For our final entry, we tackle the long-awaited Psionic classes – the Ardent, Battlemind and Psion.  The main issue with Psionic themes is the At-Will nature of the powers and the use of power points. Most classes, of course, do not follow this structure making mixing the two styles tricky at best. We have at least one precedent towards applying a Psionic Theme to a non-Psionic class in the Noble Adept. However, since the Noble Adept gives you neither Psionic Augmentation nor power points, more than half the Theme is useless for non-Psionic classes. This is not acceptable for theme multiclassing. In order to remedy this issue, we define a class feature that will be provided to each of the three Themes:

Undisciplined Psyche

You gain the Psionic Augmentation class feature. For each Theme at-will attack power you choose, you gain 2 power points if your primary class does not already grant you power points.

That being said, we can now define the Themes using the Noble Adept as a template.

Ardent

Contagious Exuberance

You can use the Ardent Surge power once per encounter.

Pretty standard for a leader. Not much else to say here.

Theme at Level 1

Empath (Multiclass Ardent)

Prerequisite: Ardent

Theme Feature: Choose an Ardent Mantle. You count as having that Mantle for the purpose of your Ardent Surge. You may use the associated feature power once per day. In addition, you gain the Undisciplined Psyche class feature.

Psionic classes don’t have a lot of class features, so these Themes necessarily run dangerously close to being Hybrids all by themselves. Such is the nature of the beast. Giving a daily use of the feature power instead of the constant benefit that the hybrid gets is the best compromise I can come up with.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Healing Bond
• Lv 3: Withered Technique*
• Lv 5: Invitation To Defeat
• Lv 6: Escalating Fury
• Lv 7: Rewarding Strike *^
• Lv 9: Feast of Despair
• Lv 10: From the Brink

*If your primary class does not grant Power Points, you must use either the Augment 1 or Augment 2 options
^If your primary class grants Power Points, this power replaces an Augmentable At-Will you already know

We’re looking for two things in each of the powers for this Theme. First, since we’re forcing non-Psionic primary classes to always use an Augmented form, the Augmented forms need to be both related and generally useful. (Some Augment 1 options are VERY situational) Second, the flavor of the Theme (as well as the others to follow) is uncontrolled psionic ability. Therefore, powers that feel like they would need discipline and practice (teleportation, zones, etc) don’t really fit. Feast of Despair lets you regain power points and should be considered strongly.

Battlemind

Soulknife

Choose a Psionic Study. You count as having that feature and can use the associate Feature power once per day.

Battlemind feature powers are universally recognized as awesome. Even one as a daily power is worth a feat. Also, have to work in some of those older iconic names in somewhere, right? WotC sure did with the old psionic defense modes…

Theme at Level 1

Psychic Warrior  (Multiclass Battlemind)

Prerequisite: Battlemind

Theme Feature: You gain the Psychic Defense class feature, except that Mind Spike and Blurred Step are encounter powers for you. In addition, you gain the Undisciplined Psyche class feature.

Battlemind is weird, because you really need the full suite of Battlemind’s Demand, Blurred Step and Mind Spike for it to work well.  Being able to mark at-will is still useful, if not completely optimal. At the end of the day, this feat/theme combination gives you nearly the whole complement of Battlemind features, just with limited useage.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Telepathic Challenge
• Lv 3: Lodestone Lure*
• Lv 5: Empathic Feedback
• Lv 6: Psionic Ambush
• Lv 7: Lightning Rush*^
• Lv 9: Aspect of Disembodiment
• Lv 10: Hands of the Titan

*If your primary class does not grant Power Points, you must use either the Augment 1 or Augment 2 options
^If your primary class grants Power Points, this power replaces an Augmentable At-Will you already know

Once again, Defender themes need to rely on Defending, particularly since the Battlemind’s punishment requires some forethought. This situation t overrides the previous statement about ‘uncontrolled’ Theme flavor. You still get a little of it with powers like Empathic Feedback and Hands of the Titan, though. Lightning Rush is nearly required for the Theme and will improve your defending ability by leaps and bounds (pardon the pun).

Psion

Mind Over Matter

Choose one 1st level at-will psion power. You gain it as an encounter power and may augment it once you gain power points.

Very close to the base feat, but with no skill training (of course) and the ability to augment.

Theme at Level 1

Partially Awakened (Multiclass Psion)

Prerequisite: Psion

Theme Feature: Choose a Discipline Focus. You count as having that Focus. You may use the associated feature powers each once per day. In addition, you gain the Undisciplined Psyche class feature and may use psion implements with psion and psion paragon path powers.

