Quote from: camazotz;340652Anyway, this guy's #1 problem is that combat almost freezes when it comes ot his turn, in which he spends several minutes calculating his numbers (which is odd, as he used DDI on his laptop).

The DDI Character Builder is the single greatest strength with 4e D&D (IMO, YMMV, etc.).  It separates the chaff from the wheat, so to speak, when it comes to the +1 dudes.  Argh, I hated this in our 3.5 D&D games.  The +1 dude is the guy who rolls for something, misses, and then makes everyone wait while he scours his character sheet or books to squeeze out one or two more bonuses.  Also, he usually announces the extra bonus, which makes the roll successful, after the group moved onto the next player's turn, or the one after the next.  

I love the Character Builder because it lays out the total bonus for attack and damage rolls for each power and basic attacks.  Yes, there are the few odd bonuses that have to be added manually, usually the result of a feat or feature that applies in a very specific situation.  However, this additional calculation on the fly is significantly reduced in 4e D&D over 3.x D&D.

Unsurprisingly, the +1 dude in our group refuses to use the Character Builder and creates and calculates his character manually.

Quote from: Drohem;340671I love the Character Builder because it lays out the total bonus for attack and damage rolls for each power and basic attacks.  

I love it, too, for that reason. I have yet to look anything up during a 4e session.

Seanchai

Quote from: Drohem;340671The DDI Character Builder is the single greatest strength with 4e D&D (IMO, YMMV, etc.).  It separates the chaff from the wheat, so to speak, when it comes to the +1 dudes.  Argh, I hated this in our 3.5 D&D games.  The +1 dude is the guy who rolls for something, misses, and then makes everyone wait while he scours his character sheet or books to squeeze out one or two more bonuses.  Also, he usually announces the extra bonus, which makes the roll successful, after the group moved onto the next player's turn, or the one after the next.  

I love the Character Builder because it lays out the total bonus for attack and damage rolls for each power and basic attacks.  Yes, there are the few odd bonuses that have to be added manually, usually the result of a feat or feature that applies in a very specific situation.  However, this additional calculation on the fly is significantly reduced in 4e D&D over 3.x D&D.

Unsurprisingly, the +1 dude in our group refuses to use the Character Builder and creates and calculates his character manually.

Yeah. I was getting pretty tired of the lengthy scouring process going on, and last session requested everyone procure character sheets/files for me. That's when I discovered the enormous number of special house rules, the 55 character point build and the fact that he had 90,000 GPs worth of additional magic items over his starting and earned alotment. I was...peturbed, to say the least.

My policy is: everyone uses the character builder, no exceptions. If they don't own it, they can borrow mine.

Then I upload all the build files to http://iplay4e.com for maintenance and portability (so that people can download them back out or transfer them from computer to computer if needed).

DDI generally finds all the mistakes. Not that there are that many!

Quote from: Drohem;340671I love the Character Builder because it lays out the total bonus for attack and damage rolls for each power and basic attacks.  Yes, there are the few odd bonuses that have to be added manually, usually the result of a feat or feature that applies in a very specific situation.  However, this additional calculation on the fly is significantly reduced in 4e D&D over 3.x D&D.

In my admittedly limited experience with 4E I found that combat throws out a lot of temporary, situational modifiers (e.g. marking enemies, abilities that grant temporary bonuses or penalies to attack or AC).  I can't see how DDI could help with these, so your +1 guy is going to go through the same spiel whether they use DDI or not...

I also have to say that +1 type play goes back at least to 2nd edition in my experience, probably first, though more commonly only at the higher character levels.

Quote from: The Shaman;340595It's so much better than the passive-aggressive nonsense on other sites.

Oh, and check your Private Message folder, c-zotz.

Agreed.  Here we can punch each other in the face, kick each other in the balls, tell a guy to go fuck his mother, and then in a different thread be entirely civil and on the same side of an argument. Here, we leave the passive out of passive-aggressive, and as a result shit blows over much faster, and you always know where a person is coming from.

Quote from: Joethelawyer;340762Agreed.  Here we can punch each other in the face, kick each other in the balls, tell a guy to go fuck his mother, and then in a different thread be entirely civil and on the same side of an argument. Here, we leave the passive out of passive-aggressive, and as a result shit blows over much faster, and you always know where a person is coming from.

Yeah...it's kind of like in grade school when you would get in a fist fight and bloody eachother's noses, but by the end of the day you are watching cartoons together and talking about your favorite comic books.

I think that violence and aggression can be a form of male bonding.