|[4E] A podcast interview with Chris Perkins and Sara Girard

"Justisaur" <justisaur RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:efbe9d76-c815-4287-8133-8b3e884f5e12@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 9, 1:34 pm, Phil Turner <phil.tur... RemoveThis @bltuaeyontdetr.co.uk>
> wrote:
>> In <47d39... RemoveThis @clear.net.nz> tussock <sc... RemoveThis @clear.net.nz> writes:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> > To me the sample characters read very much like Defenders tie down
>> >the enemy (wall or one-on-one), Strikers and Controllers deal the real
>> >damage (one at a time or en mass), and Leaders help out the Defender.
>> > Sure, they're all doing damage, but the roles the designers saw them
>> >in traditionally are strongly reinforced. The Barbarian would be a melee
>> >Striker.
>>
>> There already seem to be three Strikers in the PHB - one Arcane
>> (Warlock) and two Martial (Rogue and Ranger). Perhaps the Barbarian
>> will appear as a Primal Striker or Defender - berserkers
>> traditionally have a hint of the werebeast about them.
>
> I think the Rogue is supposed to be the Striker. Doesn't that make
> the Ranger the Controller?

They are both Strikers.

> And I don't think it's arcane power, it's "magic" because they lump
> cleric and wizard togeather.

No, they don't. Clerics have Divine power, and Wizards have Arcane.

--
^v^v^Malachias Invictus^v^v^

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the Master of my fate:
I am the Captain of my soul.

from _Invictus_, by William Ernest Henley

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:02:16 -0800 (PST), Alcore <alcore.DeleteThis@uurth.com>
wrote:

>Please keep in mind, that not every party is obsessed with maximum
>firepower. Some parties focus on versatility and subtlety. It's a
>hard concept for the Crunchy Powergamer types, since they don't see
>the fun in anything that doesn't include damage dice. But it *is* a
>valid style of play... now rendered moot by the rules.


Heh heh - this reminds me of an AD&D tournament DM I once encountered
at a SciFi convention. He was using his own pre-generated characters
and I wound up with a 9th level Magic User who had a Wand of Fireballs
with 50 charges. Since I had 300d6 of portable Boom in the wand I
chose mostly non-Boom utility spells, especially at 3rd, 4th and 5th
level. Those spells were decisive in 3 encounters and very useful in
other places. Meanwhile, I used the wand liberally whenever Boom was
needed (12-36 hp damage, since all rolls of 1 counted as 2).

At the end of the game I found he had ranked me near the bottom of
play. I was rather puzzled and I asked why. His exact words were:
"Oh, the wand was 'a mistake waiting to happen' when I set up that
character. See, if you cast a FIREBALL with your own spell you get
9d6 and if you cast it off the wand it's only 6d6."

He just could not see ANY justification to using spells for anything
but Boom - and only the absolutely largest BOOM you could produce was
worth anything at all. So saving the entire party with a 4th level
utility spell wasn't worth anything and killing some monsters with the
wand actually penalized me. The only thing that counted in my favor
was using Boom spells. Roleplaying was likewise ignored or penalized
(I didn't ask which, it was already clear that they didn't count in
your favor).

I never MET such a Crunchy Power DM. Of course if I ever played with
him again it would be a snap to win his tournament. Encounter 1,
round 1 - toss 5th level Boom spell. Round 2 - 4th level Boom spell.
Round 3 - 4th level Boom spell. Round 4 - 3rd level Boom spell.
Continue until all enemies are dead or memorized spells are exhausted.
ONLY THEN use the wand.

Sheesh.