FR: Players Guide to Faerun is out what do you think?

[Numion]

Honestly, as said before, the Martial Weapon Prof feat isn't even the worst of it. But for an example. So you can use a martial bludgeoning weapon against those with DR/bludgeon, and a slashing weapon against those with DR/slashing.

Sorry to be a pain in the ass about this one feat, but still:

1) Those situations you listed are rare

2) There isn't much difference to using simple weapon of the same type

3) The types who would have to take that feat in the first place aren't going to unbalance the game by overcoming damage reduction with their secondary weapon. (Consider a wizard, with the all martial weapons feat, packing a good magic weapon of all damage types? Either a) doesn't exist b) is wasting resources <-> isn't too powerful / unbalancing)

Consider Bullheaded, get +2 to all Will Saves, and can no longer become shaken. That has a significant impact...

Or Fleet of Foot contrasted against Dash. (10ft v 5 ft).

And a number of others which are effectively, Other Feats +1.

You have a point here, no doubt. Doing a feat thats just better than some other feat isn't necessarily a great idea. But can't really see any of the feats listed unbalancing my game.

Do these feats break the holy grail of balance? Yes.

Do these feats help root the characters in the FR? Yes.

Is the combined effect of above points positive or negative to gameplay? I don't know, but I'd like to test it.

Don't knock it before you try it. Balance is a means to good gaming, not the ends.

 

[reiella]

You have a point here, no doubt. Doing a feat thats just better than some other feat isn't necessarily a great idea. But can't really see any of the feats listed unbalancing my game.

Do these feats break the holy grail of balance? Yes.

Do these feats help root the characters in the FR? Yes.

Is the combined effect of above points positive or negative to gameplay? I don't know, but I'd like to test it.

Don't knock it before you try it. Balance is a means to good gaming, not the ends.

Well therein introduces a problem then, are those earlier feats 'too weak' or are they 'too strong'?

I'm inclined to believe that the assumption is that the earlir feats were 'too weak', but some may possibly be as such due in part to the 'Stacking Issues' (similiar to Spell Focus) from before. After all, Cosmopolitian also got changed so that it didn't provide what amounted to another Skill Focus bonus.

But hey, at least it's possible for a monk to break 100 ft. base speed again....

I'm still approaching this part from the assumption of 'ignoring the 1st level feat'/regional restriction stated earlier .

And your closing remark is quite true . But if I'm more interested in a mixed-balance game, I'd go for Rifts myself.

Of course, couple other ones that really are eepy to me.

I also could have swore I mentioned Otherwordly, but I apparantly didn't. A feat that turns you into an Outsider with all type benefits (But a native outsider, so you miss out on most of the penalties).

Fearless ... You become immune to fear effects.

Anycase, some quirks abound here (Besides the feat balance issues ).

Just noticed something that really annoys me, Comp Warrior has another feat called Fleet of Foot, that is more or less a staggered charge feat...

Axiomatic Strike ... Again Complete Warrior / PGF conflict. In complete warrior it's pretty much a Stunning Fist usage feat (and grants +2d6 damage against chaotic opponents). The PGF Axiomatic Strike is an (smite chaos/any lawful alignment) epic feat that makes every weapon you wield considered axiomatic.

Oh well, just frustration towards the rules continuity editors.

 

[Silveras]

First, let me add my voice to the chorus asking people arguing about the balance of feats to take it to another thread, already.

Second, with regard to Orcus, I think this is a throwback to the 1st Edition approach. In 1st Edition, the Arch-Devils and Demon Princes were not deities, but they were "equivalent to" Lesser Deities, and could grant spells as such. This sounds like where the Celestial Paragons and Fiendish Patrons are positioned now: not true deities, but close enough that they can grant spells to followers.

However, I am waiting for Amazon to realize the book is out and ship my darned copy to me. So I am just making an educated guess about Orcus, etc.

 

[jester47]

Eye of Horus Re Requirements
Al: Lawful Good
Region: Mulhorand
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 9 ranks, Spot 4 ranks.
Feats: Alertness, Extra Turning
Spellcasting: Able to cast 3rd level divine spells.
Domain: Sun

Morninglord Requirements
Alignment: Any Good
Skills: Craft (any) 4 ranks, Diplomacy 7 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks, Perform (any) 2 ranks.
Feat: Improved Turning
Spells: Able to cast 3rd level divine spells.
Patron Deity: Lathander

The Eye of Horus Re is so much better than the Morninglord of Lathander that the two classes are not comparable fighting undead or any other creatures for that matter. Just to give you a slight example of the difference, at 10th level the Morninglord gains the equivalent of 60 foot darkvision while the Eye of Horus Re gains always active True Seeing. The Eye of Horus Re receives 60 foot Darkvision at 2nd level. When you get this book, just look over the two classes. They are not comparable.

The Regional feats are actually not that bad. You can now only have one regional feat ever. You have to buy it at first level. They may be more powerful, but they are very limited.

