4e Monk project update
I’ve completed the latest revision to my 4e Monk project. The largest changes this time around are to the Inner Eye and Quivering Palm mechanics.
Inner Eye no longer allows the use of Wis bonus to AC and Reflex instead of Dex or Int; feedback rightly pointed out that this made monks depend on too few attributes for comfort. I think I willfully overlooked that for a while in an effort to preserve some of the traditional feel, but this way does work out a little bit better for gameplay. As an alternative, instead of granting a straight +3 AC bonus, you could let Inner Eye provide half the monk’s Wis modifier; this is a little weaker at heroic levels and a little stronger at epic levels, but shouldn’t cause a large balance issue. (Remember to round down, though.)
Categories: Original Game Content | Comments (1)
Hunter of the Dead
One of my players wanted to adapt a third-edition character who’d taken the Hunter of the Dead prestige class (from Complete Warrior). This was a prestige class for undead-slaying (obviously) paladins and clerics — its prerequisites included the ability to turn undead. I’m sharing the paragon path we came up with in case it might be of interest to others.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this path, or something very similar but differently named, turned up in official form in Divine Power in a couple of months. The vampire slayer is a pretty common archetype, after all.
Categories: Paragon Pathfinding | Comments (1)
Adapting the 4e Shadowdancer
Back when third edition was first published, one of the things I liked most about it was the shadowdancer prestige class. This roguish class was a sort of sneaky swashbuckler, and at the time my favorite classes were rogue and bard (despite their general underpoweredness). It was a perfect match for my then-current character, in fact.
In fourth edition, paragon paths are more or less the new prestige classes — they’re there to allow further customization of a character, but without the possibility of stacking multiple ones in ways which caused them to become broken, as they could in 3e. So I suppose it’s only natural that I’d end up wanting to convert the shadowdancer.
I’m fairly certain an official conversion is in the works, perhaps even in Martial Power, due out in a couple of weeks. But I think this still serves as a good example of converting a 3e prestige class to a 4e paragon path.
Categories: Paragon Pathfinding | Comments (7)
Barbarians at the Gates
Wizards of the Coast released the barbarian playtest article in Dragon a couple of days ago. This was originally scheduled for September, then pushed back a month. As of this writing, it’s still free, but it’s scheduled to switch to Insider subscribers only at some undefined time this month, so hurry and grab it if you want it. (Edit: Apparently it’s going to remain free. Good news! It really is a terrific article.)
The class is rather interesting. It’s another striker, this time based on the primal power source — they draw on animal and nature spirits. Purists might not care for that flavor, but I rather like it.
Barbarians are quite tough for strikers — they have as many hit points as fighters, and only one fewer healing surge. However, they’re a little squishy. They have proficiencies in only light armor, and neither Dexterity nor Intelligence is a primary stat for them, meaning their armor class will be relatively low. Mitigating that, many of their abilities grant them temporary hit points, making them even more damage-absorbent.
Categories: Industry News, Reviews | Comments (4)
News roundup
A couple of shorter topics that wouldn’t make for good single posts (at least by my wordy standards).
First, a quick update on my fourth-edition monk replacement class. I made a number of minor changes a couple of days ago, and it’s looking good so far — at least at lower levels. I still haven’t had a lot of opportunity to test it at high levels. I have my eye on a couple of things that seem as though they might be overpowered right now (World Breaker’s Hand and the epic destiny “encounter-power-as-at-will-power” trait being the two biggest).
All told, balancing a class in 4e is a tricky process. If any of you are actually using this class (or a variant) in play, I’d appreciate any feedback; it’ll help me get it to work.
Categories: Industry News | Comments (0)
