Midnight: First Impressions of Campaign Book

[gambler1650]

I posted a small note previously that I had my first exposure to the Midnight campaign setting via a free online adventure. I just got the actual Campaign setting book in the mail today. Initial impressions here are just of the physical quality. People have said that the cover looks like one of the earlier editions of Ravenloft. I can't disagree since I don't remember what that looked like but the overall feel is familiar and it may very well be from that. The Dark God Izrador standing on a gothic balcony overlooking a city covered in red haze and smoke with servitor races bowing behind him and dragons overhead. The art within is very nice, and black and white except for the obligatory section in FFG campaign books of glossy color paper at the beginning. To be honest, I don't really like that, as much because it disappoints some to have the rest of the book in black and white after seeing the vibrant color! Yeah, weird reason, I know. The map is just beautiful but I wish there were a pull out version of it, or it was at least printed on the inside covers to be a bit sturdier.

Nice use of whitespace and a good choice for font size to make it readable but still fairly dense (better than Nyambe for instance, not as dense as the core rulebooks). Looks like a consistent use of bold and underlining (unlike parts of FFG's Dragonstar line - though the worst offender was Mystic Eye Games' "Raw Recruits" for Dragonstar). More flavor than crunchy from a first look (which is fine with me), but the crunchy bits look to give the world the proper feel. The section to help out DMs with Midnight Campaigns looks very nice, especially with regards to how to handle the areas that are different (like a lack of healing spells - since the only clerics are those to the Evil God). Finally there's an introductory adventure which I find almost mandatory in any campaign book which has a different feel from standard AD&D. I'll put up an actual review once I've read it through (by this weekend likely), but initial reactions are quite positive (A 4 or a 5 score based on presentation). The only real negative is the binding seems just a bit too small for the book itself (it bows out just a bit). I've heard others had problems with pages coming free, hopefully that won't be an issue with mine.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Thanks for the update. I will hopefully look through it a bit more at one of my local gaming stores this weekend with an eye on possibly purchasing it.

Please post again when you've read through it a bit more.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

A couple of quick questions:

So what is the magic system like? Does it use the same standard slot system that normal D&D does?

Any mention of psionics?

 

[Mrs. Dungeon Master]

Midnight

OUr DM is going to allow both their core classes and the PHB Core Classes.

There are Heroic Paths which are real nice, and 2 of them, one being the mentalist, are diffently psionic in nature. There is also a Healers path, which allows for non-clerical healing.

Overall the settings are nice. Nice variants on races. Including some new mixes: halfling/elf dwarf/gnome orc/dwarf

So far we've all been very impressed with the book. Though I am glad for the ruling of allowing Core PHB classes. I am making a fighter/sorcerer with the ironblooded Heroic path. My magic, which is mostly forbidden in Midnight, will all be utlity in nature (i.e feather fall, spider climb, things like that) Oh yeah, we all work for the bad guy Izador.

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

It does not use the standard slot system of 3E, roughly stated it uses a combination of spell points and the characters constitution score. Like I said that is a really rough explanation, I'm sure a review will add some more clarity to it.

As for psionics, they are mentioned. A couple of Heroic Paths (a new addition) make use of psionic abilities, though I'm not familiar enough with psionics to go into much detail about them. If I remember correctly (and I was reading the book in a Codine stupor) these abilities are spell-like or supernatural and not exactly psionics.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Re: Midnight

OUr DM is going to allow both their core classes and the PHB Core Classes.

So far we've all been very impressed with the book. Though I am glad for the ruling of allowing Core PHB classes. I am making a fighter/sorcerer with the ironblooded Heroic path. My magic, which is mostly forbidden in Midnight, will all be utlity in nature (i.e feather fall, spider climb, things like that) Oh yeah, we all work for the bad guy Izador.

Just curious, has he changed the sorcerer to accomodate Midnight's magic system, or is your group using the standard magic system instead, or are you using both side by side?

 

[gambler1650]

Ashrem,

Quick magic explanation.. I haven't yet gotten to that chapter (which is the only 'crunchy' chapter except for Character Generation and Monsters). From what I read in the introduction it's a "spell point" system and anyone can learn spells but some classes (maybe only one - The Channeler) and some races have either extra spell points or spell like abilities (Elves for instance basically get 2 Cantrips to cast every day without draining their spell point pool). Constitution is drained as stated above by someone but I don't know the mechanics. The biggest difference is that there are no Divine spells, and therefore healing and resurrections are much harder or impossible (the only way to come back from death is through the reincarnation spell). I _think_ the system will be easier overall than the base 3E rules but I might be wrong. Will post more probably later tonight on this element.

No mention of Psionics that I know of...

