kwagamon said:
While you can still roleplay freely, there is little mechanical support for it.
Funny enough, I'd say that's its distinct advantage over something like 3.5 D&D. It always annoyed me that you had to waste points in taking Craft (whatever) to justify your character being some sort of profession. Just what about crafting swords is heroic in any way, shape or form? It's a day job, that's it! If I want to say my dwarf was a blacksmith and constructs his own weapons because of it, why should I have to waste skill points that could go into something useful for actual adventuring?
4.0 frees up roleplaying by making all the mechanics central to what needs to be regulated the most: combat. Why should Wizards of the Coast have any say as to how I roleplay in my game? They don't and they finally recognized that they were trying to regulate it. So, they decided to make all spells and abilities combat oriented and then put in rituals for out of combat functionality and roleplaying if you so choose. Heck, they even said that when purchasing equipment, you can make up
how you got it (self-constructed vs buying it from a shop owner) so long as the same amount of GP is subtracted. (for either materials needed, labour or just a flat out price tag) I think this flows better with roleplaying, leaving it a completely seperate part to the rules of combat as it should be. Granted, they still leave holes in combat to allow for roleplaying, but it is still, for the most part, completely seperate.
