Urban content: Races of Destiny vs. Cityscape
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Cthulhudrew
First Post
As far as Urban Druids go, I kind of get an image in my mind of the Question from DC Comics- at least his "urban shaman" incarnation from some of his more recent appearances. Someone in tune with the rhythms of the city, and as Nyeshet points out, sort of Feng Shui kinds of associations.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
Also Jack Hawksmoor from The Authority.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
One phone book sized city setting book is my annual quota.johnnype said:
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Isn't the Urban Soul PrC a not-particularly thinly veiled version of old Jack?mhacdebhandia said:
Nyeshet
First Post
I'm not familiar with this PrC. What is it like? From the link it seems to be from the Races of Destiny, while from the picture it seems to be an urban ranger-ish type - focusing on stealth, mobility, and archery. Almost a cat-burglar or vigiliante type, actually. Is that the actual feel of the PrC (based on its class specials and class skills), or is the PrC something else altogether?Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Graf, I never actually got around to considering what type of changes would need to be made. In the end I think it would alter the class so radically that little of the original class would remain - perhaps with the exception of urban druidic spell casting. I think it would need a 'Familiar Environment' style special, but with different flavor text, showing how the lay of the land and overall nature of the environment around the feng shui -ist affects their skills and casting (perhaps casting at +1 caster level if in their favored setting, but with casting delayed a level like the sorcerer to prevent overpowering?) Wild shape would almost certainly have to be dropped, as it does not fit in with the class, but perhaps a metamagic (or item creation?) feat could be gained every six levels (not five, as that would step on the Wizard's toes). This would only be three feats, but then the druid is often seen as quite strong anyway. With three feats and Familiar Environment that affects casting ability, along with no wild shape and a sorcerer-style delay in casting, perhaps that could work for a base. The class would need more work, but off the top of my head that is what comes to mind as initial considerations for alteration.
Graf
Explorer
Interesting.
From what you’d said was assuming something fairly radical.
Some key questions would be
The druid class weapon and armor restrictions come from a veneration of nature traditions (sickle and scythe, etc).
Animal summoning doesn’t make much sense…
The Feng-shui image conjures up an idea of dealing with spirits, divination and prognostication and warding or defensive magic.
The current druid spell list doesn’t really have much going for it in those areas… and a lot of spells would have to change for flavor purposes I expect.
I think the Druid-as-brokenly-powerful-meme is usually tied to Wildshaping to avoid the negative penalties associated with using the physical stats for dump stats…. I don’t think the feature itself is wildly considered broken.
I also don’t know that receiving a few feats in return would necessarily compensate for that.
If you remove options you’re unlikely to come up with a class that is attractive to players or particularly flavorful.
Maybe one of the more recent base classes (spirit shaman?) would be a better starting point?
From what you’d said was assuming something fairly radical.
Some key questions would be
The druid class weapon and armor restrictions come from a veneration of nature traditions (sickle and scythe, etc).
Animal summoning doesn’t make much sense…
The Feng-shui image conjures up an idea of dealing with spirits, divination and prognostication and warding or defensive magic.
The current druid spell list doesn’t really have much going for it in those areas… and a lot of spells would have to change for flavor purposes I expect.
I think the Druid-as-brokenly-powerful-meme is usually tied to Wildshaping to avoid the negative penalties associated with using the physical stats for dump stats…. I don’t think the feature itself is wildly considered broken.
I also don’t know that receiving a few feats in return would necessarily compensate for that.
If you remove options you’re unlikely to come up with a class that is attractive to players or particularly flavorful.
Maybe one of the more recent base classes (spirit shaman?) would be a better starting point?
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, but there's a great urban power in the Complete Psionic book. It lets you move through crowds at full speed and to make most jumps, and if augmented it lets you stand normally on any urban surface -- like spiderclimb, no hands required. This has become a must-have for my urban psionic PCs, and I plan to put it into boots as a magic item.
