MaximumHavoc on Dungeons & Dragons

proposed multiclass feat system

2011-12-05T10:07:00.004-05:00

i wonder whether this method might be more effective . . .

I. one multiclass feat to rule them all:

i) choose one of any class skill;
ii) ability to use all class weapons or implements;
iii) access to any class feat; and
iv) access to any class paragon path and epic destiny.

II. one class powers feat:

i) ability to use one encounter, daily AND utility power of the class; and
ii) prerequisite of the multiclass feat.

III. one class features/powers feat:

i) choose one class feature;
ii) ability to use one at-will power, and a second encounter, daily AND utility power of the class; and
ii) prerequisite of the class powers feat.

witches

2011-10-10T09:25:00.005-04:00

i understand the fluff reasoning behind a witch being a subclass of druid. i also understand the nonfluff, powers-based reasoning behind the witch being a subclass of wizard (however, witches sharing space with a class that iconically gains its power through academic study does rub me the wrong way).

i generally am not a fan of the dual power source builds, but i think the witch as arcane/primal makes a lot of sense, fulfilling both of the reasonings referenced above. also, witches could be obtaining their powers from the more indifferent and darker primal spirits of the world and feywild (yes, there are some primal spirits in the feywild), instead of from gods, devils and the like.

EDIT: with primal as a witch power source, then the cat, raven and serpent familiars make more sense, since they all are natural creatures (one tiny fey familiar--such as a brownie, a grick or a puck--would be a nice option, to more closely associate the witch with the feywild).

more on the far realm

2011-09-21T20:12:00.003-04:00

the far realm inherently is a threat to all of the known planes of existence. wherever aspects or creatures of the far realm populate the known planes, the immediate surroundings slowly warp from their natural state into some semblance of the far realm ("Their presence in an area infuses it with the Far Realm’s blight, and the spreading madness invites more incursions from beyond. Dungeon 194").

thralls of aberrations are affected by this far realm influence, sometimes eventually losing their sanity (kou-toa) or outright transforming into aberrations (foulspawn).

warlock changes

2011-06-07T10:37:00.004-04:00

the warlock should be changed to an A-class with cha as the primary attack stat. they negotiate and bargain for their powers, so cha is appropriate.

fey should be cha, int (eladrin, gnome)
infernal should be cha, con (tiefling)
dark should be cha, dex (drow)

also, dark pact should have referred to the shadowfell, rather than to "the dark beings that lurk in the shadows of the drow civilization."

EDIT: the dark pact should be subsumed by the gloom pact.

sorcerer changes

2011-06-07T10:32:00.002-04:00

the sorcerer should be changed as follows:

i) con as primary attack stat (wizards learn their powers, so int is best; warlocks negotiate and bargain for their powers, so cha would be best; but sorcerers are innately empowered. their powers flow from themselves, so con would be best);

ii) chaos sorc renamed elemental sorc, with con primary and int secondary (genasi would be the ideal race); and

iii) dragon sorc with con primary and cha secondary (dragonborn would be the ideal race).

cambions

2011-05-25T10:03:00.002-04:00

many cambions are half-drow. many others are half-duergar. this is is due those races' close association with devils.

EDIT: yet other cambions are half-goblinoid (most typically, half-hobgoblin).

the ghoul king

2011-05-22T16:43:00.001-04:00

was an orc.

many, although not necessarily most, ghouls were orcs.

if i could change some classes

2011-05-22T16:31:00.004-04:00

sorcerer
con attack stat
chaos, int secondary stat (genasi) (rename chaos sorc to elemental sorc)
dragon, cha secondary stat (dragonborn)

warlock
cha attack stat
infernal, con
star, con
fey, int

paladin
str attack stat
leader secondary role, wis secondary stat
striker secondary role, cha secondary stat

more on orcus

2011-05-17T12:28:00.002-04:00

orcus' official relationship with undeath has been understated. orcus was the first undead. he is the master of the domain of undeath. he created most of the types of undead creatures.

it is believed that orcus, at some time after changing from a primordial into a demon lord, did battle in the shadowfell with one or more gods and was destroyed. for reason not as yet understood nor repeated, the necrotic energies of the shadowfell infused orcus' corpse and brought him from a state of death to undeath. although, orcus was soon after repelled from the shadowfell, he has forever remained obsessed with that plane, and the shadowfell's necrotic energies have played a pivotal role in the creation and existence of multitudes of undead creature types.

as i have mentioned in a prior post, orcus seeks to turn all living creatures in undead; thereby, obtaining dominion over all creatures.

on hags and trolls

2011-05-17T12:23:00.003-04:00

as i have mentioned previously, trolls are, as i see them, fey creatures. they are closely aligned with hags. curiously enough, although trolls and hags are separate races, they somehow procreate together. there are no male hags and there are no female trolls.

vaprak is an archfey, not an exarch of orcus. his closest ally is baba yaga, also an archfey.

Far Realm: The Root of All Evil . . . Sort Of

2011-01-03T10:01:00.003-05:00

Far Realm: The Root of All Evil . . . Sort Of

The following material presents my view of the Far Realm as the root of all evil . . . sort of. I will debunk certain myths and tie together a wholistic understanding of the role that the Far Realm has played in the state of evil throughout the known planes.

To begin, I will clarify that the Far Realm is not the cause of all evil. It is, however, the source of some of the most evil phenomena known to all. Let's take a look at how this all began.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

We know that the breaching of the Living Gate ("that once barred the Far Realm from the Astral Sea," Psionic Power, page 95) was the first intrusion of the Far Realm into the known planes ("the original gateway through which the Far Realm breached the Astral Sea," The Plane Above, page 95) (" . . . the shattered Living Gate, which provided the Far Realm's first entry into the Astral Sea . . ." The Plane Above, page 63) (" . . . all agree that the Far Realm broke into the cosmos as a consequence of the destruction of the Living Gate," The Plane Above, page 63).

We also know that three gods were responsible for the destruction of the Living Gate: "Pelor, who shined light into all shadows, first found the gate, though he later wished he had not. Ioun, whose mind hungered to understand all things, awoke the sleeping gate. And a third, nameless god, who feared no danger and doubted all authority . . . ." (Player's Handbook 3, page 4). What many do not realize is that the third god was Tharizdun (see below for further detail). Together, the three gods defeated the guardian of the Living Gate (Pelor and Ioun propagandists later laid blame of the slaying solely upon the shoulders of the third god, but how could a single god defeat a "powerful being, said to be neither god nor primordial but kin to both" (Player's Handbook 3, page 4)?), but it was Tharizdun alone who shattered the Living Gate.

Eons prior to the shattering of the Living Gate, beings of evil incarnate, known as the obyriths, discovered a barrier between their realm and another, and sought to breach it (Demonomicon, page 7). Their realm was the Far Realm and that barrier was the Living Gate. Despite millenia of effort, focusing all of their will and energy towards a singular point within the Living Gate, the obyriths could not succeed in breaching the barrier until they received the unlikely assistance of three gods on the other side of that barrier. When Tharizdun shattered the Living Gate, he came into contact with, and instantly became swayed by, the shard of the shattered gate containing that singular mote of utter evil ("The touch of the shard drove this god to madness, corrupting him so completely that he was no longer recognizable as his former self." Monster Manual, page 52).

"Ioun and Pelor are credited with sealing shut that fell gateway to the Far Realm, but not before reality had been corrupted" (Psionic Power, page 108). Ioun’s power continues to hold the portal closed (Player's Handbook 3, page 12) and "Pelor secretly preserves the largest fragments of the Living Gate within his inner sun beneath Hestavar" (The Plane Above, page 63).

Perhaps, you are wondering what a single breach to the Far Realm has to do with the most evil phenomena known to all? Take note of what follows.

THE FAR REALM BRINGS EVIL AND CORRUPTION TO THE ELEMENTAL CHAOS

Consider what we know of the Elemental Chaos. "Most of the inhabitants of the Elemental Chaos share a primal drive toward entropy. Many are creative in their own ways, building structures and civilizations, tearing them down, then beginning anew" (Manual of the Planes, page 62). The primordials are "ancient forces of creation" (Manual of the Planes, page 70). They are "raw, untamed chaos in elemental form, almost indistinguishable from the plane that birthed them" (Manual of the Planes, page 70). "They exist solely to act out that cycle" and "most are unaligned" (Manual of the Planes, page 70).

As we know, Tharizdun carried the shard of utter evil to the Elemental Chaos and embeded it there (Monster Manual, page 52). When Tharizdun planted the shard, it "unleashed power like that realm had never seen before," momentarily permitting the obyriths entry into the Elemental Chaos (Demonomicon, page 7). The evil of the shard "took root like a foul seed of corruption, burrowing deep into the unshaped matter of the Elemental Chaos and spreading unholy tendrils far and wide. A yawning chasm of infinite gloom and despair opened up at the lowest pit of creation, swallowing all matter and light, defiling anything that drew near." (Monster Manual, page 52). Thusly was the Abyss born, and demons soon thereafter.

The Abyss has been described as " a hole in reality at the bottom of the Elemental Chaos" (The Plane Below, page 108), a "festering cyst beneath the Elemental Chaos" (Monster Manual, page 52). " The evil of the Abyss corrupted even some of the mighty primordials—Demogorgon, Baphomet, Orcus—and reshaped them into the likeness of pure destructive evil" (Monster Manual, page 52), what we call demons. "Demons are the tools the Abyss uses to extend the reach of its obliteration" (Manual of the Planes, page 68). They "possess shapes as diverse as anything in the Far Realm" (Demonomicon, page 10).

We see that the single largest amalgamation of evil in the entire Elemental Chaos is attributable to the influence of the Far Realm. Next, we look at the Astral Sea.

THE FAR REALM BRINGS EVIL AND CORRUPTION TO THE ASTRAL SEA

Pazuzu, an obyrith in the Abyss, manipulated Asmodeus into succumbing to the evil of the shard (Demonomicon, page 9). Asmodeus "sought out and found the shard in the Abyss's incalculable depths" (Demonomicon, page 9). He "stole away a sliver of the shard" and forged it into "a ruby-tipped rod of incredible power"" (Demonomicon, page 9). "Armed with his scepter of absolute evil, Asmodeus led an invasion of the Astral Sea" (Demonomicon, page 9) and used his fragment of true evil to slay his divine master (Manual of the Planes, page 89) (see also Monster Manul, page 60). "Asmodeus had grown too strong for his enemies to overcome without causing destruction on a planar scale" (Wizards Presents Worlds and Monsters, page 76).

Similar to the Abyss, we see that the Nine Hells of Baator are attributable to the influence of the Far Realm. Lastly, let us observe the natural world and its echoes.

THE FAR REALM BRINGS EVIL AND CORRUPTION TO THE NATURAL WORLD AND ITS ECHOES

"In places where cosmological boundaries have become too thin, Far Realm influence sometimes seeps in, staining reality in terrible ways. At the edges of such contact, a subtle influence pervades the area, overlaying the landscape with an unnerving sense of dread, and foisting nightmares upon those unlucky enough to rest within or nearby. At its heart, the landscape is distorted, with flora and fauna dramatically tainted. Strange new creatures, equal parts nature and madness, fester and hunt" (Manual of the Planes, page 78). "Where stray emanations from the Far Realm leak onto the world, matter stirs at the beckoning of inexplicable urges, then burns to ash or takes on monstrous new life" (Manual of the Planes, page 30). "When these rare intrusions occur, the warping pressure of the Far Realm transmutes previously inert substances. This blending of realities results in horrifying corruptions, disruptions, and sometimes even the birth of squiggling aberrant monstrosities" (Manual of the Planes, page 30).

As a consequence of the Far Realm's evil and corrupting intrusions, the known planes have directly responded in several ways: from the spontaneous creation of psionic power ("[psionic] power is the world's response to the intrusion of the Far Realm" (Player's Handbook 3, page 5)) to the birth of entirely new races. "The wilden emerged from the unspoiled reaches, ancient bogs, and primeval forests of the Feywild. Awakened to fight the growing corruption plaguing the land, they strive to restore the natural order and to purge aberrant horror from the world" (Player's Handbook 3, page 15). Shardminds "consider themselves to be energy creations . . . of the [Living] Gate. The three major shardmind philosophies (Player's Handbook 3, page 13) agree that the way to seal the Far Realm away forever is to rebuild the Living Gate" (The Plane Above, page 63). Shardminds "seek to rebuild the gate and forever cut off the Far Realm’s ability to influence the world" (Player's Handbook 3, page 12).

As I have already conceded, the Far Realm cannot be blamed for all of the evil in existence; but, it is responsible for the Abyss, the Nine Hells, an entirely new power source and the consequent existence of several races.

corellon and gruumsh revisited (briefly)

2010-12-17T16:08:00.002-05:00

from channel divinity: corellon’s devoted in dragon 394:

"This duel culminated in Gruumsh losing an eye to Corellon’s blade (or arrow in elven myth) . . ."

it is nice to see others seeing things as i see them. you see?

ettins speak common, not giant

2010-11-20T09:02:00.002-05:00

as i have mentioned before, ettins are naturally born from and are related to ogres. they appear with about the same frequency as twins.

also as i have mentioned, there is no such thing as giant language. giants are elemental creatures and speak primordial. ogres are natural creatures. they do not speak primordial. they speak common, as do ettins.

