Onward ho!

Our group recently came to the nearly unanimous decision to continue on with 4th Edition, at least through the next module in the WotC series. Guess who the lone dissenter was.

Anyways, I’ll carry on, even though I feel like the kid being forced to eat his vegetables before he can leave the table. The thing is, I’ve tried cauliflower before and I don’t like it. Trying it again isn’t going to change my opinion. Its not going to suddenly become good. Even putting melted cheese on it won’t hide the underlying yuckiness.

Same thing with 4E. I’ve tried it for several months and it simply isn’t as much fun as 3.5. Another several months isn’t likely to change anything. The addition of the PHB2 and the Powers books might help, or they might be the melted cheese.

At any rate, I’m going to “retrain” my Dragonborn wizard into a fighter. My thinking is that part of the problem might be the expectations I’ve carried over from 3.5. Namely in that when I play a spellcaster, I want some actual choices in what spells he knows. By switching to a fighter, a class I never got around to playing in 3.5, I’ll drop that expectation. Then we’ll see if it’s just the spellcasting classes that are boring or if it’s all of them.

So I’ll have another bite. Pass the melted cheese please.

A not-so-brief summary (after 3 levels)

Having just hit 3rd level I figured it was time to sum up the things that I love and the things that I hate with 4e.

The Good:

Everything to do with Encounter design. I just love this. Everything from the mixing and matching of monsters, to their roles (as an aid for the DM only), to the use of terrain. It’s all just good shit. I mean it. WotC knocked this one out of the park.

The skills system. I was lukewarm on the untrained vs trained thing at first, but I’ve really grown to love it. It’s simple, elegant, and best of all dumping ranks in doesn’t outgrow the curve of the DCs, making what should be an incredibly difficult show of skill (ie, tumbling around a dozen ninja warriors without getting hit) into a can’t be failed exercise in boredom (ie. that DC 15 never goes up).

Racial abilities. They add a nice little kicker to choosing a specific race. Great idea.My only knock against them is that they just don’t go quite far enough. I’m putting this under a good thing, with the presumption that future books will push this great idea to the heights it deserves.

The monsters. Another homerun for WotC. From the foundation of their design being for one encounter (ie. no more abilities/spells that won’t be used during a fight) to the stat block layout, it’s all much improved. A special favorite of mine is the use of signature powers for every monster. The kobold’s free shift and the goblin’s shift after a miss etc... Just awesome.

Races. Love the new races. The Dragonborn are a perfect addition, and the split of the elves into Eladrin and Elf is beautiful. The Tiefling... well, three out of four is pretty damn good. And the re-tooling of the other core races are all very nicely done.

The Bad:

The multiclassing (or lack thereof). Part of the fun in DnD is mixing and matching existing classes to whip up my own perfectly tailored “class”. Was it powergaming and unbalancing? Sure. Was it potentially nerfing yourself if you took the wrong class or feat? You betcha! But it was fun and challenging and I loved it. (The added perception that they nerfed multi-classing solely to justify the creation of future books, as in “don’t make up your own class, buy this book which has a bunch of new classes that almost fit your concept instead”, well, that kinda pisses me off.)

Spellcasting is just boring. It’s all just different powers now and that, in some vague way, robs me a little. Okay, my wizard can drop “Scorching Bursts” every round, but whoop-dee-doo. It’s dulls-ville.

Action points. It took me a while but I’ve decided that I hate the way they implemented these. When they first appeared in the 3.5 Eberron world, I thought they were quite cool. A nice little 1d6 boost to any roll to change defeat into success strikes me as “heroic”, which was the intent. In 4e getting to do an extra action in a round might be heroic, if you fighter uses it to make an extra attack and topples two ogres at the same time. More often than not the result of the Action Point is pretty mundane. A healing surge gets burnt, or a bad guy gets hit for an extra 5 damage. Yawn. Worse yet, I’ve used an Action Point for the extra move to get away from danger. Yeah. That’s “heroic”.

The magic items. I know they felt that players were far too dependant on magic items. But so what if they are? At least it gave us something to aspire and save up for. Something to quest for even. Now they’re just lame.

Retraining. WotC should take this concept and shove it up their ass. I hate it. 'Nuff said.


The “yeah buts”:

The assortment of powers. I like them overall, and the fact that every class gets them is both a good and bad thing. It makes every class unique in way, which is good, but it also (in an admittedly weird way that I have trouble defining) makes every class feel the same. I wish I could elaborate on this but it’s just my subjective feeling.

The feats will surely fill many a book (while emptying many a wallet) and every character gets a shitload of them, which is good. I suppose. But I’ve yet to see anything that I want to aim towards. They’re just so watered down now. A piddly bonus to a pair of skils, or the ability to wear armor and such are just... blah. Where are the Whirlwind Attack type feats that required levels of planning and then provided an exciting in game payoff?

