Has the wave crested? (Bo9S)

[hong]

Y'know, just reading this last week, it occurred to me that there is one error that stands out to me; the fact that there are no (or almost no) Devoted Spirit maneuvers described as non-extraordinary, yet most every one of them either heals someone, or is described as "divine power" this, "holy that", etc. In other words, most of the devoted spirit maneuvers REALLY should be supernatural, like the desert wind stuff, but NONE of them are that I saw...

I just assume they're all supernatural. The book's editing isn't that great.

 

[Sejs]

What pictures specifically are you referring too? I really liked the picture of the war blade under the war blade class. The one with all the cloth and looks like he has a readied action. The artist is on concept art.com and has even gotten on the front page a few times. It cant be that bad.

What gets me about the art in Bo9S is the page background.

I know it's supposed to be a serpent or something, but the damn thing just looks like a coffee stain.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I know it's supposed to be a serpent or something, but the damn thing just looks like a coffee stain.

Yeah. It's weird. And the fact, that stuff glows. A warblade makes a "death from above" (essentially jumping into the air and trying to pummel your foe for more damage, ülus you can move a bit): He's lined in a purplish aura.
A bugbear throwing his opponent away: His hand glows yellowish.
Dwarf in "Strength of Stone"-stance: Has greenish glowing hands.

Yeah... and the fact that supernatural stuff is sometimes not marked as such and vice versa is not so good. The flavour of Bo9S has to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

ah I see what you mean. I think more so the text color then the background paper. I really like the background paper but the texts color is to light and to green. it might be creating a slight scintillation.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

I took a second look at the artwork and it seems to be all over the board. Some is really good, others not so good. the styles are also very different from each other. Kind of sad. I haven't really had a chance to look at this book because i know if i do, I wont want to play my current character.

 

[Henry]

Depends how you see hit points. Can a morale boost give you the drive to continue fighting despite having dodged, parried, and blocked sword blows that would have killed a lesser man?

If HP are abstract, why is "curing" them always supernatural?

Cheers, -- N

Because "Your body shakes and spasms as unfettered divine energy courses through it. This power sparks off your weapon and courses into your foe, devastating your foe but leaving you drained" is a terrible way to describe an extraordinary ability. I'll grant, flavor text shouldn't be the end-all and be-all to intrepreting something, but practically every single devoted spirit maneuver is described similarly. Plus, healing is magical in pretty much every other form in D&D, so having it extraordinary in the devoted sprit maneuvers that give it is contrary to previous game design.

 

[Nifft]

Because "Your body shakes and spasms as unfettered divine energy courses through it. This power sparks off your weapon and courses into your foe, devastating your foe but leaving you drained" is a terrible way to describe an extraordinary ability. I'll grant, flavor text shouldn't be the end-all and be-all to intrepreting something, but practically every single devoted spirit maneuver is described similarly. Plus, healing is magical in pretty much every other form in D&D, so having it extraordinary in the devoted sprit maneuvers that give it is contrary to previous game design.

Hey, I'm not saying the book is consistent -- just that you can choose a view (supernatural + divine or mundane + morale) which fits your campaign, and find an internally consistent way to justify either.

Me, I say it's bad editing, and it's not restricted to just that school -- Shadow Hand [Teleportation] maneuvers should be (Su), too.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Henry]

Hong probably has it right - just rule they're ALL supernatural, and be done with it. The funny part is, if you do that, Martial Adepts are going to be looking in horror at antimagic fields the same way mages do.

 

[Nifft]

Hong probably has it right - just rule they're ALL supernatural, and be done with it. The funny part is, if you do that, Martial Adepts are going to be looking in horror at antimagic fields the same way mages do.

Just ban antimagic field.

-- N

 

[Drowbane]

Casters no longer need to fear Anti-magic Fields, for the cost of two feats (martial study: Iron Heart Surge and martial study: prereq for Iron Heart Surge) they can bring one down 1/encounter. Worth it everytime? I think so.