REQUEST: compendium, rituals, filters, category

2010-11-04T12:34:00.001-04:00

please add an additional filter to ritual searches entitled categories.

there are enough occasions when a dm or player need to search for rituals of a particular category. for example, the dragonmark feats grant the ability to master and perform rituals of certain categories. in addition, several magic items and even a few backgrounds, paragon paths and epic destinies offer characters similar abilities. the compendium is the only reasonable method available for researching this information.

lycanthropes have me confused

2010-11-04T12:30:00.001-04:00

i have always known all lycanthropes to have 3 forms:

(i) humanoid (as in, resembling a standard humanoid race);
(ii) animal; and
(iii) hybrid (typically a humanoid body with animal head and/or other parts).

however, in 4e:

(a) every lycanthrope has a change shape ability that references only two forms: humanoid and animal--no mention of a hybrid form;
(b) every image of a lycanthrope is in hybrid form; and
(c) most of their attacks can be used in only humanoid or animal form--no mention of which can be used in hybrid form, if any.

now, i can draw my own conclusion of how this all works together, but it just seems poorly presented to me. every other shapechanger in 4e (except the jackalwere, which suffers the same issues as the lycanthropes) makes reference to every form of the creature in its stat block (e.g., lolth, yochlol, lamia, hag, etc.).

perhaps, this needs correcting.

EDIT:

lo and behold, the new encounter, "kill the messengers", has a wererat with the following information in its stat block:
__________

Change Shape (polymorph) ✦ At-Will
Effect: The wererat alters its physical form to appear as a rat, a unique human, or a hybrid creature. The form lasts until it uses change shape again or until it drops to 0 hit points (whereupon it assumes human form). The creature retains its statistics in its new form. Its clothing, armor, and possessions do not change.

Short Sword (weapon) ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in human or hybrid form.

Bite ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in rat or hybrid form.

Rat Scurry ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in rat form.

Speed 6, climb 4 (rat or hybrid form only).
__________

now, this is much better. nothing is implied. everything is quite clear. thank you, wotc.

well, it does leave me with one question still unanswered: does the creature's armor, and it's possessions, fall off when the creature assumes animal form? also consider that a werewolf lord is size medium in human form and size large in hybrid form. does its armor strangulate it when it increases in size or fall off when it decreases in size? if not, why not?

the mimic is fatally flawed

2010-11-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

i think i might have identified a fatal flaw in the design of the mimic.

traditional, a mimic's tactic is to

i) assume the form of an object,
ii) wait for an enemy to draw near, and then
iii) surprise that enemy with an attack.

the mimic has a power called shapeshift, which allows the mimic to assume the form of an object (step i above). while in object form, a mimic is immobilized and cannot attack. the problem is that shapeshifting into or out of object form is a minor action.

the rules for a surprise round read, in part, as follows:

Limited Action: If you get to act in the surprise round, you can take a standard action, a move action, or a minor action. You can also take free actions, but you can’t spend action points. After every nonsurprised combatant has acted, the surprise round ends, and you can act normally in subsequent rounds.

so, how does the mimic surprise its enemy with an attack (step iii above)? technically, it cannot. according to the rules as written, the mimic burns through its surprise round with the minor action of shapeshifting to its natural form (a standard action, a move action, or a minor action). it would not get to attack its enemy until after the surprise round. i do not think that this is what the designers intended.

how can this mistake be corrected? well, in a surprise round, the mimic can also take free actions. if shapeshift were changed to a free action or, more limited, if the mimic shapeshifting back to its natural form were a free action, then the mimic could both shift and attack during the surprise round.

4e lycanthropes have me confused

2010-10-28T13:39:00.001-04:00

nagpa

2010-10-07T11:38:00.001-04:00

one addition to nagpa fluff: after being transformed by the primordials, the nagpa fled to and continue to reside in the shadowfell.

shambling mounds are fey

2010-10-06T23:17:00.001-04:00

yet another, with more to come.

shard of evil, living gate, obyriths

2010-09-18T22:46:00.004-04:00

i am formulating a comprehensive history in which the shard of evil was a piece of the living gate. the obyriths, powerful creatures of the far realm, pierced the living gate momentarily, causing a shard of the living gate to break free. that shard, having been the locus of the obyriths' concerted effort to pierce into the known planes, absorbed an unfathomable amount of the energies of the far realm.

the deities of the astral plane, wherein the living gate was momentarily ruptured, quickly recognized the corrupting effect that the shard of evil was having upon the plane. tharizdun, a lawful good deity of great power and wisdom, recognizing that the shard, a thing not entirely of this plane, could not be destroyed, took it upon himself to remove the shard to the furthest reaches of the elemental chaos, a plane dominated by primodial beings with whom the deities warred.

pazuzu, an obyrith, told asmodeus how to remove a piece of the shard of evil. perhaps pazuzu did so in order to get a piece of the shard to the astral sea in hopes of doing to that plane what the shard has been doing to the elemental chaos--namely, transforming it into the abyss, a place more to the liking of these far realm alien creatures.
_______________

the above history implies that the worst of evils actually stems from the far realm. the abyss is the corruption of the elemental chaos by the influences of the far realm, via the physical presence of the shard.

it is with this understanding that creatures throughout the known planes--deities, primal spirits, wilden, shardminds, etc.--universally oppose the presence of far realm influences in any form, whether aberrations, malevolent stars, portals or rifts.

as i see it, such far realm influences physically warp their surroundings in a manner not unlike the shard of evil, but on a much smaller scale. the mere presence of a community of aberrant creatures actually will cause its environs to change (think of the movie Aliens or the starcraft zerg).

in a sense, demons are another form(s) of aberrant creatures.

minotaurs

2010-09-18T22:22:00.002-04:00

similarly to my decision to make trolls fey instead of natural, i have decided that minotaurs are fey creatures. in the feywild, minotaurs are largely subservient to fomorians. subterranean minotaur mazes often serve as outer defenses to fomorian kingdoms; however, minotaurs often are deployed by fomorians on missions above ground.

some minotaurs worship baphomet. others follow primal traditions. both of these subsets conflict with fomorian rulership.

predicting variable racial stats

2010-09-18T22:17:00.003-04:00

my (great) expectations (actual outcome in bold):

Deva – Wis, Int or Cha
Dragonborn – Cha, Str or Con (same)
Drow – Cha, Dex or Wis (Dex, Cha or Wis)
Genasi – Int, Str or Con
Gnoll – Dex, Con or Str
Gnome – Int, Cha or Wis
Goliath – Str, Con or Wis (most likely, but i prefer Con, Str or Wis for primal goodness)
Half-Elf – Cha, Con or Wis (Con, Cha or Wis)
Half-Orc – Str, Dex or Wis (Dex, Str or Con)
Kalashtar – Wis, Cha or Dex
Revenant – Con, Dex or Wis
Shadar-kai – Dex, Int or Con
Shifter – Wis, Str or Dex
Tieflings – Cha, Int or Dex (Cha, Int or Con)
Warforged – Con, Str or Int

unnatural

2010-09-05T23:50:00.002-04:00

denizens of the elemental chaos refer to the natural world as the unnatural world because, as they see it, it is not natural.

Smite Elemental Creature

2010-08-23T10:21:00.001-04:00

although, the ampersand piece on the upcoming warpriest build says "most deities view undead creatures as abominations that must be destroyed", it seems to me that a more unifying power than smite undead would be something like smite elemental creature--you know, dawn war and all of that stuff.

it would be quite simple to make available to every cleric the following alternative channel divinity power:

Smite Elemental Creature
Cleric Attack
You scorch an elemental foe with your weapon, driving it back and then binding it in place.
Encounter (Special) Channel Divinity, Divine, Radiant, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One elemental creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 2[W] + Wisdom modifier radiant damage, and you push the target a number of squares up to 3 + your Constitution modifier. The target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Level 11: 3[W] + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.
Level 21: 4[W] + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.
Miss: Half damage.
Special: You can use only one channel divinity power per encounter.

if i had my druthers

2010-08-11T22:21:00.003-04:00

wotc does not want to alienate gamers by changing existing class builds radically; instead, wotc adds more builds reflecting how they would have done things differently. one downside to this approach is the pressure to continue supporting builds that, in hindsight, really should have been done better, which is a bit like throwing good money at bad money.

here is how i would have made the original builds:

cleric: wis, con or cha
fighter: str, con or dex
paladin: str, cha or wis
ranger: wis, str or dex
rogue: dex, str or cha
warlock: cha, int or con
warlord: str, int or cha
wizard: int, con or dex

new builds with new secondary stats

2010-08-11T22:06:00.003-04:00

i like the new direction i am seeing with new class builds using new secondary stats. this, of course, presumes an A-shaped class. it allows more races to partake effectively of the class. it expands the repertoire of powers available to all builds of the class, albeit without the riders of the intended build.

one way that wotc could further, and more quickly, broaden the support for new builds--and to a lesser extent, older builds--is by publishing dragon articles listing old powers with new riders for the new builds--and for the older builds that did not have riders on those powers. eventually, the compendium potentially could show every power with a separate rider for each build of the applicable class. of course, exceptions would exist.

orcs, gruumsh and orcus

2010-06-29T20:40:00.003-04:00

in the past, i have stated that i regard gruumsh, in 4e, as a primordial rather than as a god because his manner and mentality seemed better suited for a primordial.

lately, i have been thinking about orcs and have devised some changes that are to my liking. for several reasons, i think that orcs should worship orcus instead of gruumsh.

admitedly, one of those reasons is the mere similarity in the names: orcs and orcus. simple--perhaps silly--but true. i see the name orcs as meaning "deriving from orcus". for me, it fits.

another reason for orcs worshipping orcus is to better differentiate orcs from the other, common "savage" races: gnolls, minotaurs and, perhaps, the goblinoids (the list could go on--e.g., kobolds, etc.--but i will stop with these).

i say perhaps goblinoids because although many players group goblinoids with those other races, i see gobliniods as rather different from the others. they are an evil race, not chaotic evil. they generally worship gods-principally bane--whereas gnolls (yeenoghu) , minotaurs (baphomet) and (as i see it) orcs (was gruumsh, now orcus) generally worship worship demons.

by changing the orcs' patron from gruumsh to orcus, orcs now can be closely associated with the undead. orc shamans would be practitioners of necromancy. undead would be as prevalent among orcs as hyenas are among gnolls, and mazes are among minotaurs.

i can see orcs leading low level undead, such as zombies and skeletons; associating with ghouls and wights; and following higher level undead, such as arcanians, vampires, mummy lords, and liches. i can also see orcs associating with nonorc cultists of orcus.

i think that this association with the undead will make orcs appreciably different from the other common savage races, even at low levels of gaming.

so, you might be wondering, "what about gruumsh?" imo, other than serving as the patron of orcs, gruumsh is unimportant to 4e. he acts more like a demon lord than like any of the other gods, and there are plenty of demon lords already. so, maybe that is gruumsh's skull planted at the end of orcus' wand.

tiefling and hellock

2010-06-15T10:16:00.003-04:00

i like the new article in dragon 386.

totems worn

2010-06-15T09:16:00.001-04:00

someone once suggested that totems should be wearable in addition to wieldable, similarly to divine holy symbols.

i second this idea.

witch and the shadow power source

2010-06-15T09:13:00.001-04:00

i would LOVE to see, finally, a witch class. i had long envisioned a witch class as primal, but a shadow-based witch class would be great.

this would be an awesome--and solid--shadow power source line-up:
hexblade - defender
assassin - striker
necromancer - leader or controller (i vote controller)
witch - controller or leader (i vote leader)

p.s., i could see constitution being a prominent stat within the shadow power source, a la wisdom for divine, intelligence for arcane, strength for martial, constitution (and wisdom) for primal, and wisdom (and charisma) for psionic.

cunning sneak & shadow walk

2010-06-08T09:40:00.003-04:00

two ways of accomplishing this:

i) hybrid rogue/warlock, with hybrid talent feat and paragon hybrid talent feat; or

ii) rogue wearing phantom chaussures (level 18 boots).

this cunning sneak/shadow walk combination grants the characters the ability to make stealth check every round.

EDIT: the cursed shadow feat (dragon 385, prerequisite: assassin and warlock) grants the shadow walk class feature.

aberrations

2010-06-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

i think that all aberrations should share a fluff--with varying mechanics--whereby their mere presence is anathema to their immediate environment. different sources of inspiration for this include the starcraft zerg and dark sun defiling. this fluff would lend further credence to the imperative sentiment against the far realm and its progeny, especially among the primal forces of the world.

such fluff would cause aberrations to stand out among the other treats to the natural world and the "natural order of things." a primal character might consider the undead to be an affront to the natural cycle of life; he might combat creatures of the elemental chaos because of their conflicting values of creation and recreation; but, that primal character would regard the mere existence of an aberrant creature as a cancer upon his sacred world.

one example that i have considered is having the caves of a grick colony coated with a strange substance (think zergs or aliens the movie).

lycanthropes

2010-06-03T11:56:00.003-04:00

i like the idea of different types of lycanthropes adopting differing humanoid forms, such as a wererat taking the form of a halfling and a wereboar taking the form of a dwarf or orc.

this is not an original idea. scepter tower of spellguard has wererats that take the form of halflings. however, all of the lycanthropes depicted in the monster manuals and dragon magazine articles generically assume the form of man. so, i just want to emphasize the potential for diversity.

