An excellent rulebook on how to run an old-style game
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I have purchased this product and have been using it on a weekly basis since it's release this summer. I believe it is an excellent product and WotC has done a great job refining the game to a system that is fun, fast-paced and streamlined.
Gone are the days of 3rd edition everything-has-a-rule insanity. People will be able to read this rulebook (even if it reads a little dry), create and run a capable character through combat and non-combat encounters and have fun. It has been my experience that the rules run so smoothly, that after a couple of months we rarely need to even open this book. Because the rules are so easy to grasp I have even introduced my children to the game, something I feel I could never have done with previous editions.
The new rules may not be for everyone but, as a player of every D&D edition published since the basic set, I am having the most fun in my gaming experience in years.
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Wizards sold the Soul of D&D
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This is not Dungeons and Dragons so don't let the title of "4th edition" fool you. Wizards of the Coast has taken the game in a completely different direction trying to market to the next generation kids with short attention spans and video game nerds. This game if anything seems to be a table top rendition of World of Warcraft where classes are now core specific. Examples: (Because without them you might think I'm just ranting) All classes have been worked on to be balanced out completely. Now you may think this is great, hey why not... balance is good right? Well if you want to be just like everyone else then yes it's wonderful, congratulations you rolled a lemming. Lets say you make a mage, and your friend who is playing makes a mage. There will very little significant difference in spells and skills because both have become very limited. So your mage will be casting magic missle just like your buddy, have the same skills, talents, etc. The game has eliminated the characters ability to multiclass as it was in 3.5, 3.0, and 2nd edition. If you liked gnomes, or half orcs from 3.5 they are gone now. Wotc also eliminated druids, monks, and barbarians. So now you're a fighter, cleric, mage, rogue and that's basically it. One person to tank, one to heal, one to cast, one to sneak just like a wow party... Read the posts that rated this a 5 and if you're smart you'll realize it sounds like a personal review from wotc themselves. If you're thinking of buying this don't, and if you still want to, do your research first and make sure you want to throw away your money. My suggestion is find someone on amazon selling the 3.5 books and invest in them.
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A Simple Game
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In reviewing this I feel it is important to view it as it's own entity. This game has little similarities to previous editions of D&D. It is in fact an entirely new game with the title of Dungeons and Dragons attached to it in order to sell to an established audience.
That is not to say it is a bad game. It is simple, fast paced and reasonably fun. The core books focus on the essential concepts of the game. IE: going into ancient ruins, beating up the monsters who live there and taking there stuff. On that level is dose an excellent job, though some of the organization could be better.
However is is lacking any depth beyond that. Virtually all the abilities and skills you have access to are centered on what will be useful for exploring dungeons and beating up monsters. The options for developing your character beyond his combat role are very limited and the overall structure of the game doesn't seem to lend itself very well to story concepts that go outside the box of Exploring Dungeons and Killing things.
It is worth noting that this is only the start of the game line, other books will be coming that will no doubt expand on the options available and hopefully provide better Role-playing opportunities then the game starts with.
At present this game should be viewed as "Basic D&D". It is Simple, Fast and Fun.
However if you are looking for a game with lots of options for developing your character outside combat situations or want a game that is more than Monster bashing I would recommend either the previous edition of Dungeons and Dragons, Green Ronin's True20 game line or White Wolf's Exalted game
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Streamlined, logical, very well thoughout
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I waited a long time for these books and am pleased to say i think it was worth the wait. I've seen many people condemn this edition of dungeons and dragons with almost religious fervour which fits the trend of many religious groups condemning things they know nothing about. I at first was very mixed in my emotions towards fourth edition until i was making a character sheet. It was upon seeing all the rules fit together that i fully appreciated the logic behind the changes in fourth edition. In fourth edition WOTC has done a great job at increasing the options of characters while streamlining rules and eliminating poor ones. For example, ability modifiers now increase much more quickly which i believe is a major improvement because the old method where you were a level 20 fighter whose hit points have gone up 20x since first level though your constitution might have barely moved up at all, defied logic and reason.
