Masters of the Wild: First Impressions

[reapersaurus]

couldn't a wizard that has 14 CON and Great Fortitude qualify for Dwarf's Toughness at 3rd level?

I agree that the Orc Double-Axe requirement for Gruumsh is quite silly.

 

[Crothian]

couldn't a wizard that has 14 CON and Great Fortitude qualify for Dwarf's Toughness at 3rd level?

I agree that the Orc Double-Axe requirement for Gruumsh is quite silly.

No, it's base fort save, not total fort save

 

[Psion]

Psion Speaks Out

Awright. After Mr. Ladage gives it a tepid review and people are already forming "bandwagons", I think I really have to speak up here. I'll probably have a review up in a few days, but my impressions so far:

This is the best, or tied for the best, classbook to date.

So far it seems to be mechanically solid and errata free. None of the feats that need total rewrites that I see thus far unlike S&F. Nor are there cryptic misplaced references to previous versions or totally misplaced previous versions like in DotF and T&B.

The prestige classes are distinctive enough to draw your attention and add a new spin to the game (unlike the BLAH classes in S&S) and yet adaptable enough that they seem like they will fit most fantasy campaigns (unlike DotF). In fact, enough of the classes fit niches I have been working on neatly enough, I have stopped my own efforts in those areas.

Do you see what I am getting at here?

Further, I disagree with the general sentiment being expressed towards the toughness feats, and more specifically the sentiment that Ladage put out "there is no way these could have been playtested". All of the feats seem like fair shakes to me.

I was a little worried about the toughness feat... but in retrospect, they seem pretty clever. We discussed ways to upgrade the toughness feat on the DNDtech mailing list, but no one (not even the token WotC brain on the list) came up with the idea of using base fort save.

And as for the grousing about more useful feats only being available later... uh, who cares? There are many feats like that which reference base attack bonus or monk level, for example. This is really nothing new.

The only thing I didn't like was the "urban ranger" variant. In my campaign, we call those "rogues."

'Nuff said for now. I can wait for the PCgen code monkeys to churn out a data file for it!

 

[Mortaneus]

*sigh* It's a great book. I like the prestige classes (especially the tempest...woohoo!), the feats are cool, the spells rock (BEWARE the druid), and the equipment section is pretty cool.

BUT.......

There is one thing in the book that is driving me up the wall, and which was VERY poorly implemented, AND requires errata.

Read through the sections on Animal Companions.

First of all, apparently now you can't have an animal companion that has more HD than you do.
Second, according to a VERY non-specific line contained in the legendary animals section, it mentions that the TOTAL HD of a druid's animal companions cannot be greater than the druid's HD. (except at 1st level)

I mean, COME ON WotC.....who the heck is editing these things? It looks like somebody slapped in some rules changes somewhere in the design process, but nobody bothered to explain the changes to us. They just reference them (confusingly, I might add) at various points in the book.

Well, I'm sorry, but I can't cast divination or legend lore to determine what the authors really meant, and with ABSOLUTELY NO justification, reason, or method, apparently the animal companion abilities of Druids and Rangers got arbitrarily changed, severely weakened, and they didn't even bother to inform us of the fact.

Now I don't know about you, but the animal companions were one of my favorite benefits to playing a druid or a ranger. Why did they choose to suddenly change this completely???

In addition, if you go by what the book says, going by the line in the legendary animals section, then unless a druid has a ring of animal friendship, he has no more total hit dice of animal companions than the ranger does, despite an equal level ranger casting at only half the druid's caster level.

Sheesh....somewhere along the line at WotC central, somebody is screwing things up.


BTW, as far as needing errata, check out the math on page 9 under the monsters section. 'A centaur makes an excellent druid because.......Her level equivalent is her class level+7, so a 1st-level centaur druid would be appropriate for a 6th level party.' Umm......huh??? This mistake is also repeated elsewhere. Did the people changing these things even read the *%^& book????

Again, sheesh.

 

[Forrester]

*sigh* It's a great book. I like the prestige classes (especially the tempest...woohoo!), the feats are cool, the spells rock (BEWARE the druid), and the equipment section is pretty cool.

BUT.......

There is one thing in the book that is driving me up the wall, and which was VERY poorly implemented, AND requires errata.

Read through the sections on Animal Companions.

First of all, apparently now you can't have an animal companion that has more HD than you do.
Second, according to a VERY non-specific line contained in the legendary animals section, it mentions that the TOTAL HD of a druid's animal companions cannot be greater than the druid's HD. (except at 1st level)

I mean, COME ON WotC.....they didn't even bother to inform us of the fact.

