One step forward, two steps back | Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition

Streamlining at the expense of freedom | Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition | Wizards RPG Team

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	• Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition Wizards RPG Team Wizards of the Coast, 2008 - 832 pages average customer review:based on 105 reviews view larger image
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Not your old D&D

This certainly isn't the D&D you may have grown up with. The way classes and abilities are handled (especially spells) is completely different. That being said, it still is D&D. It takes some time to adjust to the new game mechanics, but in some ways they are easier.

One thing I really like is the wide variety of things that a character can do even at low levels. They can now produce effects that weren't seen until the upper levels in previous editions. Also, there has been a lot done to balance roles and powers so that as one gets higher level, one class doesn't dominate. For example, at the highest levels, a wizard could be better at finding traps than a thief, do more damage than anyone else, have a higher defense than a fighter in full plate, etc. Now... its a lot more balanced and each class has a role that they fill in a party and they can excel at that role.

There are some crossing of class abilities available, but overall, if you want to be the best at a particular role, you can do it with little fear someone else will come along and eventually surpass you in what you specialize in (unless they are in the same role, but even then there will be differences).

One issue I do have with it, particularly the Monster Manual, is that often each monster entry is given half a dozen varieties of that monster. Which is fine and does give a lot of variance in foes you will be facing. However, the arrangement can at times seem a little jumbled. Also, many of the monsters, even those from a PC race, have unique abilities that are not available to the actual characters. In most cases, that's also ok, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of them eventually available for PCs.

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One step forward, two steps back

Layout/Product Quality:

The covers and schemes of these books are quite beautiful, and there is very little recycled art from previous editions. The headers and tables are easy to read and well designed. I found there to be a tad too much white space, though.

Content:

The quality of 4th edition is a much debated topic, but I found it to be as my title suggests. The powers system is a robust and well-thought out system that is logical and balanced. Skills, skill challenges, and feats are streamlined in an efficient and thoughtful manner. However, I feel the designers, in creating this 4th edition core idea, left out much of what once was considered unique to D&D. Rituals are an afterthought. A lot of the interesting combat maneouvres seem to have been reduced to knocking people prone and forced movement. Certain special abilities from classes and races that have been around forever have been stripped in the name of refinement, balance, and forward-motion. Is this all good for D&D? Maybe.

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Streamlining at the expense of freedom

4th edition seems more like a successor to 2nd edition than it does to 3rd/3.5. The 2 hallmarks of 3rd edition were (mostly) sensible codified rules, and freedom, especially from arbitrary rules (like race restrictions on classes). While there are exceptions to both in 3.x, these trends permeated the system as a whole, and it was a better game than its predecessor in virtually every way I can think of.

4th edition doesn't mess too much with with the first hallmark (though it does seem like a tiny step backward), it really reverses itself on the second. Not completely; it's not as bad as second edition, but it's sad to see this in 3.x's successor.

Classes are once again very rigid, and with little room to deviate on the narrow path (or often two paths) it sets in front of you. Want to use two weapons? Only a Ranger gets to make any extra attacks with them. Want to be able to use a bow/crossbow? Ranger is your only real choice (well, rogue has some minor ranged stuff for a crossbow). It's very Video game / World of Warcraft inspired; it's a shame they carried over the bad stuff from video games (massive constraint), eliminating a lot of the strength Pen & paper RPGs have over video games. For the record, I'm not bashing video games, I'm an avid player of both).

Multiclassing is one of the biggest victims. While there were problems with 3rd edition multiclassing, the method of doing so was nearly flawless. The discrepancies between multiclassing martial classes (good) and caster classes (bad) came from the way martial classes were front-loaded with diminishing returns and caster classes had weak starts with near god-like endgame powers.

As a DM, I loved the finely crafted enemies in 3.x that you could build with the care and attention to detail that a player takes in creating PCs. Getting a Race/Class combination, choosing feats/equipment to suit them, etc. That's gone. Enemies are pretty much all off the shelf with the possibility of small changes like across the board generic +1 to 5 or -1 to 5 too defenses/attacks. Templates are a little bit better, but are almost as much work as fine-tuning a 3.x enemy for almost none of the customization.

But, it's not all bad. For all the sacrifices that they made to the game, they did add some benefits. The game is more streamlined now. 3rd edition codified rules instead of making DMs wing a lot of it, but in some respects it went too far. No longer do you have to worry about 7 different penalties from 3 different sources for holding 2 weapons. That wasn't very fun. Grapple is now a single check instead of 4 separate rolls (whose modifiers were arbitrary and changed with every new release of the FAQ). Spells/effects typically only last for 1-2 rounds or the end of the encounter so you don't have to worry about having 12 different buffs with varying durations on you. Basically, once you've got your character sheet made, the game chugs along with minimal stoppage for rules consultations, and questions like "has it been 16 minutes since that last battle, I've got 3 buffs that wear off then?" etc. or recalculating attacks/saves past a common +2 you might have from this ability and a bonus for attacking a prone opponent, etc.

While it will be many months until I can really comment on the overall balance of the classes compared to one another, abilities do seem much more spread out over the levels. There are no more "empty" levels where you get nothing but HP and a few skillpoints. The fighter class isn't nearly so boring as a feat every other level (in a game where feats never got more powerful past 6th level until years later with supplements).

The one big change that I am most fond of is more per-encounter balancing of the game. I am pleasantly surprised they finally ditched Vancian spellcasting sacred cow (you're next: alignment!), and make a low-level caster fun to play (no more 3 spells and then stuck with weak crossbow abilities for the rest of the game). This is really the defining positive feature of this edition in my opinion, and does shore up some of its weaknesses, even if it's not enough to raise my rating over 3 stars.

So, all in all, a much streamlined game, but one that sacrificed a lot of its ability to micromanage and customize its aspects. I'll likely have fun with it for a little while, but I also see that fun ending much quicker than with 3.x edition. You'll almost have to purchase expansion books to keep anything more than the campaign itself from being trodden ground (like the guy that plays the same character over and over again with only a letter change in his name)...then again, that could have been Wizards of the Coast's intention all along...

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Amazing Game and Deal

I haven't had much experince in the D&D world, but I must say that the new version is simply fun. Its easy to understand, start playing, and run. The whole game has been stream-lined to make it flow better.

All three 4th Edition core rulebooks in one handsome slipcase. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master.This gift set features a handsome slipcase containing all three of the 4th Edition D&D Roleplaying Game core rulebooks: the Players Handbook rulebook (320 pages), the Monster Manual rulebook (288 pages), and the Dungeon Masters Guide rulebook (224 pages).

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