Re: D&D 4th Ed Good or Bad?
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:35 pm
4th edition was clearly designed to appeal to a wider audience (namely the crowd of people who have been born and raised playing games like WoW). While I don't wholeheartedly agree with the direction, I think it was a good move on their part. The friends I grew up playing 2e with have started a 4e campaign that we play as often as we can (we shoot for once a month, but as all things go now that we're older and have responsibilities, that doesn't always happen). Here are my takes on some high level aspects of 4e (both good and bad):
* The change to allow all classes to have "powers" is mostly a good thing. You can think of those powers however you want, but as someone who grew up playing a lot of fighters in 2e I can say that it's somewhat refreshing to have other things to do than a basic attack over and over again ad nauseum while the high level mage does all the real work (and has all the fun).
* On the other side of the powers debate, I feel that Clerics especially (and to some degree wizards) have lost some of what makes them feel magical. Since everyone is doing impressive things all the time, nothing feels particularly mystifying or unique about the arcane classes.
* The initial offering of races, classes, and everything that goes with them is a little too lightweight in that most classes have obviously optimal selections in terms of powers and would, over time, result in many of the "same" characters being created for these classes. This appears to me to have been done somewhat intentionally to put value on needing new books and expansions for new powers and new classes. It's not a problem in the first few playthroughs because these characters and powers are new, but I could see that becoming somewhat stale after a few campaigns.
* The gameplay has been redesigned to make strategic combat the focus of the entire game. In many large ways roleplaying has been given a back seat (I know this is still largely in the power of the DM, but I've found that 90% of our game time seems to be devoted to just hammering out combat rounds with 4e). This is good or bad depending on whether or not you enjoy the combat. Personally, part of me misses the days when everything about the combat took place in our minds, now a board, minis, and tiles are basically a requirement (we use a whiteboard that has been scored out into a grid with a combination of minis and custom monster tiles I created).
* Whether you like or dislike the rules, I think they did an excellent job with the books this time around. I felt that they were well organized, really easy to read, and the DM's manual in particular seems much better geared to teach new DM's how to be a good DM as opposed to just providing a book full of tables and rules.
* The change to allow all classes to have "powers" is mostly a good thing. You can think of those powers however you want, but as someone who grew up playing a lot of fighters in 2e I can say that it's somewhat refreshing to have other things to do than a basic attack over and over again ad nauseum while the high level mage does all the real work (and has all the fun).
* On the other side of the powers debate, I feel that Clerics especially (and to some degree wizards) have lost some of what makes them feel magical. Since everyone is doing impressive things all the time, nothing feels particularly mystifying or unique about the arcane classes.
* The initial offering of races, classes, and everything that goes with them is a little too lightweight in that most classes have obviously optimal selections in terms of powers and would, over time, result in many of the "same" characters being created for these classes. This appears to me to have been done somewhat intentionally to put value on needing new books and expansions for new powers and new classes. It's not a problem in the first few playthroughs because these characters and powers are new, but I could see that becoming somewhat stale after a few campaigns.
* The gameplay has been redesigned to make strategic combat the focus of the entire game. In many large ways roleplaying has been given a back seat (I know this is still largely in the power of the DM, but I've found that 90% of our game time seems to be devoted to just hammering out combat rounds with 4e). This is good or bad depending on whether or not you enjoy the combat. Personally, part of me misses the days when everything about the combat took place in our minds, now a board, minis, and tiles are basically a requirement (we use a whiteboard that has been scored out into a grid with a combination of minis and custom monster tiles I created).
* Whether you like or dislike the rules, I think they did an excellent job with the books this time around. I felt that they were well organized, really easy to read, and the DM's manual in particular seems much better geared to teach new DM's how to be a good DM as opposed to just providing a book full of tables and rules.
