DISCLAIMER: I'm a huge fan of 4E, have purchased every 4E product released thus far, and have preordered everything that hasn't been released.
I think I’ve finally figured out why “4E doesn’t feel like D&D”.
Here’s a recent quote from Bart Caroll:
"First Edition, in many ways, placed the power of the game in the hands of the DM. “Can I do this…?” and “What happens if I…” were essentially questions posited by the players to be answered by the DM. Not quite sure how a rule worked? Wondering what actions your character can perform? In the First (and largely Second) Edition campaigns I played, these were all questions that often needed answers from the DM. That was the relationship. You tell the DM what you want to do, the DM tells you if you can, you roll some dice, and the DM provides the result... Third Edition shifted this relationship, in my opinion, into the players’ hands. The DM still ran the game and mediated the story. But as far as the rules went, the players had much greater power in how they built their characters and what they could pull off. Pun-Pun is an example taken to the extreme, but min-maxing characters was commonplace, often limited only by the players themselves. In several campaigns, I witnessed the tension this caused between experienced players looking to build the most powerful character they could, and newer players using the character they were most comfortable with—usually, a simpler, less tricked-out character."
4E does a very good job, as mentioned by Jezred in another thread, of creating a balance in power between the players and DM. It did this by codifying every player action into pre-written powers, with all powers conforming to an unwritten baseline power level. This is where, I think, all of the complaints of “4E isn’t real D&D” or “4E feels too video –gamey” or “4E plays like a boardgame” come from. It does play like a video game. The players are given a finite set of inputs/powers to choose from. The players choose from those inputs, roll some dice, and the CPU/DM processes that information and spits out a result.
Therein lies the problem with 4E. Every power and ritual describes a detailed, concrete result with no room for deviation. Ever since 1E, new editions have been “closing loopholes”, trying to prevent the players from abusing spells and powers or using them in any way other than intended. Now, in 4E, all of a PCs powers read like magic cards. They’re clear, concise, and leave no room for interpretation. This has the unfortunate side-effect of discouraging player creativity. The open-endedness that is the one true advantage of table-top role-playing has been suppressed by an effort to quash loophole abuse. “Can I do this…?” and “What happens if I…?” are no longer common at the gaming table.
To be fair, I don’t think 4E or its designers are to blame for any of it. 3E really rewarded system mastery and rules-lawyering, and the internet made information readily available to everyone. Every system flaw was exposed for all to see and “RAW” became the mantra of the power-gamer. Even though all of that garbage could be so easily kept in check by the DM, that didn’t stop people from whining incessantly about “balance” on every message board and in every chat room. In response, 4E was designed to be a “balanced” system with no loopholes. As soon as people discovered that Blade Cascade was “broken”, WotC errated it.
The bottom line is that we as a gaming community are to blame. All of the people who complained that 3E was “broken” or that 3E spellcasters were overpowered or that Blade Cascade could kill Orcus in a round or that smugly point out the Oberoni fallacy are to blame.
The good news is that all is not lost. There is still room for creativity no matter what edition we play. It’s easy to rely on the system to present choices, but it doesn’t have to be like that. The example from an early playtest where a PC kicked the table out from under some kobolds is a perfect example. Not every action, combat or otherwise, has to be spelled out in the Player’s Handbook. 4E only plays like a video game if you choose to play it that way. 3E spellcasters are only overpowered if you play them that way.
Hopefully, the next edition of D&D will take the training wheels off and encourage players to think for themselves. Hopefully, 5E will combine the openness of 1E with the streamlined mathematics of 4E, and what a system that would be!
