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D&D 4E Forked Thread: Al-Qadim, Land of Fate 4e
- Thread starter Quickleaf
- Start date
Quickleaf
Legend
Quick question about fighter builds. I'm wondering if I should keep or replace "mercenary barbarian"? I realized there isn't a "swashbuckling prince" kit and thought that might be a better fit.
Mercenary-barbarians seem like conan-types thrust into a setting of Enlightened and graceful characters. Even with the traitor & matrud I'm making all the characters Enlightened (hence I dropped the kahin from the kit list, not to mention saving it for druid class release in PHB2). I wonder if there is a way to reimagine mercenary barbarians as members of the faith/society?
Mercenary-barbarians seem like conan-types thrust into a setting of Enlightened and graceful characters. Even with the traitor & matrud I'm making all the characters Enlightened (hence I dropped the kahin from the kit list, not to mention saving it for druid class release in PHB2). I wonder if there is a way to reimagine mercenary barbarians as members of the faith/society?
Adam, looks good. I think the smoke looks better in portrait layout. It's just something I found online. When summer comes I'll have a chance to design a really cool border layout with some smoke photography my friend does, then layer it with some calligraphy with fx in photoshop.
Thanks Jon.
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Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Mercenary Barbarian always struck me as an interesting kit since it was the one 'foreigner' that really worked for the setting as anything other than a foreigner.
Now, we could wait till Barbarian comes out to do those guys, and I think that's a great choice. Though the original kit worked as well with rangers.
When it does get integrated I think it can work well to leave it as simply an example of how the 'Enlightened/Unenlightened' dynamic can get exploited in interesting ways. Maybe the Mercenary Barbarians are loop-holed in because their employers/owners insist that this working experience is helping them to become more enlightened. So you could play a Mercenary Barbarian who is either being exploited by unscrupulous twisters of the law, or you could play one who is honestly considering conversion.
If you want to make it cleaner - maybe some theologians recognize a category of unenlightened where they follow the law without recognizing it. A kind of people of the book thing.
Now, we could wait till Barbarian comes out to do those guys, and I think that's a great choice. Though the original kit worked as well with rangers.
When it does get integrated I think it can work well to leave it as simply an example of how the 'Enlightened/Unenlightened' dynamic can get exploited in interesting ways. Maybe the Mercenary Barbarians are loop-holed in because their employers/owners insist that this working experience is helping them to become more enlightened. So you could play a Mercenary Barbarian who is either being exploited by unscrupulous twisters of the law, or you could play one who is honestly considering conversion.
If you want to make it cleaner - maybe some theologians recognize a category of unenlightened where they follow the law without recognizing it. A kind of people of the book thing.
Quickleaf
Legend
Still struggling through fighter builds, but I did have a flash of insight and came up with the sahib(a), a prince/princess seeking adventure to escape from palace life.
[sblock=sahib]Sahib(a)
By moonlight a shrewd observer may witness a cloaked figure slip from a palace window, vanishing into the perilous night. You are a prince (sahib) or princess (sahiba) who lives for the thrill of adventure, often evading your own bodyguards to seek it out. Whether delving into the sealed treasure vaults of a defeated king or braving bitter winds in a desert horse race, anything is preferable to the banality of palace life. When forced to put on airs at the palace, you find respite in swordplay, which you practice for hours a day, and the hunt, whether it be for elusive game with bow, or wooing foreign dignitaries with eloquent poetry. Among the people you travel in disguise, lest your royal family attempt to drag you back to court (there could be no worse a fate!). When faced with opposition that requires you to rise to your royal standing, will you succeed at courtly intrigue or resort to the scimitar?
Class Features: Combat Challenge, Combat Maneuverability*, Evasive Talent*
Class Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, History, Stealth
Station: 12
Suggested Feat: Defensive Mobility
Suggested Skills: Athletics, Diplomacy, Stealth
Suggested At-Will Powers: leaping strike*, sure strike
Suggested Encounter Power: spinning sweep
Suggested Daily Power: villain’s menace
Suggested Paragon Paths: Damsel-of-Distress*/Dashing Anti-Hero*, Munificent and Elusive Ruler*, Swordmaster
Evasive Talent
When wearing light or no armor you gain a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex defense.
Combat Maneuverability
Add your Wisdom modifier as a bonus to opportunity attacks. If you hit on an opportunity attack provoked by movement, you may move along with the target as a free action. At the end of their move you remain adjacent to the target.
[/sblock]
Perhaps I'll just wait till Barbarian comes up to write them up. Hmm, that leaves me with room for one more fighter build...
An evil barbarian might fully understand the unique niche he fills, committing atrocities and feigning repentance afterward, "after all, me but ignorant oaf not know the Law."
