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I choose this company for gaming books over their competitors because they didn't charge me seperate shipping for each item I ordered, but allowed entire order to be shipped together during ordering. I will order again from this business
Even having potions suck, besides there are only a handful of potions you can purchase and none are very good, especially at higher levels.I literally spend 75% of my character creation/leveling trying to find a magical item in my price range or level range that has an actual benefit aside from giving me a +1 to hit/dmg or increasing my AC by 1.3) Role playing. After after 3 campaigns ranging from level 1 - 15, there are some VERY big issues with 4th edition.You can read about all the improvements that have been made, like class balance and streamlined system. Drow dual wielding rangers, Undead ArchMages that rule entire nations, a cleric who refuses to shed blood, or even a mage that specializes in Illusions or Summoning, just about all such iconic characters can no longer be built. But that's all shine on the new system. This makes magic items. The concept of wizards having spells vs Warriors having abilities is moot. Wands of Magic Missile, Staff of Power, Sword of Wishes all add wonder to the game.
It boils down to dailys, encounters, at-wills powers. Each has basically the same number of encounters, dailys etc. And the damage die is basically the same (give or take). I simply do not see a reason for.Many might disagree with me but the more 4th Edition you play, the more obvious its flaws become.
I bought the books when they were first released. Now even if your DM gave you an artifact at level 1, trust me when I say that you will NOT be impressed. At level 1-10 you can only use a magic item once a day (or per extended rest). not very magical. The awe of seeing a dual wielding ranger with Scimitars does not exist in 4th edition.2) Magic Items are a huge joke. Mage #1 took Magic Missiles as his At-will, Mage #2 took Ray of Frost - difference is minimal.Those are my pet peeves about 4th edition, there are certainly more faults for example rituals/Scrolls which. There are huge fundamental flaws with 4h edition.1) After playing a while, it makes no difference if you play a Wizard or a Barbarian or whatever class. Not with the new 4th edition system.
The "wonder" of casting a fireball into a room, or casting Prismatic Spray is gone. Buying a book on magical items used to be a treat where players could drool over items they hoped their characters would eventually purchase. After a few campaigns, all of them start to look just like the previous character class you picked. Especially with regards to Magic and Spellcasting.
I bought this book right when the game came out, right away it struck me not as a rpg product but as a guide to a video game. It is designed not to be a role-playing game but a table top version of a online RPG MMO such as Warcraft. That said, this isn't Dungeons and Dragons, it is a totally new system. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK, especially if you've never played D&D before. And if you didn't like it, you weren't going to like another addition. Buy that book and books from that edition, not this book.
For example this is the first edition of the game that has stat bonuses for Half-Elves, they have a bonus of +2 to CON. One of the major deferences I didn't like was the races, first they took away the penalties to stats and gave them all bonuses, but the bonuses just seem to be made for making them idea for certain classes. Half-Elves are from human and Elven stock, Elves are a less sturdy race and have in all pervious editions had penalties to con but somehow in this edition Half-Elves are more sturdy than most other races. It just doesn't make sense, bonuses need to be based on the theme of the race not just making them ideal for certain classes. I've played D&D since the 80s and played every edition of the game. Changes such as having to roll to hit with a magic missle just sit wrong with me as it changes the game in ways that make it different. D&D didn't need to be made different, it is a great game.
I was hoping for a new and better set of rules, that's what every edition prior had been. AD&D was better than D&D from the original box set, AD&D 2nd was better than AD&D, D&D 3rd was better than AD&D 2nd and D&D 3.5 was better than 3rd, so I was really looking forward to them somehow making another better edition. Another problem is porting in a pc from an earlier edition is the hardest here than in any other edition. This system of rules makes for a quicker job of GMing; however, in doing so it makes for a poorer game with a lack of detail. I have never been so disappointed in a purchase.
So the game fails here, badly. It is much easier to bring in a basic charcter from the original D&D to 3.5 than a 3.5, or any other edition, character to 4th. If you've never bought D&D books, go to the Player's Handbook 3.5, they still sell them on here and will likely sell them on here used for years to come. All the other editions are better than this.
Everything from the skill sets, the feats, and even the new class specific abilities are handled with skill and balance. I know there are still a lot of people out there playing 3.5 and Pathfinder, and I truly have no problem with those editions. D & D 4th edition the best roleplaying game on the market. My only gripe being the lack of true multiclassing although I have heard that there are groups out there that are experimenting with hybrids. other than perhaps some of the more fanatical crowd talk a lot of dirt. Wizards of the Coast has done a phenomenal job keeping this game simple but still fun to play. If you have not yet tried 4th ed you probably owe it to yourself to try it out. It is my conviction that this edition will prove to be the most popular edition yet.
The daily powers are even worse. I like the split defenses by themselves, but we found that if you make a character that primarily can target will, you will hit more often than not. Spend time analyzing the battlefield and working out optimum character placements. I had all the shield feats save one or two and was on the verge of not needing another weapon at all. wait, run that by me again.Next, the implementation of the powers. I bought the book on launch day, and started tearing into it. Second, some of the changes to defenses are good, as every class should learn a bit more about defending itself with level, the rules take that into account.
