Dragon #308 previews new ranger and barbarian!

[drnuncheon]

EDIT - Wait. I noticed Greater Rage kicks in at 11th level. Any idea what that is?

Probably the same thing it is in 3e, except 4 levels earlier.

J

 

[thalmin]

Probably the same thing it is in 3e, except 4 levels earlier.

J

Yes. Sorry, in my haste to post this info, I left out some comments, such as "...is awarded earlier."

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Hide in Plain Sight! Blech - I HATE that ability. It doesn't make any sense. How does one hide while not, well, being hidden? Is it invisibility? Why not call it that.

Good point. How exactly would I explain this to my players? You just dissapear? Your ranger abilities allow you to bend light?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Ok. Nevermind.... I never play barbarians so Greater Rage didn't sound familiar.

All sounds good then.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Good point. How exactly would I explain this to my players? You just dissapear? Your ranger abilities allow you to bend light?

In the Wheel of Time books, there are these guys called Grey Men. They are used as assassins. They have a supernatural abiltiy to simply go unnoticed. You might see them, but they don't really register in your mind.

You ignore them. This is how I explain Hide in Plain Sight. You are visible, it's just that people don't take notice of you.

 

[thalmin]

Good point. How exactly would I explain this to my players? You just dissapear? Your ranger abilities allow you to bend light?

Just mention what happened in Crocodile Dundee II. It's a combination of camouflage, wilderness lore, and supernatural.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If the HIPS requires natural terrain, maybe it's an advanced version of camouflage -- they just fade into the background.

Think Predator (the movie, not the drone).

 

[johnsemlak]

Thanks a lot thalmin for the scoop!

 

[johnsemlak]

Funny thing, just as you sumitted your scoop to the newspage I put your summary up myself.

Thanks again.

 

[Chris Tavares]

Yikes. Considering the Ranger and Barbs new abilities i hope they created a few better feats than just improved weapon specialization for the poor fighter.

This is just another go round on the wheel. Every edition of D&D tries to make fighters cool so that people will play them. For example, nobody in 2nd edition played straight fighters; why bother when ranger or paladin gave you more kewl stuph?

So, they introduced kits. And they were cool. So cool, that they added kits for all the classes. Now fighters aren't cool, again.

So then, there was Birthright; an attempt to (among other things) make fighters cool again. Not sure where it went, but we all know what happened to Birthright.

In 3rd edition, fighters were cool because they get all those bonus feats. That with the fighter stchick. However, notice that more and more core & prestige classes are coming out with bonus feats as you gain levels. And fighters don't look so cool anymore...

Round and round we go...