D&D Essentials preview: The rogue

D&D Essentials class previews

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

The last of the four character classes to be revamped in Heroes of the Fallen Lands has been revealed today. The Essential version of the Rogue is known as the Thief (in yet another nod to old school D&D fans), and shares many of the mechanical innovations first seen in the Essential Fighter: a new power progression that lacks dailies and is based on applying modifiers to your basic attacks, and a wider range of class features, some of which are acquired at higher levels. We have been able to catch a glimpse of some of these powers and features, including interesting details such as the rediscovered ability to wield shortbows.

Shortbow rogues like Haley couldn’t easily be implemented in 4E, but Essentials will change that.

Rogue powers

The core of the Essential Rogue gameplay consists in a series of powers that alter basic attacks, resulting in effects that are very similar to those of an at-will attack. This follows a similar principle as the Essentials Fighter, though instead of stances, thieves get Rogue Tricks. These are movement actions that grant some kind of movement and boost your attacks for a turn. You start off with two of these but, unlike at-will attacks from a conventional class, you learn more as you level - and at a faster level than an Essential Fighter, too. So far, we have seen that extra tricks become available at levels 4 and 7, and it’s likely that more will come up at higher tiers.

From the three tricks we have seen, it looks like the attack effects won’t deviate much from existing at-wills. Tumbling Trick is a Cleave-like trick to deal Strength damage to a different adjacent enemy. Ambush Trick is a very welcome addition to the rogue’s arsenal, as provides an easy way to gain combat advantage against isolated enemies at short range. By comparison, Feinting Trick looks quite unimpressive, as it provides a bonus to damage based on your Charisma whenever you lack combat advantage - typically, you’d be better off dealing sneak attack damage with Ambush Trick .

More interesting is the way you can get different types of movement from your tricks: some of them simply let you move your speed, but Tumbling Trick actually allows you to shift 3 squares, which is quite an awesome thing to do at-will. Other powers should do even cooler things, such as “run along a wall or shift past an enemy”. It’s clear that Rogue Tricks have been inspired by the monk’s Full Disciplines, with the advantage that they are much more straightforward and easy to grasp. I really like this new emphasis on mobility for strikers, since it’s a feature of the role which is often forgotten in favour of raw damage.

The existence of Rogue Tricks has serious gameplay implications. First of all, there is a strong incentive for rogues to move before attacking. Each trick has a single movement type, so you’d really want a power selection that includes at least some tricks that shift, and some that move your speed. And your move requirements will influence the kind of attack you end up making. For example, Ambush Trick is an excellent attack but it doesn’t allow to shift, so if you have an enemy adjacent, you can only use it to attack that enemy in melee, sacrificing movement for that turn. It also means that rogues will be seriously hindered by the dazed condition, as it prevents them from activating their tricks.

Then there is the fact that you are actually using basic attacks instead of powers. It is unconfirmed, though extremely likely, that the first level class feature Weapon Finesse allows the use of Dexterity for melee basic attacks with light weapons. This means you can charge, make opportunity attacks and benefit from other kinds of effects that provide basic attacks without needing to take the Melee Training feat. However, all of these abilities may not be available from level 1 - there is another feature called Improved Finesse at level 9, so it’s possible that Weapon Finesse only works for attacks made during your turn, and Improved Finesse unlocks the rest. Anyway, Melee Training is a great feat to have for free, even by installments, and it only gets better when your basic attacks can benefit from Rogue Tricks and other class features. Also, you should keep in mind that Dexterity is now an option but no longer a requirement, and that you can have melee rogues attacking with Strength out of the box, or even with other abilities like Charisma, if you do take Melee Training after all.

As with fighters, rogues also have some special rules replacing encounter attacks. Instead of a choice of encounter powers, they get a power called Backstab at level 1, which can be used once per encounter when you have combat advantage and activates before rolling for an attack. It grants a hefty bonus to hit plus some damage, in addition to the effects you may have gained from a Rogue Trick. It is simple yet effective, easily outperforming most average rogue encounters (though not the best ones). Another difference with conventional classes is that they don’t seem to gain additional encounter attacks at levels 3 and 7. However, there is a feature called Improved Backstab, which should provide additional uses of Backstab in some way, maybe through a recharge mechanic.

