D&D 4e General /4eg/

So I've only played Pathfinder and 5e, but have always been curious about 4e. What are the best things about it? Is it worth trying out? How would I start?

Better balanced, clearer mechanics with no obfuscation, a lot more GM side support.

>What are the best things about it?
It's the most mechanically solid edition ever published, with minimal Caster/Martial Disparity out of all versions of D&D (and spinoffs) ever published, relatively clean rules and clarity.

>Is it worth trying out?
Yes.

>How would I start?
It's unfortunately virtually impossible to find a 4e game these days. Almost the only option is if you have a whole group willing to try it out available at hand.

I thought it was a really cool take on the whole 'Wings of fire' thing.

The worst things about it are FUCKING FEAT TAXES and whole classes and builds being ass.

Fucking Essentials.

This is true. Everyone should get an Expertise feat and Improved Defenses free.

Although that keys into something I've been pondering for a slowly forming 4e homebrew I've been working on with some friends for a while now.

Avoiding the math issues is one thing, but is it worth still giving characters a 'Weapon Style' option of some sort? Giving you some sort of unique benefit for your preferred sort of weapon? Or is it better to leave people more flexible?

Why not try Strike!?

Because it's shallow and dull, missing out on a lot of what made 4e an interesting system.

But...muh perfect out of the box perfectly balanced game!

Hypocrites.

Wouldnt it just be easier to lower enemies defenses by 1?

Except nobody actually says that. 4e has issues. On launch, it had fucking massive issues. MM1/2 monster math was awful.

And it was still way, way better balanced than 3.PF ever was.

Absolute perfect balance is impossible to achieve. That doesn't mean it isn't worth aspiring to.

Stop shilling Strike!

Why does Veeky Forums keep shilling Strike!?

I think it's just one guy, but anyways, back to 4e discussion!

Anyone have interesting PC death stories? I know I don't, just got the last campaign I was in when a friend got MC'd by a Lady of Spiders into one-shotting another friend.

Which 4e race would you waifu/husbando?

What about a hamadryad?

Why not just a dryad?

Not playable.

Describe your 4e campaigns, anons! Worlds, allowed races/classes, campaigns in them, etc.

Feywild ERP.

Fuck you.

Noone here actually has a game.

Dark Souls meets Steel Ball Run

>Grand race across a continent that just had a small armageddon occur in it
>No horses, exotic mounts only
>Some of your party-members are under a horrible curse
>Conspiracies everywhere
>Some guy will give you vague hints, call you incompetent and laugh at you
>No Dwarves or psionic classes

Then previous games as well.

Just started a new campaign, after a few stints in other games. I am supremely happy because 1. I finally get to be a player again after 6 or so years 2. New GM is green but has a lot of great ideas. He's an historian and the game is set in late-medieval Italy and draws heavily from literature of the time (and the guy knows his shit). It's quite different from the games I usually run, but that's a welcome change of pace.

Also, let me say that I'm not a fan of how dogmatic we 4e fans are in these threads. Every time I read the OP I can't help thinking that the three points are making a big deal of things that work ok out of the box.

My last campaign was basically JoJo on crack.

funin.space guy here, google is being a bitch saying the compendium is spam and doesnt index all of it

anyone good at webdev that could hook me up with an alternative search?

I'm not having any issues from the funin site. Only complaint I have is it's not better organized (specifically for feats and powers since you have to open so many of them to find ones for the right level for your class/race/etc).

ya, sorry about that, im hoping that someone that knows what hes doing is able to get me a better search
especially because google isnt indexing everything, theres about 8k sites not indexed yet that you wont find with the current search

Huh, that is crazy. Oh well, I have like no skills in that regard but hopefully someone will handle it.

It has to be at least two guys, cause this time, it wasn't me!

What are you using server side? I'm a PHP dev.

