There are a lot of things that 4th ED does well- even great- but there are several things I think this edition loses in these improvements. I have taken the time to read through the various books, examine the character classes, and familiarize myself with the mechanics of the game. I have made a string of characters, played them, and ran several games with a group of players. While the new game mechanics make the game combat dynamic, and leaves no player behind, I feel it sacrifices much of the roleplay mechanics so prevalent in previous editions. However, let me talk about what I think this edition does well before I talk about the faults I find with it.
First off, the layout of the books and reference material is well organized and easily accessed. The writing flows well, and is highly accessible to a new generation of player without a decade of game baggage already in tow. A new DM can pick this system up and be running a game in short order. Creating a character is quick and relatively painless now. Some of the more arcane tropes of D&D have been chucked out the door in favor of more standardized methods of determining things like hit points, skills, and other play modifiers.
The streamlined combat makes it fast and furious. The standardization of hp, skills, and saving throws makes calculations easy and intuitive. The ease of scaling monsters and the addition of minions keeps the players on their toes alert for the nasty surprise you’ve tucked away somewhere. That is great. Additionally, the Rituals allow a level of customization not seen before in D&D. With the right collection of feats, any character can perform many of the cleric or wizard only tasks in earlier editions of the game. And that is good. The healing is well handled; no longer do you have to worry about peppering the adventure with healing loot to keep the players on their feet- the surges take care of that for you. Also good.
And, with the edition of Powers they have fixed the forever broken Wizard class. No longer useless until level fifteen, the wizard can throw damage just as hard and as long as the fighter right out of the gate. Which is good. No longer does one player sit there and twiddle their dice after killing one kobold with Magic Missile. Now they get to hand out damage every round of every combat. The new system also benefits the Fighters, Rangers, and Rogues turning them into bigger combat hogs than they already were. However, the role of Clerics has changed dramatically. Once able to step up to the combat plate after the spells ran out, the new clerics are in truth much more like a paladin. Holy warriors that can kind of throw down with some spells. Team support is also taken up by the new core classes of Warlock and Warlord.
But…
But, so much of what is good about this game sacrifices the role play mechanics of the earlier additions. D&D started out as a fantasy wargame, and it traveled along way away from that by the time 3.5 came out, and 4th is working hard to go back to that ideal. So much of the new streamlining for the battlemap jettisons the fuzzy aspects of the mechanics of roleplaying. What if I design an adventure where an evil king can be turned with a sad song? What skill do you use to play the lute again? What if the player wanted to cheat at a card game to win the day? What skill does that use?
And, once you get past the shiny new paint and chrome, and pop the hood to get a close look at the way the game ticks you discover that the highly customizable characters aren’t so different from each other. They are just alike. And this was something that truly bugged me about 1st edition- your rapier wielding fighter was exactly the same as my great sword wielding fighter; we just rolled different dice for damage. And I see this again with 4th ED- your 5th level Eldarin ranger is going to be nearly identical to my 5th level Eldarin ranger; we just roll different dice for damage. In fact, your 5th level dwarf cleric is going to be remarkable similar to my 5th level Eldarin Ranger.
Additionally, the Warlock and Warlord both have the feel of well thought out supplemental character classes rather than a core class. It is worth noting that throughout my play experience the warlord of my group routinely out supported the cleric- whom traditionally occupies the role of front line support. But with the edition of the Warlords and the healing-in-your-pockets Surges the traditional role of the cleric isn’t really necessary anymore.
The spam (at will) and encounter powers are nearly identical across the classes. And, with the standardization of saving throws it gets harder to tell them apart. The largest difference between the classes is how much hp they get at every level. Indeed, the distinctions blur even more with the addition of Rituals. While on one hand this makes many functions of the game accessible to every player they no longer make any class special. And, for me that takes away an element of danger- don’t have a cleric? Well, then you had better be careful about charging through that door, hadn’t you?
And, do not even get me started on the forced migration into Paragon and Elite classes.