This was a hard call. In my opinion, you could give any class the Focus feature powers as is and it wouldn’t really break anything. However, the Hybrid only lets you pick one of the two powers per focus, so I want to keep the multiclass less than that in potency. It’s probably an underpowered feature, but I’m willing to take that chance.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Intellect Fortress
• Lv 3: Fuse Form*
• Lv 5: Hypnotic Pulse
• Lv 6: Telekinetic Screen
• Lv 7: Ego Whip *^
• Lv 9: Mind Blast
• Lv 10: Intellect Leech

*If your primary class does not grant Power Points, you must use either the Augment 1 or Augment 2 options
^If your primary class grants Power Points, this power replaces an Augmentable At-Will you already know

There are three very distinct flavors of Psion, so making any one of them strong in the Theme is difficult from both a flavor and mechanical perspective. Instead, I tried to pick powers that could be interpreted very broadly.

That’s it! Theme multiclassing is now complete. Since the start of this series, we’ve seen several attempts at multiclassing/hybridizing Essentials classes, with varying levels of success. In addition, the discussion from WotC that sparked this idea seems to have disappeared from the radar since none of the GenCon panels (to the best of my knowledge anyway), talked about it.  Maybe they’re keeping it a secret – I don’t know, but I’d REALLY like to.

Until next time, folks.

As At-Will closes down in its current incarnation, I wanted to take a few moments to say my piece about the state of D&D, especially 4th edition.

I’m just basically done with D&D, at least for now. Quinn cited problems with the community in his sign-off post and while I sympathize with his experiences, that’s not the issue for me. My pivot point is more systemic. We explored combat goals with Paths to Victory. We blew open the doors on skill interpretation with Serious Skills. We expanded the rewards mechanic with Penniless but not Powerless and gave ideas for fine-tuning the individual personality of a character with Off The Grid and the many Theme articles. We turned skill challenges from awkward, forced-feeling constructs into epic battles in the Elemental Sea. In short, we exposed as much of the guts of the system as possible and exploited them to the fullest. Looking around at the ‘workshop’ as it were, I don’t have anything left to tinker with. It’s time to pack up the tools and go somewhere else.

In a way, that’s where 4E itself stands right now as well. 5E is clearly on the way, even if we have no timetable or solid info on it yet. Its arrival is inevitable and any new innovations in the game will begin there. If the Legends and Lore articles are to be trusted, the game may actually be taking some steps ‘backwards’ so to speak – whether that’s a good thing or not is very subjective and not worth detailed discussion at the moment given the lack of real information. We’ll see some new powers and feats, to be sure, but the design space of 4E is full.

I should also state here that I still enjoy playing 4E, and D&D in general. I’ve found over the last year of running a regular game, though, that it’s really not my style. I’m highly improvisational and not much for writing out long involved plots, which D&D requires to maintain narrative continuity. The designers left intentionally left the storytelling almost solely in the hands of DMs and while that’s a perfectly legitimate choice, I grow tired of it. I need a new space in which to get my gaming kicks – one better suited for me.

I want to thank everyone who commented on our articles, be those comments praise or constructive criticism; I hope you all will stick around to see the new stuff we have brewing behind the curtain. I want to thank Quinn, David, Jeff, Jared and all those who have wrote for this site for letting me play in your backyard. Lastly, thank you to WotC for writing the game.

It’s not you, D&D, it’s me. You understand, right?

At-Will is done.

I took a break to see if I wanted to do this anymore, and I just don’t want to come back to it. I’ve worked hard putting up content, and have had to deal with so much treachery, rudeness, apathy, entitlement, and venom that it is no longer worth it to be involved in the community. The bad for me personally has far outweighed the good. When I started to hate game design, I knew something was wrong. I have transitioned away from doing 4e design and am now working on different projects.

For those who have supported the Worldbreakers, you are so awesome and so patient! I am working on finishing this project for you (I’m no longer going to “sell” it, as there is no incentive to sell 4e 3PP products). I am really sorry to get tripped up like this, but your support has been awesome and I do intend to honor it. This will be my last 4e project.

For those few who did support the work on the site, and are interested in other games besides 4e…do you want to see what I’m working on next? If so, I’m on twitter as qh_murphy, and I’m on G+ (Quinn Murphy).

At-Will has been a great home to many of my ideas but I need a bigger house. I hope you’ve enjoyed the site, and I hope you visit the new site (when I announce it).

Thanks to my supporters and my friends.

Last time, we paid homage to two  Primal Classes, the Barbarian and Seeker. We complete the circle this installment with the Druid and Shaman.

Druid

No New Feat

These Primal classes have really good multiclass feats. I really want to make a new entry feat, but..  I don’t need to. Initiate of the Old Faith is worth it on its own.

Theme at Level 1

Inner Beast (Multiclass Druid)

Prerequisite: Druid

Theme Feature: Your may use the  power granted to you by Initiate of the Old Faith at-will.

