I was excited about 4e’s release, but after slowly souring on 3.5e I was nervous that the new edition wouldn’t live up to my expectations. It did, and it exceeded them across the board. I was most surprised by the usefulness of the DMG and most pleased by the structure of the PHB — and the implementation of at-will, per-encounter and daily powers, which will completely change the way the game is played and the level to which your players enjoy it.
He even likes the art, but what can you expect from someone who considers a red pointy hat to be a the sort of daily centerpiece you can build a wardrobe around? Still, when he calls the artwork of the MM "consistently good and evocative", I can only think the some pages must have stuck together, so that he missed the picture of the Sorrowsworn. I also fail to see how arranging the special powers by level instead of alphabetically is a step in the right direction.
That all said, this may be the most in-depth review of 4e yet, and he's got a lot of good points about the system. If you're still on the fence, you owe it to yourself to check this review out.
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2 comments:
I hadn't considered the absence of an alphabetical list of powers -- that's a good point. Easily remedied by a bit of scut work creating a game aid or some facet of D&D Insider; my guess is WotC's counting on the latter.
The sorrowsworn...big scythe, hooves, anime vibe, right? I can see why that might not be a favorite. ;)
Thanks for the link, and I'm glad you liked my review. I had fun writing it.
The powers all have fairly short descriptions and rules. I see a lot of folks just jotting them down on index cards as they acquire them, so they can be passed around easily when someone invariably asks, "What does that one do?"
My pleasure. It's a great review. Thanks for writing it.
- Brian
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