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D&D 4th Edition ‘almost broke’ legendary writer R.A. Salvatore
(www.polygon.com)
Click bait title.
I wasn't sure whether to use Polygon's title verbatim or take the risk of changing it - I think the interesting angle is that people are still talking about 4e.
4e has seen a resurgence among a huge segment of the playerbase that is unsatisfied with 5e's shallowness.
Although I reckon the vast majority of those have never actually played 4e, and only like the romanticization/nostalgic idea of how 4e played. Happens all the time with the gaming community, both tabletop and videogames.
I'll admit - I always liked the concept of it. I read it as a game that tried to ensure that every character class had something/a role in combat (or conflict). That was clever. However, it didn't always quite work. My first time through, I played a Warlord but with a too small group there wasn't any real way I could help move, buff or otherwise help allies so I just felt like a naff fighter.
Yeah, kinda.
For anyone who wants to skip the article--which is really just a fluff piece interview with Salvatore--this is the rest of the quote.
“That’s been one of the toughest parts,” Salvatore told Polygon in a Zoom interview. “4th Edition D&D almost broke me, not because I didn’t like 4th Edition D&D. I’m not making any judgments – positive or negative – on any of the editions, but the changes were so sweeping.”
He tries to put things from the games into his books and it's hard to do when things change drastically, so he just sorta fudges it.
I mean, that was essentially the point of the spell plague. It was just a cataclysm to explain why mechanics were so different due to 4e. It's basically like in comics when they want to reboot they do a big cataclysm to justify resetting
If it has broke in the headline it's clickbait, no matter the product. I fucking hate it.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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