I'm also going to sleep now, but if the thread is up tomorrow, I'll look at it.

literally just apache and html files on a centos 7 server
the only thing remotely special are the symbolic links in the folders to link back to images/styles because that was easier than redoing the links to those in 25k html files

Well, I HAD a game.

Then we had a huge club event at my college and we got 42 interested prospects. Even if a third of that actually sticks around, we'll have to put our current campaign on hold.

What's so special about fox hengeyokai?

Anyone have any good suggestions for making Beastmaster Rangers less shit? One of my PCs is going to Vadallis Griffonrider but I want her to not be useless in the meantime. Thinking about just houseruling some of the attacks to be Ranged/melee instead of melee only, allowing them to abuse flanking and tank with the pet instead.

Also, anywhere to find a comprehensive list of adventures published by level and/or all of the missing 4E web content WotC deleted?

Beast Mastery is good for four things and four things only:

1. Allowing archer rangers to take a raptor companion and use it as a mobile Hunter's Quarry proxy.

2. Allowing a pixie ranger to ride a raptor companion as a mount by default.

3. Allowing any ranger to take a horse companion and use it as a mount with the Beast Rider feat.

4. Allowing any ranger to enter the Vadalis Griffonmaster paragon path and enjoy flight by way of mount.

Your player is aiming for #4, which can justify Beast Mastery. In the meantime, you can have her simply use a raptor companion for #1, and ensure that she takes up a standard archery build.

Choosing the Fey Beast Tamer theme is also a good idea, especially with the somewhat overpowered young owlbear that significantly ramps up the party's offense. A ranger can have both a beast companion and a fey beast.

>Also, anywhere to find a comprehensive list of adventures published by level and/or all of the missing 4E web content WotC deleted?
Dungeon Magazine #200 contains a comprehensive index of adventures from that magazine, but you will have to index anything past then manually. You can try searching here for online content: ddi.wizards.com/DDiTools.aspx

Eberron! Edgy first-time-D&D-back-story-my-tribe-was-killed-and-its-my-fault Halfling Ice Druid (they are trying), Human Lhazaarian Merchant-Prince Swordmage, Dwarven Vault-tester Rogue, House Vadallis Mounted-archer Ranger, Dragonborn Cyrian Warlord.

They have all been roped into a race against time to find 5 lost artifacts by an old druid who left them cryptic hints, opposite the Wyrmbreaker, who is manipulating various factions to recover said items to fulfill prophetic demands.

Already got my BBEG for each leg planned out with some contingencies if they don't bite, fleshing out some different hooks. My only rule was no Psionics or Kalashtar because I don't want to deal with separate loot tables and am not going to be using those plot lines/hooks at all. Unfortunately nobody went Warforged or Artificer, but they are playing it well regardless.

Thanks! For narrative reasons I have them using the Griffin already but templating it and using the rules for the Cat companion, with in-world reasons for why it can't fly yet. I'll take a look into possibly stretching it to the raptor template if that helps them contribute more.

I have all the Dungeon/Dragons downloaded since I'm still a Tools subscriber, guess I'll just suck it up and browse manually.

Use the raptor to represent a baby Vadalis-bred griffon, which then experiences an abrupt growth spurt into Huge size upon reaching 11th-level.

In the Eberron setting, House Vadalis performs magical genetic engineering upon its beasts, so oddities of growth are to be expected.

Thankfully its only Large so it can still fit through most doors and hallways with slight effort.

...oh wow, thats REALLY good for providing flanking bonuses later on, isn't it?

Yes, the Vadalis-bred griffon is only Large-sized, not Huge. That was my error.

The griffon is best used by an archer to render themselves immune to non-flyers' melee attacks in outdoor environments.

I wish to nova super hard

How do I nova super hard? Which class is best at nova? Which items are best for nova? Which powers are best for nova? Which PPs and EDs are best for nova?

Nova builds only start to come into their own by the paragon tier; they have difficulty assembling the proper nova ingredients during the heroic tier.

