Wizards R&D Seminar at GenCon 2007

[eldritchknight]

The 2008 PHB thread has some information from the Israeli distributor of what books to look for in 2008. Arcane magic, melee combat, dragons and some other stuff all get books. Unless gnomes will be in the arcane magic splatbook, reappearing in "an early supplement" might mean 2009.

Honestly, I hope that whatever PHB races they axe shows up, in at least draft form for 10 levels or so, on D&D Insider.

Can you give a link to this info? I couldn't find it. Thanks in advance!

 

[Glyfair]

Is this right? I thought all the other information, like the videos and the stuff at Wizards indicates that Collins, Cordell, and Heinsoo are the leads, and Mearls is under them.

They are the lead designers, Mike is the lead developer, as I understand it.

James Wyatt is heading the story team.

 

[Glyfair]

Can you give a link to this info? I couldn't find it. Thanks in advance!

It's been over 24 hours, you want me to browse through 6 pages of posts on 4E?

Ok.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=204147

 

[Talgian]

They are the lead designers, Mike is the lead developer, as I understand it.

James Wyatt is heading the story team.

Got it, thanks !

-Talgian

 

[blargney the second]

If they go the SWSE route and ditch multiple attacks in favour of scaling damage/special maneuvers, I'm gonna be such a happy boy! It'll go a very long way towards streamlining and speeding up combat.
-blarg

 

[Agamon]

I'm betting on 9 classes.

Maybe they'll call the PHB, "The Book of 9 Classes"!

Hope you like steak, it's what's for dinner!

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Apparently, props, pacing, characterization, and sense of humour are all now strictly controlled in the 4E core rules. Ettin heads must talk to each other. Period. End of discussion.

"Before he draws his sword, the evil Drow overlord tells you joke #54".

 

[ashockney]

Are there skill points in 4E? Attacks of Opportunity?

When they say 'short stat blocks', how short are we talking?

See all the recent books for examples. Having heard them describe it, and compare to stat blocks used in Saga edition, I picked up a copy of Shadowdale at the con. I'm sure this is exactly what they're talking about. The entire encounter fit on one easily referenceable page. They are using a new stat block format, more similiar to the one found in Saga. There are many more "monsters" for each encounter. I recall, as I was picking up and looking through the Expedition books (Greyhawk, DemonWeb Pits, etc.) they were essentially using this same format.

 

[ashockney]

That sounds like the discussions about wizards having a warlock like ability even after they run out of spells.

Correct. Exactly like the Warlock. They even referenced him in the discussion. They said many of the things we're going to see are like the later books. The warlock for the "arcane" classes, and the Tome of Battle for the "martial" classes.

I'll bet this will be misunderstood. I bet it means that wizards will have a "magic missle" available always, so he won't have to rely on backup weapons.

Yes. This got a rousing round of applause from the "way over capacity" audience in the room.

 

[ashockney]

Based on that, I am wondering if 4e is going to be a better " game " , but 3e will remain a more versatile one. Does no blink dog fighters mean that you can't play a blink dog, ever, or that you can only advance as a blink dog?

It meant, out of the player's handbook, because the way they're going to flesh everything out more in 4e for better balance, you will not be able to play a "blink dog fighter" at first level. Instead, they are going to spend the time and energy necessary to really balance things out so that each race they make/print/publish will be playable from the get-go. They said they fully intend to still have the ability to play anything there will be a demand for, plus a whole bunch of cool things they'll make up that nobody's thought of. However, it will not all be in the PH in the beginning. Or, in a format where you can just say, "Oh, a Blink Dog is this, so if my little brother wants to play a blink dog fighter, I'll just make him a Blink Dog (template) + a Level 1 Fighter". Mike was talking about how the Dwarven Fighter and an Elven Fighter will be noticeably different characters. He was referencing an example of how he want his dwarf to be able to just "stand there and take it" and not go down, not go down, not go down, etc. He got really excited, and it sounded like he was referencing a character he'd played in a recent playtest, and that it had "worked out" that way.