Compare your Eberron 3.5 vs 4th experiences - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Compare your Eberron 3.5 vs 4th experiences

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
igotsmeakabob
Jun 16, 2008 11:22:07 Alright, 4th edition has only been out for only a short time, but I know that there must be some of you that have been running it in Eberron. If you'd care to share your 4th edition experiences compared to your 3.5 ones, I think it'd make for some good reading.

I've only been able to play in one session of 4th edition so far, and it wasn't even Eberron, heh. It'd be nice to hear the opinions of others.
#2
hobson1975
Jun 26, 2008 13:16:28 I haven't played 4E in eberron myself yet. Just trying to wrap my arms around the rules. Got a guy in my group running us through a 4E FR based adventure. As his adventure winds down, I'll pick up the reins running the group through the initial Eberron published adventures.

I'll start them with the mini-adventure in the back of the ECS, then move to Shadows of the Last War and on-ward. I don't see it being a big deal to change the encounters and traps over to 4E-based material at all. I'm pretty excited about it. I've dearly missed Eberron! It's my far my favorite CS!
#3
nymrohd
Jun 26, 2008 13:39:10 I'm slowly converting the Eberron Modules to 4E. We never got to play them in 3.5 but I do have them around and I think I can make them very interesting for 4E, especially Whispers.
#4
hobson1975
Jun 27, 2008 0:05:32 Yea completely agree! The story in that first trilogy is just fantastic. Plus I got them really cheap used on-line!
#5
Nived
Jun 27, 2008 11:25:36 My group has only one 4th edition game under our belt, last Saturday. I was DMing, the play group included three people (our fourth was MIA). Party consisted of Dredur: Dwarven Warlord, William: Human Cleric of the Host, and Gesh: Dragonborn Warlock and scholar.

The Campaign is set against the backdrop of Stormreach, the initial adventure centered around the death of an infamous relic trader, something had tunneled its way into his estate from the sewer, killed him and stole a large tablet that had markings of the Draconic Prophecy on it. As the Stormreach Guard does not go below ground, the middle man in the deal between the trader and Hassalac Chaar (though the PCs don't know who its going to yet) gathered this band to see if they couldn't retrieve the fragment of the Prophecy... Dredur for his martial skill and experience in search and rescue ops, Gesh so that the relic can be authenticated when located, and William... well William volunteered.

The perpetrators were kobolds, irvhir, or ones below, who worship the Scar that Abides, the fragment is part of a larger piece of the prophecy that concerns that particular Rajah.

I'll say first and foremost that while it was a pain in the ass learning new rules and cross referencing stuff I actually had a lot of fun preparing for the game. The 4th edition encounter system is more intuitive than the 3.x Encounter Level system and I was able to quickly build encounters with a number of foes, which gave me more time to focus on location (none of the fights simply took place in a nondescript room) and tactics. Even though I had initially balanced everything for a 4 person party it was very simple to alter encounters on the fly.

There were a number of interesting encounters against a large variety of opponents (thanks to that Dragon article expanding the number of available kobolds). Used the new skill challenge system for some negotiations in a homeless shanty town in the sewers to get one of the Fleas (see CoS) to show the party a backway into the ivrhir temple complex. Rounds seemed to swing by lightning fast even though I was using more monsters in encounters than I typically did in 3.X. The players enjoyed themselves and said they actually felt like heroes at 1st level.

I think that the pace of combat will only get faster as we have to stop looking stuff up, also I'll be able to better challenge my players (yeah my kobold pikers on a bridge scenario went astray when my warlord informed me that dwarves don't get pushed 1 square if they don't want to).

All in all we liked it, the action was fast paced, combat was fluid it seemed cinematic. Of course we were joking and mocking the whole time "What its no longer 'Heward's' Handy Haversack? Its not D&D anymore!"*pantomime throwing book over shoulder*

Now I'm not saying 4E is perfect, but it still plays like D&D, and we had fun. The adventure ended in the main hall of worship in the kobold's temple complex, the heroes interupted a sacrifice and narrowly defeated the Wyrmpriest and his minions (though they weren't all minions). This weekend they'll have to make it out of the complex, coming in the back way has left a lot of kobolds wandering around.
#6
igotsmeakabob
Jun 27, 2008 11:40:42 Thanks for the post Nived, good stuff. An enjoyable read. I've played a couple 4th edition games now, none in Eberron (I'm the only person that is really into the setting, the others would play but wouldn't run in it), but its pretty fun. I think I'll end up playing both 3.5 (or Pathfinder when it releases) and 4th.

