4e Quick Rules Primer

[Koumei]

So, rolling heaps of saves per round is annoying. Also, the saves are too easy to make. Think it would be better if you could only elect to roll a save against one effect per round (and hope for the magic 20)?

...fuck it, there is no point in applying house rules to 4E when NE is just going to be better.

[Voss]

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Having tried it out a few times, the saving throw duration is a pain in the ass.

Well it's stil as time consuming (if not more so) than a duration of X rounds. The advantage is that you don't have to tick off rounds anymore, and to me that's pretty big. Because I can generally remember if I rolled a save or not that round, but I have trouble remembering if I ticked off another round in a given spell's duration.

Maybe other DMs find this different, but I find the whole saving throw thing to be easier to remember, though a bit slower to process, since it involves a roll every round.

Thing is, it isn't a roll every round. Its a variety of rolls, possibly up to (# of monsters) x (# of PCs)... just on the monster's side. And a number of rolls, up to (number of monsters) for each PC. Or even more, depending on how many different lasting effects people are throwing around.

Comparatively, ticking off rounds is... easy. Tick it off, and... done. Its maybe 3 seconds of booking per effect, and it effects everyone under it at the same time. Not so with the random roll- it treats everything affected as an individual.

[Talisman]

Ticking off rounds is especially easy when you use a dry-erase intiative board.

[Voss]

Oh, more news.

Apparently someone at Wizards read the Economicon. Coins are still 50 to the pound (and a cow is worth about 10 gp in trade, which...), but gems and jewelry seem more common for real wealth values, rather than the backhoe of gold). And... now there is the Astral Diamond.

Astral Diamonds: in the fantastic realms beyond the natural world- in the City of Brass in the Elemental Chaos, the Bright City in the Astral Sea, the city of Sigil, and similar markets- the astral diamond (ad) is used as currency for transactions involving staggering amounts of wealth. One astral diamond is worth 100 platinum pieces, or 10,000 gold pieces.
An astral diamond weights one tenth as much as a coin (500 astral diamonds weigh one pound).

Here, http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=220613 click the armor and shields link.

[Voss]

And about armor... uh. ok
two options- light and heavy.
with light armor, add your int or dex mod to get your AC.
with heavy armor, don't add a stat mod at all.

Armor types- there are 6, unless you count the special masterwork magical version of each one, but that isn't supposed to be available at less than 16th level.
1- Cloth. Does jack shit, unless enchanted.
2- Leather
3- Hide
--/\ light---\/ heavy--
4- Chainmail
5- Scalemail
6- Platemail.

And, thats all, folks.

-2 to attack and reflex defense if you aren't proficient. All armor takes 5 minutes to put on, so you can't put it on during combat... just during the 'short rest' where you recover encounter based powers...

[JonSetanta]

1204599349[/unixtime]]
Oh, more news.

Apparently someone at Wizards read the Economicon. Coins are still 50 to the pound (and a cow is worth about 10 gp in trade, which...), but gems and jewelry seem more common for real wealth values, rather than the backhoe of gold). And... now there is the Astral Diamond.

Astral Diamonds: in the fantastic realms beyond the natural world- in the City of Brass in the Elemental Chaos, the Bright City in the Astral Sea, the city of Sigil, and similar markets- the astral diamond (ad) is used as currency for transactions involving staggering amounts of wealth. One astral diamond is worth 100 platinum pieces, or 10,000 gold pieces.
An astral diamond weights one tenth as much as a coin (500 astral diamonds weigh one pound).

I swear WOTC is skimming popular outside forums for ideas.
This site, included.

But astral diamond is a cool idea. It's like exchanging cash for gems, but the diamond could be an entirely artificially created object like any printed paper currency.
The big issue would be preventing counterfeits, though, since any magical bastard could wave fingers and spawn thousands of them.
They would have to be a unique artifact, each and every one, that could not be duplicated. And each one would have a number associated with some kind of Astral Bank. yeah.....

Although it doesn't beat the ultimate end for currency: the credit card.
Fantasy games don't all have to be about lugging sacks of loot, ya know.
In any magical setting, a little slip of enchanted darkwood or mithril designated to store ones currency (in abstraction) would be a very metropolitan option for any Wish Economy.
Perhaps too metro for most gamers.

