What features do most people use?

Does everyone here use all the features of FG to run a 4e encounter?

For example, does everyone drop their dice on the tokens and let the system handle the mechanics or do many people just use the modifier box and the dice alone?

I've been playing with the combat system for a while and I'm not sure if I really need to use all those features. I can see how they speed up the encounter, but I can think of a few situations where using the system might make things more difficult.


Thanks

When my group started using FG2 for 4e a few months after 4e came out we would be lucky to get 2 encounters completed in a 6 hour period. This is mainly due to the intense number of effects to track in our heads and the time it took for data entry of dmg and healing. However, we wanted to play across state lines and we stuck with it. Now with the upgrades and more familiarity with the system we easily get three paragon encounters finished in 5 hours and all the role-playing in between.

As a player I cannot speak for all of the features but dropping effects that remove themselves and the new dropable heals make the game so much smoother that no one even tries to multi-task anymore. The rounds just go a lot faster so it is easy to get caught up in the action. I honestly think that trying to play 4e with minis and paper at this point would seem painfully slow to me.

Hope that helps.

/function

I love the automation features, like targeting, effects, and so on. Our group uses them heavily and compared to tabletop, those features speed up our games and allow us to concentrate on the fun, non-mechanical aspects. Nothing sucks more than manually keeping track of a dozen NPC's states.

But I'm a programmer by hobby and profession, so the automation mechanics all make simple sense to me. And several of my players understand them just fine as well. But one or two aren't experienced with this sort of thing and for them it's somewhat of a burden because they need reminders from other players about how this or that works and there's always the unspoken pressure from those who do understand it. However, keeping track of all that stuff manually is arguably a bigger pain in the ***.

I pretty much use all the automation features available within 4E, no surprise there ;).

For me and my groups speed of play is nearly as important as having fun and I for one do not enjoy games that turn out to be too slow to play because of complex rules.

I like RPGs because of the story telling and role playing aspects, not the mechanics or the managing of the plethora of dice rolls, conditional checks, ongoing effects, etc. etc.

The thought of running 4E encounters manually, particularly at higher levels, makes me cringe.

I highly recommend using the automation... allowing players to target (thereby automating attack rolls and damage rolls) and drop effects on their foes really speeds up the mechanical aspects of play. Additionally, if the effects are built correctly into powers to start with, they'll even drop off automatically at the appropriate point in the combat tracker, or on a save.

What's even better, is that anything can be manually edited if there was an error made (the number of times I've accidentally targeted an ally with an attack after targeting them for healing because I forget to clear my targets!), or can still be done manually on request if there's concern the automation isn't calculating it right.

Some things like half damage on a miss, do need to be done manually anyway, as it falls outside of run of the mill mechanics.

And stuff like targeted effects (+2 defense to attacks from only that target for example), I'm only just starting to get my head around. So probably worth tracking those manually if you're unsure, and learn how to use them once you've mastered the basics.

There is certainly a learning curve to start with... but as I'll hopefully be playing in your campaign Demogorgon, I'm happy to help teach those new to FG.

Yes as others have stated, now that I have gotten used to using the automated features during combat, I could never go back. It is so nice to be able to concentrate on having fun rather than keeping track of a million details in your head and usually forgetting half of them in the end anyway.

"Oh crap! You forgot to save last round!"

"Ah, we forgot to roll for poison damage on the goblin"

"Hey how many rounds has it been since you cast that buff?"

The automated features take care of all of these and much more. And the great thing about FG is that you can still be together in person with all your friends on game night and continue to take advantage of these awesome features as long as you all have laptops.

I am pretty much with everyone else... I use everything I have an understanding of and knowledge of. The only real problem I have is finding and knowing how to use all the awesome features available to us! :D