So you got "The Book of Iron Might", what do you think.

[Cergorach]

Let me start by saying that i just downloaded it and haven't read it from cover to cover. I just skimmed through it and read parts that drew my attention.

I see some interesting concepts, that while interesting seem awfully powerfull (Battlemind feats for example). Although i like the whole process of aquiring these feats, the end result just seems a bit to powerfull.

Battlemind feats are aquired by learning from a master that also knows this feat. For feats you want to aquire after 3rd level you have to decide two levels before the level you gain the feat what battlemind feat you want to get (no changing your mind at a later date). The level before you actually gain the Battlemind feat you gain the use of the method of the feat.
Example:

Eye of the Warmaster (Battlemind)
You watch an opponent in battle, analyzing his maneuvers, tactics, and stance to learn his combat style. Once you have broken down a foe’s methods, you can present him with tactics that defeat his style.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Intelligence 13, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: Once per round, you can specify a single foe as the target of this feat. If this opponent attacks you, you gain a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls against him. This bonus increases by 1 for each consecutive round he attacks you while you use this feat (to a maximum of +5). You lose this accumulated bonus when combat ends or if you choose to target a different foe with this feat.
Method: If you spend a full-round action to study a single opponent, you gain a +1 competence bonus on all attack rolls against him for the rest of the encounter. You can use this ability against multiple foes, though it requires a full-round action each time.

There's also something called the iron born, the first thing i thought of was Eberron WARFORGED. And it looks like i was right...

Overall it looks like a decent release, but there are a lot of question marks, for now it has the benefit of the doubt.

What's your first impression?

 

[mearls]

I'm really psyched this is out - if anyone has specific questions about the design, post them here or in the other thread and I'll start taking notes as to what I'll cover in the Design Diaries over on montecook.com

About Eye of the Warmaster - it's got a very metagamey game balance aspect to it on two fronts:

First, a full-round action to study an opponent is a risky investment. If you can see your enemy, and the encounter has already started, do you spend time sizing him up for a +1 bonus, or do you charge in for an attack? There's a risk/reward mechanic built throughout a lot of stuff in this book.

The increasing bonus to attacks is another funny little mechanic - in order to gain its benefits, a foe has to stick around in combat for a while. That means one of two things:

1. He's really tough, nailing you for lots of damage, and soaking lots of hits. In this case, the additional +1 per round could be the margin between hitting or missing.

2. He's really wimpy. He doesn't have much effect on the fight, so that added +1 per round just let's you finish him off quicker.

They key is that you can only apply this to one foe at a time, and that foe has to attack you in order to increase the benefit. It's a very useful feat for high AC (or DR-toting) rogues.

I suspect that a lot of these feats are going to seem powerful, but when they hit the table they'll make sense in context of an encounter.

 

[Cergorach]

I'm really psyched this is out - if anyone has specific questions about the design, post them here or in the other thread and I'll start taking notes as to what I'll cover in the Design Diaries over on montecook.com

Kewl!

About Eye of the Warmaster - it's got a very metagamey game balance aspect to it on two fronts:

First, a full-round action to study an opponent is a risky investment. If you can see your enemy, and the encounter has already started, do you spend time sizing him up for a +1 bonus, or do you charge in for an attack? There's a risk/reward mechanic built throughout a lot of stuff in this book.

I thought the fullround study was only for the method and not the special (final) ability. I'm not having any trouble with this method (or any method in particular). I actually think the method thingy is pretty kewl.

The increasing bonus to attacks is another funny little mechanic - in order to gain its benefits, a foe has to stick around in combat for a while. That means one of two things:

1. He's really tough, nailing you for lots of damage, and soaking lots of hits. In this case, the additional +1 per round could be the margin between hitting or missing.

2. He's really wimpy. He doesn't have much effect on the fight, so that added +1 per round just let's you finish him off quicker.

They key is that you can only apply this to one foe at a time, and that foe has to attack you in order to increase the benefit. It's a very useful feat for high AC (or DR-toting) rogues.

i can see some scarry applications for this feat: Start combat by using the full expertise feat (-5 TH; +5 AC), then over the next five rounds your penalty disappears.

Compared to a weapon focus this feat is a lot stronger. Both have their own drawbacks, but as i told a fellow player: a drawback that says "cannot use ranged weapons" isn't much of a drawback if you only use a big ass sword.

I suspect that a lot of these feats are going to seem powerful, but when they hit the table they'll make sense in context of an encounter.

That's why you got the benefit of the doubt. ;-)

 

[Macbeth]

Any chance we could get a little more info on combat styles (or whatever that new mechanic is. manouvers, perhaps?)? Don't post anything that violates copyright, but if you could give us some general info it would be great.

 

[drnuncheon]

Maneuvers, you basically have an effect, which gives you a penalty. The penalties are pretty massive, so you put drawbacks on the maneuver to whittle them down.

As an example, if you wanted to build the 'Disarm' maneuver from standard D&D, you'd do it like this - and keep in mind this is just barely scratching the surface of what is possible:

Maneuver: Disarm
Effect: Disarming Attack (-20 penalty to hit)
Drawbacks:
- Attack of Opportunity (target only) penalty reduction: 5
- Effect only (does no damage) penalty reduction: 5
- Opposed check (rather than simple to-hit) penalty reduction: 5
- Reflective Attack (failure gives foe the chance to reverse maneuver) penalty reduction: 5

From this, you can see that you could build a maneuver that lets you hit the opponent in the arm, making them drop their weapon (drop the 'effect only' drawback so you do damage as well as disarm, but your attack is at -5). Or maybe you don't like the fact that a failed attempt lets your opponent disarm you - drop that drawback.

There's maneuvers that slow your opponent down, blind or deafen them, give penalties, force them to move - just about anything you can think of. The one thing that I didn't see were guidelines for making Improved (Maneuver) feats, but you should be able to pretty easily extrapolate from the existing ones.

It's pretty cool. Pretty darn cool.

J

 

[Wycen]

Any fluff text describing organizations, divinities or similar ideas that fit in a book of mighty iron?

 

[Macbeth]

Thanks, dmuncheon, that's exactly what I was looking for. I was hoping that what the manouver system would be, and just what you posted sold me on the book. Whne will we see a print edition?

 

[Numion]

i can see some scarry applications for this feat: Start combat by using the full expertise feat (-5 TH; +5 AC), then over the next five rounds your penalty disappears.

Compared to a weapon focus this feat is a lot stronger.

It gives you more bonus than weapon focus if the enemy sticks out longer in combat (5 rounds is pretty long time in D&D, for any one combat to last, let alone a single combatant). PC groups tend to concentrate attacks on one beastie at a time, so I don't see this as an issue. Just saying that in my experience single PCs don't tend to stand there trading blows with their 'chosen' targets for several rounds.

 

[Jaws]

From Monte's messageboards

I think the print book is actually out in early December.

Monte

When will we see a print edition?

Peace and smiles

j.

 

[drnuncheon]

Any fluff text describing organizations, divinities or similar ideas that fit in a book of mighty iron?

Not really - the Table of Contents pretty much says it all. They posted it over at the Malhavoc Press site: http://www.montecook.com/mpress_BOIM_TOC.html

Thanks, dmuncheon, that's exactly what I was looking for. I was hoping that what the manouver system would be, and just what you posted sold me on the book. Whne will we see a print edition?

According to the website, December. Me, it's short enough, and I wanted it now - I'm printing it.

J