The overall streamlining of the game. This came really close to being up with the good, but for one thing. There are times where I get the feeling that “time wasters” of the past (ie. confirming critical hits etc...) have simply shifted to new time wasters. This could be simply because our play group hasn’t gotten a complete grasp on the rules and powers but everyone’s action starts with opening the PHB to check on the details of our char’s powers. I’d rather be rolling dice thanks.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

I’m not totally sure but I think so. This Character Concepts gives me some hope.

For starters there are some very cool powers scattered around the PHB. Some of them enable a player to do things in 4e that 3rd edition or 3.5 couldn’t come close to emulating. There seems to be a nice assortment between damage dealing and attacking different defenses. Plus every class has something at higher levels that I can see producing that “wow” factor that’s been missing so far.

On the downside, it looks like the fun doesn’t really begin until the Paragon Tier. There are some nice things 10th level and lower but not much that I can get excited about. I mean, relative to my character’s level and the enemies we’ll be fighting, Fireball and Lightning Bolt are old standbyes for fun. But they’re a far cry from Elemental Maw or even Lightning Serpent (admittedly a 9th level Daily, so pre-Paragon. Still, 9th level before the first really cool power appears in the Wizard’s repetoire?).

I’m still disappointed in the watered down and restrictive multiclassing rules. As the author, Peter Shaefer writes “Paragon tier is when multiclassing comes into its own.” First off, I don’t want to wait 10 levels before that multiclassing feat I took starts to “come into its own.” Secondly, I really don’t see much of a payoff or a change in the character going all the way to the Epic Tier summary. The example characters still strike me as a basic warlock or fighter, with a smattering of powers pilfered from the second class(es).

I still intend to try out the multiclassing for myself, so my opinion of it might change in a year or two. For now I still feel like there’s no point in multiclassing, and that makes tailoring a character a distant dream.

Returning closer to the point of the article, I am heartened by the fact that thematic characters are easily done. Either of the two Schaefer gives as examples would be fun to play. Better yet, it makes me wonder what themes I’ll be able to come up with and experiment upon. Already I’m looking forward to developing my dragonborn wizard along the storm theme. With more books coming I eagerly await the new feats and powers.

What I’m not looking forward to, but might be forced into by the rules, is the whole swapping of powers thing. Again and again Schaefer has his examples swapping this power for that, and some times he switches back two levels later. Everytime I saw it I cringed. I mean, it makes no sense to me that one day my character can use Dread Star and the next she can’t. That’s like me suddenly forgetting how to drive but suddenly knowing how to fly a helicopter. To me, that stands out as the worst part of 4e. Unfortunately it’s clearly a fundamental basis of the whole set of rules.

The Player's Handbook

I received my copy of the Player's Handbook yesterday (see, the gods do smile upon me!), so I've put aside the Dungeon Master's Guide for now, to read a bit of that. I might alternate about them, though I'm going to try and get as much of them read for Saturday, which is when our group is hoping to give 4th edition a try for the first time.

Chapter 1 - HOW TO PLAY

This is the typical chapter on what D&D is about; what roleplaying games are like, the role that the player takes, the role that the DM takes, etc. It's pretty typical of the same chapter from earlier editions, explaining to the newcomer to D&D what the game is about.

Chapter 2 - MAKING CHARACTERS

Here we're finally getting to the good stuff - the tables, charts and rules that make up D&D, and specifically, this new version.

The races and classes are detailed lightly (they're done in more detail in later chapters), spelling out the three new base player races (dragonborn, eladrin and tiefling). This isn't anything new to those who have been following the sneak-peeks of 4e. The classes also have the two new base ones mentioned, Warlock and Warlord, and the absence of the sorcerer, druid and monk are a bit noticeable.

The roles are only very slightly mentioned here. I'm not sure if this is more the DM's area, and thus the PHB won't have much on the subject, or if that's just a later chapter.

Ability scores are nicely explained, both for the newcomer who might have an inkling on what each of them means, as well as their application to the most common rules, as well as the new rules, such as figuring out saving throws or how the powers are affected. There are three methods provided for rolling up your abilities: using a standard array (16,14,13,12,11,10) and assigning them as desired; using a point-buy of 22 on a base of 8,10,10,10,10,10 , which I found interesting (that you're only allowed to have one ability, maximum, at 8 or 9, not counting racial penalties that might exist); and of course the good old standby of rolling, using 6 4d6 rolls assigned as desired.

