. But combining artifacts and intelligent items is pure awesome in my book, especially when items also become playable at something other than just near epic levels.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Had to go with none.

I like:

Stat rolling is the variant
Fixed hp per level
Condensing the skills down, though some *cough*Perception*cough* got too much
Having two stats for each save, though it'd be nice if every class still got some utility from having a few points in all 6
Adding other stats besides str to damage, depending on weapon/power
I like the basic concept of everyone being able to heal (surges) at least a little, but think they based too much of the healing options around them

That's about it for my likes

 

[Aus_Snow]

7. Weapon Groups
11. Skill Challenges (allow group participation, multiple skill checks to achieve a goal)
12. Half Level Bonus to d20 and defenses (attacks, skills, AC etc.)
13. Defenses (AC, Reflex, Fortitude, Willpower)
14. Saves instead of Durations
20. Rituals

I've been using some kind of variation on each (with 3e/d20) since well before 4e went public, and IMO they are good things, all. So credit, even if that's not where it's due, at least not originally.

 

[Dragon Snack]

Listed:

I like the half level bonus to rolls, but only applied to skills.

I like Weapon Groups, we implemented a semi-HR in my 3.x games like them (something similar was suggested in a 3.0 splat).

Not listed:

Almost all of my groups did the fixed HP per level (based on class).

I could warm up to Healing Surges, but on a much smaller scale than implemented.

I like the combined Skills. I actually suggested this as a HR in my games, but it was rejected by the group.

Side note:

I guess technically we did something similar to Skill Challenges (multiple players making multiple rolls to overcome something), but I don't like the way 4.0 took the concept or it's implementation so I didn't vote for it.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I like pretty much everything listed here.

Offhand, the only things I DON'T like about 4e are the relatively limited author-stance mechanics (1 action point + 1 per milestone?) and the dorky monster names. The monsters themselves are great, but I do so hate the Adjective Noun Such-and-Such naming convention. The flavor text on the powers is sometimes as bad. As before 4e came out, I wonder why they couldn't have gotten a loaner from the Magic the Gathering creative team, who do such a great job with a similar naming scheme and tiny, pithy sayings to highlight game elements.

The actual monsters (and the rules to create them) and powers are excellent, though, and none of the really eye-roll-inducing text need come out at the table.

Skill Challenges needed, sadly, just a LITTLE more work to be really good instead of just a good idea. Fortunately, between the official and unofficial fixes they now bring as much awesome as their concept promised.

I could take or leave the proficiency bonus system for weapons, but it seems to add a nice dimension to picking them, so... good, I suppose? But I didn't click it on the poll.

Tiers of play... well, again, 4e is the first edition of D&D that makes me want to play D&D for its own sake, so I don't mind these in the context of the game. In the abstract I'd want to play heroic tier only, though, as it's more sword and sorcery.

All-positive racial mods do nothing for me either way. I suppose they reduce the range of ability scores, which is probably beneficial. I do like racial powers and feats a LOT, but didn't click the box because the ability score thing is rather meh.

I think I clicked everything else on the poll.

 

[Sammael]

Caveat: I'm a known anti-4E person. Having said that, these are the things I like in 4E:

Skill Challenges (excellent concept with a poor implementation; still, worth attempting to fix)
Half Level Bonus to d20 and defenses (makes the progression unified and facilitates multiclassing; I'm using this in my own version of D&D)
Combat Advantage as "catch-all" for advantagous combat position (perfect)
Rituals (needs work, but I agree with the basic premise)

4 out of 22. That's really not a whole lot. I could probably find 4 things from AD&D that I liked better than in 3.x as well...