You wanna turn into a monster? Regularly? Have at it, my friend.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Fleet Pursuit
• Lv 3: Predator’s Flurry
• Lv 5: Roar of Terror
• Lv 6: Black Harbinger
• Lv 7: Blood-Spray Bite
• Lv 9: Primal Wolf
• Lv 10: Armor of the Wild

The point of multiclassing Druid is to turn into crazy stuff, right? Of course it is. All of these powers carry the Beast Form keyword to fully exploit your transformative abilities. That makes it a little more Striker and a little less Controller but if you’re going for single-target control, you’re in business.

Shaman

No New Feat

Like Primal Sharpshooter, Spirit Talker is an excellent use of a feat if you have a 13 Wisdom sitting around and since Wisdom is (by my count) the second-most used primary stat, you probably do. A spirit companion, an opp attack, Nature skill training and a daily bump to a skill check in one feat? There’s really no need to fix what ain’t broken. Also, it gives you access to the surprisingly effective Mending Spirit feat.

Theme at Level 1

Spirit Medium  (Multiclass Shaman)

Prerequisite: Shaman

Theme Feature: You can summon your Spirit Companion as a minor action instead of a standard action.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Spirit Sacrifice
• Lv 3: Sly Fox Spirit
• Lv 5: Shrieking Wind Spirits
• Lv 6: Primal Investiture
• Lv 7: Memory of Wind and Rain
• Lv 9: Four-Armed is Forewarned
• Lv 10: Call Forth the Spirit World

All of these powers emanate from the spirit companion to make the feature as useful as possible. We’re also aiming for more buffing/enabling than straight-out healing. Spirit Sacrifice is especially useful for a shaman that doesn’t actually NEED the spirit companion to function effectively.

Rounding third and heading for home we FINALLY come to the long-awaited Psionic classes in the next and final installment. Until next time, peeps!

My epic tier heroes area trying to gather up all the bits of old magic in my Forgotten Realms campaign in hopes of using it to bring back the goddess of magic who died 100 years ago. They found an old temple that was destroyed in the magic-exploding event called the Spellplague.

The temple got stuck between two worlds in a time loop when the Spellplague happened…and an aspect of Mystra happened to be there at the time. The PCs are heading into the temple and working to get access to the inner chamber where the aspect of Mystra is located.

The time loop makes this a bit more difficult because at the end of it the Spellplague “happens”, the aspect of Mystra explodes, and the entire temple resets, including all of the conversations that the PCs had. To make matters worse, the time loop is getting shorter and shorter due to a little surprise.

What I’m looking to do with this is to have an environmental effect that starts in a role-playing situation and then has meaningful effects in the combat that follows.

The Design

So I have a fragment of the dead goddess of magic blowing up every couple of minutes and having a random effect. Some of these effects will seem mundane to the players during part of the session, but once they get into combat I’ll stop just describing the fluff “you’re knocked off your feet” to the mechanical addition of “you’re knocked off your feet, push yourself back 5 squares and go prone”.

The first thing that happens is there’s an explosion, that’s an attack and it’s not something to be avoided, but it could be resisted. As such, I have a weak attack likely to miss a decent number of PCs because this could theoretically happen a dozen times or more depending on how much time the PCs take going through the temple. They’re 23rd level, let’s go +25 vs Fort. That will work out to hitting about half of the time.

The explosion will do 2d20+20 fire damage. I like going d20s here (where usually it’s to be avoided) because it’s wild, untapped, chaotic magic. Having a massive swing of possible damage makes sense. The extra +20 will also help make sure that it’s still a threat…even to all those PCs with fire resistance (which is most of them).

Next, a random effect because it wouldn’t really be the Spellplague if it just did damage, it’s gotta be scarier than that…it’s gotta mess folks up. Effect one is being frozen in time until the next time loop starts. This makes sense thematically.

Effect two gives the PC a vision of their own death. It’s disturbing. Out of combat that’s it…in combat it’s granting combat advantage (save ends).

Effect three grants Vulnerability 10 to all damage (save ends). You’re messed up and weak for it.

The fourth effect is pushing the target 5 squares and knocking them prone. Simple enough and fits well.

The fifth effect is my crowning jewel of the whole thing. The first time it hits you you lose one encounter, daily, or magic item use power. I’ll even let the player pick. What I won’t tell them is that if this effect comes up again the power is permanently changed into another power, DM-choice. I may even go crazy and give them something from the wrong class…I don’t know, but it’ll be a blast to find out.

The last effect deals with spellscaring the target. Most of my guys are already spellscared or something I invented called “Weave-scarred” so this is actually pretty mundane for my game, but I’ve added in some additional boosts for this one.

Now it occurs to me that the players might want to be a bit more active in this situation, they might have the audacity to want to do something to protect themselves. What’s more some of the effects (effect five especially) are a pretty big deal. As such I’m giving the players a chance to protect themselves from these changes. The random effect can be avoided by either sheer endurance (DC 30) or manipulating the forces of magic (Arcana DC 35). This doesn’t avoid the damage but it does avoid the random effect.