[Voss]

Magical bank vaults? Have you been playing MMOs too much? (at all)

[JonSetanta]

1204602117[/unixtime]]Magical bank vaults? Have you been playing MMOs too much? (at all)

Very.
And in worlds with fucking golems, floating islands, and flying boats, it's only natural to have an equally arcane method of exchanging currency.

[Voss]

Eh. Normal banking isn't even normal to such worlds. There isn't any inherent connection to your examples and currency exchange, let alone magicking it up.

[Zherog]

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The big issue would be preventing counterfeits, though, since any magical bastard could wave fingers and spawn thousands of them.
They would have to be a unique artifact, each and every one, that could not be duplicated. And each one would have a number associated with some kind of Astral Bank. yeah.....

You seem to be making the assumption that creation magic (such as true creation) will exist. I think if it exists at all, it's going to (attempt to) exclude anything of value, such as gold, platinum, and astral diamonds.

[Fwib]

1204599349[/unixtime]]Oh, more news.

Apparently someone at Wizards read the Economicon. Coins are still 50 to the pound (and a cow is worth about 10 gp in trade, which...), but gems and jewelry seem more common for real wealth values, rather than the backhoe of gold). And... now there is the Astral Diamond.

Astral Diamonds: in the fantastic realms beyond the natural world- in the City of Brass in the Elemental Chaos, the Bright City in the Astral Sea, the city of Sigil, and similar markets- the astral diamond (ad) is used as currency for transactions involving staggering amounts of wealth. One astral diamond is worth 100 platinum pieces, or 10,000 gold pieces.
An astral diamond weights one tenth as much as a coin (500 astral diamonds weigh one pound).

Here, http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=220613 click the armor and shields link.

One pound of these is worth five million gp? That is hardly a change from "I carry my wealth in gems and objet's d'art" - and nothing like the various non-interacting economies of souls and gold and turnips.

[Crissa]

What I want to know is how tiny these damn things are...

-Crissa

[Talisman]

Oh, about this big. [/bad joke]

I'm going to go out on a limb her and guess that, even if creation magic exists in 4e, something with a name like "astral diamond" that's a basic part of the monetary system will be nigh-impossible to duplicate magically. Surely even WotC can't make that kind of mistake...

...

...can they?

[JonSetanta]

Hm.. Soul trade would be more effective than anything else, ultimately.
Souls are incorporeal (that is, excluding dumbass petitioners) and as such could be somehow rendered immobile and stuffed into a Ghosttouch container in limitless quantity.

Edit: and my proposal for the Item That Can't Be Duplicated sorta hinges on the ability of that FR beasty with 3 black eyeless heads and many hands.
You know, the thing that kills the other flying, 4 armed, leachlike wind-tunnel things.
It has this ability that prevents anything in the multiverse from copying its form.
The Astral Diamonds need that ability.

[RandomCasualty]

1204597277[/unixtime]]So, rolling heaps of saves per round is annoying. Also, the saves are too easy to make. Think it would be better if you could only elect to roll a save against one effect per round (and hope for the magic 20)?

I'd say for the save.

1-9 save fails.
10-14 End one effect at random.
15-19 End one effect of your choice.
20 End all effects.

[RandomCasualty]

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Comparatively, ticking off rounds is... easy. Tick it off, and... done. Its maybe 3 seconds of booking per effect, and it effects everyone under it at the same time. Not so with the random roll- it treats everything affected as an individual.

In theory, yes.

Only I always forget to tick it off and am always asking myself "Did I tick off that already this round?"

I just find it to be a real pain, because I lose track of what round it is, and how much longer something needs to happen.

[SunTzuWarmaster]

It is really that freaking hard, guys?

Just keep a ticker of how many rounds of combat you have had. All of your spells have the same duration. Write down what round you cast a spell in. It ends on the (round cast)+(duration) round. Done.

[Leress]

Okay, it seem like 4e added more to status conditions, since there is a duration of it lasting and a save every round.

[JonSetanta]

It really is that freakin hard.
I can't even keep track of the charges and checks I make to my bank account in a week, let alone 5+ players and even more monsters.

[name_here]

1204599349[/unixtime]]Oh, more news.

Apparently someone at Wizards read the Economicon. Coins are still 50 to the pound (and a cow is worth about 10 gp in trade, which...),

10 GP FOR A COW??? TEN?


heh, bullrush. i killed a goblin during a D20 future boarding action with that.

when you enter a ship via hull breach, always wear vacum capable armor.

[josephbt]

http://www.chrispramas.com/2008/03/4e-test-drive.html