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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 2:00PM
#51
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They're "plain better" because dwarves got quite a number of feats to make them competitive in several classes (most notably fighter and warden) despite lacking a Strength bonus. Now, with such excellent feat support and the Strength/Con bonus, dwarves leap ahead of the curve and suddenly become top dog in those classes.
You can't just examine the stats in a vacuum. Such awesome feat support makes the dwarves "plain better."
agreed. I made a bunch of lvl 1 characters for a play-test, and the dwarf battlerager fighter (the only one who didn't have prime stat boosting) reached out of them like no other class.
With 16 Str 16 Con 15 Wis 12 Dex (the standard array), and DWT, he's not only wielding a superiour crag hammer (together with heavy shield & scale armor for very high AC), but also gets +2 damage, combining either temp hp granting powers (when he doesn't have temp hp) and brash strike (when he does).
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 2:05PM
#52
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The changes are all good. If the game had released with them people would have praised the edition louder. Many of them are tweaks that respond directlyto criticisms of the game and edition; they're content that would have hit the actual edition if WotC had been a little more widespread with its playtesting.
It's just fear of change at this point.
I disagree. I don't fear change. I think that some of the changes are good, and I look forward to them. I also think some of the changes are bad, and I don't look forward to them.
Hopefully the changes that I dislike can be effectively ignored. I think this stuff about magic item rarity is terrible, but I can easily disregard it. I don't like their new take on martial classes - but hey, I don't have to play the new classes. Where I start to get frustrated is with changes that they make to accomodate their new take on martial classes - those changes I cannot easily ignore, because the CB has no option to not include them.
But who knows. I can only hope that the things I like about Essentials will outweigh the (difficult to ignore) things that I dislike.
My issue is that all the changes seem to be backwards changes. They all seem to be about nostalgia than any real sense of improving the game. With the power system there is no reason for a simpler class and I feel making one is a mistake every class should have equal options and powers.
I kinda agree with. At least from the stance we are going backwards and not stepping foward. I still hope once I get to look at the essitenals it won't feel that way. I just hope I am wrong
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 2:46PM
#53
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The Essentials line will not get in the way with my older PHB. They will work just fine with each other. They needed to get new blood and the DDE is a great way to do it. I'll play the Knight version of the Fighter alongside my fighter build from the PHB.
DDE will be fun to buy and collect. Just go with the flow and enjoy the ride. New poster maps, new builds, new monsters...
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 2:57PM
#54
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Date Joined:
Oct 24, 2001
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I have a mortgage, a car payment, a web-based business that is soon to launch, a job with a company that is forever in start-up mode, greying hair (what's left of it), a history of kidney stones, two children entering school-age, Japanese beetles that love my plants, and an ailing father-in-law.
For me, I'm not worried about anything WotC does.
Here are the PHB essentia, in my opinion: - Three Basic Rules (p 11)
- Power Types and Usage (p 54)
- Skills (p178-179)
- Feats (p 192)
- Rest and Recovery (p 263)
- All of Chapter 9 [Combat] (p 264-295)
A player needs to read the sections for building his or her character -- race, class, powers, feats, equipment, etc. But those are PC-specific. The above list is for everyone, regardless of the race or class or build or concept they are playing.
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 3:10PM
#55
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Date Joined:
May 28, 2009
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I have a mortgage, a car payment, a web-based business that is soon to launch, a job with a company that is forever in start-up mode, greying hair (what's left of it), a history of kidney stones, two children entering school-age, Japanese beetles that love my plants, and an ailing father-in-law.
For me, I'm not worried about anything WotC does.
My sympathies for the kidney stones history.
I have a similar condition and can understand the Pain.
I'm not too worried about Essentials myself, I see it more as a redesign of an edition in progress that runs on the same platform. In IT, the analogy would be that you can still run 32bits applications on a 64bits system, but the 64bits systems will get future support, design and developement.
