Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Catch All

Jolly Bill wrote:

Also, having finally read the ritual section, I take back what I was saying about the variety of spells. Not only do the rituals add back what I thought was missing from the powers as far as spells go, they make a LOT more sense in terms of logistics. Many spells have changed from what you're used to (Silence creates a shield against eavesdropping, NOT removing all sound within the area), but it all makes a lot of sense. You can do rituals as often as you want in a day, as long as you don't mind spending the cost/taking the time (10 min to a couple hrs, depending)/carting around the materials necessary.

I think the ritual part of the book is one of the *best* things they have done. Having to wait a day because you didn't memorize the 'useful but not a daily' spell always bothered me.

wizard_in_motley wrote:

I think the ritual part of the book is one of the *best* things they have done. Having to wait a day because you didn't memorize the 'useful but not a daily' spell always bothered me.

Also, the fact that ANYONE can use a ritual scroll to cast a ritual intrigues me. Party has to split up? Wizard makes a 'Sending' scroll, gives it to the Rogue and Fighter who are off to sneak around, so either way one part can contact the other. The mind boggles.

Jolly Bill wrote:
wizard_in_motley wrote:

I think the ritual part of the book is one of the *best* things they have done. Having to wait a day because you didn't memorize the 'useful but not a daily' spell always bothered me.

Also, the fact that ANYONE can use a ritual scroll to cast a ritual intrigues me. Party has to split up? Wizard makes a 'Sending' scroll, gives it to the Rogue and Fighter who are off to sneak around, so either way one part can contact the other. The mind boggles.

I've been reading through the PHB as well, and so far I'm really impressed. I think they have made a lot of great changes. However, I won't know for sure until I can actually get a game in. Unfortunately, my gaming group wants to stick with 3.5 rules until we finish the campaign. Unfortunately, we just hit level 3. So it might be a while.

Tkyl wrote:
Jolly Bill wrote:
wizard_in_motley wrote:

I think the ritual part of the book is one of the *best* things they have done. Having to wait a day because you didn't memorize the 'useful but not a daily' spell always bothered me.

Also, the fact that ANYONE can use a ritual scroll to cast a ritual intrigues me. Party has to split up? Wizard makes a 'Sending' scroll, gives it to the Rogue and Fighter who are off to sneak around, so either way one part can contact the other. The mind boggles.

I've been reading through the PHB as well, and so far I'm really impressed. I think they have made a lot of great changes. However, I won't know for sure until I can actually get a game in. Unfortunately, my gaming group wants to stick with 3.5 rules until we finish the campaign. Unfortunately, we just hit level 3. So it might be a while.

Who's the DM? Any DM worth his salt wouldn't take lip from his players.

Half of my group are still waiting for their books from Amazon. I am hoping we can start by the end of June. Gives me time to read all the books and make some characters.

I just wish D&DI supported OSX.

Ulairi wrote:

Who's the DM? Any DM worth his salt wouldn't take lip from his players.

Unfortunately, not I. But as much as I'd like to jump into 4ed rules, I understand why we aren't. For a couple of the guys in the group, this is really their first time playing D&D. They just learned 3.5 rules, and we don't want to have to move them over to another ruleset, especially considering the changes made in 4th edition. Plus, this also gives us time to read up on the rules and become familiar with them before actually using them. But that is why I'm hoping we get a GWJ game going. I'd love to actually try out some 4ed rules so that when my local group starts playing, I'll have a leg up on understanding the ins and outs. This also helps because I'm usually the one they turn to when they don't know the rules for any particular part of the game.

Hey!

Count me in on this GWJ/RPG/FW2 thing. I have a current group that I'm running through a campaign we affectionately call 'Cleanse the Heretic for the Glory of the Ice Mother' using an XP-less 3.5 ruleset and I've been wanting to stretch my playing legs. Also, those online tools look tasty enough that I had to put the barbed bit back into the mouth of my inner geek and yank back hard.

Benticore
Out

If anyone can handle a West Coast Goodjer in the mix, I'd love to do some online playing as well.

wizard_in_motley wrote:

They've done horrible examples. For one, there are things missing off a lot of characters. Secondly they calculated everything out for you. That sounds good because it lets you get running quickly but the bad thing is you don't know how they got the number. What I have been doing is taking the sample characters and going over how they got the numbers, that's helping quite a bit.