EDIT:
werecrocodile as lizardfolk

titans (continued)

2010-05-18T18:16:00.007-04:00

i envision titans as appearing more elemental than most of the types of titans currently appear. earth titans more precisely reflect my image of titans.

fire titans would appear more like loosely humanoid shaped creatures of magma with fire in place of hair.

frost titans appear more like loosely humanoid shaped creatures of ice with snow in place of hair.

stone titans would look much as they do now, except that they would be shaped more like earth titans than the current stone titans.

storm titans would appear more like loosely humanoid shaped creatures of hardened storm clouds with lightning in place of hair.

the nonelemental titans (i.e., death, eldritch, astral and, perhaps, fomorians) do not require modification of appearance, imo. alternatively, death titans could appear more like loosely humanoid shaped creatures of shadow.

also, just as titans would not use weapons, nor would they wear armor.

ettins and ogres

2010-05-18T16:53:00.002-04:00

on rare occasions, an ogre gives birth to a two-headed ogre called an ettin. ettins tend to assume leadership positions among ogres due to their superior intellect (two heads are better than one) and superior combative skills.

giants and titans

2010-05-09T17:39:00.002-04:00

i think that the giant language should not exist. instead of speaking giant, i think that giants and titans should speak primordial (i recognize that titans currently speak both).

also, i think that titans should not rely upon manufactured weapons to make melee attacks. this change would reinforce the notion that titans are powerful beings, noticeably moreso than giants, and imbued with elemental (necrotic for death titans and arcane for eldritch titans) power.

Functional Template - Drider (REVISED)

2010-05-09T12:36:00.004-04:00

Drider
A drider was a powerful drow priest of Lolth whose devotion was satisfactorily tested by Lolth and who was gifted with a semblance of her god’s spider form. Most, although not all, matron mothers are driders. Drow believe that a drow house that does not have a drider for a matron mother is experiencing the displeasure and punishment of Lolth. Such houses face stigma and some prejudice from the greater drow community. A drow house with two or more driders is regarded as blessed by Lolth. As the favored of Lolth, all driders, whether matron mother or not, enjoy considerable power and authority in drow society. Since all drow priests are female, a male drider is a rare and socially complicated circumstance for drow society. Driders often dispense with weapons, instead relying upon their two blade-like front claws and their bite for melee.

Drider is a template you can apply to any drow priest and, rarely, other drow who have dedicated their lives to the service of Lolth. If you are modifying a nonplayer character, this template works best with the cleric.

Prerequisite: Level 11, Drow Priest or drow worshiper of Lolth
______________________________________

Drider
Elite Skirmisher
Large fey humanoid (spider)
XP Elite
Defenses +2 AC; +4 Fortitude, +2 Reflex
Resist 5 + 1/2 level poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Size Large
Action Point 1
Hit Points +8 per level + Constitution score
______________________________________

POWERS

M-B Claw (standard; at-will) Poison
Level +4 vs. AC; 1d8 + 7 damage plus 1d8 poison damage.

M Double Attack (standard; at-will) Poison
The drider makes two claw attacks.

M Quick Bite (minor 1/round; at-will) Poison
Requires combat advantage; Level +2 vs. Fortitude; 1d4 damage, and ongoing Constitution modifier + 1/2 level poison damage (save ends).

R Web Net (minor 1/round; at-will)
Ranged 10; Level +2 vs. Reflex; the target is restrained and gains vulnerable 5 poison (save ends both).

Spider Link (minor; at-will) Healing
The drider can transfer up to its healing surge value of points of damage she has taken to a spider or a drow within 5 squares of her. She cannot transfer more hit points than the creature has remaining. If applicable, REPLACES Drow Priest Spider Link.

Web Walker
A drider ignores the effects of spider webs and spider swarms.

a fix for ki focus

2010-05-09T12:33:00.000-04:00

i suggest that ki focus not be an implement. instead, make it a unique category of items that strictly enhances other items that are weapons.

so, for both monk and assassins, instead of:

Implement: Ki focuses, weapons with which you have proficiency

the applicable line would read:

Implement: Weapons with which you have proficiency.

next, i would suggest that when a monk/assassin makes an attack, whether a weapon attack or an implement attack, the monk/assassin must use a weapon to do so, but can choose to apply a ki focus to the weapon in lieu of the weapon's own properties.

good build ideas

2009-10-15T10:48:00.000-04:00

"Challenge: What's the coolest trick you can pull at level 11?"

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/20564149/Challenge_Whats_the_coolest_trick_you_can_pull_at_level_11

wizard/bloodmage build

2009-10-15T10:31:00.001-04:00

First you obtain uranium-238 and then....
gotten from wotc forums. posted by Xantos000.
_______________________________

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19641590/How_to_Build_A_Nuclear_Bomb
_______________________________

First you obtain uranium-238 and then....

Just kidding. This build focuses on the all around killer wizard. His goal is to have huge damage spells that hit tons of people, produce lingering and highly debiliating effects (radiation) and do all this from near invincibility (AKA flying like a plane).

He really becomes a nuke at level 25, and then can do it multiple times a day at level 26, but he's still extremely effective once he's in paragon. NOTE: All wizards are weak during heroic. The basic goal is to try and keep him alive and kicking.

Eladrin is perfect for him because he is a wand mage (secondary orb mage), although elf is good as well. He need's a fully buffed int, and nearly fully buffed dex, and a decent wis, so unfortunatly, he suffers a bit from MADness.

Although the entire build is called the Nuke, my sample nuke will be called God-Killer, as he does everything a God does and then can actually damage them.

Thanks to TreantMonkLevel20 for the guide to Wizards because it was through his guide that I learned that Bolstering Blood pulses every time a creature moves with Blood Pulse up. Thanks also to Subedei who really got me thinking about how awesome Wizards really are.

Edit: As has been pointed out to me on the second page, the Bigby's Icy Hand trick does not work.

[sblock=Races]
Out of ****
Elf (****): +2 to Dex and Wis, two of the key abilities for this build. Wish it had a +2 to Int, but it's racial more than makes up for it.
Eladrin(****): +2 to Int and Dex, the two MOST vital abilities for this build. I think it's slightly better than Elf, but just slightly. The bonus skill is also great, as we will be saving a feat on either Stealth or Perception. I will be using the Eladrin for my build.
Githanki(***): +2 to Int is great, as is +2 to Con. Unfortunatly, we aren't going the staff route, so this is slightly wasted. Racial is decent as well.
Human(***): Humans gain an extra at will, and a +2 to Int. Not as good as Eladrin or Elf for this build.
Tiefling(***)- Bonus to Int and Hellfire Blood is awesome. No as good as Eladrin or Elf
[/sblock]
[sblock=Level One]
God-Killer, Level 1 Eladrin Wand Wizard
Str: 8
Dex: 18 (16+2)
Con: 10
Int: 18 (16+2)
Wis: 12
Cha: 12

Skills:
Whatever 3 you want from Class List
Arcana (Required)
Stealth (From Eladrin Training)

Feat:
Toughness

At Will: (Difficult Choices....)
Illusionary Terrain
Scorching Burst (Switching to Thunderwave at 11)

Encounter: Force Orb (As much as I hate to say this, damage is your primary concern at this level. Your debuffs are weak, so this or burning hands is best for you.)

Daily: Flaming Sphere (Add Sleep to your spellbook. Sleep is great, but we don't have Orb mastery yet :()
[/sblock]
[sblock=Levelling to 10]
Level 2:
Feat: Armor Prof (Leather)
Util: Shield

Level 3:
Encounter: Freezing Rays

Level 4:
+1 to Int/Dex
Feat: Skill Focus(Stealth)

Level 5:
Daily: Bigby's Icy Grasp (add Web)

Level 6:
Util: Levitate (Hurray! Your first "fly" spell)
Feat: Skill Training (Perception)

Level 7:
Encounter: Winter's Wrath

Level 8:
+1 to Int/Dex
Feat: Alertness

Level 9:
Daily: Wall of Fire (Add Ice Storm)

Level 10:
Util: Blur
Feat: Improved Init
[/sblock]
[sblock=Level 11]
God-Killer Level 11 Wand Wizard/Blood Mage
Str: 9
Dex: 21
Con: 11
Int: 21
Wis: 13
Cha: 13

Vital Skills at:
Stealth at +18
Perception at +13

Feats:
Toughness, Improved Init, Skill Focus(Stealth), Skill Training (Perception), Arcane Reach (replaces Alertness), Armor Prof (Leather), Resounding Thunder

At Will:
Illusionary Terrain
Thunderwave

Encounter: Blood Pulse, Force Orb, Freezing Rays, Winter's Wrath
Util: Shield, Levitate, Blur
Daily: Bigby's Icy Fist, Flaming Sphere, Wall of Fire

This is the level you start getting really good. Here's some ideas:
Blood Pulse (with Bolstering Blood), AP, Thunderwave--> Next turn Thunderwave.

Or Icy Grasp, AP, Blood Pulse(with BB), Move Hand 6--> Move hand 6, Move Hand 6
Each square your enemy leaves deals him d6+2d10(But same value every time). That means that each move 6 deals on average 14.5*6=87 damage.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Levelling to 20]
Level 12:
Util: Soul Burn
Feat: Spell Focus

Level 13:
Encounter: Replace Force Orb with Thunderlance

Level 14:
+1 to Dex/Int
Feat: Danger Sense

Level 15:
Daily: Replace Flaming Sphere with Bigby's Grasping Hands(add Wall of Ice to spellbook though)

Level 16:
Util: Displacement
Feat: Seize the Moment

Level 17:
Replace Icy Rays with Ice Tomb

Level 18:
+1 to Str/Dex
Feat: Great Fort

Level 19:
Replace Wall of Fire with Evard's Black Tentacles

Level 20:
Daily: Gain Destructive Salutation
Feat: Pact Initiate
[/sblock]
[sblock=Level 21]
God-Killer Level 21 Wand Wizard/Blood Mage/Demigod
Str: 10
Dex: 24
Con: 14
Int: 26
Wis: 14
Cha: 14

Vital Skills at:
Stealth at +25
Perception at +17

Feats:
Toughness, Improved Init, Skill Focus(Stealth), Skill Training (Perception), Arcane Reach, Armor Prof (Leather), Resounding Thunder, Spell Focus, Danger Sense, Seize the Moment, Great Fort, Pact Initiate, Spell Accuracy

At Will:
Illusionary Terrain
Thunderwave

Encounter: Blood Pulse, Winter's Wrath, Thunderlance, Ice Tomb
Util: Shield, Levitate, Blur, Soul Hunger, Displacement
Daily: Bigby's Icy Fist, Bigby's Grasping Hands, Evard's Black Tentacles, Destructive Salutation

At this level, your big short range nuclear Bomb is Thunderlance. It hits a 6x6 area up to 2 squares away, and assuming you have Blood Pulse up, deals, 4d6+Int+4(2d10+1d6), average damage 80.

Bigby's Graping Hands hits two people, and if you have blood pulse up, you can deal 2d10+7 when you grab them, and then move them up to 20 squares to slam into each other. Even if they're only 6 squares away, they each move 6. Assuming a distance of 10, you can deal 2d10+7+10(1d6+2d10). Average damage 163.

Bigby's Icy hand is easier to use. Again average damage is 87 per 6 squares. You can move him up to twice per turn (3 times with an AP)(And 3 times with an easy to get and inexpensive, encounter use item).
[/sblock]
[sblock=Levelling to 29]
Level 22:
Util: Timestop (or Mass Fly if you're the only person in your group with the ability to get it)
Feat: Arcane Mastery

Level 23:
Encounter: These powers are a little... meh. Replace Winter's Wrath with Acid Storm

Level 24:
+1 to Int/Con
Feat: Acolyte Power(Replace Acid Storm with Spiteful Darts)

Level 25:
Daily: HERE IT IS! Elemental maw! Decimate everything within Burst 2 once per day! (2 times if you burn an action point) Replace Bigby's Grasping Hands (unless you can house rule it to allow you to move the hands 6 squares like Icy Grasp) with Elemental Maw.

Level 26:
Util: Divine Regen
Feat: Second Implement (Staff)
*Note* This level is where it gets insane. Get Solitaire (Violet), and burn the AP to get your Daily back every encounter.

