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The Quintessential Paladin
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<blockquote data-quote="Pauper" data-source="post: 2010003" data-attributes="member: 17607"><p>Let me begin by saying that I am not a fan of much of Mongoose Publishing's work. Most of their Slayer's Guides seemed to be filled with fairly obvious observations about the creatures listed (and the eventual release of the Slayer's Guides to Female Gamers and Rules Lawyers didn't do much better as parody), while the Quintessential line seemed filled with half-thought-out, untested bits of rules, some wildly powerful, others pointless. The arrival of a new Quintessential guide (which I refer to among our own group as the Quintessential Munchkin series) at the local hobby shop would find me picking up the book, leafing through it, finding a bunch of either profoundly broken or painfully ineffective rules ideas, and walking out of the store empty-handed, as irritated as if I'd found opinion articles by Cal Thomas and George Will in my local paper on the same day.</p><p></p><p>So when book twelve, the Quintessential Paladin, arrived at the hobby shop, I opened it up and expected to have much the same reaction as I had to previous guides. And, at first, I did. The Character Concepts section of the Quintessential guides always seems to have plenty of half-thought out ideas, and this guide was no exception: what really is the difference between an Idealist and an Innocent, and why does the Innocent get such a great benefit (use full paladin level as caster level) while the Idealist benefit is so much weaker (bonus to one save or check per day)? The prestige classes didn't seem much better - the Arcane Champion seems just silly, effectively requiring that a character multiclass as a paladin and arcane caster, provides yet a third spell list and spell slot advancement, yet combines arcane and divine spellcasting classes in a bizarre calculus for determining caster level of these 'special' spells. When I reached the section on 'locked powers' - weapon abilities that can only be used by certain types of characters, and that provide a cost break to the cost of creating the weapon - I put the book down and, true to form, left the shop in irritation. (Most folks who have run a system like Champions or GURPS can tell you that an item that can only be used by a limited class of people is actually an advantage for a character rather than a limitation, as a character will never create such a weapon so that he can't actually use it. This means that the only 'class' of people unable to use the character's weapon are the character's adversaries and allies. And in D&D, having a weapon that your allies can't use isn't much of a limitation, either, as it's far easier to just drop a big healing spell on your downed ally than to pick up his weapon and try using it against your enemies.)</p><p></p><p>So why did I keep picking up the book every time I went back to the shop? Little by little, I started to notice that there was an awful lot of interesting stuff hidden amongst the oddly-constructed rules material, and that a player or DM willing to put some polish on the material might actually get a lot of use out of this book. The ideas behind the section on Mounted Combat - that a paladin, with an empathic link to his special mount, should have an easier time working with his mount in combat, and that long practice in mounted combat (reflected in a combination of skill ranks and feats taken) should allow a rider to have access to more advanced mounted maneuvers - are excellent ideas, even if the rules are a bit cheesy (Skewer in particular seems like a very cheesy maneuver). The idea that a paladin can practice with his 'detect evil' ability and thus achieve effects that mundane spellcasters cannot is also very good. Oaths and Vows should have game effects, even if I'm not entirely sure that the particular effects listed in this book are the best way to go. And the bonded weapon rules? Well, doesn't every paladin end up with a holy avenger? Why can't you say that the paladin eventually makes the weapon mighty by his very aura and soul rather than having to patiently wait for his church to get around to taking a break from making cure potions and raise dead scrolls?</p><p></p><p>The book still has significant flaws. A few sections (alternate special mounts, chapterhouse construction) are inferior versions of rules that already exist in other products. Despite numerous gaming and historical sources that have made clear that plate armor is not just a collection of mix-and-match parts, the book presents specific pieces of plate with their own armor bonuses, check penalties, and arcane failure chances, as though a wizard might simply buckle on a +3 fauld (with tassets) to boost her AC. Some of these flaws are easily corrected - turn the price reductions on the 'locked power restrictions' table into price increases when creating a weapon and the table becomes much more usable and balanced. Other rules - such as the faith point rules where a paladin can simply channel his unused smites, HP from lay on hands, and turn undead attempts into a pool of points usable to gain other bonuses whenever desired - simply have to be ignored.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, though, unlike the other Quintessential guides I've read, this book eventually had me chomping at the bit to make a paladin character - it got my own creative juices flowing, which is rare enough even for a book much more polished on the rules. That, in the end, was enough to convince me to make The Quintessential Paladin my first (and to this point only) purchase in this series.