Channel Divinity Melora

[Klaus]

After the quality of the warlock pacts article, and the compact but great crunch of the halfling article, this one was disappointing. I was hoping to get a bit more background about Melora, like that excellent Bane article we had awhile back. Was that a Channel Divinity article as well, or did it have a different name, like Deities and Demigods or something?

That was Deities & Demigods.

The current convention is Channel Divinity for players (with fluff/crunch for PC followers of the gods) and Deities & Demigods for DMs (with background info and monsters/NPCs related to the gods).

 

[Herschel]

By primary build choice items, I mean items like your Staff of Ruin, Rod of Corruption, Jagged Weapon, etc. These are items that anyone with a solid grasp of system mechanics will latch onto as superior for their character's build and no matter how interesting other choices may be, limited item choices will always dictate the most powerful choice above others.

So as I said, these then just become clutter.

Wow, talk about an overly simplistic view of things. Are the games you play in really that redundant? For example, I have a Swordmage with a Voidcrystal Longsword that works much better than a jagged one would in many instances. When there's a BBEG artillery behind a/some holy sack(s) of hit points with restricted avenues of approach, do we sit and let him nuke us while we chew through his bodyguards? Nope, drop the sack in to the void for a round so I can get in the face of the BBEG and keep him from nuking the party three to five rounds earlier. That jagged longsword wouldn't be much help.

There are often good options if one has the creativity and intelligence to make them work.

 

[Shroomy]

I have to say, I love the quenchquiver weapon. Maybe its the evocative images its description and powers put in my head, but I think its one of the coolest magic items that I've read about in 4e.

Also, WotC must have watery locomotion on the brain this month, as this issue of Dragon has so far brought us two aquatic figurines of wondrous power.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I do think they probably didn't do themselves any favors by calling this a "Channel Divinity" article, rather than a "Bazaar of the Bizarre". After their articles on Bahamut and The Raven Queen... to not match that level of fluff with crunch is bound to disappoint people.

Although I do wonder if perhaps there is additional material still to come about these "water-based" Melora worshippers, as you can tell that there's a theme within Matthew Sernett's article... it's just barely touched upon? Perhaps we'll see a second half (the fluff half) in December at some point? Especially if enough people comment here and on the Wizards boards that this "Channel Divinity" article wasn't even close to the level of the previous two.

I certainly hope so... because just speaking selfishly, one of my players is a paladin of Melora who was a sailor previously... so any additional info about ocean-based Melora worshippers is just what I'm looking for.

 

[avin]

No offense, Wizards, but what's the point of two lines articles? Where's my fluff...?

So far I'm disappointed with overall quality of daily articles...

 

[Kzach]

Does anyone recall the name of the articles in Dragon magazine under Mona's reign that focused on Greyhawk gods and really went in-depth into how the clergy works and how they relate to their followers and had items along with descriptions of how they fit into the milieu?

 

[MrMyth]

My problem with this article is that it's a Bazaar of the Bizarre masquerading as a Channel Divinity.

Not only that, but tying Melora into the article seems almost an afterthought. It's as though they came up with this article on water-themed magic items, and then didn't feel that was a strong enough unifying theme... so decided that Melora was a god of the wild, and the wild includes oceans, so let's pretend this article has something to do with her!

I actually quite liked the items. If they had named this Bazaar of the Bizarre and been up front about what it was, I'd even have liked the article. As it is, though, it is mildly frustrating to expect one thing and get another.

 

[Klaus]

To be fair, Melora is the god of oceans (in addition to forests, etc) since the first PHB. The devil-shark Sekolah is one of her exarchs.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

You're welcome to gimp your character all you want, but that doesn't make these articles any better or worthwhile.

and your welcom to play the same character over and over again, but that doesn't make the items in this artical any worse...

Would I like more flavor text...YES
Would I want all items to be more powerfult hen the base line just becuse some are...HELL NO


quick quastion, useing your 'best choice only' though process how many dwarven fighters can you make before they all seam to look alike??

[sblock=How mayn I have seen]
Well I have seen 1 handed axe weilder... tempest hammer build...2 handed excution axe build...a battle rager with a war axe, a 1 handed short sword weilder, my suckey battle rager (got so manny temps the DM alwasy ignored the 'unhurtable' fighter after round 1 or 2), and my hybrid (concept nyo class) battle rager tempest who fights with katars (has the battle rager class feature but mostly two weapon powers)

edit: only 3 of these character had the same items at all, my hybrid, the short sword one, and the excution axe one all had armbands of power
[/sblock]

 

[Kzach]

Would I want all items to be more powerfult hen the base line just becuse some are...HELL NO

I'm not arguing for more power, I'm arguing for equal power.

quick quastion, useing your 'best choice only' though process how many dwarven fighters can you make before they all seam to look alike??

This just supports my argument that more variety at an equal power level is desired. Not only that, but you're presenting a fallacious argument anyway. Every build has it's own optimal choices; there isn't a one item fits all approach, which is the argument you're presenting. There are, however, items that clearly stand out as the best for a certain build choice.

Wouldn't you rather have lots of options for your build choice that are all as powerful as each other rather than having to choose a sub-optimal choice just because you want to be different from Fighter Number 1 Cutout?