Level 27:
Encounter: Replace Ice Tomb with Confusion

Level 28:
Feat: Combat Anticipation
+1 to Int/Con

Level 29:
Daily: Replace with Evard's Black Tentacles with Legion's Hold
[/sblock]
[sblock=Final Stats]
God-Killer Level 30 Wand Wizard/Blood Mage/Demigod
Str: 10
Dex: 24
Con: 16
Int: 28
Wis: 14
Cha: 14

Vital Skills at:
Stealth at +30
Perception at +22

Feats:
Toughness, Improved Init, Skill Focus(Stealth), Skill Training (Perception), Arcane Reach, Armor Prof (Leather), Resounding Thunder, Spell Focus, Danger Sense, Seize the Moment, Great Fort, Pact Initiate, Spell Accuracy, Arcane Mastery, Acolyte Power, Combat Anticipation, Second Implement (Staff), Lightning Reflexes

At Will:
Illusionary Terrain
Thunderwave

Encounter: Blood Pulse, Spiteful Darts, Thunderlance, Confusion
Util: Shield, Levitate, Blur, Soul Hunger, Displacement, Time Stop, Divine Regeneration
Daily: Bigby's Icy Fist, Elemental Maw, Legion's Hold, Destructive Salutation

Elemental Maw is the nuke here: once they get caught in the "eye", teleport them 20 squares up, dealing 9d6+9+10d10 (from falling)+20(d6+2d10). Average damage 385.5 to all within burst 2 (without any items).

Bigby's Icy hand is your solo killer. While in the hand he can't do anything, and it's quite easy to cast Bigby's Icy Hand--> next round, Blood Pulse, Move 6, Time Stop, Move 6, Move 6, Burn AP gain Time Stop back, Move 6, Move 6, Use belt with Extra Move action, Move 6. 522 damage in 1 turn. Now, assuming your Ref is sky high like Gkers is, you'll probably hold him for a while. Next turn, Move 6, Move 6. Next Turn (soul hunger if you aren't 30 yet), Blood Pulse, Move 6. Next turn Move 6, Move 6. Over those turns, the monster is totally helpless, and you delt 957 damage. You can go on for a while like this if you're demigod. And if the monster DOES hit you, use displacement.

[/sblock]

The Equipment Guide and Updates and Final Number Crunch are below Subedei's Post

demogorgon

2009-10-08T10:02:00.003-04:00

given his position as first--arguably--among demon lords, i feel that demogorgon has not been given enough worshippers among the natural humanoid races. baphomet has the minotaurs. yeenoghu has the gnolls. gruumsh (a demon lord, in my view) has the orcs. so, what does the monster manual 2 say about demogorgon?

troglodytes worship him as a deity, and colonies of kuo-toas appeal to him for aid. this is both a problem and simply not enough. the trogs' principle patriarch is torog, so demogorgon is getting second scraps, at best. and the kuo-toa have been overtaken by, and now serve and worship, aberrant races, principally the aboleths. if any deific figure still were worshiped by the kuo-toa, it would be torog, who is most closely associated with both aberrations (in my view) and the underdark. that leaves demogorgon with no natural race over which he holds dominion. this just does not seem right for the "prince of demons".

so, what do we do about this? well, we give him a race of his own, just like yeenoghu and baphomet. gotta keep up with the joneses, you know. now, which race will it be? it should be a prominent race, so as to better reflect demogorgon's dominant position among demon lords. i still am not entirely certain which race is best, but i am thinking . . .

orcs. why? they are a prominent race. and gruumsh is, in my opinion, arguably expendable. he nature is a better fit as a demon lord than as a god. and as a demon lord, he is just yet another demon lord that is principally little more than a power that is thematically associated with a known race. so, give the orcs to demogorgon. and throw in an aquatic or amphibian race as well, to better play up demogorgon's amphibian nature (not the sahuagin. they have been taken, see my prior post for more on that), perhaps bullywugs ("bullywugs say they were created by the original primordials, not by the gods").

sahuagin worshippers

2009-10-08T09:08:00.004-04:00

the monster manual describes sahuagin as worshipers of sekolah, great demonic shark, who is an exarch of melora. however, given their chaotic evil alignment, i instead would have them worshipping the demon lord, dagon.

i supposed that i am inclined to see most, if not all, chaotic evil races worshipping demons rather than gods because, in my view, none of the gods are chaotic evil, with one explainable exception--tharizdun. originally, tharizdun was not chaotic evil. he became chaotic evil when he was overwhelmed by the shard of evil. anyway, he is locked up and largely out of the picture now, despite what his looney worshippers might believe. orcus, in my view, is a demon lord, not a god. so that leaves no chaotic evil gods.

so, who among the demon lords would best serve as the patriarch of sahuagin? well, an aquatic oriented demon would be fitting. dagon is an aquatic demon lord. also, from the monster manual 2, we know that dagon's temples are underwater. what else do we know?

i) dagon's [land-based] cultists reside in isolated seaside towns and villages;

ii) sahuagin dwell along coastal waters;

iii) villages prone to [dagon's] cult descend into savagery;

iv) sahuagin slaughter and devour anything they can catch, raiding coastal settlements in the dead of night;

v) a sahuagin kingdom can stretch along an entire seacoast, and the sahuagin sometimes trade for goods, but they are more inclined to take what they want by pillaging coastal communities and merchant ships; and

vi) dagon's temples include air-filled chambers and caverns for his terrestrial followers.

although not a completely compelling argument, i do think that the above information makes for a good fit between sahuagin and the demon lord, dagon.

edit

i just remembered a great little adventure in dungeon 156 called the last breaths of ashenport. i think that the fish men of dagon easily could be re-skinned as sahuagin.

my spin on orcus

2009-10-07T10:09:00.002-04:00

looking at the h-p-e adventure series, i very much like the orcus/raven queen conflict. however, i see the conflict and goals somewhat differently:

we know that the raven queen is quite powerful because, among other reasons, almost all creatures die and the raven queen is the god of death.

orcus is the master of undeath (as a side note, in my world, vecna is only an exarch of orcus). not surprisingly, orcus wants more power than he already has. he knows that the more undead that exist throughout the planes, the more power he acquires.

here is where the conflict arises: each additional undead creature means one less creature that dies; the consequence of which is (i) an incremental increase in orcus' power and (ii) an incremental erosion in the raven queen's power.

in other words, the mere existence of undead is a direct assault on the raven queen's principle basis of power--death. so, while orcus strives to increase his power base by populating the planes with undead, the raven queen strives to protect her own power base by eradicating all undead (as another side note, pelor, the god most closely associated with life, becomes an unlikely ally of the god of death because of his own, separate reasons for opposing undeath).

in the h-p-e series, orcus seeks to usurp the raven queen's power over death. in contrast, in my view, orcus does not seek power over death. rather, he seeks to supplant death entirely by making all living creatures into undead. thus, making death . . . extinct (and the raven queen with it).

witch class

2009-08-13T07:31:00.000-04:00

i am hoping for a primal witch class.

perhaps, the witch could have with a noticeable amount of natural poison powers (poisons that weaken, slow, stun, etc.) and a good use of primal-type reagents, elixirs, potions and alchemical items.

maybe the witch could be a leader class whose powers grant allies various primal transformations. this would be consistent with the theme of the primal source (druid, warden and barbarian each have its own version of this. okay, shaman really doesn't.)

perhaps, similar to the barbarian class, the transformations could be only partial at lower levels and complete transformations at higher levels. that would be neat. nonprimal classes would get a chance to experience having claws, vines, fangs, wings, etc. that would allow them to (i) augment an attack, (ii) immobilize an enemy, (iii) bite as a minor action, (iv) burrow, (v) fly, (vi) enjoy a close burst 1 zone of difficult terrain, etc.

as i think of a witch class, i can't help but think of hags, both in and out of d&d, but in a player-useful sort of way.

pelor symbolism

2009-06-23T22:11:00.001-04:00

i see pelor's symbol as a lion's head, sometimes with its mane aflame.

the appearance of elves (as i see them)

2009-06-19T13:04:00.002-04:00

Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. Their range of complexions tend more toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf ’s hair color is dark brown or mossy green. Elves’ ears are long and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elves have little body hair, but they favor a wild and loose look to their hair.

Elves mature at about the same rate as humans, but show few effects of age past adulthood. The first sign of an elf ’s advancing age is typically a change in hair color, usually taking on more autumnal hues--with dark brown hair turning autumn orange and mossy green hair turning deep gold. Most elves live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to the end.

why why why why why

2009-06-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

tiefling (cha)

hellock/hellbringer (con)

prince of hell (cha)

kostchtchie

2009-06-12T12:14:00.002-04:00

obvious though it may seem, it has only recently occurred to me that for 4e kostchtchie should be a primordial, not a demon.

p.s., kostchtchie, thrym, whatever.

frustration

2009-06-04T15:25:00.003-04:00

i am feeling frustrated, almost discouraged, by two incidences where material i am developing gets preempted by published material by wotc.

the first case is an adventure i have been writing. in this adventure, i incorporate a unique adaption of a wotc game mechanic. i was quite proud of myself, and i hope to make the adventure publishable. then, several months into my development of this adventure, wotc produces an adventure, in dungeon magazine, using an adaption that is effectively identical to my own. after seeing this, i was tempted to scrap the entire project, but there are other good ideas in this adventure that simply must see the light of day.

the second case involves a new race that i have been developing. again, some interesting ideas (if i do say so, myself). and then, BAM!, wotc announces revenants, with allusions to the raven queen and how revenants can derive from any humanoid race. my scream got choked in my throat.

for now, i intend to persevere with these two projects. i know i have good ideas and i do want to write. time will tell. *sigh*

at least wotc still hasn't usurped my deity idea. MUAH AH AH AH !!!

totems worn

2009-05-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

someone in the wizards forums once suggested that totems should be wearable in addition to wieldable, similarly to divine holy symbols.

i second this idea.

it is not too late to for wotc make this modification. currently, only 2 classes use totems: druid and shaman. the change likely would not make a big difference to druids (except, perhaps, for those who make very little use of wildshape), but it would benefit shamans, particularly those seeking to use longspears or other two-handed weapons, considerably.

this modification could be implemented easily in adventurer's vault 2 or phb3.

Ruler of Winter / Maximizing Wizard Save Penalty

2009-05-14T14:29:00.001-04:00

Originally Posted by Adslahnit on wotc forums:

"The moment you hit epic, with the Ruler of Winter epic destiny, you don't even need the Orb to get your save penalty up to -16. Consider a level 21 eladrin wizard/cleric/Divine Oracle/Ruler of Winter with Arcane Admixture (Evard's Ebon Bindings: Cold), Arcane Admixture (Face of Death: Cold), Arcane Admixture (Soul Puppets: Cold), Arcane Implement Proficiency (Heavy Blades), Dual Implement Spellcaster, Eladrin Sword Wizardry, Spell Focus, a +4 Cunning Longsword, a +4 Earthroot Staff, and a level 17 Phrenic Crown.

-5 Ruler of Winter
-2 Spell Focus
-2 Phrenic Crown
-4 Earthroot Staff
-3 Cunning Weapon
Total save penalty: -16

There. Your Face of Death (level 9 daily) now makes an enemy permanently helpless, your Soul Puppets renders enemies in the area permanently immobilized, and your Evard's Ebon Bindings turns an enemy permanently dominated. All without the orb."

favorite sayings #1

2009-05-07T08:03:00.001-04:00

a favorite saying among black and red dragons:

"troll means never having to say you are hungry"

staff of the serpent and druids

2009-04-15T14:52:00.004-04:00

Originally Posted by whitishknight on wotc forums:
I'm making a snake themed druid/poisoner and I came upon something. The Staff of the serpent implement staff enhancement from Adventurer's Vault has a property which adds +1d6 poison damage to "any melee attack made with this staff". A druid in beast form uses implement melee touch attacks. Therefore, all melee attacks in beast form add the +1d6 poison damage, yes?

Originally Posted by Belile on wotc forums:
Melee touch attacks are melee attacks (as opposed to area, close or range attacks). In beast form you can use the properties (and powers) of implements". The +1d6 poison damage to melee attacks is a property of the implement and therefore you do get that bonus to your beast form powers that are melee touch.

If they had wanted the property to apply to only melee weapon attacks (see blurring claws feat), they would have specified that. And there are no "melee implement" attacks.

Originally Posted by Taenia on wotc forums:
After [level 10], a Staff of Ruin will out pace the dps bonus of the staff [of the serpent] and apply it to all your powers. The staff daily is ok, but I like the flexibility of the staff of ruin esp since you can shift in and out and play controller both at range and in melee.

