Tyler Do'Urden said:
I'm getting this setting.... wow, am I ever getting this setting.
"Hey, what would Middle Earth be like if Sauron won the war of the Ring? Maybe we should make a setting out of it..."
Pretty good intuition there.
Hope you don't mind if I answer a few of these questions.
Tyler Do'Urden said:
But I've got a couple of questions:
I understand how heroic paths work, and that they're applied to PC's, but what about NPC's? Do only "heroes" get them, or do villains and servants of evil get them as well? Should everyone who takes a PC class (not an NPC class) get one? How do you determine this?
Only heroes (PCs) get heroic paths, even NPC characters that have PC class levels don't get access to a heroic path. They are reserved for a very special few destined heroes. In your game, this means the PCs, although I can certainly see using heroic paths for heroes turned to the dark side, but to maintain the flavor I would use this very sparingly.
Tyler Do'Urden said:
The power of all the base races has been increased- however, has the power of the halfbreeds from the PH been increased (Half-Orcs and Half-Elves)? Were they left the same (which I would consider vastly unfair, as I thought they were already the two weakest races)? Were they removed in favor of the new half breeds listed above, or do they still exist?
They were indeed removed. In Midnight, the non-human character races are all considered Younger Fey, descended from the Elder Fey who were essentially destroyed by the Sundering. The Elder Fey scattered and over thousands of years became the dwarves, orcs, elves, halflings, and gnomes of the world. The Younger Fey can interbreed, but not with humans, so the half-orc and half-elf from the PHB do not exist.
Tyler Do'Urden said:
Is there any section in the book that discusses which Monster Manual creatures and races exist in this world and how they are applied? I've thought that the 3e settings to date have done a poor job of handling this. One of the most important elements of defining a fantasy setting is deciding where the different creatures "fit" in the ecology and history of the world. The Forgotten Realms, for instance, has a notoriously bad track record in this department. A better job of this has been done by Dragonlance, but it would still be nice to see a good list of "what's in and what's out".
We give specifics on some creatures, like dragons, but didn't go into detail on others. I understand why DMs would want this information, however, so I'll be happy to answer questions about it here, on the Midnight Yahoo Group, or feel free to email me privately. The setting definitely isn't a traditional fantasy setting, and it's my opinion that too many hydra/chimera/medusa type creatures takes the players' minds off where they should be--namely escaping and foiling Izrador's minions.
You'll find some general guidelines in the section on the Mechanics of Midnight, which discusses how certain monster abilities fit into the setting. You can extrapolate from that what's a good idea and what isn't, but like I said I'll be happy to answer questions about it.
Tyler Do'Urden said:
What are the core classes? How many are there? Were the Barbarian, Rogue, and Fighter unchanged from their PH equivalent? Is there a class anything like the Bard?
The new core classes are:
Channeler- devoted spellcaster, with good skills and a special ability depending on his spellcasting focus (spiritual, charismatic, or hermetic)
Defender- the people's champion, unarmed fighter with a great list of special attacks and defenses
Legate- evil clerics of the dark god Izrador. They, along with their astirax companions, hunt magic users and magic throughout the land.
Wildlander- a ranger without spellcasting, also has a huge list of special abilities he can choose from so he can specialize in any number of concepts. Big thanks to Kevin Wilson for the inspiration for this class.
You can also use Barbarian, Fighter, and Rogue from the PHB. All other base classes have spellcasting capability and therefore cannot be used, with special exceptions (see below).
EDIT- technically I suppose you could use the monk, but we think the defender is a much better choice for Midnight.
Tyler Do'Urden said:
Were any prestige classes included? Are their any guidelines for adapting prestige classes from other sources? How do the class (core and prestige) power levels compare to that of those from the core books and splatbooks?
We do have some prestige classes in the main book, and a bunch more in Against the Shadow, the player's guide that should be out in May. Among the prestige classes can be found the wizard and druid, Midnight's versions of the two core classes but integrated into the new magic system.
There aren't guidelines for adapting PrCs from other sources. Spellcasting classes will require some work to make them usable with Midnight's magic system, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out what changes need to be made, especially once Against the Shadow comes out and you have a lot more Midnight spellcasting PrCs to compare.
Hope all this has been some help, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book when it comes out!
