Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition: An Old-timer's First Impressions

Having made a search, I see that there are a couple of reviews on this already. Of course, one was written long before the actual product hit the bookstores and can be discounted immediately as the work of someone who has a stake in the matter. The other piece I found was just dripping with praise. I wonder if you're ready for another point of view? I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons almost as long as it's creator, and here's what I think of the new edition. It's just a first impression, mind you, and I was hesitant about even the 2nd edition at first, but I don't think I care for this one. I didn't like the third edition at all, and I'm proud to say that none of those products ever made it into my home, let alone into my campaign.

A friend and I spent the afternoon creating characters in the new system. I think doing it helped a bit with understanding how things work, finding our way through the Players Handbook and learning what the different things are under these new rules. There are still some things that have me puzzled, but I think it will all come together soon. So far, I feel like this edition is kind of a cross between that old board game I had (Dungeon) and a video game.

A character has a movement rate, expressed in "squares" to better facilitate the use of another product, the D&D miniatures. The various powers are also attuned to this. They can be used when an opponent is within a certain number of squares, they affect opponents within so many squares of the target square, they will push opponents a set number of squares, and so on.

Character classes have been expanded, as have character races, at least, it seems so until you really look at them. Under 2nd edition rules a player could be almost any race, including some that had previously been listed as "monsters". As for classes, I still miss the monk, the bard, and especially the cavalier, which I saw as being far superior to the paladin. These, among many, have not been seen in their true forms since the 1st edition rules fell by the wayside. I've also discovered that there are no multi-class options in this edition. There is something about multi-class feats, but the text plainly says that you can dabble in a second class, but not a third. Shouldn't they then, be called duel-class feats? Multi-class always used to refer to someone who had three classes, not just two, and the original bard character was defined as such.

There is now a definite end to a character's career in this version - level 30 is as high as you can go. Of course, I don't know anybody who ever raised a character that high without artificial means in any previous version, but it was theoretically possible to do so. Not any more. When you create a character, you have certain things you can do, a limited selection of skills, powers and spells. At each level up you gain some powers, etc., which is again, limited. I don't see room for a lot of unique characters in this version. I think that there is a very large number of different characters you can create, but that it's not unlimited. I can imagine someone creating a computer program that could spit out every possible character that can be generated under this system, and then it would just be a matter of choosing which one you want to play. Under 1^st or 2^nd edition rules I don't think it would be possible to do anything even close to that. Not having any experience with 3^rd edition rules, I can't make an honest comparison between the two.

I noticed that a lot of the spells have gone from the game. For example, Raise Dead is still here, but I couldn't find Resurrection or Reincarnation. I guess they figure that one does for all. I'm sure there are lots of other examples, but this is the one I actually looked at. I may go through the book and put together a spell book for my group to use. One of the things that made character creation so tedious was having to skip back and forth through the book to find the spells and powers. It's all cut up and they're scattered through the whole book. I know that some are free spells and some are encounter spells and some are some other kind and so on, but they could have been in one part of the book, instead of being the way they are.

I still haven't seen anything about creating new spells, just new magic items. I think they purposefully limited the options you have, and spell research would open things up too much. This is reflected in the generation of ability scores too. There are three methods given and the third is not really sanctioned. Method one is to start with a set of ability scores that they give you and build from there, adding race and class benefits. Method two is to take all 10's (except one 8), buy points from a set pool of buying power, and build from there. Method three is to roll four dice, counting the highest three, and take what you get; this is the one that's not sanctioned. In other words, they don't want you to roll ability scores anymore; they don't want randomness to muddy up the system. Even with the first two methods, the DM has the right to tell you that he doesn't accept your ability scores and that you have to start again.

My friend said it when he first got here; there's no "flow" to this. Creating a character is an adventure all on its own. When my brother said that he had played this and it only took about twenty minutes to get things going I liked that, but then, he didn't have to start by making his character. He used the pre-generated characters that came with the Quick Start rules. My friend and I spent about three hours on this. You choose your race and class, build your ability scores (not Roll), then it's back and forth through the book, finding At Will powers, Encounter powers, Daily powers, Feats, Rituals, Skills and so on. Granted, it will come to be easier as we get used to it, but then we'll be constantly flipping through the book to find our powers and spells every time we want to use one. I can see the widespread use of spell cards and power cards (that Wizards of the Coast will no doubt be publishing soon) to make things go a little easier. The player's handbook even suggests that you make your own with index cards. Some years ago I did that very thing with the 1^st Edition spells, and then TSR came out with the printed sets for 2^nd Edition.

I don't know, some of this appeals to me very much, but some of it has me thinking that it isn't really an improvement so much as a dumbing down. I'll be willing to give it a try, but my gaming group may still play the old way too, or even put this aside and wait for the 5th Edition rules, if this turns out to be what it looks like at first glance.