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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5978829" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 287: September 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Fractious Factions: Yay! Stronger mechanical support for Planescape Factions. Just the sort of thing 3e ought to be doing with it's ruleset. Course there's the issue that they were originally intended as minor adjustments to your character suitable for any class, and making them full 10 level prestige classes with substantial requirements to get in goes against that, making the prestige class the most important part of your build. I'd have kept them as 5 level ones at the most. But hey ho, let's see how these hold up mechanically and in faithfulness to the original flavour. </p><p></p><p>Athar have the same issue as Blackguards. The ones who get the most respect are the ones that converted from the other side, rather than just starting out ambivalent. And since the best course into them is cleric or druid, I think you can safely say that they'll be pretty effective once you get over the two dead levels at the start, and will kick the ass of other CoDzillas with ease with their resistances to divine powers. </p><p></p><p>Ciphers, on the other hand seem a bit superceded, now that everyone gets initiative modifiers, and the powers they get are basically a variant monk set - individually cool, but not hugely impressive when considered as a whole package. Still, at least they're pretty good at resisting and escaping situations. Proactivity, though? Not gonna bring it. </p><p></p><p>Sensates get enormous bonuses to their sensory skills, which is appropriate, and very useful indeed for adventurers. That +20 at 10th level should let them spot all the ambushes and secret doors a fair DM throws at the party, and scent and blindsight are just generally handy, aren't they. Sometimes the spellcasters just don't have the time to get their defences up, and you need to rely on the guys who've honed it into an innate power. </p><p></p><p>The Doomguard are another one that seem a bit underpowered, mainly because they don't get the full BAB progression that would really make their combat boosts worthwhile. Their spell list doesn't really match up to an assassin or blackguard's either. There are definitely more efficient ways of becoming an agent of entropy than this. </p><p></p><p>The Fated prestige class isn't particularly underpowered, but it does miss the point a bit by having a power that's sole purpose is to buff others. The whole point of the faction is that they don't do anything for anyone for free, or ever accept something for nothing. They do get to be highly competent skill-monkeys, with enough healing, combat and generalist skills to make a good solo character, which does seem fitting. Just trade off the dodgy ability for a couple more skill points a level. </p><p></p><p>Xaositechts are as fun as ever. Lawful creatures will find them tremendously frustrating and difficult to deal with, while other chaotic creatures will simply roll with it and do better. So while it has made some alterations, this is mostly faithful to the 2e incarnations of the factions, while leaving room for you to develop similar prestige classes for the other half of them. And I'm sure there's plenty of people who'll do that and submit them to the magazine or post them up online, so that gap won't go unfilled for long. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Expand your mind: Bruce Cordell continues to be lead Psionics guy, writing both OGL expansions to the system, and sending in magazine articles for it. This time, it's 16 new feats. Some, but not all of them will appear in the 3.5 psionics handbook as well, often with some further tweaks. So this is the kind of article that's significant because it shows us that they're creating new stuff, trying them out in their homebrews, and getting feedback so they can tweak them before making them official and releasing them to a wider audience. That's the way the creative process works best. And the fact that some of them didn't make it in means this is still interesting and possibly useful once you have updated, if you don't mind slight balance issues.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5978829, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 287: September 2001[/U][/B] part 3/7 Fractious Factions: Yay! Stronger mechanical support for Planescape Factions. Just the sort of thing 3e ought to be doing with it's ruleset. Course there's the issue that they were originally intended as minor adjustments to your character suitable for any class, and making them full 10 level prestige classes with substantial requirements to get in goes against that, making the prestige class the most important part of your build. I'd have kept them as 5 level ones at the most. But hey ho, let's see how these hold up mechanically and in faithfulness to the original flavour. Athar have the same issue as Blackguards. The ones who get the most respect are the ones that converted from the other side, rather than just starting out ambivalent. And since the best course into them is cleric or druid, I think you can safely say that they'll be pretty effective once you get over the two dead levels at the start, and will kick the ass of other CoDzillas with ease with their resistances to divine powers. Ciphers, on the other hand seem a bit superceded, now that everyone gets initiative modifiers, and the powers they get are basically a variant monk set - individually cool, but not hugely impressive when considered as a whole package. Still, at least they're pretty good at resisting and escaping situations. Proactivity, though? Not gonna bring it. Sensates get enormous bonuses to their sensory skills, which is appropriate, and very useful indeed for adventurers. That +20 at 10th level should let them spot all the ambushes and secret doors a fair DM throws at the party, and scent and blindsight are just generally handy, aren't they. Sometimes the spellcasters just don't have the time to get their defences up, and you need to rely on the guys who've honed it into an innate power. The Doomguard are another one that seem a bit underpowered, mainly because they don't get the full BAB progression that would really make their combat boosts worthwhile. Their spell list doesn't really match up to an assassin or blackguard's either. There are definitely more efficient ways of becoming an agent of entropy than this. The Fated prestige class isn't particularly underpowered, but it does miss the point a bit by having a power that's sole purpose is to buff others. The whole point of the faction is that they don't do anything for anyone for free, or ever accept something for nothing. They do get to be highly competent skill-monkeys, with enough healing, combat and generalist skills to make a good solo character, which does seem fitting. Just trade off the dodgy ability for a couple more skill points a level. Xaositechts are as fun as ever. Lawful creatures will find them tremendously frustrating and difficult to deal with, while other chaotic creatures will simply roll with it and do better. So while it has made some alterations, this is mostly faithful to the 2e incarnations of the factions, while leaving room for you to develop similar prestige classes for the other half of them. And I'm sure there's plenty of people who'll do that and submit them to the magazine or post them up online, so that gap won't go unfilled for long. Expand your mind: Bruce Cordell continues to be lead Psionics guy, writing both OGL expansions to the system, and sending in magazine articles for it. This time, it's 16 new feats. Some, but not all of them will appear in the 3.5 psionics handbook as well, often with some further tweaks. So this is the kind of article that's significant because it shows us that they're creating new stuff, trying them out in their homebrews, and getting feedback so they can tweak them before making them official and releasing them to a wider audience. That's the way the creative process works best. And the fact that some of them didn't make it in means this is still interesting and possibly useful once you have updated, if you don't mind slight balance issues. [/QUOTE]
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