ArsGeek

Overview

WotC’s Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition introduces a slew of changes to the venerable franchise, from a new modern look and feel to streamlined gameplay rules and a completely redesigned class and skill system. Today I take a look at the Player’s Handbook, and I will review the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual in upcoming articles. After running a couple sessions, I’ll follow up with play impressions.

Fourth Edition has taken quite a lot of criticism, both because of the radical changes it’s undergone since Third Edition and because of the nature of the changes made - toward a simpler and more broadly appealing game. The first thing I heard about it from friends and fellow gamers is that looked like World of Warcraft on the tabletop. As a WoW burnout myself, and a vocal critic of Third Edition’s many shortcomings, I went in with a healthy amount of skepticism. To my surprise I was really impressed with the game’s focus and direction.

In this review I’m taking the approach that Fourth Edition is a complete game deserving to stand or fall on its own merits, so if you’re looking for a detailed comparison with previous incarnations of Dungeons and Dragons you’ll have to look elsewhere. At its heart it’s still a d20 system game, but beyond that it’s all apples and oranges.

Presentation

The new edition eschews the leather-bound tome look in favor of a more modern layout, with clean lines and simple decorative elements. It’s not quite as captivating as some of the really well-designed gaming manuals we’ve seen in recent years (here’s looking at you, Exalted 2nd Edition), but it delivers on the most important aspect: usability. Full color page-and-a-half paintings mark the beginning of each chapter with high fantasy action scenes, and smaller illustrations are scattered liberally throughout the book. The authors made great use of color and iconography in identifying important blocks, such as character powers and tables. Information is well organized and easy to access with an informative table of contents and extensive index.

Tables or lists of class powers by level would have been nice, as would an organized collection of important tables in a central area. As a PDF user with a hyperlinked table of contents and a bookmarks sidebar I don’t worry too much about these issues myself, but if you’re paging through a hard copy your mileage may vary.

Game Mechanics

The core mechanic is a simple roll a die, add numeric modifiers system familiar to almost any gamer. I’ve always been a fan of dice-pool systems for their smoother advancement and statistical spread, but the designers seem to have put in a lot of effort to ensure the difficulty of tasks keeps pace with character advancement. Characters gain their abilities almost strictly according to class selections, which is locked in at the time of character creation, and advance by level. This leads to a lack of character variety, but the selection of powers and feats available let players give their characters at least a little flavor.

Dungeons and Dragons has always been a combat heavy game and Fourth Edition continues that trend, with a reinvigorated focus on strategy. The game requires the use of a grid and a system to keep track of positioning and movement, and many character powers incorporate tactical movement into their effects. They’re not shy about pushing their miniatures products, but they do offer advice on simpler alternatives for players short on cash or shelf space. You may have heard this about 3rd Edition and other roleplaying games, but this time they really mean it: you are not going to get much out of Fourth Edition without a battle grid.

Non-combat activities have been streamlined and the skill system is incredibly simple - a character chooses a handful of trained skills which provide a flat bonus to his rolls. Fourth Edition introduces a few new mechanics to spice up non-combat encounters called skill challenges and rituals. In a skill challenge the Dungeon Master introduces a complicated scenario such as infiltrating a palace or discovering the location of a hidden temple, and players take turns using any relevant skills to advance the party toward the goal. The object is to accumulate a number of successful rolls before exceeding a maximum number of failures, and each participating character must act on his turn.

Rituals are sorcerous ceremonies conducted by any character with the appropriate instructions, though the magic-oriented classes excel at obtaining and performing them. They involve large investments of time and money and produce powerful effects from raising the dead to useful abilities for all participants, like underwater breathing. You’ll find most of the group utility-oriented and non-combat magic in rituals, a two-edged sword that allows a non-standard party to overcome common game-stopping obstacles but also reduces dependence and demand for traditional spellcasters.

Playability

Fourth Edition adheres to the philosophy that the rules should be simple, streamlined and easy to remember. Every rule has many exceptions, but the exceptions are encapsulated in powers and other abilities. When a power violates a gameplay rule it spells out the exception explicitly, so there is no need to memorize a complicated list of exceptions or special mechanics that may apply in odd circumstances. In this sense it reminds me of collectible card games with their extremely simple core rules and myriad special mechanics introduced by individual cards. Character creation is straightforward - allocate points to the six primary stats, choose a class, pick a few powers and a handful of skills and you’re ready to roll. We’ll see how well this all plays out in the upcoming game play article.

The game provides little to no mechanical support for theatrics or roleplaying, character personality traits and quirks. A few small concessions are made for creative problem solving, but for the most part the parameters are laid out and don’t allow for exceptions. Both the PHB and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (more on that in the next article) talk a lot about how lively description and interaction make the game more fun and engaging, but the words seem to ring hollow. As a long time GM I know better than to think roleplaying is enough of a reward in itself to keep players enthusiastic.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a roleplaying game mixing the best aspects of tactical turn-based strategy, collectible card games, and the heroic action of a typical MMO, Fourth Edition is right up your alley. The strategic elements of the game are strong enough to keep the intellect stimulated without taxing capacity for rules memorization, and the emphasis on movement and position should appeal to wargamers and tactical RPG fans.

On the other hand if you prefer your games gritty and political with a heavy emphasis on character development and roleplaying you’re likely to be disappointed. It’s a step up from a miniatures game, and wont’ suffer from the problem of anonymity that plagues the modern MMO, but it really doesn’t supply the carrot or the stick to draw out shy players or reward the enthusiastic for their efforts. The good news is that there are plenty of great games out there that do; in an upcoming review I’ll tell you all about the Burning Wheel, a system on the opposite end of the spectrum.

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