Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
One thing that I've always hoped for is the ability to cast multiple spells at higher levels or take other additional actions. I played around a lot with a house rule like this, granting additional move and standard actions at certain levels to mirror the full attack action and allow for potions and low level spells to be more useful at high levels.
3.0 haste was a whole lotta broken, but the idea of casting multiple spells per round (other than through quicken) always struck me as a worthwhile ability. Similarly, the problem with potions and many other magic items at high levels is that the cost to activate is too high. Drinking a potion is particularly bad given that it's almost always a full round action (move equivalent to pull from backpack, standard to drink, and this assumes you don't need to put away a weapon or shield to do so).
Anyway, I wouldn't even qualify this as speculation as to what the rules will be, rather an example of why I don't necessarily think the ability to make multiple actions other than the full attack routine could make the game better.
Just read through the dragon fight description and I think there are a couple of places that could be interpreted differently than in the previous posts here.
Regarding the "dropping the dragon down below half its hit points." part - I don't think the resulting breath weapon attack is because of this. Rather it could either be as a result of being charged by the fighter (ala the Hold the Line feat) or it could be that it's a special ability where it can substitute an attack of opportunity (normally just a "standard" attack) with its breath weapon, but at the cost of moving the AoO up from a free action to an intermediate action.
Also, someone complained about all the free actions it took during its round. Remember, these are FREE actions for a reason, in theory you could take as many free actions as you could think of. And the dragon is able to do some spectacular things because some of its abilities are designated as free actions, e.g. the fire burst and the tail slap.
That means that the dragon all in all takes the following actions:
Free actions - Fire burst, tail slap (which even works as a kind of bull rush, nasty!).
Standard action - Attacks Fighter and Cleric (with multiple weapons)
Standard action - Breath weapon (special by activating special ability (in theory it functions just like the 3.0 haste)).
Move Action - Flies into better position.
So, free actions, one standard action and one move action - nothing different from 3.5.
It would seem that the dragon has fewer attacks all in all (okay, it wasn't doing full attack), but some of those attacks seem to have been turned into special abilities instead.
Also, someone complained about all the free actions it took during its round. Remember, these are FREE actions for a reason, in theory you could take as many free actions as you could think of. And the dragon is able to do some spectacular things because some of its abilities are designated as free actions, e.g. the fire burst and the tail slap.
That was me complaining, and I stand by it. If it can do unlimited free actions, why not just use that fireburst thingy like 10 times the first round? There is evidently some mechanic limiting the number of free actions, but we're not allowed to see it yet. Otherwise--I'm assuming it's got a "per encounter" usage (which seems to be the new mechanic)--so why not use all of its uses up front and end the fight?
That was me complaining, and I stand by it. If it can do unlimited free actions, why not just use that fireburst thingy like 10 times the first round? There is evidently some mechanic limiting the number of free actions, but we're not allowed to see it yet. Otherwise--I'm assuming it's got a "per encounter" usage (which seems to be the new mechanic)--so why not use all of its uses up front and end the fight?
Because it might only be useable once a round? Wait, let me check my 4E MM... ah, Dragon, Red:
Fireburst Thingy (Su): Free action, useable 1/rd, 3/encounter. As a free action, a Red Dragon may use a Fireburst Thingy, creating a burst of fire that affects all creatures within 25ft. Affected creatures take 12D6 Fire, Reflex 27 for half.
So, fairly elegant way to let the dragon flame people without having to use a standard action breath all the time. I'd guess that the dragon held off using it until most of the party was in range.
Because it might only be useable once a round?
Heh. For all we know, it's useable once per nanosecond, but only on Tuesdays, and only if the dragon hasn't been injured yet that round but will be below half hp next round, but only if the cleric's crit on the dragon heals the fighter.
My point was, if you can perform an infinite number of free actions in a round, and if there are oodles of special abilities allowing free actions, then one round may get awful crowded very quickly.
My point was, if you can perform an infinite number of free actions in a round, and if there are oodles of special abilities allowing free actions, then one round may get awful crowded very quickly.
