Tome of Battle - spells for fighters? How does that work?

[Aus_Snow]

I agree. On the other hand, the Arabian nations are part of asia, too.

I agree. On the other hand, Asia wasn't mentioned once in the post you just replied to.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Er, the problem with this is that in "Western" martial arts, unarmed or armed, many "stances" and manoeuvers are also named.

I want a "Polish Hammer"-maneouvre (also known as Federation Hammer) now!

Cheers, LT.

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

I know. Someone (Remathilis, I think) sigged my "Godwin's Law, revised" concerning video game references.

Thanks. I was wondering where that variant came from.

I kept calling it "Rem's Law" because that's where I found it. "Awkward's Law", then?

 

[Aloïsius]

I agree. On the other hand, the Arabian nations are part of asia, too.

With the exception of Marocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Egypt beeing the heart of the arab world since a few century already.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You misread me then. Here's a re-phrase: Not all of them are magical and sparkly. Now does it make sense?

He's also grossly misrepresenting them.

Adamantine bones doesnt turn your bones to adamantine chief, it lets you shrug off damage.

Sort of like the magical ability barbarians get huh?

 

[Nebulous]

That said, the mention of Bo9S as a sort of preview/trial run for 4E concepts is one of the strongest selling points for me so far.

Having never played Bo9S, that does sound like an intriguing concept, if they can, indeed, shy away from fighters casting fire bolts from the sword. Wasn't Bo9S conceptually similar to Iron Heroes (a book i actually own but never used)

 

[Aus_Snow]

Having never played Bo9S, that does sound like an intriguing concept, if they can, indeed, shy away from fighters casting fire bolts from the sword. Wasn't Bo9S conceptually similar to Iron Heroes (a book i actually own but never used)

1. Mearls creates the Book of Iron Might.
2. Mearls creates Iron Heroes.
3. Mearls leaves Malhavoc to work in the RPG department at WotC.
4. WotC produces the Book of Nine Swords.

And of course, there are some strong connections from 1 to 2. And the timeline from 3 to 4 was pretty small, IIRC.

It seems pretty likely there's a teensy bit of influence there. But I have yet to really give the Bo9S a look over. Will do soon, but I guess I'll just say "probably", in the meantime.


As to "conceptually similar", no. As far as I know anyway, Bo9S characters have no fewer magic items than members of other classes, and they are free to multiclass with spellcasting classes at will (though that being advisable in 3e is highly unlikely, I would imagine).

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

... Actually, that was not what I was referring to in the quoted text, but whatever.

It seems you've responded to none of the substantive points, and thus that you concede them. Yay! A victory for good mechanics not being tied to just one flavor.

Cheers, -- N

I think we agreed from the beginning on that particular point. My point is, and has been since the beginning, that there's a really good reason why people think Bo9S is full of spells for fighters. That is, it basically is. There's lots in there that could be separated out from the spell-like powers, and that amounts to more than half the total powers listed. But there is a large quantity of abilities that are spell-like, to a greater or lesser extent, and so it's not wrong to say that the book is about giving spells to fighter-types.

Yes, the mechanics don't have to be tied to the flavour. However, they didn't write the book with a generic flavour. There's an intended flavour, and one that's actually pretty easy to scrape off the mechanics, especially if you drop the items on my list (give or take a few).

My point is, it's not a mistake to perceive the book in the way it's been characterized.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

He's also grossly misrepresenting them.

Adamantine bones doesnt turn your bones to adamantine chief, it lets you shrug off damage.

Sort of like the magical ability barbarians get huh?

It makes your skin suddenly go so hard that it deflects weapon blows, and then turn soft again once the duration runs out.

 

[Nebulous]

1. Mearls creates the Book of Iron Might.
2. Mearls creates Iron Heroes.
3. Mearls leaves Malhavoc to work in the RPG department at WotC.
4. WotC produces the Book of Nine Swords.

And of course, there are some strong connections from 1 to 2. And the timeline from 3 to 4 was pretty small, IIRC.

It seems pretty likely there's a teensy bit of influence there. But I have yet to really give the Bo9S a look over. Will do soon, but I guess I'll just say "probably", in the meantime.


As to "conceptually similar", no. As far as I know anyway, Bo9S characters have no fewer magic items than members of other classes, and they are free to multiclass with spellcasting classes at will (though that being advisable in 3e is highly unlikely, I would imagine).

Oh, thanks Aus. I've enjoyed Mearls ideas in the past and i'm glad to see him onboard.