- Reading the D&D 4E Player’s Handbook
- Reading D&D 4E: Concerning Combat
Eventually I have to get down to it. I feel it is unfair to make judgments and comparisons to a game which I have already read about, heard about and have opinions about, but not read the rules itself. So that I know better about the game, I forked out over SGD 150 (that’s about 90 USD I guess) to get the Player’s Handbook, Player’s Handbook II and the DMG. There’s still the DMG II and the Monster Manual, but my wallet is already screaming at the hole. So after reading the rules, the books, what do I think? Man, a 1st level Wizard can totally kick Gandalf’s ass.
What type of Gamer am I?
Before going into the long article(s?) about how I perceive D&D 4E, I have to give a background of my gaming career, right? I started off with Advanced Fighting Fantasy, then delved into a number of Homebrews that are essentially roll-under systems with feats and spells. Finally I settled into WFRPG 2E for a while, then find myself going on to Spirit of the Century, which would be my niche for a long time. Dragon Warriors hold a special place in my heart, and I am quite fond of Qin: The Warring States. As you can see, I lean mostly to the rules lite crowd in PnP RPG.
I too play lots of CRPG – right now my MMO obsession is Lord of the Rings Online; I was an avid Diablo II fan, playing it hours after hours. Neverwinter Nights II, the Witcher, Knights of the Old Republic, Divine Divinity, Oblivion all has sucked time away from me before I got tired of them. Console-wise, there is Shadow Hearts (all three in the series), Final Fantasy (7 to 12, sans 11), Tales of Verspia, among others. So over-the-top summons (remember the “I can grab a sandwich and make a cup of milo while waiting for Eden to be summoned” in FF8?), fantastic spells and flying airships are all too-familiar to me.
With my background established, I guess some may understand my reaction to the D&D 4E classes as ‘Huh, this is fantasy? Which type?”
What type of Fantasy is D&D 4E?
To like or to hate 4E, first one have to established what type of fantasy D&D 4E is trying to emulate. It is defintely not Lord of the Rings. Back in the good old days of the older D&D, Gandalf was just a 5th level Magic User. Now I got a feeling in 4E a first level wizard could totally kick Gandalf’s ass. Here’s a comparison:
Level 1 Wizard gets Light, Mage Hand and the all-purpose Prestidigitation. In the novels, Gandalf used Light on a couple of occasions. Indeed, Gandalf the White is quite reluctant to show off his powers. He didn’t float a cloud of daggers, call down fire from the sky. The most magical thing he would have done is to be the light that drive off the Nazgul. That may be a variant of turn undead or something. Of course, spells are not everything. Gandalf the White may be able to dispel all sort of magic, and heck, call down a pillar of fire if he wants to. But the point is- over-flashly magic is not the tone of Lord of the Rings.
Of course, the point is not to show that 4E is flawed or something, but it is definitely not for a setting where fantastic magic is common place (how do you buy a Palantir, anyway?)
Besides looking at the measurement of power, the power descriptions are just too over the top. I have read the Drenai saga (which could, I feel, fit into D&D 3.5, what with its dual wielding, switching of souls, walking of planes, throwing of fireballs, ability to heal with music and kill with just a look), and even in 4E, the powers still feel way too fantastic. It is definitely not a good ruleset for A Song of Ice and Fire, where magic is virtually extinct from the main narrative. There may be some epic-magic-is-common fantasy novels out there, but I wouldn’t look too far. I personally have an opinion that the fantasy that D&D 4E is good at emulating is video game fantasy (no doubt this has been told lots of time), anime and…wuxia.
What…Wuxia?
Many fighter, rogue and ranger Powers remind me of the many wuxia novels (original Chinese wuxia novels) which I have read. The ability to weave in and out of the battlefields, pushing enemies away (regardless of their size) and striking at many enemies at once. For exampe, Storm of Blows allows a fighter to strike at multiple enemies within range; that sounds awfully like wire-fu to me. Or Paralzying Strike, which exists in Wuxia as a form of ‘nerve pinching’. Not to mention the flurry of blows powers; some of reseembles this clip from the Last Blade. Let see – moving and strking at your enemy? Checked. Multiple attacks at one enemy? Checked. Counter-defence that opens up your enemy’s weakness when he attacks you? Checked.
