Question about 4E

[JadedDM]

I've been reading the various articles about 4E posted here as they come, and reading the responses and reactions the lot of you have had toward these articles.

In the foreword of my 2E PHB, it explains some of the changes from 1E and says at one point, "...I described some rule change, that one of the listeners smiled and said, "You know, we've been doing that for years." And that is what the 2nd Edition is all about--collecting and organizing all things that we, as players, have been doing for years."

When 3E came out, I didn't get into that, but one thing I remember hearing a lot of people who DID convert over, was that most of the changes (dropping level limits, removing racial restrictions, altering mechanics so that rolling high was ALWAYS good, etc.) were things they had all ready been doing via houserules.

So this is my question--while we have only been told a small amount of information on what changes there will be in 4E, do you feel that this trend is continuing? That the changes made to 4E are merely reflections of what players have been doing on their own all along?

[North]

That does make some sense in regards to crits. But they are also doing heavy revamping of a lot of core and fluff especially.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

The trap mechanics seem to be revamped in a way that most people wanted to houserule, but couldn't. Other than that, I haven't been following much.

[JackMage666]

I'm just waiting for the books, personally. From there, I'll decide.

[DeathEatsCurry]

The most important change is that they are heavily differentiating Monsters from PCs... And by that I mean using different rules, or so I was told... They are also (probably) going to overpower PCs (Which actually goes against houserules which tend to "favor the underdog" which are NPCs).

[Counterspin]

Why would you bother making houserules that favored NPCs when the GM can just increase their CR? I'd be really surprised if that is a common houserule, since there is an easier, more equitable way to get the same result of tougher NPCs.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

What will happen with the OGL/SRD? Is 4th Ed. "Open" or "Closed?"

[Mando Knight]

I think that with 4ed, some of the mechanics and such will appear in a new SRD... but very little or no fluff...

...meh. Don't really need all the fluff if you make your own campaign worlds anyway...

Also, the Crit auto-confirmation is good (and slightly older than the rest of the "new" mechanics... it's in SAGA's Core rules, too.), and the max-dice damage also makes sense...