Honestly, I’m a little worried I’m being too nice and giving too many chances to avoid the bad/cool stuff in the situation. But we’ll see how it plays out in the context of my players and my campaign.

The Experience

It turns out, I probably over designed this effect, or it felt that way. I had 6 possible effects and the party saw the immediate threat and jumped into things quickly, feeling like the rush was on.

As such this only happened three times, total and the random effects that came up were, by in large, the most mundane ones of the bunch. I was really looking forward to using effect five, even described it to my players after the session was over and had several of them mention that that would have been cool.

Why did they rush through it all so fast? The damage was too high. It’s hard to do too much damage in epic tier, but when you’re doing it to the entire party on an attack it adds up quick and those that have the hit points/resistances to handle it are also the ones that have the defenses to avoid it to begin with.

If I had it to do over again I think I would change two things: damage output, and “randomness”.

In the midst of the encounter I actually reduced the damage to 2d20+10 instead of +20 or else I would have dropped several PCs before the fight happened. Instead I think I should have made the damage a lot more minor, especially before the fight happened. Maybe increase it when they actually got into the room where the explosion started. 1d10+10 would have sufficed outside the room, 2d10+10 inside the room.

That would have given them some more breathing room to take their time in the role-playing and then more of the random effects could have happened.

The second thing I would have changed is the “randomness”. There are two ways I would consider changing this. One, don’t make it truly random. I could have made a list of what happens on explosions in what order. Then I could have made sure that the coolest stuff happened first, and the players would probably have still assumed it was random. Especially if a throw a random die behind the screen.

But that doesn’t ring true to my style, I usually have the players choose their own fate with random effects, letting them roll the dice. So my second option would be to have the players all have a different random effect. So each time Mystra explodes each player rolls a d6 and then I tell them what happens.

This means that there are enough rolls happening that chances are all of them will come up at least once. The down-side…it takes more time. That said, during the role-playing encounter this is happening on a scale of every 10-15 minutes real time. In combat I was going with every 4 or 5 rounds and reducing it between each explosion. So it’s not happening so often that I think it would risk grinding the action to a halt.

All in all, however, I think this was pretty successful. The effect grabbed exactly the feel I was looking for. It appropriately threatened a powerful group of PCs. The only disappointment was more that I felt less satisfied as a DM/designer not in the experience of the players, nor in the cool factor or storytelling of the mechanic.

Have you ever made a crazy environmental effect? How did it go? How do you handle “randomness” in your games?

Multiclass Mondays is a continuation of the “You, Version 2.0″ posts (here and here) that were put up a couple months back regarding using the Theme mechanics to more effectively multiclass characters.  The concept seemed to be a hit with many players and DMs around the Web, so we’re going to go through and provide Themes for all current D&D classes, even Psionics!

Last time, we rounded up the two oddball PHB3 Miscellaneous Classes. This time, we get in touch with our base instincts with the Primal power source.

Barbarian

Fury in the Blood

You count as a Barbarian for all feat, theme and paragon path requirements. In addition, as a free action once per day, you can gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls until the end of the encounter. This bonus increases to +4 at level 11 and +6 at level 21.

The Barbarian feat differs in an important way from other Striker multiclass feats; it is not mutually exclusive with other damage features such as the Flurry of Blows, Hunter’s Quarry, etc. You only get the extra damage for a single encounter, meaning it has to count every time or the feat is moot. The main problem with the original multiclass feat is that is does not scale. This version scales better but should not be terribly overpowering.
Theme at Level 1

Boundless Rager (Multiclass Barbarian)

Prerequisite: Barbarian

Theme Feature: You gain the Rampage class feature.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Combat Sprint
• Lv 3: Brutal Slam
• Lv 5: Tiger’s Claw Rage
• Lv 6: Combat Surge
• Lv 7: Curtain of Steel
• Lv 9: Rage of the Death Spirit
• Lv 10: Enraged Surge

We want to try to stay away from too many stat-dependent powers here since the Barbarian can kicker off of Str, Con or Cha. Combat Surge and Enraged Surge give you more reasons to rage since you don’t have Rage Strike. The name of the game here is simple but effective – dealing damage on a miss, 3[W] interrupt power, gaining +4 to speed, rerolls, etc. It’s not sexy, but it works.

Seeker

No Feat

Primal Sharpshooter is nothing to sneeze at. A daily reroll AND an encounter power (most of which are RBAs!)? That’s a good deal.

Theme at Level 1

Spirit Tracker  (Multiclass Seeker)

Prerequisite: Seeker

Theme Feature: You gain the Encaging Spirits power.

