FR: Champions of Valor, Who's got it?

[Wycen]

Well I guess in Damara's case I was hoping they might talk about their interaction with cults of Orcus maybe.

For Tyr, more in the Moonsea area, specifically Phlan.

Illmater is the third god of the Triad. So only Illmater then in Damara?

*asked about Amn since he felt Tormish paladins SHOULD have a presence there if only because Amn needs a few good paladins now and again...*

Substitution levels?! For what orgs?!

There are substitution levels for all sorts of stuff. The two I remember best are for Buerrunor Truesilver (the main dwarf god's wife). Basically they are (dwarf) warrior chicks who rush in to save their husbands when the poop hits the fan. They get ever shiny armor among other things. The other substitution level I remember is for the Ruby Rose Knights (paladins of Sune) who get the "embrace of passion" or something at 12th level which basically inspires whoever they embrace.

As for the Moonshaes, this is part of the book I think the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. We get a Skylord of Blah and then a Sky <fill in the blank> of blah as two different prestige classes. One has something to do with the Moonshaes. I skipped them over, but I recall one specifically gets to ride on giant birds of some type, the other is more general, maybe pegasus or something.

 

[Nightfall]

So no mention of the Heroes of Phlan or possibly their son? The Hammer of Tyr even? I always thought THAT was a cool artifact.

Just give me a list of the orgs then please. I'm curious.

*wishes Champs of Ruin had done this.*

 

[Wycen]

So no mention of the Heroes of Phlan or possibly their son? The Hammer of Tyr even? I always thought THAT was a cool artifact.

Just give me a list of the orgs then please. I'm curious.

*wishes Champs of Ruin had done this.*

I was about to ask if you were loopy thinking they would have orgs in a book about heroes, when I figured out you meant organizations.

Somebody with the book will have to do that. And they may take some time to get the list for you because while the book only goes into detail about half a dozen or so, they give a paragraph or two about maybe 3 dozen valorous organizations.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah I didn't mean Grey orcs or Orogs. I meant Orgs as in organizations.

What you DON'T have the book? Then why they hell am I talking to you?!! *is kidding*

 

[Godofredo]

I just got it, and gave it the once over, and it's got some interesting stuff. This is what struck me as personally interesting...

- rules for horse breeds

can you tell us a bit more about it

thanks

Godo

 

[Banshee16]

can you tell us a bit more about it

thanks

Godo

Well, they've got a bunch of different breeds detailed....I won't retype stats, but it's things like having a Cormyrian charger breed, which has stats of a heavy warhorse, but bonuses to certain abilities. Another is the Calimite....FR's answer to the Arabian stallion...it's like a light warhorse, but gets a bonus to movement speed. The breeds are actually pretty cool. I've always thought that type of thing would be a great addition to help make a fantasy world seem more "real".

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

I really dig the use of Substitution Levels for members of organizations that favor this or that class. Damn smart design there, guys! Keep it up!

I thought this was pretty clever also. And finally, they've brought something of the Dukars of Seros into 3rd Ed. by having substitution levels for them. Not quite as far as I wanted them to go, but better than nothing....and I think it could be a good base for either a prestige class or a series of feats for that organization. The substitution levels were cool, but the flavour text refers to abilities that they haven't given any, well, abilities for. Maybe the few choices they give are just the tip of the iceberg, and DMs can add new choices....or a prestige class that requires that PCs take the Dukar subtitution levels.

Banshee

 

[kyloss]

There's truck loads of stuff on Tyr, Torm and what they call the Triad, (who is the 3rd Lawful god who hangs out with those two?). I'd almost say too much stuff, but then I remember this is a book about being goodie goodie.

I don't remember Amn having much of anything, but I do recall an organization or two based in Damara. One was for monks of Ilmater if memory serves.

If I remeber the third of the triad was Helm, not Ilmater but I could be wrong.

 

[Arnwyn]

I have it, and at first blush it looks to be pretty good. Far superior to Champions of Ruin (which is doubly disappointing to me, as I was far more interested in the subject matter for CoR than CoV. *sigh*).

Some interesting stuff - the horse breeds are taken from Eric Boyd's previously released write-up he had on his website (with slight modifications), which were in turn adapted from the 2e MC sheets for the different horses in the Realms.

Also has info on a few lesser-known organizations in the Realms - the most notable, IMO, being the Knights/Heralds of Imphras II (out of Impiltur). Very very cool.

CoV has considerably more feats and character options (like organization-based substitution levels) than CoR (which further adds to my disappointment of, the now increasingly cruddy IMO, CoR).

There's also more "Regions" to choose from when creating characters - however, these regions are actually character backgrounds as opposed to actual geographical regions (for example, there's a "Region" for someone raised in Ilmater's church - things like that).

A much better book than CoR, IMO, with the added benefit of having more (and better) Realmslore. CoR has dropped another few notches with the release of this book.

 

[Arnwyn]

If I remeber the third of the triad was Helm, not Ilmater but I could be wrong.

Nope. It's Ilmater.