I understand why there are so few of the Paragon and Elite classes in the initial release- gotta have stuff for the supplemental material after all and there is only so much room in the book. But do not force me to customize my character if I don’t want to do it- that’s not customization but standardization. Your pitfighter is going to also be nearly identical to my pitfighter. This isn’t Diablo, this is a pen and paper RPG- an industry that thrives on expansion rule books! We can allow for some greater variation in our characters. Now, there is wiggle room with the feats and powers but the limited selection and near identical nature of those feats and powers across the classes make this customization frequently cosmetic in nature.
Ultimately, I am torn about 4th Edition. It does really well, speeding up the combat system and homogenization character classes and abilities, also take away the parts of Dungeons and Dragons that I really liked- the variety and expansion. Also, I find that the promise of customization is just woefully absent in this edition (for my money, the greatest customization offered by D&D was the Skills and Powers books from 2nd ED). What I considered to be the greatest sins of 1st ED was its inability to handle non-combat related events and ideas within the context of its rules structure, and the carbon copy nature of the different classes is all too prevalent in 4th ED.
Many other reviewers have remarked on the similarity between the new edition of D&D and the MMO model of gaming. While many have speculated that this is because D&D is trying to lure WoW players to the table top by mimicking the combat structure I disagree with this theory. I suggest that when they designed this game they created a system that could be used on the table top or on a pc and deliver the same experience.
Meaning, that the wizard I play with my cousin Bob on Saturdays will be identical to the wizard I play nightly on the brand new D&D online game. And this is important- so many of us veteran players like to remake older characters on similar systems but have often been stymied in this goal due to gross incompatibility. But with the new system it will flow easily from table to pc back to table. The Reaping Strike my Cousin Bob’s 5th level fighter does in game will look and function EXACTLY like the Reaping Strike his 5th level fighter does online.
I think that speaks to how well this game was designed in terms of usability.
So, even though I am torn about this edition I feel I must endorse it. The combat system and subsequent skill handling (such as it is) is well designed and intuitive in its use. And, while much of this edition goes back to the things about the 1st edition I did not like it does handle them well. All in all, it’s a good game that is fun and easy for everyone to play.
First off, the layout of the books and reference material is well organized and easily accessed. The writing flows well, and is highly accessible to a new generation of player without a decade of game baggage already in tow. A new DM can pick this system up and be running a game in short order. Creating a character is quick and relatively painless now. Some of the more arcane tropes of D&D have been chucked out the door in favor of more standardized methods of determining things like hit points, skills, and other play modifiers.
The streamlined combat makes it fast and furious. The standardization of hp, skills, and saving throws makes calculations easy and intuitive. The ease of scaling monsters and the addition of minions keeps the players on their toes alert for the nasty surprise you’ve tucked away somewhere. That is great. Additionally, the Rituals allow a level of customization not seen before in D&D. With the right collection of feats, any character can perform many of the cleric or wizard only tasks in earlier editions of the game. And that is good. The healing is well handled; no longer do you have to worry about peppering the adventure with healing loot to keep the players on their feet- the surges take care of that for you. Also good.
And, with the edition of Powers they have fixed the forever broken Wizard class. No longer useless until level fifteen, the wizard can throw damage just as hard and as long as the fighter right out of the gate. Which is good. No longer does one player sit there and twiddle their dice after killing one kobold with Magic Missile. Now they get to hand out damage every round of every combat. The new system also benefits the Fighters, Rangers, and Rogues turning them into bigger combat hogs than they already were. However, the role of Clerics has changed dramatically. Once able to step up to the combat plate after the spells ran out, the new clerics are in truth much more like a paladin. Holy warriors that can kind of throw down with some spells. Team support is also taken up by the new core classes of Warlock and Warlord.
