4th Edition Echelon?

[Jeff]

In four more days, Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition will be out. I'll probably receive my books a few days after that, and I'm going to start pouring through them. For a lot of reasons—most just simple professional pragmatism—I will be embracing this new version of the game. I've read up on a lot things about it, am generally optimistic, unhappy with a few of the changes I've heard about, but still intend to go forward with it.

So what does that mean here with Dark Echelon? It means that in time, I would like to convert the rules over. What does that mean for you guys? Probably not too much, since I handle most of the crunchy mechanics of this game anyway, and some of you have expressed that you're not into the rules all that much.

That said, some of you are, and as we go forward we can work things out. Once I've got a good enough grasp on the new rules, I'll probably post about them a little bit, and one by one I'll talk about how we can convert your character to 4E rules.

Eberron-specific changes with 4th Edition rules will not come about in force until 2009. Until I know precisely how shifters shift in 4E, I'll just wing it.

I don't know a lot about the "digital tools" that they've talked about, but who knows? Maybe we'll be able to harness those a bit and find a better way to handle battles and maps and visuals.

We'll see! DE will evolve.

[Darren]

As you said, I pay almost no attention to the rules, anyway, preferring to let you handle the mechanics, so I'm good with whatever you want to do.

[Josh]

As long as I get more powers, I'm for it.

[Jeff]

Oh yes. One thing 4E certainly has promised is more powers.

[Joe]

Like most males, Streko really wants just a few more inches. Heightwise. Perhaps so he can SEE over the railing of the damn ship. Malov wants to know where we are by asking Streko? Good lord! The guy barely tops THREE FEET! How the hell would he know by looking?

Oh. And more powers would be nice. Yeah.

[Ken]

I'm digging what I've seen so far and, like you, I need to get more familiar with 4e for my freelance work. So I'm good with anything you suggest.

[Marcy]

What Ken said.

[mike]

I will abide by whatever decision the DM makes.

[Jeff]

Hey, guys. As time allows, I'm going to start putting up 4th Edition converts of your character sheets. They won't be "active" until we're ready for it, so don't be alarmed. Some things I'll need to check with you on to see what you think. You may need to make some new decisions, but I don't see anyone's character changing too dramatically; just a few mechanical differences, mostly for the better. Belarin, Charis, Streko, Goran, and maybe even Grafth will be fairly simple converts, since your classes are for the most part accounted for in the new Player's Handbook. Torhak (barbarian) and Kal (battle sorcerer) are not, so we may need to do some adjusting.

For Torhak, we can probably do a fighter build and I can just fudge some of the powers to give it that barbarian angle. And for Kal, we can probably start with wizard and modify to make it more sorcerer and fighter-like. We'll see! All in all I think you guys will like your new abilities. Lots more "at will" powers so you won't be running out of abilities each day.

As for race, that's fairly easy. Of this group, only shifters aren't yet updated in 4th Edition, and they did put out one sample shifter that I can use to accommodate Grafth.

As for the NPC classes we were using in this game (Kal as an aristocrat, Grafth as an expert, etc.), I will account for that by giving you some bonus skill points or something else. You'll all be 2nd level characters in your chosen class, and to me it looks like 2nd level characters are a bit more powerful than 2nd level characters in 3rd edition anyway.

All in all, just be patient with me on this.

[Darren]

What? There's no sorceror class in 4E? How....odd.....

[Ken]

I'm sure there will be something like the sorcerer in the promised supplements to come, but the 3E sorcerer's main differentiating point -- at-will spellcasting -- isn't as big a deal in 4th edition since, as Jeff said, every class now has a couple of at-will powers/spells, along with per-encounter and per-day abilities.

[Darren]

Ehhhhh.....I don't know how I feel about that. Feels like they're taking away what made sorcerors cool and what handicapped wizards. I guess it's hard to judge without seeing everything, though.

[Jeff]

Yup. Sorcerers will eventually get updated, along with druid, bard, barbarian, monk, etc. So we just need to adapt until then. Shouldn't be too hard.

[Darren]

I believe that Kal should be given a Ring of Awesome +6.

[Ken]

Belarin needs a Cloak of Confusion. (Oh, wait, he's already wearing that....)

[Jeff]

Let's see, if I was going to give out new magic items because of the 4E update—an absurd notion in itself—I'd give:

- Kal a Ring of Arrogance Suppression
- Grafth a Bracer of Punch Kal-in-the-Face-Whenever-He-Wants
- Charis an Anklet of Kal Repulsion
- Belarin an Earring of Lucid Sanity
- Goran a pair of Goggles of Location Discernment
- Streko a Belt of Stature Magnification
- Torhak an Axe of Supreme World-Splitting Power

That about do it?

[Darren]

You have given me a Post of Sadness +12.

[Jeff]

Okay, okay. For Kal, a Lollipop of Charisma +7.

[Joe]

You think Streko talks a lot now? Wait 'til that Stature is magnified more. WOO-HOO!!!!

[Jeff]

Who here has (or will have) the 4th Edition core rulebooks? I myself still only have the Player's Handbook in my possession but the others should come soon.

I'll start putting up the 4th Edition converts of your characters as I have them, so far. For those of you who have or will have the books, you can help me tweak them accordingly (and choose appropriate feats, etc.). For those of you who don't have the rulebooks and don't really want them, I'll take a stab at the character build and probably ask you to choose between certain features. We'll hash it out and make it all work.

[mike]

I have the books.

Of course, there's no barbarian class in them (grumble).

[Jeff]

Yep, I know. But I think we can make a basic fighter and swap out some of the fighter-specific things for some more berserker-flavored ones. We'll make him good.

[Darren]

I don't imagine I'll be getting the books. But you never know....I've done stranger things. Although, since I just bought books when we started this campaign.....

[Marcy]

I have the books. Let me know what you need.

[Joe]

Regarding gaming books, I pretty much only purchase Eberron specific books these days...and those won't be coming out until 2009? 2010?

Anyhow, I will no doubt need assistance. Financially speaking, I"m having a tougher time of things these days.

[Jeff]

Totally cool, Joe. I'll be picking up all the slack on the rules.

[Darren]

Any word on whether or not the supposed online functionality of 4E will be of any use to us?

[mike]

Jun 24, 2008 11:39:17 GMT -4 Darren said:

Any word on whether or not the supposed online functionality of 4E will be of any use to us?

Sorry ... this question made me almost shoot coffee out of my nose.

I expect the answer is going to be no, not for quite awhile.

[Jeff]

The short answer is: when I have the time to catch up all characters to the 4E rules, or at least my houseruled version of it.

When will that be? I don't know yet. Either 1d20 days from now? Or 1d4 weeks... I take it there's something you want to use from the 4E rules, Darren?

[Darren]

No, nothing specific. I just happened to be looking through a magazine or something and they were talking about D&D Insider and how it would contain functionality for people to be able to play online with virtual maps and miniatures, and I was wondering if that was going to be useful to us or not.