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 3:21PM
#56
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Date Joined:
Nov 11, 2009
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I don't have a lot of time to prep/play. The fact that they are in a way forking the rules just adds that much more confusion for my players and me. You want to bring in new(or revitalize some old) players? Make game prep/running even easier.
It feels like a slap in the face that the developers are spending all thier time trying to appease people who have never played the game (spent money) rather than me who always buys thier products and pays for my subscription.
Not only do they not deliver the tools the promised, they handicap great tools like masterplan. Truly they should have just bought out masterplan and been done. Instead the only ones working on the tools are thier lawyer team, and everyone else is working on essentials.
We don't need players handbook #4-20 and DMG #67 we need some new modules and some working tools!
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 3:43PM
#57
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Date Joined:
Jul 14, 2008
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We have spent hundreds of dollars on books. Many of us have spent a lot on ddi subscription also. We have invested hundreds of hours playing the game, DMs have spent as much preparing for games, and players have spent multiple years invested into a character(s). Now, we get news and rumors that the dnd system that we know is being changed, and we don't now what the change looks like (whether the change is good or bad is a moot point). And the worst thing of all is that we won't be able to see the change for ourselves for another 6 - 12 months. Even for those of us that are hopeful in the new design direction, it's nervous when so much time and money has been spent on the game.
Oh noes!!! Our 4th edition books will burst into flames in exactly 6-12 months! Quick, play as much as you can!!
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 4:10PM
#58
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Date Joined:
Aug 23, 2008
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The only thing I really dislike about Essentials is that it seems to have turned a lot of posters I otherwise respect into quivering, panicky, paranoid loons...
Actually, joking aside, I do understand that people are worried about what's coming down the pipe. And a lot of that is due to the way WotC has handled the previews of Essentials material (generally pretty badly). I do sympathise with the loons to a degree, even though some of their more overwrought posts make me doubt their mental stability.
I agree with this. Only without the joking.
It is not my intent to offend. However, it is also not my concern whether you get offended or not.
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 4:18PM
#59
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Date Joined:
Apr 17, 2008
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I don't like the fact that I'm not going to have first party material regularly available anymore.
I also don't like the fact that once Essentials and all the Essential inspired Errata hits the "old" game. That I won't really have the option to use the character builder anymore.
(WIZARDS MAKE ERRATA TURN OFF AN OPTION!!!!)
Case in point the garbage, Retro Inspired "Magic Missile" which is a clear indicator that frankly Wotc would rather turn D&D back into the well... lets just keep me from saying anything unkind and bringing the thread down in flames game design of Dinosaur's past.
I don't want that kind of Errata at my table. Unfortunately CB is the -easiest- way to make characters by far.
Unfortunately I can't turn off the damned errata, so I have to sit through everyone's character and double check it against stock and pick the rules I like most.
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3 years ago ::
Aug 09, 2010 - 5:09PM
#60
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Date Joined:
Nov 29, 2001
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How are they "plain better"? They loose +2 Wis for +2 Str. That's a straight trade. And the PHB1/2 will get an errata so the races match.
Also worth noteing +Str/Con Dwarfs loose 1 Will defense. As do the Dex/Int elfs.
They're "plain better" because dwarves got quite a number of feats to make them competitive in several classes (most notably fighter and warden) despite lacking a Strength bonus. Now, with such excellent feat support and the Strength/Con bonus, dwarves leap ahead of the curve and suddenly become top dog in those classes.
You can't just examine the stats in a vacuum. Such awesome feat support makes the dwarves "plain better."
Yeah, ever since PHB3 and the rumors about retro-fitting the old races, I (and quite a few other posters) were worried they were going to give Str to the dwarf. All of the Martial books spent quite a bit of space adding things to bring the Dwarf up to par as a fighter in exchange for his lack of Str bonus. Now they still have all that, plus the Str bonus. And all they lose is Wis, and coincidentally, Wis is not used at all in the new Fighters.
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