Keith Baker tá soltando o verbo esses dias. Mas são essencialmente observações quanto ao estilo e decisões de projeto de 4e, não é muito crunch não.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t ... e=10&pp=30
Yes, and it is (mutli-classing easier now in 4e). You can multiclass at first level if you choose. The key difference between 4E and 3E is that there is a difference between a ranger who's multiclassed to paladin and a paladin who's multiclassed to ranger. The paladin is still first and foremost a defender, the ranger a striker. But the ranger-paladin is distinctly different from a ranger-rogue - or a ranger who hasn't multiclassed at all.
I wish I could lay out all the options that are available, because there are a few things I really like that make characters of the same class completely different from one another. You haven't seen them, because what you've seen are the base characters from DDXP. So you don't know how multiclassing works, what options feats provide, and so on. But there's ways to make three paladins very different from one another (and I don't mean "One took Power Attack and the other took Dodge"); they simply don't involve taking a LEVEL of ranger.
Looking back to SWG: I'll note that I never said you HAD to be a janitor - I said you COULD be a janitor. And that KotOR does not give you that option. It's a difference in design goals, and SWG put a great deal of design time into supporting the "world sim" role. KotOR focused on the hero experience, and that's what 4E is doing.
But beyond that - Lizard, you see to be under the impression that you CAN'T stat out NPCs in 4E. Why is that? In the campaign I'm running at the moment, I've got a large cast of NPC characters. A few are statted out with all the detail of PCs, and in fact I've used the PC class system for them - just as if I was making a NPC with PC class levels in 3E. A few are statted out at the level of the typical monster: critical skills and powers, ability scores, hit points. And a few are background characters I haven't bothered to stat - names, treated as minions if they get attacked.
4E doesn't provide special CLASSES for these characters. I didn't have to say "Hmm... I guess he'd be an expert instead of a commoner, because I've given him four skills and Heal isn't a commoner class skill." It hasn't devoted significant design space to NPC classes - although as a disclaimer, I have not seen the DMG and thus don't know exactly what is said about creating NPCs. But I do know that NPCs are not supposed to be treated as interchangible cogs with identical ability scores; you simply don't have a twenty-level class system tied to them.
Oh, and as an aside, you DON'T have to have an epic destiny. I probably shouldn't say more than that, but it's not like lightning strikes every character at level 21; that's the point at which it is POSSIBLE to discover your epic destiny.
At the end of the day, it's true: 4E is more like KotOR than SWG. It's designed to let you play a hero, and if you WANT to play the janitor, it's not the right game for you. It doesn't provide all the options of 3E, because unlike 3.5, it's not an evolution of 3E; it is a new game, which shares some basic principles but completely redevelops others (for example, magic). For you, that may make it a flawed system, and that's fine; you can stick with 3E. Meanwhile, I WANT to play a hero - and 4E, IMO, does a much better job of it than 3E. I'm having more fun than I ever did with 3E. But, of course, I had more fun with KotOR than I did with SWG. So I think they are focusing on a particular flavor of play - focusing on the hero's tale as opposed to the world simulation tool. But essentially it's a question of doing one thing well instead of being a jack of all trades and master of none. And if you think 3E DOES do all things well, no one's going to stop you from playing it, and some companies are going to continue to support it. Me, I'll be playing 4E. I've got an epic destiny to fulfill.
And let's face it, we're talking about a core system here. All it takes is a single rulebook - "The Anti-Epic Handbook" - to provide a commoner class, 0-level characters, and supporting rules, and you're good to go.
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I liked NPC classes (and still do), not because I wanted an accurate way to simulate the life of the farmer, but because for me they call out the fact that PCs are special and superior to NPCs - that 90%+ of NPCs are commoners, and that there's no expectation that the bartender is going to be a 10th level fighter. Essentially, NPC classes showed me that a PC IS a unique snowflake... because he's a rogue, not an expert. Hence any Eberron product I worked on emphasizing significant use of NPC classes by NPCs.
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Paragon paths are more limited than prestige classes, but that also means that they're going to be far easier to balance - no more "If you combine one level of this with one level of this with one level of this, you get the crazy combo no designer ever intended or considered" - and they still serve the purpose of providing unique flavor to each character. It's true, 4E doesn't provide as many options. But I don't need 4E to become GURPS or Hero - because I've got GURPS and Hero already. Instead, it takes the fighter-rogue-cleric-MU roles that have always been part of D&D and embraces them.
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But in some ways I think you might look at it as an evolution of 2E that uses some of the same principles as 3E, as opposed to an evolution of 3E.
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I'm not promising that 4E will be all things to all people. My point is that I think it's a stronger system for not trying to do so. It's chosen a direction and wrapped the mechanics around it; meanwhile there are many other systems that work well for stories you CAN'T tell in it.
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If he's a minion at first level, it means he's expected to go down with a single hit from a first level character. (...) All being a minion does is means that the DM doesn't have to worry about tracking your hit points.
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As for the idea that "minions will explode when cats attack them", this is trying to apply realism to a concept that isn't supposed to be realistic. Yes, minions are defeated when they take damage. This isn't supposed to suggest that they are walking soap bubbles that pop if a 4-year-old pokes them. The same creature can have hit points when used against lower-level characters and be treated as a minion at higher levels - because when fighting epic level characters, devils that would slaughter a 1st-level character are now trivial (a principle you see in a range of media - for example, in season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when one turok-han beats the crap out of Buffy, and by the end of the season the gang is slaughtering them in droves).
A minion is a dramatic category, not a physiological condition. Minions are creatures who pose little threat TO THE PCS and who can be defeated swiftly and easily by the PCs. (...)
First level may be the new third for PCs. This has no impact on the world at large; on the contrary, the commoner IS likely to be a minion, making the PC stand out all the more.
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Here's where I really can't reveal anything, because if someone official hasn't already explained how it works, I sure shouldn't be spilling the beans. However, I will say that the way non-combat magic (rituals) work creates a far stronger foundation for a magical economy than Vancian magic did. It's a system where it's clear how that lamplighter can put in a full day of work, as opposed to burning out his power with a single spell. So again, Eberron was founded on 3E, and the idea that magic was a force that followed logical patterns, that could be reliably controled by formula and ritual, and which could be taught - but Vancian magic always put some limits on the logic of a truly magical society. The rules for rituals make the idea of a professional, full-time magewright a simple and logical idea - and in fact, the system is such that it doesn't even require the existence of a separate magewright class.








