4th Edition D&D announced

[SirNitram]

It's got Krynn and Spelljammer on the list, Tortoise. How could Gnomes not be tinker-monkeys, even if Lantan got nuked?

....Or did I not remember to mention the List before?

[Comrade Tortoise]

It's got Krynn and Spelljammer on the list, Tortoise. How could Gnomes not be tinker-monkeys, even if Lantan got nuked?

....Or did I not remember to mention the List before?

hehehehehehe

Yes.... the gnomes will build a Great Machine in order to fold their laundry... This Great Machine will then go on a bloody rampage...

[LadyTevar]

SpellJammer.
Tinker Gnomes



GIANT SPACE HAMSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cynical Cat]

My group is pumped over Dark Sun, since me and one of the other guys who occasionally GMs are both Dark Sun fans.

We don't think the three books per setting thing will hold with Faerun. Too big a fan base not to exploit.

Love that the Gith races are being designed to be out of the book playable as PCs. That the drow (who have a huge fan base even after we line up the Drizz't clones against the wall and shoot them) being PC designed is to be expected. Nalifan would point out that his species does not belong in the Players Handbook with halflings, but in the book with such lordly beings as dragons, fae lords, and titans.

Gnomes are. . . well pathetic one trick ponies and the trick isn't even consistent. Halflings get more love than they do. Gnomes are either forest dwellling practical jokers with magical tricks or incompetent builders of dangerously powerful, malfunction prone machines. That's really two different races that share long noses and short heights with dwarves. They contribute almost nothing to the history of any of the major settings. They were in bad need of a rebuild.

[LadyTevar]

MWHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!!!!


Marcon Program Guide: Saturday 8:30p, Morrow Room
PREVIEW OF 4th EDITION D&D

Gee... I think that will draw everyone but Whitehaven and Devonie

[Hotfoot]

"Hey mom! Guess what? I'm a monster, rawr!"
"Who's a good minion? Who's a good minion? You are! Yes you are, Francis!"

[LadyTevar]

"Hey mom! Guess what? I'm a monster, rawr!"
"Who's a good minion? Who's a good minion? You are! Yes you are, Francis!"

"Don't parties usually kill monsters for their loot?"
*Teifling smiles.*
***BaZAPPP!***
*Teifling dropkicks Frances over the mountains*


Oh yeah... It kicked ass. The books are not only well-illustrated and Shiny, but are well-laid out. Even I could understand them. Magic Items are now in the PLAYERS GUIDE, so we don't have to bug the DM for them.

DMs Guide has a "New DM Section", with helpful, EASY TO UNDERSTAND guidelines for what a DM can and should do. Including how to deal with Problem Players. I think it's a re-write of the "DMing for Dummies" book that came out a few years back.

Finally there is a rule for allowing a PC with a high IQ to get hints to a puzzle the Player's too stupid to get. Nit and Hotfoot called it the "Clue by Four" rule.

Monster Manual had smaller stat-blocks, which Nit was saying makes it easier to read. However, much of the "Ecology" was dropped as well. While that allowed them to get more monsters into the same number of pages, it loses a lot by dropping the 'fluff' in my mind. But then again, I read the Monster Manual more for that fluff than the Stat Blocks.

"Gleemax" was also introduced, as well as the "D&D INSIDER". Both are online offerings, with the Insider a monthly paid subscription. Nit and Hotfoot were arguing the Cons there, but I thought it was SHINY. There is an option not only for building and saving your CharSheets on there like RPG-Profiler, but a 3-d Character Image creator that has options even better than WarCraft for personalizing your looks. Not only can both your Char sheet and your Image be printed off the computer, the DM can build your dungeon online, and your 3d characters are now your 3d minatures moving across the map.
As I said. SHINY.

Pat Booze was the presenter, and she was hilarious. Devonie, Hotfoot, Marcao and I got to sit down and eat with her and chew the fat Friday. Very nice, down-to-earth lady, who knows her stuff. (Hotfoot's baby-laptop made her give her husband "MayIhaveOne?" eyes. The low price makes me think he'll give it to her.)

[SirNitram]

Eh, I'll just pillage the damn character creator software in it's free, non-savable version. :)

The ecology is down but there's still fluff. Ecology.. Often felt tacked on, and honestly, if you're going to do that, do the full 'Ecology Of The' series.

Two things I came away from my first 4e experiences with were extremely positive, though, enough to outweigh the minor disagreements I have. One's wonky, one's just ease of play.

The latter first. It is easy to play. The sample adventure, Keep On The Shadowfell, had encounters blow by at high speed, when you consider how many times we were stopping to look up rules and see how they changed. It's easy to work out how your powers work and what they do and maximize their use.

The wonky one is the 'nuts and bolts' of the system. 1-3.5 D&D were 'Process response', going critical in 3.5. Most conditions have very clear changes to the monster's stats going on. Compare that with this example condition in 4e: Weakened. All attacks at half damage. Easier to deal with, and faster.

In two combat encounters, our party went from completely unsure to using high-mobility tactics and exploiting our powers well. Memorable moments were me gesturing at a Kobold, invoking Paladin's Divine Challenge with the full 'You. I'm over here.' And when he ignores me to fight Alan's rogue, he explodes from the radiant damage. The other was my encounter where I dropped into negative HP twice in a round or so. Stabilized and came back with a healing surge after Kobold-y stabbings and a breath weapon blast from their Wyrmpriest, and then again when Tev's mage runs up to the poor, beaten up Dragonborn.. And drops her big nuking attack on the grid square.

I got better, though.

[LadyTevar]

Note: the 'big nuking' of the gridsquare killed the 3 Kobold Dragonshields standing around the Dragonborn (they'd been whaled-on for a while, so they were low HP). "Burning Hands" is now a 'hit everything within three squares around you' attack. Getting that close to them means if I didn't drop them, I was gonna get whaled upon.

Still, the new breakdown of "At Will", "Encounter" and "Daily" spells options means that even when the big spells are gone, the Mage can still spam"Magic Missiles" with a wave of the wand every round. Yes, you have to roll for it... but against their Reflex, not their AC. Far easier for a Mage to hit targets now.

[General Havoc]

I only understand about half of what was said above, but I like it... I like it a lot.

[Hotfoot]

I should point out that I probably goofed in favor of awesome for some abilities, because there was no description of "burst" vs. "blast" in the demo rules, but oh well. At this point, all of my questions have been answered, and all of the books will be out in just under two weeks as is.

[Rogue 9]

Not to nitpick, but Gleemax and D&D Insider were introduced at GenCon last year. They were both still in Alpha then, so you probably heard stuff I didn't, but MARCon is hardly the first time they've been talked about.

[Rogue 9]

This lucky bastard pre-ordered the books from a store that seems to have accidentally shipped early, and he's spilling the beans.

[Rogue 9]

[Hotfoot]

Post it here? Are you sure?

[Cynical Cat]

Post it here? Are you sure?

I think he posted in the wrong thread.

[Hotfoot]

Yes, I'm teasing him about it

[B4UTRUST]

Alright, I've got my copies of the PHB, DMG and MM. Ask away for questions...

[Cynical Cat]

Do drow still make good wizards?

[LadyTevar]

Do drow still make good wizards?

Wizards and Warlocks both

[Cynical Cat]

Do drow still make good wizards?

Wizards and Warlocks both

No, I'm afraid not. Their stats make them good warlocks, but merely average wizards.