Originally Posted by alien270 on wotc forums:
The Staff of Ruin is widely cited as a great way to boost a Druid's damage. And I would recommend it; it's a very good item. However, I'd like to point out an alternative: Staff of the Serpent + Iron Armbands of Power. The Staff of the Serpent adds +1D6 poison damage to all of your melee attacks (so most of your beast form attacks). Since the average damage of 1D6 is 3.5, the Staff of Ruin outstrips it once you get up to a +4 implement. But the Staff of Ruin's bonus damage is an item bonus, and this is important because so is the bonus to Iron Armbands of Power. Thus, your armbands will not stack with the Staff of Ruin, but they will stack with the Staff of the Serpent! The armbands are a 6th level item, and that extra +2 means that the Staff of Ruin will only outstrip the serpent/armbands combo when you get a +6 Staff of Ruin. It should be noted that the staff of ruin will apply to ALL of your attacks, while the Serpent/Armband combo only applies to melee attacks (which is why the Staff of Ruin is often preferred). However, at levels 16 and 26, you can upgrade your armbands to a +4 and +6 bonus, respectively. So if you use melee attacks the majority of the time, the combo is a better choice. Especially considering that when you're focusing on being a striker, you're in beast form (because you can charge).

detect magic (trained only)

2009-03-22T23:51:00.009-04:00

i suggest a change to the following use of the arcana skill:

sense the presence of magic

(i) change this from "1 minute" to the following entry:

No action required—either you notice something or you don’t. Your DM usually uses your passive Arcana check result. If you want to use the skill actively, you need to take a standard action.

i believe that this change provides characters trained in arcana to be more dynamically involved with encountered magic items and magic effects.

remember, a character who has successfully sensed the presence of magic likely will then want to identify it, which is a separate use of the arcana skill.

here is a thread on the wizards forum discussing this topic:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1165694
the discussion fleshes out the particulars

bane vs kord vs bahamut

2009-03-22T23:49:00.001-04:00

bane is the god of war
kord is the god of battle
bahamut is the god of protection

active vs. passive skill checks

2009-03-22T23:34:00.004-04:00

in any circumstance where a passive skill check is permitted, if the creature making the skill check instead makes an active skill check, then a d20 result of 9 or less must be valued as 10 because an active skill check result cannot be worse than a corresponding passive skill check result. why? because focusing on something cannot be worse than not focusing on that same something.

for example, some encounters provide for a passive perception check when entering the encounter area. if, for whatever reason, an adventurer with a passive perception check result of 15 (10 plus 5 from skill modifiers) instead chooses--and is able--to make an active perception check, then that active perception check result must be 15 or greater.

EDIT

it has been generously pointed out to me on the wizards forums that since the passive skill check automatically occurs, any active skill check result that is lower than the passive skill check result can be ignored. *smacks forehead*

racial floating stat bonus

2009-03-17T12:18:00.002-04:00

gotten from en world forums:

Rechan

Yes. It's one thing I'm looking to combat by allowing a race to have one floating ability score.

evilbob

I liked this idea and have tried it. You end up with a slightly higher power curve (since players are slightly more optimized), but players can play the characters they -want- with less of a "penalty.

The way I did it was to allow one +2 bonus to change to whatever you wanted, but the second one had to stay the same. So a half-elf could be +2 Str and +2 Cha, but not +2 Str and +2 Int, for example. Honestly I think it's pretty reasonable.

Alt Boy!

I assume you give humans two floating scores then?

me likes.

races and favored weapons

2009-03-08T18:16:00.004-04:00

in a previous post, i wrote:

"dwarves should specialize in hammers and picks, not hammers and axes (dwarves are a race of miners. what do you use to mine? hammers? yes. picks? yes. axes? a big no.)"

in continuation of this theme, here are some other thoughts:

(i) orcs should specialize in axes, a la dwarves and hammers;
(ii) urgrosh should be an orc weapon; and
(iii) goblinoids should favor scimitars and falchions.

trolls

2009-02-20T19:01:00.000-05:00

trolls should be fey creatures instead of natural creatures.

correlon and gruumsh

2009-02-20T11:07:00.002-05:00

as i mentioned in a prior post, i have long envisioned corellon using a bow to pluck out gruumsh's eye, and i was happy to see wotc change the story from a sword to a bow. but now, i am having some trouble with this new rendition of the story. i will explain.

d&d has long associated certain races with the favored weapon of its creator god--for example, dwarves/hammers/moradin and gnolls/flails/yeenoghu.

in 4e, gods do not have official favored weapons, however, i believe that the tradition of certain gods being associated with certain weapons persists. we still have dwarves/hammers/moradin and gnolls/flails/yeenoghu. here is where it gets tricky: in 4e, eladrin are proficient with swords and elves are proficient with bows. if we assume (and i know, we are assuming) that these proficiencies have something to do with the favored weapons of their patron deities, then that might suggest that corellon, in fact, favors the sword (wotc has not yet done a write-up for corellon). now some may say that elves and eladrin were of the same race. but i say that eladrin remained closest to corellon. elves moved to the natural world and adopted the bow over the sword. so i deduce that correlon favors a sword rather than a bow. and if he favors a sword, then most likely, corellon was wielding a sword when he fought gruumsh, and used a sword to pluck out gruumsh's eye.

sadly, i do not like this sword rendition of the story. i believe that gruumsh is the greater melee warrior of the two.

so, what am i to do?

well, i have considered reshuffling the god/primordial rivalries (in a prior post, i mentioned that gruumsh should be a primordial). perhaps melora, who i see as the elves' patron deity, favors the bow among weapons and perhaps she plucked out gruumsh's eye. replacing corellon with melora as the eye-plucker would be killing a sacred cow, but hey, new editions of d&d are precisely when such changes are best considered.

another hiccup is the fact that melora already has a rivalry with baphomet, just as the raven queen has a rivalry with orcus. i want to maintain the rivalry between elves and orcs, two natural races, so the patron deity of elves would be a good choice, but i do not want to clump too many rivalries onto a single god. also, who then would serve as a foil to corellon? perhaps demogorgon. that would be a wonderful myth/story to create. yum.

mual-tar was fought by three gods: pelor, moradin and bahamut. perhaps, in similar fashion, melora assisted corellon in his battle with gruumsh. perhaps, she plucked out gruush's eye with her bow, thus giving birth to the enmity between orcs and elves. baphomet's rivalry with melora, on the other hand, pertains to the power over nature.

improving the warlock class

2009-02-17T10:41:00.003-05:00

from a game fluff standpoint, i think it is weird--in fact, inappropriate--that a warlock can select powers from pacts other than his designated pact. why would a warlock who has aligned himself with a fey spirit be able to access powers that are bestowed by an infernal entity?

although it would be a significant shift in the rules regarding warlocks, i think that warlocks should be limited to powers granted by their own pact. i acknowledge that currently, relying only upon the phb, this is impractical. however, wotc could utilize such additional sources as arcane power and dragon magazine to fully flesh out each existing pact to make this change possible.

currently, the strength-based paladin is not a completely independent class (e.g., see level 9 paladin powers), but i anticipate that divine power will correct this shortcoming. in similar fashion, the warlock pacts could, and should, be made entirely independent of each other.

again, i emphasize that a warlock's powers derive from a source. the warlock makes a pact with an entity that is capable of bestowing certain powers upon the warlock. that should be the extent of the warlock's class powers, no cross pollination allowed.

on a separate warlock topic, i think that the star pact was a failed experiment of MAD. the wonderful dragon article on star pact warlocks helped them considerably, but what we now have are essentially two pacts called star pact, one that is charisma-based and one that is constitution-based.

lastly, i still think that mechanically it was a mistake to make fey pact a better fit for tieflings than infernal pact.

Functional Template - Drider

2009-02-10T18:56:00.012-05:00

Drider
A drider was a powerful drow priest of Lolth whose devotion was satisfactorily tested by Lolth and who was gifted with a semblance of her god’s spider form. Most, although not all, matron mothers are driders. Drow believe that a drow house that does not have a drider for a matron mother is experiencing the displeasure and punishment of Lolth. Such houses face stigma and some prejudice from the greater drow community. A drow house with two or more driders is regarded as blessed by Lolth. As the favored of Lolth, all driders, whether matron mother or not, enjoy considerable power and authority in drow society. Since all drow priests are female, a male drider is a rare and socially complicated circumstance for drow society. Driders often dispense with weapons, instead relying upon their two blade-like front claws and their bite for melee.

Drider is a template you can apply to any drow priest and, rarely, other drow who have dedicated their lives to the service of Lolth. If you are modifying a nonplayer character, this template works best with the cleric.

Prerequisite: Level 11, Drow Priest or drow worshiper of Lolth
______________________________________

Drider
Elite Soldier
Large fey humanoid (spider)
XP Elite
Defenses +2 AC; +4 Fortitude, +2 Reflex
Resist 5 + 1/2 level poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Size Large
Action Point 1
Hit Points +8 per level + Constitution score
______________________________________

POWERS

M-B Claw (standard; at-will) Poison
Level +4 vs. AC; 1d8 + 7 damage, and the drider makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: Level +2 vs. Fortitude; target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is also weakened (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target falls unconscious until the end of the encounter.

M Double Attack (standard; at-will) Poison
The drider makes two claw attacks.

M Quick Bite (minor; at-will) Poison
Requires combat advantage; Level +2 vs. Fortitude; 1d4 damage, and ongoing Constitution modifier + 1/2 level poison damage (save ends). If applicable, REPLACES Drow Priest Bite of the Spider.

R Web (standard; recharge 4 5 6 )
Ranged 5; Level +2 vs. Reflex; the target is restrained (until escape). Escaping from the web requires a successful DC Level +12 Acrobatics check or Level +12 Athletics check.

Spider Link (minor; at-will) Healing
The drider can transfer up to its healing surge value of points of damage she has taken to a spider or a drow within 5 squares of her. She cannot transfer more hit points than the creature has remaining. If applicable, REPLACES Drow Priest Spider Link.

monster manual stats

2009-01-31T10:53:00.001-05:00

gotten from en world

someone named DerekSTheRed did a very nice job of compiling useful stats from the monster manual:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/229092-lots-statistics-monster-manual.html

driders revisited

2009-01-27T17:50:00.022-05:00

here is a post i made on the wizards d&d forums back in 3e:

"driders are now favored by lolth, not unfavored (don't ask. she IS chaotic.). ;-)

at first, the drow have a hard time adjusting to this. they have always held disdain for the driders. now, lolth has deemed that driders are favored because to be more "spider" is to be better. the pre-existing driders have returned to their houses, to be treated--begrudgingly--with honor and respect, even above priestesses. the pre-existing driders continue to bear much resentment towards the drow. they repeatedly exploit their newfound power and authority to exact various incidences of revenge upon their family members and other drow. however, they know that an excess of this behavior will be disfavored by lolth. now, a new drider is created only as a reward by lolth to an exceptional priestess, who, upon becoming a drider, assumes the role of matron mother of her house. not all houses are blessed with a drider matron mother. it is a cause for political strife and manipulation among the houses. now, new driders are almost exclusively female. the rare creation of a new male drider is a source of confusion and consternation amoung the drow society ("what does lolth mean by this? a male favored?"). driders have spider reproductive organs and have spider offspring (note to self - create a large spider that has an intelligence score of 10 and, perhaps, special abilities). any remnant sexual urges that drider may still feel towards drow are satiated only through violence. this is an aspect of lolth's blessing that is cruel both to the drider (sexual frustration and adjusting to having sex with spiders) and to the drider's "sexual" victim (obviously)."

i am happy to see wotc implement this change from disfavored to favored.
_____________________________________________

here is how driders have evolved from 3e to 4e:

3e driders disfavored
driders are created by the drow's dark goddess, lolth. when a dark elf or above average abililty reaches 6th level, the goddess may put him or her through a special test. those who fail the test become driders. because they have failed their goddess's test, driders are outcasts from their own communities. drow and driders hate one another passionately.
3.5 monster manual, page 89
__________

4e driders favored
driders are servants of lolth gifted with a semblance of their god’s grotesque form.
4e monster manual, page 93

in drow society, the strongest and bravest can take the test of lolth. those who succeed become driders, members of a privileged caste. those who fail usually die.
4e monster manual, page 93

driders are common among drow
4e monster manual, page 93
__________

4e shunned replace driders as lolth's disfavored (see chwidenchas below)
Lolth is a fickle mistress. Drow who serve her but fail in their efforts sometimes suffer terrible consequences. These unfortunates become creatures known in the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

shunned are creatures spawned by the spider queen whenever she is angered by one of her servants. in all cases, they are grotesque fusions of spiders and drow, mockeries of the perfect union the drider embodies. most candidates for this transformation are those drow who seek to gain the goddess’s favor by testing their devotion in the hopes of being raised up to become a drider themselves. most who fail are killed outright, but a few are cursed to walk the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

drow society doesn’t tolerate shunned in their presence and kill them on sight.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

most [shunned] hunt drow and drider alike, longing to vent their frustration and hate on the ones they blame for the state they have been reduced to.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

chwindenchas--one of the shunned--continue to be lolth's disfavored (from 3e to 4e)
chwidenchas are created when drow fail one of of the many tests set by their deity lolth.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34

chwindenchas particularly despise drow, who have cast them out of society, just as the drow have done with driders.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34
___________________________________________

driders as matron mothers
driders are [. . .] subservient to lolth’s priests
4e monster manual, page 93

perhaps, the test of lolth should be limited to lolth's priests. so, instead of being subservient to priests, they would be the priests. more precisely, they would be the elite among the priests. perhaps, either (i) all matron mothers are required to be driders or (ii) most matron mothers are driders and those few drow houses that do not have a drider for a matron mother face a bias (at best) or an actual power disadvantage of some sort (at worst).
___________________________________________

test of lolth involves a ritual
i envision the test of lolth being conducted by the drow clergy, with a ritual that the testee must submit to; a ritual that would allow the presiding head priest to transform the testee into either a drider or a shunned. this method, as opposed to a divine intervention, would be more consistent with the notion that drow society actually has cast out the testee, notwithstanding the fact that lolth's power and will ultimately is the source of the transformation.
___________________________________________

driders as elite monsters
imo, all driders should be elite monsters.
here are a couple of reasons why:
(1) from a metagaming perspective, incorporating their previous drow priestly powers into their new drider forms likely would involve adding a template, such as cleric or demagogue or some such, to the existing drider stat block, which converts a normal monster into an elite monster; and
(2) as is intended with elite monsters, driders could continue to appear in encounters with drow (who are mostly nonelite monsters), while increasing the drider's power, presence and impact on the encounter.
___________________________________________

driders cannot reproduce
lolth chooses every drider, always.

