4th Edition D&D: Typical Occurrences

[Thorin]

So the Stealth skill (covers hiding and moving silently) was poorly worded at first.  Stealth has been completely re-written in the errata, though.  I'm willing to bet every game with a Rogue went through this scenario.  Oh, and that's a pretty realistic rendering of the Dragonborn race that a lot of people seem to dislike.


source: http://www.pvponline.com/2008/09/03/hide-and-seek/

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And in 4th edition they advocate the use of cards to remember what your character has already done.  Some people love it, others hate it.  Notice that the speech balloon in the last panel comes from both of them.


source: http://www.pvponline.com/2008/09/04/nerrrdddd-fiiiggghhht/

I don't like the power cards for my character, I prefer to copy-n-paste the power from the PDFs that were leaked online, edit them for my character's stats, then print that out on standard-sized paper.  I also make a short summary so I can see at a glance what my typical actions in combat are and what the total modifiers are.  For instance:

Enfeebling Strike melee at will
... +1 Scimitar: 1d20+6 vs AC, 1d8+5 damage (13+1d8+1d6 critical)
... Throwing Hammer: 1d20+4 vs AC, 1d6+1 damage (7 critical)
Fearsome Smite melee once per encounter
... +1 Scimitar: 1d20+6 vs AC, 2d8+5 damage (21+1d8+1d6 critical)
... Throwing Hammer: 1d20+4 vs AC, 2d6+1 damage (13 critical)
On Pain Of Death ranged 5 once per day
... +1 Holy Symbol of Battle: 1d20+5 vs Will, 3d8+1 damage (25+1d6 critical)
... No Holy Symbol: 1d20+4 vs Will, 3d8 damage (24 critical)

I'll probably make up a cheat sheet like that for my 3.x character, although there's less combat maneuvers to remember.

I really like the idea of power cards for the DM, though, as the DM is frequently running more than one monster and the monsters typically die so you don't have to remember between sessions which cards you had already flipped over.

[Thorin]

I'm back into playing D&D 4th Edition, and as much as it's different from D&D 3rd Edition, it's still a lot of fun.  For one, you're much more likely to fight a group of creatures than a single baddy.

For instance, in our last session we invaded a small fortress.  Our fifth-level party couldn't agree to attack so finally the Paladin (my character) bluffed his way in, scouted, bluffed his way out, and convinced the Sorcerer (but not the Cleric or Ranger) to go back in.  Of course the baddies in the fortress had seen through the Paladin's bluff, due to some unfortunateness, and attacked.  So there we were, a Paladin and a Sorcerer fighting fourteen guards, six in melee and eight with bows.  We would've done better if the Cleric and Ranger had been in the fight in the first round instead of the fourth round, but we still survived!

For two, you tend to start fights with full hit points and all your spells available.

After our big encounter, we used our healing surges to heal ourselves up to full (a healing surge is one quarter of your total hit points).  We then spent five minutes resting (that's called a Short Rest), which refreshed all of our once-per-encounter abilities.  And voila, we're ready to delve further into the fortress!

For three, characters are much more stereotypical - Paladins are Paladins, Fighters are Fighters, Wizards are Wizards.

The multiclassing has (basically) gone away and I used to think I'd miss it, but having played a few sessions now I gotta say it's easier to play the stereotypical classes.  There is no longer a worry about creating the perfect build to help your party power through encounter after encounter.  Unfortunately, to get a complete list of classes you really do need to have both of the Player's Handbooks.  And for magical items, you really want to get the Adventurer's Vault.  In other words, where in 3rd edition you only needed 3 books for a minimum play experience, in 4th edition I'm suggesting you need 5 books.  But then, in 3rd edition people would end up with 7 or more books, so maybe that's not such a big deal.

[The Silver Surfer]

and 4th have your ability cards ( spells, fighting skills, other Abilities ) the make it easier for people to know what the can use, at wills, encounters, and dailys

[Thorin]

As for cards, well, see the second cartoon in the original post in this thread...  Me, I don't like the cards - I find I still do a lot of looking up of details that aren't on them, so I just make my own list of powers.  But I don't begrudge those who do like the cards.  Whatever works for ya.