FR Preview - Akanul & Impiltur

[oldbone]

Has anyone played with the regional bonuses?

It seems to me that all clerics will be from Impiltur and everyone else will be from Akanul?

That Akanul resistance to elemental damage seems to be far more useful than a +2 to a skill... especially when you consider what it means against ongoing elemental damage.

I dunno... anyone have any insight?

 

[keterys]

Depends how common cold, fire, and thunder damage end up being I suppose, but Akanul does seem strong. I don't believe it stacks with wearing resist items, and I rather imagine an... optimizer... will be wearing a few resistances from Black Iron, Deathcut, Survival, or Stormwalker anyways. So the benefit may be blunted slightly.

Impiltur could be more than just clerics - I could see doing a fighter who ignores Con and bumps Str+Wis every time, for example. Rangers, too.

 

[oldbone]

Unfortunately, the Akanul resistances do indeed stack - it is an explicit exception for that region...

oy!

 

[MwaO]

I think you need to look carefully at what the regional values represent. In most cases, they represent about a feat's worth of bonuses. Impiltur is in the best case scenario, about as valuable as toughness for a low con character. In most cases, it won't really let you dump con, because you need it for armor proficiencies. So most characters will start out with an extra 4-6 points and it will turn into an eventual 12-16. i.e. Toughness. Which isn't a bad feat, but is it a feat you'd actually take if you had to spend a feat choice?

I think several of the regions are stronger depending on characters:
Aglarond: This is my fav for clerics - access to perception, a +1, and elvish. Something most clerics should be spending a feat to get access to anyway. Heck, something most characters should be spending a feat on.

Baldur's Gate/Cormyr/Waterdeep - all give access to an important face skill, give a +2 to that skill, and then throw in something else on top of it. Many faces want an extra language, but don't have a feat/13 Int to spend for Linguist. Fey Warlocks and Cha Rogues should pretty much be coming exclusively from Waterdeep. Cha Paladins who don't boost Wis have to consider Baldur's Gate strongly.

Dragoncoast makes a high Insight character almost never miss + the free language of choice.

 

[keterys]

Unfortunately, the Akanul resistances do indeed stack - it is an explicit exception for that region...

oy!

They clearly stack with racial resistances, such as from a tiefling or genasi, yes.

I don't believe they stack with those from a cloak or armor, however. I wouldn't think those are 'existing' bonuses. They really aren't when you take the background at character creation, in particular.

 

[FadedC]

Even taking Impiutr, I'd be reulctant to completely tank con as a cleric. Not only is it used for healing surges, but also for armor feats.

Depending on your class, some of the skill regions can be quite good, not for the +2 but for the extra class skill. A 14 wisdom fighter for example might be very happy to go from +2 perception to +8.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

After a fight we had with some Gnome Skulks Aglarond looks like a great choice for Clerics, Fighters, Paladins and Wizards. They can all benefit from a good Wis and none of them get Perception as a class skill.

On the other hand Luruar and the Moonshae Isles look somewhat less than awesome, optimization-wise.

 

[D'karr]

I don't know I started looking at the bonuses and instead of just "going for the best" I selected the ones I thought would be good for my character in the role play aspect.

So my Drow Swordmage is from Waterdeep, my Shadar-Kai Ranger is from the East Rift, my Elf Rogue is from Cormyr, and my Dwarven Warlord is from Aglarond

 

[keterys]

Honestly, I like all the skill ones myself. Time will tell if they use skills a lot, but I think my fighter would be happy to have Insight or Perception.

 

[Mengu]

Honestly, I like all the skill ones myself. Time will tell if they use skills a lot, but I think my fighter would be happy to have Insight or Perception.

Agreed. Insight and Perception bonuses can be useful to pretty much anyone. I think Cormyr is pretty strong in this vein, since they get +2 to Insight, and a +2 save bonus vs Fear should be quite handy against things like Frightful Presence.

Overall I like Aglarond, Akanul, Cormyr, Dalelands, and Dragon Coast. The rest are more dependent on character concept. A Half-elf Paladin from Waterdeep can have crazy Diplomacy. A Dwarf from East Rift is a databank on aberrant creatures.