I don’t usually straight-out choose one of two build powers, but there really aren’t a lot of characters hucking around with thrown weapons. If a player asked to have Spirits’ Rebuke instead I’d be OK with it, but my guess is that Encaging Spirits is more universally helpful.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Warding Arrow
• Lv 3: Escaping Shot
• Lv 5: Ensnaring Shot
• Lv 6: Earthbond Gift
• Lv 7: Feyjump Shot
• Lv 9: Binding Shot
• Lv 10: Feywild Jaunt

The main complaint with the Seeker is that it specializes in soft control..  which the DM can completely ignore if so desired. Personally, if the DM is simply ignoring all your soft control I think (s)he’s being a jerk, but that’s just my opinion. We’ve attempted to pick up as much hard control as possible from the class for the Theme to keep it competitive.

Next time, we continue on with the Druid and Shaman Until next time, peeps!

P.S.  A short review of the recent DDI Themes:

Iron Wolf Barbarian – Just to show us that not all attack power Themes have to be from Dark Sun, the Iron Wolf Barbarian Theme is written in the Dark Sun style (sort of), but set in Nerath. The article itself is a nice blend of geography, history and culture, easily making it a mini-campaign guide. The White Raven pops up again here, but I don’t expect it to be actually tied to the White Raven Onslaught warlord power. My only real gripe is the power presentation; it could have been easily done as scaling Lv 3 and Lv 7 encounter powers rather than writing each one out all over again for Lvs 13, 17, 23 and 27. I suppose it’s really neither here nor there, though. The feature is a no action, extra damage on a charge which works thematically for barbarians even if charging bonuses are a somewhat overdone mechanic at this stage in the game. The other powers are solid and involve a lot of multi-attacking, prone effects. Watch the Lv 10 feature carefully – that is an attack as a free action before you begin dying, not before the attack hits. Calling this an immediate reaction would have been clearer but it may be to make sure you always get the strike even if you’ve used your immediate action for the round. The whole thing is a tad over-powered for my taste. A-

Student of Evard – A friend of mine noted that the flavor for this class isn’t all that engaging unless you know who Evard is – a fair observation. This Theme definitely goes for nostalgic value. The Essence of Death feature is most useful for folks with reliable temp HPs (Battlerage Fighters, Assassins, Barbarians) and – gods help us all – Warlocks with Hellish Rebuke. 2d6+1d12+2*CHA at Lv 1 is nothing to sneeze at and if you’re going to run that combo, you probably have the AC and HP to handle the opp attack it provokes anyway. At least necrotic damage tends to be resisted fairly often. The other features are very situational, though incredibly useful in those situations and I’ll never argue a free ritual. The utilities are uninspiring and if you really want rerolls, there are better ways to do it. B-.

Gloomwrought Emissary – Again, we have another narrowly-focused Theme. It’s not a problem per se, but know it going in. Strike from the Shadows is a nice debuff power – where else can you find a weaken effect at level 1? Ghostwalker’s insubstantial and fly as an encounter power is similarly a fun and flavorful ability. If you can use these powers, then by all means – take this Theme. If not, you’re likely better off with judicious use of rituals. Get a Bard and go nuts. B+.

Multiclass Mondays is a continuation of the “You, Version 2.0″ posts (here and here) that were put up a couple months back regarding using the Theme mechanics to more effectively multiclass characters.  The concept seemed to be a hit with many players and DMs around the Web, so we’re going to go through and provide Themes for all current D&D classes (even Psionics!) and maybe.. just maybe…  throw in a few bonus Themes.  For now, though, let’s stick to the basics.

Last week, we plumbed the depths of the remaining Arcane and Shadow Classes. This week, in the interest of wrapping the series up in a timely fashion, we visit the two oddball PHB3 classes, Monk and Runepriest.

Monk

Vacant Hand Initiate

You count as a Monk for all feat, theme and paragon path requirements. In addition, you gain a Flurry of Blows class feature and may use it with Monk class and paragon path powers. You may also use Monk implements with Monk class and paragon path powers.

If you choose to apply your Flurry of Blows to a power, you may not simultaneously apply any other striker damage feature (Sneak Attack, Arcane Might, Hunter’s Quarry, etc.) to that power.

Go, striker; use your extra damage feature. Enjoy.

Theme at Level 1

Master of the Vacant Hand (Multiclass Monk)

Prerequisite: Monk

Theme Feature: Choose a level 1 At-Will Monk attack power. You may use that power 1/encounter.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Swift Flight
• Lv 3: Eternal Mountain
• Lv 5: Disrupting Fist
• Lv 6: Airborne Form
• Lv 7: Grasping Tide
• Lv 9: Crane Dance
• Lv 10: Iron Dragon Defense

Though the Monk is a Striker, the class is built more like a Controller – a couple of attack and defense ‘fixes’, but most of the punch of the class (pun intended) is in the powers. It’s fairly simple to build either a mundane, realistic martial-artist or an over-the-top, wuxia-style character. I have chosen here to be a bit more theatric in the power selection.

