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ungeons and Dragons 4.0 has come under much adversity since its launch, |
I'm here to simply state the facts of the newly revised system and point out its strengths and weaknesses. Dear reader you must first and foremost understand that Wizards of the Coast is no longer a small name company trying to impress a small group of gamers but instead it is a large corporation trying to spread its product to the masses. Hence the desire to restart the system. Now some would state “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Now in most cases I do agree with you, but the truth of the matter is from a financial standpoint this change was needed and valuable. The system was simplified so that it was able to be spread to a larger base audience. Most people do not wish to pick up a book and spend days on end reading it just to be able to play a game. After all, it is meant to be enjoyable after all, and most in this day and age do not take much enjoyment in reading for entertainment, much less knowledge.
With that said and done let’s get down to the meat and bones of the system. The system has been simplified so that many things fall under the same categories. Hence a condensation of the rules to make it easier for the player to pick up and play after just an hour of reading. The D20 of the systems core remains the same but a majority of the system has changed.
Races are now changed, and in certain cases either improved or removed all together for the players. Gnomes and Half-orcs at least for the time being are restricted. Tiefling and Drow which were some of the more obscure races are now available to all players without the need for the complication of level adjustments. Another example is humans now, instead of having no particular bonuses they gain an ability bonus of their choice to represent their diverse culture. Hence your human has just as much a chance of being a cleric as a fighter or rogue.
Skills used to be a large project of multiple skills and ranks placed into individual skills. Now about each group of four of five skills has been mashed into one. No longer do you need to have multiple ranks in a variety of things instead you are either trained or untrained. A plus 5, or no bonus at all save for misc. modifiers.
Let’s take leveling now as yet another simplification of the system, no longer do you gain certain particular traits in a class when you level. Instead you pick from a list of various powers. Now the reasons behind this change was in the ability to make most characters different from the last and, in addition to make the system tie in with its miniatures game which has been in need of a boost. Now no one cleric will have the same traits as another will not always do the same things as another depending on choices made.
The concept of prestige classing is almost gone for the time being. With the thirty level systems instead of looking at what prestige class one is looking towards your class will dictate one of three specialties for your given class. You will also progress further from there to yet another subdivision of your choosing. Surely Wizards in an effort to make more money will produce more and more books with classes and subclasses. So do not be disappointed at the lack of prestige classes, its likely to come.
Dungeons & Dragons is hoping that with these changes they will drag in players from all walks of life that perhaps may have not looked once at these books now give it a second chance. And I hope now dear reader that you will take a second look and delve a little deeper into this changing world of fantasy gaming. Let your mind unfurl and discover new worlds. |
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