4th Edition Forgotten Realms

[Mulu]

So, a NWN3 would be using 4E rules instead.

And it won't have a DM client. NWN2 proved the ROI just isn't there.

D&D4 puts Clerics back in square one (or two, really): they'll all look alike, regardless of what god they worship. Same with the other classes, really.

Guess they'll have to add back in class kits from 2nd ed. to give the classes more variety?

[Grand Fromage]

So, a NWN3 would be using 4E rules instead.

And it won't have a DM client. NWN2 proved the ROI just isn't there.

There wasn't any return for NWN1 either. If it doesn't have the game/toolset/DM client combo then it's just a 4E D&D game, not a NWN game.

What would worry me more is that NWN was always intended to let you play tabletop style D&D online, but WOTC is now offering that service itself. They may kill NWN simply because it could cut into their profits.

[Luther]

So they axed some of the alignments? Good riddance to them I say, alignments suck anyway.

[Vendrin]

Hi Luther!

[Kest]

They only axed the redundant ones.

Now there is Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Lawful Evil, and Chaotic Evil. That's really all you need.

[Brokenbone]

So, a NWN3 would be using 4E rules instead.

And it won't have a DM client. NWN2 proved the ROI just isn't there.

There wasn't any return for NWN1 either. If it doesn't have the game/toolset/DM client combo then it's just a 4E D&D game, not a NWN game.

What would worry me more is that NWN was always intended to let you play tabletop style D&D online, but WOTC is now offering that service itself. They may kill NWN simply because it could cut into their profits.

I'm not clear if the WOTC online tabletop service is vaporware so far, their exciting screenshots seem the subject of a humorous infringement claim from the Fantasygrounds folks...

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/misc/infringement.html

...

Anyhow, back on topic, thanks for WOTC forum suggestions and summarized stuff above, good a primer / crash course as any on what happens to the FR setting.

[Mayhem]

Wait, if Mystra has gone, what happened to Elminster?

Please let him be dead.

Please please please please please...

[hollyfant]

They only axed the redundant ones.

Now there is Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Lawful Evil, and Chaotic Evil. That's really all you need.

Nope, no CG or LE. LG, NG, TN, NE & CE.

Wait, if Mystra has gone, what happened to Elminster?

Please let him be dead.

Please please please please please...

Nope, sorry. He's no longer a Chosen of course, but he's still a powerful wizard and he's still in Shadowdale (in a hut now, the Drow busted his tower).

[Kest]

That is my interpretation of it. They roughly align with those 3E alignments:

• Evil characters use rules and order to maximize personal gain. They don’t care whether laws hurt other people. They support institutional structures that give them power, even if that power comes at the expense of others’ freedom. Slavery and rigid caste structures are not only acceptable but desirable to evil characters, as long as they are in a position to benefit from them.

Either way, we didn't need the ones they cut.

[Luther]

I for one, am happy about the alignment changes. We could do well with even less from a playing point of view -- you play a character, not an alignment. Though perhaps that would be difficult to incorporate properly with some of the game mechanics.

One things confuses me, though. If LE is gone, but Baator is the only remaining part of hell, are all baatezu NE now? Or can they even be CE? I.e. after making a deal with a devil you can no longer be sure that he'll stick to even what is explicitly stated in the contract? Sucks


(Hi Vendrin )

[Mayhem]

Alignment was only ever a tool to help remind players that their character might make decisions differently from them.

In fact, thats quite a big step, especially if you are coming from a purely CRPG orientated background, where most people simply use the character as an avatar of their own personality, or do whatever is expedient at the time.

Unfortunately, D&D has historically tied its alignments into its mechanics, so that they cannot be as easily set aside if you have alternative means of remindign yourself to think like your PC.

Personally, I always liked White Wolfs "Nature and Demeanour" system, and also Undergrounds "Traits and Codes".

[Grand Fromage]

Wait, if Mystra has gone, what happened to Elminster?

Please let him be dead.

Please please please please please...

Elminster is now a crazy old man living in a shack who refuses to use magic or do anything useful.

[Nyarlathotep]

Elminster is now a crazy old man living in a shack who refuses to use magic or do anything useful.

I'm assuming he at least owns a long trenchcoat so that he can be FR's first flasher.

[Spider Jones]

Silverhand Farm is more than a shack! It's the fanciest farm in Shadowdale basically. I guess maybe he's failed at upkeep, but it still ain't no shack.

Elminster's head is filled with the minds of several other powerful mages who fused with him when Mystra died. Whenever he casts spells one of the other minds can take over, and some of them are nasty folk who wouldn't mind rampaging about with Elminster's power. So, he sticks to magical items, is afraid to cast spells, and is even more reclusive now than ever before.

[Mayhem]

Wait, if Mystra has gone, what happened to Elminster?

Please let him be dead.

Please please please please please...

Elminster is now a crazy old man living in a shack who refuses to use magic or do anything useful.

So, no change there, apart from the living in a shack part.