I wonder if I should post the game I played in.. it isn't Eberron, but I recall it rather well. Think it'd be appropriate?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 igotsmeakabob Jun 16, 2008 11:22:07	Alright, 4th edition has only been out for only a short time, but I know that there must be some of you that have been running it in Eberron. If you'd care to share your 4th edition experiences compared to your 3.5 ones, I think it'd make for some good reading. I've only been able to play in one session of 4th edition so far, and it wasn't even Eberron, heh. It'd be nice to hear the opinions of others.
#2 hobson1975 Jun 26, 2008 13:16:28	I haven't played 4E in eberron myself yet. Just trying to wrap my arms around the rules. Got a guy in my group running us through a 4E FR based adventure. As his adventure winds down, I'll pick up the reins running the group through the initial Eberron published adventures. I'll start them with the mini-adventure in the back of the ECS, then move to Shadows of the Last War and on-ward. I don't see it being a big deal to change the encounters and traps over to 4E-based material at all. I'm pretty excited about it. I've dearly missed Eberron! It's my far my favorite CS!
#3 nymrohd Jun 26, 2008 13:39:10	I'm slowly converting the Eberron Modules to 4E. We never got to play them in 3.5 but I do have them around and I think I can make them very interesting for 4E, especially Whispers.
#4 hobson1975 Jun 27, 2008 0:05:32	Yea completely agree! The story in that first trilogy is just fantastic. Plus I got them really cheap used on-line!
#5 Nived Jun 27, 2008 11:25:36	My group has only one 4th edition game under our belt, last Saturday. I was DMing, the play group included three people (our fourth was MIA). Party consisted of Dredur: Dwarven Warlord, William: Human Cleric of the Host, and Gesh: Dragonborn Warlock and scholar. The Campaign is set against the backdrop of Stormreach, the initial adventure centered around the death of an infamous relic trader, something had tunneled its way into his estate from the sewer, killed him and stole a large tablet that had markings of the Draconic Prophecy on it. As the Stormreach Guard does not go below ground, the middle man in the deal between the trader and Hassalac Chaar (though the PCs don't know who its going to yet) gathered this band to see if they couldn't retrieve the fragment of the Prophecy... Dredur for his martial skill and experience in search and rescue ops, Gesh so that the relic can be authenticated when located, and William... well William volunteered. The perpetrators were kobolds, irvhir, or ones below, who worship the Scar that Abides, the fragment is part of a larger piece of the prophecy that concerns that particular Rajah. I'll say first and foremost that while it was a pain in the ass learning new rules and cross referencing stuff I actually had a lot of fun preparing for the game. The 4th edition encounter system is more intuitive than the 3.x Encounter Level system and I was able to quickly build encounters with a number of foes, which gave me more time to focus on location (none of the fights simply took place in a nondescript room) and tactics. Even though I had initially balanced everything for a 4 person party it was very simple to alter encounters on the fly. There were a number of interesting encounters against a large variety of opponents (thanks to that Dragon article expanding the number of available kobolds). Used the new skill challenge system for some negotiations in a homeless shanty town in the sewers to get one of the Fleas (see CoS) to show the party a backway into the ivrhir temple complex. Rounds seemed to swing by lightning fast even though I was using more monsters in encounters than I typically did in 3.X. The players enjoyed themselves and said they actually felt like heroes at 1st level. I think that the pace of combat will only get faster as we have to stop looking stuff up, also I'll be able to better challenge my players (yeah my kobold pikers on a bridge scenario went astray when my warlord informed me that dwarves don't get pushed 1 square if they don't want to). All in all we liked it, the action was fast paced, combat was fluid it seemed cinematic. Of course we were joking and mocking the whole time "What its no longer 'Heward's' Handy Haversack? Its not D&D anymore!"pantomime throwing book over shoulder Now I'm not saying 4E is perfect, but it still plays like D&D, and we had fun. The adventure ended in the main hall of worship in the kobold's temple complex, the heroes interupted a sacrifice and narrowly defeated the Wyrmpriest and his minions (though they weren't all minions). This weekend they'll have to make it out of the complex, coming in the back way has left a lot of kobolds wandering around.
#6 igotsmeakabob Jun 27, 2008 11:40:42	Thanks for the post Nived, good stuff. An enjoyable read. I've played a couple 4th edition games now, none in Eberron (I'm the only person that is really into the setting, the others would play but wouldn't run in it), but its pretty fun. I think I'll end up playing both 3.5 (or Pathfinder when it releases) and 4th. I wonder if I should post the game I played in.. it isn't Eberron, but I recall it rather well. Think it'd be appropriate?