Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition: Difference between revisions
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*Overreliance on unimaginative 'adjectivenoun' naming conventions, for instance: ''Darkleaf Armor: Darkleaves from the gravetrees of the Shadowfell give this armor its protective properties.'' | *Overreliance on unimaginative 'adjectivenoun' naming conventions, for instance: ''Darkleaf Armor: Darkleaves from the gravetrees of the Shadowfell give this armor its protective properties.'' | ||
*Lack of non-combat content such as crafting. This criticism partially refers to the reduced skill list and partially to the fact that the greatest focus of the game are obviously the Powers which are largely combat-oriented. | *Lack of non-combat content such as crafting. This criticism partially refers to the reduced skill list and partially to the fact that the greatest focus of the game are obviously the Powers which are largely combat-oriented. | ||
*Lack of content and rules to cover various situations are rationalized with "OH YOU JUST LET THE DM COME UP WITH AN AD-HOC SOLUTION AND WING IT." This wasn't any less viable in 3.5, but in 4E it's a necessity. Many people are still puzzled as to how this is played off as a fucking strength. | |||
=See also= | =See also= | ||
Revision as of 20:25, 17 July 2008
System
The fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the grand daddy of RPGs.
Basics
Nearly every roll consists of making a single D20 roll, plus a modifier, against a target number. Saving throws have been replaced with Defenses that work like AC; the term 'Saving Throw' is now used to refer to a roll to recover from a durational effect.
Character Generation
Chargen is streamlined compared to earlier versions - skills are all-or-nothing, you either have training in them or you don't. Each character gains a selection of Powers which can be used at will, once per encounter, or once per day, in ascending order of power. These abilities often consist of an attack plus some special effect, such as knocking someone prone, setting them on fire, or moving yourself or your opponent.
The character races in the PHB are:
- Dragonborn
- Dwarf
- Eladrin (High Elf)
- Elf (Wood Elf)
- Half-Elf
- Halfling
- Human
- Tiefling
In addition to the races in the PHB, the following player races are in the MM (all of them are "LA +0", to put things in 3.5 parlance):
- Bugbear
- Doppelganger
- Drow
- Githyanki
- Githzerai
- Goblin
- Gnoll
- Gnome
- Hobgoblin
- Kobold
- Minotaur
- Orc
- Shadar-Kai
- Shifter, Longtooth
- Shifter, Razorclaw
- Warforged (updated and upgraded in this article of Dragon Magazine #364)
Character classes in the first PHB consist of:
- Cleric (Role: Leader, Power Source: Divine)
- Fighter (Role: Defender, Power Source: Martial)
- Paladin (Role: Defender, Power Source: Divine)
- Ranger (Role: Striker, Power Source: Martial)
- Rogue (Role: Striker, Power Source: Martial)
- Warlock (Role: Striker, Power Source: Arcane)
- Warlord (Role: Leader, Power Source: Martial)
- Wizard (Role: Controller, Power Source: Arcane)
Other classes which have been released so far include:
- Artificer (Role: Leader, Power Source: Arcane)
Gameplay
Gameplay is divided into encounters. The GM selects monsters and traps up to a total experience value as recommended for the size of the party, and the encounter plays out as a tactical miniatures game. Non-combat encounters are simplified and consist usually of roleplaying, skill rolls, or a series of skill rolls. XP is awarded for non-combat challenges and quests, as well as for defeating combat encounters.
Each character can take one standard action (such as an attack), one move action, one minor action, and any number of free actions per turn. Each character also gets one immediate interrupt or immediate reaction per round, which may be used outside of the regular turn order. Generally each character will use their standard action to make use of an attack power. Characters are highly specialised as noted above, and fit into MMO-style combat roles of controller (lockdown/AoE), defender (tank), leader (buffer/healer), striker (DPS).
Characters level up from level 1 to 30; with the scope of the game changing every ten levels. At level 30 characters are expected to undergo some form of apotheosis.
Setting
The setting of 4e is highly generic and designed to give the DM a relatively blank canvas to paint on. This default setting consists of a wild medieval landscape in which isolated human and demihuman communities ('Points of Light') struggle to survive after the fall of a greater empire. This provides an explanation for the large areas of wilderness and many ruins for monsters to hide in, and the need for adventurers as opposed to more regulated militias. Which doesn't make any sense, but okay.
The DMG contains an extensive section explaining the tropes of the setting and how they might be used, and also suggesting ways in which the DM can deviate from them to make the setting his own.
D&D 4e on /tg/
Since its announcement 4e has been a source of controversy and incessant trolling on /tg/. Its supporters consider it to have made D&D simple and fun. Its critics have numerous objections to the system and setting, often referring to it as 'shit twinkie' (with the implication that they had been expecting a certain type of D&D goodness and sorely disappointed by what was actually delivered.)
It is virtually guaranteed that any 4e thread will descend into trolling within the first dozen replies. Thus, the best thing to do is ignore the damn thread. Don't read it. Don't post in it, not even to sage. Maybe if people ignore the fucking trolls the shitstorms will die down a bit. This is a lie.
Criticism
Some of the criticisms leveled at 4e include:
- Power-based combat is too similar to MMOGs, in particular World of Warcraft. This is a serious argument when arguing that 4e is less simulationist and more gamist than previous editions. Whether it should be taken as a negative or positive depends on the person's tastes.
- The fluff descriptions of the powers are silly. The world-fluff is also generally silly - even if some argue it is actually unnecessary to pay attention to the core fluff at all it still feels like a bad writer's fantasy heartbreaker. Examples also include the infamous Bear Lore check which requires an unusually high Nature Knowledge check to know that bears use their claws to attack.
- There are no Bards/Gnomes/Barbarians/Half-Orcs/Thief-Acrobats/Shitwizards. Many of these are in fact still available by other means (gnomes are in the Monster Manual and playable) or will be released with later splatbooks such as the PHB II.
- Characters are too durable, reducing the fear of death and TPK. Which is not entirely true. Many players reported massive player slaughters. On the other hand, a series of playtest combats carried out by Touhoufags show that a party that knows what it's doing and uses group tactics well will cut through encounters several levels higher than themselves like a hot knife through butter.
- Overreliance on unimaginative 'adjectivenoun' naming conventions, for instance: Darkleaf Armor: Darkleaves from the gravetrees of the Shadowfell give this armor its protective properties.
- Lack of non-combat content such as crafting. This criticism partially refers to the reduced skill list and partially to the fact that the greatest focus of the game are obviously the Powers which are largely combat-oriented.
- Lack of content and rules to cover various situations are rationalized with "OH YOU JUST LET THE DM COME UP WITH AN AD-HOC SOLUTION AND WING IT." This wasn't any less viable in 3.5, but in 4E it's a necessity. Many people are still puzzled as to how this is played off as a fucking strength.