Let me try to sum up the points – the magic of 4E is over the top for most fantasy-based settings (even for Harry Potter!). Its martial abilities is more wuxia-like than down to earth. It doesn’t remind me of any fantasy novles which I have read; In fact,when reading the Player’s Handbook, it brings anime, wuxia novels and even some computer games (Diablo 2, for example) to my mind.
Is this a bad or good thing? It depends on what sort of setting and the feel of the game you like. (Even Wuxia is mentioned as one of the probable genre in the DMG). Grim and gritty it is not – D&D 4E is more like the Final Fantasy of pen and paper RPG (not in terms of mechanics, but the style and feel). For me, I like my fantasy to have the feel of Lord of the Rings, or probably something gritter, so having fighters with wuxia-like pwoers and wizards who can call down pillars of fire over and over again doesn’t quite fit well with me.
Yet as I read through the powers’ descriptions, something just bugs me. I’ll get into it next time, when I have the chance to.
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October 2nd, 2009 at 5:03 am
Interesting thoughts, and I look forward to hearing more.
My own first impressions about 4e D&D were that it is Superhero Fantasy where the PCs are larger than life heroes who can fly, throw energy blasts and climb walls, travel at superspeeds and the like.
It’s only later (and after sitting down and actually playing the thing) that we realised in reality it can be anything you want it to be; a large part of it depends on how you describe the Powers. As written, the PHB presents the fluff text for each Power as being Epic and wouldn’t seem out of place in a computer game. Change the fluff & tone and everything changes.
For example, here’s the Fighter’s 1st level Powers converted to Fantasy Noir, just by changing the fluff text.
Food for thought, anyhow.
Looking forward to the next post!
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:56 am
Coming to much the same conclusion you did, was why I found 4e to be the perfect fit for my Spirits of Eden world.
I disliked the feel of Lord of the Rings, and while I can appreciate A Song of Ice And Fire as a novel (and a challenge in remembering all the stuff in it while I wait for the free time to engage the next books), I wouldn’t want to play games set in it.
I do, however, love wuxia and mythology (a lot of which is quite over-the-top – in the Ramayana, Hanuman lobs mountains around, which sadly 4e can’t do) so my setting totally fit with 4e’s power styles.
But I also agree with greywulf. If you change the tone, there’s no reason that 1dX + Y ability score and [rider effect] can’t be something a little more low key…or even something much, much crazier than 4e conceives of right now.
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
To a certain extend, it’s the fluff text; to another extend it is what the power actually does. For example, the PHB 2 you have the Avenger who gains teleporting powers in his early levels. I am still struggling with the concept of ‘you hit someone, and your allies get healed’
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
The Invoker class (from the PHB2) makes for a much better Gandalf than the Wizard class does. Which makes sense, really, given the nature of “wizards” in LotR.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
The hit someone to heal allies mechanics are all about abstract thought. Sort of like quantifying some tactical advantage that may bog down the game in endless modifiers into the simpler ‘gain some hp’. If you look at hp as not just physical wounds but also momentum, morale and luck even it works.
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
To Kaeosdad: Initially, I believe that was the idea of Hit Points; your focus, tactical advantage and how fatigue you are, not actual wounds. However, it is not consistent. Cure Light Wounds, in this case, should be ‘Bolster Morale’ – like what Lord of the Rings Online does.
That game don’t have HP, just Morale. When you are ‘hit’ in combat, your morale goes down. Music and inspirational cheers from other classes improve Morale. However, at some time this system just break apart (for a computer game, it’s too rigid). For example, LOTRO has death by falling. So you, eh, get really depressed after you jump from Weathertop