Runepriest

Syllabary of Healing

You count as a Runepriest for all feat, theme and paragon path requirements. In addition, you may use the Rune of Mending power 1/encounter.

The Runepriest is not a particularly good healer and the number of class features it has are minimal. There just isn’t much to go with here, so this gives you another option besides the Cleric for an encounter-level heal.

Theme at Level 1

Adept of Ciphers  (Multiclass Runepriest)

Prerequisite: Runepriest

Theme Feature: You gain the Rune Master class feature.

Being a Runepriest without this would honestly be kind of silly. It’s sort of the point of the class.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Icon of Victory
• Lv 3: Word of Alliance
• Lv 5: Rune of the Final Act
• Lv 6: Rune of Meritorious Alacrity
• Lv 7: Word of Befuddlement
• Lv 9: Rune of Shielding
• Lv 10: Banner of Resolution

Since you don’t have the option to grab either Wrathful Hammer/Defiant Word, these powers attempt to stay away from such kickers unless absolutely necessary. The Runepriest is the master of buffing – damage you didn’t take is damage (s)he doesn’t have to heal. The theme plays significantly into that concept as well.

Next week, we let loose with our baser instincts and rouse the remainder of the Primal classes. Until next time, peeps!

P.S. I’ll cover Matt James’ ‘Born from the Shadow’ Themes next time.

Lost City is finally here!

In Lost City, characters of levels 14 to 17 explore Kadralhu, a city beneath the sands. There they will contend with those who dwell within it, as well as a rival faction that wants to seize the city’s ancient power for its own. The fate of Kadralhu – and possibly the world – rests in the party’s hands.

The latest of Open Design’s 4e projects, Lost City is something that I played a part in setting up.  I’d like to talk in more detail about the book later, but it needs saying that this book is full of original and evocative concepts for monsters and adventure sites.  It’s built as a “sandbox”, so it’s not just  a streak of endless encounters.  There’s plenty of space between encounters, with a world drawn vividly enough that DMs can easily extrapolate from it and build their own adventures with it.  My favorite supplements personally with so much good stuff that I feel free to use the book as is or insert elements as desired.

For example, my contribution to the book was developing the race of the oklu.  The servitors of the former rulers of Kandralhu, it is a race created literally to serve, something they try to do even several generations removed from their masters.  An excerpt:

Born as gift s from the goddess Kaima to the Kadrana, the reptilian oklu served the giants’ whims, assisting them in whatever they asked until Kaima could return. With their  masters  gone,  the  oklu  still  remain  in  fallen  Kadralhu, faithfully serving the old agendas of their masters in hope they may one day return.

Oklu  are  reptilian  humanoids  with  large  hooded  eyes  and leathery skin. An oklu’s base color is determined by what role it fulfills in oklu society. Body size also varies depending on role but trend towards slenderness.

The  oklu  living  in  the  Lost  City  currently  serve  the  old whims and imprints of their masters. The reptilian humanoids protect and maintain all the traditions and duties given them by  the  Kadrana  centuries  ago.  Within  the  city,  the  oklu  can provide information to adventurers; those adventurers should be warned, however, that much of the oklu’s lore is locked in  the  past.  The  oklu  know  more  about  the  city  as  it  once  was than its current state outside their communities, and speak in the present tense of areas long since destroyed.

Accustomed to Servitude: Kaima created the oklu to serve. Prolonged contact with strong-willed creatures can cause the oklu  to  change  their  own  personalities  in  accordance.  The Kadrana found it awkward to use them as messengers, since the  oklu  sometimes  found  themselves  obeying  new  masters when too long outside of the giants’ influence.

No  Purpose: The  oklu  serve  the  whims  of  their  masters, which they have faithfully passed from generation to generation ever since the fall. Th   e largest communities in the eastern and northern walls are set on paths dictated very long ago. In their minds, the giants have only been gone for a short time and will soon return.

Impressionable: Adventurers can infl uence the oklu by their mere presence, but when they leave the oklu revert back to the lasting impression they received from the Kadrana. Explorers to the lost city of Kadralhu are advised to make friends of the oklu. Oklu can be strong and pliant allies to have while in the city, first mimicking behaviors and then actions of those who spend much time with them.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Part of being the perfect servitor race is the ability to perform duties while remaining out of master’s sight.  Oklu  blend  in  with  their  surroundings  instinctively so as to offer no inconvenience to their masters. So it is that many  explorers  might  never  even  meet  the  oklu,  simply being avoided by the unobtrusive denizens. If the visitors are deemed enough of a threat or intrude into an area oklu have been ordered to guard, they meet instead the daggers of oklu assassins attacking from the shadows.

