Epic Destinies and Earth Giants

[AllisterH]

Are you mixing up your Daves there?

I think I am...Apologies to TerraDave. I was thinking of another Dave.

 

[Knight Otu]

...

I think you want this article. You're quoting from the 3.5 article.

Earth shock is in the Monster Manual stat block, and Bart's fixing the omission in the preview.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Waneta]

Hilarious.

Earth Shock is a classic Shaman spell from WoW.

Now we know why they aren't including frost giants. 'Cause then they would have Frost Shock and the session would never end with the wow players continually going "Frost Shooooock!!!"

 

[Gargazon]

I liked the Epic Destinies article. It is a big jump from the previous tier w/o going to ridiculous levels. But there were also a lot of nice bits of info buried within:

* There is a section in the DMG on how artifacts can have an impact on character creation incarnation

* Are we sure diagonal movement is going to be treated the same? "Additionally, you treat these objects as difficult terrain (each square of movement counts as 2 squares, each diagonal square counts as 3)"

* We've got a complete list of defensive abilities: damage reduction, fast healing, immunities, miss chance (including from incorporeality), regeneration, resistance to energy, spell resistance, and turn resistance

* We've got a complete list of DR types: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, adamantine, cold iron, or silver. Silver weapons are implied to have a damage penalty.

* Are we sure "Full Attacks" aren't in? "The Warrior (Su): Make a full attack as a standard action ..."

* Arcane spell failure is in, though I wonder from what if not armor? "While casting this spell, you do not suffer arcane spell failure ..."

* I'm assuming this article is based on an old draft? I hope? "You can fight when you should be dead. You don't die when you reach -10 hit points ..."

* Death attack and massive damage are in? "You gain a +10 luck bonus on saving throws against death attacks and saving throws against massive damage."

Um.... that's the 3.5 article for implementing Epic Destinies in your 3.5 game.

Also, hooray for the MM not having an monster ability missing!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Grab a random kobold and toss him in first so that he dies and strips the wards away?

Sure, if one of their expressly stated character goals wasn't to die gloriously and live a happy afterlife in Valhalla.

Such a character would be LOOKING for an out like this!

If their epic goal was to kill a random kobold, then that would probably satisfy them...though that sounds like a player that I'd have a bit of a talk to about what "epic" meant.

 

[Swedge]

Grab a random kobold and toss him in first so that he dies and strips the wards away?

Are you just in this thread to shoot down other peoples ideas? The only posts i've seen from you are just that. Please try to contribute something constructive instead.

 

[Slander]

Well damn, after mistaking the 3.5 Epic article for the 4E one, the actual 4E article was kind of a let down. If the actual implementation is something along the line of the 3.5 article, I'll be happy with the Epic tier. I'd actually be willing to play in it for once. But the actual content of the 4E article was far less inspiring than the 3.5 article.

 

[Andor]

First impression of the Giants article: I like the new fluff, though the need to bad mouth earlier editions is just pathetic. Titans have always been awesome remnents of a legendary past when they helped shape the world.

The crunch that follows is underwhelming however. Big orc that can throw rocks does not scream 'ancient elemental force of creation and destruction.'

 

[Zil]

It does seem low. I understand why, but the paradigm shift is significant. Apparently your warrior-type characters are supposed to really wrestle giants and win. Since you can have a character with a 23 strength at 12th level and a 24 at 16th, you really can.

Erg, really? What is this game now? Some kind of form of Xena Warrior Princess where the characters are practically godlings/demigods (or at least on a level where they can wrestle with a titan and win).

In some ways its a nice change from the stupidly large numbers in 3e to keep things 'realistic', despite the huge effect they had on the math. Its rather interesting to compare the two stat-blocks. A first edition stat block would add something as well. The 4e giant has more hit points, and has a much better defense against non-fort spells. Still not great, but a wizard won't have a 75% chance of charming one anymore.

What stupidly large numbers in 3E? Strength modifiers for huge creatures? Or am I missing anything.

As for the charm, yea, that's always been an issue in 3E going both ways. There's always one person in every adventuring group it seems who tanks their wisdom and ends up being charm bait somewhere down the road. I always liked the idea that it was easier to charm big stupid brutes though.

 

[Rechan]

Things that surprised me: Hill Giants/Earth Titans Alignment: Chaotic Evil. Arcane spirit. Wow - now THAT feels Epic.

Giants: I agree that their stats are very underwhelming. I expected a little more... giant. I expect the Earth Titan to be kicking PCs around (literally), or picking them up and wielding them like a club against his party members. A fight with an Earth Titan should feel like a Shadow of the Colossus fight.

Epic Destinies: Totally not digging the "You buy a tower and retire." Also the "Forced retirement." Granted, I likely won't play a game all the way to 30th level, but still.