Friday, November 4, 2011

1st Edition Ish - Part Two

I stumbled upon a comment that I'd made to some friends in an email, which I'll also post here, slightly edited, because it still resonates with me now - and it's a good follow up to my comments earlier:

A confession here:  although it's true that I do dislike the absence of "true" (i.e. 3.x edition) multi-classing in 4th edition, I never actually got to DO that.  I only ever played 1st edition multi-class characters, and I think just one - a Wood Elf Druid/Thief.  The closest thing after that (and it doesn't really count) was a 2nd Edition Bard with the Swashbuckler kit, one of my all-time favorites.  Other than that, I only played single-class characters.  I wanted to do true multi-classing, but when it finally came around, I just wasn't playing all that much. 
For the record, I'm actually okay with multi-classing in 4th,  I just hate that they call it multi-classing.  I'd be happier with "dabbling" or "borrowing" or something equivalent.   It's one of my pet peeves with the current game system - the ever-present misnomers. When the effects of Two-Weapon "Eviscerate" last about a round or so, that just makes my head explode.  I have no problem with the exploit as written, just don't call it that.  It sounds like they are marketing to junior-high kids - "Look, Dad, I can do this really cool thing!!!"  Though I suppose that's exactly what they are doing. 
Meanwhile, Dad, the 1st Ed player, steps into the backyard and has a good cry.  After a while, his neighbor sticks his head over the fence.  "Kid playing 4th again?"  Dad doesn't say anything.  He just sniffles once or twice and goes quiet.  It's okay.  He and his neighbor have been buddies for a long time.

I have only one thing to say to the many, many watered-down, grossly misnamed Awesomely Awesome Power powers out there.

Save or die.