Ampersand for November - Incl preview of Weaponmaster fighter

[DracoSuave]

This new book OTOH certain IS "in print" right now or soon will be, and it seems a LOT more likely that it will remain in print as an up-to-date book in the currently favored format vs an obsolescent one in a format that appears to be on its way out.

Thus I said it was nice that this material would remain in print. Obviously eventually every book in existence will cease to be published, but this material will at least get one more go around, and I like that.

I dunno if I like the essentials format. I mean it works for essentials classes... kinda. (I don't like that sun and storm clerics are printed after the cleric rundown itself, for example) But, for the slayer and knight it works just fine.

Then again, if I think about it, the only class off the top of my head that gets new features after level 1 is the barbarian, so there's not a lot of difference in terms of how the class'd be laid out. This might even be a plus, if for example, the warlock powers get written with their pact rather than in a separate area.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I dunno if I like the essentials format. I mean it works for essentials classes... kinda. (I don't like that sun and storm clerics are printed after the cleric rundown itself, for example) But, for the slayer and knight it works just fine.

Then again, if I think about it, the only class off the top of my head that gets new features after level 1 is the barbarian, so there's not a lot of difference in terms of how the class'd be laid out. This might even be a plus, if for example, the warlock powers get written with their pact rather than in a separate area.

Eh, I don't think it is really THAT much different from the PHB format in most respects. It does put all the info a specific player might need for his specific character in one place, which is a plus. Mostly it seems to me 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

 

[DracoSuave]

Eh, I don't think it is really THAT much different from the PHB format in most respects. It does put all the info a specific player might need for his specific character in one place, which is a plus. Mostly it seems to me 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

If by 'one place' you mean 'the encounter powers you get at level 3, 7, etc are written after the entire rest of the class' then you'd be correct.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

If by 'one place' you mean 'the encounter powers you get at level 3, 7, etc are written after the entire rest of the class' then you'd be correct.

What I mean is all things associated with a given build are now in one place vs spread out throughout the whole class description.

 

[DracoSuave]

What I mean is all things associated with a given build are now in one place vs spread out throughout the whole class description.

Um... so... all the weaponmaster stuff will all be together?

So basically, all the stuff printed in the PHB will, instead of being together organized by level, will be together organized by level?

 

[Gort]

Huh? I thought one of the design decisions for essentials - and one of their more odious panderings to the 4e-haters - was that martial characters would only have at-wills and encounters, leaving the dailies to those who are worthy of their use - the almighty magic-users.

Now we've got a fighter who gets dailies, but the only one we know about is the only daily that is absolutely and unequivocally inferior to Lasting Threat. (Lasting Threat does the exact same stuff, except you get an encounter-long mark out of it as well)

Plus you only get to choose a couple of at-wills and encounters. Surely this "Weaponmaster" fighter needn't have been printed, as we have it and more in the PHB1 fighter.

Unless, of course, they're admitting that 4e and Essentials are supposed to have nothing to do with each other.

 

[tentfox]

Huh? I thought one of the design decisions for essentials - and one of their more odious panderings to the 4e-haters - was that martial characters would only have at-wills and encounters, leaving the dailies to those who are worthy of their use - the almighty magic-users.

Now we've got a fighter who gets dailies, but the only one we know about is the only daily that is absolutely and unequivocally inferior to Lasting Threat. (Lasting Threat does the exact same stuff, except you get an encounter-long mark out of it as well)

Plus you only get to choose a couple of at-wills and encounters. Surely this "Weaponmaster" fighter needn't have been printed, as we have it and more in the PHB1 fighter.

Unless, of course, they're admitting that 4e and Essentials are supposed to have nothing to do with each other.

The weaponmaster is the PHB1 fighter with errata included. It is not an essentials class, just reprinted in the essentials format so that it has more "fluff" and would be easier to follow for people who picked up the game with the essentials line.

I believe it has the name weaponmaster for multiclass purposes, this way features for the old fighter can be locked out from the knight and slayer.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Huh? I thought one of the design decisions for essentials - and one of their more odious panderings to the 4e-haters - was that martial characters would only have at-wills and encounters, leaving the dailies to those who are worthy of their use - the almighty magic-users.

Now we've got a fighter who gets dailies, but the only one we know about is the only daily that is absolutely and unequivocally inferior to Lasting Threat. (Lasting Threat does the exact same stuff, except you get an encounter-long mark out of it as well)

Plus you only get to choose a couple of at-wills and encounters. Surely this "Weaponmaster" fighter needn't have been printed, as we have it and more in the PHB1 fighter.

Unless, of course, they're admitting that 4e and Essentials are supposed to have nothing to do with each other.

I think really the point that was missed here is that this new book is not an Essentials book. It is 2 things, going to be in print going forward (for some amount of time at least), and presents the PHB1 classes in the more up-to-date format. That's all. NOTHING about the 'weaponmaster' is going to vary from PHB1, that's the whole point. What it basically does for everyone that has Essentials is allow them to buy a book that is both not filled with redundant and outdated stuff (PHB1), and gives them the old stuff in the new style. It is sort of the best of both worlds (or the worst depending on your viewpoint I suppose).

 

[TerraDave]

The older stuff's never gone out of print.

Tons of older stuff has gone out of print.

You are saying "older" is from two years ago, or one year ago? As you know, I don't expect any of that to be reprinted in its current format. I also don't expect every last bit of pre-essentials stuff to be reprinted. We may get more class compendiums, but something will probably slip through the cracks.

Of course, if you are refering to the CB and compendium, then yes, all indications are that they are keeping everything there. Thats pretty cool. Of course you have to pay for it.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Tons of older stuff has gone out of print.

You are saying "older" is from two years ago, or one year ago? As you know, I don't expect any of that to be reprinted in its current format. I also don't expect every last bit of pre-essentials stuff to be reprinted. We may get more class compendiums, but something will probably slip through the cracks.

Of course, if you are refering to the CB and compendium, then yes, all indications are that they are keeping everything there. Thats pretty cool. Of course you have to pay for it.

Yeah, most of the 4e splat books for instance are out of print, and unlikely to get reprinted. Actually probably the majority of the 4e books are OOP at this point. A few might get reprinted but probably not most of them.

I'd have to guess that at SOME point there is going to have to be a 'deprecation' mechanism for 4e content. It may well always be POSSIBLE to make it show up in CB/Compendium, but just for the sanity of players there is going to have to come a day when stuff by default doesn't show up and you have to actually ask for it to get it in an search or option display. You can sort of do that now with the 'source' selections in most places, but a more binary "show deprecated" will likely start to be nice, even if it does raise a big stink cloud amongst the fan base. You simply can't make an infinitely big game and have it be workable.