More D&D 4th Edition Information

A lot of good content. It seems they are taking some ideas from MMORPGs, streamlining systems, and giving more new special abilities each level.

Information Since Gen Con

Since the Con of Cons came to a close, the R&D team has put out seven Design and Development articles, three Playtest Reports articles, and a Podcast about the announcement. Between and inside of these features, we’ve been dancing around the core of the new game, giving us as players a sense of what’s to come. Here is a bullet point representation of information taken from these sources:

• Classes are going to have a lot more internal variation from character to character. Fighters are singled out as the example for this, with ’sword and board’ fighters being substantially different than a flair Fighter or an two-handed axe Fighter.
• These characters’ abilities will stem from the Martial Power Source. Unlike Wizards and Clerics, Fighters draw their strength from endless training and personal resolve. These characters are about ‘mastering their inner potential’ and externalizing it in the form of combat.
• Races will have more efficacious abilities, with some pieces coming into play as your character goes up in level. Again, the intent is to have characters differ from each other even if they’re the same race and class. Racial feats will allow special tricks, tactics. Half-elves will get something called ‘inspiring presence’, which has to suck less than what they’ve got now.
• Monsters are going to have far more in the way of options when it comes to combat, as seen in an article about what it’s like to fight a dragon. New dragon abilities include: AoE attacks based on their energy type, the ability to attack as a free action, and the ability to use a breath weapon in response to an attack.
• Clerics will somehow be able to heal allies while doing damage, as described here: “Calling on the power of her god, she swings her halberd at the dragon—a critical hit! The damage isn’t bad, but even better, the wizard gets a nice surge of healing power.”
• Dungeons will be designed with that earlier stated goal of ‘more monsters, more movement, more tactics’ in mind. Instead of having players go from room to room fighting a couple of enemies at a time, groups of monsters will be interconnected. They’ll come to each other’s aid, and generally make things more messy for the players.
• Character classes now fall into one of four Archetypes: Leaders, Defenders, Strikers, and Controllers. Bards and Clerics are Leaders, and Bards are going to be more specialized than they are in 3.5. Parties that choose to double up on certain Archetypes while leaving others out will face different challenges than a ‘balanced’ group … but should still be able to play.
• Though it’s not entirely clear, one of the Playtest Reports hints that loot will be handled differently for NPC encounters. This would be something I’d greatly appreciate, as I love sending NPCs at my players but hate them walking away with six +1 longswords as a result.
• Tieflings are implied as a core PC race by the PHB cover art, and a Playtest Report implies that Eladrin will be as well.
• Ranged melee attackers are going to be much more effective in this version of the game: “[The player’s] second impression [of Fourth Edition combat] came squarely from the three arrows with which Heron skewered the hapless goblin sharpshooter in the loft. That poor goblin fired on Heron, missing but triggering an immediate counterattack from the ranger, who followed up with two more arrows on his turn. The sharpshooter was dead before the third arrow struck home.”
• Rogues will have a group buff ability of some kind, described as ’shouting encouragement’.
• A wizard, hitting a wolf with her staff, not only did damage but ‘moved it away’, implying knockback as a basic combat element. There is also an implication that a long weapon like a staff can hit more than one enemy with a single blow.
• The concept of ‘Second Wind’ is used in a Playtest Report, which is a game mechanic lifted right from Saga Edition Star Wars. From that book: “If you are reduced to one-half your maximum hit points or less, you can catch a second wind as a swift action. The action heals one-quarter of your full hit point total (ruond down) or a number of hit points equal to your Constitution score, whichever is greater. You can catch a second wind only once per day.”
• Rogues can attack such that their opponents are vulnerable to other ally attacks, possibly an Attack of Opportunity