divine homes (not the hgtv kind)

2009-01-23T14:08:00.007-05:00

correlon resides in a demesnes in the feywild.

moradin and pelor rule hestavar.

melora resides in the natural world and has achieved compatibility with the primal forces of the natural world.

bahamut resides in celestia. kord calls celestia home, but spends most of his time battling in avernus.

avandra maintains no permanent residence. she delights in travelling throughout the planes. no place can permanently bar her from travelling to it--no plane, no fortress, nothing. whether blatantly or subtly, she has gone and can go anywhere she wishes.

more on evil gods and devils

2009-01-23T13:06:00.016-05:00

it is my opinion that wotc does not give asmodeus his due.

consider that asmodeus sent an underling, graz'zt, to invade the abyss. now that underling is one of the most powerful of demon lords, reigning over three layers of the abyss and rivaling demogorgon. so, if an underling can accomplish that much, then of what could his master, asmodeus, be capable? remember, even before he became a god, asmodeus succeeded in stealing a shard of the evil seed embedded in the heart of the abyss.

i envision a merger of several evil gods with certain arch devils. i do this in order to (i) remove perceived redundancies, (ii) elevate the primacy of devils as the principle source of immortal evil, and (iii) more prominantly than has been done, place asmodeus at the top of the heap.

what results from these mergers is an implication that the nonevil gods have done a very good job of containing the physical presence of the evil gods, if not their influence. aspects of these evil gods can appear outside of hell, but if you want to fight the real mccoy, then you must pay a visit to hell (which is a good thing for gaming, right? it means that the high end of epic level play must occur, to some extent, in hell, assuming that archdevils serve as the bbegs in the campaign).

other results of these mergers are that archdevils become more powerful and more important than before and, consequently, asmodeus becomes commensurately more powerful. i mean, come on, he IS the prince of EVIL. all those other guys are just stewards of certain aspects or manifestations of evil (e.g., war, avarice, treachery, etc.)

asmodeus, prince of evil (that says it all, imo)
manual of the planes, page 105
__________

bane gives up his claim on tyranny:

asmodeus is THE tyrant. bane is not so much a tyrant as the epitome of a general; granted, a very evil general. bane is not so much concerned with tyranny as he is with military success, and everything that goes with the latter-- which is where the confusion with tyranny creeps in. think of conan, who was, for a time, a king. but, he grew bored of being a king and gave up his crown. think of the generals of attila the hun, who conquered may nations. these generals were motivated by conquest. if given the choice between (i) remaining in a conquered land with the responsibilities of monarchy or (ii) the opportunity to conquer more nations, they would choose the latter. attila, on the other hand, was interested in rulership, conquest was merely a means for him to attain rulership.

make no mistake, asmodeus is the tyrant, above all others. this is illustrated by his domination of such powerful beings as bane, tiamat and lolth (note, this is as i envision the d&d universe).

asmodeus is the evil god of tyranny and domination
power, domination, tyranny
dungeon masters guids, page 162

bane, the god of war and tyranny
manual of the planes, page 92

graz’zt is the dark prince, a demonic patron of tyrants and despots (okay, so graz'zt is a demon lord now, but you never know about that guy)
manual of the planes, page 130
__________

bane and bel merge. bane becomes asmodeus' general, charged with leading the armies of hell in their assault on the divine seals and wards throughout avernus that imprison the devils in hell. kord leads the opposition forces in battles throughout avernus to protect and maintain those divine seals and wards. this makes avernus the largest and most perpetual battlefield in all creation (note, neither the battle between gods and primordials nor the blood war was confined to a single battlefield). it's an ugly job for kord, but somebody's gotta do it ("man, this job is hell"). bahamut sometimes provides support, as needed.

bane is the evil god of war and conquest
dungeon masters guids, page 162

bel, chosen by asmodeus for his loyalty and his military genius
manual of the planes, page 99
__________

tiamat and mammon merge:

mammon, the king of greed.
given to insatiable lust and avarice,
he seeks to corrupt powerful mortals through avarice and lust
manual of the planes, page 100-101

tiamat is the evil god of wealth, greed, and envy
dungeon masters guids, page 163
Wealth, greed, vengeance
dungeon masters guids, page 162

tiamat is the evil god of wealth, greed, and envy. she is the patron of chromatic dragons and those whose lust for wealth overrides any other goal or concern.
she urges her followers to hoard wealth and to take vengeance for every slight.
draconomicon - chromatic dragons, page 244
__________

lolth and glasya merge:

the archdevil glasya, daughter of asmodeus, rules malbolge. she is brilliant, seductive, manipulative, and thoroughly wicked. she delights in playing with those who fall into her power by mixing subtle mockery and cruel teasing with queenly hauteur.
manual of the planes, page 103

lolth is the chaotic evil god of shadow, lies, and spiders.
scheming and treachery are her commands
dungeon masters guids, page 163

lolth is a capricious goddess who revels in betrayal and blood. (note, i recognize that forgotten realms tends to put its own spin on deities, but this description seems consistent with that of the default setting)
forgotten realms player's guide, page 152
__________

torog acquires, to some extent, the far realm and insanity as parts of his portfolio:

torog is the evil god of the underdark, patron of jailers and torturers (meh)
dungeon masters guids, page 163

rats are sacred to torog, the king that crawls.
their presence signifies plague, decay, and collapse in decadent cities.
monster manual, page 219

similar to graz'zt, torog was sent by asmodeus to explore and conquer the far realm, perhaps seeking a way to escape the divine confinement of hell.. unlike graz'zt, torog did return to hell and his foray was not so successful (granted, graazt did not actually succeed in his original pursuit, but he did conquer three layers of the abyss). [insert language from prior post] suffice it to say, that
asmodeus has since seemed to have backed away from his initial interest in the far realms.
__________

bye bye vecna:

orcus is known as the demon lord of undeath, the demon prince of the undead, and the blood lord. he is worshiped by undead and living creatures that do not fear undeath. (one lord of undeath is enough; as one lord of death is enough. bye bye vecna. that sacred cow has been slaughtered.)
monster manual, page 206

it's all fun and games, until someone loses an eye

2009-01-23T11:11:00.004-05:00

when gruumsh and correlon fought, it was not a sword that plucked out gruumsh's eye, but an arrow. both gods knew that correlon could not defeat gruumsh in melee combat, so correlon instead used his intelligence to fight gruumsh. during their historic battle, correlon kept, and fought from, a distance. it was gruumsh's arrogance regarding combat that was his flaw. when faced with a mere bow, gruumsh stood dismissively in the face of correlon's bowshot. he underestimated the power of correlon's bow and his accompanying magic. thusly, did gruumsh lose his eye.

gruumsh's ensuing rage was, in truth, directed more toward's himself than toward's the puny correlon: that he allowed such a combatively inferior foe to harm his person was a greater blow to his ego than to his eye.

although gruumsh, as a god (or, imho, a primordial), was fully capable of replacing or restoring his eye, he refuses to do so. instead, he chooses to remain one-eyed, as a sort of badge of honor--or, perhaps, a badge of dishonor--until such time as he annihilates the very existence of that cowardly creature, correlon.

evil gods, as revised by me

2009-01-18T00:25:00.009-05:00

key to revisions:
added
removed

Asmodeus (evil) power, domination, tyranny

Bane = Bel (evil) war, conquest

Gruumsh = primordial (chaotic evil) turmoil, destruction

Lolth = Glasya (chaotic evil) spiders, poison, darkness, shadows, lies, secrets

Tiamat= Mammon (evil) wealth, greed, envy, vengeance, dragons, serpents

Torog (evil) underdark, imprisonment, insanity, aberration

Vecna (evil) undeath, secrets

Zehir (evil) darkness, poison, serpents

Drizzt Do'Urden novels

2009-01-17T00:32:00.003-05:00

gotten from forgottenrealms.wikia.com
______________________________________

Listed in the chronological order of the events in the books:

Dark Elf trilogy
Homeland (1990)
Exile (1990)
Sojourn (1991)

Icewind Dale trilogy
The Crystal Shard (1988)
Streams of Silver (1989)
The Halfling's Gem (1990)

Legacy of the Drow
The Legacy (1992)
Starless Night (1993)
Siege of Darkness (1994)
Passage to Dawn (1996)

Paths of Darkness
The Silent Blade (1998)
The Spine of the World (1999)
Servant of the Shard (2000)*
Sea of Swords (novel) (2001)
*Servant of the Shard (2000) has been removed from this series and placed within the Sellswords series, which follows Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

Hunter's Blades trilogy
The Thousand Orcs (2002)
The Lone Drow (2003)
The Two Swords (2004)

Transitions
The Orc King (2007)
The Pirate King (2008)
The Ghost King (2009)

elsir vale

2009-01-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

replacing prestige multiclass (PMC) powers

2009-01-08T18:41:00.002-05:00

gotten from wizards forum:

"It's the difference between an 11th paragon path (PP) encounter power and a 13th level class encounter Power; or more accurately, a 7th level and a 13th level, at level 27. And this doesn't kick in until level 27 anyway, so it's only for the last 4 levels of the game.

At level 27+ a PP has : 11 PP, 17 Class, 23 Class, 27 Class
At level 27+ PMC has: 13 Class, 17 Class, 23 Class, 27 Class

Before level 27 it's just extra flexibility on which level 7 enounter power you replace at level 23, the Class power or the Multiclass power."

power swapping

2009-01-07T23:36:00.006-05:00

from wizards forum:

"Assume you are a strength based paladin... compare the cleric daily 9 - Divine Power to any paladin encounter from that level.
Assume you are in a party with dragonborn paladin, dwarf warlock, dwarf staff bloodmage and dwarf beast ranger. Now imagine what someone with Cleric Utility 6 - Divine Vigor will do in this party.
Imagine you are swordmage with lasting frost and winter touched. Compare the warlock daily 1 - Armor of Agatheus with any swordmage daily of that level.
Imagine you are a bow ranger with Cleric Daily 5 - Weapon of the Gods. Splintering shot kind of compares in fight vs. solo, but in any other situation - WofG reigns supreme.

Power Swaps are not 100% benefit, in fact they can hurt your character if not done with planing, but they can be very useful.

Healing power - made for healing character is much stronger in the hands of a character without access to healing.
Point blank sustainable power - made for squishy ranged character who has other uses for his minor actions and can't last long at the front lines is much more useful for a fighter who is always there and is never using his minors."
________________________________________

"If you don't have a concept in mind, you won't have much use for the power swap feats. I believe they are more for experienced players (=have actually played a lot), who have a better overview of the classes and their powers, and who also know from experience what they would like to change on their class.

Unless you are masochistic and really want to pick weaker powers than those from your own class, these hold true:
- you want better damage than your powers give you at a given level (e.g. you are a warlord and load up some ranger, rodue or warlock powers to add a little more DPR to your character)
- you want to have an effect your powers just don't provide (e.g. you are a fighter, but you want some wizard utility powers like Fly, Expeditious Retreat or Arcane Gate - in which case INT doesn't come into play)
- you need to make up for a deficiency of the party (e.g. no healer is present, but people can MC into cleric or warlord to make up for it)."
_______________________________________________

"Multiclassing used to be a really easy way to make broken characters. You can still do some powerful things, but multiclassing is no longer the raison-detre of lazy optmizers.

Now the main advantage of multiclassing is for players who actually want to play multiple classes. There are some powerful things that keep the optmizers happy though:

1) Utilizing class specialities. Some classes have a unique collection of powers that no other class has access too. For example, warlocks have several teleport powers that other classes can never get. Grabbing Otherwind Stride, Ethereal Stride, or Infuriating Elusiveness can give a rogue, or even a fighter, something they would never otherwise have.

2) Filling build deficiencies. A strength paladin does not have a lot of options at level 9. Multiclassing fixes that problem.

3) Overcoming build weaknesses. A warlock or bow ranger may want to grab a few paladin or rogue powers in case they get stuck in melee."
___________________________________________

"Eyebite w/ Divine Challenge"
___________________________________________

"Or if you really feel silly and or confident charisma based paladin who multi-classes into a star pact warlock for dire radiance + divine challenge. If the target moves closer to you it takes radiant damage from dire radiance, and if it doesn't try to close with you it takes damage from divine challenge. All the while you keep blasting with dire radiance thus fulfilling the requirement of divine challenge of you having to make an attempt at attacking the target."
___________________________________________

"FIGHTER/Cleric: Healing Strike (2W+Str, Spend Surge)
ROGUE/Ranger: Cobra-Spitting Stance"

downloading DDI content

2009-01-05T13:03:00.002-05:00

from wizards forum:

"There's also the issue that some of us have had with being able to actually download and view Insider content. This is briefly acknowledged in Digital Insider #12, as a problem that WotC is aware of and being looked into. WotC no longer employs the fellow who wrote this however, so that particular issue may have fallen by the wayside; I don't know. In any case, fixing the problem does not appear to be a priority, it's on the backburner for now.

