from Amazon today. At this point, I've casually flipped through the three core books, and spent a couple of hours reading the Player's Handbook.I got my Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition core rulebooks
Physically the books are pretty similar to what I remember from third edition: good quality, although the binding seems to be glued rather than sewn. [Actually, the books are sewn.] The art is good, a few pieces even striking. The color scheme is a tad garish, but I realize that's a matter of personal taste.
The books seem to be well organized and readable. Page headers and footers contain useful information that will make it easy to find what you're looking for. None of the books have indexes, but good organization and detailed tables of contents probably make indexes unnecessary. [Each book has a one page index.]
WoTC offer quick start rules [PDF] as a free download.
I found this Gnome Stew post insightful:
In its attempt to simplify, simplify, simplify, 4E tossed out a lot of the rules for things like crafting, animal companions, familiars, spell research, etc… and a lot of people’s complaints (mine included) was that this narrowing of focus removed a lot of actions and playstyles from the realm of possibility. But that’s not really the case. Did I really get so forgetful of my RPG roots that I had taken the position that a lack of rules for owning a dog meant I couldn’t own one? Indeed I had.
But what’s more is that strangely, by focusing on little more than combat and skill checks, and therefor allowing for 1e style open play, 4E is, in a way, the closest spiritual successor to 1e in the history of DnD.
4e offers different player races than AD&D:
"proud, honor-bound draconic humanoids [...] possess dragon-like abilities."Basically, fire-breathing Klingons. Originated in some minor 3.5e supplement.
"graceful, magical race [...] love arcane magic, swordplay, and exquisit work in metal [...] they live in shining cities on the borders of the Feywild."So, High Elves, I guess.
"dwell in deep forests [...] and love the beauty of nature."Stock AD&D elves.
"descended from ancient humans who bargained with infernal powers [...] loners who live in the shadows of human society"Think the humanoid demons (some friendly, some unfriendly) from Buffy and Angel. Came from 2e Planescape setting as the Planetouched.
There are no gnomes, half-orcs, et cetera in this Player's Handbook. Gnomes, half-orcs and some other races are in Player's Handbook 2.
I do not like the new races, particularly the dragonborn, but I don't fee very strongly about it.
4e offers clerics, fighters, paladins, rangers, rogues, and wizards. 4e includes two new classes: warlocks and warlords. Warlocks and warlords seem to be differentiated from Wizards and fighters based on their particular feats/powers and also their character role (see below).
Missing from 4e (at least from the first Player's Handbook) are druids, monks, and assassins. Druids and Barbarians are in PHB2. The monk is in PHB3. I want my missing classes back.
OK, this is the bit that's ripped from MMORPG's.
"deal damage to multiple foes at once, as well as [...] weaken, confuse of delay"
"deal high amounts of damage to a single target at a time"
This seems to mainly be a way to help newish players create a balanced party, and doesn't appear to figure into day-to-day play much. If that's the case, it doesn't bother me.
4e only has five alignments:
"freedom and kindness"
"civilization and order"
"tyranny and hatred"
"entropy and destruction"
When I first read this, the loss of four AD&D alignments bothered me. However, the 4e descriptions for good and evil read like AD&D chaotic good and lawful evil. The missing AD&D alignments, then, are neutral good, neutral evil, lawful neutral, and chaotic neutral. In practice, I think those have always been rarely played alignments, so they're not much of a loss.
I have no strong opinion about the 4e alignment changes. We can use AD&D alignments or 4e alignments.
About the same as AD&D.
Skills are things like monster knowledge, first aid, and intimidate. Characters can use skills at will. Over time, characters train skills to get better at them. Many skills are available to any class, but some are class restricted. The thievery skills, for example, are restricted to thieves or warlocks.
Feats give a character small bonuses or allow a character to ignore a penalty. Unlike skills, feats are mostly passive—the character gets the bonus without needing to explicitly use the feat. For example, the combat relexes feat gives a character +1 for attacks of opportunity. Some feats are restricted to particular classes, races, or even the followers of a particular deity.
