NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 3811496" data-attributes="member: 49613">What I mean is, they seem to be trying to give everything a "job" and make it "standard issue".The old Death Knight is a Villain because it's very similar to a Hero: it is capable of handling itself in multiple situations.  It has a number of different powers that, while they may not seem to follow a standard rationale, give it flexibility and "tricks up its sleeve".  It is magic resistant, reflects spells, causes fear, gates in helpers, creates an ice wall, casts symbol and casts fireball.  It usually rides a Nightmare.  The point is, it doesn't have a "job" per se.  It's good at practically everything: you can't reliably use spells against it, it's tough in melee, it can keep you at a distance, it can fry you, it can bring buddies, it can fly away on its hellhorse.  There are only a few of these dudes (tragically, they are fallen paladins) but they are tough... the equal of any hero, or even most parties of heroes.The "new guy" appears basically to be a Tank or melee monster.  He has gone from a tragic creature of surprising and terrible capacities to a mere sword-lich.  Why?  Because everybody is supposed to have a "job", and <s>Human Resources</s> the DM has to know where to put him.  If he could melee and cast fireball we'd have to circular file his resume because he'd obviously be "overqualified".I see it going the same way with most things.  They've already discussed "brutes", etc.  I'm guessing you'll see things like "Orc Brute", "Orc Swiftrunner", "Orc Archer", etc.; because we certainly can no longer imagine a member of a primitive society who is reasonably self-sufficient and capable of doing more than one thing.  Even tribal orcs will have an absolute division of labor: you don't send a Mail Room Orc to do a Customer Service Orc's job.It's just a common cultural... metaphor?  Submetaphor?  I don't know the word for it.  But I see it in a lot of things: standard point buys for characters, for example.  Lots of people want to have the "standard issue" character which has a "default array" of stats, non-random hit points, 0% deviation from standard wealth-by-level guidelines, and which conforms to one of a set of collectively-determined "builds" in order to optimally specialize in a task.  The fantasy version of an "empty suit", in my opinion.  Doesn't matter if the suit is linen or mail.The original Death Knight interests me precisely because it is a bit unconventional and unpredictable.  It's a creation of dark magics, so it has ended up imbued with a fire ability (fireball) and an ice ability (wall thereof).  That exercises my imagination because it makes me work for it.  I can stretch my brain to think of how to use this guy, to think of why he is the way he is, to think of all the weird different stuff he could do.  The "new guy", on the other hand, is entirely predictable.  Skeleton in armor with a big sword?  Let me guess: he hits people with his sword all the time?  Got it... get in the Tank queue, skeletor.  I'll call you when my Encounter Design Equation calls for a Sword15.</blockquote>

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