So, here it is, the last post before the cover and pdf. I'm stoked! Let's jump right in!
Let's talk about Feats...
Initially I was going to cherry pick a selection of feats to be "Legend4ry appropriate," whatever I thought that meant. This is a cool idea, it's just a little too much work for very little pay-off. Legend4ry will stick to Essentials-only feats, including Heroes of Shadow as appropriate. This isn't to say that these will be the only feats available.
In addition to the above-mentioned feats will the very specific Multi-Class feats discussed a few posts ago as well as the required proficiency feats for the superior arms and armor and implements listed in Mordenkeinen's Magnificent Emporium.
This is simple, yet elegant, and fitting for what we are trying to accomplish here with Legend4ry. Now, one thing that is numerous in 4e are racial specific feats. I say, as a DM, weigh these on a case-by-case basis and allow them only if you find them acceptable once a player petitions for them. This is going to be key when dealing with Half-Elf Dilettante-related feats, for example.
Now, as I eventually get around to publishing/posting the pdf for Legend4ry Advanced Rules this may change as more races and classes are made available. I don't foresee this being the case generally, but there are always specific things that need attention/adjudication.
Let's talk about Difficulty Checks, aka DCs...
This is a little rougher to pin down and will rely a lot on adjudication. Legend4ry at its core is supposed to be difficult. That's its thing. We want it to be hard to accomplish certain tasks or make the PCs thing outside the box. This is vital, this is the very definition of dynamism and Legend4ry. Remember when we started discussing Legend4ry it was decided that it should be defined by one word; Dynamic. Fourthcore in every way embraces this one word, and so to must we.
In keeping with the proposed level of difficulty, Legend4ry will use only Moderate (sparingly) and Hard (often) DCs, except when it doesn't. Wait, what? Confusing, right? "Except when it doesn't," in this case refers to set DCs, things like climbing a rope and things like that. The various rule books define these set DCs and they make sense, so I see no reason to change them. Now if you are building a skill challenge or something, Hard DCs are the way to go, make 'em sweat! Another thing to keep in mind is that failing doesn't always mean death (though often it should,) in some cases it should just make the PCs' lives that much more miserable and harder.
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One thing that I never touched on that dawned on me recently is that of a deity offering up proficiency with a set weapon of their domain to their followers. This is in other editions and it's iconic, so why not have it here too? Clerics, or in our case, Warpriests have a fairly limited selection of available proficient weapons and I don't see a god offering proficiency in one being game-breaking.
So, let's define our Legend4ry pantheon:
- Pelor, Good, god of Light, Law, Civilization, and Nobility
- The Raven Queen, Neutral, goddess of Death, Magic, and Nature
- Orcus, Evil, god of Darkness, Chaos, Undeath, and War
Simple enough, right? Let's keep the alignments simple here with just the three "good, neutral, and evil" as they embrace so, so much without a lot of clutter. I think that each of the gods should offer a choice of proficiency with one of two weapons, meaning that a Cleric player, upon character creation, can choose one. These weapons should fall in the Military Weapons category, either Martial or Ranged, as Clerics can only access the simple categories.
So, let's define our offered proficiencies:
- Pelor - Longsword, Longspear
- The Raven Queen - Longbow, Rapier
- Orcus - Greatsword, Warhammer
Mechanically this is easily handled by giving the Cleric a free weapon proficiency feat for their chosen weapon.deity. In the DDI Character Builder, there is a button to give out free "house-ruled" feats.
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In addition to the Warpriest update, I am fairly certain I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, the Eladrin-variant for the Knight build is allowed, listed in Dragon 395. In older editions of D&D Elves typically represented gishiness as they were given options to dual class into fighter, magic-user, and thief. In keeping with this, but not allowing dual classing/hybriding, I feel that the Eladrin Knight embraces this gishy feel with a more magical fighter. So let's have it!
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That's it for now as we've discussed all of the necessary rules modifications needed for Legend4ry. Look out for the free pdf of the Legend4ry Basic Rules in the next couple of days. I'm still working on the cover as I want it to be iconic, so if y'all have any suggestions I urge you to either leave a comment below or send me an email. Or, as a third option you can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hash-tag #legend4ry
Until next time,
-blob
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