Who are these guys: Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, James Wyatt

[TerraDave]

And don't get me started on Mearls and Noonan -- they are just frickin' sharp. I just can't imagine better people running this part of the show.

So will we be seeing a 4 in your avatar soon?

 

[EricNoah]

My "not switching" stance is more about the timing, my vast 3e collection, my players not having a bit of interest in the next edition, and my lack of confidence in WotC's ability to create a truly useful character generator. It has nothing to do with how awesome the current crew is.

My stance could change if a) it becomes apparent that conversion from 3 to 4 would be pretty painless (less painful than converting 2 to 3 for example) and b) they blow me away with the character generator.

 

[Villanelle]

James Wyatt and Rob Heinsoo really seemed like the coolest guys when they were giving their presentations on 4e. Like trueblood, extremely smart, nerds who maybe love DnD more than myself. Which I thought not possible.

And Mike Mearls did Iron Heroes. It's the total awesomeness. Mike Mearls for President.

 

[(contact)]

My stance could change if a) it becomes apparent that conversion from 3 to 4 would be pretty painless (less painful than converting 2 to 3 for example).

Rob Hiensoo discussed this in a seminar, and pointed out that the 2e to 3e character conversion document was pretty dissapointing. They tried to give the impression that a scientific "replace x with y" conversion was possible, when in fact it never was.

He went on to say that character conversion will be more art than science.

That said, for players of the game, James Wyatt insisted that while you might not get a literal translation from 3e to 4e, what you will get is a "more character than character" experience, as all the core concepts will translate, and often work better and be closer to your initial vision for the character.

DM game world conversion should be much easier from 3e to 4e, as encounter complexity is decreasing, and the high-level game won't be as horrifically complex. So this is the sort of game you could start running at 14th level if you chose to.

. . . my lack of confidence in WotC's ability to create a truly useful character generator.

Eric, I still remember CharGen and how freaking STOKED we both were, and then how crushed we were when it sucked!

At GenCon, I was feeling pretty positive about the online elements, but am finding that hope eroding as I learn details about the execution. That said, the character generator should turn out well-- according to Bill Slavacek the digital component is now in-house rather than out-sourced and will continue to be supported past the launch. When new products (including Dungeon and Dragon articles, modules and sourcebooks) come out, they will be available in the character generator database simultaneously to the book release.

In theory, at least, it's a perfect solution.

This is due, in part to the fact that they are already building the game in a database, so there won't be any separate data-entry process.

All that aside, if the D&D tabletop component doesn't suck, I'll run some 4e games for you online and you can test the game before buying books.

ck

 

[Villanelle]

My "not switching" stance is more about the timing, my vast 3e collection, my players not having a bit of interest in the next edition, and my lack of confidence in WotC's ability to create a truly useful character generator. It has nothing to do with how awesome the current crew is.

My stance could change if a) it becomes apparent that conversion from 3 to 4 would be pretty painless (less painful than converting 2 to 3 for example) and b) they blow me away with the character generator.

Then, I put a nickel on Noah's avatar to change to 4. Anyone want to match my bet?

 

[(contact)]

Mike Mearls for President.

I sense a bumper sticker in our near future. James Wyatt or Heinsoo for VP?

 

[EricNoah]

Woot! DJ (contact)'s in the house!

Char Gen: I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it here too: if the character generator "lives" on WotC's servers, where I can't tweak the existing data or add new data, or tweak the output, and if it only "displays" information rather than "calculating" it (example: calculating spell sheet based on class/level/attributes/feats/etc.), then it just won't cut it for me.

Conversion: All I really want is rough level equivalency. If a 3rd level fighter from 3e has roughly the same power (offense, defense, hit points) as a 3rd level fighter from 4e, that'll do just fine. But if 20 "old levels" really equals 30 "new levels", or if the numbers (AC, attack bonuses, etc.) really fundamentally mean something different, then that's a much harder row to hoe.

 

[Villanelle]

I sense a bumper sticker in our near future. James Wyatt or Heinsoo for VP?

Heinsoo for VP. Wyatt is too creative. Not a bad thing for many vocations, but not great for VP. Heinsoo seemed more organized.

We should totally get that bumper sticker made. Maybe we should wait until May though.

 

[(contact)]

Woot! DJ (contact)'s in the house!

Dude, what fun would a D&D rollout be if I wasn't posting on Eric Noah's Fourth Edition website?

Char Gen: I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it here too: if the character generator "lives" on WotC's servers, where I can't tweak the existing data or add new data, or tweak the output, and if it only "displays" information rather than "calculating" it (example: calculating spell sheet based on class/level/attributes/feats/etc.), then it just won't cut it for me.

I don't know about how much calculation it does, but I did hear that it's being built to include the possibility of house rules.

Conversion: All I really want is rough level equivalency. If a 3rd level fighter from 3e has roughly the same power (offense, defense, hit points) as a 3rd level fighter from 4e, that'll do just fine. But if 20 "old levels" really equals 30 "new levels", or if the numbers (AC, attack bonuses, etc.) really fundamentally mean something different, then that's a much harder row to hoe.

Is it? Unless your 3e and 4e characters will be interacting, don't characters really need to be balanced against one another and then against the monsters?

One thing we do know is that levels 20-30 are still considered 'epic,' so I think the intention is to keep levels 1-20 essentially the same power relative to the game world, but lower level characters will be hardier, have a better survivability and be able to do more out of the gate than their 3e counterparts.

 

[EricNoah]

If I'm going to grab Paizo's 3.5 adventure path thingy and try to plop it into my brand spankin' new 4E game, it'll be much easier if I can just replace the 3.5 NPCs with same-level 4.0 NPCs. If I have to go, "Hmm, ok, 3rd level 3.5 character is about a 5th level 4.0 character" every time I find an NPC -- blah, forget it! *wishes the cranky bearded smiley from CM was here*