Reflavouring Powers

[Phaezen]

Really good article in Dragon today about reflavouring powers, race and class features. Unfortunately it is hidden behind the paywall, but well worth the read if you are a DDI subscriber.

 

[Zaran]

Really good article in Dragon today about reflavouring powers, race and class features. Unfortunately it is hidden behind the paywall, but well worth the read if you are a DDI subscriber.

If only they would let us edit out powers and feats in the builder.

 

[Piratecat]

That really is a good article. (See the Shadowrun/4e D&D thread currently active in this forum for a great example.) We've been doing that, and I love how it feels.

Zaran, you're right. I wish the CB let you edit power names and descriptions.

 

[Mengu]

I'm not sure what they were going for in this article.

Knock down assault flavour: Box his head in and knock him on his arse.

Knock down assault flavor: This is what you call body slam yawl!

 

[whydirt]

I don't know why WotC is hiding this article behind the paywall of DDI - it really should be something they'd want as many people to see as possible, I'd think.

 

[BobTheNob]

It was a fair article. But for me, there was nothing in it that we arent already really doing or have done in the past. People embrace their characters or not, and if they do, why as a DM would you object to a little re-flavoring? Did we need this articale to give a green light?

The bit damage swapping was kind of interesting, as powers with Necrotic or Fire keywords tend to get skipped over (as they pointed out). But even then, how much could that be abused. Your DM would have to watch that carefully.

 

[erf_beto]

It was a fair article. But for me, there was nothing in it that we arent already really doing or have done in the past. People embrace their characters or not, and if they do, why as a DM would you object to a little re-flavoring? Did we need this articale to give a green light.

I haven't read the article, but sure, I can do that reflavoring thing today.

But once upon a time - like, 20 years ago - there was a boy - which was me - who did not know he could, and would have apreciated reading an article like this.

FWIW, I think it's very hard for a magazine to provide content for both veterans and newcomers, let alone please both of them. But at least they're trying.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The bit damage swapping was kind of interesting, as powers with Necrotic or Fire keywords tend to get skipped over (as they pointed out). But even then, how much could that be abused. Your DM would have to watch that carefully.

I'm no 4Ed guru, but I could see how this could be abused by a crafty player. OTOH, I could also see it being useful for creating very tight and cool PCs.

 

[tuxgeo]

That really is a good article. (See the Shadowrun/4e D&D thread currently active in this forum for a great example.) We've been doing that, and I love how it feels.

Zaran, you're right. I wish the CB let you edit power names and descriptions.

That's a good step that WotC could take: let users edit those pieces of information (separately for each power for each PC) in the CB, with a simple method for switching between the entered text and the default ("official") text for printing purposes without losing the user-generated text in the process.

And if they didn't stop at power names and descriptions, they could even extend it to magic items, to let a PC carry the world's only "Staff of Stuffening," or "Bag of Bulkiness," or "Arrow of Right-angle Turns"; and as long as the application of new names did not cause any rules modifications, it should only add interest to the game.

Edit: Ah, that might be abused, though: If people could edit the Item names, there would be a great lot of Short Swords that would get the name "Sting."

 

[LostSoul]

I was hoping for more about how reflavouring powers works with page 42 - in other words, the effect of flavour on the game. If you change the damage type of Scorching Burst, you can't light things on fire with it any more, even though that never appeared in the power description in the first place.