Playing Shadar-kai

[Caliber]

Hey that would be cool too. My comment was only because I've seen WM feats/powers and think they're cool. I hadn't really thought about other stuff mastery.

The weapon mastery stuff reminds me kind of of the weapon mastery rules from The Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia. That makes me smile.

They remind me of the weapon mastery rules from 2E where you'd have to spend something like a half-dozen weapon proficiency "slots" to obtain mastery in the weapon (or something like that, we're talking close to a decade ago since I've looked at those ...)

 

[RefinedBean]

There's definitely good opportunity for articles later on that expand on the PH1 and PH2 races, though.

I agree, and I don't MIND the articles that expand on the MM races, especially when the articles contain crunch that's useable for everyone (the Shadar-Kai article having the Spiked Chain MC feats was awesome). That's a trend I'd like to see continue.

Also, don't listen to the others. Lizardfolk? Modrons? Psh. Now, a full write-up on Orcs...I guarantee that'd drive DDI sales through the roof. Heck, I'd send you twenty bucks in the mail.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I loved this article. After reading it, I loaded up WoW's Ebon Hold songs on Youtube and read it again.

I've got a dwarf cleric of the Raven Queen in the party. For my next adventure, I'll have him hook up with shadar-kai avengers of the RQ and have them be attached to the cleric. (shadar-kai avengers totally rock, by the way)

What surprised me was that the shadar-kai aren't some angsty, emo race pining away their misfortunes as they write bad poetry and sip absinthe. They are actually quite sanguine, seeking to experience life - both its pleasures and its agonies - to absolute fullest. I mentioned this on another forum, but for a race that's native to the Shadowfell I find it ironic that they are so life-affirming.

 

[fissionessence]

I'm also a big fan of this article. However, what does everyone think of the Blighting Power (heroic) and Blade of the Raven Queen (epic) feats?

The mechanic seems pretty weak, especially for an epic-tier feat. Is changing damage types really that powerful? The only thing I can think is that it gives you the ability to give a +1 feat bonus to damage if you also take another feat to go along with it . . . except that doesn't even work with Blade of the Raven Queen, because it only adds necrotic to powers that deal cold, so you could just get the +1 to cold damage.

~

 

[kenmarable]

Sorry, Rechan. These are good ideas, but avin suggested modrons, so we're going to start 15-part series of articles. ("Playing Monodrones", "Playing Duodrones"...)

Sweet! Guess I better send that submission query sooner rather than later. The Dark Modrons of Orcus from Dragon #354 demand a reckoning!

Seriously, after reading the shadar-kai today, I was considering querying some Playing... articles. Don't worry, I don't think 4e is quite ready for modrons yet. I wouldn't want to scare anyone. However, when I saw this thread I was already debating whether to start with the gith races, kobolds, or lizardfolk, since they all rock.

All that aside, I gotta say the shadar-kai article was great and for the first time made the race interesting for me and more than just the "gothfey" they started as.

 

[Cadfan]

I'm also a big fan of this article. However, what does everyone think of the Blighting Power (heroic) and Blade of the Raven Queen (epic) feats?

The mechanic seems pretty weak, especially for an epic-tier feat. Is changing damage types really that powerful? The only thing I can think is that it gives you the ability to give a +1 feat bonus to damage if you also take another feat to go along with it . . . except that doesn't even work with Blade of the Raven Queen, because it only adds necrotic to powers that deal cold, so you could just get the +1 to cold damage.

~

Dealing damage of two different damage types makes it incredibly difficult for an enemy to resist the damage. A monster hit by a cold and necrotic power has to resist both cold and necrotic to resist the damage. Just resisting cold or necrotic singularly isn't enough.

There aren't that many monsters that resist cold, but, that's the principle at work here.

 

[fissionessence]

Dealing damage of two different damage types makes it incredibly difficult for an enemy to resist the damage. A monster hit by a cold and necrotic power has to resist both cold and necrotic to resist the damage. Just resisting cold or necrotic singularly isn't enough.

There aren't that many monsters that resist cold, but, that's the principle at work here.

I just reread the errata for this . . . I didn't realize this was the case. So if you have 'resist 5 fire', and you take '5 fire and necrotic damage', you still take full damage? That seems kind of silly, but these feats do make a lot more sense now. Also, it does remind me that monsters tend to have way more resistances than they have vulnerabilities, which seems kind of crappy.

~

 

[Dire Bare]

While those could be interesting articles, the warforged, minotaur, and shadar-kai articles create PC-playable versions of the monster traits listed at the back of the Monster Manual. So I think they'll be more frequent simply because they're taking something that isn't really a playable PC race and making it so, rather than expanding on a more fleshed-out race. There's definitely good opportunity for articles later on that expand on the PH1 and PH2 races, though.

I'd always assumed it was because WotC might put out a "Complete Elf" type of book at some point. Which would rock!

 

[Rechan]

The core races have gotten a lot of fluff and crunch in earlier editions.

I'd rather we cycle through the new stuff before we get around to "Book of Dwarves/Elves/etc 4e". Since they have PPs and Feats and such in every book.

 

[Cadfan]

I just reread the errata for this . . . I didn't realize this was the case. So if you have 'resist 5 fire', and you take '5 fire and necrotic damage', you still take full damage? That seems kind of silly, but these feats do make a lot more sense now. Also, it does remind me that monsters tend to have way more resistances than they have vulnerabilities, which seems kind of crappy.

~

That's how it works. Dealing two energy types of damage is the new "bypass damage resistance."