Typical "nova" classes are the Strength/Wisdom two-weapon ranger with Lashing Leaves and an assortment of multiattacks and minor action attacks; and the hybrid barbarian|warden who makes ample use of Wildblood Frenzy, Savage Growl, Thundering Howl, Storm of Blows, and Hurricane of Blades.

As always, "frostcheese" and "radiant mafia" builds improve the effectiveness of any damage-focused build.

Paragon paths depend wholly on class.

By the epic tier, "nova" builds usually want a generic +2/+2 epic destiny such as Destined Scion for consistent offense, or a psionic multiclass and the Master of Moments for a highly improved minor action economy.

What level are you starting at, how high a level do you expect to reach, what free feats do you have, and what is the rest of the party composition?

We're starting mid-paragon, level 15, and are probably going to head into epic

I was looking at combining the str/wis ranger with the punisher of the gods ED to get stupidly huge nova rounds at level 30 thanks to the capstone feature combined with ultimate confrontation, but prior to level 30 that ED looks pretty weak

If you would like to build for something truly outrageous, look no further than this page for a variety of methods of breaking 4e's combat system:
dandwiki.com/wiki/User:Sigma_7/Broken_(4e)

Otherwise, your best bets are probably barbarian|warden, Strength/Wisdom two-weapon ranger, and Rain of Blows fighter (slayer). For added durability, you could consider a barbarian|cleric or a Spiked Chain Training cleric|ranger; Battle Cleric's Lore is quite helpful.

Multiclassing into avenger via Disciple of Divine Wrath can also help a nova round. If you take up a hybrid barbarian, ask your GM if you can purchase alternative rewards such as Five Stars, Five Strikes, which considerably increases your chances of triggering Rampage.

Do you have anything against "frostcheese" or "radiant mafia" builds? The errata to Lasting Frost keeps it quite potent, but slightly less ideal for nova rounds due to the delay in the application of the cold vulnerability. With a level 15 start, you are just a level away from enjoying the full power of the Morninglord with a Radiant Weapon and a Siberys Shard of the Mage.

By RaW, can a character with monk unarmed strike dual wield monk unarmed strike with itself?

It would be weird if they couldn't, considering that you can dual wield monk unarmed strike with a spiked gauntlet

Well, does it have PHP capability? You can check by adding a "test.php" with the contents "".

If it does, it should be easy to jump through all the files and run a simple text search.

it does now.

is this good enough, or do i need more?

funin.space/test.php

Good enough, I'll make you a search in about 20.

thanks man

>unarmed
I believe so, yes. I mean, I remember it working on the character builder.

Blaize is a ball to play. Especially since she sees the world in such an odd way compared to most people.

After being burned out by Warhammer I've had an odd urge to play some 4E skirmishes again.

>What are the top tier classes at the moment?
>What XP budget is standard now for battles?
>Any sweet new miniatures ?
>Do people still play with those optional roleplaying rules? They were cool.

Oddly enough, I'd say that the non-combat is some of the best about it.

It's not like 3.X where you have the 'I can do stuff out of combat' guys with a heap of non-combat spells they can just put in a scroll or wand and use whenever they want.

Non-Combat is either 'Slow-ass ritual' or 'Skills'. Nothing really in between. This means that everyone is on more or less the same playing field.

In addition, the skills were heavily cut down and they decoupled 'Amount of skills' from 'High Int' so everyone can do a few important things.

>Low entry cost compared to similar games like mage Knight/ warhammer.
>Well balanced tactical grid combats
>Unique in that it pits one player against a group of players.
>Wide variety of classes but they all essentially play the same meaning no imbalance.
> D20 system makes for easy combat resolution
>Optional fun roleplaying rules to link skirmishes together.

Meh, I'll bite

>Wide variety of classes but they all essentially play the same meaning no imbalance.

1.) they use the AEDU power structure (which isn't even always true, see psionics), but that's a very wide definition of "being the same".
2.) same power structure doesn't prevent imbalance (see: the broken shit in 4e)

>Optional fun roleplaying rules to link skirmishes together.

