Excerpt: Paragon paths (merged)

[Storm-Bringer]

Not me, bud. I *love* the second-person---especially in fluff text. Subtle little reminder that I'm playing an RPG.

Gah. My problem is that it isn't subtle at all. It's like getting a hammer to the face that reminds me that I am intended to be thinking like my character, if my character were to be reading a description of themselves in a fourth wall breaking book they found lying around.

Something like 'your wizard' or 'your cleric' is waaaaaaaay better. The way it reads now is like someone who has a bit of trouble understanding that I am playing a cleric, not that I amthat cleric.

 

[Dausuul]

You could call it 'superfighter', you could call it 'increased badassery', or you could call it 'ultra scary drunken cow'. In and of itself, the means to change it does not refute the idea there is a problem.

If there was a throw away line like "... similar to a kensei", there wouldn't be much of an issue. I can't imagine the paragon path being called 'Bonaabakulu abasekhemu' would get a pass like this. Being familiar with the term does not invalidate the specificity, which is really the point of contention.

What I don't understand is why they didn't just call it "Weapon Master."

 

[Storm-Bringer]

Of course it would.

Yes, of course. What was I thinking?

 

[Storm-Bringer]

What I don't understand is why they didn't just call it "Weapon Master."

Bingo.

(EDIT: I think 'Master of Arms' would be better.)

 

[Lacyon]

What I don't understand is why they didn't just call it "Weapon Master."

They did.

 

[Voss]

Fortunately for D&D 4th edition, it won't be westerner either, nor arabic, mezzo-american or hindi. It will be fantasy, where everything the gaming group accepts for themselves can play without disturbance from others.

No, please, not the 'We're so Politically Correct everything has been whirled in a blender until its all bland and flavorless'.

There are different flavors of fantasy, and Vikings vs. Samurai vs Saracens vs Pirates vs. Cowboys doesn't hold a lot of appeal, even though I like everything but the last one.

And yeah, if we're in fantasy-viking-land, and everyone is doing appropriate characters except for player number 4, who insists on playing a ninja, it *is* going to bother me.

 

[Dausuul]

They did.

Let me rephrase: I don't understand why they didn't just call it "Weapon Master" in the same language the rest of the Player's Handbook is written in.

 

[LEHaskell]

What I don't understand is why they didn't just call it "Weapon Master."

Oh, please! Not more "noun - noun" compound names!

 

[Dausuul]

Oh, please! Not more "noun - noun" compound names!

I said "Weapon Master," not "Weaponmaster."

 

[DandD]

No, please, not the 'We're so Politically Correct everything has been whirled in a blender until its all bland and flavorless'.

There are different flavors of fantasy, and Vikings vs. Samurai vs Saracens vs Pirates vs. Cowboys doesn't hold a lot of appeal, even though I like everything but the last one.

You understand it wrong. It's the gaming group themselves that define if they like Vikings vs. Samurai vs. Saracens vs. Pirates vs. Cowboys vs. Ninjas vs. D&D 3.X grognards vs. D&D 4.0 fanbois vs. Godzilla. Names are irrelevant. Wizard of the Coast only provides rules how they work. Every gaming group can call their Viking Warriors in their game Imperial Saint Stormtroopers for all I and other people not affiliated to that gaming group care.

It gets really tiresome if people complain about Wotc "forcing" them to accept flavor, the same as they complain about the loss of the dumb Great Wheel, the change of the Succubi to the Devils, the advancement of the timeline for the Forgotten Realms, and all that other stuff. No, they don't force you to accept naming conventions and background lore. Get over it, people.
D&D is about fantasy. Plain and simple.