OT: D&D 4e or: Wanna slaughter some minions?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Over the last week, I've found D&D 4e to be fun - I'll even say more fun than 3e. I've been running a solo dungeon for myself and enjoying it - Memory says that my attempt at that with 3e failed miserably.

And I want to GM a game. I'm thinking OpenRPG, time TBD.

[Warning, fanboy ]
I like the cool powers system that means that not only can the combat guys do more than a damage attack, the combat guys can run around the battlefield like a ferret on speed, if they want and be just as combat effective - Or even more effective, with the right powers. One attack? Not with the right powers. Doing just damage? Those powers are in the minority and only there when you need high damage more than, say, knocking some sucker backwards and then following him so you can hit him again.

The wizard does take an adjustment; your powers are now mostly geared towards battlefield control. The cool powers, like Maze, Mordenkainan's Mansion and Meteor Swarm are also still there - Along with some new ones like Elemental Maw.

As for the new classes? Warlock: If the 30th-level 'Hurl through Hell', 'Doom of Delban' or 'Curse of the Dark Delerium' doesn't sounds thematic and cool...Hey, Dire Radiance, Hellish Rebuke, Diabolic Grasp, Curse of the Dark Dream, Dread Star...All first level. All cool.

Warlord? Perfect for leading the charge. Everyone around you gets bonuses if you so much as sneeze.

Cleric? You can heal, you can bash, you can buff, you can shoot, all your area attacks are harmless or even helpful to the party...And you still don't outshine anyone, because you have to cherry-pick your powers.

No Half-orcs, gnomes or your other favorite race? Show me a third-party race for 4e and I'll check it out. And hey, back of the Monster Manual? Gnomes, Bugbears, Doppelgangers, Drow, Githyanki, Githzerai, Gnolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Minotaurs, Orcs, Shadar-Kai, Shifters (Two types) and Warforged - Basic stats for using them as PCs. Who says 4e is short on playable races?

Dragonborn? Lost and scattered heirs of an ancient empire, short on survivors but large in honor - And not munchkin at all.

Tieflings? Lost and scattered heirs of the other ancient enemy empire, struggling to survive and without so much as a village to call their own. And, best of all, they didn't nerf the artwork - They actually look part demonic.

Oh and lastly? Rituals - Utility spells that anyone can use - Wizards and Clerics are just better at them. Any character can have magical flavor without multi-classing.
[/fanboy]

Seriously? I think this version is seriously cool, even when I view it objectively. Sure, saving throws seem too simple. Sure, it's more money I've spent. I also miss the lack of cones.

But...I'm having more fun - And hey, house-ruling.

Yes, I am still learning as a GM. If you spot anything to help me improve, please tell me and I'll fix any problems.

The adventure will start in the DMG town of Fallcrest. The tone will be adventure fantasy in the 4e 'Points of Light' world.

Further details if interest is shown.

[Randallw]

Didn't we have a D&D thread for this. I mention it only because I did bring it up several weeks ago

I want to give it a try, we can use that Openrpg thing again if you don't want the online D&D thing, but i'd have to install it again, plus there's the whole time difference problem.

I'm interested but now I come to mention it unfortunately I might not have the time. I start an online refresher course next month and I don't know how that'll take up my time.

Edit: Fyron will probably pop up and point out that as far as he knows it's turned into a tabletop mmporpg. I can see where he's going, but I do think it's a quicker system. The most frustrating thing when we played before was the time it took for each battle. I've got no sense of nostalgia so anything new is interesting to me.

The argument for 3rd edition is the books aren't being destroyed. You can keep playing that. Well you could if you didn't hock your 3rd edition books. Like me .

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...I completely forgot about that thread. I'd act suprised, but with my memory, I'm not. It's a good thing I can write things down and that my head is firmly attached.

If nothing else, with the books out, people can form an informed opinion.

If you mean D&D Insider, the features other than the magazines have been delayed to vagueness in their delivery date. On the bright side, so has the fee.

Also, This addresses most 4e concerns, from someone who bought all the negative hype.

