| Author |
Message
|
| Zherog |
 Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:23 am Post subject: |
 |
|
Contributor
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
|
| Phil Larwood wrote: |
| Wolfgang wrote: |
| Wow, with that level of response, I'll skip the spoiler. I guess I overestimated the interest in PHB2. It's quite a decent book from a mechanical point of view. |
It's interesting to note what they haven't put in the new SRD. There is no avenger or invoker, which strikes me as rather odd. I'm not quite sure what WotC is thinking, but some of the stuff they don't make available to 3rd party publishers kindda makes me rub my head in wonderment (then again, I've been shaking my head in wonder at WotC's antics for a while now). |
I've heard a lot of folks say they're surprised by what's not in there, such as (to use your examples) invokers and avengers.
If you look at what was added, though, there's a pattern. Everything that has since been added to the 4e SRD is stuff that was in the 3.5 SRD - half-orcs, druids, gnomes, etc. And that makes some sense.
One of the decent reasons third party publishers could give for not converting their stuff over to 4e was the fact that these things were missing. This was especially true for companies that had campaign settings - now they'd need to explain why all of a sudden there weren't any half-orcs or gnomes, why there weren't druids or barbarians, and so on. By putting these things back into the SRD, it helps to encourage 3pp to convert over to the new system.
_________________
John Ling
Freelance Writer
Kobold Fan |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
I agree that without those things, it's hard to see why any publisher would make the jump at all.
But without any NEW things in 4E, there's also less motivation for publishers to change licenses. There's no positive or incentive, beyond what's already available in the OGL.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Zherog |
| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
Contributor
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
|
True enough. It's been a long time since I looked at what was in the SRD, but isn't the new stuff from the PHB - dragonborn, warlocks, warlords, etc - part of the SRD?
_________________
John Ling
Freelance Writer
Kobold Fan |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
| Erekose13 wrote: |
| Interesting, is the Ancestral Incarnate available for any class? or is it geared towards a specific class for the Deva? |
Prerequisite = Deva. 
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
| Neal wrote: |
Tell me more about PC backgrounds. Are they archetypal enough to be useful in lots of games, or are they overly specific to the implied D&D campaign world?
Would you incorporate them into your D&D 4e game? If so, why? If not, why not?
|
They're so archetypal that they are completely generic. They have names like "Desert" and "Poor" and "Noble Birth", and they don't do that much mechanically. You gain a free language, a regional benefit, a skill added to your list of possible trained skills before your choose, or a +2 bump to a particular skill check.
I think they're ok, but really not useful to experienced players. Most people already make up roleplaying elements or history for their PC if they like that style of play. Those who are looking for big power-ups will have to search elsewhere; these aren't them.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Zherog |
| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
Contributor
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 587
Location: Bensalem, PA
|
True, but sometimes in min/maxing the best way to get a really big bonus is to find a whole bunch o' little bonuses you can add together. 
_________________
John Ling
Freelance Writer
Kobold Fan |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
True, true. I suspect certain popular skills will convince folks to take certain backgrounds. And the interaction with the FR Regional backgrounds is interesting.
Mostly, though, it's about 3 or 4 pages of possible skill tweaks. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that people don't do in their homebrews all the time.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Kevin Andrew Murphy |
| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 7
|
Thanks for the review.
The trouble I have with "Yet more core races!" is that DMs are expected to use the Shoehorn of the Gods to fit them into their worlds, their history, and all the rest. Even if the race is painfully lame.
The Goliaths are basically stone giant mini-mes. I really can't see them fitting more than a niche in most worlds, and that gets painfully boring soon.
The bard refit does sound good, however. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
The bard refit makes me excited to play 4E again sometime, and it does play up the trickster angle really nicely, while also making a warrior-bard possible. It's great player-centric design.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| The Jade |
| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Subscriber
Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Posts: 59
|
Check out our exclusive podcast interview with authors Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford as we go into all things PHB 2 over at Atomic Array. We're frickin' fantastic! :)
_________________
atomicarray.com
rpgcountdown.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
Wasn't Jeremy the editor? Maybe I'll just need to go listen.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| The Jade |
| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Subscriber
Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Posts: 59
|
Ooooooooooooor I could be wrong. He sure knew how to talk up the contents of that book though.
_________________
atomicarray.com
rpgcountdown.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Watcher |
| Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Posts: 1625
Location: Your TARDIS
|
I will say that I was glad for the couple of pages of rules..
Not having Keyword descriptions of Zones, Conjurations, and so forth were ommissions.
Devas are teh sex. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| terraleon |
| Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
Contributor
Joined: 16 Jan 2008
Posts: 2032
Location: upstate NY
|
| Wolfgang wrote: |
The goliath seems like a complete dud compared to, say, the 1E and 2E half-ogre, which had an identical role. The art doesn't match the description, the backstory is sort of weak, and making them big and dumb and stony doesn't seem any cooler than just saying "I'm a civilized half-ogre". |
Ah, but Half-ogre is tough to call IP... a "goliath," on the other hand, is completely manufactured and totally IP.
oh, sorry, my cynicism is showing there. I'll put it away.
-Ben.
_________________
progressio sine timore aut praejudica - Spectemur agendo |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
Hm, I'm not sure I agree with your cynical assessment here.
"Goliath" is not manufactured; it's Biblical and ancient. In modern usage, it is a generic term for a giant and is used widely in SF and fantasy (there was some mini-series that made goliath into a term for tanks).
If they were really optimizing for some kind of legal protection, they'd use a made-up name, not a word from the dictionary.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