Um . . . well, there was the whole "official errata" thing to the PHB/DMG that came out several MONTHS ago that mentions this (very well thought out and reasonable) change.

I know you're expecting Jonathan Tweet or Monte Cook to show up on your doorstep with weekly updates -- but I think they're a little busy.

Sorry, you can't use your 12th level druid to Animal Growth TWO Huge Dire Weasels into Gargantuan Dire Weasels . . . you're going to have to get by with doing it with only one. Yeah, life's a bitch.

 

[Fast Learner]

MOTW Errata

I agree that this is an excellent book, and is my favorite so far.

I did find one error, though I'm not sure where to send it.

On page 23 the table describing the benefits of Faster Healing of ability score points has some kind of error, though I'm not sure which item is wrong.

Under "Complete Bed Rest" and "With Faster Healing and LOng-Term Care from a Successful Heal Check" it shows that 3 points are recovered. Yet without Faster Healing ("Normal and Long-Term Care from a Successful Heal Check") you recover 4 points. One of those must be wrong, which then leads me to suspect that the whole "2 2 2" and "3 3 3" lines may be wrong (bizarre that they don't go up).

 

[Mortaneus]

Um . . . well, there was the whole "official errata" thing to the PHB/DMG that came out several MONTHS ago that mentions this (very well thought out and reasonable) change.

Oh, there it is. Quite clearly delineated in the CLARIFICATIONS document (though how that's a clarification, rather than a rules change, I have no idea). Oh, and it only applies to ADVENTURING druids and ranger. Well, shoot. Time for me to stop adventuring, because animals don't like me when I adventure. I guess the forces of nature have dictated that wandering around is an anethema to her dictates, and therefore the errant druids and rangers must be punished for their transgressions. Or something like that.

I know you're expecting Jonathan Tweet or Monte Cook to show up on your doorstep with weekly updates -- but I think they're a little busy.

No, I don't expect them to show up on my doorstep. Besides, they DO have better things to do than go force-feed people poorly written errata which introduces changes that don't need to be there, but were introduced by some egotistical editor who felt that their take on animal companions was MUCH more balanced than those of the hundreds of playtesters who originally tested the game, and the thousands of players who have never had a problem with the old animal companion rules.

Sheesh. I'm getting so sick of the errata flood. I feel like I'm playing everquest. 'Oh, too powerful, gotta nerf that....oh, not nasty enough, gotta make it ultrapowerful (free action to draw something from the handy haversack indeed....)....'

Well, I guess we're getting what we expected. The people who made Magic: The Gathering are turning D&D into the same sort of beast. Can't play without the daily errata. Gotta go digging though singular word and sentence changes, with the book open right beside it, to understand the changes, but they're 'official', so everyone has to remember and abide by them, whether or not they make sense.

Heck, I'll just go play GURPS. At least there, the basic system concepts don't change every other month, depending on who's got their hands in the rule-mix now.

 

[Klaus]

In the PHB itself, in the description of Animal Friendship, mentions that a settled druid (one that tends to avoid long travels) can befriend (Levelx2) worth of HD, while adventuring druids (who tend to go underground or otherwise stick their necks out) can only befriend HD=Level, simply because the demands of adventuring don't allow the druid to care for as many animals. The exception is a 1-st level druid, who managed to befriend his starting companions to such an extent that they follow him even though the exceed his total allowed HD. This information is repeated (in shorter form) under the druid's description.

So it's not a rules change, nor a clarification, it's just repeated for easier reference.

Slightly OT: IMC, the ranger just got his first spells (at 4th level), so he befriended a 2HD wolf. When he gets to 6th level and gets an extra HD worth of companions, he'd like to keep his wolf, so I'll advance the wolf to 3HD (by the time the wolf gets 4HD, it becomes Large). Is there any guidelines on that in MotW (beside the advancement ranges in the MM)? For instance, can the animal be taught new skills or something? Can it get, for instance, a level of Barbarian?

 

[Forever]

Animal companions and classes

"Can it get, for instance, a level of Barbarian?"

Actually, this was addressed in an article here at EN World. The way someone from WoTC sees it, you can 'awaken' your animal companion with the spell, and then becomes sentient and can class.

Something with 2 for an intelligence score can't class

Oh, and also, my animal companion (panther) will be the party's first psion, when I awaken him. That should be interesting.

 

[Klaus]

Forever, you just got me psyched! A black panther covered in LOTS of white psionic tattoos, with main discipline in Psychoportation (high Dex, y' know) would be a KILLER!

But what about teaching new skills to an animal companion ?(the "awaken" thing I had already thought of, but it's a bit far off)

Could a character use Handle Animal to teach a wolf Swim, for instance? Or increase his Hide?