Miss 4e D&D

[Grod_The_Giant]

I miss this version of D&D. I’m really hoping that with what is going on with the franchise that they would come back to this version of the game, make some tweaks to it and rebrand it as Dungeons and Dragons Tactics. Because what I’m seeing on these forms are people actually do want 4e they just don’t want it to look like 4e.

Agreed. Many people don't look far below the surface, so if the trappings are familiar, they don't get peeved even though the underlying reality is different. 4e didn't preserve the trappings, hence the pained shrieks. Cheese got moved.

I've recently been getting into Lancer, which borrows a surprising amount from 4e--particularly when it comes to presentation. And I have to say, even with ~15 years of gaming obsession experience, there was something kind of jarring about running into "range: 5 spaces" and "size 2 obstacle" and suchlike again. I wouldn't go so far as to call it video-game-y, but it was kind of board-game-y. My friend Sam tried to run a game, and despite being one of the best and most-experienced GMs I know, the way she ran combat encounters turned into exactly the sort of rule-bound tactical wargaming that you generally don't want out of an ttRPG.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that I think presentation alone was a significant reason the game got so much backlash. How much better received would it have been if powers were written out like traditional spells?

Healing Word
Conjuration
Level: Cleric 1
Tags: Divine, Healing
Casting Time: 1 minor action
Range: 25ft
Target: You or one ally
Duration: Instant
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: None

You whisper a brief prayer as divine light washes over your target, helping to mend its wounds. The subject can spend a healing surge "point of Stamina" to regain hit points; when doing so, they regain an additional 1d6 hit points. This ability can only be used once per round. Once you've used it a second time, you cannot use it again for one encounter five minutes.

At Cleric level 6, 11, 16, 21, and 26, increase this bonus healing by 1d6, to a maximum of 6d6 at level 26. In addition, beginning at Cleric level 16, you can use this ability three times per encounter before needing to rest.

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All of which is an excessively long-winded way of saying: I completely agree. If the brain squirrels ever compel me to write a true fantasy heartbreaker, 4e is a much better starting point than 3e or 5e. Heck, my d20 Exalted hack wound up looking more like 4e than either of its component systems (Exalted 3e and Mutants and Masterminds).