The work-around I use is pretty straight-forward once you know about it: Right-click on "See It Now!", right-click on "Save Target As". This brings up an option to save a html page, so I close the menu. Then, I right-click on "See it Now" (yes, again ), right-click on "Save Target As" (again). This time, an option comes up to save an actual PDF file. Good to go. In brief: Open, click, then close, then open (again), and save. This gets me past the "asp" page (whatever that is).

If I don't use the work-around, all I see is a page of gibberish. Insider PDFs are the only ones I've ever had trouble with. It's not just me, several others have posted similar problems. As already mentioned, it is acknowledged as a genuine problem in Digital Insider #12.

So, for those who don't know about this work-around then, it's possible for them to subscribe to Insider. Then, they find out that they're one of the unlucky ones, who can't actually see the stuff they've paid for."

orb wizards

2008-12-20T23:17:00.003-05:00

gotten from wizards d&d forum:

Spell Focus, Earthroot Staff, Phrenic Crown, and Skull Mask. If you want, go WotST for a Cunning Weapon as well.

Here are the best of the constant saving throw-affecting items/feats that don't require much investment (Cunning requires WotST, for example)

Spell Focus - -2 to saving throws. Applies to all spells.

Phrenic Crown - attacking Will = -1,2,3 to saving throws. Levels 7,17,27. Applies to all of the best spells. (Sleep, Prismatic Spray, Legion's Hold)

Skull Mask - fear effect (which I assume means a power with the fear keyword) = -2 to saving throws. Works at all levels, lowest = 5. Applies to Prismatic Spray.

Earthroot Staff - penalty = enh bonus of staff on attacks that impose immobilized, petrified, restrained, or slowed conditions. Perhaps the worst offender of the bunch, applies to both Sleep and Prismatic Spray, applies a very large penalty, and does it constantly.

When you have Spell Focus, a level 27 Phrenic Crown, a +6 Earthroot Staff, and a Skull Mask, when using Prismatic Spray you don't even need your Orb of Imposition until you meet a Solo. And then you only need a 16 in Wis to perma-stun it. Note that these all apply to everything hit. Anything other than a Solo is screwed, and you don't even have to use any magic item dailies or even encounter powers.

Next, good items that don't have constant effects:
Orb of Ultimate Imposition (AV): I'm not very impressed by it, frankly. Once a day I can impose a very large penalty. How about instead I use Earthroot Staff and impose the that same penalty on everyone without using a magic item daily slot or my Orb of Imposition? (you can only use it on Sleep and Prismatic Spray, but that should not be a hindrance at all.)

Veteran's Armor (AV): Completely ridiculous. Lug around a few +1 armors and use them when you need them. Trading an action point and magic item daily use to get back a ridiculously powerful, encounter changing Wizard daily is a great deal. You might want to get back Sleep, since you're optimizing to be teh-uber stun-locker. One round and all your enemies are down for a long time.

Orb of Karmic Resonance (AV): Amusing. What, you saved? No, you didn't. Uses up a magic item daily, though, which I think you should be using pretty much entirely on Veteran's Armor.

Orb of Mental Dominion (AV): Very nice. It's even the same price as a normal orb. You have to be attacking with this orb, though. 2 saves and take the lower lowers chances of saving very significantly, and they probably won't ever save if you've got any reasonable penalty on them. Unfortunately, I'd rather have Earthroot as my top level, and you'll want to spend your magic item dailies on Veteran's Armor.

Arcane Mastery (feat, PHB): This basically lets you use the Veteran's Armor power all the time, except you keep your magic item dailies as well. Awesome, especially when combined with the next one.

Violet Solitaire (Wondrous Item, AV): Once you get this, you may not have fun anymore. You make a massive number of attacks over the course of the encounter, so critting is almost an eventuality. Then, you get an action point. Then, you get back a daily, which you can either use again or save for the next encounter. You can use a daily every single encounter with this, and if you use the right one, pretty much any encounter will be trivial from this point on (you'll want to use Prismatic Spray, most likely).

Once you combine these, you'll want to hit with your ridiculously powerful powers. Conveniently, they all attack Will. Conveniently, Divine Oracle lets you roll twice against Will. Multiclass Cleric and go Divine Oracle. Also, you don't need Wisdom past a certain point, since it becomes pretty much pointless. You can raise your other stats instead once you reach that point. Ironically, Legion's Hold isn't affected by the biggest of these, Earthroot Staff, and is so less likely to keep enemies affected than the other two, and so amusingly likely to be your worst stunner.
______________________________

also gotten from wizards d&d forum:

You could probably do it as early as Paragon.

-5 Orb of Imposition Wisdom mod(assuming you are a Dwarf/Elf)
-3 Orb of Ultimate Imposition +3(from Adventurer's Vault)
-2 Spell Focus
-2 Lvl 6 Swordmage Utility(from FR player's guide)

drow rogue feat suggestions

2008-12-11T09:38:00.001-05:00

gotten from en world:

Backstabber - D8 sneak attack dice
Two Fisted Shooter - one handed reload of hand crossbow as free action, free attack if you crit.
Slaying Action - Sneak attack twice with action point
Ruthless Hunter - crossbow D8 and high crit
Drow Fighting style - no OA provoke if hand crossbow in hand with melee weapon in other
Agile Athlete - roll acrobatics or althetics rolls twice, take better roll
Venemous Heritage - resists 5 poison +2 vs poison saves
Dager Sense - Roll initiative twice, keep better
Fleet footed - +1 speed
Master of FIre and darkness - use darkness and darkfire both per encounter
Merciless Killer - +5 damage vs bloodied foes you have CA against

Epic resurgance - regain encounter power on crit
Martial Mastery - regain martial encounter power if you spend action point
Flanking Manuever - move diagonal through hard corners move through enemies
Clutch of Darkness - bigger globe of darkness
Unfettered Stride - ignore difficult terrain

Devestating Critical - +1d10 on crits as a daggermaster it's very nice too
Blood Thirst - +2 damage to bloodied foes, stacks wtih merciless killer.

that's 18 there, I'm sure I'll want others too but I think that may be my set of 18 by 30.

Whirlwind sneak attack looks kinda sexy too, combined with Martial mastery if you move first run up, aoe blast sneak attack a group, action point and do it again with the same power. sneak attacking everyone twice in one turn. and if you crit on anyone during all this, regain hte use of the encounter power you used to do it wtih again.

nonevil gods, as revised by me

2008-12-04T11:40:00.011-05:00

key to revisions:
added
removed

Avandra (good unaligned) change, trickery, luck, love, trade, travel, autumn,halfling

Bahamut (lawful good) justice, honor, nobility, protection, dragonborn

Corellon (unaligned) arcane magic, spring, beauty, the arts, arcane and artistic knowledge and skills, eladrin, fey

Erathis (unaligned) civilization, invention, laws

Ioun (unaligned) knowledge, prophecy, skill

Kord (unaligned) strength, battle, storms, goliath, half-orc

Melora (unaligned) wilderness, sea, storms, moon, elf, shifter, primal

Moradin (lawful good) creation, invention, artisans, scientific and technical knowledge and skills , family, civilization, laws, dwarf

Pelor (good) sun, summer, agriculture, time, man

Raven Queen (unaligned) death, time, fate, prophecy, winter, shadar kai

Sehanine (unaligned) trickery, moon, love, autumn

tharizdun

2008-12-04T10:36:00.000-05:00

after the gods discovered the existence of the shard of ultimate chaotic evil, they sought to destroy it, but could not succeed because its power exceeded their own.

tharizdun, originally the greatest of the gods and of lawful good alignment, removed the shard to the bottom-most depths of the elemental chaos, seeking to minimize its influence upon the plane. tharizdun, having possessed the shard, succumbed to its overwhelming influence and became more chaotic evil than even the greatest of demon princes. tharizdun now seeks nothing less than the utter destruction of everything.

all of the gods, both good and evil, sharing a fundamental interest in the preservation of the world and the planes, endeavored to vanquish tharizdun, but because of his own remarkable power, combined with some the shard's power that now resides within him, the gods could only succeed in banishing tharizdun to a potent demiplane of imprisonment.

io, who once was tharizdun's closest ally, was the god who ultimately performed the banishment. when io died, the precise knowledge of the demiplane of imprisonment died with him.

misc

2008-11-25T12:58:00.001-05:00

coven - a term associated with druids

hobgoblins build many castles

torog and the far realm

2008-11-24T14:08:00.000-05:00

torog was the first--and only--deity to travel extensively through the far realm. the far realm drastically and permanently changed torog. since his return from the far realm, torog became associated with aberrations as well as his original portfolio.

alternatively, some speculate that torog, while exploring the far realm, was consumed/absorbed by a creature of inestimable power who now also possesses the power of a god.

cloud of daggers

2008-09-24T13:52:00.000-04:00

gotten from wizards forum:

1. it deals more total damage to a single target than any other wizard at-will, assuming wisdom 14 or higher.

2. it is extensible with orb of imposition. If have orb mastery, but aren't blowing a daily this encounter, then you will be using the orb on an at-will, and this is one of only 2 ph at-will spells that are orbable.

3. it is the only wizard at-will that is a guaranteed minion kill (well, almost guaranteed, unless something allows the minion to move before its turn).

4. it does exert a small terrain effect -- no other at-will in the game does this. good to plug up small passages, or deny archers the square from which they are getting cover or superior cover.

5. it combos ok with allies that provide forced movement (tide of iron, positioning strike, etc), or even with forced movement you provide (extending the cloud with an orb, or using an action point).

defensive advantage and warlocks

2008-09-20T11:19:00.001-04:00

gotten from the wizards forums:

don't neglect to take the defensive advantage feat. Since you gain ca against everyone when you move 3 squares, defensive advantage would also give you an additional +2 nontyped ac bonus against everyone.

iron curtain concept

2008-09-19T17:30:00.000-04:00

iron curtain concept utilizing a long mountain range called stone (?) curtain, behind which an enormous goblinoid empire exists.

glaive fighter

2008-09-17T17:17:00.000-04:00

glaive

warpriest challenge
combat challenge
combat superiority (+wis mod)
fighter weapon talent (+1)
sure strike (at-will +2)
polearm gamble
heavy blade opportunity
blade opportunity (+2)
combat opportunity (+1)
wintertouched (combat advantage = +2)
lasting frost
immediate interrupt
armor specialiation (scale)

cross class paragon paths

2008-09-16T14:04:00.001-04:00

more interesting info from the wizards d&d forums:

divine oracle (cleric): roll attack vs will and initiative twice
radiant servant (cleric): radiant crits on 19 or 20
iron vanguard (fighter): con heal on kills and con damage to enemies you pushed and knocked prone
kensei (fighter): +1 to attack and +4 to damage with chosen weapon.
pit fighter (fighter): +1 ac and wis to damage
daggermaster (rogue): daggers crits on 18, 19, or 20 and dagger crit cause ca.
shadow assassin (rogue): enemy melee misses deal dex to them
knight commander (warlord): +2 attack to adjacent allies and + cha damage to ally's opportunity damage
sword marshal (warlord): swords!

orb wizard who goes cleric for divine oracle (yay, will attacks)
- infernal warlock who goes fighter for iron vanguard (yay, con synergy)
- twf ranger who goes fighter for pit fighter (ZOMG! damage)

one of my favorite builds is a tank warlock that goes bloodmage.
The warlock loads up on ac, temporary hitpoints, healing surges, etc. then goes into battle and uses the temporary hp to unleash massive extra damage. Your ac is between 3 and 4 higher than the mobs average rolls and you benefit from concealment 90% of the time, this allows you to run about cursing every mob with twofold curse, then every time you get a kill, you get 14+ thp, and can use them to power the 2d10 bonus damage to your wizard spells that you swapped for and the bloodmage powers.
blood pulse is also amazing with howl of doom or harrowfire.

4e ranger discussion

2008-09-16T13:27:00.000-04:00

here is some interesting ranger information that i copied from the wizards d&d forum:

i can see no reason that a Ranger should ever take the Archer Fighting Style . all it gives you is one feat (defensive mobility), compared to a feat (toughness) plus a unique ability (you can wield a one-handed weapon in your off hand as if it were an off-hand weapon) for the two-blade fight style. unless i had specific designs on an archer ranger paragon path, i'd pick two-blade every time.

i'd take the two-blade ranger, plus the quick draw feat, and aim for powers that worked with both bows and blades. that way I'd be able to quickly adapt to make the most of any situation. i'd try to maximize strength and dexterity and keep investing the free stat boosts in them, with only occasional bumps to constitution and wisdom as needed by any feats or powers. if a ranged-only power was especially good, i'd take it, but since you never know what kind of conditions you'll be fighting in, neglecting the melee powers is foolhardy.

feats:
bastard sword proficiency
weapon focus: heavy blades
two weapon fighting
two weapon defense
quick draw
scimitar dance

stats
an elf ranger can end up with dex 30, str 24 and wis 15.
30 is the maximum stat so far in 4th edition.