As a first-timer this was confusing. Certain things kept saying that there was a modifier but then said it was already included. I wasn't learning how characters and stats worked outside of the sheet I had in front of me.

wordsmythe wrote:

I think what threw me was that the prefab characters sometimes listed actions as at will/encounter/daily as well as free/minor/move/attack, but not always both. In the absence of clarification, I almost thought that "at will" might also have meant "free action," but I think I caught it.

I had an 'At-Will (Special)' that could only be used once a day. I have no clue why it wasn't just included with the Dailies. There were some other organization issues with the actions that threw me. I had a list of At-Wills, Encounters, and Dailies then some other info, then some more actions. I wasn't sure why they weren't all grouped together. I think it may have been split by race and class. Not sure.

ShadeRaven wrote:

Curious as to whether or not 4th Edition is going to be such a departure from what people expect that the "one copy of the PHB to pass around" method just won't work anymore.

I was thinking about mooching but with the possibility of online play and my own anal nature, I need my own rules book. It's too early to start borrowing anyway since people are just getting familiar with it.

rabbit wrote:

The inclusion of battle maps is both nice and a final admission that the game is to vault back into miniatures calm at the way it was in the beginning with chain-mail.

We talked on Sunday about possibly using my HeroScape figures. Once we get characters we want to keep, I might seek out figures that match best.

McChuck wrote:

I had an 'At-Will (Special)' that could only be used once a day. I have no clue why it wasn't just included with the Dailies. There were some other organization issues with the actions that threw me. I had a list of At-Wills, Encounters, and Dailies then some other info, then some more actions. I wasn't sure why they weren't all grouped together. I think it may have been split by race and class. Not sure.

I think I saw that power yesterday. If I remember correctly, it was the Lay On Hands for a Paladin. The reason why it is an At-Will as opposed to a Daily is because it can actually be used more than once, after you start gaining levels. The power you have might have been different, but I bet its a long the same lines. And seeing as how the characters you are making our premade (and I'm assuming level 1), the power could probably currently only be used once a day.

Throw my hat into the ring here for an online game.

I'm pretty close to Racine. Who's up for rendesvousing in Lnidenhurst for a Chi-town/Wisco roll-down?

I'll play online and/or with anyone in the Twin Cities area.

On another note, have Wizards posted the .pdf of the character sheet yet? I can't find it on the site, other than as a link to the retail pack coming soon.

And who's bright idea was it to put the record sheet across 2 pages in the back of the book? How am I supposed to copy that? I can't cut it out or I take the index with it. Genius!

kleinetako wrote:

I'll play online and/or with anyone in the Twin Cities area.

On another note, have Wizards posted the .pdf of the character sheet yet? I can't find it on the site, other than as a link to the retail pack coming soon.

Here ya go kleintako:
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd...

It's under "Home: Resources: Character Sheets" on the Wizards DnD site.

TheWanderer wrote:

Throw my hat into the ring here for an online game.

I'm pretty close to Racine. Who's up for rendesvousing in Lnidenhurst for a Chi-town/Wisco roll-down?

Putting my flag up again about my interest in online and offline play. How far of a drive is Lindenhurst from Chicago?

Broke down and bought the players handbook today. The game store I went to had it for 29.99 (even though it was marked as 39.99 CDN)! How could I pass up a bargan like that?!

Benticore wrote:

I have a current group that I'm running through a campaign we affectionately call 'Cleanse the Heretic for the Glory of the Ice Mother'

Hey, can I have a copy of that game? Sounds awesome.

Personally, I start every new campaign with "Trouble in them thar mines" and it goes downhill from there

Just posted in the other RPG thread but wanted to mention here that I'm the proud owner of a 4th Edition PHB. Going to sit back and read through it tonight a bit.

We totally need a GWJ enabler squad graphic.

Obviously, the online roleplaying troup has moved to stupidhaiku's thread. Please go check there and state your interest (ONLY if your name is not already mentioned.)

So, I ended up picking up the PHB from my friendly local game store today. When I told the clerk I hadn't played D&D since 1st edition he was a little amazed. I'm guessing he wasn't even born when 1st edition came out.

After getting home, I skimmed though the book and just finished rolling my first character in 13 or 14 years, a half-elf ranger. I'll probably roll at least one more tomorrow, maybe a warlock named Cinster.