Rogue weaponry

A defining quality of the Rogue class is their favoured weaponry, as they excel in the use of light weapons that other characters would dismiss due to their low damage. In game terms, this means that most rogue powers and special abilities specifically restrict the weapons they work with, as otherwise most players would go for the less elegant but far more deadly strategy of backstabbing with greataxes. The Essential Rogue handles this a bit differently.

None of the ‘attacks’ (that is, Rogue Tricks or Backstab) have any kind of weapon restriction. Rogues are only limited by their weapon proficiencies and the Sneak Attack feature. These have suffered slight changes, in that Shuriken proficiency has disappeared (not that many characters ever used them), seemingly replaced by shortbows, which make a triumphal comeback to the class. Another subtle difference is that Sneak Attack now works specifically with Hand Crossbows, instead of crossbows of any kind, as Superior Crossbows were excellent (if un-roguish) the weapon of choice of many sniper characters.

What this means for the Essentials rogue is that you can actually use a greataxe to Backstab, after all - it’s only the Sneak Attack (and probably Weapon Finesse) that won’t work. In practice, you’ll always want to Sneak Attack when possible, even with a measly dagger, but it would be possible to take a massive weapon (a Greatbow at range, or a Fullblade in melee if you are a Strength rogue or have Weapon Training) for backup. Feinting Trick could be a particularly interesting trick for these situations.

More changes

Other tidbits that I have collected from the preview article and forum posts are the following:
- Sneak Attack now works 1/turn instead of 1/round, meaning that rogues can have huge opportunity attacks, as well as becoming a Warlord’s best friend. Designer Mike Mearls has confirmed this as intended and will also apply to non-Essentials rogues, but other classes such as Warlocks and Rangers will NOT be getting a similar treatment.
- Feats and items that provide huge boosts to basic attacks (such as Deft Blade, from Martial Power 2, or Eagle Eye Googles, from Adventurer’s Vault) are being looked at for future errata, as they interact insanely with Essentials classes (as well as Seekers, though nobody cares about those).
- Class features include versions of First Strike (available at level 1) and Weapon Talent (at level 2), presumably granting similar benefits as the features of the same name for conventional rogues.
- Among the new class features are Skill Mastery (gained at level 3), Cunning Escape (level 5), and Combat Readiness (level 9).

Conclusion

Although Essentials rogues look as weird as the new Fighters, they seem a bit cooler to me. This may be in part because the Fighter preview was missing many important features (including the mark punishment), so we don’t really know how it will play out. In the case of the rogue, even though it still isn’t complete, the previewed rules are enough to build a playable character - and it looks like such character could be quite a blast to play. In addition, Rogue Tricks look more interesting than stances, offering variety, mobility, and a few strategic dilemmas. Overall, this is a class I’m looking forward to play.

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

Read More......

D&D Essentials preview: The fighter

D&D Essentials class previews

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

So we finally get to see the class preview for the Essentials Fighter (for more info about Essentials, check out previous articles) and, man does it bring surprises! For all the forum uproar they caused, the essentialized Cleric and Wizard were little more (and little less) than your regular 4E class build with a few simplified decisions, and a higher level class feature or two, to throw us off-balance. Remember all the talk about classes with different levels of complexity, shaking up the Encounter/Daily power system, and the like? It all makes sense when you see this Fighter. Also, it’s a good thing we were shown the “normal” classes in Essentials first, as this one is nothing but shocking! Let’s see why...

This isn't actually from Essentials, but it needed to go here.

The Essentials Fighter is perhaps the most radical departure from the basic 4E class framework to date. Forget about psionics and powerpoints - these were bold, and cute, and slightly broken, but at the end of the day you still have conventional at-will and encounter powers, even if you got some added flexibility in using them, and a few restrictions in taking them. This Fighter is made of different stuff. Consider the following paragraph from the preview:

“Basic Attacks: As a fighter, you make most of your attacks using basic attacks. Some classes rely primarily on class-specific attack powers, whereas you typically make basic attacks enhanced by your fighter stances and other class features and powers.”