Divided  By  Caste: Oklu  all  have  specifi c  jobs  dictated  by their caste. There are three major castes—the salaa, the iness, and the lothaa—and the first two contain several sub-castes. The salaa include the warriors. The iness include workers and craftsmen. The lothaa are the scholars and teachers of the oklu.The greatest threat to oklu survival (aside from intruders) is that  the  iness  laborers  are  dwindling  in  number.  Thus  there are  fewer  and  fewer  oklu  able  to  deal  with  the crumbling infrastructure within oklu communities.

I’ll talk about Lost City more in the future, but I am definitely proud to have been involved with the project and feel that it’s a worthwhile purchase, whether in PDF or print.

Dungeons and Discourse Update

The chatroom is growing quite nicely!  We’re getting lots of visitors and we are now starting to expand. We have a lot of top-bloggers popping in, and earlier this week Trevor Kidd from Wizards stopped in to take questions for “Rule of Three“.

One of the initiatives our member digitaldraco has taken is to work on a space for freeform roleplaying in the setting of the Nentir Vale.  As we get more people in the chat roleplaying we will also look at that space as a potential spot to do pickup games with Skype and Maptools /DDI’s VTT!  Draco has built an Obsidian Portal page that you should check out if you are interested. It’s been great fun so far!

If you like 4e, the chatroom is simply a great resource that you can use to ask questions from experts, get opinions and critiques for encounters/houserules, or just to get your geek on.

If you can’t stand the web client, point your IRC client to 4eatwill.net.  Hope to see you soon!

Special Guest in the Chat!

This upcoming Monday, Steve Winter from Wizards of the Coast will join us to talk DDI and D&D Community!  The chat will take place June 13th from 6:00 PM PDT (GMT -7) to 7:00 pm.  Stop by!

Articles

For some reasons I can’t mention right now, life is keeping me tied up.  I do have some great articles in the wings, in addition to some audio posts.  Everything will come together as life slows down a bit.  Thanks for being an excellent readership and thank you for your patience!

Multiclass Mondays is a continuation of the “You, Version 2.0″ posts (here and here) that were put up a few weeks back regarding using the Theme mechanics to more effectively multiclass characters.  The concept seemed to be a hit with many players and DMs around the Web, so we’re going to go through and provide Themes for all current D&D classes (even Psionics!) and maybe.. just maybe…  throw in a few bonus Themes.  For now, though, let’s stick to the basics.

Last week, we sang the praises of the remaining  Divine Classes. This week, in the interest of wrapping the series up in a timely fashion, we conjure forth the remaining two Arcane classes – Swordmage and Artificer – and the solo Shadow class – Assassin.

Assassin

Enshrouded Assailant

You count as an Assassin for all feat, theme and paragon path requirements. In addition, you gain the Assassin’s Shroud class feature and may use it with Assassin class and paragon path powers. You may also use Assassin implements with Assassin class and paragon path powers.

If you choose to apply your Assassin’s Shrouds to a power, you may not simultaneously apply any other striker damage feature (Flurry of Blows, Arcane Might, Hunter’s Quarry, etc.) to that power.

The assassin takes a lot of flak for being a ‘bad’ striker and I’d like a moment to defend it since my defense is relevant to the way the feat and Theme are written. There are three primary flaws attributed to the Assassin: 1) the inability to make off-turn or minor action attacks, 2) low damage dice powers combined with very little multi-attacking and 3) ineffective alpha-striking (shrouds take time to build up). For what it’s worth, the Executioner has several of these “problems” as well but at least the alpha-strike capability is present in the Assassin’s Strike power.

So if you’re going to kick down the door of a dungeon and charge headlong towards say… a half-dozen trolls or a Red Dragon with an Assassin, I feel no pity when you’re scattered in several pieces across the room by the end of round 3.  That isn’t how an assassin (or Assassin) operates. This class is about stealth and subtlety; get in, get out and get going somewhere else. A well-built Assassin is still capable of felling an enemy with a single hit and is thus still a respectable Striker. It is admittedly somewhat lacking in raw, overbearing damage output, but makes up for that loss in self-sufficiency and survival utility. In short, the Assassin needs a different and distinct sort of environment in which to show its stuff – one where discretion and misdirection is preferable to brute force. Comparing the Assassin on an open battlefield to an Avenger or Rogue isn’t entirely fair as the Assassin is designed to overcome a different set of obstacles. Any DM would do well to remember this and create situations appropriately.

Theme at Level 1

Hitman (Multiclass Assassin)

Prerequisite: Assassin

Theme Feature: Shade Form

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Lurking Shadow
• Lv 3: Cloaking Mist
• Lv 5: Twilight Assassin
• Lv 6: Darting Shadow
• Lv 7: Shadow Jack
• Lv 9: Black Garrote
• Lv 10: Seeker of Shadow

As alluded to in the preamble, this Theme is more about Lurker than Striker. There are some strong attack powers present, but the primary goal is still subtlety. The whole idea of an Assassin standing around in the open generating THP is just..   no.

