4th Edition: Return of the Shemps

While tinkering with the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook and putting together a few characters to get a feel for things, I had a startling realization. More than any previous edition of Dungeon & Dragons, 4e is really built around the concept of shemping and flair.

Back in first edition there wasn’t really a lot that differentiated, say, one 5th level fighter from another. Strength bonus, if any, and hit points. Your 7th level magic used varied from my 7th level magic user only in which spells and how many they could cast, and hit points. You get the idea. The differences were minute. They were shemps. The flair came from the personalities we gave them, and from the magic items they carried.

In 2nd edition, I played a lot of clerics because they were the most varied characters in terms of ability options. A priest of this god was wildly different from a priest of that god. The “Complete” books (Complete Ranger, Complete Paladin, Complete Psionicist, etc) gave more options within each class. Characters stopped being shemps, differentiated by flair.

3rd edition was more skill-based, which allowed customization, and had prestige classes. Add in multi-classing and the metric crap-ton of third-party material and you go nuts. There was no excuse to have a shemp player character.

With 4e, it feels like we’re back to the beginning. Truncated skill list. No multiclassing. Specific Paragon Paths. My 13th level elf fighter looks an awful lot like your 13th level elf fighter. They’re shemps, and the flair is the personality you give them and the magic items they get. They really did go back to the well of OD&D in that respect.

Now, this might seem like I’m griping, but I’m not. I’m seeing this as an opportunity. It means I really don’t need to put a lot of effort into building my character. I’ve never been a munchkin, I’ve never been a powergamer, so I’m good with a shemp, because while it doesn’t let me built a mechanically-great character, it makes it hard for me to build a character that sucks, either. For new players, that’s an edge. For people like me, it frees me from having to make system choices and allows me to make character choices — what do I do with these skills and powers that are essentially foisted upon me based on race, class, and level. How am I going to roleplay this person, who isn’t that different from the people around him? That’s an idea I dig. I want to play 4e.