I join my voice to those who already have started bragging posting about having received pre-market copies of the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook 2 from Wizards of the Coast.
As I was leaving with my family today for some early season Sugar Shacking (it’s not as dirty as it sounds, unless you eat without utensils) the Fed Ex truck stopped by my place and delivered the copy I was so eager to get.
My good friend Ed of Atomic Array fame arranged for a few RPG bloggers to get advanced copies in exchange for a series of cross-blog posts coinciding with the book’s market release on March 17th.
I’ll be reading it over the next few days. However, contrary to my fevered reading of the first tome of that name to learn the rules of the game, I’m going to be much more laid back. Since I will likely not be playing much (I only played a 4e PC once and that was at Gen Con), I’ll breathing in the fluff about Races and classes fishing for campaign ideas.
So far I’ve read the races and the racial paragon paths (Can someone say Winged Dragonborn?). Right now, I have a slight preferences for the Devas (reincarnated astral spirits) and the Goliaths (Big mountain dwelling stonefaced people).
In order not to leave you empty handed, and since some of my readers are not exactly the same as Dave’s over at Critical-Hits, I too will gladly answer question about the contents of the book, provided that you understand that I will not post direct excepts of the book.
Talk to you later, I’m going back into the book so I can answer your questions.
Is it true that Gnomes are back?
Vulcan Stevs last blog post..RPG Blog Carnival: War! Is it really game-able in an RPG?
Indeed.
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So far from the previews and such, I’m liking everything but the Shaman, which just doesn’t jive very well with my setting (Eden). But since I’m not using any PHB2 stuff in Eden anyway that’s okay. There’s also a fair amount of stuff just not catching my eyes, but I’m one of those guys who thinks the first PHB provided nearly anything you’d need to be able to game forever if you put a little work into it (which I’ve done and will keep doing). I think the Druid and Warden are the only things I’m excited for, because I really like transforming PCs.
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@Stev: Yes, they are pretty much like described in the Monster Manual with more background. They are small fey originating from the Feywild that used to be enslaved to the Fomorians.
@Wyatt: You are a tinkerer so it’s normal that you don’t feel a strong pull for the product. Many others aren’t, so that’s why books like that and additional monster manuals are popular.
Do they include magical instruments and such for the bard?
There are several songblades and magical instruments that can be used as the Bard’s implement (instead of wands).
I can indeed say “Wigned Dragonborn.”
Also….awesome!
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Fixed!
I’m going to make myself a Deva Avenger and I’m going to slay grammar golems and punctuation devils!
🙂
I’m done reading it.
Favorite new Classes: The Avenger (Arcane Striker) and the Warden (Primal Defender)
Favorite Race: The Devas
Favorite gimmicky power: A teleport attack. You strike your target and you both teleport away, in a cozy corner for some quality Striker time.
Is it true that the Weapon Expertise and Implement Expertise feats are untyped bonuses to attack?
I almost spat my drink in shock when I heard that there were (and that they had been published at all).
They are untyped bonuses, applicable to a Weapon group (Heavy Blades, Light Blades, etc)and the bonus scales with tiers.
How come? Is it because you think everyone will take them?
I’m more interested in Melee training, which allows to take another ability than Str to calculate combat bonuses.
In part, yes. They are far and away better “value for feat slot” than any other attack-focused feat. How can you look past +1/+2/+3 to attack? They are immediately and obviously better than feats that were previous considered strong (eg. Hellfire Blood and Nimble Blade).
Mostly, though it’s because I am increasingly getting the feeling that they are “errata disguised as crunch”. In other words, they are a cheap attempt by WotC to fix errors in their attack vs defences balance calculations.
One Dev has said that he is giving the feats to his players for free, and that is a sure indication to me that something is seriously wrong…
Edit: Yep, melee training is an interesting feat. Great for giving non-Str classes viable Opportunity Attacks.
P.S. I’m starting to get the idea that Vulcan Stev is quite invested in gnomes. He’s asked every other blogger that Chatty linked to the same question 🙂
Stev is a diehard 2e fan… I can forgive his fondness for gnomes. 🙂
While I was making an Avenger (Melee Divine Sriker) I was finding that my basic melee attacks were very low (Since I was focusing on a Wisdom/Dexterity build). So choosing melee training (Heavy Blades) let me create a Greatsword yielding Elven Avenger that dealt 1d10+4 with his weapon whenever he used it.
That made me a happy camper indeed.
I must admit that avengers intrigue me too.
Will they (in your opinion) allow me to recreate the flavour of the 3.5e Black Flame Zealot prestige class (a rogue/cleric assassin)?
The class screams ‘Come over here and dance with me, Punk!’
For example, the Turn Undead-like power of the avenger deals, at level 1, 3d10+Wis damage to one undead in Burst 5, pulls the target closer to you and immobilizes it.
So I think you will get a good approximation… plus there’s an Assassin/Slayer like Paragon path for it too.