I've seen a lot of these 1001 threads around, and figured I'd try to get a different one started up. For your commenting pleasure, I give you......
1001 Reasons to Love 4E
For your viewing pleasure, I have done my best to take the most relevant posts in this thread and compile them into one easy to read section. Many posts have been cut, or brought down to size, so please feel free to look past this post to get the full scope of what people think about the issue
#1-50:
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1.) OPTIONS...so....many....optiooonnsss.... ^_^
2.) I can beat spell with blade
3.) DMing is a heck of a lot more streamlined, in my opinion
4.) Roleplaying is no longer delegated by what's on your character sheet, while at the same time is included directly in the rules (see Backgrounds)
5.) They made action points universal (three cheers for Eberron >_<)
6.) It doesn't take an hour to prepare spells.
7.) BALANCE!
8.) Creating monsters is so utterly easy and fun
9.) Base Classes work straight out of the book
10.) Tactical and exciting combat.
11.) All first level characters participate beneficially in combat and social challenges
12.) DMs have actual concrete and workable guidelines on how much and what types of treasure to give out.
13.) DMs have encounter building guidelines that actually work, something I've been asking for for close to twenty years now.
14.) It is *so much easier* to teach to newbies.
15.) Spell casters were brought down to earth a bit
16.) Low-level spellcasters aren't totally useless if their one spell per day gets interrupted.
17.) "Target the spellcasters" is no longer a viable strategy.
18.) Low-level mages don't die from stiff breezes
19.) Fighters have eyes! (Perception)
20.) Skill Challenges are a great way to enhance role playing, if handled properly
21.) Not having to use Str or Dex for attacks
22.) Having a limit to how many magic items you can use in any given day....
23.) I don't have to trip people or be fantastically wealthy to be a useful fighter, these things now just make me better and cooler
24.) Teamwork is essential.
25.) The psionics system is balanced. (Ever had wild talents in 2e? Wink)
26.) Extensive use of rules updates to correct problems and errors, rather than giving us 4.5 (hopefuly this is the plan)
27.) Awesome software tools for players and DMs (Character Builder and Monster Builder).
28.) Everything is Core.
29.) I can design encounter mechanics easily and nobody will whine about them
30.) Powers are really hard to abuse by creative interpretation
31.) If I include an Ultimate Plot Spell, the Wizard does not claim "I could learn that spell, right?"
32.) The new core cosmology, which has a lot more flavor and usability than the previous ones.
33.) That I can toss the alignments right out of the window if I want to.
34.) Paladins with flavor variation.
35.) That HP regain is no longer bound to magic and extremely long bedrests
36.) Creating encounters is simple, and straightforward.
37.) No more Hit Dice.
38.) Pun-Pun was wiped from the face of the earth.
39.) Kobolds are now one of the closest to overpowered races (Shifty, shifty and more shifty.)
40.) No more Vancian magic!
41.) Forced movement. Pushing, pulling, sliding, teleporting, and knocking prone are awesome.
42.) You can have two players who are the same class but do their jobs completely different ways. Just look at the fighter, for example. 5 build options and their powers have different effects based on weapon type. Each fighter can be unique and different.
43.) The character development system, such as Hybrids, Multi-Class, Paragons, Epic Destinies, and if introduced and received well, Themes.
44.) Creating your own cool, balanced and flavorful custom class is no longer a long forgotten arcane art, it's pretty easy and fun
45.) rituals allow the creation of any spell on the face of the earth without having to worry about how moving 800 tons of rock creatively would wreck an entire combat.
46.) powers bring class abilities into near-equality, so that the rogue's "dagger stab," the barbarian's "axe swing," the cleric's "beam of holy energy," and the wizard's "burst of flame" are all equally cool and effective.
47.) Clerics (leaders in general) are no longer relegated to the last guy to arrive at the gaming table, who got "stuck" as the healer.
48.) Fights are considered even vs. an even number of on-level enemies....no more Challenge rating meaning this one dude is the match of your whole party. Also, you can have one enemy face off against the whole party without fear of a near guaranteed TPK, or worse, a scripted fight
49.) characters actually feel heroic, what with the inclusion of fights with multiple on-level fights and minions.
