Remember When D&D Tried to Be Excellent?
4e Dared to Specialize—And Was Hated for It
I recently hosted a, technology-challenged, Live Stream where I talked about my expedition into the world of Pathfinder 2e Remastered to see how it compares to D&D 4th edition. As usual, there were a few comments that shared the same tired reasons why 4e is inferior to every other TTRPG out there. Ho hum.
One position that particularly bugs me is that they would have loved 4e if it didn’t have the D&D brand on it. Really? So you refuse to play a game you admit is good simply because of some personal, unfounded notion about what D&D is?
Anyway.
That isn’t even what I wanted to write about today. Today, I am instead thinking about a complaint I often hear regarding 5e. When I post content about 5e, I regularly get comments about how 5e is a terrible game and if you want to do [insert whatever I was talking about] then you should play this other game instead.
I have no way of knowing if these are the same people that also complain about how 4e is terrible because it is all about combat. But the consensus is that 5e is bad because it is too general and doesn’t do anything really well. At the same time, 4e is awful because it does combat really well and it was wrong to try and specialize.
As you might expect, this thing that people complain about with 4th edition is one of the very things that make it special.
Let’s take a look…
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I will be the first to agree that 5e is great at covering all the bases. It casts a wide net. It does combat pretty well. It does a good job with exploration. Social encounters. Puzzles. Traps. Survival. Encounter building. It does a serviceable job at all the things you would want an RPG to do. And, on top of all that, it is very easy for a new player to learn.
It is quite possibly the most okayest TTRPG out there. And, second only to having the D&D brand name, that is why it is so popular. Whatever you want to do, it can do.
Meanwhile, this upstart 4th edition is over here trying to be something special. It will hold its own on exploration and social encounters just as well as any other edition. But when it comes to puzzles, traps, hazards, and, of course, combat, it is light years ahead of 5e. If you like a game with amazing combat, then 4e has you covered at every turn.
Playing a 4e combat encounter is amazing with all the tactical movement and powers that can change the circumstances every round. Everyone needs to pay attention and work together as a team. No daydreaming while building dice towers. None of this, “let me know when it is my turn to roll the math rocks again.”
Players actually use all their powers and short rests mean something. Healing surges are a limited tactical resource. Strategy is a real thing. Every movement has to be scrutinized.
And that is just for the players.
The tools available for the DMs to create those encounters are just as impressive. The encounter math is tight. You can easily spin up an encounter for any level that fits the party. Character roles. Monster roles. XP budgets. These things that people complain about are the very things that allow the game to be a Dungeon Master’s dream when building an adventure.
4th edition did not try to be just the next iteration of a game that was passable at everything. The designers used player feedback and built a game that excelled at exactly what they said they wanted.
It seems, however, the community didn’t actually want that after-all. They just wanted the same mundane game that they were used to. And so now we have 5e. Which is really, I guess, D&D 3.8. And now D&D 2024 is basically D&D 3.85? And it is fine. I have nothing against it.
But I am glad that Wizards of the Coast took the chance and made 4e something special. From what we’ve seen lately, I don’t think they ever will again.
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I loved 4e and think it was a great version of D&D. A lot of 5e is just 4e with different text layout and a lot of 4e was explicit descriptions of things that have been a part of D&D since day one.
https://www.geekeratimedia.com/p/zones-of-control-a-history-of-miniatures
I liked that 4e bridged the gap between casters and martials. I recall the controversy in 3.5 where some small vocal group of players complained when “Book of 9 swords” gave fighters some versatility.