Epic Destinies and Earth Giants

[AntiStateQuixote]

I'm not understanding the complaints about Epic Destinies. Im not sure how an ability that says once per day, when you die . . .

OK, I have to admit that the phrase "once per day, when you die" amuses me to no end. Also, the ability to become an insubstantial puff of wizardly blastiness is fun. However, the cast a selected daily spell twice per day instead of once, and the use a daily power as an encounter power abilities are boring. Give me something new and different that makes me say, "Wow! This archmage stuff is badass!"

Anyhow, I won't bitch too much until I see it all. Maybe the other epic destinies are better (that's the official, as defined by Brent, better as opposed to the generic, non-specific better that lesser beings sometimes use), and maybe there are good guidelines for creating alternative epic destinies specific to your PCs and campaign.

I'll will wait patiently and optimistically for my books to arrive from Amazon.

 

[Rechan]

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).

When you're 21+ level, you're no longer a farmboy who picked up a sword. You are practically a godling by this point.

 

[I'm A Banana]

OK, I have to admit that the phrase "once per day, when you die" amuses me to no end. Also, the ability to become an insubstantial puff of wizardly blastiness is fun. However, the cast a selected daily spell twice per day instead of once, and the use a daily power as an encounter power abilities are boring. Give me something new and different that makes me say, "Wow! This archmage stuff is badass!"

This is a valid point, but this isn't the first time that WotC has shown a deep lack of imagination, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

 

[Rechan]

What's funny is that, comparing the Orc entry to the Hill Giant entry... there's no contest: orcs are far more interesting.

Orcs all have abilities that say "THIS IS AN ORC" and "It'S DIFFERENT from every other humanoid." It really drives home ORC ORC ORC.

Hill giant: "I hit you. I can throw a rock. Once, I can knock two people down!" Just as unsubtle as the orc, but it doesn't really say "Giant", to me.

It's not interesting. Not like the Orc entry, to say the least.

 

[Cadfan]

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.

Not thread, forum.

 

[Zil]

Heh...They picked the worst giant to preview...

While reading the article, I started salivating as they highlighted everything I thought was wrong with giants. They made them more tied to their mythological roots (WIN), they recognized the problem of similarity between the giants (WIN again) and highlighted some of the later MM giants that I thought were cool (all types of WIN)

Mythological roots? You mean back to Norse and Greek mythology? Oh wait, that's all gone now with the destruction of the Great Wheel. Or perhaps something like the story of "Jack the Giant Killer"? Hmn, wait, I don't think Jack was forced to deal with elemental beings. No, whatever these things are, they aren't going back to any recognizable mythological roots so far as what I can see. They don't even go back to D&D's roots because they jettisoned all that came before.

 

[Andor]

Epic Destiny impression: Cast a daily spell twice? Really? That's the preemminent Wizard of his era? That's Elminster and Raistlin? That's the power that lets me challange the gods themselves?

I think I'd sooner have an artifact level whoopie cushion. :\

 

[OchreJelly]

Giants are… I had this thought rolling around in my head that all giants would be elite and titans would be solo. Expectation meets reality: Adjustments commencing…

Ok that’s better, but it's still a bit meh-tastic. The giant levels here really surprised me. I just wonder how much of a step up they will be from ogres / trolls – i.e. other big bruisers. I guess this was probably intentional so they can be mixed into encounters more.

 

[Korgoth]

I thought the Giants excerpt was reasonable. The Primordials stuff is interesting. As far as Giant powers... are they supposed to be known for their subtlety?

Epic Destinies remind me of BECMI. I like closing the progression at 30 and saying: here are the mechanical conditions for transcending the game world and the game. Your character is complete at this point. I also like that the Epic powers are not totally outrageous. Assuming that they are balanced against the other powers in the game, they don't need to be. Just the power of coming back to life in the Archmage path is a big one... especially if the DM is stingy with the Resurrection Ritual (and/or it contains at least one impossible material component, like the tears of a golem or something). Anyway, the powers seem more flavorful and less of the "Do infinity damage to infinity targets as a free action". Which is a good thing.

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

Cool. It would have been bad if that had been left out of the MM.

 

[Rechan]

Mythological roots? You mean back to Norse and Greek mythology? Oh wait, that's all gone now with the destruction of the Great Wheel. Or perhaps something like the story of "Jack the Giant Killer"? Hmn, wait, I don't think Jack was forced to deal with elemental beings.

Greek mythology.

For instance, Hercules once faced an earth giant/titan/somethingorother that was immensely powerful as long as it touched the ground. He defeated it by picking it up/keeping it off the ground.