Scarred Lands: Ask the Sage [New and Improved!]

[Will]

When I talk about space constraints, I can only speak for my section. If I'm given X amount of words, I have a choice between what sections to elaborate on.

My approach was 'start with baseline asaatthi. Tweak what's changed in the subrace. Anything not changed is the same.' Subrace CR is the same unless otherwise noted (like misbred). It seemed fairly straightforward to me, and efficient in use of space.

I thought, given people's desire ot customize, that writing out page-long full writeups of each subrace, including repeated info, was less desirable than the other stuff I had.
Maybe I made the wrong choice, but that was the reasoning.

 

[Will]

Trick: Player's guides not useful for any campaign?

Well, maybe not every game, but I'm getting a lot of use out of them for my current campaign, which is not at all Scarred Lands.

I find 90% of the feats and PrCs easily adapted.

Joe Kushner:
As for Asaatthi... well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't find it hard to plug them into many settings. You just have to find a desert to plop them in, a snake goddess for them to worship and have lost.

I mean, I run a setting where dragons and demons fought an ancient, massive war that scarred the world. There's a desert continent to the east... the asaatthi would slot in without a problem. In fact, now that I think about it... maybe I _will_ have asaatthi in my game that way. Hmmm.

All I really need to change is the bit with slarecians, and just fit in 'the asaatthi take credit for ridding the world of demons.' I can even include Mormo as serpentmother, because my world doesn't have a small limited set of gods.

 

[JoeGKushner]

When I talk about space constraints, I can only speak for my section. If I'm given X amount of words, I have a choice between what sections to elaborate on.

My approach was 'start with baseline asaatthi. Tweak what's changed in the subrace. Anything not changed is the same.' Subrace CR is the same unless otherwise noted (like misbred). It seemed fairly straightforward to me, and efficient in use of space.

I thought, given people's desire ot customize, that writing out page-long full writeups of each subrace, including repeated info, was less desirable than the other stuff I had.
Maybe I made the wrong choice, but that was the reasoning.

And that's perfectly understandable. However there is no baseline in the book meaning you have to own the Creature Collection Revised to get the baseline (with racial hit dice, CR, etc...) stats.

People's desire to customize is high I'm sure but books of monsters, templates, NPCs, maps, and cities hint pretty strongly as the desire to have fully fleshed out material as well.

Like Nightfall mentioned, I don't hold the authors responsible for the missing 8 pages, the massive white space, and general issues but it does effect my impression of the SL as a whole.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Joe Kushner:
As for Asaatthi... well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't find it hard to plug them into many settings. You just have to find a desert to plop them in, a snake goddess for them to worship and have lost.

I mean, I run a setting where dragons and demons fought an ancient, massive war that scarred the world. There's a desert continent to the east... the asaatthi would slot in without a problem. In fact, now that I think about it... maybe I _will_ have asaatthi in my game that way. Hmmm.

All I really need to change is the bit with slarecians, and just fit in 'the asaatthi take credit for ridding the world of demons.' I can even include Mormo as serpentmother, because my world doesn't have a small limited set of gods.

But here's the catch. Why would I do that when I already have Lizard Men and dozens of other variants? If you want to focus a campaign on the asaatthi, sure, it's a good book but if you just want to borrow from it, the utility goes way down and the announcement on the back of general notes simply aren't there. I love the fact that it mentions OA and Yuan Ti but it doesn't actually do anything with those ties. Redhurst is a great baseline if you want to talk about a book that actually lets you use it in multiple settings.

 

[Trickstergod]

Trick: Player's guides not useful for any campaign?

Well, maybe not every game, but I'm getting a lot of use out of them for my current campaign, which is not at all Scarred Lands.

I find 90% of the feats and PrCs easily adapted.

Of the two I've read, both the full-out spellcaster books?

No more than just about any other book with feats and Prestige Classes. Feats are rarely so tightly bound into a setting that they can't be used anywhere, and the Prestige Classes are no more compatible, for the most part, than, say, a Harper Scout or Guild Thief from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Or the Dawnbringer from the first Ravenloft gazetteer.

The feats and Prestige classes also make up slightly less than half the books. Other than that, they're a lot of campaign setting information. Being able to use 90% of 48% of a book doesn't make a book useful for most fantasy campaigns.

It's not necessarily that they can't be used in any campaigns, so much as they're no more compatible than any other book already tied to a campaign setting, despite the "Use in any campaign" blurbs, and are less compatible than books meant to be used in most campaigns. And even then, as I said, slightly more than half the info is Scarred Lands setting info. The usefulness in other campaigns is no more of a selling point than what almost any other d20 fantasy book could claim.

Of course, that's disregarding balance issues and my reluctance to make use of mechanics-related (like Prestige Classes) Scarred Lands material.

 

[Taelorn76]

How many Player Guides have there been

To expand the question a little further. Has there been multilpe releases of the same PG book? ie Fighters and Barbarians for 3.0 and then a later release of Fighters and Babarians for 3.5. If so is there a way to tell them apart? And does it apply to all the guides?


Thanks

 

[Harlock]

I'm not the sage, but I can answer this last one. All of the Player's Guides were released under the 3.5 ruleset so it is unnecessary to try and tell anything apart.

As a quick aside, I am smack dab in the middle of the Asaathi sourcebook and I have to say the feats are peachy keen. I have a whole Epic level plotline running through my head now based upon the feats alone. Humdinger of a book, and Reiella, Keiko... if you are reading this thread, turn back now, because I am very likely to discuss my plot in here. Go on. Beat it. Scram.

 

[Nightfall]

Heya Nightfall.

Care to tell me what life is like for a horse nomad of the Kelder Steppes? For my character background, I'm including a period where he dwelt for a time among the horse nomads, and wish to know about them.

Well they are a pretty much a hunter gatherer type deal, often making
forgaging raids into Plains of Lede. Mostly they enjoy fighting on horseback and I'd probably say they live pretty much a barbaric lifestyle of honor, combat, respect for nature, Tanil and their demi-god. That's about it.

To expand the question a little further. Has there been multilpe releases of the same PG book? ie Fighters and Barbarians for 3.0 and then a later release of Fighters and Babarians for 3.5. If so is there a way to tell them apart? And does it apply to all the guides?


Thanks

The books were written as 3.0 but when 3.5 was announced the editors/developers pushed them back so they could get them more 3.5 compliant. There have only been released that were meant for 3.5 even if there are some 3.0 things in there. There are no copies that are different from each other or from the series. Now some might have MORE 3.5 stuff than the other but that's about it. Each one has been released and meant for 3.5 and there are no 3.0 then 3.5 copies like CC Revised is CC 1 revised.

Trick, Will and Joe,

Come on guys let's keep it civil.

Trick,

Now will it all fit into a campaign? No probably not but I think the list of books to use in spell research, various way to improve spell book hardness, along with tomes for researching true rituals are helpful. Will it work in every campaign no. But that's just my opinion.

Joe,

This is true but maybe you want something OTHER than moldy lizardmen and Yuan-Ti. (Let's face the whole issue of psionic use can be a burden.) Asaatthi at least have wizardly power and a greater reverance. Not sure I see how though they don't use those ties. I mean what else do you want Joe? Just asking.

Will,

I don't think any of us are denigrating your work just questioning how something came about.

 

[Taelorn76]

Harlock,

Thanks for the info.

 

[Nightfall]

Harlock,

Thanks for the info.

I was getting to it!