Fourth Edition D&D

[klankaos]

Today I went into the local hobby shop and checked out for myself the much-anticipated fourth edition of D&D. I'd heard bad things about it, but went in optimistic.

 

 

 

That was relatively silly.

 

 

 

My hopes were dashed. Wizards of the Coast seemed to have ruined much of their ages-old game, taking out some core mechanics and screwing with the races & classes beyond belief. In all honesty, it kind of pissed me off. I've been a D&D player for near to four years now, and while that's not as much as most, it's still enough for me to get a little set in my ways. This edition looked too much like D&D was trying to be a pen-and-paper MMO for me. Terms like 'tank' and 'healer' scattered throughout the book, ruination of the alignment system and attack roll changes all made the game look too much like WoW for my liking.

 

 

 

I'm going to stick wth 3.5E for the time being.

 

 

 

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Anyone that bought it and loves it, or hates it? I'm wondering desperately if I'm the only one who really dislikes it.

[dragoonson]

I dislike what they did with spell casting.My favourite class for versatility,the wizard class has basically lost its appeal to me for the 4th edition.Well actually,I find the cleric more versatile,but I like the wizard more.

 

 

 

I can accept tanks and healers,because thats what we termed them when we were playing anyway,but it just seems like they're trying to make a quick buck off WoW players...

 

 

 

I haven't bothered to buy the books,because 3.5 came out oh so recently.No,I don't think I will buy it,so yeah staying with 3.5.

 

 

 

Rest in Peace,Gary Gygax.

[Jaziek]

Quite frankly its terrible. Gygax is rolling in his grave.

[Zonorhc]

It's a lot more accessible to new players, although the roleplaying aspect of it seems to have suffered hugely, now that wizards can't really do as much silly stuff as they could in 3.5.

 

 

 

A huge pro for 4e is that races, classes and encounters are more or less balanced now. Ironically, this is also a huge con for 4e, because there had to be a lot of hand-waving, fluff-wise, to make the mechanics stick. That said, at least clerics and druids are no longer dominating the game as they did in 3.5 - they were overpowered even with just core rules, with the wizard coming in a close second.

 

 

 

It's clearly geared to appeal to a younger audience, hence its overt similarities to WoW. The at-will/encounter powers mean that the action can last almost indefinitely, unlike 3.5, when there was a lot of downtime due to casters needing to refresh spells. However, the downtime, as I see it, was great for getting in a bit of RP.

 

 

 

4e isn't too much of an issue with me, since the games I run are heavily RP-based anyway, with only occasional bouts of brutal, gory combat.

[dragoonson]

It's a lot more accessible to new players, although the roleplaying aspect of it seems to have suffered hugely, now that wizards can't really do as much silly stuff as they could in 3.5.

 

 

 

A huge pro for 4e is that races, classes and encounters are more or less balanced now. Ironically, this is also a huge con for 4e, because there had to be a lot of hand-waving, fluff-wise, to make the mechanics stick. That said, at least clerics and druids are no longer dominating the game as they did in 3.5 - they were overpowered even with just core rules, with the wizard coming in a close second.

 

 

Yes,the wizard was previously quite powerful,but the whole point of choosing wizard was the ability to choose which spells you want to use,even the "useless" ones,but now many spells have been taken out (from what I hear) and that removes our versatility.Most of the spells taken out I would have probably used,and sadly,now the wizard is similar to a soceror based on intel with one spellcast.I'm not saying he can't change spells,if your that slow,its just he doesn't have much versatility as before.

 

 

 

Druids and clerics,yeah quite powerful,but most of the enemies the spells are targeted against don't come around everyday,and stuff like that...Haven't really induldged in those classes though.

 

 

 

Tell me though,are prestige classes still around?Does the DM book list any new ones?

 

 

 

EDIT:Sorceror's gone for warlock!?Erm...wearing light armor isn't much of a bonus...

[Hawks]

Haven't bought any of the 4e stuff and I'm not planning on it. I read the article about how to transfer characters from 3.5 to 4 and it SUCKS! ( http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20080620a )

 

 

 

NO MORE SPELLCASTING FOR RANGERS? WHAT THE HECK?

 

 

 

evil people at WotC are going to kill off their base of people who buy their stuff... I've spent the equivilent of probably $300 on dnd stuff, and the only thing I'm going to buy now is their new miniatures starter set even though I have one already.

 

 

 

One cool thing is that they're going to have a dnd online thing (i think you have to pay for that) an online character creator, a 3d character modeler thing, and a dungeon builder at dnd insider.

 

 

 

so excited about dnd insider HATE 4E!

[bloodyhatchetbear]

I'll be honest, I tried playing 3.5, and it sucked. So 4e sucking does not surprise me in the least.

 

 

 

Honestly, I think I've been spoiled by the Warhammer FRP. Now that beats all these new editions of D & D in the head.

[Kalphite]

I actually like 4e, but I look at it as a seperate game than 3.5, which I like much more still.It sucks for me a little bit because I've only gotten to play in 2 3.5 campaigns and everyone is switching to 4e at the hobby shop I go to now.