D&D (2024) Blast from the past

[Mind of tempest]

Where 4e failed, imo, was that a) Spirit Companion, iirc, focused on totems and ignored other types of spirit companions such as ancestral spirit and spirits of land (Including lakes, mountains, etc); b) the spirit companions were also to prescriptive for my tastes. For instance, in some cultures, Snake is a healing spirit, but we get only Bear. This is why I preferred Green Ronin's handling of a Shaman class- it essentially received Cleric Domains and gave examples of spirits that were appropriate for each Domain.

assuming it is a full class then it would not have that problem in 5e or at least as much.

 

[Stalker0]

I’ll add another vote for the old morale rules. They are elegant in their simplicity and help to standardize monster tactics (undead fight until death, kobolds will disengage from a fight quick).

it really highlights that most monsters are not suicidal

 

[Vaalingrade]

I agree that made-up statistics are silly (I am not the one who posted the 90% thing); but if you're going to complain about people basing their posts entirely on personal experience, and real statistics aren't available, then made-up statistics is the only thing left.

I guess I'll just go back to your earlier post, where you said "Because, personal experience is the limit to what happens?" and reply "What else you got?"

Maybe if you don't have any evidence other than anecdotal just don't present your opinion as fact?

 

[Dausuul]

Maybe if you don't have any evidence other than anecdotal just don't present your opinion as fact?

I didn't. In fact I repeatedly emphasized "in my experience" in my posts. Those were the posts that got the "So personal experience is the limit to what happens?" reply.

 

[Greg K]

assuming it is a full class then it would not have that problem in 5e or at least as much.

I don't know. Some of those issues that I mentioned exist in the Circle of the Shepherd subclass for the druid (including the emphasis on Totems).

 

[Mind of tempest]

I don't know. Some of those issues that I mentioned exist in the Circle of the Shepherd subclass for the druid (including the emphasis on Totems).

well, it is going to need at least one unique mechanic what would you rather have instead?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Where 4e failed, imo, was that a) Spirit Companion, iirc, focused on totems and ignored other types of spirit companions such as ancestral spirit and spirits of land (Including lakes, mountains, etc); b) the spirit companions were also to prescriptive for my tastes. For instance, in some cultures, Snake is a healing spirit, but we get only Bear. This is why I preferred Green Ronin's handling of a Shaman class- it essentially received Cleric Domains and gave examples of spirits that were appropriate for each Domain.

They actually did add an elementalist shaman subclass with the Dark Sun Campaign Setting (Aug 2010) and a World Speaker subclass in Primal Power (Oct 2009), when the Shaman class itself only launched in Mar 2009. So within a year and a half, they did add pretty much what you're asking for. And even the PHB2, where it launched, has powers specifically for calling on ancestor-spirits rather than animal or abstract ones.

Plus, 4e was super huge on reskinning, so like...why couldn't you say your Protector spirit was a snake, or a Set animal, or whatever else? I legit don't understand why it's necessary to have Snake be its own spirit with distinct mechanics. Just declare its appearance and you're good. It's literally no different than declaring your character's height or weight--theoretically it has mechanical merit, but practically it's purely up to you as contextual flavor.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Dragon Magazine....in print.

And especially SnarfQuest.

Wrapped in brown mailing paper, so I can just raise my eyebrows conspiratorially to my non-gaming friends and they'll think I have something illicit.

 

[Greg Benage]

Another vote for scarier undead. Rework the exhaustion system and use it for enervation. Like @Sacrosanct I don't think level drain is worth the bookkeeping, but enervation should suck bad enough that you really want to avoid it.