DnD4 tryout

This week, me and some other players in my gaming group got together and made a little experiment. Using all little preview-rules and leaks we sat down and played through a little dungeon crawl using the 4th edition rules. Using the 1st level characters that can be downloaded from the Wizards website, and a scenario we found on dnd4.com we embarked on our adventure.

Overall it was an interesting and fun experience. It still felt like DnD, but there was some differences. Mostly for the good, but there where some objections.

• When you play with 1st level characters in 3.5, your options on what to do each round in combat are rather limited. With these characters, your different powers meant that you always had an interesting option. When it came to options, I think you could compare it to 4th or 5th level characters in 3.5.
• The above point led to an interesting question: Considering the number of feats and choices at first level, how do you keep it manageable at higher levels? We compared it slightly to Exalted, where it can get quite hard to keep track of all the different maneuvers available to you.
• The system with daily, encounters and at-will powers worked very well.
• The saves are now static, and are used in the same way as AC. All attacks and spells are aimed at one of the saves. This makes things a bit smoother.
• Some attacks cause ongoing effects. The effect takes place at the start of your turn, and you get a save to remove the effect at the end of your turn. Now, consider the following scenario: You are hit with an attack that damages you and sets you on fire for 5 pts/ round. After the initial damage you have 3 points left. Now you are unable to do anything until it's your turn, and the first thing that happens is that you take another 5 points of damage. The result is that you know that you will fall unconscious and can't do anything about it. This point was what caused the most discussion and the group wasn't altogether happy with that solution.
• The hardest encounter in the scenario was the one where the opponents fullfilled their roles as intended. Our groups wasn't used to thinking in that way, on the other hand, and that made a big difference. Regardless if you like the idea of roles or not, it is something to be taken seriously if you wan't to use your characters to the maximum.
• When you go down to negative hit points, you roll a die to see if you stabilize or get worse. After three "get worse"-results you die. This makes it a bit more exciting and insecure when you go down. You can't do the accountant thing counting the number of rounds you've got left until you need to be saved. Instead you want help as soon as possible.

There was other points and interesting tidbits, but these points are the most important ones.

The main point, the way I see it, is the number of interesting options available to you each round. You always had something interesting to do. Overall, it was a fun experience, and it raised my expectations on DnD 4th ed.