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The Fantastic Science: A Technologist Handbook
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<blockquote data-quote="Kelleris" data-source="post: 2787934" data-attributes="member: 19130"><p>Hello, this is the author speaking. I just wanted to thank you for the review and make some comments that might help explain why I handled some things in the way that I did.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, that's the standard price, as far as I know. The red-slash-through-the-price bit was some kind of database error.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> </p><p></p><p>Ah yes, the weight thing. Of course devices have to weigh something, and I wanted the class to get plenty of them (it comes out to 36, plus whatever mundane mechanical and alchemical "devices" the character has), so you end up with potentially a lot of weight. In the end, though, I felt that it wasn't too horrible a weakness, especially since picking up a <em>handy haversack</em> at some point before the mid- to upper-level range isn't too hard and solves most of the carrying capacity problems.</p><p></p><p>Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to go on record saying that ignoring device weights will not unbalance the class in the least, if you're in a group that doesn't like to track encumbrance in detail. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Another brief comment here - the technologist is actually more like the psion than the psion in this respect. Due to the way activation point costs for devices increase, a tiny handful of powerful device activations is the equivalent of quite a lot of low-level device uses. This is partly to balance the class vis-à-vis spellcasters who don't get excellent skills and skills points, and partly to encourage technologists to make frequent use of their weaker devices and sparing use of the very powerful ones. </p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Ah yes, Chapter Three. I hated to repeat so much of the basic spellcasting rules, but there was just no clean way to organize the material while just describing the differences. The asterisk markers are something of a compromise.</p><p></p><p>Those reprinted-and-modified rules are also there so you can reference them without flipping to another book, something else I felt was important. And not to worry, anyone reading these comments, Chapter Three doesn't take up very much of the book - you're still getting tons of brand-new material for the price.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>These were my exact thoughts on the matter. For what it's worth, if anyone can think of a better name for the highest-class devices, send me an e-mail at jaberwocky(underscore)slayer(at)hotmail(dot)com or just post here and I'll add the correction to my files, hopefully to be included in an updated edition.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The three sub-rankings determine the point cost to activate the device in question and govern the levels at which the Savant gains access to a given rank and order of device (after the sorcerer does, naturally). There's a table showing the relationship between rank + order and activation costs in Chapter Three and the first Appendix, albeit in different contexts.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Dirty mind! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And, for what it's worth, not much good at healing and downright terrible at mind control, instant death, and teleportation.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yep. I understand that <em>Heroes of High Favor: Elves</em> has a point-based system for making spells, but I never got a look at it and so cannot comment. The materials in Appendix A are simply everything that I used to create the existing devices, plus some additional guidelines to explain my reasoning.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>For comparison, there are slightly more devices than clerical spells in the <em>PHB</em>, not counting domain spells, and quite a bit fewer devices than there core wizard spells (about 15-20 more than the cleric and about 60-70 less than the wizard, if I'm remembering correctly). Oh, and slightly more devices than psion powers in the <em>XPH</em> - that was my benchmark.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ironically, Ryan ("RangerWickett") thought that first chapter was a little too long. (And Errol Lobo, the other editor, is such a crunchaholic I didn't get anything but grammatical corrections from him in that section.) It's interesting to see someone coming at it from the opposite perspective.</p><p></p><p>I'm glad you liked the example sidebars, by the way - I was afraid they'd come off as a little pretentious.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A side note - this is an interesting section of the review. I wish more people would include such comments. And I hope people take your recommendations, of course - those were the very needs I was attempting to satisfy, after all.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Ah, the eternal struggle of crunch versus fluff... Well, at least the fluff that was there was good fluff, right? And believe me, I would have written more, but, well, the book is already pretty long. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /> </p><p></p><p>A question, though - what particular things would you like to see in "a new chapter full of juicy ideas that scream 'put me in your current game, or create a new game for me!'"? I don't know if <em>Fantastic Science</em> will sell well enough to warrant a sequel, but I'm always looking for ways to improve matters. There was some material cut from Chapter One as well, pretty early on, and there might be something there worth posting if I had a better idea of what you felt was missing.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thanks! