Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition - First Glance

I managed to filch myself a copy of the 4th Edition rulebooks of the venerable Dungeons and Dragons game, en route to either buying my own legal copies or shoving it aside as a passing interest. This is intended to be the introduction into a series of posts I'll be making as I slowly wade through all of this new material.

I've been playing this game since it was sold in boxed sets containing softbound booklets and its own dice, so naturally I was curious as to what horrible or beneficial changes they made when they transitioned from the 3rd (or 3.5) version of the game.

Oh, yeah. There were changes. Not as massive or paradigm-changing as, say, the move from 2nd Edition to 3rd. But they're there. And significant enough to see that there is no possibility of a clean conversion of characters from one version to the other.

A quick flip through the sections of the Player's Handbook gives tantalizing hints as to some of the changes. Some of the things I immediately notice:

1. Removal of some core races, and the introduction of new core races. There are more core races than there were previously.
   
2. Removal of some core classes, and the introduction of new core classes. There are less core classes than there were before.
3. Integration of epic levels into the core books.
4. Character abilities are split between powers (which include spells) and feats.
   
5. There are new twists to basic combat, such as being bloodied, or getting healing surges, ongoing damage, a new critical hit system, and minor actions.
6. Miscellaneous equipable items have deliberately been arranged into distinct slots. And there are less slots available than previously.
7. Weapon classifications (called groups) are more important now.
8. Introduction of rituals, and how they are different from spells.

All that from just 5 minutes of browsing. There's a lot of material to cover, which is probably a good thing. I'll probably have a lot to say once I get deeper into the books, so for now, it's time to read (when I can find the time).