Anyone remember the older editions of the game, where a fighter’s shtick was to hit the monsters with his standard attack, turn after turn? I sure do,and it was kind of monotonous, and boring, and not that strong compared of what the fancier classes could get... but wasn’t D&D 4E suppossed to bring the end of this mindless spamming? I get that they wanted a straightforward experience, but how can “Basic Attack every turn” become a compelling strategy with a minimum of variety?

Stances instead of At-Will Attacks

From what we have seen, the new fighter gets no attack powers. At least, not attacks as we are used to, with Attack and Hit lines. Just the good old Basic Attack. But do get something to emulate the effect of other classes’ at-will attacks, in the form of at-will stances. Conveniently, a first level fighter gets 2 of these stances (but more on this later), which add modifiers and special riders to all melee basic attacks. This way, instead of, for example, an at-will that adds extra damage, there would be a stance that boosts the damage of all basic attacks.

So far, we have a full writeup of two of these stances in the preview, and the name and general effect of a third. Battle Wrath is your straightforward offensive power, providing a flat bonus to damage that is decent at low levels, though it doesn’t seem to scale properly for higher tiers, unless we are missing something (and we probably are). Cleaving Assault deals damage to other adjacent enemies, as could be expected - a well-known mechanic for fighter players. Finally, Measured Cut seems to provide free movement (likely shifts) with your attacks. Overall, it looks like a fighter using these stances would perform very much like the current ones.

Nevertheless, this system has serious implications. The most obvious is that it feels different, and probably easier to swallow for players of previous editions. I’m perfectly fine with martial characters getting a series of powers that might resemble a spell list, but I’m also aware that this was a shock for some D&D players when 4E was released - making the game less enjoyable for them. On the other hand, a fighter applying modifiers to the standard attack does have precedent in previous editions, and thus looks more familiar.

But this is not just directed to veteran players. This kind of at-wills also has subtle advantages compared to the 4E default, for someone completely new to the game, or who just wants a simpler game experience. Because a stance effect lasts until you turn it off or switch to a different stance, a fighter player would no longer need to choose and declare a specific power each turn. Just saying “I hit the monster with my sword” works just fine. Of course, sometimes it would be preferable to change stances, from a strategic point of view, but you now have a decent default in case you don’t want to think too hard about it.

And I know, from experience, that this kind of things can be useful. There’s a player in our campaign that has been in the party since the beginning (almost two years, now), but who nevertheless doesn’t care much for the mechanical details - she’s just there for the company and the laughs. So, more often than not, when her turn comes, she points to a monster and throws the dice, while shouting “Attaaack!”. Which, of course, isn’t of much help when nobody knows exactly what kind of attack she intended to make - and deciding after everything has been rolled is kind of awkward, so we end up asking her to specify the power and reroll. All of this has happened before, and it will happen again. Well, guess what? The Essential fighter works just fine for this kind of players. And not just because of the at-wills.

Power Strike instead of Encounters

Not content with overhauling the at-will attack mechanics, this version of the fighter also features a twist on encounter attacks. It’s clear that many details escape us at the moment, but one thing is for sure: there are no encounter attacks, only Power Strike.

Power Strike

Encounter

Free Action

Trigger: You hit an enemy with a melee basic attack using a weapon.

Effect: The target takes 1[W] extra damage from the triggering attack.

The At-Will stances described above didn’t bring that much simplification in character building or game strategy, as you still had a similar number of slots to fill, and of decisions to make each turn. Power Strike is a different beast, entirely replacing a whole category of powers with a straightforward effect. Your encounter power will always be a plain 2[W] attack, easy enough.

Except that it isn’t just that. To begin with, Power Strike is triggered when you hit, so you don’t have to declare it beforehand. Not only is this much more friendly for non-hardcore players, who no longer need to think much before taking an action, but it’s also deceivingly strong. Our simple 2[W] encounter now works as if it had the reliable keyword, becoming a much more potent choice. Moreover, you are still making a basic attack with whatever stance you had active, so any riders of your pseudo-at-will power will also apply. Add to this the fact that it can trigger on opportunity attacks or charges, and our easy-mode encounter replacement doesn’t look so harmless, anymore!

