War of the Burning Sky - Updated 1/18 with discussion of the Player's Guide

[Marius Delphus]

Yup.

To elaborate slightly more, it's meant to be a nice little reward for players who go ahead and write Gate Pass into their characters' backstories. Such characters have more "at stake," as it were, in the outcome of the campaign. The DM is the final arbiter of whether the characters' stories are "good" enough to merit having a little bonus thrown their way.

[EDIT: Also, I'd say these feats are a little bit less "powerful" than a "regular" feat, so I personally don't foresee any game balance problems or anything.]

 

[RangerWickett]

What Marius said.

Also, I wanted to make the Gate Pass feats freebies so that they would get used. I hate writing crunch that won't get used, and for these feats in particular, I liked the concept that they let you grant benefits to your allies, encouraging teamwork.

 

[catsclaw227]

What Marius said.

Also, I wanted to make the Gate Pass feats freebies so that they would get used. I hate writing crunch that won't get used, and for these feats in particular, I liked the concept that they let you grant benefits to your allies, encouraging teamwork.

I am gonna give each PC a freebie Gates Pass Feat. I like the style and RP opportunities.

 

[RangerWickett]

One playtest session I ran (a one-shot, since the players were only in the area for Christmas) had three PCs take the Thieves' Guild feat. The party was rarely surprised. It added a unique twist to the game, with them all acting like they were old friends from the get-go.

 

[crow81]

Military Gate Pass Question

I am confussed

I like and can follow the logic of all the Gate passes except the Military one.

In the players guide on page 5 under the Military write up you say that the city has little in the way of a Cavalry tradition.

Yet the gate pass for the Military is Cavalry Errant a bonus to the ride skill and group handling riding skill.

Any clarification on this would be great

Thanks

Rich

 

[EditorBFG]

Player's Guide looks really good. A smart, useful way to engage the PCs. I wish TSR had done one of these for the original Dragonlance modules when they first came out, so the implied associations of the PCs with the setting could've been tied-in crunch-wise. Players love free stuff.

A question: The percentages of races in each country's "statblock" don't seem to match up with the description. In Shahalesti, it says humans and not elves have a majority, but the statblock says elves are higher percentage of the pop. than humans. And Sindaire is supposed to have a population of mostly humans with some gnomish nomads, but gnomes have no percentage in the statblock. I ask, because I want to figure what countries of origin make the most sense for various PCs. Are these errors, or am I misreading?

 

[RangerWickett]

A question: The percentages of races in each country's "statblock" don't seem to match up with the description. In Shahalesti, it says humans and not elves have a majority, but the statblock says elves are higher percentage of the pop. than humans. And Sindaire is supposed to have a population of mostly humans with some gnomish nomads, but gnomes have no percentage in the statblock. I ask, because I want to figure what countries of origin make the most sense for various PCs. Are these errors, or am I misreading?

These are just particular cities. The Shahalesti capital has lots of elves (but there are many more humans in outlying areas and farms), and likewise the gnomes of Sindaire are nomads, and so don't count toward the city population of the capital. I compare it to Atlanta. We're the capital of Georgia, but I promise you, the same ethnic, religious, and sexual diversity is not constant throughout the state.

 

[RangerWickett]

I am confussed

I like and can follow the logic of all the Gate passes except the Military one.

In the players guide on page 5 under the Military write up you say that the city has little in the way of a Cavalry tradition.

Yet the gate pass for the Military is Cavalry Errant a bonus to the ride skill and group handling riding skill.

Any clarification on this would be great

Thanks

Rich

Eh, it's game mechanic license (like dramatic license, but for stats). There will be a fair bit of riding stuff throughout the campaign, so I wanted to offer an incentive for people to have the right skills. Plus, Gate Pass does use horsemen to patrol their surrounding lands, just not to run down enemies on wide battlefields in mass charges.

 

[EditorBFG]

These are just particular cities. The Shahalesti capital has lots of elves (but there are many more humans in outlying areas and farms), and likewise the gnomes of Sindaire are nomads, and so don't count toward the city population of the capital.

Ah, of couyrse. Thanks, that makes perfect sense.

Another question: any tips to a player using the commander class? One of my players is looking at a multiclass half-orc paladin/commander, and another guy is arguing that with the Charisma penalty that race/class combo will be like shooting himself in the foot. But any pointers to a guy playing a commander would be welcome, since there is so much existing material on how to maximize use of the existing classes I don't want him to be at any disadvantage.

 

[JDragon]

Ok, downloaded Player's Guide and forwarded to my perspective player's.

I'm looking at running this for a small group 1 - 3 PC's but plan to have them be gestalt chatacters.

Any suggestions or possible problems I may run in to doing this? Beyond the normal that come from running a gestalt group.

Thanks

JD