Artificer

Arcane Pharmacist

You can use one of the Artificer’s Healing Infusion powers once per encounter. In addition, you can wield Artificer implements with Artificer class and paragon path powers.

Theme at Level 1

Arcane Technician  (Multiclass Artificer)

Prerequisite: Artificer

Theme Feature: Impart Energy class feature

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Restorative Infusion
• Lv 3: Force Infusion
• Lv 5: Thunderclap Armor
• Lv 6: Energy Conversion
• Lv 7: Vampiric Weapons
• Lv 9: Radiant Sigil
• Lv 10: Dancing Shield

This theme is mostly about granting temporary HP and augmenting weapons/armor, though the level 10 utility brings a conjuration into the mix for flavor.

Swordmage

No Feat

Honestly, the Swordmage doesn’t have that many class features and Blade Initiate is a really solid feat. Go take that. Ignore Heart of the Blade.

Theme at Level 1

Aegis Apprentice (Multiclass Swordmage)

Prerequisite: Swordmage

Theme Feature: Swordmage Aegis (encounter usage, Dark Sun only)

Compared to the base class, this may be the most powerful Theme feature in this series to date. Against a Solo monster, one Aegis is all you need (barring mark overwriting by another Defender). Add that to the warding provided by Blade Initiate and the heavy blade weapliment and you’re basically a full-blooded Swordmage. Given that the swordmage is clearly an off-tank, I ‘m not worried about power creep here. Also to be completely honest, getting heavy blade as a weapliment is far more powerful than the Aegis. As usual, you can’t use two mark punishments at the same time with this feature.

Theme at Levels 2+

• Lv 2: Channeling Shield
• Lv 3: Dual Lightning Strike
• Lv 5: Swordmage Shielding Fire
• Lv 6: Swordmage’s Decree
• Lv 7: Watchful Strike
• Lv 9: Blade Bolt
• Lv 10: Impenetrable Warding

Like the Paladin Theme, this Theme is about getting more marks – or at least things that look like marks.

Next week, we tackle the Miscellaneous power source with the Monk and Runepriest. Until next time, peeps!

P.S. As to the last bunch of Themes:

Explorer – I prefer this Explorer and come to think of it, you could make an Explorer Explorer…  getting off track. Anyway, so this Theme is all about mobility and range. In the right situation, it could really shine, but I wonder how often checks “to avoid becoming lost” really come up. Similarly, who actually sits there and calculates overland speed? A +1 permanent  power bonus to Fortitude plus a +2 to AC and Reflex while in difficult terrain for a turn look awfully good for stealthy sniper types and ‘stand there and take it’ Defenders (Battleminds, Wardens, Battlerage Fighters), but ultimately I’m not sure how broadly useful the Theme is. Amusingly, it would be really good with the aforementioned Explorer class. B-

Guttersnipe – Another well thought-out and flavorful Theme. Running Slash is a solid ‘get out of jail free’ card with a little planning. Infuriating Taunt is similarly useful for ‘kiting’ bad guys; drop it and then go hide behind your Defender for a nice lose-lose situation.  Fool’s Dance looks awesome, but it’s just enough rope to hang yourself unless you’re an Artful Dodger or have an Ardent nearby – be careful. There’s some debate over the brokenness of the Lv 5 feature (buy 10% low, sell 10% high). With the base 20% resale rule on Common and 50% on Uncommon items it’s not a big deal but  since Rare items resale at 100% you do in fact profit on every transaction and could theoretically earn infinite gold buying and reselling the same item repeatedly. Home DMs will squash this immediately; Guttersnipes in LFR could (I suppose) run rampant but given how lax public play already is on making sure characters’ equipment is “correct,” I don’t feel it’s creating a potential abuse that wasn’t there anyway.  Even though the feature’s brokenness is pretty deep in the DM’s jurisdiction it’s still technically broken, preventing the Theme from getting the highest available score. A-

Mercenary – Adding prone + ability modifier damage on one attack is a beautiful thing – ask any one with Draconic Arrogance and Headsman’s Chop. The Mercenary is significantly reminiscent of the Bravura Warlord in my opinion mechanically, but unlike the Explorer and Guttersnipe it doesn’t convey the idea of ‘sword for hire’ very well.  A ‘tactical withdrawal’ power and maybe something involving coin earned for quests would have gone a long way. As it, the Mercenary is simply functional. B

Outlaw – Another solid if not very innovative Theme. Bonuses to speed, escaping without trace and a reliable daze feel “Outlaw” and are handy tricks. You hide, you gain initiative.. yeah. Good stuff. Not much else to say. B+

I’m currently using skill stacks with my online playgroup and it works really well.  I hope you try it out and like it as well.