New Discussion Thread

KenHood · Oct 17, 2008

Graf said:
I see it as the same sort of situation as a spider/demon/S&M goddess for the drow. Is it necessarily what I'd create if I had my druthers?

I'm not sure that it is.

But... people want to play characters with a relationship to that sort of goddess. So we can tweak to add elements that enrich it, but we have to support it. IMHO natch.

I see it as a dark day when players changed their focus from wanting to kill drow to wanting to BE drow.

Freaky S&M spider-chick was a great villain. I've both DM'd and played through 'Queen of the Demonweb Pits' many times. Nothing's better than bumping off a bunch of poseurs with magic weapons that melt when you got out in the sun. (Oh, and wasn't THAT a lark the first time it happened. Yep. Made it all the more worthwhile to head back underground, wipe out their civilization, and assassinate their goddess all in one fell swoop.)

But, then, there was Drizzt (which must be drowish for 'Breaks all the rules and rubs it in your face'). I'd never heard about him until I played Baldur's Gate on the PC. Suddenly, here's a goody-two-shoes drow with a magic cat and two...TWO...TWO weapons. Oh, but that's not all. Everything he owned had a better enchantment value than those of my party.

How do I know this?

Because I bumped the jerk off the first time I met him. And the second. And the third. And later on in Baldur's Gate 2.

Sure, my party was good-aligned, but I tell ya, when the game designers are flippin' the middle finger at me with their oh-so-special NPC's, it cheeses me off.

Who bought the game? ME!

I pays the cash, so my character best be the center of the doggone universe.

garyh · Oct 17, 2008

KenHood said:
Thanks!

And thanks for the mention of 8-Bit Theatre. I looked it up, because I've never heard of it before. I *love* Black Mage.

Glad I cold point you to a new source of humor! 8BT is a lot of fun.

Also, I agree with your views of ultra-super-special NPC's, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Voda Vosa · Oct 18, 2008

I was brainstorming something yesterday... I had an idea for the empire of Jade.
May be it could represent a big advantage maybe not.
I was thinking in an empire with a strong martial tradition. Disciplined fighters, strict clerics, inflexible paladins, rigid and stoic mages, even rouges with a deep sense of honor.
Martial arts would have flourish here, thanks to the disciplined application of the ancient teachings.
What I propose, in game mechanics, is an additional option to the fighter. We have, typically, the two weapon fighter and the weapon and shield fighter. Jade Empire warriors would have an additional option: Martial artist. I'm not saying monks, please remain in your seats

I was thinking about the following: As long as the fighter is using light armor, he can use his hands as melee weapons for the purpose of power requirements. That would widen the variete of powers at a martial artist's disposal. Additionally, he'll receive +1 to attack and damage with the unarmed attack.

Thoughts?

The Goblin King · Oct 18, 2008

Any interest in a wilderness adventure? I was thinking of dumping the party in the middle of nowhere and they have to survive and get home.

Halford · Oct 18, 2008

Out of curiosity where would you use Goblin King? Allaria? Daunton seems to be too small for what you are proposing, unless you use a portal to the Feywild or somesuch. I would be interested once we get extra characters approved, but I would imagine you would wish to get going before that.

Incidently having read up on the little I can find on the Feywild are we taking the echo of the real world angle? I am playing around with the idea of the Feywild having somehow escaped whatever split the Isles and thus serving as a way to travel between Isles without sea travel - that seems a nice simple way to provide adventuring in the Feywild.

elecgraystone · Oct 18, 2008

Voda Vosa said:
As long as the fighter is using light armor, he can use his hands as melee weapons for the purpose of power requirements.

You can already use your unarmed attacks for every power needing a melee weapon (OA too). Now if you wanted to make unarmed attacks a viable alternative to a weapon, you'd need to give them a proficiency bonus to attacks and increase the damage dice some.

What WOTC did for the 4E monk (ranger variant) was make their unarmed attacks +3 proficiency, d8, offhand weapons. It also removed their armor proficiencies and gave them a +3AC.

Voda Vosa · Oct 18, 2008

Could you give me alink to that? I didn't know that already existed.

Dunamin · Oct 18, 2008

Voda Vosa said:
Could you give me alink to that? I didn't know that already existed.

This is what is being refered to, creating the monk off a ranger baseline. Its by no means a true conversion, however.

Expeditious Retreat has released the Advanced Player's Guide, which includes the Martial Artist class - essentially a 4E monk that is meant to have an "old school feel".