Revenant up

[Dausuul]

What? The fluff is "you tell the gods and Fate to go f*** themselves, and they have to accept it." How is that no the very definition of awesome?

*shrug* And then what? It just seems like setting your sights a little low compared to things like "I become a legendary king" or "I become an archdevil" or "I become a freakin' god." Sure, you told the gods and Fate to go screw themselves, but what does that actually mean? What can you do now that you couldn't before, and that your buddy the newly ascended demigod can't do in five different flavors of cool?

This epic destiny seems rather like setting up a strawman in order to knock it down. Being free of Fate and the gods is only epically awesome if Fate and the gods were previously pushing you around like a piece on a chessboard - in which case, I can't imagine your experience playing the campaign has been anything but miserable. I guess this is the epic destiny for people with railroading DMs.

Plus, I think this territory is mostly covered by the Deadly Trickster epic destiny. Which also has cooler mechanics.

 

[CelticMutt]

*shrug* And then what? It just seems like setting your sights a little low compared to things like "I become a legendary king" or "I become an archdevil" or "I become a freakin' god." Sure, you told the gods and Fate to go screw themselves, but what does that actually mean? What can you do now that you couldn't before, and that your buddy the newly ascended demigod can't do in five different flavors of cool?

Plus, I think this territory is mostly covered by the Deadly Trickster epic destiny. Which also has cooler mechanics.

Well, there's also the part where kings, devils, and even gods eventually die. The free soul exists til the end of time. Or he gets bored. Whichever comes first.

Maybe he gets bored and causes the end of time.

 

[Dausuul]

Well, there's also the part where kings, devils, and even gods eventually die. The free soul exists til the end of time. Or he gets bored. Whichever comes first.

Maybe he gets bored and causes the end of time.

That isn't stated in the text, nor do the mechanics support it. Many epic destinies have "If you die, you don't" mechanics, but this is not one of them. If you die, you're still dead. The text states that you can live ten thousand lives, but so can gods, archliches, archdevils, and any number of others... if nobody kills them.

I agree that that could be an excellent epic destiny - the true immortal - but it ain't what we got here.

 

[CelticMutt]

Uh, it does state that basically you don't die until you want to as part of the final destiny. Sounds pretty true immortal to me. And the mechanics plus their racial feats make it near impossible to fail Death saves.

 

[Klaus]

I was thinking about the Revenants some more. While the fluff is good, the description of the race needs a bit more detail. Consider this sentence: "A revenant's visage has a maskilike quality that can be disturbing to normal mortals". What does that even mean? And then, there's also the contradiction on the eyes description (most are black with a red pupil, there are other colors but they all have a red pupil, then most lack an iris and pupil and some glow).

So here's my description for the revenants:

Revenants are encased in a body not their own. No matter what race the revenant belonged to in its previous life, its spirit is now housed in a slim, pale body that is unnaturally resilient. Their eyes are usually solid black or white, and sometimes seem to glow with an eerie light when they are angered. Their hair ranges from white to raven black, and males can grow facial hair. Their hands and feet have harder skin, darkening to gray scales similar to a raven's, and their fingernails and toenails are matte black, again like a raven's talons.

Most intriguing of all is a revenant's face. Their skin has been likened to a hand-sculpted porcelain mask, almost without wrinkles or expression lines and lacking the constant twitches of a mortal's face. Also, all revenants have a passing resemblance to one another, as if they were related. The fact that revenants bear a passing resemblance to most depictions of the Raven Queen is not lost on them.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Wow Claudio, when is WotC going to hire you?

Actually, I hope you continue to freelance for others, I'd hate to see WoTC take you in and brainwash you!

Are you listening WotC? You guys still have fluff problems. What's the deal?

 

[Ktulu]

I didn't really see a problem with the descriptions (though, Klaus, your's was nice, too). To me, it's all about giving some basic inspirations behind decisions. For my Revenant in an upcoming game he looks almost exactly as he did in life, except he's more gaunt and has a grayish look to his skin (Think almost black & white tv). Aside from that, he's unchanged.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I'm a fan of the fluff, but the mechanics kind of leave me cold. Con and Dex are not good stats for any existing class. Being Undead doesn't give you any advantages at all, but does carry some disadvantages. The racial power isn't all that flavorful. It just adds extra damage to an attack once per combat.

Maybe if assassin is a Dex/Con class it'll make up for it. Still, they don't make a really GOOD race for any class, unlike every other race. Which means they lack flavor in my eyes.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm a fan of the fluff, but the mechanics kind of leave me cold. Con and Dex are not good stats for any existing class. Being Undead doesn't give you any advantages at all, but does carry some disadvantages. The racial power isn't all that flavorful. It just adds extra damage to an attack once per combat.

Maybe if assassin is a Dex/Con class it'll make up for it. Still, they don't make a really GOOD race for any class, unlike every other race. Which means they lack flavor in my eyes.

I maintain they make awesome fighters. Pick up Death's Quickening and Quick Draw, stock up on healing potions, and become the Undead Energizer Bunny. For bonus points, be a former dwarf and get Dwarven Soul.

 

[Caliban]

What's not to like about a race that counts as undead, is not resistant to Radiant damage (or somehow immune to Turn Undead type effects), and thus get's blasted by their allies Turn Undead (clerics, invokers, paladin's of Aumanitor or Kelemvor) during combat?