As posted int he online version, I am free evenings Sunday, Tues,Wed, Thurs. most likely live around the table style is not likely in the twin Cities area for me (since I work such wacky hours)

Someone I've been playing with on FG sent me a link to Dungeon Crafter. A very simple, straightforward dungeon maker (and free). I figured it out in a few minutes and making dungeons is very fast. Not full-featured (for example there are no door textures) but you can make your own textures and export as .png which is coincidentally the format FG prefers.

Lindenhurst is about 50 minutes north west of Chicago, across 294 from Great America. I've got a set of books coming in about 5-10 business and I would love to have a bunch of you over. I'll grill burgers and brats and provide the hard liquor, beer's on you.

Before we get out of hand with the Chi-town/Wisco Roll down, anyone here w/in range of Lindenhurst that would like to DM?

TheWanderer wrote:

Lindenhurst is about 50 minutes north west of Chicago, across 294 from Great America. I've got a set of books coming in about 5-10 business and I would love to have a bunch of you over. I'll grill burgers and brats and provide the hard liquor, beer's on you.

Before we get out of hand with the Chi-town/Wisco Roll down, anyone here w/in range of Lindenhurst that would like to DM?

I am tempted by your promises of meat and drink. I'm not certain you want a drinking Wordsmythe DMing, though.

McChuck wrote:
wizard_in_motley wrote:

They've done horrible examples. For one, there are things missing off a lot of characters. Secondly they calculated everything out for you. That sounds good because it lets you get running quickly but the bad thing is you don't know how they got the number. What I have been doing is taking the sample characters and going over how they got the numbers, that's helping quite a bit.

As a first-timer this was confusing. Certain things kept saying that there was a modifier but then said it was already included. I wasn't learning how characters and stats worked outside of the sheet I had in front of me.

rabbit wrote:

The inclusion of battle maps is both nice and a final admission that the game is to vault back into miniatures calm at the way it was in the beginning with chain-mail.

We talked on Sunday about possibly using my HeroScape figures. Once we get characters we want to keep, I might seek out figures that match best.

If I host again, I'm going to encourage players to roll up their own character sheets, so that we all have a better handle on the way things work now. If we get into a regular gaming schedule, I'll likely hit up Games Plus in Mount Prospect for the appropriate pewter.

I haven't played since 2nd Edition. What's the opinion of me picking up the 4th Ed set and DM'ing for my wife and seeing what my 6 year old can handle some too?

Thanks for the meetup.com mention. Between moving out of state, telecommuting, and no longer having much of a night-life (children-induced homeboundedness) I haven't found any avenues for meeting people other than the UPS guy.

What's the opinion of me picking up the 4th Ed set and DM'ing for my wife and seeing what my 6 year old can handle some too?

If they can play WoW or a JRPG then 4th Ed will be a piece of cake. I loved AD&D back during my hardcore tabletop gaming days and 3rd edition was a good revamp that got killed by reprints and half-assed implementations but there's something really special about 4th Ed. of course, I haven't played a single game yet but the rule changes are quite impressive

I started talking to my son about it tonight and he lit up so I just ordered the Keep on the Shadowfell starter scenario from Amazon. After payday this weekend I'll most likely order the books. Any reason not to just order the three separate books rather than the boxset? Amazon has the individual books in stock. I suppose I can do without the slipcase if that's the only difference.

The slipcase was a killer deal from Amazon when I got it... that was my only reasoning.

I started reading the Keep, but then Zenke promised to DM me through it, so I stuck it in a drawer. The first encounter seems cool though (grin).

rabbit wrote:

I started reading the Keep, but then Zenke promised to DM me through it, so I stuck it in a drawer. The first encounter seems cool though (grin).

I might very well have gotten the link from this thread, but this session report sold me on running my son through it. I'm definitely planning on following his example and just letting my son have fun with it and sparking his interest.

The SRD is out now. Doesn't seem as robust as the previous SRD, but its a start.

rabbit wrote:

I started reading the Keep, but then Zenke promised to DM me through it, so I stuck it in a drawer. The first encounter seems cool though (grin).

Are you going to be playing the Zenke game all online? Any chance of recording and cutting to podcast like the PA/PVP one for Wizards?