3.) If you run it as pure skirmish wargame, there's no point in conserving dailies and healing surges, and many of the actually utility utility powers don't really function.

>What are the top tier classes at the moment?
This is highly dependent on level, party composition (e.g. a generic attack-granting warlord will have a hard time in a group lacking in strong basic attacks), and specific build. Nevertheless, if I had to list down pure-classed, non-hybrid specimens of each role that actually accomplished their job well from levels 1 to 30 without any problems and without any specific type of optimization required (e.g. charge optimization), I would say:

Controller: Primal Predator druid (protector), most invoker builds, Dishearten/Mind Thrust psion, most wizard builds.

Defender: Most fighter builds that avoid Constitution and avoid two-handed non-polearms, most paladin builds, Aegis of Shielding swordmage, Strength/Wisdom warden.

Leader: Intelligence/Constitution artificer, Virtue of Cunning bard, Virtue of Valor bard, most cleric builds that avoid Wisdom/Charisma, Strength/Wisdom runepriest, Elemental Spirit shaman, most warlord builds that avoid Wisdom.

Striker: Whirling Slayer barbarian, most monk builds that avoid Strength, archer ranger, two-weapon ranger, Brutal Scoundrel rogue, Cosmic Magic sorcerer, Wild Magic sorcerer, Sorcerer-King Pact warlock.

>What XP budget is standard now for battles?
Page 285 of the Rules Compendium contains the most up-to-date rules on XP budgets for encounters.

>Any sweet new miniatures ?
I believe Wizards of the Coast is still producing D&D miniatures, yes.

>Do people still play with those optional roleplaying rules? They were cool.
I think that D&D 4e's skill system is leaps and bounds better than 3.X or Pathfinder's, but it 4e's skills are still rather sketchy. Dungeoneering, Endurance, and Heal are all too narrow. It is completely trivial to game the skill system, push skill bonuses sky-high, and avail of many skill substitutions. Anything remotely close to a "skill challenge" in 4e can be trivialized by someone who thinks to optimize for skills, most especially Arcana.

Disclaimer: I do not operate at "the highest level of optimization." If 4e optimization is on a scale of 1 to 10, I would normally operate and give advice on a 6 or a 7 on the scale. I do not recommend "frostcheese," "radiant mafia," critical hit recursions, or teleportation abuse unless the player is absolutely seeking a top-end character.

I do, however, consider characters such as heroic-tier non-charging avengers, rogues other than Brutal Scoundrel rogues, shamans other than Elemental Spirit shamans, and the like to have inherent issues in their class design that makes them not *quite* capable of delivering as promised.

All of these are still leaps and bounds ahead of, say, vampires and seekers, but a player should not expect a Virtue of Prescience bard to be as useful as a Virtue of Cunning bard, or an Intelligence/Wisdom psion to have the same impact on battle as a Mind Thrust/Dishearten psion.

Sorry, had to work.

Rename your index to index.php and put this under the link leading to the compendium:

I play a game with my group of long time friends every 2 weeks for about 5 months now. We are having a session this weekend.

D-do you have a slot? I'd kill for a 4e game.

It's generic fantasy land with a variety of different kingdoms neighbouring a big central and commercial one.
Our characters are a Goliath Barbarian, a Drow Ranger, a Human Swordmage/Figther (that would be me), a Human Mage and a Dragonborn Cleric.
The plot is basically our characters taking jobs that come to our doorstep, sometimes helping the kingdom, trying to help people in need, deliver justice to bad people and generally travelling around.
It's nothing too grand or flashy, but I like the down-to-earth way that our adventures go.

We always like to welcome new players, but it really depends... I live in Brazil and we always meet in person.
Do you happen to live in HU3-land? Or maybe you'd like to give online play a shot?

>I live in Brazil and we always meet in person.
Well, fuck.
I live in Serbia.