Powers are class-based. Characters gain access to more significant powers as they advance in level. Powers are divided according to frequency of use: at-will powers, per encounter powers, and per day powers. Powers look pretty powerful.
The magic system is completely changed. Magic spells are simply the powers of the spell casting classes. Some spells are at-will powers, some are once per encounter, and others are once per day. This has the practical benefit that spell casters don't spend the entire adventure flinging sling-shot pellets and saving their spells for the "big encounter".
Maybe this takes something away from the specialness of magic, but it will make casters more fun to play.
(There is also a small section on rituals, which looks like a nice, flexible backdoor for creative non-power magics. Rituals are too long and complex for use in combat.)
All actions use the same mechanic whether you're hitting something with a mace, casting a fireball, picking a lock or reading ruins. It's very different from AD&D, but similar to how I recall 3e working.
Every task has a difficulty class (DC). In a melee attack, the DC will be the armor class of the opponent. When casting a fireball, the DC will be the Reflex score of the target (which I think is the target's bonus for either Intelligence or Dexterity—whichever is higher). For picking a lock or climbing a cliff, the DM sets a DC. I believe that the ability check mechanic is even used in cases that would have required a saving throw in previous editions.
The character attempting the action adds ½ his level (rounding down), the ability bonus, then any other applicable bonuses. The character adds this total to a roll on a d20. If that result is higher than the DC, the action succeeds.
For example, a level 8 fighter with 17 STR tries to hit an ogre with a mace. That's a +4 level bonus, +3 strength bonus, and a +2 weapons specialization bonus. The player rolls a 9 on a d20. The players total is 18. The AC of the ogre is 16, so the character hits.
I like the ability check mechanic, and I like that they've simplified it and extended it to all action resolution.
4e combat differs in a few respects from previous editions, but will not feel unfamiliar. A round is six seconds of game time during which all combatants act in turn. Each combatant rolls initiative at the start of an encounter. Surprise check, etc.
There are several types of actions a character can take during their turn. Each turn, a character has one standard action (attacking, charging, using a second wind (see below)), one move action, and one minor action (equipping an item or opening a door). Characters can take those three actions in any order. Characters can substitute a move or minor action for a standard action, or take a minor action instead of a move action.
Free actions, such as shouting an order or dropping a held item, can be taken any number of times per turn, even when it's not the character's turn.
When attacking, a character:
4e only has one type of saving throw: roll a d20, 10 or higher saves. There are a few things which might give a bonus or penalty to that saving throw, but they're rare. There's no attribute bonus to saving throws.
I like 4e's simple, grim saving throw mechanism.
There are two kinds of rest: a short rest of at least five minutes, and a long rest of at least six hours. A short rest renews your encounter powers, and lets you spend healing surges (see below). An extended rest heals all your hit points, and renews all your powers, healing surge count, etc.
As in AD&D, characters have a number of hit points based on their class, level, and constitution. When characters take enough damage to reach zero or negative hit points, they are unconscious and dying. Unconsious characters must make a saving throw each round or die.
New in 4e, characters have a certain number of healing surges based on their class and constitution. During combat, a character can spend a healing surge to get a second wind, thereby recovering a quarter of their hit points. After combat, a character can take a short rest (as above) during which they can spend as many healing surges as they have left.
The healing mechanics stray slightly too far from the realism/simulation end of the spectrum for my state. It seems to me that character death may become too remote a possibility, but I'll have to see how the game is balanced.
I haven't seen things I absolutely hate in 4e.
I dislike the 4e default setting, and would rather play in a more Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms type world.
The rules are heavily influenced by World of Warcraft and similar MMORPG's. I don't think that's necessarily bad, just different. My cursory examination indicates that a lot of the WoW type stuff is more window dressing than deeply embedded in the rules. The Character Roles thing, for example, could be completely ignored without really affecting any other rules.
Overall, the mechanics are streamlined, which is a good thing.
4e is not the D&D with which we grew up, but it looks fun.