tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post8297441269782863251..comments2024-02-27T07:06:23.481-06:00Comments on Tower of Zenopus: Five Things 4th Edition Does PoorlyBlacksteelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16289298640828309072noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post-38307418059037234292010-09-25T11:07:37.526-05:002010-09-25T11:07:37.526-05:00After reading your posts from the links I am clear...After reading your posts from the links I am clearly working through the same territory you were. Now having talked about it with my bard player he pointed out that he is an "arcane" caster and the power is listed as doing psychic damage, which I had kind of forgotten. Having that reminder does make me more comfortable with Vicious Mockery specifically. Heck, I'm a long time Hero-system player so I'm pretty comfortable making up specific descriptions for general effects but it's harder in 4E and I think it's exactly what you touched on - the flavor text. In older editions this wasn't flavor text it was literally how the power worked, and it's tough to ignore when I should ignore it in this version. I'm working through it and I'm having a lot of fun running the the game so they did something right in there.Blacksteelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289298640828309072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post-1779514227320322342010-09-24T17:01:46.141-05:002010-09-24T17:01:46.141-05:00Correction: looking back at my posts, I realized i...Correction: looking back at my posts, I realized it was actually Misdirected Mark <a href="http://shirosrpg.blogspot.com/2009/05/misdirected-mark.html" rel="nofollow">that was used on the sleeping kobold</a>. That's even worse! ;)David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post-59737534600379317552010-09-24T16:54:29.730-05:002010-09-24T16:54:29.730-05:00The verisimilitude wrinkle is what absolutely kill...The verisimilitude wrinkle is what absolutely killed 4e for me personally. And, sure enough, it was the bard and that pesky Vicious Mockery ability. When my bard <a href="http://shirosrpg.blogspot.com/2009/05/vicious-mockery.html" rel="nofollow">mocked a sleeping kobold to death</a>, well...that was pretty much it for me.<br /><br />Marks and the "grind" of combat were runners up in the "not for me" list.<br /><br />I really don't have a problem with people calling 4e "D&D" - I mean, I'd call 2e "D&D" since it was the first system I played regularly, and it's so very different from OD&D. What keeps me away from 4e is that I just don't like the <i>feel</i> of the mechanics. Waaaay too gamey for my tastes.David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.com