Getting used to 4th edition?

[Artanis]

Well, my friend's group is playing 4th edition, and I want to join in, so I've been taking a more in depth look at the rules. And I'm really trying to not burn it with fire. The problem is this:

The rules are, as far as I can tell, overly restrictive on what you can and can't do. I can't play a Rogue without being unable to use any of my powers, should I have the audacity to wield anything other than a "Crossbow, Light Blade, or Sling". How about putting different ranks in a number of different skills? That's old talk. We have both kinds of skills in 4th: Trained, and Untrained. And god forbid you might want to wield 2-handers effectively as a halfling.

I don't want to start a full-out edition war, I really don't. What I do want to know is:

Are these restrictions I'm saying real in actual gameplay?
If so, then why are things this way? Why can't you make character concepts that WotC didn't plan for?

The restrictions aren't really real in actual gameplay.

What is it about the Rogue that makes you want to play it?

Fluff is mutable. The name of the class you're playing only affects your character concept if you really, really want it to. If you want to play a sneaky stabby guy who uses something other than "Rogue weapons", then use some other class's mechanics and fluff the character as a sneaky stabby guy anyways.


As for skills, how often in 3e did it really and truly matter whether you shifted around a couple points? Generally, there'd be two types of skills: ones you maxed out and used, and ones you didn't max out and never used. In 4e, a CHA-heavy character trained in Diplomacy is going to be the Official Party Face just as much as a CHA-heavy 3e character with maxed-out Diplomacy would. In 3e, the Wizard wasn't going to be busting down any doors even if he put a few points into the relevant skill because the Barbarian was going to be doing so anyways, and the exact same thing is the case in 4e.

In short, 4e's skill system works out being pretty much the same in gameplay as 3e's skill system, with the sole difference being that the Wizard knows how not to drown in 5' of water and the Barbarian picks up the answer to an occasional Trivial Pursuit question due to spending time around said Wizard.


As for Halflings and 2H weapons: like nepphi said, it's the same as 3e in practice. Halflings wield smaller weapons two-handed than Medium-size characters wield two-handed.




Edit: basically, what that dirty, dirty ninja said just moments after I started writing my post