D&D 4e General. Thread starter question: What are your favorite aspects of the Points of Light/Dawn War/World Axis/Nentir Vale setting and cosmology?
If you are GMing, remember... 1. To strongly consider giving out at least one free "tax feat," like Expertise and pre-errata Melee Training. 2. To use Monster Manual 3/Monster Vault/Monster Vault: Nentir Vale/Dark Sun Creature Catalog math. Avoid or manually update anything with Monster Manual 1 or 2 math. 3. That skill challenges have always been scene-framing devices for the GM, that players should never be overtly told that they are in a skill challenge, and that the Rules Compendium has the most up-to-date skill DCs and skill challenge rules.
If you would like assistance with character optimization, remember to tell us what the what the rest of the players are playing, what books are allowed, your starting level, the highest level you expect to reach, what free feats you receive, if anything is banned, whether or not themes are allowed, your starting equipment, and how much you dislike item-dependent builds.
If you wish to talk about settings, 4e's settings are Points of Light (the planes and the natural world's past empires are heavily detailed in various sourcebooks and magazines), 4e Forgotten Realms, 4e Eberron, 4e Dark Sun, and whatever setting you would like to bring into 4e.
bump Anyone got the offline Adventure tool? Been searching for it for years.
Noah Moore
>What are your favorite aspects of the Points of Light/Dawn War/World Axis/Nentir Vale setting and cosmology?
The Elemental Chaos instead of the Elemental Planes and the Abyss being a part of it.
> that players should never be overtly told that they are in a skill challenge
RAW, aren't you supposed to roll inits during a skill challenge?
Bentley Baker
I think this sums up 4E well.
Daniel Cox
I would not know where to find it.
>RAW, aren't you supposed to roll inits during a skill challenge?
This was one of the first things to ever have been given errata in 4e. Initiative is never rolled for a skill challenge. Pages 162-163 of the Rules Compendium contain perhaps the best example of how a skill challenge should be run.
John Johnson
Leaning towards switching from AD&D to 4e -- I expected the most positive responses to be about 5e, but four players had no preference and two players voted 4e.
Is there any 'official' way of handling a combination of low magic with a few items? I'd really like to not bother with having to have updated magic cloaks and shit for everyone at all times, but I would like the occasional item to show up.
Lincoln Smith
Your best bet would be to use the rules for inherent bonuses and alternative rewards from pages 136-145 of the Dungeon Master's Guide 2.
How it works is that every character receives built-in enhancement bonuses to attack rolls, damage rolls, and defenses, in addition to extra critical damage dice. The rest of their necessary bonuses (e.g. the tax-mandatory item bonuses to damage rolls characters need in order for combats not to drag out) come from either alternative rewards (reflavored, slotless magic items, such as blessings from a god or training from a grandmaster) or actual magic items.
Oliver Howard
So are there recommended guidelines for how often they can get alt rewards and magic items in the DMG 2?
Owen Jones
Page 138 of the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 contains rules for adjusting treasure parcels for a game with inherent bonuses.
Alternative rewards have levels, just like magic items. Therefore, they can replace magic items in any relevant treasure parcel.
Jaxon Bell
Okay, thanks.
Joseph Collins
Mid campaign switch to 4e or new campaign?
Jayden Adams
I got that shit mate, not 100% updated but it's still good, any idea where I could upload it?
Run everything as admin. Also when you're doing the updates you have to manually navigate it to your 'Program Files(x86)/Wizards of the Coast/Adventure Tools', assuming you're running 64bit.
Colton Collins
I haven't got time to check it now, but downloading anyway.
Thanks user!
Gabriel Martin
Why is half of every 4e General thread on Veeky Forums just "Help me get the books/programs"?
Brayden Martinez
...
Benjamin Perry
because once you have those thats all you really need to run 4e. anything else ends up devolving into conversations on different "builds" and other shit.
Gavin Reyes
Can someone post their login for dnd insider? I'd kill to know what are some of the really obscure feats are
Justin Jackson
Pretty sure the offline builder has all the feats.. I think. Try to find that one.
Pathfinder General has much more discussion and it's also about builds.
Thomas Jackson
The char builder program is much more integral to 4e than it ever was in any other edition of D&D. Also, since attacks and effects are more streamlined in 4e, and since you get more feats than in 3.5, most additional features you select somehow impact your character's combat capabilities. Having a builder add all of those bonuses up for you is pretty sweet, and turns 4e from Forms: The Accounting into an actual RPG/tabletop mini game hybrid. However, the high use of a program for character building probably also contributed to the notion that 4e is more videogamey than other editions.
Oliver Robinson
So the dndinsider account I use isn't working, is anyone else having this problem?
Hunter Perez
Just checked, mine's not working either.
Lucas Jackson
>What are your favorite aspects of the Points of Light/Dawn War/World Axis/Nentir Vale setting and cosmology?
I liked that it reached a good balance between giving details and leaving room to work things in. I've run three different campaigns in the Nentir Vale and the setting and historical background took very different turns in each of them; it's become my go-to setting for any fantasy game. Plus, over the course of the edition a lot of smaller details emerged scattered in various publications - I've been thinking of doing a collected pdf now that the wiki is dead but I never seem to find the time. Also, I kinda liked those page-long campaign outlines they started to put into the "setting" books.
Jaxon Martin
Is there a good resource for finding out how much to give your party in terms of loot per level? I feel like it should be in the DMG, but I didn't see it for some reason. Am I just blind?
Isaac Robinson
The non-randomized method for party loot by level can be found in pages 125-129 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Consult the sidebar in page 138 for how to adjust this for a game with inherent bonuses.
The randomized method for party treasure by level should be in pages 298-302 of the Rules Compendium.
Jordan Smith
Shit, there's even a chapter labeled rewards. I'm retarded and can't read, I guess.
Sebastian Kelly
PF is a game with new material coming out (both first and third party, with one of the DSP guys hanging around the place).
