david
Stark II PC Kallistier WhatNot
Offline
one bad dude, not two
Posts: 148
harahan, la
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the fact that characters can heal themselves and deal whole bunches of damage at first level does not mean that monsters are weak and only swing clubs. the characters would have enemies on par with their ability, otherwise they'd never level. for every superman, there is a doomsday, or something like that.
what i've seen of the handbook, at least, is that the rules cover stuff that roleplaying doesn't; ie, combat and other mundane things like movement and equipment. there aren't rules that tell you how to interact with people, that is for the players and dm to work out. there are skills like bluff and diplomacy that can help, especially for folks like myself that in d&d terms would have a very crappy diplomacy score. sometimes the randomness of a die roll makes things more interesting too, so you don't get bogged down in verbal repartee with a merchant about prices. that being said, the rules make low level characters pretty tough compared to the relative level of 3.5, but the increase in power isn't phenomenal and is more balanced for all classes. while the 20th level wizard of 3.5 was nigh invincible over a 20th level fighter, 4th allows the fighter better defense against the wizard's powers and the wizard as well can better defend himself when the fighter hits melee range. however, since characters aren't supposed to be fighting each other, that is irrelevant, as the dm can make up something to let any fighter breach a wizard's defenses, or vice-versa, just because that is what he wants to happen to make the game progress. the dm shouldn't roll over like a bitch and let players always win if that takes away from the fun, but if stopping the pcs diminishes the fun, then let the monster stomping go on.
i think the whole gaming experience should be able to be fun, whether you like hack-n-slash, character development, or a comfortable mix in an interesting world. game on, whether you play 3.5, 4th, white wolf, palladium, GURPS, or whatever, and have fun. right?
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