Skills, feats and powers are all glossed over here, guiding the player to the appropriate chapters. The new alignment chart is discussed, providing the typical explanation of how it might affect your character's outlook and attitude. Deities have always been closely tied to alignment, and the good ones are briefly described here for the players (where the evil ones are described in the DMG). The last touch-ups of character creation are also given a little attention, such as mannerisms, appearance and background -- all things that seasoned players probably do without thought, but a newcomer will find useful to know about.

The Making Checks section seems a bit wordy. Given that there's no more Base Attack Bonus, and that they, for the time being at least, are avoiding the term "rank" when discussing skills, the checklist for making an attack, a skill check or an ability check all look like:

 <type of check>
   To make a <type of check>, roll 1d20 and add the following:
   o One-half your level
   o The relevant ability score modifier
   o All other modifiers (see page xxx)
 The total is your <type of check> result.

This is repeated three times, making me feel like I should be wearing a helmet while reading this section. Okay, I get it. There's a roll, my half-level, a relevant ability, and other stuff.


The leveling up section was more interesting. Obvious was the missing "choose what class you're taking a level in", since multi-classing is basically gone, or, rather, faked through feats and powers. What I didn't know, and would be surprised if was previously mentioned (and missed by me), is every four levels you don't just gain a point in one ability score, but two. Plus one more at levels 11 and 21 -- the entrance to Paragon and Epic status.

Also mentioned here is the choosing of powers, which brings up the Retraining at later levels. To me, retraining doesn't fit, and doesn't make sense. I used to know how to spin around and hit two foes, but today I've completely forgotten how to do so -- but can now trip as a free action? In online games such as Dungeons and Dragons Online, I can see retraining (or respecking) being used because the game introduces new feats, new classes and new races as it goes. And I realize that the retraining could have been intended not as a "I've changed my mind" type of change, but meant to be an advancement. But that's not the case:

Sometimes you make decisions when you create or advance your character that you later regret.

Perhaps retraining should only improve upon like powers, so I go from hitting two to hitting three? And of course, while I'd like to say "House Rule: no retraining!", but it's such a core rule, I don't know that that will work. In fact, the retraining paragraph goes on to mention that "when the class table tells you to replace a power you know with a different power of a higher level, that doesn't count as retraining". I think this is a design weakness, but for now I think I'll let it play through. It might turn out that my players never take advantage of it. We've already heard what Griff thinks about it.

The chapter ends with the three tiers explained, showing the progress of your character from mere Hero to Epic saviour of the planes, and a point-by-point explanation of the layout of the character sheet found at the back of the book.

Retrain this

Retraining. A quaint idea. Started in some MMO I think. Worked well when some new module or update added a "must have" skill or whatever. Great idea in those circumstances. Saves paying players a lot of frustration.

It even fit with 3.5 DnD when it was introduced in the later stages of the game. At that point the optional source books were coming fast and furious. Every time I turned around there was a new book with new classes and feats.

Oh the feats!

I'm a feat whore. I'd flip through them endlessly, picking out the ones I wanted to try at some point. A few times I even contemplated having my current character commit suicide in some reckless or noble act. Maybe Crwth noticed. I dunno. It never worked out and instead I waited for the inevitable TPK.

Even when Retraining was introduced I never really embraced it. Sure, I could see the value in it, and considered petitioning Crwth once or twice. I just didn't like the idea of rewriting history unless something was a perfect fit for my character concept. The whole "Oh that flying kick thing? Yeah, my character has had that feat since like 6th level or so. Seriously." wasn't my cup of tea. As much as I understood the rationale, I didn't really like it.

Naturally (or should I say naively) I figured retraining to be a part of the past with 4e. There's only one book. Where's the need for retraining when there's only one book to pick from? Does WotC really think we're so dumb that we're constantly screwing up our characters?

There must be something there, because according to this "5. Select Feats. You generally don’t have to worry about the level at which you gained a particular feat, since retraining allows you to have the feats you want at any given level." (from this article)

Okay. What? Retraining (a soon to be outdated and needless concept) is now a core rule? Right from the start? Despite being only three core rule books? With new books planned on a yearly basis? Odd.

I would love to know the thinking behind this design decision. I find it hard to believe that following their little Talent Trees is that complicated. I mean, you just pick your flavor and follow the map. Couldn't be simpler. Right?

Yet, apparently there is quite a bit of room for error. And gods forbid you should nerf your character by picking the wrong feat. You'd have to quit playing and spend your money on some other roleplaying game. Or worse, kill your beloved character off and make a new one. Or worst of all, scrape the bottom of the barrel, bite the bullet and try to reach some fair compromise with the DM. *gasp!* Horrors!

Oh. But before you do that, have you seen this rule on "Retraining"?

You probably have. It's in most of your favorite video games.