Gripe about the WotC splatbooks

[Guacamole]

venting over the splat books, especially tome/blood and song/silence

First of all, I like the class books, I think they are cool and even if I don't end up using the classes inside, they give me ideas to use. That said, I hate how the classes are grouped together for the splatbooks. I know, I know, mucho dinero for a book for each class, but that would be better than having to split things and do a half-a**ed job for each class! Plus that way I wouldn't have to read about sorcerers and bards, my least favorite classes, when I want to read about wizards and thieves, my favorite classes.

I hate that Sorcerers get pimped out prestige classes like dragon disciple while wizards get.... um... guild mage and uh.... teleport guy! Cool! The pro-sorcerer bias in the game is starting to make me hate sorcerers as much as I hate bards, who somehow, have more historical knowledge and arcane lore than the bona fide academics in the game, the wizards... go figure... which is relevant because bards get some cool feats in song and silence that are like metamagic feats for music except they have no draw backs (that I remember off hand).

One more rant and then I'm done. I hate that ALL the books keep comparing the way sorcerers shape magic to the way a poet writes poetry... inate talent, which is such BS! IT TAKES LOTS OF PRACTICE USING QUANTAFIABLE LIGUISTIC EFFECTS TO WRITE POETRY! No Im not talking about the friday-night-poetry-slam-written-on-a-knapkin-full-of-angst-poetry, Im talking about real poetry, in which a poet writes something, labors over it for hours, puts it away for months, gets it out again, and labors over it more.

Ok, Guacamole will get back in the bowl with the chips

 

[Tom Cashel]

"No Im not talking about the friday-night-poetry-slam-written-on-a-knapkin-full-of-angst-poetry, Im talking about real poetry"?

What? Some would say that evoking emotion in the listener is a lot more important than staining your pages as you sweat over iambic pentameter. Not necessarily my opinion, I just don't think that one kind of poetry is "real" while the other is, by implication, "fake."

Anyway, On-Topic: My solution to the problems with the Splatbooks is not buying any. If my players want to buy them, I approve feats and spells on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Wolfspider]

I like to look at it this way: one kind of way of doing it is poetry, the other way of doing it is Something Else, whatever you want to call it--Spoken Word, inspirational speaking, etc.

Many, many people have the misconception about poetry that it is some innate, mystical talent. Similarly, many people feel that writing is a gift instead of a skill; this makes teaching people to write especially hard, when they all fall back on the excuse that they "don't have it in them." Bah.

Splatbooks? Ahhh, yes. Well. I like them. They have bugs and errors. I expect those. I like them and use them, mainly for inspiration.

 

[Charlie Killme]

"No Im not talking about the friday-night-poetry-slam-written-on-a-knapkin-full-of-angst-poetry, Im talking about real poetry"?

What? Some would say that evoking emotion in the listener is a lot more important than staining your pages as you sweat over iambic pentameter. Not necessarily my opinion, I just don't think that one kind of poetry is "real" while the other is, by implication, "fake."
*---*

You've aroused the wrath of an English major. In general spontaneous poetry is considered more difficult to produce than the sit-down-and-work-for-days-on-a-quatrain style poetry.
As far as sorcerers using spells as poetry, I see it more as a particular poem or even rhyme for each spell that was written beforehand. He doesn't suddenly think of a poem/spell he has them all in his mind he just picks out which one to say.
Just like "poetry slams" where many pharses are pre-generated by the participants. They known beforehand what are good rhymes for what. It's like freestyle dancing, you have a set of moves you use but sometimes improvise moves. Poetry is judged by it's quality not it's method of creation.
And Iambic Pentameter is a grade A pain, if you can do it spontaneously and make it good you are the man.

 

[Number47]

Napkin Prozac

No Im not talking about the friday-night-poetry-slam-written-on-a-knapkin-full-of-angst-poetry,

Knapkin full of angst? I never thought of napkins in this way before. As full of angst, I mean. It makes sense, though. Once a proud, glorious tree in the pristine forest of the Northwest. Chopped and milled, bleached and filled. Find yourself in the coffee shop, stacked and orderly. But what comes next? Sticky fingers, wet mouths, cleanup at table four. Out in the trash. Out in the street. When you're a napkin, how can you not feel angst? When you're a napkin, there is no Prozac.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Hopefully it wasn't me that aroused the wrath, since I was just responding to Guacamole's comment, in which he stated that only poetry using "QUANTAFIABLE LIGUISTIC EFFECTS (sic)" is "real."

Hell, I've got a Master's Degree in it. I still don't write iambic pentameter, though.

 

[Guacamole]

Lets not derail the thread.....

Ok... since people want to debate poetry and sorcery, Guacamole will start a new thread so we can wrassle! O.K.

Sorry to the original thread.... back to business!

yell at Guacamole here:

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1072

 

[Charlie Killme]

LOL!
(about the post by NUmber 47)

 

[BenBrown]

Hell, I've got a Master's Degree in it. I still don't write iambic pentameter, though.

Iambic pentameter? Huh.

Somehow for me it's never been that hard.
The meter comes quite swiftly to my tongue.
It may not be the finest poetry,
But I have never found it hard to write.

But let's get back on track with this here thread.
I feel the first response was merited
The diff'ring layout present in each book
Makes it a chore to find a given thing
You're looking for. The errors that crept in
Amongst the prestige classes also grates.
In fact the way these classes have become
The be-all, end-all of diversity,
Rather than special things for each campaign
Gets on my nerves. I wish that they had kept
To their original plan of doing more
With feats and combinations of such things
To better personalize your character.
Some of the prestige classes as presented
Should be instead made into paths of feats.
(The Candle Caster comes most swift to mind.)

Also, they tend to concentrate too much
Upon one of the classes in each book.
In Song and Silence rogues get most of it,
And bards are left with only what is left.
The instruments are nice--but incomplete.
No weights are given. Are we to believe
That flutes have the same weight as temple bells?
Then there's the prestige classes in the book:
The rogue gets many, some of which are nice.
The bard gets only one, which is okay,
But not quite what I hoped for. For you see,
I'm playing in a campaign at the moment
In which I play a bard, and I had hoped
For some more options. As it is I'll stick
With just being a bard. Still, that's not bad,
At least I can annoy my fellow players
By singing and by writing poetry
While at the gaming table. Plus I can
Get so far into character that I
Can post in metered verse here on the fly.

 

[Gargoyle]

I may not know art,
but I know what I like.

You da man Ben Brown.

Back on topic:

I like all the class books; even the poorly edited Sword and Fist had good stuff in it.

I would have liked to have seen one book per class though, with more focus (and more pages) per class. Who wouldn't want to see a whole book dedicated to making the Ranger or Bard a more attactive choice, for instance? It was a marketing decision to bunch them up, nothing more.