Rule of Three: 06/27/2011

[Mummolus]

I like it.

I might be biased though, because the second question was mine.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I like the fact that they consider themes to be well-liked and therefore worthy of continuous expansion. I do too.

The other questions were kind of 'meh.'

 

[Neverfate]

I like the fact that they consider themes to be well-liked and therefore worthy of continuous expansion. I do too.

The other questions were kind of 'meh.'

I think the other answers are stuff people asked about, so that's cool.

Though, I think most people haven't noticed articles with monster themes in them (there's at least 1 shadow one in the last month or 2). Themes are just optional powers and less stat upgrades (with all the AC bonuses that weren't needed with Templates). And I guess learning about how designers come up with new game play mechanics is a decent answer too.

As for the look into psionic classes: my questions is... what happened to the actual Ki power source? Did that just get rolled into the single Monk class? Did they all have full discipline mechanics? Will we ever see another Full Discipline or Ki Focus class again (a staggering 3 classes have it and one of those is the vampire...)

Are they ever going to use Augments (which need some fine tuning) or Full Discipline in anything again? The player-theme related answer seems to imply that at least themes might get there for Augmentation....eventually.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Personally, I can live without the Ki power source. I totally agree with their decision and reasoning on that point. It might as well be Power Source: Asia. Most of that can be covered by other power sources just fine.

As for the mechanics, that's a good question. I would like to see another full discipline class, or an expansion of that model into other classes (I suspect with the Thief, we did). I wasn't as keen on Augments, but that could have been because I don't like the flavour of Psionics in D&D, so I may not have given them a fair shake. Refluffed, who knows... I might love the idea.

 

[Colmarr]

I wasn't as keen on Augments, but that could have been because I don't like the flavour of Psionics in D&D, so I may not have given them a fair shake. Refluffed, who knows... I might love the idea.

Now that you mention it, augments might be a half-way meeting point for the "why does my martial character have powers?!" crowd.

Augments fit pretty neatly with the idea that you have a daily pool of vitality and that you can pull off any of your manouevers whenever you like but only a certain number of times between rests.

 

[ppaladin123]

The shugenja was one of the builds mentioned in the blurb for the Elemental Heroes (title?) book to be released this fall. So it looks like we will see some of the Asian-influenced classes that were to be part of the ki power source. It would be kind of cool if some of them used the full-discipline mechanic.

 

[Mummolus]

Honestly, not a fan of the full discipline mechanic (or the monk in general really) at all. I love the other psionic classes though.

 

[ppaladin123]

Honestly, not a fan of the full discipline mechanic (or the monk in general really) at all. I love the other psionic classes though.

I love monks but partly because they always seem to be the clunky underdogs that present an optimization challenge. They are certainly not in the sorry shape they were in in 3e but the unarmed strike, ki focus, and full discipline mechanics have some clear mechanical holes and have left a lot of my friends scratching their heads. Maybe they will be straight forward and strong in 5e.

 

[Nikosandros]

The shugenja was one of the builds mentioned in the blurb for the Elemental Heroes (title?) book to be released this fall.

I think that this fall they'll release Heroes of the Feywild. The "Elemental" book is supposed to come out in 2012.

So it looks like we will see some of the Asian-influenced classes that were to be part of the ki power source. It would be kind of cool if some of them used the full-discipline mechanic.

Yes, it seems likely to have shugenja and perhaps also wu-jen as some kind of elemental classes or, quite possibly, builds.

 

[LightPhoenix]

While I started off liking power sources, I've come to the conclusion that what they really did was limit design decisions (especially from a fluff standpoint). I like to think that WotC has started to think the same, given the hybrid power source classes in Essentials.

The Monk is an excellent case in point - you could describe the Monk's powers from the standpoint of pretty much any power source readily. So what's really the point?