Snapdragyn
Explorer
I thought street date was the 13th, but one of my FLGS had it on the shelf today.
Initial thoughts (note that I have not read thoroughly, but skimmed all & read bits & pieces):
Overall I think it does a good job of laying out rules for moving the action from the dungeon to the battlefield. There's a nice discussion of things the DM needs to consider in the 1st couple of chapters, from what to roll up ahead of time, to getting the PCs into the army, to effects of giving PCs ranks on RL group dynamics & ways to handle that. Chapter 3 has encounters ranging from EL 4 to EL 10, & sample army units to encounter. Chapter 4 has rules for siege engines, facing a volley of artillery (haven't read that yet), morale, commanders, & the new Victory & Reputation Points.
Some of the more important rules are about those. Victory Points are rewards the PCs earn for defeating encounters of varying military importance, & Reputation Points are similar to VPs but more focused on the 'wow' factor of their actions & how much attention it would draw from the military hierarchy. VPs influence which possible outcome of a battle is achieved, so that the actions of the PCs have an effect on the greater battle going on around them (though it might be that the best outcome would be 'the allied army loses without being slaughtered'). Reputation Points are used for character advancement in the military hierarchy (with higher ranks granting feat-like benefits) & gaining medals (mostly worn items or tattoos which have small effects on interactions with NPCs who know what they are). I like both of these concepts, but the VP rules in particular got a bit scattered through the different sections (some are in the Chapter 2: Building Adventures, some in Chapter 4: Rules of War & in a couple of different spots there). EDITING ERROR: part of the VP rules in Chapter 4 refer to Chapter 3, when the section mentioned is actually in Chapter 2.
In Chapter 5 there are discussions of skill uses on the battlefield, new feats (at least a few of which could see use outside of the battlefield adventure), 4 PrCs (3 of which look pretty good IMHO), & Teamwork Benefits (a couple of which I believe were mentioned in the previews). Chapter 5 has a bit on spell use in battle, then moves into the familiar sections on new spells & new magic items; there is also a bit on magic siege engines.
Appendices cover sample armies, sample soldiers, & 6 new mounts to use on the battlefield.
My impression so far is that it's something I'd really like to use! I still have some concerns about how to decide which army wins a battle or which kingdom wins a war -- the Victory Points system lets you factor in how the PCs' actions will affect things, but doesn't really give you a method for working out what the outcome would be without the PCs other than eyeballing overall troop strength & DM ex machina. There are other resources around for that, though, & it's not something the players are likely to worry too much about anyway; from their side of the screen it doesn't really matter whether the bad guys are winning when they enter the fray because they have 2 more arcane spellcasting units fielded & have a higher production from their iron mines or because that's just the way the campaign is written.
If anyone wants to post questions, I'll answer what I can, though I may be out most of the day tomorrow.
Oh, because I know someone is going to ask, the PrCs are (all are 5 levels):
Combat Medic: full casting progression (healing classes only; i.e. divine + bard), 1/2 BAB, gains abilities that help heal in combat, such as applying a minor buff with a cure-type spell & being better able to cast in melee.
Dread Commando: full BAB & 3d6 Sudden Strike damage, gains lowered armor class penalties & gets sneakier. Nice rogue/fighter combo.
Legendary Leader: 3/4 BAB, a lot of abilities centered around battlefield rules (though there are a couple of things that would be nice in typical dungeon adventures as well; automatically succeed on 1 save per day? Yes please!)
War Weaver: 1/2 BAB, 4/5 casting progression. Extend beneficial spells to affect more than one target (though this doesn't change the range until the 5th level of the PrC, so touch spells still require that all to be affected are touched until then).
Initial thoughts (note that I have not read thoroughly, but skimmed all & read bits & pieces):
Overall I think it does a good job of laying out rules for moving the action from the dungeon to the battlefield. There's a nice discussion of things the DM needs to consider in the 1st couple of chapters, from what to roll up ahead of time, to getting the PCs into the army, to effects of giving PCs ranks on RL group dynamics & ways to handle that. Chapter 3 has encounters ranging from EL 4 to EL 10, & sample army units to encounter. Chapter 4 has rules for siege engines, facing a volley of artillery (haven't read that yet), morale, commanders, & the new Victory & Reputation Points.
Some of the more important rules are about those. Victory Points are rewards the PCs earn for defeating encounters of varying military importance, & Reputation Points are similar to VPs but more focused on the 'wow' factor of their actions & how much attention it would draw from the military hierarchy. VPs influence which possible outcome of a battle is achieved, so that the actions of the PCs have an effect on the greater battle going on around them (though it might be that the best outcome would be 'the allied army loses without being slaughtered'). Reputation Points are used for character advancement in the military hierarchy (with higher ranks granting feat-like benefits) & gaining medals (mostly worn items or tattoos which have small effects on interactions with NPCs who know what they are). I like both of these concepts, but the VP rules in particular got a bit scattered through the different sections (some are in the Chapter 2: Building Adventures, some in Chapter 4: Rules of War & in a couple of different spots there). EDITING ERROR: part of the VP rules in Chapter 4 refer to Chapter 3, when the section mentioned is actually in Chapter 2.
In Chapter 5 there are discussions of skill uses on the battlefield, new feats (at least a few of which could see use outside of the battlefield adventure), 4 PrCs (3 of which look pretty good IMHO), & Teamwork Benefits (a couple of which I believe were mentioned in the previews). Chapter 5 has a bit on spell use in battle, then moves into the familiar sections on new spells & new magic items; there is also a bit on magic siege engines.
Appendices cover sample armies, sample soldiers, & 6 new mounts to use on the battlefield.
My impression so far is that it's something I'd really like to use! I still have some concerns about how to decide which army wins a battle or which kingdom wins a war -- the Victory Points system lets you factor in how the PCs' actions will affect things, but doesn't really give you a method for working out what the outcome would be without the PCs other than eyeballing overall troop strength & DM ex machina. There are other resources around for that, though, & it's not something the players are likely to worry too much about anyway; from their side of the screen it doesn't really matter whether the bad guys are winning when they enter the fray because they have 2 more arcane spellcasting units fielded & have a higher production from their iron mines or because that's just the way the campaign is written.
If anyone wants to post questions, I'll answer what I can, though I may be out most of the day tomorrow.
Oh, because I know someone is going to ask, the PrCs are (all are 5 levels):
Combat Medic: full casting progression (healing classes only; i.e. divine + bard), 1/2 BAB, gains abilities that help heal in combat, such as applying a minor buff with a cure-type spell & being better able to cast in melee.
Dread Commando: full BAB & 3d6 Sudden Strike damage, gains lowered armor class penalties & gets sneakier. Nice rogue/fighter combo.
Legendary Leader: 3/4 BAB, a lot of abilities centered around battlefield rules (though there are a couple of things that would be nice in typical dungeon adventures as well; automatically succeed on 1 save per day? Yes please!)
War Weaver: 1/2 BAB, 4/5 casting progression. Extend beneficial spells to affect more than one target (though this doesn't change the range until the 5th level of the PrC, so touch spells still require that all to be affected are touched until then).