But…
But, so much of what is good about this game sacrifices the role play mechanics of the earlier additions. D&D started out as a fantasy wargame, and it traveled along way away from that by the time 3.5 came out, and 4th is working hard to go back to that ideal. So much of the new streamlining for the battlemap jettisons the fuzzy aspects of the mechanics of roleplaying. What if I design an adventure where an evil king can be turned with a sad song? What skill do you use to play the lute again? What if the player wanted to cheat at a card game to win the day? What skill does that use?
And, once you get past the shiny new paint and chrome, and pop the hood to get a close look at the way the game ticks you discover that the highly customizable characters aren’t so different from each other. They are just alike. And this was something that truly bugged me about 1st edition- your rapier wielding fighter was exactly the same as my great sword wielding fighter; we just rolled different dice for damage. And I see this again with 4th ED- your 5th level Eldarin ranger is going to be nearly identical to my 5th level Eldarin ranger; we just roll different dice for damage. In fact, your 5th level dwarf cleric is going to be remarkable similar to my 5th level Eldarin Ranger.
Additionally, the Warlock and Warlord both have the feel of well thought out supplemental character classes rather than a core class. It is worth noting that throughout my play experience the warlord of my group routinely out supported the cleric- whom traditionally occupies the role of front line support. But with the edition of the Warlords and the healing-in-your-pockets Surges the traditional role of the cleric isn’t really necessary anymore.
The spam (at will) and encounter powers are nearly identical across the classes. And, with the standardization of saving throws it gets harder to tell them apart. The largest difference between the classes is how much hp they get at every level. Indeed, the distinctions blur even more with the addition of Rituals. While on one hand this makes many functions of the game accessible to every player they no longer make any class special. And, for me that takes away an element of danger- don’t have a cleric? Well, then you had better be careful about charging through that door, hadn’t you?
And, do not even get me started on the forced migration into Paragon and Elite classes.
I understand why there are so few of the Paragon and Elite classes in the initial release- gotta have stuff for the supplemental material after all and there is only so much room in the book. But do not force me to customize my character if I don’t want to do it- that’s not customization but standardization. Your pitfighter is going to also be nearly identical to my pitfighter. This isn’t Diablo, this is a pen and paper RPG- an industry that thrives on expansion rule books! We can allow for some greater variation in our characters. Now, there is wiggle room with the feats and powers but the limited selection and near identical nature of those feats and powers across the classes make this customization frequently cosmetic in nature.
Ultimately, I am torn about 4th Edition. It does really well, speeding up the combat system and homogenization character classes and abilities, also take away the parts of Dungeons and Dragons that I really liked- the variety and expansion. Also, I find that the promise of customization is just woefully absent in this edition (for my money, the greatest customization offered by D&D was the Skills and Powers books from 2nd ED). What I considered to be the greatest sins of 1st ED was its inability to handle non-combat related events and ideas within the context of its rules structure, and the carbon copy nature of the different classes is all too prevalent in 4th ED.
Many other reviewers have remarked on the similarity between the new edition of D&D and the MMO model of gaming. While many have speculated that this is because D&D is trying to lure WoW players to the table top by mimicking the combat structure I disagree with this theory. I suggest that when they designed this game they created a system that could be used on the table top or on a pc and deliver the same experience.
Meaning, that the wizard I play with my cousin Bob on Saturdays will be identical to the wizard I play nightly on the brand new D&D online game. And this is important- so many of us veteran players like to remake older characters on similar systems but have often been stymied in this goal due to gross incompatibility. But with the new system it will flow easily from table to pc back to table. The Reaping Strike my Cousin Bob’s 5th level fighter does in game will look and function EXACTLY like the Reaping Strike his 5th level fighter does online.
I think that speaks to how well this game was designed in terms of usability.
So, even though I am torn about this edition I feel I must endorse it. The combat system and subsequent skill handling (such as it is) is well designed and intuitive in its use. And, while much of this edition goes back to the things about the 1st edition I did not like it does handle them well. All in all, it’s a good game that is fun and easy for everyone to play.
