New Podcast up

[Irda Ranger]

I think something to keep in mind is that roles are never 100% pure. While their role might be their main Schtick, they'll have abilities that 'crossover' into other roles to keep things interesting and provide flexibility.

Right. As another example it's pretty clear, from the limited info we have, that the Warlord can play a second-string Defender if necessary (particularly if he chooses to pursue the martial path of the class, rather than the buff path). This only makes sense. You don't want one character stealing someone else's thunder every other combat, but you don't want to leave the party totally in the lurch either if the Fighter takes a couple consecutive crits.

There was also the example given where a designers Rogue was able to step up and play (a very non-conventional) Defender when the need arose. He said he relied primarily on Tumbling, Trip attacks and Sneaks/Flanks, but he was the Defender in the sense that he kept melee pressure off the Wizard long enough to win the fight.

 

[Cadfan]

I'm kind of hoping the hexblade makes a come back. It doesn't have to be under the name, "hexblade," but I like the concept of a warrior who uses magic to fight dirty.

He could do an ok job as a controller/defender hybrid. Debuffs seem to be a controller type duty.

 

[Baby Samurai]

I'm kind of hoping the hexblade makes a come back. It doesn't have to be under the name, "hexblade," but I like the concept of a warrior who uses magic to fight dirty.

Well I've heard talk of this "swordmage" class for 4th Ed.

 

[Cadfan]

Well I've heard talk of this "swordmage" class for 4th Ed.

The impression I got from that was that it really wasn't the same thing. The swordmage seemed to do stuff like armor himself with magic, and I suspect will more resemble the Duskblade than the Hexblade.

If the swordsage is customizable into a hexblade-ish approximation, I'll be happy.

 

[drothgery]

Well I've heard talk of this "swordmage" class for 4th Ed.

My understanding (mostly from reading Dave Noonan's blog) is that it came out of 'what would an arcane defender look like' discussion and a forthcoming novel. And came very close to making the final cut for PH1. Odds are it shows up in an early expansion or online somewhere (and then in print when a good book to drop it shows up).

 

[Raven Crowking]

I haven't seen the podcast yet (at work), but from what I am reading here, this sounds very hopeful to me. Admitedly, I am a lot more concerned about what happens to the spellcasters right now, but it sounds as though this edition can handle a Conan-type character! Woot!

In addition, I note the almost TPK by a monster 6 levels higher than the party. No more knife-edge balances to encounter design is a good thing.....will this edition open up exploration as a playstyle again? Some of the Wyatt blog about I1 makes me think so.

I still wonder how they are going to make encounters tense without either knife-edge balancing or resource attrition, and I would love to see WotC respond to this issue.

RC

 

[Rechan]

"The Human fighter picked an ability that lets him do strength damage even if he misses."
The gamist rationalization hurts my brain.

The only way I can reconcile this is like, a parry. You know, in the middle of the fight, the opponent lifts their sword to parry the blow, and the STRENGTH of the blow hurts their arm. Or something.

 

[BryonD]

Meh. Given that D&D has always rationalized the attack roll as not merely rolling to hit, but rolling to determine if you hit hard enough to punch through defenses and do damage, I really don't have any problem with the notion of a few powers that deal damage even on a miss.

If it became the default, or if lots of (non-magical) powers did so, yeah, I'd object. But one or a small number of 'em? Not so much.

This is a wait and see.

Sometimes a miss is a flat out miss, even given the abstract nature of the system.
But I'd doubt that this simple partial statement can be taken to mean that any and every miss is still going to do the damage.

 

[Rechan]

I'm kind of hoping the hexblade makes a come back. It doesn't have to be under the name, "hexblade," but I like the concept of a warrior who uses magic to fight dirty.

In all honesty, I think the Hexblade makes a better Leader.

Bear with me.

The Warlord has buffs to help the party, right? Well, the Hexblade could be a Leader whose abilities debuff the enemy. We can see that the Warlord is a martial kinda guy. So it stands to reason that Hexblade (Leader) could be martial too (or about as melee as a 3.5 cleric).

The Swordmage uses magic to fight better. Mage armor, making his sword burst into flames, etc etc etc.

 

[Kintara]

In all honesty, I think the Hexblade makes a better Leader.

Bear with me.

The Warlord has buffs to help the party, right? Well, the Hexblade could be a Leader whose abilities debuff the enemy. We can see that the Warlord is a martial kinda guy. So it stands to reason that Hexblade (Leader) could be martial too (or about as melee as a 3.5 cleric).

The Swordmage uses magic to fight better. Mage armor, making his sword burst into flames, etc etc etc.

I could see him being a leader if he had some sort of vampire effect to drain enemies and heal allies. In fact, that's ten kinds of awesome!