Alignment/Multiclassing/DM Screen/Power Source From I-Con

Leatherhead · Apr 7, 2008

MaelStorm said:
And probably Ki will be the eighth one.

I believe Ki will be the more supernatural part of the Martial power source.

malraux · Apr 7, 2008

Baron Opal said:
I have a vague feeling that artifice will either be one of those in the lost 10%, perhaps detailing one class, or it will be covered by a third party. And, it will only be covered in the PHB3 or 4, so it's going to be a long time before it is available.

The only thing working against that in my mind is Eberron. While they have a class called artificer it is a more of a variant wizard (a Verditius, if you will) in my mind. I would like more of a clockwork / alchemy theme. But, with the presence of Eberron and that they are going to promote it heavily they just might make the "artifice" power source a possibillity.

If artifice were to be a power source at all, it probably would be eberron specific. That said, the major shtick of the artificer is that he sits outside the normal rules for magic, so I could see them having the artificer sit outside the normal rules for powers in 4e. Perhaps the artificer's shtick in 4e will be the ability to pull powers from multiple power sources (divine, arcane, psionic, etc), but in a way that doesn't feel like multiclassing. Because artificers, at least in my gameplay, were as much about flexibility of spells as they were about creating stuff.

Cadfan · Apr 7, 2008

Is Shadow actually confirmed as a power source?

I know its a really popular one, and people always mention it, but I don't remember when or where it was confirmed as actually being in the game. It seems to me that Arcane could cover Shadow pretty well, but then again, I'm not really "feeling" the power sources very well yet. I get roles, easily. Roles make sense to me, because they're largely mechanical. But power sources are flavor, and I'm not really getting them.

Firevalkyrie · Apr 7, 2008

Xorn said:
I put in to have June 9th off work, just in case I'm not done reading. I'll go to the Chinese buffet, and eat and read till they kick me out.

Hmm, that's a good suggestion, come to think of it

No, seriously, I already have the 6th of June off, and trying to get some friends of mine to also take the 6th of June. Plan is to do exactly what we did on the release date of D&D 3E: Get the books, give them a quick read-through, gen up first-level characters and start playing.

"OK, you're all in a bar. A mysterious cloaked figure puffs at his pipe in the corner..."

Sir Brennen · Apr 7, 2008

Leatherhead said:
I believe Ki will be the more supernatural part of the Martial power source.

Seems like a pretty fine hair to split. If one has to make a class like the monk more "supernatural", I'd rather see them be a Divine Striker instead of a whole new power source.

When looking at power sources, I think it's interesting that you can sorta map them all to the planes.

Martial - Material (Physical)
Psionic - Material (Mental)
Arcane - Feywild
Divine - Astral Sea
Primal - Elemental Tempest
Shadow - Shadowfell

Following this trend, what planes suitable for power sources are left? We really only have the Abyss and the Far Realm. So I could see maybe:

Chaos - Far Realm

But for the other one? Abyssal seems like good power source name, but once you got down to what it would do or be represented, it seems to be covered already by the Arcane and Divine power sources.

Personally, I'd like to see Art as a power source, with Material (Spiritual) as it's planar correspondence, making a nice triad of power sources that mortal creatures need look no further than themselves to draw from. This, of course, would be the power source for the Bard, and possibly the Artificer in Ebberron.

LostInTheMists · Apr 7, 2008

With a bit of new info appearing about Multiclassing, and the possibility of it being handled through feat acquisition rather than actual "taking a level of X", has anyone done the math on the Pre-Gen Half-Elf Warlock to see if perhaps the Ray of Frost might actually be a "multiclass" training, as opposed to a Half-Elf racial ability? You know, in terms of number of feats known and all?

micr0c0sm · Apr 7, 2008

Boarstorm said:
The screen is landscape? How cool is that? I'll tell you how cool -- [...........................................] <-- That cool.

How easy was it to gain combat advantage and set up a sneak attack, Micr0c0sm?

I couldn't play as a rogue, just ranger, but I did ask about the rogue because from the stats it looked like ranger could do everything a rogue could.
I'm not sure how it will play out, but certain feats will definitely be restricted to rogues that will allow them to use their skills (and skill bonuses, i am assuming) to make extra flashy attacks. So in combat I am guessing a rogue would use their move action to set up a sneak attack, and standard action to do something crazy with a feat to provide that extra 2d6 damage and some other stuff.

Oh, and I dig the reaction powers. Very FFT like in a good way.

Charwoman Gene · Apr 7, 2008

Sir Brennen said:
Seems like a pretty fine hair to split. If one has to make a class like the monk more "supernatural", I'd rather see them be a Divine Striker instead of a whole new power source.

I think that is his point, that we don't need Ki, its just the flashy side of Martial.

Boarstorm · Apr 7, 2008

Cadfan said:
Is Shadow actually confirmed as a power source?

It's referenced as one several times in Worlds & Monsters, and on DDM cards. Things can change, of course, but ... *shrug* so far it looks pretty well thought out.

W&M describes the Shadow power source as being power drawn from the Shadowfell and so
includes things that are thematic to that plane -- necromancy, illusion, etc. Really your best bet to get a feel for what the PS might cover is to read up on the plane.

Cadfan · Apr 7, 2008

Boarstorm said:
It's referenced as one several times in Worlds & Monsters, and on DDM cards. Things can change, of course, but ... *shrug* so far it looks pretty well thought out.

Thanks.

I understand what a Shadow power source would probably cover. Shadowcaster + Necromancer seems to be the basic idea. Which is fine by me.

I just didn't know it was actually confirmed. I figured people were just assuming symmetry with Primal, based on the Shadowfell and the Feywild.