>Or maybe you'd like to give online play a shot?
All my games are online - IRL games virtually don't exist here in removekebabland.

Well, all of my friends understand english and only one of them speak it poorly. I suppose I could try talking to them if you are really interested. I'll be brutally honest tho, we tried playing the game online and we couldn't really make it work. We used Skype and no one could focus properly. If you have any idea how we could go about this, I'm all ears.
Is there any contact info you could give in case this thread goes to hell?
This is me btw.

>Is there any contact info you could give in case this thread goes to hell?
Skype:bzflater

>We used Skype and no one could focus properly. If you have any idea how we could go about this, I'm all ears.
Did you try combining skype with shit like roll20? Roll20 is awesome.

thanks man, already seems better than google, definitely more results

think you could get it to work with keywords or things like that? so if i search feat:thing it checks only the feats folder?

i hope im not being a shit by having you do this for free

Alright. I added you on Skype. I have to leave now. Any questions or anything really, just send a message over Skype.

No worries, it's quite simple. I'm going to have a break coming up, I'll do something about it then.

Check if this works for you:

Folders:

thats pretty fucken cool man

the only problem is when theres a really long entry next to small ones, because then theres 1/3 or 2/3 of empty space while the long one goes on

also, for some reason the links to the sites are all on the right side after the first 3 instead of on top of their thing or only on the side as an index and the search terms dont persist

4e players will be the first ones to tell you there are issues. Unlike previous editions though, it works much better RAW and a lot of the issues that do exists are solved by handing out a few +1's or +2's, instead of having to rebuild entire systems from the ground up like you would in other editions.

This is what I always wondered, if it would just be easier to, behind the scenes basically, reduce attacks and defenses by 1/tier.

I haven't played since I thought of it, so never seriously did the math.

>4e players will be the first ones to tell you there are issues.

No, that's /pfg/.

Can't fix it right now, just remove
>echo"$content\n";

Alternatively, you could try tinkering with it. I think the problem is that there's an open tag left in the HTMLs somewhere, so maybe putting an extra like
>echo"$content\n";
could fix it

Actually, one more upgrade before I return to work for good

now it displays the array of checked things before the content, how to get rid of that?

Array ( [0] => associate [1] => class ) [actual results go here]

gonna try fixing the content display

Whoops, delete the
> print_r($_GET['folders']);
line

So... I'm not the only one who has ripped off Fell's Five, right?

did some tweaking of the search results, pls gib opinions

one last thing, is it possible to have it be a soft AND search?

as in, "[term a] [term b]" currently only displays results with "[term a term b]"
would it be possible to make it display "[term a] [unrelated text] [term b]" as well?

Just wondering; what core concept is it missing out on?
Is this about its non-combat section?

Put the results iframe a bit lower (top in line with, the results box maybe) it covers some of the search stuff.

AND search should be possible to do with regexp. I'll look into it next break.

can you post a screenshot for me? only have my setup available and it seems fine here.

I'm on a laptop with a pretty small resolution.

Setting is basically Ravnica from MtG without Planeswalker, with a Pantheon of Gods with the greater ones associated with each guild. Started Level 1 I think 3 years ago, sessions are supposedly weekly or worst monthly and we got to level 11 one month ago. For now it's been a godly but slooow campaign.

here

damn son, thats a pretty huge difference to mine, the checkboxes and text are huge as fuck, not sure how to make it look good for all resolutions

changed it to 10% of vertical space, how's that for you?

also, for some reason the topbar is transparent even though nothing in the css makes it that way, fuck everything

you're the man

I'll help you out when I get home. CSS can be quite esoteric on occasion.

actually, turns out i was just retarded, i wrote t-index instead of z-index

does the search bar look ok now?

Trust me mate, you don't want to see it. Catch you later.

feel free to contact me via discord:kenwiel#2520 or skype:kenwiel so we dont shit up the thread