[sblock=sahib]Sahib(a)
By moonlight a shrewd observer may witness a cloaked figure slip from a palace window, vanishing into the perilous night. You are a prince (sahib) or princess (sahiba) who lives for the thrill of adventure, often evading your own bodyguards to seek it out. Whether delving into the sealed treasure vaults of a defeated king or braving bitter winds in a desert horse race, anything is preferable to the banality of palace life. When forced to put on airs at the palace, you find respite in swordplay, which you practice for hours a day, and the hunt, whether it be for elusive game with bow, or wooing foreign dignitaries with eloquent poetry. Among the people you travel in disguise, lest your royal family attempt to drag you back to court (there could be no worse a fate!). When faced with opposition that requires you to rise to your royal standing, will you succeed at courtly intrigue or resort to the scimitar?
Class Features: Combat Challenge, Combat Maneuverability*, Evasive Talent*
Class Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, History, Stealth
Station: 12
Suggested Feat: Defensive Mobility
Suggested Skills: Athletics, Diplomacy, Stealth
Suggested At-Will Powers: leaping strike*, sure strike
Suggested Encounter Power: spinning sweep
Suggested Daily Power: villain’s menace
Suggested Paragon Paths: Damsel-of-Distress*/Dashing Anti-Hero*, Munificent and Elusive Ruler*, Swordmaster
Evasive Talent
When wearing light or no armor you gain a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex defense.
Combat Maneuverability
Add your Wisdom modifier as a bonus to opportunity attacks. If you hit on an opportunity attack provoked by movement, you may move along with the target as a free action. At the end of their move you remain adjacent to the target.
[/sblock]
Originally I was considering nixing the Matrud and making the Mercenary Barbarian a ranger build, and the more I think about it the more it fits. Matrud seemed a little too un-heroic for Zakhara, though I thought about recasting them as exiles yearning to prove their worth and rejoin the tribe/society.
Perhaps I'll just wait till Barbarian comes up to write them up. Hmm, that leaves me with room for one more fighter build...
Totally.
An evil barbarian might fully understand the unique niche he fills, committing atrocities and feigning repentance afterward, "after all, me but ignorant oaf not know the Law."I've been looking for ways to include this concept with parallel deities (e.g. Kord - Kor, Selune - Selan, etc), and think it fits nicely with what you suggest.
Quickleaf
Legend
I've been reading the old adventures to see how they might inform the developing story of Zakhara. Here's as far as I've gotten so far...
City of Delight
PCs thwart curses preventing the Grand Caliph from bearing a son
[BALQ 1_Golden Voyages[/B]
PCs recover lost treasure in Crowded Sea for Sultan of Gana. In the process they put the god al-Sartan to rest, and in Nada al-Hazan, Isle of Sadness escape from disbeliever's city exiled by gods. Later in The Steaming Isles they discover Madinat al-Mumin, “cosmological lynchpin of the faith”. These are the highlights, the rest is window dressing.
ALQ 2_Assassin Mountain
The PCs help Grandfather Marwan of the of Everlasting regain power by rooting out a traitor.
ALQ 3_A Dozen and One Adventures
The end result is that the PCs defeat the Sultan of the Brotherhood of True Flame.
Ruined Kingdoms
The PCs stop the rise of the Geomancers, proving themselves the Lions of Tomorrow.
City of Delight
PCs thwart curses preventing the Grand Caliph from bearing a son
[BALQ 1_Golden Voyages[/B]
PCs recover lost treasure in Crowded Sea for Sultan of Gana. In the process they put the god al-Sartan to rest, and in Nada al-Hazan, Isle of Sadness escape from disbeliever's city exiled by gods. Later in The Steaming Isles they discover Madinat al-Mumin, “cosmological lynchpin of the faith”. These are the highlights, the rest is window dressing.
ALQ 2_Assassin Mountain
The PCs help Grandfather Marwan of the of Everlasting regain power by rooting out a traitor.
ALQ 3_A Dozen and One Adventures
The end result is that the PCs defeat the Sultan of the Brotherhood of True Flame.
Ruined Kingdoms
The PCs stop the rise of the Geomancers, proving themselves the Lions of Tomorrow.
Hodag
First Post
Al Qadim Line in Dragon Magazine
Well, I dug out my indexed Dragon Archive on DVD and typed in "Al Qadim". Along with the other articles that have been mentioned, is a great review by Allen Varney in Issue 219 that covered the whole line, an article on the City of Lofty Pillars and Turkish Unerground cities in Issue 201, and of course Issue 189, which covered much interesting stuff on Africa and India.
Well, I dug out my indexed Dragon Archive on DVD and typed in "Al Qadim". Along with the other articles that have been mentioned, is a great review by Allen Varney in Issue 219 that covered the whole line, an article on the City of Lofty Pillars and Turkish Unerground cities in Issue 201, and of course Issue 189, which covered much interesting stuff on Africa and India.
Do you have the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook? It has a workup of the Ghul Lord, an Astronomer, Clockwork Mage, Mystic of Nog and Spellslayer, along with a couple other kits. It also has a few more mystic brotherhoods (enough to fill out the elements and a couple extra).
This is another standalone book in the Complete series.
Jon
This is another standalone book in the Complete series.
Jon
Hodag
First Post
Yup yup. I have the complete AQ line including Reunion, as well as 90% of the 1e/2e Forgotten Realms stuff.