50.) Creatures use a different building system than monsters, making it easy to build on the fly and still use the creation guidelines.
# 51-100
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51.) Condensing skills to make them broader.
52.) A clear attempt to make as many classes as they can be relevant to party success.
53.) Smoothing out HP gain
54.) Made point buy an acceptable practice. In previous editions suggesting point-buy were fighting words to many players.
55.) Players think a little more about group dynamic
56.) The reduced duration of effects
57.) Melee combat is fun
58.) Racial feats and abilities, giving more flavor to each race as a whole
59.) The source books, such as the Powers, various campaign settings, and whatever else you might find interesting or necessary
60.) Three tiered play
61.) Not having to open up the book anytime grappling comes up.
62.) Fewer rules arguments
63.) No ability score alterations by spells and effects, so no need to do a character re-stat from a spell
64.) It makes every class feel like a badass.
65.) The good artwork
66.) Minions. As a DM I love them.
67.) Halflings who aren't forced into a Tolkienesque "burglar" role by arbitrary rules, and then being told "Oh, here, have this hand-me-down class (Illusionist) from the Gnomes."
68.) The powers system (Daily, Encounter, At-Will)
69.) magical weapons with the thrown keyword return automatically
70.) retraining is core, and can be done every level
71.) Finding out a badass mob is actually just a minion
72.) Blowing away minions
73.) Saving Throws, simple yet elegant
74.) no save-or-die
75.) flavor text for classes and powers
76.) The "Epic" creatures of the game, such as Lolth, Asmodeus, Bahamut, Imix, and many others
77.) Tactics, on both sides, matters
78.) Combat encounters now actually contribute to role playing, unlike before when it was just "two more kobolds"
79.) No level adjustment.
80.) Dungeon Tiles, currently my favorite option for portraying the environment.
81.) Critical hits. Max damage, extra damage with magic items, and good feat support
82.) Dominated. Best status effect next to dead.
83.) Detect magic is @-will
84.) Divorce of fluff from crunch
85.) Status effects and how many get thrown around in combat makes me happy
86.) Poetic power names like "All the sand, all the stars."
"Split the Sky"
"Mantle of the Infidel"
"Weal and Woe"
"Rhyme of the Blood-seeking Blade"
"Nightshade's Kiss"
"Crown of Madness"
"Instruction in Darkness"
87.) Monster Creation. It's fun, easy, fast, and rewarding
88.) How easy it is to reflavour a class
89.) Multiclass is a feat (aka I can multiclass and not forget all my spells or be one level behind everyone else)
90.) no more multipliers for damage(no more lvl x D6 damage for fireball!)
91.) Damage scale for every class is balanced
92.) Proficiency bonus for weapons.
93.) The various weapon properties
94.) Diagonal rules! Much easier.
95.) Combat Roles. Now I can know what a class is supposed to generally do and be good at with just a glance!
96.) The whole character system. It makes designing encounters and adventures so much easier, since I know what my players are capable of in general terms.
97.) Teleport escapes a grab. I don't remember if that was true in older editions, but I love it in 4e
98.) Fourth Edition's myriad positive attributes and endless possibilities point towards an even greater Fifth Edition when the day finally arrives. Fourth Edition has turned Dungeons and Dragons in a direction which we love, and presumably Fifth Edition will keep heading that way with newer and better refinements.
99.) Healing Surge mechanics, specifically Second Wind.
100.) Minotaurs as a playable race
# 101-150
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101.) No specific class is required (ie, you don't HAVE to have a Cleric)
102.) I enjoy some of the amusing power names like "Awaken the Slumbering Hurt"
"Supreme Avalanche Combination"
"Come and Get It"
"Hide in Plain Sight"
"Bad Idea, Friend"
"Not Worth My Time"
"Guerilla Blitz"
"Switcheroo"
103.) There isn't a specific breed of elf suited for to be perfect for every class. (I'm a high elf caster, I'm a wood elf barbarian, I'm a wild elf ranger, I'm an avariel because I can fly!, I'm an aquatic elf, seriously how much radiation were elves exposed to)
104.) You can heal overnight without a Cleric. No more spending weeks trapped in a dungeon using 4 hour long rope tricks to hide while we recovered 4 hp a day.
