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Tuesday, September 4

What's New in D&D 4th Edition

If we use Star Wars Saga Edition as a guide, here's what's new in D&D:

• Skill Consolidation: Search, Spot, Sense Motive, and Listen have become Perception. Diplomacy has become Persuasion, Bluff has become Deception. [SOURCE]
• Trained/Untrained Skills: No more skill points, just a skill bonus of 1/2 character level + relevant ability modifier + 5 (if trained) + 5 (if Skill Focus). [SOURCE]
• Skill Bonuses: The feats that provided a +2 bonus to two skills are gone, as are species traits or class features that provided a bonus to skills. Synergy bonuses have been eliminated as well. [SOURCE]
• No More Multiple Attacks: Characters no longer gain multiple attacks as they go up in levels, meaning that a character gets only one attack in a combat round, even at 20th level. Instead, all heroic characters gain a bonus on their damage rolls equal to one-half their heroic level. [SOURCE]
• AC/Defense and Saving Throws: Combined into Reflex, Fortitude, and Will Defense. A character's defense scores are equal to 10 + her heroic level + the relevant ability modifier. A character wearing armor replaces her level bonus to Reflex Defense with the armor's bonus to Reflex Defense, and some suits of armor also provide an equipment bonus to Fortitude Defense. Yes, this does mean that there's really no difference between a Reflex save and Armor Class anymore. [SOURCE]
• Condition Track: There are now wound penalties for getting hit. Though the first two steps on the condition track are relatively minor, the third step (–5 to all defenses, attack rolls, and skill checks) requires a hero to step back and recover a bit before rejoining the battle. In addition, some characters have the ability to push someone up and down the condition track with other actions. [SOURCE]
• Healing: Any character who takes damage heals naturally with 8 hours of rest, regaining a number of hit points equal to her character level. Additionally, as a swift action once per day, she can gain a "second wind," which allows her to regain a number of hit points equal to 1/4 of her total hit points or equal to her Constitution score -- whichever is greater. This rule allows characters to keep going between fights, even if they can't be healed anymore. [SOURCE]
• Unconsciousness and Death: An unconscious character can take no actions for 1 minute and then must make a DC 10 Constitution check. If the check succeeds, she moves one step up the condition track and regains a small number of hit points, allowing her to rejoin the fight. However, if the check fails, her wounds are too grievous to allow her to keep acting, and her condition becomes persistent. Until she rests for 8 hours or has surgery, the character can't gain hit points from natural healing or use the recover action to move up the condition track. Furthermore, she must keep making Constitution checks for each hour she is unconscious, and grievous failure results in death. [SOURCE]

All these rules may not make it into D&D 4.0, but chances are a lot of them will!

Labels: gaming news

posted by Mike Tresca at 7:45 AM

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