D+D? Who plays?

[Anubis Reynard]

Having just picked up the latest suplement for 4E, I was wondering how many of you shooter fans are also fans of more traditional tabletop games?

Having Insider on the Wizards site, I'd be perfectly willing to share some of the "hidden" material, such as Minotaur and Gnoll stats, or the Bard Preview. (which is actually far more awesome than in older editions)

[Quinn]

I play.

[pants]

I've been known to dabble my hand on occasion but I was still trying to get my head around 3E and then they went and changed it up on me again.

I'm Analog in a Digital world baby!

[Anubis Reynard]

Considering the biggest legitimate complaint I've seen is it obsoleting librarys of 3.x material, if you're just getting started, you might as well do 4E, and get in on the ground floor.

Not to mention, 4E is just similar enough to confuse people who were experts at 3rd.

[AstroBoy]

Or you could play something good. (Don't get me wrong, fun can be had with DnD, but there are better ways to spend your money I reckon)

[Dugan]

I still have loads of AD&D 2nd Edition stuff. It's worth absolutely nothing now. 

[Anubis Reynard]

Or you could play something good. (Don't get me wrong, fun can be had with DnD, but there are better ways to spend your money I reckon)

*shrugs* depends on what you like to play, and what kind of group you're in. I know Sixtus prefers Saga Edition Star Wars, because it's more shooty. But 4E is simpler to learn and is more balanced overall.

[AstroBoy]

My point is, DnD has headed down a CRPG route compared to a classic roleplaying game in recent times. Still, the biggest thing is if you're having fun, which you are, so DnD is good.

[Quinn]

Or you could play something good. (Don't get me wrong, fun can be had with DnD, but there are better ways to spend your money I reckon)

*shrugs* depends on what you like to play, and what kind of group you're in. I know Sixtus prefers Saga Edition Star Wars, because it's more shooty. But 4E is simpler to learn and is more balanced overall.

I loves my shooty! DAKKADAKKADAKKA!!!!

But I wish it had the At Will/Encounter/Daily powers of 4th Ed. You only get those in the Prestige classes, and just the Encounter stuff.

[pants]

Ok I understood about half of that conversation.  Apart from the DAKKADAKKADAKKA!!!! bit.  Go the Orkz!  But I digress.

So what's the deal with this 4E anyway?  Have they dumbed it down or made it streamlined or what?  I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Templates but that could be my prejudices as an old school gamer showing though.

Honest opinion time - will I have fun playing 4E and will it let me loot stuff and develop a characters personality at the same time?

[AstroBoy]

With a good group fun can be had with any RPG.

I haven't actually played 4e but I've heard its gone kinda computer/WoWish in that the powers are now certain amount per day rather than rest to rememorise and everyone gets some of those type. Also, there's some second wind power i think which means you basically heal again.

Go find some reviews.

http://www.thed6generation.com/index.php?post_id=344830

I listened to this one. Good podcast too.

[Bullet42]

As for tabletop. I play warhammer40k I run an army of chaos Marines.

[Anubis Reynard]

Ok I understood about half of that conversation.  Apart from the DAKKADAKKADAKKA!!!! bit.  Go the Orkz!  But I digress.

So what's the deal with this 4E anyway?  Have they dumbed it down or made it streamlined or what?  I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Templates but that could be my prejudices as an old school gamer showing though.

Honest opinion time - will I have fun playing 4E and will it let me loot stuff and develop a characters personality at the same time?

Massive amount of streamlining and balancing- It's a lot easier for new players to pick up. They threw out a lot of the old-school resource management that held over from 2nd Ed and earlier, like spell components, and the 5 minute workday of most adventurers, before the casters are out of spells. They made it easier to keep on fighting challanging enemies, rather than taking an 8 hour nap after every fight, or walking over nusances until they wore out your expendables.

They also made all the fluff extremely generic. The book tells you that Paladins, blackguards, and holy/unholy-type warriors in generall should all use the same "paladin" class powers, reflavored to fit your concept. I've made a pretty awesome Iajitsu Duelist Samurai... who was actually statted as a "Brutal Scoundrel-build Rouge", for whom "sneak attacks" were his training to take advantage of the gaps in his opponent's defenses.







Every class, at level 1, gets 2 powers it can use "at-will", any number of times per day. (Humans can pick 3) For a wizard, they can choose things like Magic Missile, Ray of Frost, Scorching burst, ect, whereas a fighter can choose Cleave, a shield-bash/bullrush power, or a few others.

Also, they pick one Level 1 Encounter power and one Level 1 Daily power from their class. Encounters are expended, but "recharge" after only 5 minutes, (after the encounter is over) but Dailies take 6 hours of rest to recharge. As characters level up, they gain more Encounter and Daily powers, but they still have the same At-wills on standby when they run out.

Also, every character has a limited number of times they can be healed per day, generally 6-12. Since each of these "healing surges" is defined as "1/4 your max HP" that should be enough to keep you going for awhile.
You can heal yourself, once every encounter, (second wind) but actual healers do more, and more often. "the target spends a healing surge and gains an extra 1d6 HP, plus the cleric's Charisma mod. You can use this power twice an encounter." is one example. After a night's rest, you get your healing surges back, and have max HP on top of it.

[Dugan]

Don't really like the sound of all that, give me Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay anyday.

[Anubis Reynard]

Never played that one. What's it's high points?