What I miss about 3rd Ed: Part III

So today I would like to talk about an area that will no doubt be some what touchy. There will no doubt be those that think I'm wrong, or will say that I'm making an issue of nothing. But I have to say that this issue, or at least issue from my point of view, is important. So, you ask, what is this said issue?: it's roleplaying. Not roleplaying in general, but roleplaying, or the lack there of, in 4th ED. 

Now, before anyone says, 'Hey, you! Roleplaying is all up to the DM, and I'd you find it hard in the new rules that's your problem', I want to say that, in part, that is true. It is true that I could implant roleplaying into my campaign wherever I wanted. Yet, in doing so, given the way the new rules work, it makes it very hard to hand out experience.

Now truly a DM could just had out XP at will. Run the roleplaying just as in 3rd ED, but then a problem comes up. Now that I've plugged my roleplaying in, were does it fall in the ten encounter average per level? And do I give out a parcel? Because if I don't they characters will miss one as part of their level advancement. Okay maybe that's not a huge problem, but it seems to me to still be one. Maybe you could treat a gold parcel as reward for completion of a quest, but that's not always a reasonable option. 

3rd ED didn't ask the DM to work this problem out. All a DM had to do was make an interesting NPC, a story or situation, and play it out to the willing players around the table. That was it, simple and clean cut. The only limitation was the DM's imagination. 

Now, though, the DM has a mountain of information to plow through. If a  wishes to make a roleplaying event it has be turned into a skill challenge. When that happens the whole feel of the encounter changes. No longer is it about taking on a character and trying to convince Prince Al'adon to pay for the parties adventure.  Now to do that the player just has to get three successes before five failures and the prince is convinced. 

Assuredly there are players, and DM's,  that will try to add roleplaying into the die rolls, but more often then not the players end up just rolling their dice until they get the required successes. For some players, the ones that never got into the roleplaying part even in 3rd ED, this way of doing things is great. For the players that enjoyed roleplaying, it is not. It's a mystery killer, a story killer. It makes D&D no different them playing WoW; and that is a very sad thing indeed. 

4th ED has taken away the fun and challenge for the roleplaying encounter. It has replaced it with a system, a mechanism that requires no thought. It has taken the feeling out of roleplaying a character and turned it into something bland and boring. 3rd ED allowed all players to play roleplaying encounters how they felt most comfortable. It allowed the thespians to act out with detail and quiet types to roll their dice. 4th ED has taken away that flexibility at the cost of the players. 

So what do I miss about 3rd ED?: True roleplaying and the flexibility to make all players happy in roleplaying encounters. 

Bard

Okay... ha

So... haha

This is just to damn funny! hahahaha

Enjoy! 

Bard!! hehe

What I miss about 3rd Ed: Part II

So I just got done reading an article by Monte Cook on the D&D website (links below). He recently picked up writing this article, and the question he poses is a good one, as well as bring up some issues that I’ve had with 4th ED of D&D. With that in mind maybe this should be part of my “What I miss about 3rd ED” articles?

Anyway, Mr. Cook writes about the state of magic items in 4th ED. He makes the statement that “Magic in the game doesn’t seem, well, magical.”, and I think that he’s right, and the players that have said the same thing.  Magic doesn’t seem magical anymore. It just seems to be something that is a through away, a need of the system, with nothing special about it. At the end of combat the DM hands out a parcel with a magic item attached. And if the players don’t get said item, soon they will be getting their butts handed to them.

There used to be a time when the DM could develop  magic items that meet the needs of each character, while at the same time keeping the mystery of magic in the world, Mr. Cook touches on this as well. A DM could spend a few minutes making up a fun, powerful, yet simple, weapon or magic item that the characters would find very useful. It was a simple process and added a lot to the adventure. 4th ED just doesn’t allow for this kind of originality. This system is so complex that if you change one thing the wrong way the whole thing comes down. 

When it comes to making magic items its even worse. Gone is the simplicity of a +3 weapon with the ability to make a fire ball on a critical hit. No, no. The DM has to work out how it will play with the other abilities that the characters have. Then there’s having to work out if it’s going to be an ‘at will’, ‘encounter’, or daily, and how that will balance, it’s a tiny nightmare. The DM resorts to just telling the players that their characters have found a level 3 magic item of... some... kind...!? What’s the mystery in that? Oh yeah, there is none. Magic items have become as Mr. Cook says in so many words, a mere function of character advancement, and this is said.

I could go on for much long, but there is always plenty of time later. So what do I miss about 3rd ED, the mystery, personal nature, and ease of magic items. 

Mr. Cooks Article here