Scarred Lands: Ask the Sage

[eryndel]

All the Players Guides are 3.5 Compatible except, of couse, where they aren't

What I mean by this, is that in theory they are all 3.5 compatible. The earliest ones aren't entire because of several reasons. Because Fighters & Barbarians and Wizards, Bards & Sorcerers were designed (written, edited, developed) before 3.5 really came out, only a few people were actually kept aware of the changes WOTC were making. I know that when I wrote my sections (Sep. 2002) I didn't have any knowledge of 3.5 (I don't think I even knew there was going to be a 3.5 at that time.) So, there were a relatively few people (usually the developer and/or line editor) who were actually aware of what was changed. So, those initial books have quite a few little errors (forgetting changes to spells or feat names or stuff.)

I assume they have improved since then, (I have yet to see the editor's copies to Clerics & Druids or Rangers & Rogues), but I'd say that Monks and Paladins should have few of those errors and the book itself is made with the intention of being 3.5 compatible.

Werner

 

[eryndel]

So... some friends of mine want to take various Technique feats from the Asaatthi book. They're actually playing characters from Kara Tur in the Realms. I have no problems with Taasuuden style, but Utaan Ite seems like a min-maxers dream, and I came down hard on Alyeeth Kassuk because said player was trying to convince me they could Iaijutsu Focus every round with it. Also, My Lie is Strong and Your Lie is Weak seem to be pretty powerful, doubling ranks in Bluff and Sense Motive.

Any other thoughts on Technique feats?

I didn't do these, so I don't have an incredible bias on this. I'm also not familiar with OA, so I don't know the abilities in that book and don't know how some of the Technique feats might interact with those abilities. I don't think Alyeeth Kassuk is out of balance in the fact that they are mid-level to high level feats that rely on a feat chain. I actually think that "Your Lie is Weak" is a good check to the system, and since it is pretty much an intro ability, I'd have the occasional advesary have this one. If, in my game, I found the abilities too powerful, I'd likely drop the bluff bonus for "My Lie is Strong" to +5, while keeping "Your Lie is Weak" to x2 Sense Motive (since none of the other abilities are based on Sense Motive.)

Keep in mind that, at least for fighters, they can take these feats as bonus feats but don't have Bluff or Sense Motive as class skills nor do they have a lot of class skills. This might be different for Samurais.

I won't comment right now on Utaan Ite since that technique seems like it could easily be unbalanced and I don't see the checks right now to it.

[Edit] Actually, relooking over it, I really don't have a problem with Patter of Twin Heavens (at this level, people 8 levels lower then you shouldn't be attacking you. This might as well be named the "Instill Common Sense technique".) I think Two Moons Shadow is perfectly appropriate for a feat with those prerequisites. I would have written Two Suns Rise differently, but I don't think it is all that bad. It is As Night And Day that I really just don't like. It's a neat idea, but I think the implementation is poor. I think the technique is salvagable if you tweak the intro feat, maybe allowing you to take one quality of the off weapon instead of all of the most favorable qualities. Maybe let you sacrifice an attack from one weapon to increase the abilities of the other. That might work.

Werner

 

[Taelorn76]

Sorry I did not state the question very well, but you both managed to answer it anyways.

Thanks

 

[Nightfall]

Taelorn,

Sokay. I thank Werner for his time and help.

(btw Werner about that "other" thread, I don't mind you contradicting me. Freelancers have the right. )

 

[Creamsteak]

Wish I could close this for you, but I nolonger maintain that power. However, I do have a general sort of opinion question for you:

I'm changing the guard, switching out the dieties and Denev from the setting and replacing them with the Lords of Evil and Celestial Paragons from the BoVD and BoED respectively. This is because I've always found the Gods in SL very dull and havn't had much fun with them. I'm also replacing the Slarecians with the Illthidkind and having them segregated to the plane of shadow by the gods and titans, because I wanted a more "active" psionic enemy in the world. Something with more open history as well (plus gives me an excuse for some cthulhu goodness).

The titans however, in all their awesomeness are staying the same.

One problem I've had with my game is that I explored the whole world of Ghelspad (and parts of Termana) far too quickly over the 6-8 months we played in the Scarred Lands. I want to start from scratch with Ghelspad, but I'm going to be refitting the continent piece by piece into a completely different order. For instance, Calastia might still exist, but in a very different region of the world. I'm also adding some drop-in cities like Scuttlecove from Dungeon 95. I "may" be using a free map as a replacement for the Ghelspad map if I can't find a completely blank or very different version of Ghelspad...

Got any ideas or advice to apply to my proposed changes?

 

[Piratecat]

Closed at thread originator's request. See you in a new thread!