Review: Dungeons and Dragons 4e (Part Six)

Book One: Player's Handbook
Part The Eighth: Adventuring

1. Before we get into adventuring, I should point out something about Skills that missed on the first read-through: Skills no longer have a numerical value. You're either trained in a skill, or not. That simplifies things a *lot*, but it's also going to effect the game quite a bit in ways that won't be obvious until we play it.

2. At last, on page 256, we get to the rules about playing the actual game. Fourth Edition DnD has a focus on Quests that goes beyond older versions of the game, and probably stems (again) from MMOs. Regardless, Quests in a tabletop RPG can be a lot more flexible than Quests in World of Warcraft, as can the definition of "completing" them. The rules also allow for players to create their own quests, which obviously a computer game can't allow. As much as I have mixed feelings about the amount to which 4e follows MMOs, its strengths lie in the places where it makes itself recognizable to the MMO crowd, but then uses that to focus on the things it can do that MMOs cannot. That's what we see here in the Quests.

3. Action Points are something new to this edition. You get them for reaching "milestones", which apparently means that you survive two encounters in a row without taking an extended rest in between. You can use them to take an extra action on your turn, or to activate certain feats, or to use certain other powers. They also seem like a great place to house-rule; I can think of a dozen other uses that one could implement to change the atmosphere of the game. (And another dozen ways they could be rewarded, too -- this Milestones concept is a bit odd.)

4. The rules for travel times, light and vision, and rest are all fine, and don't really merit mention. The light and vision section makes me look forward to reading the DMG,'cause I'll be interested in the advice they give about dungeon making.

Part The Ninth: Combat

1. This section is the heart and soul of Dungeons and Dragons. It will be another make-or-break point for me; if combat feels like the equivalent of filling out my tax form, I will lose interest after the first couple rounds, and probably never play 4e except out of social politeness again. I'm also interested to see what they've done with the rules for grappling, which was something in 3e that everyone hated. I've had many players in 3e games go way out of their way just to avoid initiating a grapple check.

2. Minis are a must. The 4e rules assume that you use them, and the mechanics make abstraction difficult. There's a lot wailing about this from the internet; I don't think it really matters all that much to me; I don't think requiring visualization is necessarily a bad thing. Certainly it might make the game more difficult for a beginner, but at the moment the minis market is larger than the RPG market, and WoW of course beats D&D on visuals already. It isn't impossible to play without visualization, but it would be difficult. It is what it is, at least, and i don't fault it for it. Too many of my abstracted battles in 3e just became pounding-on-each-other contests, anyway. Also, it's not like you have to have Wizards of the Coast Official Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures to play -- use coins, use dice, use whatever.

3. Initiative is only rolled at the beginning of the encounter, not every round. I can't remember which way was in the 3e rules -- I've played it both ways before, and they both have advantages and disadvantages. This way means less rolling; the other way means that turn order strategies must be more fluid.

4. Attacks of opportunity, which I am notorious for forgetting about, still exist.

5. Of course, the proof of these rules will be in the pudding, that is, the playing. When will *that* take place? ....I'm trying to work that out. :) Soonish.

6. Grappling looks a lot easier. Thank the gods. Make a STR attack vs REF. If you hit, the enemy is immobilized until it escapes or you end the grab. While grabbing someone, you can move them with a strength vs fortitude roll. If you're grabbed on your turn, you can escape by making a successful Acrobatics check vs. Ref or Athletics vs. Fortitude.

7. Shifting (a move action where you simply move one adjacent square) does not allow for an attack of opportunity. That's pretty damn useful. Also, when you escape from a grab, you can shift as a free action.

Next Up: Rituals - What the heck are those??