Getting Primal

Just read the Dev & Des article on the Primal power source in the PHB2.

A few quick comments.

I like Rob's descriptions of the Barbarian and Druid classes. I haven't seen the PHB2 yet, so I have to take his word for it, but it sounds like they're finally noticably different from the Fighter and Cleric. I've always felt that either or both classes could have been rolled into the latter classes (with feats and optional spell lists opened up by a Prestige Class or something). Whether that changes with 4E's PHB2, well... we'll see.

The Warden, I only vaguely remember from some sneak peek article. It sounds to me at first pass as another Warlord type. A class that exists solely to fill pages in a product. Could the Warden's powers be rolled into the Ranger or Barbarian? Maybe open up some options for those classes versus creating a new cookie cutter?

I'm a proponent of fewer classes and more options. 4E seems to be about more classes with two options (ie. builds) for each.

Then there's the Shaman. I don't even need to read this class. It's clearly a slice of Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard given unnecessary ink. It'll take more than a fancy familiar (aka "spirit companion") to justify this class.

Mike then gives us a look at the Primal classes and how they fit the revamped cosmology. With this, I'm fully on board.

Make the druid into the anti-cleric. Let them butt heads over Gods vs Primordials. Create intra-party tension and conflict. That's good shit.

The rest... well... sounds like the PHB2 could have been about 50 pages.

Battery-powered ... fighter?

I'm not sure what I think of this "power source" idea. It might make sense for the spellcasters, as a way for them to remain viable as spellcasters (contrary to what Griff wants to see), but I don't see the need for the fighter types.

The draw of the fighter classes over the spellcasting classes has always been that they don't run out. They may not have the fanciest attacks (though grappling, tripping, stunning, tripping, disarming, etc. are all interesting at times), but they keep on going. The spellcasters got to zap whole groups at a time, a few chosen times, and then let the "meat shields" step in and clean up. Is there a need to have either extra abilities that are available from this power source, or to limit their existing abilities down to a power source? To me, this sounds like the fighters are going to have more abilities than before, and so we should now expect even more from the spellcasters, or their older "infinite" set of abilities are being limited, which means their power-sourced abilities better be impressive indeed to make these classes at all desirable.

The other interpretation is that the power source would be used for feat-like abilities -- in which case, what are feats for? Or if they're used for skill-like actions, what are skills for? Unfortunately, these last two Design & Development articles have been complete teasers, giving us nothing but tidbits to rant or rave about. I'm wary, but until we seen a hands-on example of these power sources, I won't rule it out quite yet.