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> </p><p></p><p>Whew, looking back - that was a lot of comments. It might look like I'm trying to argue with the reviewer (that never ends well), but I actually agree with just about everything you said. I also want to emphasize that I really appreciate this review, particularly because you approached the material in a different way than I had in mind when writing the book. Very interesting. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> </p><p></p><p>Anyway, I'm happy with how the book turned out, especially as it was my first-time effort. If I get the chance to do something like this again, I'll try to address some of the concerns raised in this review. Many thanks, Cabe Zeree!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kelleris, post: 2787934, member: 19130"] Hello, this is the author speaking. I just wanted to thank you for the review and make some comments that might help explain why I handled some things in the way that I did. Actually, that's the standard price, as far as I know. The red-slash-through-the-price bit was some kind of database error. :p Ah yes, the weight thing. Of course devices have to weigh something, and I wanted the class to get plenty of them (it comes out to 36, plus whatever mundane mechanical and alchemical "devices" the character has), so you end up with potentially a lot of weight. In the end, though, I felt that it wasn't too horrible a weakness, especially since picking up a [i]handy haversack[/i] at some point before the mid- to upper-level range isn't too hard and solves most of the carrying capacity problems. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to go on record saying that ignoring device weights will not unbalance the class in the least, if you're in a group that doesn't like to track encumbrance in detail. :) Another brief comment here - the technologist is actually more like the psion than the psion in this respect. Due to the way activation point costs for devices increase, a tiny handful of powerful device activations is the equivalent of quite a lot of low-level device uses. This is partly to balance the class vis-à-vis spellcasters who don't get excellent skills and skills points, and partly to encourage technologists to make frequent use of their weaker devices and sparing use of the very powerful ones. Ah yes, Chapter Three. I hated to repeat so much of the basic spellcasting rules, but there was just no clean way to organize the material while just describing the differences. The asterisk markers are something of a compromise. Those reprinted-and-modified rules are also there so you can reference them without flipping to another book, something else I felt was important. And not to worry, anyone reading these comments, Chapter Three doesn't take up very much of the book - you're still getting tons of brand-new material for the price. These were my exact thoughts on the matter. For what it's worth, if anyone can think of a better name for the highest-class devices, send me an e-mail at jaberwocky(underscore)slayer(at)hotmail(dot)com or just post here and I'll add the correction to my files, hopefully to be included in an updated edition. The three sub-rankings determine the point cost to activate the device in question and govern the levels at which the Savant gains access to a given rank and order of device (after the sorcerer does, naturally). There's a table showing the relationship between rank + order and activation costs in Chapter Three and the first Appendix, albeit in different contexts. Dirty mind! :p And, for what it's worth, not much good at healing and downright terrible at mind control, instant death, and teleportation. Yep. I understand that [i]Heroes of High Favor: Elves[/i] has a point-based system for making spells, but I never got a look at it and so cannot comment. The materials in Appendix A are simply everything that I used to create the existing devices, plus some additional guidelines to explain my reasoning. For comparison, there are slightly more devices than clerical spells in the [i]PHB[/i], not counting domain spells, and quite a bit fewer devices than there core wizard spells (about 15-20 more than the cleric and about 60-70 less than the wizard, if I'm remembering correctly). Oh, and slightly more devices than psion powers in the [i]XPH[/i] - that was my benchmark. Ironically, Ryan ("RangerWickett") thought that first chapter was a little too long. (And Errol Lobo, the other editor, is such a crunchaholic I didn't get anything but grammatical corrections from him in that section.) It's interesting to see someone coming at it from the opposite perspective. I'm glad you liked the example sidebars, by the way - I was afraid they'd come off as a little pretentious. A side note - this is an interesting section of the review. I wish more people would include such comments. And I hope people take your recommendations, of course - those were the very needs I was attempting to satisfy, after all. Ah, the eternal struggle of crunch versus fluff... Well, at least the fluff that was there was good fluff, right? And believe me, I would have written more, but, well, the book is already pretty long. :heh: A question, though - what particular things would you like to see in "a new chapter full of juicy ideas that scream 'put me in your current game, or create a new game for me!'"? I don't know if [i]Fantastic Science[/i] will sell well enough to warrant a sequel, but I'm always looking for ways to improve matters. There was some material cut from Chapter One as well, pretty early on, and there might be something there worth posting if I had a better idea of what you felt was missing. Thanks! :D Whew, looking back - that was a lot of comments. It might look like I'm trying to argue with the reviewer (that never ends well), but I actually agree with just about everything you said. I also want to emphasize that I really appreciate this review, particularly because you approached the material in a different way than I had in mind when writing the book. Very interesting. :cool: Anyway, I'm happy with how the book turned out, especially as it was my first-time effort. If I get the chance to do something like this again, I'll try to address some of the concerns raised in this review. Many thanks, Cabe Zeree! [/QUOTE]
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