Ampersand for November - Incl preview of Weaponmaster fighter

[webrunner]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (The Next Wave in Digital Offerings)

Some major takeaways:
- The Heroes of Sword and Spell book is actually somewhere between what people were suggesting. It is pretty much the old fighter, but it's given the name "Weaponmaster" which encompasses the one and two handed weapon talents (still a choice)
- "Class Compendium also includes an updated version of the warlord, which has not yet appeared in the Essentials rulebooks" - I'm still interested to see if we get an 'essentials build' of the Warlord in here. It's still up in the air
- No Tide of Iron for weaponmaster. It's a staple of sword-and-board fighters, so I wonder.. maybe there's a more defense-focused build in the book as well?

Some builder stuff:
- " If you’re not a D&D Insider yet, there will be demonstration videos available to show you what the new Character Builder can do." - too bad they couldn't get the demo up.
- "Content filters are better" - this.. this is important. Finding a certain item at a certain level is maddening in the current builder.

 

[Larrin]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dramp/2010November


- No Tide of Iron for weaponmaster. It's a staple of sword-and-board fighters, so I wonder.. maybe there's a more defense-focused build in the book as well?

They only show a preview, not all at wills are listed (I mean they certainly don't only have one daily to choose from). I see nothing in the article indicate a lack of tide of Iron. Fear not, they'll probably have every PHB power.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

i guess tide of iron will be there... chose two of two would be quite senseless...

 

[TerraDave]

If he is previewing this now...wonder if he will have a lot more to show.

As I have been confident for months and remain confident that these products will replace the PHB...I do wonder, how do you make a charecter if you are coming into this fresh? Race and equipment is in one of the heroes of books? Also, the write up mentions three kinds of fighters...no mention of MP.

As for what this fighter can do, it did say key abilities include: "Strength; Dexterity, Wisdom, or Constitution" so we should be seeing the several powers that key off those. And maybe also some of the missing weapons?

 

[Scribble]

If he is previewing this now...wonder if he will have a lot more to show.

As I have been confident for months and remain confident that these products will replace the PHB...I do wonder, how do you make a charecter if you are coming into this fresh? Race and equipment is in one of the heroes of books? Also, the write up mentions three kinds of fighters...no mention of MP.

I think the idea is that this book is intended for those who came into the game through essentials, so they already have one or both fo the heroes books, and won't need the race options... This is a more "advanced" set of character options. Because they have martial classes with dailies.

If you're not prepared for that man- it'll be mind bending. Next thing you know we'll find you running down the street naked, screaming about zombie clowns sent by Hitler, while being chased by cops.

Bad scene.

 

[Riastlin]

I did also like that they mentioned they are looking into making CB compatible with certain mobile devices like tablets, etc. While this doesn't affect me as I am very much a P&P guy at the table, it should in theory help with some of the rage about the new tools.

 

[Klaus]

If he is previewing this now...wonder if he will have a lot more to show.

As I have been confident for months and remain confident that these products will replace the PHB...I do wonder, how do you make a charecter if you are coming into this fresh? Race and equipment is in one of the heroes of books? Also, the write up mentions three kinds of fighters...no mention of MP.

As for what this fighter can do, it did say key abilities include: "Strength; Dexterity, Wisdom, or Constitution" so we should be seeing the several powers that key off those. And maybe also some of the missing weapons?

"Weaponmaster" seems to be the PH1 Fighter, reflavored to be a fighter that specializes in different maneuvers instead of broad styles (which would be the stance-based eFighter). By choosing a weapon group to focus on (through the Encounter exploits), the Weaponmaster determines which secondary ability score is most useful for him.

I approve of this reflavoring.

 

[TerraDave]

ya, ya, ya. (Edit: to the clown, not Klaus!).

I guess it would just be two books, though there will be several charecters that need two books, but people probably can handle that.

Or of course just maintain a DDI subcription.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I guess technically Battlerager, Tempest and Brawler Fighters are Weaponmasters, unless one of those builds gets redone as a subclass.

Though one thing I wonder about that book, is will they split up the Warlord into 2 subclasses, both the classic one and something new.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

As I have been confident for months and remain confident that these products will replace the PHB...I do wonder, how do you make a charecter if you are coming into this fresh? Race and equipment is in one of the heroes of books? Also, the write up mentions three kinds of fighters...no mention of MP.

I assume that the target audience for Class Compendium is players who came in with Essentials and therefore don't have PHB1. In this sense, it does replace PHB1, in that instead of keeping PHB1 in print so that new players have access to its builds, WotC is rereleasing crunch from that book in the new Essentials format.

On the other hand, I really don't see Class Compendium or Essentials in general as a wholesale replacement for the previous 4E material. I suspect that WotC wants established players to see Essentials as additional splat books that happen also to be targeted at new players. If you wonder why Class Compendium doesn't reference Martial Power, you may as well wonder why a new Class Acts article for fighters in Dragon doesn't mention the tempest fighter.

Probably the only established players (who own PHB1) that should buy Class Compendium are either completists or those who would have considered replacing their PHB1 with a reprint that includes rules updates. To answer your original question, anyone who buys Class Compendium is assumed already to own either (a) PHB1 or (b) Heroes of the Fallen Lands or Forgotten Kingdoms or possibly (c) the Rules Compendium.