Chaotek Thoughts

After a year of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition, I’ve collected some thoughts on the latest incarnation of D&D.

The Rules

I am a huge fan of the balance of the system. In my experience with the system, which does not yet include Epic tier, I think that this is the most balanced version of D&D, even more balanced than most RPGs out there. Every class feels useful and interesting at all levels of play, unlike the weird power curves of previous editions. However with such strong balance, there is a certain amount of similarity between many character classes. For the most part, you could take all of the classes and simplify them into 4-5 classes with more choices. Even across different character roles, the same damage, dice modifiers, etc all feel the same. But class familiarity is far more preferable to feeling useless because your class won’t become useful for another 3 levels.

Encounter design and balance is massively improved from the previous edition, though its mostly a throwback to 2nd edition. However the XP budget really is a misnomer—just because a monster is within your XP budget for the encounter does not guarantee its balanced. Stretching outside of the PC’s level up or down more than a level or two guarantees that the encounter will not scale well. You are much better off taking a monster of the PC’s level and changing them to be a minion or elite than trying to use a monster higher or lower level than the PCs.

The Setting

To date, only one setting has been released, though the next is days from release. I am a fan of the Points of Light concept, where there are large gaps of dangerous areas isolating pockets of civilized society, as a generally better setting for gaming. It helps the immersion into the setting because it does make sense that a town could disappear or monsters could be nearby for the heroes to deal with. A highly civilized world like medieval Europe just doesn’t feel like a world of monsters.

Regarding the Realms, I understand why changes were necessary even if I don’t agree with the outcome. The world was dramatically changed, supposedly with the points of light concept in mind (as well as the change in magic), but the end result doesn’t match the original purpose. The world still feels very civilized and heavily populated, just without the great history that made the Realms so attractive. Some of the most “points of light” regions were removed from the setting and replaced with more civilized regions. Finally, there have only been two products for the Realms in 4E. In the past year, or the coming year, I don’t know of any other Realms books. This is disappointing, as the first two books were really the same book (one being the Cliff’s notes version). There is still a lot of information about the world that can be provided while maintaining the overall mystery of the new setting for the Points of Light feel.

Speaking of which, the Eberron campaign setting is out soon and I have high expectations. Eberron in 3rd edition accomplished what is missing from the 4th edition Forgotten Realms—mystery yet detailed. Since Eberron is not getting the overhaul that the Realms got, I have much higher expectations for the setting to get it right in 4E.

The Future

As noted, I have high expectations for the coming campaign settings (especially the rumors of Dark Sun which I can’t put much faith in). Additionally if the coming books maintain the same quality of the current books I think 4E has a good future. My worry however is that the system might not be able to scale well over time, especially since setting material seems to be a secondary thought to rules supplement books. The problem I foresee is that since I noted that most classes have a very similar feel (outside of RP fluff), the coming expansions to the rules for new classes, etc will start to curve the power levels up in order to make the new material appealing. This has already happened with PH2, with the worst offender being the Invoker (i.e. the better wizard). This was seen in previous editions, but I think that 4E has the potential to be the worst to handle this. I hope this will not be the case, but my prediction and fear remain.

Overall, I am pleased with Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. I will continue to purchase all books as they come out. I just hope it has the durability withstand the test of time that previous editions did.

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