I like being able to "play against type" and still be successful at it, which you can't do effectively with this framework. That's good, as I've had more than one session of high level play of just "keep the bad guys off the wizard for a couple rounds." Now, that's not really a system problem, but a DM problem, but these rules seem to level that out for the so-so DMs. The DM let me change the character to a ranger, and I was better, but not efficient (I didn't take dual strike, not realizing that it is, essentially, required).Second, the "saving throw." Ok, 50/50 shot. Not a problem. I like getting into character. I had the opportunity to learn a reliable power at one point and I jumped on it simply because I was sick of wasting rolls. With "saves" going to will defense and such, and those being tied to two abilities, makes it easier to build a character with the stats that will help the character out.Third, I like the concept (not the implementation) of the powers/exploits/spells/etc. Its a shame the combats (which are supposed to go FASTER now) come down to "hold on a sec while I figure out which power I need." I like the theory, but in practice, my encounter powers are gone in four rounds, with two or three of the four powers going to whiffs.
My last 3.5 character was a shield-master fighter. Case in point, I played my Eladrin fighter for three sessions, at which point I realized that Eladrins are not meant to be fighters. All the familiar rules with some balancing changes and power boosts to characters, as well as every 3.5 book you own being compatible. I barely made it through one character class in the book (skimming powers) and a brief skim of combat before I tossed the book away in disgust. I admit I was very much looking forward to the new rules, as I liked the changes made to the Star Wars RPG, which were based on an earlier version of the 4.0 ruleset.
Its both good and bad, as it makes it easier (in theory) to shake off effects, but I would rather they had gone with the SW ruleset's version of the defenses and handling of conditions. The stat bonuses they have are in the wrong columns for the fighter. If you like adventuring heaving on the dice rolling, if you like having your choices spelled out for you when you pick your race, and if you can't imagine not being able to play in the MMO framework of "tank, dps, healer, crowd-control," then 4th edition is for you. Basic tactics, not a problem.
I want my RPG combats to go a little more fluidly. They may not be powerful, but even spellcasters now have something to fall back on that deals ok damage (as opposed to "I'm out of spells, take 3 points from my crossbow") and decent powers that regen every combat.Lastly, I also like the concept of every class being able to pull out some form of healing.On to the dislikesFirst, while I like the inter-class balancing, upon creating a few characters of various levels, they've balanced the characters so much that if you don't pick the optimum build for your race & class, you may as well not pick up the dice. Let me start with saying that I not only understand why Hasbro (we can't ignore who pulls the WotC strings) made these changes, but on an academic level I approve of them. Being pigeonholed into a specific character race/class/type due to the risk of being utterly useless otherwise.
My review is based off of the resulting six-ish months of play I put into the game.I'll start with what I like about the system. With the popularity of MMOs in general, less people are wandering into game stores for pen & paper adventure, so D&D takes that on the head by making what amounts to a P&P version of an MMO. Prior editions were skewed either against the wizard (low levels) or to the wizard (high levels), and 4th seems to be balanced in power-level throughout. No thank you.To sum up, I do think the 4th ed. Miniatures.
If you like 3.5, and haven't houseruled away some of the balance issues, or you've just started and don't like 4th ed., try out the Pathfinder RPG, which you could really call edition 3.6. Good luck trying to do that in 4th.I'm getting tired of ranting, so I'll do one more specific one - all the stuff that can go on in combat, the pushing, the pulling, etc. Essentially, combats seem to come down to at-will powers anyway, so why do we need all the fluff.Next, while I like that everyone can heal, it feels very contrived with how healing magic works now being based on using your or my healing surges - including healing potions (completely useless to carry now, imho).Next, magic item use. no saving throws and a condition track with the three defenses.Third, on the same lines, how the defenses work. Now, that's not enough to make me write a review, a friend who was running for the first time begged me to come back to the table because she wanted the "old group back together." Dusted off the PHB, read through the remainder of the book (combat twice), decided what I wanted to play (Eladrin Fighter, initially) and read through the appropriate sections. Now, I don't mind tactical battles, but that's why I play tabletop wargames.
Or at least do both.As a long-term tabletop gamer, however, I'm simply appalled at the system. Aren't there supposed to be drawbacks to playing something with more powers.Next, feats seem less useful than before. We were playing a published module, and to hit anything but will, I had to roll on the order of 14+, with my attack bonus of +20. The framework doesn't allow for much true roleplaying. If you're a DM complaining that your players are using magic items too often to get out of things, then why'd you give them so many.Next, why do races only get bonuses. As I said, I'm fine with that purely on theory, as we want people to take up dice-slinging instead of key-pressing.
D&D system is balanced, and I think it works great, if slowly, for a nice, combat-heavy game session. The problem is that I'm a role-player. I'm failing to see how this one helps game balance in any way, shape, or form. Er. what. First, they did a good job of balancing the characters.
Needing to buy new books constantly due to power creep (to be fair, that was an issue with 3.0/3.5 as well), not that I personally did so. Powers are an interesting idea. You can only use so many daily magic items per day (1 or 2 for most of us). Major issues: Way too lengthy combats, mostly due to monster HP/AC, but also too much tactical thought. Or another system completely - 4th edition let me finally talk my group into trying out non-D&D systems - and I had been arguing with them about that for five years.
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