WotC_Bruce serves the dragon

[Stormtalon]

Well, the thing is, he didn't actually put on the ring. All he did was see a shiny silver ring on the bony finger of a skeleton and steal it. It was the act of taking the ring that triggered the mayhem which followed. Nowhere in the playtest report even mentions the ring beyond the fact that he took it off of the corpse.

Soo, speculation on Identify is, well, based on a misinterpretation of the report.

 

[TerraDave]

Let me try again, since last time didn't work.

HOLY WOW! STAR PACTS ARE IN! WE ALL THOUGHT THEY WERE OUT BECAUSE OF THE WARLOCK PREVIEW BUT REALLY THEY ARE IN! RACE AND CLASSES WASN'T JUST SHIPPED TO THE PRINTERS TOO EARLY, STAR PACTS ARE REALLY IN! I WONDER WHAT THEY ARE! LET US ALL SPECULATE ON THIS RATHER THAN DISCUSS THE SPELL "IDENTIFY," WHICH IS JUST AS BORING TO TALK ABOUT AS IT IS TO CAST!

Does it work better with exclamation marks?

Ok, I won't report this to the mods, I guess, but people ignoring all your posting brilliance is part of the internet. And this won't help.

 

[Cadfan]

Well, I've been long speculating that the three pact types available for Warlocks in the first PHB would be Fey, Infernal and Star. "Star Pact" would be the "shadowy" one that's been often mentioned.

From Races and Classes, they stated that they had "Fey, Infernal, Star, and Vestige" pacts available. And from some of the later blogs we've seen, "Vestige" is the one that's been dropped...for now. That means "Fey, Infernal, and Star" are still in.

I'll be honest, I've got no idea what a Star pact is. I was hoping to hear some speculation on that.

I originally thought it would be a Vestige pact, but apparently they mention the two separately, so they can't be the same thing. The best I can come up with is Far Realms.

I'm not surprised that vestige was dropped. Vestige requires a much more in depth assumed setting than most other things in D&D. That was on one hand its biggest strength (by assuming a detailed setting, Tome of Magic crafted a power source that was intricately linked with, and which grew organically from, the world in which the players lived), and its biggest weakness (made it harder to port to other worlds besides the assumed one).

But... star?

 

[tenken]

But... star?

Could be a pact concentrating on the Far Realms. It certainly sounds Mythos-inspired.

 

[Evilhalfling]

My players are game enough to try stuff without identifying it, partially due to the only time it hurt them was when they discovered the ring of featherfall only had 4 charges (when a PC flung himself out of the 5th tree - for fun) Identification revealed that it was the "ring of four winds" and actually had 3 other 1st & 2nd level powers.

Numerous cloaks, gloves and weapons have been identified by practice rather than magic, which I think is great. Detect magic can seperate weapons/armor into light (+1/2) and moderate (+3/4) Beyond that I just tell them the plus after a session of use.
For something like the ring of four winds, I prefer that magic/ a bard be employed.

The ring in the blog wasn't a trap - Its the sort of thing that is used to remove an absent player from the game. Which was then turned into a sub-plot. Doesn't anyone else try and remove absent PC's? Especially if the ring was orginally an important element that could not be explored without the player there? (or possibly because the DM had not worked out the details)

 

[Voss]

I'll be honest, I've got no idea what a Star pact is. I was hoping to hear some speculation on that.

I originally thought it would be a Vestige pact, but apparently they mention the two separately, so they can't be the same thing. The best I can come up with is Far Realms.

I'm not surprised that vestige was dropped. Vestige requires a much more in depth assumed setting than most other things in D&D. That was on one hand its biggest strength (by assuming a detailed setting, Tome of Magic crafted a power source that was intricately linked with, and which grew organically from, the world in which the players lived), and its biggest weakness (made it harder to port to other worlds besides the assumed one).

But... star?

Actually... by their very nature, vestiges don't need a lot of depth. They're leftovers of old Powers, remnants of Things sleeping in the earth. They barely need names, just a hint and whisper of their presence, and a way to make just the lightest of contact with them. Tome of Magic actually did it the clumsy way by making set powers linked to specific individuals. The more interesting way to keep the fluff out of the rules, and just have the warlock link himself to a vague and almost forgotten entity, which the GM and player can flesh out if it suits them.

Simon R Green does a really nice horrific take on this kind of Being in several of his books, particularly in the novel 'Down Among the Dead Men'. Its an ancient thing slumbering, and when its dreams touch the world, really bad things happen. And you *really* don't want it to wake up. I could easily see someone linking themselves to that kind of power. As long as they never actually rouse It, they're probably well off.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Ok, I won't report this to the mods, I guess, but people ignoring all your posting brilliance is part of the internet. And this won't help.

Cadfan's post was humour, he was just "shouting" for humorous effect. Nothing to worry about there!

 

[Nellisir]

Perhaps the most important aspect of this is the phrase "star pact."

The conclusion I'm taking from this is that warlocks draw on multiple types of pacts at one time. Its a bit of a logical leap, but I'm going with it.

I'm thinking "drawing on" his Star Pact is a once-a-day power (plus it was badass enough to kill a dragon)

 

[Obscure]

I'm thinking "drawing on" his Star Pact is a once-a-day power (plus it was badass enough to kill a dragon)

Smells like...Soul Ruin.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I believe R&C said that, when warlocks get higher levels, they can use two packs.

"The very best warlocks can establish two pacts, playing the two forces against one another and drawing strength from both."

I especially loved this:

At one point, Melech accidentally dropped a dwarven lift on the two dragons, and took that as a sign to fight.

Yeah... "accidentally" I'm sure.