One of the greatest mysteries of Power Strike is how it will advance as you level up. From the Knight advancement table, we see that at level 3 there is a feature called Improved power strike, which likely grants an extra use of the power, or something like that. And, though we lack information on those levels, I’d bet that the extra [W] damage increases at paragon and epic. But the thing that throws me off guard is the fact that there’s nothing like “More Improved Power Strike” at level 7! So you don’t necessarily get up to 3 uses of this, as other classes gain 3 encounter attacks. I wonder how that will work out? Maybe the level 3 feature isn’t a straight second use, and grants you some kind of recharge mechanic instead.

Also, it remains to be seen if we will be able to customize Power Strike through feats or class features. It would be a cool way to emulate the choice of different encounter attacks, but it might also rise the complexity to unacceptable levels (and I’m not just talking about beginner players, here). Again, this preview leaves us with many, many questions.

No dailies, lots of mysterious features

Speaking of questions, the advancement table shows a huge number of class features we still know nothing about. And, unlike with wizards and clerics, we can expect these to be very juicy, strong features, because Essential Fighters do not get Daily Powers. This had been anticipated, but I somehow expected there would be some kind of daily-like mechanic to boost powers, in fact very much like Power Strike. However, none of the features in the table looks like a clear match for that mechanic, so we might end up with something completely different.

At level 1, there are a whopping 4 class features (apart from stances and Power Strike), of which only one appears in the preview. Called Defender Aura, it seems like an interesting twist on the marking mechanic, without all the hassle of inflicting a condition on the enemy. Basically, any enemy adjacent to a fighter takes penalties to attack as if he were marked by him. This is worded so that it doesn’t stack or interfere with marks, suggesting that Essential defenders will probably not mark enemies. It looks like a fine mechanic, but it’s hard to say how effective it will be without knowing about the punishment mechanics.

The remaining level 1 features are Weapon Talent (no idea if it will picking the features with the same name from previous books), Battle Guardian, and Shield Finesse. Battle Guardian looks like the defender punishment, and Shield Finesse seems to be a knight-specific defensive feature. Note that none of these sound like a pseudo-daily feature.

As with other Essentials classes, you gain more features at higher levels. Level 4 brings Combat Readiness, which sounds like something related to Opportunity Attacks, and level 9 has Improved Combat Readiness (again, not daily-like at all). Level 5 has Weapon Mastery, and Level 7 Weapon Specialization. These could all be predefined features, but I expect at least a few of them to offer some choices down the line, to make up for the loss of different encounter and daily powers. Finally, there’s something called Shield Block at level 8.

Something remarkable in this list of features is the one you get at level 7: Extra Fighter Stance. This means that fighters get a third at-will as they level up, and potentially even more at higher tiers.

Conclusion

This preview leaves us with a good impression of what the new fighter is not like (i.e, 4E classes as we know it). However, there are enough gaps to make it almost impossible to guess what it will be like in play. It certainly might end up with a ridiculously low number of options to build and fight, but there’s also potential for a class even more complex than psionic ones (even if I’m almost certain that they won’t go that route). The not-quite-a-mark could be as good as Combat Challenge (which is to say, really good), or almost useless, for all we know (again, I doubt that will be the case). And the balance against classes with encounters and dailies? Your guess is as good as mine - personally, I think there are a LOT of things that could go wrong, but have faith in the game developers, psionic classes notwithstanding.

There is one final point of concern, though. There is an impressive amount of feats and enchantments in the game that can improve a character’s basic attacks, to the point that it is possible to build PCs with basics that outperform their at-wills, or even their encounters. This is worrying by itself (and in fact I was thinking on writing about it some day), but could become disastrous in combination with a class like this warrior that is completely based on souped-up basic attacks. I don’t think it’s possible to implement a fighter that is balanced both with and without these items, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find a massive errata following the release of Essentials.

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

Read More......

D&D Essentials Wizard: Schools of magic, free Magic Missile, Spellbooks with Encounters

D&D Essentials class previews

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

It’s time for another preview of the new class builds that will be included in the Essentials book Heroes of the Fallen Lands. Today it’s the wizard’s turn, and we get to see the overview of the new builds, the heroic advancement table and, unlike the cleric preview, even some of the at-wills. For a general look at the Essentials line information we have seen so far, you can check out my post from last week.