Another addition contained in fourth edition which painted a smile across my face is passive skills and a new take 10 rule. Passive skills make sense because it doesn't make sense if you only see things when you're looking for them like in 3.5E and the take 10 rule will save a tonne of time with skill checks. If you read the book rule by rule, one at a time i understand why it would be difficult to immediately jump in the air with joy but when you see how beautifully everything fits together there is no doubt in my mind that 4E is a major step up.
I can't write an honest review without mentioning the artwork. 4E is donned in beautiful artistry and breath-taking pictures which remind its readers why they love fantady RPGs. Though beautiful pictures do not make a book worth your cash, though 4E is still worth your cash, the pictures make up for all the small complaints readers might have.
The real triumph of 4E however, is the fact that now everybody has something cool to do and players won't be getting bored nearly as quickly because the introduction of a new method for spell, prayers and exploits eliminates that annoying unavoidability. To summarize the changes, now everybody has a list of exploits (really cool moves), or spells for wizards, prayers for clerics, etc. which are divided into the categories of at-will, encounter and daily. At-will can be used an infinite number of times per day (magic missile is a wizard at will now), encounter can be used once per encounter and need a short rest to recharge, while daily are self-explanatory. Every character can pick from a list (giving them power to shape their characters) and now can pull of really cool stunts in combat as opposed to the former edition where it was i hack, you slash, i hack, and you slash. This edition is more i spin around hack, hack, hack, kick the orc and do a back flip before slashing. It is much more exciting because you can do much more cooler things.
Now things have been added and deleted as well. The monk, bard, barbarian, druid and sorcerer have been given the axe. This might anger some but when you see how classes are now described it is clear that it was done because otherwise the book would have been 100 pages longer. Some races have also been deleted and added. If you miss then they will be included in supplementary books so complaining is illogical. The new classes and races look pretty exciting and i believe were designed to stir the excitements of new players. The changes may be startling but they are far from anything to complain about.
Skills have been condensed saving time and space on paper as well. There are now three tiers (heroic, paragon and epic) which characters ascend at 10 level intervals. This each come with their own set of options and abilities to create the ultimate personalized characters while keeping the rules simple and understandable. The players handbook now also includes magic arms and armour so PC's won't have to go running to the DM for the DMG every time the find gold and are in town.
This edition is also much friendly to first time players than any other edition. 3.5 was hell to comprehend it constantly was either leaving you hanging or just expecting the reader to understand, fourth edition has examples when things start to get fuzzy and is WAY simpler to first timers. This simplicity also gives it the potential to attract more people to the game and expand dungeons and dragons to make it more mainstream.
4E also levels the playing field for players, so that how strong their characters are isn't based on just rolls and luck, by having the ability scores being pre-determined (though you decide where each score goes and the book encompasses and alternative to give you more control) so now the problem of having a group of level 1's with some being twice as strong because they had the dice-gods favour being completely eliminated. Also HP goes up a set amount depending on class eliminating PC dependency on the dice-gods once again.
I'll finish off this five-star, five thumbs up review with the future, and by saying that i mean d
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Not for roleplaying
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Well if you always wondered what World of Warcraft or Guild Wars would be like as an RPG without doing roleplaying, this is it. The classes have the same powers just with different name. Wizards are as good at fighting as fighters in this edition. All your stats mean the same thing, no matter what class you use. Skills that aren't combat related..meh make them up surely you are a master painter, great blacksmith, sing like pavarotti, and you play guitar like hendrix. How stupid is that. If you want to have a character that has some depth outside of fighting try Rolemaster, or at least find an old copy of Central Castings to see some background on your char.
If you like WOW or GW then pick it up, you might enjoy it. Though it will take a lot longer for the average encounter than on a computer. Oh BTW the warcraft boardgame already exists, it feels about the same.
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