Iron Heroes - I have it in my hands!

[mearls]

I think that Combat Zones will be addressed in "Mastering Iron Herores."

Unfortunately, this is true. They will be in the demo adventure/tutorial I'm working on right now, though. It's written for a DM who wants to teach the game. It's really pretty basic - it's meant to show off the new rules and demonstrate how IH differs from D&D.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

hey, can you really take the same trait twice? (I saw your example character with traitx2)

Some of them. The Dexterous one, fx, gives you +2 dex and -2 con. If you choose it twice, there's no con penalty.

1. Do they use npc classes (warrior, expert) for all the faceless minions you'll be mowing down?

2. Is there a short bestiary already included in the main book?

Yes, there are npc classes. These are dealt with in the the GM book.
There's no bestiary included.

 

[Kaos]

Quick note on Arcanists.
Possible interpretation of the Pact issues: you can gain a total 'bonus pool' up to your level, but you can only use 1-10 points of it at a time. (Could be wrong, though.)
There are five "Aspects of Power:" Bounding Step, Daunting Visage (think Gandalf in FotR movie...), Eldritch Dart, Master of Heat and Flame (fire melee attack,) Wound Mending (personal healing.) All require con checks to activate. Greater Aspects give bonuses to your aspects; Ultimate Aspect (at lvl 20) doubles your Master rating for spell checks.

Int supposedly helps 'manage spell energy and channel it into the world,' but the only benefit I've seen from it is that it gives bonus damage to offensive Aspects. Possibly the typo in the Magic rules claiming Int added to DC of magic checkwas supposed to say that Int bonus was added to your roll.

He may not hold his own with the other classes, though... it's noted that the Arcanist should not be converted out of IH if there is another magic system, as he's at a disadvantage. Since the others are on par without gear, and have to be reined in if they *get* the magical gear, this implies to me that the Arcanist is weaker.

ALso: someone asked if IH used the NPC classes. They are hinted at (for example, it's stated that a local militia commander would most likely be a level 3 warrior,) but I didn't see them printed anywhere.

 

[Smart]

My guess is that when IH is used as a stand alone game, the Arcanist is actually on par with the other classes in combat, due to magic bypassing armor DR. This might be another reason why implementing the Arcanist as a whole class in a "D20 Fantasy" mishmash might handicap him - no armor DR to bypass. In IH, though, it would give him a good combat advantage.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I'd say the arcanist is roughly on par with the bard, or could be made so easilly enough.

Just picked up the book tonight, btw, and I am loving it.

 

[Kaos]

My guess is that when IH is used as a stand alone game, the Arcanist is actually on par with the other classes in combat, due to magic bypassing armor DR. This might be another reason why implementing the Arcanist as a whole class in a "D20 Fantasy" mishmash might handicap him - no armor DR to bypass. In IH, though, it would give him a good combat advantage.

I'm not sure about that, but I'll find out as soon as I get a chance to play or run it. (I have my arcanist character all ready, and one of the other guys in the group always plays spellcasters.)

My main worry is that relatively equivelant effects will be nearly impossible to pull off with a straight d20+mastery roll. IF int gets added to the check, things might be different.

OTOH, a level 20 arcanist with Ultimate Aspect...

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think that Combat Zones will be addressed in "Mastering Iron Herores."

Unfortunately this is true

Oh well, the rest sounds interesting too.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

It was a good run I had here. I, for one, welcome the coming reign of our gelatinous, corporate masters.

That's too good to not use as a .sig someday. Yoink!

 

[EricNoah]

You know, I was gonna start this "ask Mike IH Questions" thread, but so far I have no questions.

For those who don't visit, Monte's IH board has an errata thread started. Probably best to keep it in one place, I guess. http://p222.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfrm36

 

[EricNoah]

Someone wanted me to post my first attempts at character building. I'm the first to admit I haven't built a d20 character by hand in ages. So, here we go, no etools or nothin' ...