Dungeons & Dragons 4.0, Part 2 (PHB)

I've finished reading the DMG, and skimmed the MM, and thus feel ready to write part 2, covering initial comments on the rules and impressions thereof. (Part 3, covering actual gameplay experience, will appear some time in the distant future, I guess.) So what can I say? There are parts that I really like, and parts that I rather dislike, and some parts that I both like and dislike at the same time.

Since I already brought up what I felt is the commercialized aspect of 4.0, I'll refrain from commenting further on that, although I believe it very much affected the ultimate form of the game. If you really want to, you can google for various other reviews. Several of the reviews returned by Google, right on the first page, reflect some of my thoughts on this aspect pretty accurately (see [1] and [2], and why not also [3], which may have more anger than content but still makes a few good points), or perhaps my thoughts in general (heck, one even makes the same comparison to Descent that I've done with my friends, before I even got the books).

I'll try to stay away from what's already been covered, and try to add something fresh. I'll also try not to nitpick about the really small details, and stick to the larger picture. I'll go through the PHB and the DMG in the same order that they address topics, mentioning things I think worth mentioning. Most of my comments will concern the DMG, because I think that you need to see most of the things in the PHB in action in order to properly assess them. In order to keep the post sizes reasonable, I have decided to split up part 2 in three parts: one for the PHB, one for the DMG and one for conclusions/summary.

Player's Handbook

How to Play: Nothing particular to mention here.

Making Characters:

The character roles (controller, defender, leader and striker) are new, and probably worth bringing up. It will be interesting to see how they play out, and my initial guess is that they will work fine. On the other hand, it saddens me to see how the classes now are completely shoehorned into the role envisioned for the class. In fact, I'd go so far to say that the four roles are the new classes, and the actual classes are more like the kits of 2nd Edition AD&D. Expect the number of classes to explode, it's only a question of time until we see defender wizard, leader wizard and striker wizard, for instance.

Half your level is now added to most of your rolls, regardless of class. That's a nice simplifying change, and makes much more sense to me. I think that wizards should be as good attacking with their spells (whenever a confirmed hit was needed, as opposed to save for whatever) as fighters with their swords. It also brings much needed love to ability checks--in 3.x, you always had to struggle to come up with some skill that could apply to a situation so that you didn't miss out on that +15 or so bonus to your roll.

The number of total powers has decreased (as seen from a spellcaster perspective), but instead come in encounter/daily/utility variants. Overall, this will probably speed up the game, both bookkeeping when you level up and when you rest. In general, I think you'll be able to do as much as before between rests. On the other hand, you seem to lose out a lot in versatility. For instance, you can't even pick the same encounter/daily power twice, in order to use it twice per encounter/day. Nor can you for instance trade down a daily power for a day in order to use an encounter power twice per encounter for a day.

Overall, with the character roles and power system, effective customization seems minimal. Multiclassing is also effectively a thing of the past (see Feats, below). In other words, you are restricted to the designers' vision of the game, which in my opinion is frighteningly narrow. Thankfully, retraining is now included as a default option, so you at least have some limited ability to fix mistakes in choosing powers or feats.

Character Races: Nothing particular to mention here.

Character Classes:

There is not that much to comment on anything specific, here. I like some changes. For instance, I like that the cleric now can perform some healing as minor actions, or as (side) effects from other powers. I like that the paladin is no longer restricted to LG alignment. I like that the wizard still has a spellbook (of sorts).

I must admit to disliking that the only way to do actual two-weapon fighting is to play a ranger. I understand that you don't want to give the exact same feature to other classes as freebies, and the ranger does deserve some additional sexiness, but the way I see this, this restriction comes more as a result of shoehorning characters into particular molds. If you're not a ranger, you can't use two weapons simultaneously. Period. You might as well forget your concept of a rogue fighting with two daggers, unless you are ready to really pay for it with feats, and even then the results won't really impress anyone.

I'm undecided on the warlord. My initial feeling is that it risks being reduced to the toolbox that the cleric was in 3.x. Things like being pressured into always using Commander's Strike to grant the strongest character an extra attack all the time. Doesn't sound particularly fun to play...

In general, I'm disappointed that a lot of the powers seem to relate to combat and combat alone. D&D 4.0 almost seems to be concerned with miniature play only, with only a slight nod to abilities that are useful outside of combat. perhaps in order to still qualify as a roleplaying game. The roleplaying aspect feels like it is completely defined by skill challenges, and combat is completely defined by class powers. Surely there could have been significant overlap?

I'm also disappointed, again, with the lack of customization. We seem to have lost wizard spell research entirely. In previous games, the wizard could research a spell to solve a not-entirely-pressing problem. That is no longer possible.

Skills: Not much to comment here. Will need to see these in action in order to comment further.

Feats:

Not much to comment here either. Will need to see these in action as well in order to comment further. Except...

... the multiclass feats. Multiclassing appears dead, and is not getting better, either. The class-specific feats appear OK, but on the other hand they don't provide particularly much. The power-swap feats, on the other hand, seem way to costly for what they provide. It might allow parties with very few PCs to become versatile enough that they can take on some of the challenges that would normally require the inclusion of another class role, but in general I don't see why anyone would give up four feats for something that previously was something you just could do. More shoehorning...

Equipment:

Will need to see these in action in order to comment further. A few things stand out particularly much, though:

Sell-value is now defined as 20% of market price. Seems a bit low, but still nice to see it clearly defined, as opposed to DM's discretion.

Magic Items use a similar format as powers, which is nice. They also come with a definite level, which is also great as it keeps DMs from having to guess whether an item is too powerful for a particular party.

Ammunition can no longer be enchanted, another great call in my opinion.

On the other hand, the weird stuff is almost all gone as well. That is both good and bad, as there was a lot of magic items that almost never fulfilled any function, but at the same time there was also lots of stuff that could prove immensely useful in the hands of a clever player.

Adventuring: Will need to see these in action in order to comment further.

Combat:

Will need to see these in action in order to comment further. One thing that jars a bit is that Monsters and characters controlled by the Dungeon Master usually die when they reach 0 hit points. (Note to self: In 4.0, you're alive at 1 HP and dying at 0 or less HP.) Fair enough, this simplifies bookkeeping and since there now is no buffer at exactly 0 HP, it does not matter much. But at the same time, it deprives the DM of some roleplaying opportunities. One of the first significant character defining moments in 3.x and earlier was the first time the party took prisoners and decided what to do with them... but now defeated opponents die by default, so no moral complications there... :-(

Oh, and saves are now effectively for ending persisting conditions, and always the same regardless of your level: 11+ on d20 ends the effect. (Except that some persisting conditions, like diseases, involve making Endurance checks against a DC.)

Rituals:

This seems interesting, and like a good call. Also interesting is that they aren't restricted to any particular class; anyone can take the Ritual Casting feat and start collecting rituals. The party's wizard, or even the party's fighter, can now cast Raise Dead: no more oh shit, the cleric's dead, now what do we do? Will this be good or bad?