Matt Stevens ([info]kent_allard_jr) wrote,
@ 2008-04-16 15:05:00
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Fourth Edition D&D Tea Reading, Plus Geek v Nerd
D&D lovers will definitely want to check out the latest Wizards offering, which has a complete schedule for power acquisition! It looks like the number of "At Will" powers remains constant at all levels, while Encounter, Daily and "Utility" powers increase with experience: You get one in each category every 4th or 6th level, plus "paragon" powers at 11th, 12th and 20th and an "epic destiny" power at 26th. The lack of a clear progression is kind of annoying, but it means you get some goodies with almost every level, which is nice.

Meanwhile, I checked out the etymologies of geek and nerd over at dictionary.com, and at Mirriam-Webster as well. They seem to have evolved into more or less the same term, but their origins are far different: "geek" seems to come from the German word for "fool" by way of carnival slang, while "nerd" was apparently invented out of whole cloth by Dr. Seuss. Hats off to Mr. Geisel!

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[info]trinityvixen
2008-04-16 07:50 pm UTC (link)
Far as I ever understood the terms, nerds referred to people with specifically academic focus to their obsessions and geeks were just people who got freakish about loving certain other things. Hence, the math team is populated by nerds, a comic book store tends to attract geeks. The fact that you can be a geekish nerd or a nerdy geek confuses matters, but there are plenty of nerds who'd be lost at a convention and plenty of geeks who don't know their way around physics.

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[info]hslayer
2008-04-16 08:09 pm UTC (link)
Indeed. But I think it's only those of us who ARE one or the other (or both) who are willing or even able to grok such subtleties. The average d-bag on the street can't tell science from science fiction; he sure as hell can't tell a science nerd from a sci-fi geek, or get that you can be either one but not the other.

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[info]mnemex
2008-04-16 08:39 pm UTC (link)
Every level, I think.

We don't get the exact Feat progression, but I'd guess it to be ever level ending in 1 or an even number (ie. 1,2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11,12,14,16,18,20,21,22,24,26,28,30).

Similarly, it's explicit that you get stat gains at 4th, 8th, 11th, 14th (and presumably 18th, 21st, 24th, and 28th -- every level ending in 1 (except first?) 4, or 8. They seem enamoured of progresseions based on the 1s digit rather than those based on division, probably because of the tiers).

Oddly enough, the levels without a power progression are 4th, 8th, 11th (paragon power only), 12th (paragon power only), 14th, 18th, 20th (paragon power only), 21st, 24th, 28th, and 30th.

So with the exception of 20th and 30th, every level that doesn't include a class power pick involves you getting a feat and a stat gain, which probably makes up for it a bit. (and 20th level gets you the final paragon power from your tree, which is presumably a pretty good bonus, as well as a feat)

30th level is the odd one out -- as far as I can figure it, it doesn't get you any powers, and doesn't get you any stats or paragon powers either -- just a feat! Maybe they figure not that many characters will hit 30th, so pushing too many goodies that high isn't so worthwhile?

/me (despite lackluster academic experience) is clearly a nerd -and- a geek.

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[info]bigscary
2008-04-17 03:34 am UTC (link)
I think 30 is the point at which you achieve you epic destiny, supposedly.

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