Combat has quicker rounds, but more of them. The rules are also streamlined, so overall combat is faster. And in my solo dungeon crawl I ran a combat with two PCs against eight minions and it went fast - About the time it takes to roll five-seven groups of d20s, starting with 10. But then, minions drop in one hit and you don't roll damage. On the other hand, most of the other combats took an hour and that's with me playing both sides and flipping through three books to make sure I've got everybody's abilities down - And including prep time beforehand.

[Randallw]

When I first got the books I was shocked at what looked to me like the nerfing of wizards. I knew vancian spells were out but it worried me to see that mages only got something like a choice of 4 spells per encounter, not counting the 2 or 3 at will spells you have, and always the same 3 at will spells, but as I studied the new encounter system it occurred to me it's ok. Sure you have less spells at first glance, but you can reuse them every encounter. Just pray the DM isn't the sort to throw in new enemies every round, that way the "encounter" never ends. You need to have a break, even if only for a few minutes so you can reset when it starts again. The really powerful spell stuff, the stuff which I think seperates the wizards form other classes with just as many powers, are rituals. Sure a fighter might be as powerful in a fight, but he can't spend an hour summoning something big. I thought from a story viewpoint the fact that failing stuff like wilderness travel rolls takes away healing surges, so if you mess up and spend all day walking around the middle of nowhere you'll tire yourself out, is a good touch.

If you haven't already I suggest listening to the Penny arcade session. It does give a good idea of how it works, just be careful if you don't like harsh language.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080530
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080606
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080613

which reminds me, I've only gotten a third of the way through part 3

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The language is over the edge of what I would want to listen to. Other than that, the first session is informative and fun, though.

He can - He can either buy a one-use scroll or spend a couple feats and money equal to the scroll cost for each ritual in a ritual book, then some time to master them. But the Wizard still gets mastered rituals and can record them in his spellbook automagically - And for free.

[Randallw]

I wouldn't use such vulgar language (from the Latin, Vulgus: common), preferring instead to express myself in a more eloquent fashion, but I don't let it get to me. I occasionally watch stuff like South Park, but I turn it off if it's like the one where they want to say the S-bomb 170 times.

Vulgarity just means you don't have the intelligence to say something meaningful.

That said I do occasionally utter something shocking. If it was the 50's.

oh, finally. I WILL tell you to stop if you blaspheme in my presence.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

That's pretty near my opinion - Except I tend to swear if I, say, stub my toe.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Astorax and I had a successful OpenRPG server test to make sure that functionality works.

Also, the latest OpenRPG (Nessasary if we do indeed use OpenRPG) is here: http://www.assembla.com/spaces/files...er3lzlabIlDkbG - 'OpenRPG_Installer.exe'.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It seems it may end up being an Evil party...

House rules so far:
PCs have to be run past the other players as well as the GM; this is because the PCs have to be at least minimally capable of working together.
On a PC veto vote, tie goes to 'no'.

Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil are back in. This may affect some deity alignments...

Gods, primordials, nature of, war between - Don't make assumptions.

As per recent Dragon article, demigod Maldeen is now in...

Divine characters with an alignment different than their deity must be able to make a convincing argument about why said deity would take them on. This will be much, much easier for a Good character who wants to be a cleric of Bahamut than a CE character who wants the same.

Fallen (Or risen) Divine characters loose their divine powers until they can find and convince a new patron.
Evil characters with divine powers that would do Radiant damage by the rulebook instead do Necrotic damage.

All characters can worship anyone they wish; just be aware that if you start making offerings to, say, Bahamut and Orcus, the best you can expect is to get ignored. They have opinions of you, too...

Elves get another +1 to their speed and +1 to Will defense to make them a viable choice. This does not apply to Eladrin; the bonuses are to make Elves comparable in utility to Eladrin (In my mind).
If this proves to be too much, I will reduce it, possibly back to base.

Since I know of no rules that cover minion criticals and criticals versus minions, minions that critical double their flat-rate damage. If you critical when attacking a minion, you get an extra basic attack, since the minion is dead no matter how little damage you do.

[Astorax]

Hey I'll help out with anything the party needs doing ..as long as it benefits me somehow.

Plus, come on ppl, Narf and I are the only ones up for this so far? We even got the openRPG server working and everything.

BTW, I'll be playing as an Eladrin Wizard, Lawful Evil.