 

[Eosin the Red]

Ashrem - The magic system is fairly comparible to WoT. Pick specific schools, you have to really learn a spell and But once you do, you can cast on the fly. They have divided up all of the PHB spells into schools (Back of the Book, so I have not gotten there.).

Take the channeler and dip her into d20 spells instead of weaves. Versitle - you can go along 1 of 3 paths in magic but I have not figured out what the pros or cons are yet (Hermetic, Charismatic, and ......?) Channelers can get the abandoned "Lore ability" of bards....lots of good stuff that I have not gotten to yet [hinted at in text]. It seems that much of the book is setting and they do a good job of succintly presenting the changes to the system.

 

[gambler1650]

The other magical tradition is "spiritual". The traditions themselves don't necessarily give advantages or disadvantages by themselves, but in conjunction with the classes. The first time you pick a spell, you have to pick a tradition (I think - I'm not as far as I wanted to be in the book yet). For instance, if you want to become a druid (prestige class in Midnight), you have to follow the spiritual tradition. If you become a Channeler (basic class - and most likely one you'll have ranks in before becoming a Druid or Wizard (also a prestige class)) the choice of tradition gives one of three different powers. Spiritual lets you commune with animals to get information on an area, charismatic lets you apply certain effects on morale to enemies and allies in combat, and even competence bonuses to any skill check), and I forget what Hermetic's corresponding power is. An immediate effect of all three is that you use a different attribute (Int, Wis or Cha) depending on the tradition used.

One of the problems I'm finding is that the magic system feels a bit of a mish-mash just from reading the character classes. Perhaps it'll become clearer once I've read the actual Magic portion of the book, but right now I've read about the Legate (the only cleric class, and one which uses the basic PHB cleric rules but one that the players can't - well, shouldn't - play since they gain their spells from Izrador), the Channeler which uses the Midnight spell system, and the Wizard and Druid who seem to use elements of both the PHB and Midnight. I'm sure it'll all come together, and part of the problem is that it's been awhile since I've read the PHB and DMG areas regarding magic (I've been reading sourcebooks primarily of late) so those areas are rusty. An area of confusion for me is whether all spell casting classes use their tradition's ability modifier to add to their spell point pool. Under Channeler it's stated specifically that it is, but this is not stated for Druids or Wizards. Given that you probably have to have Channeler levels before becoming a Druid or a Wizard (at least an effective one) it's probably not a huge issue.

 

[d20Dwarf]

The other magical tradition is "spiritual". The traditions themselves don't necessarily give advantages or disadvantages by themselves, but in conjunction with the classes. The first time you pick a spell, you have to pick a tradition (I think - I'm not as far as I wanted to be in the book yet).

You pick a tradition when you choose the Magecraft feat, which is the prerequisite for all spellcasting in Midnight (except the legate).

For instance, if you want to become a druid (prestige class in Midnight), you have to follow the spiritual tradition. If you become a Channeler (basic class - and most likely one you'll have ranks in before becoming a Druid or Wizard (also a prestige class)) the choice of tradition gives one of three different powers. Spiritual lets you commune with animals to get information on an area, charismatic lets you apply certain effects on morale to enemies and allies in combat, and even competence bonuses to any skill check), and I forget what Hermetic's corresponding power is. An immediate effect of all three is that you use a different attribute (Int, Wis or Cha) depending on the tradition used.

Hermetic channelers gain a lorebook that grants them the knowledge of the ages. It functions mechanically like the bardic knowledge ability.

One of the problems I'm finding is that the magic system feels a bit of a mish-mash just from reading the character classes. Perhaps it'll become clearer once I've read the actual Magic portion of the book, but right now I've read about the Legate (the only cleric class, and one which uses the basic PHB cleric rules but one that the players can't - well, shouldn't - play since they gain their spells from Izrador), the Channeler which uses the Midnight spell system, and the Wizard and Druid who seem to use elements of both the PHB and Midnight.

Actually the wizard and druid use the Midnight magic system completely, there is no hybridization. I think things will become more clear after you've read the magic chapter and the feats. Divining the systems from the classes themselves would be a tough task indeed!

An area of confusion for me is whether all spell casting classes use their tradition's ability modifier to add to their spell point pool. Under Channeler it's stated specifically that it is, but this is not stated for Druids or Wizards. Given that you probably have to have Channeler levels before becoming a Druid or a Wizard (at least an effective one) it's probably not a huge issue.

Again, this question is answered by the Magecraft feat. When a character selects this feat, he selects his tradition. He gains a number of spell energy equal to his spellcasting ability modifier (which is determined by his tradition).

So, channelers have spell energy equal to Ability Mod. + channeler level. Druids and wizards have spell energy equal to Ability Mod. + channeler level (if any) + druid/wizard level. Druids and wizards also gain spell energy discounts under certain conditions, making them the premiere spellcasters in the setting.