Tag: d20

April 6, 2007

D20 Core Class Theory

My recent martial artist/ascetic musings have me thinking about the role of core classes. Recently, Wizards seems to have been developing very niche core classes (Dragon Shaman) and core classes that are more efficient mixes of archetypes (Duskblade) than you can normally get by multiclassing. I wonder how much of this could be handled by designing core classes to be...

April 3, 2007

Class Creation Workshop

A few weeks ago, I mentioned some of my dissatisfaction with the Monk class. In the meantime, I decided I’d do something about it. I’ve been working on splitting the monk class into two separate classes: one which focuses upon martial arts and one which focuses upon contemplation and mysticism. The two will be designed to multiclass well together. For...

March 26, 2007

Real Magic Items: The Magic Item Compendium

So, despite not really being able to afford it, I picked up the Magic Item Compendium this past Friday from Dragon’s Table. (…which apparently has a blog. Who knew?) I haven’t read through the entire thing in detail yet, but what I have read is pretty impressive. Here are some of my initial impressions: New Item Types(…which may have been...

March 15, 2007

Real Magic Items: why settle for banal visuals

I’m a little burnt out on Exalted right now, despite (or perhaps, in part, because of) the fact that I am playing in two occasional campaigns. Mostly it is the system that gets me down about it. I love the visuals. It isn’t the anime stuff. I can do without that. Instead, it is the simple fact that interesting visuals...

March 13, 2007

Real Magic Items: random babblings

I don’t think I got on the ‘real magic items’ kick because of this article on the Wizard’s website, though it might have subconsciously led me down that line of thought. The article (for those who don’t feel like following the link) talks a bit about the “Big Six” magic item types in D&D: magic weapons, magic armor/shields, rings of...

March 9, 2007

Thoughts toward a new Monk (or two)

The other day, I met Jeff for lunch. Mostly, we discussed game drama and future gaming plans. One topic of conversation, however, was our mutual dissatisfaction with the monk character class as it is portrayed in D&D. As I see it, the monk has a split personality. On the one hand, he’s a martial artist. On the other, he’s into...

March 2, 2007

Magic systems, revisited

I’ve been thinking a lot about different magical systems in RPGs. I don’t particularly care for the Vancian fire-and-forget thing. I’m also not a huge fan of uses per day. I don’t have an issue with there being limits on magic use, but an absolute and regular limit seems very artificial to me. Though some people like it, I think...

February 22, 2007

Cool Tool: Town Generator

I haven’t looked at the other generators on the site yet, but Justin “Quirk” Dunmyre’s Town Generator is impressive. It comes up with tons of NPCs, each with a names, race/class/level, gender, and distinguishing characteristic. It also generates taverns, stores, and shops of various sorts, each with staff and notes about the shop’s peculiarities. Obviously, it doesn’t go into depth,...

February 21, 2007

Draconic Ecology

I had a subscription to Dragon Magazine back in the 1980s. I remember when the issues would show up in the mail. They tended to come around the same time every month (maybe the 5th or so? that seems familiar), and I’d be waiting for them. They were just about the best thing to show up in the mail. My...

January 30, 2007

Complete Scoundrel: A second look

Now that I have cooled down from my initial reaction to the Complete Scoundrel, I think I can see some really good stuff in there. I’m saddened that there were some missed opportunities. I can deal with that. Here are some highlights: Prestige Classes: The Master of Masks is one of the coolest prestige classes I’ve seen. I want to...