Why 4th edition is better

I just finished my monthly role-playing game session and now I need to make another list. This one is why I personally think Wizards of the Coast (c) game Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition is better that their previous incarnations of the game, and why all the 3.5 (3.0, 2.0, etc) fanboys are wrong (well, I guess it's just my opinion, so I'll not say they're wrong, it's just their opinion thats wrong).

Oh yeah, by the way, in case there was some doubt before this post, I'm sure this makes me some particular kind of nerd, so now the world knows it.

And for all the non-nerds, DnD is a table-top based game with dice, made up fantasy characters (like elves and dwarves and wizards), and the kinds of elements made popular by games like World of Warcraft (which incidentally I don't actually play).

So here are my reasons:

1) No more skills bloat. I don't have to have 15 points in equestrian-knot-tying-in-melee just in case I need it sometime. How many skills were there in 3.5? Including the expansion modules, the dragon magazine stuff, and the non-core rulebooks? Like 72?

2) Everyone can do something. Previous versions of the game featured fighters who could swing a sword 27 million times a day, and spell-casters that could cast their spell once (or only a few times) and then become amateur dagger-wielding melee fodder (or the people who huddled in the corner hiding from the bad guys). 4th Ed gives everyone at-will powers, or in other words, something they can do at will or any time.

3) Standard combat procedure. It used to be, if you were a cleric, or a warlock, or a wizard, or a fighter, you all had completely different procedures for doing your combat 'thing' - some rolling attack checks, some rolling difficulty checks, some trying to overcome an enemies Armor Class, some just trying to Touch the enemy for their effect. Unfamiliar with what these words of nerd-dom are I just used? Imagine the learning curve for the uninitiated into this game, or trying to remember what your own character does after not playing for a week.

4) Less monotonous repetition. In the previous releases, while battle options were as recondite and arcane as the spellbooks the wizard characters carried with them, most of the battle consisted of player characters 'attacking' the monster. You would do this by uttering the sanctioned phrase "I attack the (insert monster name here)". Now, you don't just attack. You call down divine wrath, or you enter blood-seekers rage, or you perform a ruinous assault, or a blood-spike sweep, or use desperate fury, or ready skirmishing stance, etc. and etc. - you're not just doing some undefined, generic thing with the monster. You're specifically trying to kill it a certain way. And what's genius, none of this makes combat complicated - it's the same procedure no matter what your character, built right into the different powers you have.

5) Variation in kinds of combat attacks. In earlier versions of the game, if you were a fighter you could attack an enemies AC. Is the enemies AC too high for you to hit? Too bad. In 4th ed, you have at least the option to take powers with more variety in attacks, since every character has 4 defense scores instead of 1. Is their AC too high? Use a power that targets their fortitude. Or their reflex, or will.

6) Strategy and representation of characters count. In 3.5, it was possible to get away with a game that didn't involve any specifics of place or time. You could get into a battle with a monster, attack it, defend yourself, etc, without necessarily having to know any spatial relationships between you and the monster - you just needed to know how far away you were and how hard to swing to hit it. In 4th ed, spatial relationships are vital. You need to have strategies, you need to work together as a group, and the environment frequently plays a part in the combat. This could be a drawback if you want to play a generalized, non-specific combat encounters kind of game, but for everything else it can really help to add to the narrative and immersion of the game.

7) Better abstraction. A lot like doing away with skills bloat, 4th ed does a better job of dealing with game mechanics and abstractions - for example, I no longer need to try and figure out the real-world probabilities of being able to perform some obscure task in the /rain/cold/rough terrain/while on fire/while drunk/ from /around a corner/under a table/floating in the air/upside down/another characters shoulders/ while /attacking/grappling/singing/meditating/dying/ and then arguing my case why my probability seems rational. In 4th ed, difficulty and skills are abstracted. The game is internally consistent, not a weak and fractured fabrication of supposed real-world equivalents (I might still have to figure out those probabilities, but they'll be based on in-game elements, not real-world ones).

8) Character races and classes are different. In 3.5, a human fighter and a dwarf fighter, while seeming different at level 1, had only insignificant differences at levels 20, 30, and 40. Several kinds of 'fighter' classes (ranger, barbarian) were also not much different from each other the higher the level. In 4th ed, characters are unique at every level of play.

9) Streamlined combat and mechanics means more involved storytelling. When less of the game is spent dealing with judgement calls about how a particular rule applies to the game, more time can be spent in delving into the storylines and plot points. Simultaneously, players can be more invested in their characters than the game mechanics themselves.

10) Explicit character roles. Characters role in combat is much more defined by their powers now. In earlier games, everyone was a 'fighter', but only the character class called a 'fighter' was defined as such. In 4th ed, everyone fights. What makes different kinds of fighters is what role they play in combat. Some classes focus on doing damage (strikers), while others distract the enemy (controllers), others try to take the damage (defenders), and so forth.

11) Skill based encounters. Combat isn't everything. In earlier versions, out of combat game elements were very free form, relying on the game master to craft (and they still can be). But 4th ed gives us another structure for presenting puzzles and story elements that don't involve combat: skill challenges. These are very adaptable, and allow the players to role play their characters while also rolling dice and using their abilities to progress the story.

My summary: more elements for role play possible, more clear and universal combat procedure, more variation in classes and races without the class-explosion of 3.5, and easier set-up and running for a DM. In reality, these are just a few of the things done better in 4th ed than other versions, and why I find it to be overall a better evolution of the Dungeons and Dragons system.