planescape conversion...

[Mithriltooth]

Thanks, Mithriltooth. And, BTW, the fellow that did the faction PrC's has done the rest of them - they'll be part of the new Prods...

Now that is great news . Ill definately be checking here often.
I dont know if you have a mailing list for information on the upcoming PS stuff, but if so can you add me to the list?
I'll email you with my email addy.

Thanks again Ashy.

 

[Mortaneus]

Thanks, Mithriltooth. And, BTW, the fellow that did the faction PrC's has done the rest of them - they'll be part of the new Prods...

Personally, I don't think PrC's are the way to go for the factions. The factions have always been more of templates that are layed on top of other classes, than classes on their own. Why can't I be a rogue and still progress as a sensate, or a barbarian? Why must my base attack/saves/skills/hit dice advance because of an organization I belong to because of my beliefs, rather than training? It makes little sense.

In addition, I felt that the PrC's presented in the issue of dragon were way too overpowered. The factions have always been a primarily role-playing aspect of planescape, with a few neat tricks here and there. Making them CLASSES restricts you way too much.

Therefore, I made them feats IMC. It adds flavor, and has a price, but also fits in with their advancement as something other than 'just another faction member', which prestige classes restrict them to.

I'm sure that some people prefer the prestige class method. I personally have no use for faction based prestige classes, and will not use them. It's a matter of taste, I guess.

 

[Ashy]

This is one of the things that has taken us so long to decide upon. We have a very neat and flexible system that answers all of these issues, yet we'll be offering alternative solutions as well. Some folks want them as templates, some as PrC's, some as extended feats and skills. The system that we've come up with, I think, will make most folks happy, but we're also allowing for those that want a more "traditional" or "3e standard" method...

 

[Zjelani]

Just backing up what Ashy said. If people are willing to help out, be honest about your committment. If you can't be a regular contributor or might fade away after a few weeks, that's fine - just tell us!!

But the flip side of that is the need for strong leadership. An internet based team of dozens of people who probably don't even know what each other's real names are let alone what they look like is a difficult beast to keep moving.

So that's why I'm trying to make a stronger personal committment (backed up with specific dates and all) to give some better direction to these projects. That way with a stronger presence, it'll be less likely that people will pop in, help out, and then vanish. And when a few do (as will probably always happen), the others won't get discouraged and drift away as well.

I'm starting to get as excited about the Planescape products as when we first begin the task. I'm sure that once we get rolling and actually get the new setting out there and being all of our other projects we have planned, I'll start bleeding karach or something.

 

[derverdammte]

This is one of the things that has taken us so long to decide upon. We have a very neat and flexible system that answers all of these issues, yet we'll be offering alternative solutions as well. Some folks want them as templates, some as PrC's, some as extended feats and skills. The system that we've come up with, I think, will make most folks happy, but we're also allowing for those that want a more "traditional" or "3e standard" method...

In case it helps, I once asked Monte Cook his opinion on converting the factions, and he said he'd do them as very short-term prestige classes (like 2-4 levels, at the most). Those 10-level prestige classes were completely outlandish, in my opinion. I'd certainly never use them. Then again, I thought PS's reliance on factions was a little lame, anyway.

 

[Mortaneus]

In case it helps, I once asked Monte Cook his opinion on converting the factions, and he said he'd do them as very short-term prestige classes (like 2-4 levels, at the most). Those 10-level prestige classes were completely outlandish, in my opinion. I'd certainly never use them. Then again, I thought PS's reliance on factions was a little lame, anyway.

Hmm....if you were going to do that, it might be a good idea to do something that I've used in some of my house prestige classes. Have more than just prerequisites to get into the class, but also have prereqs to get to certain levels in the class. It allows you to design a prestige class that you bounce to-and-from throughout the life of your character. The Ciphers are a good example of one you'd probably want to do that way. 3 levels, but with total character level requirements to enter each.

 

[Desdichado]

Hmm....if you were going to do that, it might be a good idea to do something that I've used in some of my house prestige classes. Have more than just prerequisites to get into the class, but also have prereqs to get to certain levels in the class. It allows you to design a prestige class that you bounce to-and-from throughout the life of your character. The Ciphers are a good example of one you'd probably want to do that way. 3 levels, but with total character level requirements to enter each.

Hey, I like this idea! *swipe* Consider yourself duly robbed!

 

[Zjelani]

Yeah, prestige classes really were designed to be for world-specific organizations. As such, we will be using prestige classes for factions. However, the factions are such massive organizations that can have such different flavors to them, that we are having multiple prestige classes per faction. I really think that a single prestige class per faction would either not be specific enough to be interesting, or be too limited to capture the spirit of the faction.

As for the ones that appeared in Dragon mag, I haven't studied them too closely yet for balance (we're getting to that), but from what I recall of the flavor of them, they did seem to be pretty specific. For example the Athar one (and I'm going from memory here), seemed sort of geared towards an ex-cleric who was actively working against other clerics and gods. That seemed nicely specific and a pretty cool Athar prestige class. However, I can easily see other Athar members being entirely different. And some of those difference would be specific and flavor-full enough to warrant their own prestige classes.

The biggest thing we are trying to do, however, is to keep things modular. So if you hate how we converted factions - use one of the other mechanics (which I am hoping to include an appendix with some of the better ones out there) instead. The impact on the rest of the setting will be minimal if there's any at all. Don't like what we're doing with the Outsider monster type - just skip it and leave the monsters as they are. The other 98% of our work will be just as useful to you.

 

[Grraf]

I don't feel flamed, thanks for worrying though.
I -am- sorry you feel this is such a burden on you and that you're trapped slaving alone in a ghost town with no one you can depend on or trust. Every time you post this I think a lot of people volunteer to help and or register their support.

As Ken mentioned there is a pretty big pool of volunteers. I'm not sure how reasonable it is to expect people to give you money or buy the rights from WotC at this stage.

[As an aside: Most of the people I've seen on the monster project have been working pretty hard, Gish & the art people in particular, for months.
As soon as all the WotC conflicts are worked out and the 'freeze' on the book is lifted I expect they'll still be there to do what they promised.]

Looking forward to seeing the materials in August.

 

[LcKedovan]

Well, I have to personally apologize for that. The official fan-based Planescape has been languishing and Oathbound was a big factor in that (as well as cancer in a very close family member, but thank god that's gone now).

Oh man, first Ashy, Kamikaze Midget and Horacio and now Ken! What is this place coming too? Good to see you over here Ken, welcome!

-Will