PHB 4e

[bigscary]

• Tabular layout is very, very nice. Clear descriptions of all conditions? Better than the 3.5 version thereof, and in the relevant part of the PHB rather than the back of the DMG.
• Book is both very pretty and very sturdy-seeming. We'll see if the latter is more than just appearance
• I really can't get over how much the layout and organization are improved.

Very pleased.

Comments

[peacewood.livejournal.com]

I like it, from first impressions. A couple of nips and tucks that are needed, of course, but overall seems quite organized, as mentioned before.

A couple of nitpicks:

First of all, the word "comperable" on the Halfling page. Urgh, I can't believe that made it past the editors -- much less a decent spell-checker.

Second, I'm a little on the fence about the "feel" of the classes so far. On the one hand, there seems to be a far more even distribution of powers and roles (no "end-game is dominated by spellcasters" syndrome), and the power levels of each class seem just about equal. On the other hand, I have a distinctly "cookie-cutter" flavor in my mouth when reading through the classes -- just about everyone seems like a swordsage, really -- but perhaps this is just my personal view and we'll see how it shucks out in the end.

Third, the multiclassing system, which is essentially using feats to replicate the properties of a second class, seems kind of slipshod and tacked on. To wit: it says that each multiclass feat grants you the power to take class-related feats in your secondary class. But the Initiate of the Faith feat (priest multi) gives you Healing Word -- when every single cleric feat requires Channel Divinity. Oops.

On a similar note, the multiclassing "paragon" path is almost laughably less powerful than any other standard paragon path, especially considering that you're sacrificing four feats for it. I only pay attention to these things, of course, because I'm considering dabbling into a second class as Blink.

Overall, I'm very impressed and looking forward to playing with the new system, though.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one seeing issues with the multiclassing. I've looked into it a bit myself and some of the multiclassed paragon abilities are unusable since there is no way for you to get at some of the core abilities they are augmenting. About the only plus I see with the multiclassing is that it gives you a free skill to use and should you choose to take additional feats, the abilities that the feats grant can be change every time you level without retraining.

PS: Did you compare the table of multiclassing feats to the actual write-ups of those feats? Seems that in a few cases they don't agree on what ability you're suppose to get ^_^