Complete Champion excerpts

[fafhrd]

Because material on that varient won't sell books. A Badly needed nerf that pinned back the ears of wildshaping is not going to get a lot of player support.

I guess I'm in the minority. I refuse to play a standard druid primarily due to the paperwork.

 

[el-remmen]

What? Afraid the players will free themselves from your cruel claw of tyranny they were trapped under for so long? That they will take up their new-bought +3 transmuting spiked chains with a greater demonslayer crystal on it and their enemy spirit pouch (evil DMs) and fight back?

Naw, just my group and I come from the "ooh-ahh" school of attitude towards magical items, not the "ho-hum" one.

Buy and selling of magical items is almost unheard of. Magical items are mostly gifts, rewards, heirlooms or plunder.

 

[Riley]

Anything that can stop spellcasters from insisting on resting after two encounters would've been a godsend in the last couple campaigns I played in.

I really like the reserve feats, including this one. I hope 4e focuses on stuff like this, rather than the "number of uses per encounter" format tried out in some of the other recent books.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The primary resource is the action. Deciding what to do with that resource is a form of resource management. 3rd ed has done a good job of making combat interesting for non-casters, I'd like to see them go even further down that road.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Amen, brother. You can't even call this power "creep". This is just out-n-out powergaming

Spend a (precious cleric) feat or spend gold on wands of CLW. Looks like an interesting decision to me, though maybe biased too heavily in favour of the wand. Hardly powergaming.

 

[M.L. Martin]

The book is out at my FLGS.

Touch of Healing won't let you bring a character above half their max HP.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

The book is out at my FLGS.

Touch of Healing won't let you bring a character above half their max HP.

Well, that settles it; the wand is strictly better.

 

[MerricB]

Well, that settles it; the wand is strictly better.

No, it isn't. Mostly better, perhaps. Strictly better? No.

Being able to get someone up to half-hp and then use a wand on them is a good use of resources; especially at very high levels.

Cheers!

 

[Troll Wizard]

The book is out at my FLGS.

Touch of Healing won't let you bring a character above half their max HP.

Honestly I feel this is still not enough of a limitation. IMV its still very much a powerful feat and furthermore its leading to changes in the game play to something I don't care for. I am not purchasing this book and have cancelled by order with Amazon for it. Perhaps it is a over reaction, but truthfully I feel this is the only way that I can inform WOTC that I don't care for the way the development and design of D&D is headed with some of their latest releases.

 

[DreadArchon]

Honestly I feel this is still not enough of a limitation. IMV its still very much a powerful feat and furthermore its leading to changes in the game play to something I don't care for. I am not purchasing this book and have cancelled by order with Amazon for it. Perhaps it is a over reaction, but truthfully I feel this is the only way that I can inform WOTC that I don't care for the way the development and design of D&D is headed with some of their latest releases.

...You realize that you can get the same effect (and more) from A ONE-LEVEL DIP in Dragon Shaman, right? I mean, granted, you never implied that you'd get within a hundred miles of a Dragon Shaman, but that's been out for a while now, you know.

However, they DIDN'T say how easy it should be, merely possible...

Well, no, actually. They give a whole column on how easy it should be, including rules for various limiting situations (such as time constraints). Basically, "If they have more than half a day, and the town's GP limit is high enough, they find the item."

Sorry to break the news, but that class variant is all kinds of awesome.

All kinds. It's really nifty as a full Druid (though I agree that it moves Druids from "Druids win, thanks for playing" to merely "Druids are hardcore awesome and will probably win"), but it also makes the Druid more modular. With a Wild Shape Druid, you're generally punished if you multiclass because your Animal Companion stops advancing and your Wild Shape stays limited ("punished" = "better than other party members, but no longer better than all other party members combined"). With Shapeshift, Druid becomes a very viable dip class. ("Hey guys, my Halfling in Dragonhide Full Plate can go from 15 feet per round to 50 feet per round as a Swift action, at will, and I lose all of the massive Armor Check Penalties from my Full Plate + Tower Shield, thus making me a tank-ninja, and all it took was a single level of Druid!") They're also more useful for taking a little farther then moving out of (infinite flight at level 5, etc.) and, while I doubt you personally care, changing form and appearance at will is a freaking sweet thing from a fluff perspective. (And an infiltration perspective.)

The primary resource is the action. Deciding what to do with that resource is a form of resource management.

Yes, this really hit home for me in my last few games. My players have reached the point of having numerous useful Move and Swift actions to take, and it's making them think.

Case in point: Today, a Skirr dropped the party Barbarian from a height of ~300 feet. Now, as a level 10 Barbarian, he should normally be able to brush off a fall from orbit (literally). Thing is, he had taken some damage, and wanted to (1) heal 4d8 with his belt of everyonetakesthis from the MIC (Swift action), (2) activate Rage to get an HP boost (Immediate action), (3) and swing at the Skirr as he fell (ideally activating his Flaming Surge, a Swift action). Of course, he only had time for two Swift or Immediate actions.

Naturally he chose to let off on the Surge, but that was just the most recent example. this kind of thing comes up all the time, and it's not always so easy.

Personally, I'd like to see that as the primary balancing factor of the magic system. It certainly works well in MMO's--sure the mage can cast most spells infinitely, even the really powerful ones, but does he have the time and freedom to do so?