urkthegurk
2009-12-31, 03:43 PM
The new edition sparked a new campaign for my group, on a new plane. I've been DMing this campaign for years, and I didn't really like the cataclysm I'd have to wreak to adapt the plane to a non-vancian magic system, among other things. It would Mess Stuff Up.
I like the new edition, trouble is, I also like the old edition. Solution, you ask? Use both!
The worlds I have made will now proceed to invade each other. My knowledge of the rules is not perfect, unlike my chiseled physique. So I was hoping you awesome folks of GitP could help me out. What, precisely, are the differences? How will the rulesets interact?
The old world is very middle-agey, they get invaded by demons every couple of centuries, which tends to keep the population down. The other world is more steampunk, more advanced, and has way less magic just floating around.
I'm not sure what all the problems will be, my main concern is understanding relative power levels between 3e and 4e. I don't actually want it to be balanced, because I want it to feel like the the two editions are actually fighting. But I want to keep track of which side is more powerful, and why.
My main divide I've solved so far is the magic system, but its not so much solved as I have an idea of how to solve it. I figure the vancian magic system on the 3'5 world works because there's so much ambient magic in the 'weave' of leylines that they can just cast in seconds what for a 4e caster would just be an hour-long ritual. But they have to very careful: Uncontrolled magic tends to blow people up, and not always the people you'd like. For instance, yourself. Contrariwise, casters from the 3e world would find the 4e world almost magic-dead, since there are no real ley-lines anywhere like they're used too.
So mechanically, 3e casters have to make a check to cast the spell at all, and 4e casters take feedback damage if they fail a (much harder) check. I'm not sure precisely what the DCs should be based on.
So that's an example, feel free to weigh in on that, or whatever else 3e vs 4e related you can think of. This is a puzzler to get through.
EDIT: assume that we're working with core rules only, we can ntack on other bits as we need them, but we can't just allow anything in this. Too much madness, it will blur the lovely image of whole editions dissolving into chaos...
I like the new edition, trouble is, I also like the old edition. Solution, you ask? Use both!
The worlds I have made will now proceed to invade each other. My knowledge of the rules is not perfect, unlike my chiseled physique. So I was hoping you awesome folks of GitP could help me out. What, precisely, are the differences? How will the rulesets interact?
The old world is very middle-agey, they get invaded by demons every couple of centuries, which tends to keep the population down. The other world is more steampunk, more advanced, and has way less magic just floating around.
I'm not sure what all the problems will be, my main concern is understanding relative power levels between 3e and 4e. I don't actually want it to be balanced, because I want it to feel like the the two editions are actually fighting. But I want to keep track of which side is more powerful, and why.
My main divide I've solved so far is the magic system, but its not so much solved as I have an idea of how to solve it. I figure the vancian magic system on the 3'5 world works because there's so much ambient magic in the 'weave' of leylines that they can just cast in seconds what for a 4e caster would just be an hour-long ritual. But they have to very careful: Uncontrolled magic tends to blow people up, and not always the people you'd like. For instance, yourself. Contrariwise, casters from the 3e world would find the 4e world almost magic-dead, since there are no real ley-lines anywhere like they're used too.
So mechanically, 3e casters have to make a check to cast the spell at all, and 4e casters take feedback damage if they fail a (much harder) check. I'm not sure precisely what the DCs should be based on.
So that's an example, feel free to weigh in on that, or whatever else 3e vs 4e related you can think of. This is a puzzler to get through.
EDIT: assume that we're working with core rules only, we can ntack on other bits as we need them, but we can't just allow anything in this. Too much madness, it will blur the lovely image of whole editions dissolving into chaos...