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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5465084" data-attributes="member: 40177">I'm going with 4e on this one, although it was a bit harder conclusion to arrive at than I thought it'd be.&nbsp; But in the end, I have to stick with my gut answer - 4e is absolutely the greatest derivation from previous editions of D&amp;D.We can argue the changes from 2e to 3e were more drastic, but in the end, they really are not - the attack bonus change isn't really that huge, and many of the skill systems, feats, and the like had already appeared gradually in earlier TSR products (let's not forget that Gamma World of the time was a precursor to 3e). &nbsp;While the play style was a definite change from 2e, we were still comparing apples to apples.&nbsp; My first 3e character, a human sorcerer, was still playing in the same sort of adventures as my last real 2e character, a human druid.&nbsp; My spells still felt like spells, and swinging a sword still felt like swinging a sword.&nbsp; There were differences, of course (for example, in 3e, I stopped buying things like clothes and worrying on whether or not my character had a belt, because the equipment list wasn't as granular).&nbsp; While there were definitely major changes between 2e and 3e, they felt (to me, at least) like organic extensions of existing rules.&nbsp; High Level adventuring in 3e was a PITA, but then again, it had always been a PITA.&nbsp; It was just that in 3e, you weren't stuck running the kingdoms mini-game as you had been before.&nbsp; Compare that to 4e.&nbsp; Dragonborn and Tieflings replaced the gnome - &quot;new fantasy&quot; as opposed to &quot;old fantasy&quot;.&nbsp; Classes all followed a powers system that was quite more tactically oriented than most expansions on previous editions of D&amp;D (Combat and Tactics, for 2e, is the only system I think that comes even close).&nbsp; The races felt different, the planes felt different, and the monsters felt different.Oh, the monsters ESPECIALLY felt different.&nbsp; In any previous edition, it was logical to draw your mace when you saw a skeleton, for example.&nbsp; Now, a skeleton wasn't really any different than, say, a zombie.&nbsp; Or a goblin.&nbsp; While we can argue that mechanically a goblin &quot;feels&quot; more like a goblin that it did in any other edition (what with their shifty tactics and all that), the table-based implementation sometimes made the monsters almost seem interchangeable.&nbsp; And then there were the splat changes.&nbsp; In 4e, the game was PRESENTED in an entirely different way.&nbsp; Different art direction.&nbsp; Different focus on &quot;crunch&quot; instead of &quot;fluff&quot;.&nbsp; A focus on so-called &quot;gamist&quot; elements at the expense of narration (read a 4e book and read a 3e book... even if you prefer 4e mechanics, as I do, I can almost guarantee the 3e book is more entertaining, with a few exceptions).And the other major change in 4e - it's harder to house rule, at least &quot;officially&quot;.&nbsp; There is no real official forum for how to make changes to the rules, and that's a situation that has never really occurred previously.&nbsp; Anyways, my two cents.&nbsp; 4e was the biggest change.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5465084, member: 40177"] I'm going with 4e on this one, although it was a bit harder conclusion to arrive at than I thought it'd be. But in the end, I have to stick with my gut answer - 4e is absolutely the greatest derivation from previous editions of D&D. We can argue the changes from 2e to 3e were more drastic, but in the end, they really are not - the attack bonus change isn't really that huge, and many of the skill systems, feats, and the like had already appeared gradually in earlier TSR products (let's not forget that Gamma World of the time was a precursor to 3e). While the play style was a definite change from 2e, we were still comparing apples to apples. My first 3e character, a human sorcerer, was still playing in the same sort of adventures as my last real 2e character, a human druid. My spells still felt like spells, and swinging a sword still felt like swinging a sword. There were differences, of course (for example, in 3e, I stopped buying things like clothes and worrying on whether or not my character had a belt, because the equipment list wasn't as granular). While there were definitely major changes between 2e and 3e, they felt (to me, at least) like organic extensions of existing rules. High Level adventuring in 3e was a PITA, but then again, it had always been a PITA. It was just that in 3e, you weren't stuck running the kingdoms mini-game as you had been before. Compare that to 4e. Dragonborn and Tieflings replaced the gnome - "new fantasy" as opposed to "old fantasy". Classes all followed a powers system that was quite more tactically oriented than most expansions on previous editions of D&D (Combat and Tactics, for 2e, is the only system I think that comes even close). The races felt different, the planes felt different, and the monsters felt different. Oh, the monsters ESPECIALLY felt different. In any previous edition, it was logical to draw your mace when you saw a skeleton, for example. Now, a skeleton wasn't really any different than, say, a zombie. Or a goblin. While we can argue that mechanically a goblin "feels" more like a goblin that it did in any other edition (what with their shifty tactics and all that), the table-based implementation sometimes made the monsters almost seem interchangeable. And then there were the splat changes. In 4e, the game was PRESENTED in an entirely different way. Different art direction. Different focus on "crunch" instead of "fluff". A focus on so-called "gamist" elements at the expense of narration (read a 4e book and read a 3e book... even if you prefer 4e mechanics, as I do, I can almost guarantee the 3e book is more entertaining, with a few exceptions). And the other major change in 4e - it's harder to house rule, at least "officially". There is no real official forum for how to make changes to the rules, and that's a situation that has never really occurred previously. Anyways, my two cents. 4e was the biggest change. [/QUOTE]

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