The preview starts with developer Bill Slavicsec goin out of his way to explain that, really, Essentials is not a stealth edition change, and that Essentials material can be played along with PHB material, and PHB material can be played along with Essentials as well, and whatever they release in the future will play just fine with boty PHB and Essentials. I’m sure that the 4.5 doomsayers will still find a way to read this as the end of the world (and the edition!), but it does look like the guys at Wizards of the Coast have no interest at all in repeating the PR fiasco of the 3.5 edition reset.

Anyway, on to the juicy bits...

Bill Slavicsek goes out of his way to explain that, really, Essentials is not a stealth change of edition, and Essentials material can be played along with PHB material, and PHB material can be played along with Essentials as well, and whatever they release in the future will play just fine with both PHB and Essentials. I’m sure that the 4.5 doomsayers will still find a way to read this as the end of the world (and the edition!), but I’d say the guys at Wizards of the Coast have no interest at all in repeating the PR fiasco ot the 3.5 edition reset.

Anyway, on to the juicy bits... the Essentials build for the Wizard is called the Mage, and it has an undeniable old school flavor. To begin with, schools of magic are back, as is specialization, and there are three sub-builds for wizards that choose to focus on either Evocation, Enchantment, or Illusion. As with all Essentials classes, Wizards have their own advancement table, with new class features to be gained as they level up. The table also specifies the required experience points for each level, as well as the feats and powers gained, which further contributes to the nostalgic feeling, even though they are all pretty much the same as the general 4E character advancement. Not only that, but you also get a table listing the spells you can prepare each day on your Spellbook for each level, which will also appeal to old timers but doesn’t actually deviate one comma from how it worked in Player’s Handbook.

But old schoolers aren’t the only intended audience for Essentials - according to the previews we have seen so far, they aren’t even the top priority. That honor goes to newer, unexperienced players, for whom the character creation process has supposedly been streamlined. How does that work out? We still have only a fraction of the class description that will be in the book, and the rules framework remains pretty much the same, but some improvements in presentation can be appreciated. I think that the class personality, as well as their place in the world, are better portrayed here than in previous books. You get just enough background to know what wizards and their schools are about, without getting to the point where you want to skip the blocks of text (and I’m not particularly tolerant, in that regard!). Brief paragraphs explaining flavor and function precede not only class features, but also (in an unprecedented and welcome move) powers.

Interestingly, only a brief mention is dedicated to the controller role, and the description of each build focuses more on the look and feel (evokers are all explosions and destruction, enchanters lack damage but disorient or control enemies) than their strategic contribution to a party. Players accustomed to 4E should still be able to figure out that evocation has a bit of Striker and enchantment is more pure Controller, whereas someone new to the game would probably know this intuitively, even if he couldn’t associate it with these words. Anyway, even if a player knows absolutely nothing about the rules, I think these descriptions provide sufficient material to choose a build or power just by how it looks.

To conclude, here’s a quick rundown of the mechanical details for the new wizard:

- Intelligence is still the primary ability score. There are three secondary abilities, and my guess is that they match the different specializations as follows: Constitution for Evocation, Wisdom for Illusion, and Charisma for Evocation.
- The Spellbook class feature now also lets you store multiple encounter powers. Apart from that, it works as before, except that the part about rituals has been cut. There seem to be no rituals in Essentials.
- Wizards still get Cantrips, though it remains to be seen whether they are the same ones as in PHB or not.
- Each mage chooses one school of magic to specialize on, and it determines a series of features to be gained at levels 1, 4,5,8 and 10. At least one of these features (likely the one for level 1) boosts spells related to the chosen school. It’s likely that several of the higher level features provide out of combat functionality that would otherwise be handled by rituals.
- Magic Missile is given for free as a class feature. It has the same text we could see in this month’s Errata, except that the Evocation keyword has been added. I wonder if more old spells will be updated to receive additional keywords for different schools.
- Three more at-wills are shown, for different schools of magic. I think there should be a total of 6 at-wills 2 for each school. We have Arc Lightning, which is a clone of the Invoker's Divine Bolts (pretty cool), Beguiling Strands, which is a less damaging version of Thunderwave with a larger, friendly area and no reliance on Wisdom, and Hypnotism, which can either force an enemy to attack your target of choice, or slide it a bunch of squares.
- Effects that would usually depend on secondary abilities in at-wills now have fixed values. This is likely intended to simplify character creation.