</p><p></p><p>Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to fix the Bond Companion rules so that my DM might actually allow me to have one...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pauper, post: 2010003, member: 17607"] Let me begin by saying that I am not a fan of much of Mongoose Publishing's work. Most of their Slayer's Guides seemed to be filled with fairly obvious observations about the creatures listed (and the eventual release of the Slayer's Guides to Female Gamers and Rules Lawyers didn't do much better as parody), while the Quintessential line seemed filled with half-thought-out, untested bits of rules, some wildly powerful, others pointless. The arrival of a new Quintessential guide (which I refer to among our own group as the Quintessential Munchkin series) at the local hobby shop would find me picking up the book, leafing through it, finding a bunch of either profoundly broken or painfully ineffective rules ideas, and walking out of the store empty-handed, as irritated as if I'd found opinion articles by Cal Thomas and George Will in my local paper on the same day. So when book twelve, the Quintessential Paladin, arrived at the hobby shop, I opened it up and expected to have much the same reaction as I had to previous guides. And, at first, I did. The Character Concepts section of the Quintessential guides always seems to have plenty of half-thought out ideas, and this guide was no exception: what really is the difference between an Idealist and an Innocent, and why does the Innocent get such a great benefit (use full paladin level as caster level) while the Idealist benefit is so much weaker (bonus to one save or check per day)? The prestige classes didn't seem much better - the Arcane Champion seems just silly, effectively requiring that a character multiclass as a paladin and arcane caster, provides yet a third spell list and spell slot advancement, yet combines arcane and divine spellcasting classes in a bizarre calculus for determining caster level of these 'special' spells. When I reached the section on 'locked powers' - weapon abilities that can only be used by certain types of characters, and that provide a cost break to the cost of creating the weapon - I put the book down and, true to form, left the shop in irritation. (Most folks who have run a system like Champions or GURPS can tell you that an item that can only be used by a limited class of people is actually an advantage for a character rather than a limitation, as a character will never create such a weapon so that he can't actually use it. This means that the only 'class' of people unable to use the character's weapon are the character's adversaries and allies. And in D&D, having a weapon that your allies can't use isn't much of a limitation, either, as it's far easier to just drop a big healing spell on your downed ally than to pick up his weapon and try using it against your enemies.) So why did I keep picking up the book every time I went back to the shop? Little by little, I started to notice that there was an awful lot of interesting stuff hidden amongst the oddly-constructed rules material, and that a player or DM willing to put some polish on the material might actually get a lot of use out of this book. The ideas behind the section on Mounted Combat - that a paladin, with an empathic link to his special mount, should have an easier time working with his mount in combat, and that long practice in mounted combat (reflected in a combination of skill ranks and feats taken) should allow a rider to have access to more advanced mounted maneuvers - are excellent ideas, even if the rules are a bit cheesy (Skewer in particular seems like a very cheesy maneuver). The idea that a paladin can practice with his 'detect evil' ability and thus achieve effects that mundane spellcasters cannot is also very good. Oaths and Vows should have game effects, even if I'm not entirely sure that the particular effects listed in this book are the best way to go. And the bonded weapon rules? Well, doesn't every paladin end up with a holy avenger? Why can't you say that the paladin eventually makes the weapon mighty by his very aura and soul rather than having to patiently wait for his church to get around to taking a break from making cure potions and raise dead scrolls? The book still has significant flaws. A few sections (alternate special mounts, chapterhouse construction) are inferior versions of rules that already exist in other products. Despite numerous gaming and historical sources that have made clear that plate armor is not just a collection of mix-and-match parts, the book presents specific pieces of plate with their own armor bonuses, check penalties, and arcane failure chances, as though a wizard might simply buckle on a +3 fauld (with tassets) to boost her AC. Some of these flaws are easily corrected - turn the price reductions on the 'locked power restrictions' table into price increases when creating a weapon and the table becomes much more usable and balanced. Other rules - such as the faith point rules where a paladin can simply channel his unused smites, HP from lay on hands, and turn undead attempts into a pool of points usable to gain other bonuses whenever desired - simply have to be ignored. Ultimately, though, unlike the other Quintessential guides I've read, this book eventually had me chomping at the bit to make a paladin character - it got my own creative juices flowing, which is rare enough even for a book much more polished on the rules. That, in the end, was enough to convince me to make The Quintessential Paladin my first (and to this point only) purchase in this series. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to fix the Bond Companion rules so that my DM might actually allow me to have one... [/QUOTE]
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