FR Update at WotC-Year of the Ageless One

[TwoSix]

I think the theory is that it's not magic ITSELF that went crazy, but the Weave, which is just the INTERFACE wizards use to access magic. So permanent enchantments remain in place, and permanent wards like Mythals help to push back the gusts of wild magic blowing all over the place. Meanwhile, all the wizards are going around batshit insane saying, "What do you MEAN I get new spells every encounter, and I can cast Magic Missile whenever I want? My whole world is gooooone!"

Exactly. If the electrical grid went down all at once, the places hit the hardest are the places that don't have their own generator. Not a perfect analogy, I know.

 

[Walking Dad]

It's the lack of healing. 4e actually seems to fix this problem rather neatly (as would using some other non-magical hp recovery system, such as Iron Heroes' reserve point mechanic).

Quick fix in 3.5:

Use Rope Trick. Heal in the extraplanar space, that is not the mournland, and proceed.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

My only problem with the new changes is that it makes a lot of stuff I have unusable. In 3e games, I can "mostly" use the FR atlas almost unaltered. 4e? Nope. Even the fluff from lot of the 2e stuff is unusable now.

This is why you HAVE o buy the new FR Stuff. The world is changed and all the old (and unfun) Stuff is of no use.
FR is a Brave New World now!

 

[La Bete]

Well out of that article, two thinks leaped out:

Baldurs Gate - First reaction was "a teeming hive of scum and villainy" Yay! (Even if it's not)

Drifting earthmotes with wierd aerial forests - As a player I'd want a keep on one of those, with a gurard of halfing giant bat riders, stat!

I mostly liked the 1e-3e realms, and have played/gm'd them a few times, but this all looks pretty interesting.

 

[Henry]

I think the theory is that it's not magic ITSELF that went crazy, but the Weave, which is just the INTERFACE wizards use to access magic. So permanent enchantments remain in place, and permanent wards like Mythals help to push back the gusts of wild magic blowing all over the place. Meanwhile, all the wizards are going around batshit insane saying, "What do you MEAN I get new spells every encounter, and I can cast Magic Missile whenever I want? My whole world is gooooone!"

I also recall that there is a precedent for Mystra dying and magic not going "poof": The Time of Troubles itself. After the Karsus Incident, the reason for her placing a portion of her magic in various Chosen and other vessels was not just because of the concerns of other gods over her power, but so that she would not be the only thing holding the Weave together. When she died, magic didn't go *blip**off*, but more like "short circuit." The disappearance of the Weave might be artistic license for what really happened, which was the alteration of the weave into something else entirely.

All in all, I'm not happy with the changes, but I admit they might be popular ones. like Whisperfoot, I always wanted to do a Thay/Mulhorand/Unther campaign, but my players never wanted to -- I couldn't get them jazzed about something like it. So, maybe the FR designers have a point...

 

[Henry]

This is why you HAVE o buy the new FR Stuff. The world is changed and all the old (and unfun) Stuff is of no use.
FR is a Brave New World now!

Bah. There's one good thing -- don't forget there's still a wealth of old FR stuff on RPGNow...

 

[JeffB]

I was curious to start getting some info about the "new" Realms. I'm an old Grey Box fan, but hardly a Realms Scholar or hardcore fan, so I thought I'd "wait and see".

That said, I thought this article sounds like something a tween-age DM would come up with. Its just "lame". Then again, I've found most of the major changes to the Realms are pretty lame over the years. Cloak & Dagger had alot of good info and they just kind of glossed over/ff'ed it all for 3E.

Anyhoo these kinds of 4E changes are def not to my tastes. I'll stick with that old grey box and the first few FR# supplements.

 

[jasin]

My only problem with the new changes is that it makes a lot of stuff I have unusable. In 3e games, I can "mostly" use the FR atlas almost unaltered. 4e? Nope. Even the fluff from lot of the 2e stuff is unusable now.

Assuming you like the 4E rules but don't like the 4E FR, couldn't you just run 2E/3E FR using 4E rules?

 

[Brakkart]

Ahh! This seems likely. And with Artemis Entreri being a shade these days, they have an iconic character in FR to represent the race.

They made Arfemis a shade? Lame! They already had an iconic shade to represent the race, he's called Erevis Cale!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

They made Arfemis a shade? Lame! They already had an iconic shade to represent the race, he's called Erevis Cale!

They did it so he could live a hundred plus years, actually. Also, this means Drizzt can't beat him just by waiting twenty years. (It's already implied that Artemis had gotten a bit slower with age, contrast to the still-young Drizzt.)

At least, that's what I assume. IMO, the only iconic shade shouldn't be good-aligned. (For that matter, doesn't Erevis Cale have some additional powers anyway?)