Channel Divinity: Kord

[Klaus]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Windswept Lord)

This article is filled to the brim with flavor, describing Kord's relationship with Moradin, the Raven Queen and mostly, with dwarves.

Mechanics include a new Divine Boon, a new magic weapon, a new reagent and a new background.

 

[MrMyth]

Enjoyed the concept and the flavor, but would have loved an extra page with some actual character options, or even just a side-bar with advice on using existing character options for dwarven followers of kord.

 

[renau1g]

The flavour's pretty great, the player options...not so much.

 

[Zaran]

Did you notice that the last item is said to be a consumable reagent but costs the same as a regular magic item? When are those r & d people starting to work on the mag again?

 

[Ryujin]

Very handy for me, that this came up now. Three of the members of the party I'm DMing for, at the moment, are worshippers of Kord. We have the Sword of Kord (Shifter 2-weapon Ranger), The Hand of Kord (Dragonborn Straladin), and Kord's Executioner (Human Pursuing Avenger). To top it off I'll be running them through Revenge of the Giants. Ohhhhh, the roleplaying potential

I also like the Boon presented in this piece better than the one in DMG2. I had already rewarded the Kord followers in the group with that Boon (the one non Kord follower with "The First Truth" so that he would find the wisdom, to come to Kord), but I think that I'll switch them over when appropriate.

 

[Mentat55]

This article is heavy on Norse flavor. It makes Kord sound like a mash-up of Odin and Thor -- thunder god, association with death and ravens, and the reference to berserkers as dwarven warriors that wear bear hides (the actual origin of the term).

A paragon path, maybe a couple of feats, and a couple at-will powers would have really pushed this article from good to great. Particularly, this would have been a good opportunity for some runepriest love. What would be better than a dwarven runepriest dedicated to this Norsified incarnation of Kord?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Something I've been noticing about nearly all the magazine articles:

They're mostly too short.

The Modrons article, and several others, also suffered from this. Just not enough word count to give the awesome space to breathe.

I think WotC needs to re-assess the length of these articles. I'd rather have longer, more robust support than a few scattershot ideas. Not that the scattershot doesn't have its place (there should probably still be a few short articles), but dribbling content out to subscribers doesn't feel very much like I'm getting a lot of bang for my buck.

 

[Zaran]

Something I've been noticing about nearly all the magazine articles:

They're mostly too short.

The Modrons article, and several others, also suffered from this. Just not enough word count to give the awesome space to breathe.

I think WotC needs to re-assess the length of these articles. I'd rather have longer, more robust support than a few scattershot ideas. Not that the scattershot doesn't have its place (there should probably still be a few short articles), but dribbling content out to subscribers doesn't feel very much like I'm getting a lot of bang for my buck.

I believe they still lack manpower. They are giving us these short articles so they can say that they are still delivering weekly content. They actually told us that the articles would be shorter when they changed their mag structure the first time last year. I also think they need to re-assess things if they are going to a mostly DDI structure this year.

On another note, does anyone else find it annoying that we are getting a broadcast every week telling us that the schedule is up? Everytime I see that email I think, "Wow, maybe they put in a big bug fix!" but no, it's just another week of sub-par articles.

 

[tuxgeo]

Something I've been noticing about nearly all the magazine articles:

They're mostly too short.

The Modrons article, and several others, also suffered from this. Just not enough word count to give the awesome space to breathe.

I think WotC needs to re-assess the length of these articles. I'd rather have longer, more robust support than a few scattershot ideas. Not that the scattershot doesn't have its place (there should probably still be a few short articles), but dribbling content out to subscribers doesn't feel very much like I'm getting a lot of bang for my buck.

To get more bang* for your buck, write your own articles and submit a pitch. To fit the word count, don't use a great many adjectives.

One idea: a new alchemical item, Kordite (since this CD article shamefully didn't contain that): a twisted "cord" of cloth soaked in a flammable mixture, useful by sappers for igniting one end and leaving it burning while they get out of range: the slow burn of the cord gives them enough time to get far enough away to act nonchalant when the pile of more-flammable material (alternatively, any alchemical explosive) at the other end of the cord finally catches fire, and starts to burn down the alehouse/warehouse/armory/stockade/jail/what-have-you.

*"bang": your word, not mine

 

[MrMyth]

I believe they still lack manpower. They are giving us these short articles so they can say that they are still delivering weekly content. They actually told us that the articles would be shorter when they changed their mag structure the first time last year. I also think they need to re-assess things if they are going to a mostly DDI structure this year.

I don't think that's the reason for it - they shifted to short articles a while back, and the total amount of content remained the same. I think it was about producing more content through each week - and it worked ok when those articles were crammed with player content and mechanics. These days, though, the problems are starting to show.

I definitely want them to reconsider - not necessarily move to all lengthy articles, but find a good balance. Too many articles are crippled by the shorter length - the Modron article, the Bramble Queen article, etc. These are articles that, before the change, would have been rich and robust and filled with content.

But these days, they want short articles, and only give writers so much to work with. It's a shame - but hopefully if enough people complain, they will listen.

On another note, does anyone else find it annoying that we are getting a broadcast every week telling us that the schedule is up? Everytime I see that email I think, "Wow, maybe they put in a big bug fix!" but no, it's just another week of sub-par articles.

Hey, we pestered them and demanded more communication. You can't have it both ways. I don't think the broadcasts are necessary for the article schedules, but I can't really fault them for going overboard on telling us what they can when they can. That is, in the end, what we asked for.