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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
4e Essentials as a new edition and 4e's longevity
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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9262694" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>Recently, largely I think thanks to the normally reliable Shannon Applecline, the idea that 4e Essentials should be counted as a separate edition has started to gain traction. I thought I'd have a look into the subsequent published books to see what happened if we treat 4e and Essentials as separate editions.</p><p></p><p>Heroes of Shadow was the first post-Essentials book and is an Essentials supplement. There is material in there that doesn't require HoFL or HoFK such as the Executioner and Vampire but 100% of the subclasses that aren't for new classes reference HoFx and 100% of the powers can be used by Essentials classes with just the books. (It probably didn't help Essentials that the Binder was so obviously terrible and the Executioner, Vampire, and Blackguard were all cool but mechanically way below the curve as was the necromancer and a warpriest domain; it's normally considered the worst 4e splatbook).</p><p></p><p>Heroes of the Feywild is a neutral supplement that spends more time referencing the PHB2 than HoFx. The new barbarian, bard, and druid variants can be used entirely out of HoFx but explicitly reference the PHB2. I don't think there is anything in there that requires either HoFx or one of the PHBs.</p><p></p><p>Heroes of the Elemental Chaos by contrast is a "both" supplement. There's a monk subclass and the Monk isn't in Essentials - and a Hexblade subclass when the Hexblade is only in Essentials.</p><p></p><p>The Dungeon Survival Handbook by contrast is a pure 4e supplement. There are things like Rogue attack powers in there that require a Dragon magazine feat to use with the Thief - and nothing that's explicitly Essentials.</p><p></p><p>Essentials was almost certainly intended as a revamp but fizzled hard enough 4e outlived it. And fizzled hard enough it only got one supplement.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 9262694, member: 87792"] Recently, largely I think thanks to the normally reliable Shannon Applecline, the idea that 4e Essentials should be counted as a separate edition has started to gain traction. I thought I'd have a look into the subsequent published books to see what happened if we treat 4e and Essentials as separate editions. Heroes of Shadow was the first post-Essentials book and is an Essentials supplement. There is material in there that doesn't require HoFL or HoFK such as the Executioner and Vampire but 100% of the subclasses that aren't for new classes reference HoFx and 100% of the powers can be used by Essentials classes with just the books. (It probably didn't help Essentials that the Binder was so obviously terrible and the Executioner, Vampire, and Blackguard were all cool but mechanically way below the curve as was the necromancer and a warpriest domain; it's normally considered the worst 4e splatbook). Heroes of the Feywild is a neutral supplement that spends more time referencing the PHB2 than HoFx. The new barbarian, bard, and druid variants can be used entirely out of HoFx but explicitly reference the PHB2. I don't think there is anything in there that requires either HoFx or one of the PHBs. Heroes of the Elemental Chaos by contrast is a "both" supplement. There's a monk subclass and the Monk isn't in Essentials - and a Hexblade subclass when the Hexblade is only in Essentials. The Dungeon Survival Handbook by contrast is a pure 4e supplement. There are things like Rogue attack powers in there that require a Dragon magazine feat to use with the Thief - and nothing that's explicitly Essentials. Essentials was almost certainly intended as a revamp but fizzled hard enough 4e outlived it. And fizzled hard enough it only got one supplement. [/QUOTE]
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