Tolen Mar
First Post
philreed said:Generating Ability Scores:
Am I missing a section that covers randomly generating ability scores? Step 2 on p. 11 discusses assigning points (which matches p. 17) but then Step 3 on p. 11 reads:
"This step often takes place after you roll the dice in Step 2 . . . "
That's just a typo...even in playtest it was point buy.
In regards to Tokens, Ive said before there are a variety of ways to handle it. For the first few test runs, I used my counters from Risk, each color for a different pool. The downside to that came when I made an armiger/weaponmaster with tactics of the mind and cleave...I started getting my pools jumbled up and took a fair bit of space. So I made a sheet with several columns. In the first column I numbered from 1 to 30 something (whatever the page would hold), the rest of the columns had a place to write in the name of the token pool. I then laminated it, and used dry erase markers, checking in the box for the appropriate number as I went. It instantly became a lot more manageable.
In regards to the large number of tokens when running the game: It isnt as big of a problem as you might think. First of all, none of the core monsters (from say Monster Manual) get tokens. I can't say much about the bestiary (NDA and all), but it shouldnt be a big concern. If you have an effective way to track those pools (like my laminated sheet from above), it doesn't add much time to the fight at all. Just remember that for the most part, only human NPC's will have tokens, and then only those who aren't mooks will have enough tokens to worry about.
And finally, to all those who are worried that all this stunt/challenge/token stuff is going to lengthen combat: It does, a bit. But not much. In fact, we've found that when everyone is having fun using the new rules the game flies by. There's usually a 'cool' factor going when you hear what the other player is doing, and it usually sparks new ideas for when your turn comes around. If you have a good group of players together, the additional time in combat is negligible. If you have totally new players, then you might have a bit longer before you beat the learning curve.
One more thing: (It just keeps going doesnt it? ) Iron Might vs. Iron Lore. They are not the same. Iron Might gave us a version of the stunt rules. I found the stunts there to be less well-defined rules-wise, but they are pretty much the same. However, Iron Heroes (for those who dont yet know) gives you traits, new classes, feat masteries, and so on. Iron Might is primarily a feat book (once you get past the stunt rules), and includes one race. I do not know yet how well they balance together, I haven't had a chance to try any of the feats from Iron Might with Iron Heroes.