I started perusing the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and had a couple of immediate comments. First, what happened to “roll 3d6 six times, in order, apply the scores?” Second, what the heck is going on with the lack of evilness and the pre allocated deities? Finally, Dragonborn?
But I want to roll my stats!
The 4E Player’s Handbook presents three different methods of determining your ability score, and for veterans of the game, two of the three methods are kind of head scratchers. I am sure working a standard array brings some sibilance of balance to the game, but all the different ways to roll scores in 1st Edition are gone. Maybe it is just me misremembered good ‘ol days; going to take a while to get use to the new ways of ability score generation. To be fair, the 4d6 method is still included, but with some caveats. Who wants terms and conditions around rolling the dice? We all know that you just throw away the numbers if they completely suck, right? Oops.
Of course I can do whatever the heck I want, and allow any sort of ability score generation method that I would like to implement. I may wreck havoc on game balance, so I will continue reading before making any catastrophic decisions. I bet a future supplement adds some other variants.
Say goodbye to evil
I can understand that playing evil characters is no longer encouraged. 4E looks to be heroic “us vs. them” action at its finest. Alignments are now more or less slanted towards “good” and “lawfulness.” I still like the idea of playing chaotic good or maybe lawful neutral characters. Maybe that is in the later parts of the book, the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), or some other supplement. I really do not like the idea of including deities, complete with backgrounds, right in the PHB; it more or less forces you to make some assumptions about your gaming world (or at least the one your DM sets up).
Dragonborn
I really do not get the Dragonborn thing as a player character. I mean to say that I really do not like the idea of Dragonborn characters running rampant.
I can appreciate that this is a fantasy game. I can accept the idea of a human village that has a dwarf blacksmith, a halfling baker, and the occasional almost anything else race that passes through town. Rumors of elves in the nearby forest? Mixed party of adventures that stay in the inn? I can live with all of this because this is a fantasy game. With that said, there is no way on God’s Green Earth that you are going to convince me that the town folks do not totally freak out when a Dragonborn abomination strolls through the marketplace. To make matters worse is the background material which states
“Long ago, their empire contended for worldwide dominion, but now only a few rootless clans of these honorable warriors remain to pass on their legends of ancient glory.”
Give me a f’ing break. Not in my campaign. Breath weapons of acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison? Sounds like a monster, not a PC.
Moving on …
So far I am happy with what I have read in the PHB. I think really like the d20 mechanics, but of course have not actually tried them on a dry run to see how they actually work. I doubt I will remember all the various modifiers, bonuses, and the like, but all in all, the base rules look straight forward and, on the surface, easy to understand.
Oh yeah, WTF is a Tiefling?
I’m old school, JC… I’m still sticking with 1st edition, LOL. Actually, I just picked up a Basic D&D boxed set from 1979 or so. AD&D is just too complex to use as an introduction for my kids!
Kevin
This is a fun page to look at the different versions of the Basic boxed sets:
If you want a really fun article about the good old days, I will have to write an article about a bunch of shrink wrap materials I purchased from Frank Mentzer in 1998. Usnet auctions – those were the good old days!
That is too cool! Willing to part with any good stuff?!
Kevin
Kevin – Yes, at the time it was cool and very expensive. I still have the hard copy from the order (parts of several different emails). I picked up some extremely cool collectibles. Will have to post the story one of these days.
No, I do not want to dump any of my cool stuff.
Kevin – I put the Frank Mentzer note on my list of future things to write about. Last night I was looking at some of my old stuff – I still have a pretty good collection of neat stuff including two first print Basic D&D and one first print Expert box sets.
It looks like I sold (or misplaced somewhere) my BEMCI box sets – I bet I dumped them on eBay at some point in favor of my 2-3 copies of the Rules Cyclopedia. If you are thinking of sticking with D&D (instead of AD&D) you owe it to yourself to track down a copy. This is probably my favorite variant of the various rules.
Yep – got my eye on the Rules Cyclopedia. I should get my Basic set tomorrow. After I play with that for a while, I’ll decide what I want to do. I was checking out the 2nd Edition AD&D Manual at the local used bookstore today.
Kevin