Tiers of Joy

I'm beginning to sense a theme in the development and design of 4e. Bear with me. I'm a little slow.

That theme, ladies and gentlemen, is tiers.

Everywhere from developer blogs to playtests to dev&des articles the idea of tiers is everywhere. There's the tiers in spellcasting that will replace the "Vancian" fire-and-forget method of previous editions. The whole "at will vs per encounter vs per day" thing. There's the set-up of the DMG with the first part of the book being at low, medium, and high "altitude" (to borrow the term used by David Noonan here). Finally, David Noonan (in the same blog thread) announces that he's working on what he says are ""skill challenges," "extended challenges," and "complex challenges.""

While I'm of mixed opinion on what I've seen/read/heard about 4e, but I have to say that I like this viewpoint. I like that they are coming at the design of 4e from different heights/tiers/altitudes. Break the game down and organize it into the various levels. Group the things that we as players or DM will use all the time in one neat and tidy section. If nothing else speeds up play and minimizes page flipping, this will.

Although I do love flipping past those sexy pictures of Mialee...