Play heroes in tactical fantasy battles with defined roles, powers each round, and careful use of a battle map.
From 27 firsthand play reports in 5 r/rpg threads. The threads alone average 6.5.
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174 r/rpg posts named it, October 2023 to October 2026.
Heavy. Hype 3.9 for its age.
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Players who ran 4e describe a grid-based tactical game built around roles and powers. Most who played it enjoyed the combat, though opinions split on how long fights run and how rigid the power structure feels. Firsthand reports come from about 27 commenters across five threads, with a lot of edition-war chatter left out.
Each thread is rated for the play it describes, from the firsthand reports in it. Load one here or read it on Reddit.
People who played 4e describe tactically rich, well-structured combat that works well for one-shots, and some prefer it to PF2e. Others report slow combat, bland core powers, a steep system-mastery gap between builds, and thin VTT support. The thread is partly about successors like PF2e, Lancer, ICON and 13th Age, and those comments were ignored. 9 firsthand · 239 comments
People who actually played 4e mostly report fun, tactical campaigns and an easy on-ramp for new players. A minority bounced off the grid-heavy, power-based design, found it confusing, or disliked its video-game feel. Much of the thread is edition-war commentary, Draw Steel and Pathfinder talk, and speculation from people who didn't play, which I ignored. 9 firsthand · 270 comments
The thread is mostly about the 5e hacks and the history and design of 4e, with few real table reports. The few commenters who seem to have played 4e call it fun, balanced and tactically deep, with minor complaints about tracking and character-sheet tooling. 4 firsthand · 402 comments
The thread is mostly a debate about the 'everyone is a caster' criticism and about design in other games (Draw Steel, Daggerheart, PF2e, 5e, 3.5e). The few firsthand 4e reports are mixed: some enjoyed it, especially at levels 1-10, while one group tried it and went back to 3.5e. 4 firsthand · 443 comments
The thread is mostly about Pathfinder 2e, Trespasser and 4e's business history, so almost none of it is firsthand 4e play. The one real play report comes from a GM who loves 4e and runs a heavily homebrewed version. The OP's comments about fixing the math and the changing monster design are reading and analysis impressions, not table reports. 1 firsthand · 264 comments