Well, that Mulhorund regional requirement and the Lawful Good requirement really limit who can take the Eye class. Also you have 2 feats required for the eye. So that pretty much takes any choice out of the feats for many non-human characters. Simply put the Morninglord is a lot easier to take. Few players are willing to play Lawful Good, and even fewer are willing to burn feats. The power of the Eye is relative to the limitations placed on it. The Morninglord is open to a lot more PCs and so the benefits reflect that. I really dont see a problem here unless you have players that START with PrCs and/or are allowed to build a character with a specific PrC in mind. Neither of which is somthing I personally allow. IMC random chance and hard work are the only way you get a PrC. (occasionaly, if we are doing somthing special, I might allow a character to start with a PrC, but it is ussually backed up by the story) As an aside it is awesome to see a plyer who is excited that thier character actually qualifies for a PrC, and I do allow test based prereqs from Unearthed Arcana (but no one has tried it yet).

Aaron.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Hmmm. The Eye of Horus-Re requires four ranks in a skill that is cross-class for clerics, and a feat that certainly isn't very high on any cleric's wishlist. Still not enough to balance it out, but burning a feat on Alertness is not something many people like to do.

When you see the abilities of the Eye of Horus Re, you will gladly burn the Alertness feat.

They gain Greater Turning a number of times per day equal to 3 + Charisma modifier in addition to their regular turning attempts.

All their attacks become good aligned at a certain level.

They can blast a burst of Positive Energy in a 100 foot radius using 2 of their regular turning attempts that does 1d6 damage per Eye of Horus Re level.

No miss chance in darkness and Blindfight feat for free.

Always active True Seeing at 10th level.

Its a very good class. Too good IMO. Makes the Morninglord look like a poor man's undead fighting warrior.

 

[reiella]

Not sure what I make of the changes to Incantatrix.

Gets more free feats, and a bit more Meanie Potential (wresting control of a spell away).

The cooperative metamagic mechanics also seem to result in ... well practically never being able to make use of it, to even heighten a cantrip, it requirse a DC 21 check, but I understand why so difficult, just esh, not too sure they're too possible to use past a modified 6th level spell.

I do like how improved metamagic got moved though. Incanatrix just starts to feel more like an epic PrC now rather than a regular one .

 

[reiella]

When you see the abilities of the Eye of Horus Re, you will gladly burn the Alertness feat.

They gain Greater Turning a number of times per day equal to 3 + Charisma modifier in addition to their regular turning attempts.

All their attacks become good aligned at a certain level.

They can blast a burst of Positive Energy in a 100 foot radius using 2 of their regular turning attempts that does 1d6 damage per Eye of Horus Re level.

No miss chance in darkness and Blindfight feat for free.

Always active True Seeing at 10th level.

Its a very good class. Too good IMO. Makes the Morninglord look like a poor man's undead fighting warrior.

And at 8th level, the Morninglord can at the start of the day, cast heal on themselves, cast Restoration (without component, or cost, single attribute), or remove any poisons or diseases... The restoration bit can possibly be applied to other party members as well. It does take an hour though.

Further, the Morninglord get's special darkvision... Full color. But the Eye of Horus-Re also gets Low-Light vision (when they get darkvision in fact).

And just in case TrueSight wasn't enough, at 6th, the eye can ignore miss chance created by darkness spells + effects, and gains Blind-fight. And a +5 sacred bonus to Spot (Rather nice 'catch up' for the cleric at least).

And yea, I have ot agree that the Eye is The Uberer of the Two for their specialist task focus.

 

[Celtavian]

re

The initiate domains are real nice. Give unique spells to the priests of certain gods and a nice little domain power. Well worth the feat you have to spend to gain the initiate domain.

For example, Initiate of Tyr domain gives +1 attack with Longsword and access to Sword and Hammer and Greater Sword and Hammer. Now only Tyrran priests can cast those two spells.

 

[reiella]

I'd like to hear about him too, as well as about the Initiate of Tyr feat. Can someone please tell us what it does, even if only in outline?

I also couldn't find any spells with (Tyr) in the Magic of Faerûn (though several of Velsharoon and other gods which don't seem to get Initiate feats) Does the Triad (Torm, Tyr, Ilmater) get to use the same 'specialist' spells? And do the Initiate feats all give the same number and levels of spells?

Thanks

The Justicar gets a bunch of Smite Chaos type boons, full spell progression for a divine spellcasting class. Reqs 2nd level divine spellcasting.

Spell Focus (Lawful spell) (Effectively).

Maimed God's Boon: Add Cha bonus to all saves with the chaotic descriptor, and against spell-like + su abilities of chaotic outsiders.... Stacks with Paladin bonus, so you get Super Double Charisma boon.

Can eventually make their weapon act as an axiomatic weapon for Cha/rnds (min 1) / day.

And it ends, with a constant Dispel Chaos aura. A dismissed outsider temporarily disables it for the rest of the turn, but may be reactivated as a free action on the justicar's next turn.

In all, it looks good, but I can see some potential smack-down pain in it...

Quick overall observation:
None of the Paladin or Monk themed prestige classes allow for Freely Multiclassing (Justicar and Monk of the Long Death) that I can tell.

I think this may just be an oversight, but I don't know.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Do these feats break the holy grail of balance? Yes.

Do these feats help root the characters in the FR? Yes.

Is the combined effect of above points positive or negative to gameplay? I don't know, but I'd like to test it.

Which is really the best approach. I'm just not a fan of them making 'better feats,' and I'm usually extremely ambivalent to accusations of power creep.

*shrug* I guess with 3.5, so ends my purchases in the Realms.