18 - base
+2 racial
+1 x 8 (4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28)
+2 demigod (21)

not the most optimal stat allocation (going for 18 is pretty stupid), but you are definitely not going to suck at Two weapon fighting.
you could also go dex 28, str 26, wis 16, con 14, which only sacrifices one point of dex and is basically one of the best possible ranger twf builds.

the nigh-optimum starting array is 16-16-12-12-10-8. one racial boost to raise your primary to 18, the other to raise your tertiary to 14. 18-16-14 primary-secondary-tertiary.
if dex is your tertiary stat, it's only going up to 14.

16-16-12-12-10-8 turns into 16-16-13-11-10-8. If you can afford no bonus in three stats, you can have a free 13.

builds
a. ranger/pit fighter/demigod = bastard sword
b. ranger/stormwarden/trickster = scimitar

in build a, you do the following:
1. pump wisdom
2. probably go to scale armor specialization
3. cascade of blades (+2 vs +3 prof) + armor splinter
4. weapon proficiency (bastard sword)

in build b, you do the following:
1. pump dexterity
2. hide armor specialization
3. scimitar dance
4. look for powers that use bow and melee.

and the scimitar dance damage does not stack with exploits that do damage on a miss, so if you take a bunch of those powers, you may not want to have scimitar dance.

scimitar dance: if you miss with a melee attack with a scimitar and you wouldn’t otherwise still deal damage on the miss, you deal damage to your original target equal to your dexterity modifier. this damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain on weapon damage.

of course, i may play against type, and go for the build b, except use the bastard sword. i really like cascade of blades with the +2 to hit from stormwarden, and the extra +1 to hit from bs prof. And the 4 rerolls don't hurt either (1 elf; 3 trickster). With cascade of blades and armor splinter, it may be worthwhile to make sure your cleric has weapon of the gods, or dip for that prayer.

the numbers that I saw showed that they were fairly close, so you can use either weapon with either build. depending on how your gm does magic treasure, I've heard some people may take bs proficiency at heroic, and then retrain it to scimitar dance at paragon.

4e psion

2008-09-16T12:04:00.001-04:00

here are my latest thoughts on psion:

(1) role: controller

(2) two builds:
(i) build #1 - charm/enchantment oriented build (psychic damage type) with charisma as primary/attack stat;
(ii) build #2 - illusion oriented build (psychic damage type) with intelligence as primary/attack stat;
(iii) perhaps wisdom could serve as the secondary stat, if any, for each build;
(iv) perhaps telekinesis powers (force damage type) are included in each build for variety;

nentir vale

2008-09-16T10:33:00.000-04:00

tiamat worshipper in fallcrest

2008-09-16T10:24:00.000-04:00

this person is in league with the bandits of raven roost.

further exploring the nentir vale
steal this hook
hired muscle
d100 story elements
76-85: the dead husband of the woman who hires the PCs was slain by bandits working for one of his rivals. the bugbear group now works for that same rival, who is based in fallcrest. the rival has several reasons to put the woman out of business -- at your discretion, the main one could be that he wants to put her in a desperate economic situation so that she marries him.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4hook/20080916a
change the above to (i) the bugbears are members of the bandit group, and (ii) the tiamat worshipper simply is eliminating a rival.

cover/concealment versus LOS/LOE

2008-09-14T12:33:00.000-04:00

there needs to be a greater synergy between cover/concealment, line of effect/sight.

for example, [ally/enemy providing cover, but what about LOS/LOE?]

concept: meteor and the far realm

2008-09-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

gargantuan (huge?) meteor crashes into the planet not far (within 1 mile?) from fallcrest(*), creating a crater that is 5 times the diameter of the meteor. the meteor's radiation (aura) has a radius equal to the radius of the crater. the aura causes natural creatures that enter this aura to transform into aberrations (similar to the disease mechanic). additionally, some existing aberrations have been drawn to the site (list aberrant creatures).

(describe effects in fallcrest, including encounters)

the tiefling starlock has long been aware of the trajectory of the meteor and its inevitable collision, having witnessed it in a dream (of Caiphon). in fact, it is the reason why the tielfing came to fallcrest. the tiefling starlock intends to (i) study the aftermath (ii)

the tiefling chose to occupy the lighthouse because, being on an island, it is well protected from many of the anticipated aberrations. (reference prior dealings with party:hired to clear out lighthouse: rats, ghost)

exploit the circumstances in order to usurpt control of fallcrest, so as to remain close to the meteor and to protect the meteor from destruction. the tiefling regards the presence of the meteor as both relevant and significant to his warlock pact because the meteor passed close to Caiphon.

the warlock knows as obscure ritual that can siphon all of the radiation from the meteor and transfer its power into a new magic rod.

plot device: either (i) the warlock refuses to use the ritual prematurely--and won't willingly reveal the true reason why he is unwilling to use the ritual--or (ii) the warlock manipulates the party into assisting the warlock accomplishing the performance of the ritual. note that the warlock is not seeking to harm anyone; however, he has no qualms with the harm of others, if it furthers his goals.

the ritual is obscure (i.e., rare in application) because (i) meteor collisions are infrequent; (ii) not all meteors radiate this aura because not all meteors travel so close to Caiphon.

could remove the meteor's aura, but he is unwilling to use it fot the reasons stated above.

the meteor will continue to emanate its aura for 1 year, at which point, its energies will have disapated. burying the meteor would nullify the rdiation, however, the metoer has a secondary aura of heat (fire damage) with a radius equal to the radius of the meteor. this secondary heat aura lasts as long as the radiation aura.
_____________________________________

(*) it might be interesting to use fallcrest as the affected community because this choice would provide the players with a contrast between the village/town as it has become and the village/town as they have long known it to be.

hourseule for normal/low-light/darkvision

2008-09-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

normal vision - requires bright light.
low-light vision = normal vision when in nightime, outdooors darkness.
darkvision = normal vision when in indoors/underground darkness.

light radius houserule

2008-09-13T11:48:00.001-04:00

4e seems to have done away with tiered lighting, so:

bright light sources provide low-light illumination beyond the radius of the bright light illumination that is equal in distance to one half (round down) of the radius of the bright illumination.

fallcrest additions

2008-09-13T09:55:00.000-04:00

tiefling starlock/lighthouse
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 1/11 lighthouse:

wizard tower
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 2/01 high mountain wizard's tower:

catacombs
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 07/04 Scepter Dungeon:

tieflings, infernal warlocks, fire and fear keywords

2008-09-10T12:55:00.000-04:00

phb encounter attack spells
level 1, 2 infernal spells, none with fire or fear keyword
level 13, 2 infernal spells, none with fire or fear keyword
level 17, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 23, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword

phb daily attack spells
level 9, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 20, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 25, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword

also note that infernal warlocks get a grand total of 2 spells with the fear keyword.

now, compare that to a race with +2 con (e.g., half-elf), which enjoys a boost to EVERY infernal warlock spell.

do you still think that hellfire blood makes tieflings the "best" infernal warlocks?

oh, did i fail to mention that a tiefling has to spend a feat for hellfire blood, as opposed to a +2 con race not having to spend a feat for the better benefit?

shadow source classes

2008-09-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

controller

illusionist
i still think that the illusionist class should have psionics as a power source (as an aside, charm spells, too, should have psionics as a power source), rather than shadow as a power source. in prior editions, most illusion spells were mind-affecting powers. yes, some illusion spells were shadow-based spells, but those spells should now be separated from the mind-affecting variety and moved to a different class: shadowcaster.

shadowcaster
this class as a controller really needs no justifying arguments from me. shadowcaster kills the old shadow-based illusionist and takes his stuff. it is a no brainer.

necromancer (undead summoner)
we have not yet seen wotc embrace summoning on a class-wide basis in 4e, but if they do, then this would be an easy fit. perhaps it needs a new name so that "necromancer" could be used by the shadow leader class (see below).

leader

necromancer
he debuffs enemies and, as a result, passes along buffs to his allies. lots of fear and cold spells, maybe darkness spells. this is a leader (buffs) with a minor in controller (debuffs--slow, immobilized, dazed, blinded, etc.). perhaps it needs a new name so that "necromancer" could be used by the shadow controller class (see above).

striker

shadow dancer
nuff said. well, actually, i see this class using short teleports (a la feylock) that grant bonus damage. similer to warlocks' movement, these teleports would grant concealment. no worries about the similarity to a warlock feature because the warlock is a ranged striker, whereas the shadowdancer would be a melee striker.

ninja
although i see what some people are seeing in ninjas and shadow, i think that ninjas are much more likely to have ki as a power source.

defender

hexblade
debuffing and magical darkness as a source of stickiness. yum!

blackguard
my concern with this name is that, because of its use in prior editions, it connotes evil, which shadow is not, necessarily.

kobolds using spears in kobold hall and keep on the shadowfell

2008-09-05T14:23:00.000-04:00

i notice that kobolds are wielding spears with shields. however, a small creature cannot wield a versatile weapon (e.g., spear) with one hand (see phb p.220). so, in each of those circumstances, the spear should be replaced with a javelin, thus reducing the damage from 1d8 to 1d6.

monks

2008-08-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

imho, given what the martial power is turning out to be (e.g., powers and abilities that seem almost magical), i feel strongly that monk is a martial class. ki fits right into the martial (bo9s) paradigm.

although, historically the monk class fit more into the striker mold, i would be much happier with a 4e monk designed to be a no-manufatured-weapons-or-armor-needed martial defender, standing side by side with the fighter. that would simply make me drool.

driders

2008-08-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

here is a post i made on the wizards d&d forums back in 3e:

"driders are now favored by lolth, not unfavored (don't ask. she IS chaotic.). ;-)

at first, the drow have a hard time adjusting to this. they have always held disdain for the driders. now, lolth has deemed that driders are favored because to be more "spider" is to be better. the pre-existing driders have returned to their houses, to be treated--begrudgingly--with honor and respect, even above priestesses. the pre-existing spiders continue to bear much resentment towards the drow. they repeatedly exploit their newfound power and authority to exact various incidences of revenge upon their family members and other drow. however, they know that an excess of this behavior will be disfavored by lolth. now, a new drider is created only as a reward by lolth to an exceptional priestess, who, upon becoming a drider, assumes the role of matron mother of her house. not all houses are blessed with a drider matron mother. it is a cause for political strife and manipulation among the houses. now, new driders are almost exclusively female. the rare creation of a new male drider is a source of confusion and consternation amoung the drow society ("what does lolth mean by this? a male favored?"). driders have spider reproductive organs and have spider offspring (note to self - create a large spider that has an intelligence score of 10 and, perhaps, special abilities). any remnant sexual urges that drider may still feel towards drow are satiated only through violence. this is an aspect of lolth's blessing that is cruel both to the drider (sexual frustration and adjusting to having sex with spiders) and to the drider's "sexual" victim (obviously)."

i am happy to see wotc implement this change from disfavored to favored.

assorted houserulings

2008-08-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

(1) tieflings should be the best infernal warlocks. it KILLS me that tieflings have much better synergy with feylocks.
UPDATE - the new dragon article on starlock--and to a far lesser extent, tieflings--has influenced me to be more at ease about tiefling warlocks;

(2) dwarves should specialize in hammers and picks, not hammers and axes (dwarves are a race of miners. what do you use to mine? hammers? yes. picks? yes. axes? a big no.);

(3) eladrin specializing in longsword should be rapier, a more dextrous weapon; however, i could understand a game balance argument against giving a race proficiency in a superior weapon;

(4) the drow no longer are chaotic evil (hurray!);

(5) lolth should not be chaotic evil, but evil--not demon queen of spiders, just spider queen;

(6) gruumsh should not be a god, but a primordial/demon prince like yeenoghu, baphomet or kostchtchie (who should be a primordial, but not a demon);

(7) it was in the war between gods and primordials that correlon shot gruumsh's eye out with an arrow. pre-4e, the story said that correlon took out gruumsh's eye with a sword. 4e has changed the weapon from sword to bow, which is how i have always envisioned it happening;

(8) bane's forces eternally war with kord's, not gruumsh's (who is a primordial/demon prince in the abyss now, anyway) and sometimes, bahamut's forces get in on the act, but not perpetually like the other two gods;

(9) vecna is an exarch of orcus;

(10) zehir actually is mammon; and

(11) the principal home of the drow should be in the underdark of the shadowfell, resulting in eladrin (feywild--where correlon has/should have a strong presence), elf (natural world--where sehanine has/should have a strong presence), and drow (shadowfell--where lolth has/should have a strong presence). eladrin versus fomorians. drow versus shadar kai.

first post

2008-08-24T12:19:00.000-04:00

hurray for me. this is my very first post on my very first blog. i am excited to see where this blog road takes me.