105.) Player AC matters after level 5 or so. No more auto hits all the time.
106.) 1 attack per turn (for the most part). Rolling 4 attacks a round every round, and having to calculate if each one hits or not was terribly slow.
107.) Casters! they kick butt from the start, but don't make everyone else completely useless past level 7.
108.) The massive amounts of feats in the game. feats are simply awesome, they add so much ot the game unlike 3rd edition which was, "you a fighter? well of course you take these feats"
109.) The epic nature of epic that isn't absolutely ridiculous, only a little bit ridiculous
110.) Epic martial characters that have powers that feel epic and don't just alter the basic attack
111.) Turning a mundane item or weapon into a holy symbol and using it to flavour your implement powers
112.) Rituals and Utilities being separate from attack powers.
113.) using intimidate to end an encounter
114.) discorporiation, cuz I can't kill Tiamat enough
115.) The Astral Sea. Best place for paragon play
116.) The awesome way that WotC is working to make everything function internationally, so that official games can be held at everybody's local game store.
117.) The newly updated rules to charging: besides being clearer, I love that the rules now support our half orc priest's desire to jump across a narrow chasm as part of a charge. He fell before he could hit, but the effort was terrific to watch.
118.) Because 4th Edition brought me back to Dungeons and Dragons after twenty years.
119.) The way marking works beautifully.
120.) The fact that it is easy for new players
121.) Giants and Titans feel truly dangerous in the edition. Rather than being large humanoids Titans seem like small primordials.
122.) The relative ease of transitioning a PC to a NPC using templates.
123.) The first edition I didn't want to houserule to the point I wondered why I'd paid money for the rules
124.) The simplification of the skill system
125.) Character Backgrounds, injecting roleplay right into the mechanics
126.) No need for a martial class to take feats to do cool stuff.
127.) The fact that you can reflavor any power to create a character that does exactly what you want
128.) The removal of alignment restrictions
129.) The errata for aid another. Love it.
130.) 4th Edition handles Familiars extremely well.
131.) Familiar powers, making your little buddy even more useful
132.) I love how 4e differentiates weapons with Prof Bonus and properties such High Crit and Brutal.
133.) Angels that're genuinely evil.
134.) The fact that we no longer need to one-up existing creatures from the MM (Lamassu to Greater Lamassu to Celestial Lamassu, for example), or create weaker versions (Ki-Rin to Dragon Horses).
135.) Unaligned Metallics! Who ever fought a gold dragon anyway?
136.) Playing a rogue that didn't have to be a sneak, and could instead just club you over the head with a mace when you looked away.
137.) How seamlessly I can play a warforged and not feel over powered because of a few bonuses.
138.) The amount of special effects weapons have, such as brutal, versatile ect... and how they work together to make it fun to pick a weapon
139.) Also heroic, class, race ect.. feats that make it that much more interesting and fun to pick a weapon.
140.) Adding powers/monsters/mounts/companions is easy to make fun and flavorful and dont break the game.
141.) Weapon style feats, and hopefuly style feats in general
142.) In 4e I'm able to bring in people to play DnD who have never seen a character sheet, because the rules are straightforward and intuitive.
143.) Power cards make it so I can go through a whole session without having to open my books every time I want to breathe
144.) Psions with whips. Am I the only one who finds that ironically right?
145.) The Penny Arcade podcasts and the Video Podcasts. Funny stuff and informative.
146.) Creatively describing powers
147.) The ease of DMing a session without any preperation (I've done this a couple of times and it worked great)
148.) Rule for breaking weapons in Dark Sun!
149.) Using elements of the Dark Sun "toolbox" without having to use the whole setting.
150.) Rules for high magic (standard), low/no magic (inherent bonuses from DMG2), and even super-high/steampunk magic (Eberron) that all work and are balanced, instead of separate modules introducing completely alien rulesets that radically upset the game's function and balance.
#151-200
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151.) The full on return of Darksun
152.) Mocking people with the power of Sehanine
153.) That the good outweighs the bad more
154.) Overpowered options. As a DM they force me to be creative and pay attention to the rules.
What are some of the reasons that
you enjoy 4th Edition D&D?