Then it would probably make sense for them to cut down on the number of abilities a particular monster has. Just like going from 3.0 to 3.5, a lot of monsters (demons, frex) went from 30 different powers and spell like abilities to a handful or two. I think we're going to see more narrowing down of abilities; it was an off-hand comment at the Secrets of D&D seminar at GenCon, but someone did imply the vrock was going to lose a few more specials.
I think WotC is aiming at smaller, tighter, more useable stab blocks. Some of the designers/developers have spoken about making it clear what each monster's role is and how best to use it. Unless they've been blowing smoke, I expect it will be easier to run monsters effectively.
There will be exceptions- the dragon is probably going to be one of the most complicated creatures in the game, particularly once they hit ancient. But, I'm of the school of thought that an ancient dragon should never show up as a random encounter; if I'm going to use one, I expect it will require a little prep work.
here's a new one.here is a new one.
I have to read it though..
|
here's a new one.here is a new one.
I have to read it though..
ROFL!
You mean dungeons can now be dynamic!?
Ok, the encounter with the dragon was rather complicated but, at the same time, it was more vibrant.It seems that the dragon cannot focus all its' attacks on one character which sounds good to me. There seems to be also action-triggered special abilities which add flavor and point out things you shouldn't do to such an adversary. Interesting, if used in the right way.
Now, for the other changes, i would like to comment that the "race levels" is a huge plus for character advancement and the weapon+skill specific abilities are also a good plus. I'm worried a bit about spellcasting although I'm not afraid of change.
What I'm mostly sad about is the "fall" of Greyhawk which I loved.
The books I will buy them straight away, after all I'm used to live with the errata. I'll just hope that they will be as exciting as they sound.
Like the comments on dungeon design. Granted, its nothing that I (and many others) haven't already figured out, but now it looks like they will at least go to extra effort to both fluff and crunch it into the rulebooks. Should make it easier for beggining DMs to make interesting and exciting dungeon combats.
The bard will stay too.
after reading the 'character roles' in the new Design thread.
|
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
The bard will stay too.
after reading the 'character roles' in the new Design thread.
I dunno about that... Reading the article, I was struck by the fact that they said something like "when the bard makes its appearance in 4e". Maybe I'm over-analyzing that language, but it implied to me that the bard will not be arriving as part of 4e, but rather, will debut at a later date.
WotC is playing games with the language they are using. They do it all the time with magic card releases. I think they are foolish to do so with this audience, but I don't think you can take their words at face value.
The bard will stay too.
after reading the 'character roles' in the new Design thread.I dunno about that... Reading the article, I was struck by the fact that they said something like "when the bard makes its appearance in 4e". Maybe I'm over-analyzing that language, but it implied to me that the bard will not be arriving as part of 4e, but rather, will debut at a later date.
WotC is playing games with the language they are using. They do it all the time with magic card releases. I think they are foolish to do so with this audience, but I don't think you can take their words at face value.
Hmm. I read it as when the Bard makes its appearance in 4e . . .as when 4e comes and you get a Bard . . .a concurrent thing. Ah, well. Warlord came off a bit Marshally, huh? Second wind, interesting. Counterattacks at first level, interesting? 2 attacks at first level, interesting? Wizard Strike, Intersting?
I read it more like this:
When the bard enters the (4th Edition) stage......
you also notice this paragraph???
Unlike their 3e counterparts, every Leader class in the new edition is designed to provide their ally-benefits and healing powers without having to use so many of their own actions in the group-caretaker mode. A cleric who wants to spend all their actions selflessly will eventually be able to accomplish that, but a cleric who wants to mix it up in melee or fight from the back rank with holy words and holy symbol attacks won’t constantly be forced to put aside their damage-dealing intentions. A certain amount of healing flows from the Leader classes even when they opt to focus on slaying their enemies directly.
|
|
I might wait until 2009 or 2010 to convert--that'll give the bugs some time to get worked out and give our gaming group a chance to properly finish Age of Worms (which we haven't even started yet).
This is EXACTLY my stance. We just started AoW (my modified version, at least) at GenCon, and I've got plenty more adventures I want to run (thanks, Paizo!), so I intend to wait a few years to decide (after they get all the bugs worked out and get a good bit of content available).