You're laborers; you should be laboring.
Well I spent most of Labor day doing just that, laboring. I was behind on some specification documents for one of the websites we're putting together so I spent most of yesterday finishing them up. Although I guess despite the title, you are not meant to labor on labor day, it's a day for laborers to not labor, and was actually created in 1882 and made a Federal Holiday in 1894. It also supposedly marks the end of summer. I sure freaking hope so. This has really been a brutal summer, but according the 10 day forecast on weather.com the mecury is not going to go above 89 and may drop as low as 60... I'll really start getting excited once we start getting down into the 50s and I'm crossing my fingers that we've seen the last of the 90s.
We did have a labor day/birthday party last night. I spent some time talking to one of my many brother in laws about Fourth Edition. One of the things I've discovered in my research is that the Fourth Edition Player's Handbook will only have 8 classes (rather than the 11 that were in the 3rd Ed PHB). So the question is what three classes are going to be left out? (Actually it might be four since there's been some mention of a new class called the Warlord...) If I had to guess I would say Monk, Bard and Druid (with Sorcerer thrown in if I need to make room for the Warlord.) Anyone else have any guesses. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about I'll at least go ahead and list the 11 and you can at least try picking those that sound lame. The 11 classes in the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook were: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard.
Another somewhat philosophical discussion which emerged in our discussion was whether it was better for the defender to make a roll or for the attacker. The reason it came up was that one of the changes people are speculating about for 4E is changing saves to defense. So rather than having a reflex save of say +8 you would have a reflex defense of 18. The argument is that it's more fun to put the success of an attack in the hands of the player, rather than having the DM circumvent the players attack with a lucky roll. Of course my brother-in-law pointed out that he really enjoyed having some nasty fireball come his way and be able to roll a killer reflex save and avoid all the damage (with evasion of course). So that's my second question would you prefer to roll saving throws or roll attack rolls against someone's save defense?
Cautiously optimistic
We did have a labor day/birthday party last night. I spent some time talking to one of my many brother in laws about Fourth Edition. One of the things I've discovered in my research is that the Fourth Edition Player's Handbook will only have 8 classes (rather than the 11 that were in the 3rd Ed PHB). So the question is what three classes are going to be left out? (Actually it might be four since there's been some mention of a new class called the Warlord...) If I had to guess I would say Monk, Bard and Druid (with Sorcerer thrown in if I need to make room for the Warlord.) Anyone else have any guesses. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about I'll at least go ahead and list the 11 and you can at least try picking those that sound lame. The 11 classes in the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook were: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard.
Another somewhat philosophical discussion which emerged in our discussion was whether it was better for the defender to make a roll or for the attacker. The reason it came up was that one of the changes people are speculating about for 4E is changing saves to defense. So rather than having a reflex save of say +8 you would have a reflex defense of 18. The argument is that it's more fun to put the success of an attack in the hands of the player, rather than having the DM circumvent the players attack with a lucky roll. Of course my brother-in-law pointed out that he really enjoyed having some nasty fireball come his way and be able to roll a killer reflex save and avoid all the damage (with evasion of course). So that's my second question would you prefer to roll saving throws or roll attack rolls against someone's save defense?
Cautiously optimistic
posted by DireKobold at 1:55 PM
4 Comments:
Only 8 classes? I hadn't heard that part. Of course up until now whenever I heard mention of 4th edition I just grunted in disgust and moved along.
Druid and Sorcerer are good targets I'd think. Barbarian might also be a candidate to be beaten into traits available for the core Fighter. I supposed Bards could be done as an add-on to Rogues too.
But what do they need a Warlord for?
I agree with your brother in law. Rolling in the face of trouble adds such tension to the roll.
Are Bards really that popular? Why not drop them?
I was a druid for a very short period of time, and it wasn't all that exciting. So seeing that go wouldn't bother me. However, I absolutely love being monks and sorcerers, so I would be very sad to see them bite the bullet. Take the wizard instead, the whole "preparing spells" seems like a crock to me - either you know them or you don't. And if you've ever had a Bard in your group like John, then you would NOT want to see those go - he was awesome. However, I bet most people don't put as much thought into it as he did, so I can see why they might be a target for cutting. So I guess that makes my guesses/vote Wizard, Druid and Bard.
As for the rolling, I certainly like taking credit for my good rolls, but it is nice to be able to blame the DM when someone dodges a fireball! I don't know that I'd like to take responsibility for all of those rolls. Although I guess its a good way to involve the players more and let them feel like they are more active in the process. I guess I don't have an actual preference.
Well thank you Becky, I'm flattered. I'm also still too ill to cast a vote on anything. Maybe tomorrow. What were we talking about? ... *ugh*.
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