Overall, this looks very similar to the classic 4E wizard. The powers look cool and effective, and not different from the ones we would expect from any other book. In particular, they seem to be well balanced with existing stuff. As for the features, we’ll have to wait until we know more details, but I can’t help the impression that you get a bit more than a regular wizard - not that it was difficult, since PHB wizards got almost nothing in the way of features, anyway. However, the emphasis on benefits affecting a limited set of powers, and pseudo-ritual effects could mean that there’s still room for the original wizard builds - it’s still too early to know. The Spellbook improvements are completely awesome, though, even if they probably don’t affect a character’s effectivenes by much. Spellbooks easily make Wizards the most complex class in Essentials, even if you can easily ignore the feature (as the players in my campaign do) without a significant loss.

So far, so good. I’m still looking forward to the new books. Only a couple of months to go...

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

Read More......

D&D Essentials class preview: The Cleric

D&D Essentials class previews

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

The previews for D&D Essentials continue, and today we get our first glimpse at the new class mechanics. The developers start by explaining their design goals and philosophy (there is a HUGE emphasis on compatibility with existing products, as well as providing compelling decisions, even for new players), and then show us the crunchy bits. I highly recommend taking a look (no subscription is required), but you can see the highlights below.

This is what we know about new classes in general:

- 8 Existing classes will be getting 2 new builds. They will be divided among 2 books: Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms

- New builds will share some elements with current classes (features, powers, feats), but also have some exclusive features and powers.

- Each class has its own advancement table. Nevertheless, the basic structure (what you get at each level) remains pretty much the same, with just a few additions or changes.

- Classes can now gain additional features while levelling up. In the cleric preview, there are fixed features at levels 4 and 8, and build-dependent features at levels 5 and 10. Some of these seem to overlap with what you could already do with the Ritual system.

- There will be classes with different levels of complexity.

- The previously announced removal of daily powers will only affect certain classes.

- This design philosophy will be applied to all future 4E classes (and presumably builds).

Also, though not a class-related item, flexible racial stat modifiers like the ones in Player's Handbook 3 are confirmed in.

As for the Essentials Cleric, the preview covered the following:

- There is a new subtype of cleric, called Warpriest, which can be further divided into two builds. Each build is associated with a domain and it's corresponding gods - there is the Sun Domain and the Storm Domain.

- The Warpriest is a cleric that focuses on Wisdom-based weapon attacks. Proficient with heavy shields.

- The choice of Domain determines certain class features, at-will attacks, and encounters. In theory, you could take generic cleric encounters, but using domain-appropiate powers grants you bonuses; this sounds just like build-specific encounters work currently.

- Storm Domain specializes in offensive attacks, and weakening enemy defenses. Likewise, Sun Domain emphasizes protection and hindering their foes' attacks.

- Some class features appear as the character levels up. Clerics get "Holy Cleansing" and "Resurrection" at levels 4 and 8, and unspecified domain features at levels 5 and 10. This strongly suggests that the Essentials line might have no rituals, and use features instead, since raising the dead was previously handled by rituals.

- Essential clerics do get daily powers, and suffer no restriction whatsoever to that choice from their domain.

- Healing Word remains the same, and there is still Channel Divinity, but the choice of powers has changed: Smite Undead (a weapon-based undead killing attack) replaces Turn Undead, and the second power is Domain-dependant. Healer's Lore is gone.

- None of the new powers or features have been shown.

On a related note, two new builds for the Fighter have been revealed: the Slayer (two-handed weapon user with a touch of striker) and the Knight (entirely focused on defense).

It's still early to know how these new classes will behave in play. What we can tell, though, is that the mechanics will present a good deal of innovation, but the core of the game remains mostly intact. Also, from what I have seen, the compatibility with previous books has not been compromised in a significant way. We could still find out that the actual powers and feats arent' all that good, or that they destroy game balance as we know it, but somehow I doubt it. It looks like the books will be well worth the investment, for veterans and new players alike.

Introduction
Cleric - Fighter (Knight) - Fighter (Slayer) - Rogue -Wizard
Druid - Paladin Ranger (Hunter) Ranger (Scout) - Warlock

Read More......