Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition

[The Wwwyzzerdd]

What. The. Fuck?

Discuss.

[Renji]

Whats WTF about it, its got all the information in it and the new revised rules.

[Thelaird]

Before it came out, I was in the boat of 4e haters. But now that I've started playing it, it's pretty good. Sure, I'll likely never like it as much as I do 3.5e, or even 3.0, but it does feel pretty natural. A lot of it looks like crap on paper, but once I started playing it, I realized how good it truly was. Sure, there are things that still irk me, such as Clerics don't receive their spells directly from a god, but it can still be roleplayed that way. Probably one of the most important things to remember is that you aren't forced to switch to 4th edition, and you aren't forced to follow every single rule. That's one of like.. the key aspects to pen and paper games. :O

[Renji]

Thats right you can chose your edition to use, but the rules are alright revisions and the story is up to the players to decided (or more DM) so you can add how people actually got there spells, from gods or daemons, or even the primes.

[The Wwwyzzerdd]

I still have yet to get a group that's willing to play it. People just love multiclassing and making broken builds.

Still, I have been hearing it's not as terrible as people thought it would be.

[Skozat]

I playtested 4e and still loathe it. I'm the reason why tanks have to move closer or otherwise do something to their marked target (hey, it was a playtest, we were trying to break it as well as possible). Look me up in the back of the book - Jonathan Culler.

Basically, there's a lot I don't like about the mechanics, in particular the saving throw mechanic, but I could put all that aside. What really gets me is that the game is no longer simulationist. How the hell do you rationalize only being able to trip once every 5 minutes? Do you strain your tripping muscle or something? What about the ranger's ability to give advice and allow another player to reroll a skill that the ranger is trained in with a bonus? Do you run out of advice but gain some more in 5 freaking minutes? Similarly for all the other per encounter or per day physical abilities. The game is no longer trying to simulate how 'actual' characters/people would function in the fantasy realm and is instead more like playing a board game or video game, with no rhyme or reason as to why abilities work the way they do. Within that limitation, it's a fine system, just not one I'd ever want to roleplay in (or indeed is one well suited to roleplaying. It rollplays just fine though.)

However, I am kinda looking forward to the video game adaptation, as a 4e based video game like neverwinter nights would work much better than the 3e/3.5e based video game exactly because the game is so gameist.

Also, WotC are basically being huge dicks about it this time around as far as 3rd party companies. The OGL before let companies make 3rd party products all they wanted, pretty much, and the community flourished with the new ideas and adventures. There is no longer an OGL, companies instead have to pay a bunch of money and crap to be able to produce stuff compliant with 4e. They're also screwing the artists and basically draining all the creativity out of D&D art by telling them exactly what they want each and every picture to look like.

My future D&D needs will be met by the Paizo Pathfinder system, basically 3.75. paizo.com - Pathfinder RPG

[SilentDemon]

I will be playing sometime soon for the first time ever. Time to start making my character....

[Emerald]

I love the new system. I felt that 3.5 was bloated to the extreme. I mean, teaching someone new the game to any decent level required hours of explaining, not to mention needing all the freaking books to know all the classes. The classes and races this time around are much better. I also like the changes to the melee classes. No longer is it "I attack, hit, do X damage" with largely nothing else happening. There are actual effects to the target. The combat is better and when I spoke to the other D&D guys around me, they loved it. A lot. Especially the DM's, they adored the new rules. Made their life many times easier. I personally have little intention of going back to 3.5 unless I have too.

[Requiem]

My friends and I did play the 4th edition a couple weeks ago. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking. In some aspects I do like it more than 3.5, but still none-the-less it's pretty rules heavy, which is something I've been frowning on in a lot of games because if the table is surrounded by rules-lawyers then it came make the game slow to a crawl time and time again.

Likes

- Seems like there are more options for the typical fighter, other than just basically feeling like he/she is doing an autoattack every round.
- Casters are now longer pussies and actually have some hp.
- You level up and roll your hp in the old game, this one you take a static amount of hp increase. As strange as this sounds, I like this more because you don't screw yourself by rolling a 1 or a 2 for hp, which sucks ass.

Dislikes

- The game mechanics really lean towards playing with miniatures, which is something I dislike doing 24/7.
- The game is still very rules heavy, making the game slow imo. New players are put off by the depth of rules.
- Removed some of the old school core classes. Of course I know why they are doing this, they are making people buy future books that contain those classes.



I've been waiting around for Green Ronin's SIFRP, otherwise known as "A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay". The quickstart (just a sample) is available for download now at: Update: A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (Green Ronin Publishing)

[Thelaird]

I personally, don't think it's better or worse than 3.5e. It has many things I like more, and many things I don't like. But that's how it was as 3.5e. My group decided to go with it, just because it'd feel right to follow the evolution of D&D. None of us were expecting a better time, we were expecting something different.

Also, I brought along Domhnall who hasn't played D&D ever, only ever had chances to read the rules, and he had a much easier time learning 4e than anyone I've ever seen try to learn 3.5e. I'd say they succeeded in what they wanted to do with the game. Overall, I like it, but there's always going to be a spot in my heart for 3.0. It's what I learned D&D on, so I can't help but think back to those days. :P