At our last gaming session the topic of treasure came up as we picked up a few trinkets our fallen enemies had left behind.
Of particular interest was a rather spiffy scimitar and some swanky armor, both with interesting powers. While the rest of the magic items in 4E are pretty weak, I have to say that the armor and weapons are generally very well done.
Besides the expected "+whatever#" they all seem to have a fairly cool little power attached. Nothing really jaw dropping. Five temporary hit points or a free healing surge or things of that ilk. Yet they're still quite useful (even if only a Daily use) and more importantly, they're easy to remember. Mainly because your character's armor and weapons are going to be the center of attention. Weapons moreso, but even armor isn't as likely to be forgotten as some necklace or ring. For me at least, those trinkets tend to get buried and forgotten on my character sheet.
I would be curious to see if changing the magic item powers from Daily to Encounter would make a noticable difference. Maybe I can talk Crwth into trying that out for a couple of sessions. Or maybe someone out there on the interweb has tried this. If so, please let us know how it worked out for you.
The other thing that this brief topic brought to mind was the sheer amount of loot we've gained. It's no secret that the official line of modules released with 3rd edition was incredibly skimpy on the loot. The writers must have had access to the various tables and guidelines for giving out treasure, yet they either ignored them for some reason. Probably because they're jerks. I mean, a Roper against a party of 4th levels? Only a real asshole would write up something like that.
Anyways, the 4E modules have actually been right in line with the suggested treasure guidelines. Far from Mony Haul-ish but we certainly can't complain. We're just a smidge shy of 5th level and everyone in the party now has magic armor or a magic weapon, and in some cases, both.
Even better, for those of us who don't have a magic weapon (myself and our ranger Hune) have enough coin to enchant our weapons to our preference, thanks to the ritual.
Enchant Magic Item (PHB, p 304). This ritual is the cat's ass. Okay, it's a little too MMO-like for my tastes. The jaded skeptic/curmudgeon in me sees this as an obvious way to sell the edition to computer game producers who will then tout that all the kids can easily have flaming swords and armor that spits out lightning. But, putting that aside it really is a nice and useful little effect. Find some generic components and voila, you have a sword or armor that suits you to a tee.
There's some inherent suspension of belief there, but no less than in the 3.5 days when our DM had to conveniently stock the local merchant with whatever magic item we'd been pining/whining for.
While there aren't a lot of magic items worth questing for, at least we have an easy way of turning gold and gems into the item we really want.
Showing posts with label ritual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ritual. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, August 18, 2008
Speaking of rituals
The Ritually Speaking article in the current Dragon issue was nicely packed with usable information.
I really like the ideas of rituals, and was happy that they provided a whole bunch of them from the start. Getting another batch of them so soon was a pleasant surprise, as I expected to see only a few here and there until the Player's Handbook II came out.
The time taken to cast certain rituals, however, still seems a bit off. I understand (as mentioned by readers in their comments) that these are meant to be different from spells, that rituals are not encounter-based and not meant to be an off-the-cuff effect. The Battlefield Elocution ritual should be a bit quicker, I think - by the time you finish casting the ritual, you could have walked around the battlefield and talked to everyone personally. By the time you finish Preserve Flame, it might need to be renamed Preserve Embers for what's left of your campfire. And let's hope the enemy is patient while you cast Earthen Ramparts to defend against them.
But these are just nitpicks - it seems like 10 minutes is the minimum time we're going to see on any ritual, and I'll just have to accept that. Anything that really needs to be finished faster will have to be considered for the role of Power. Well, except that Signal of Pursuit breaks that rule, being a 1 minute ritual - it has that sense of immediacy that I'm referring to. Is there a reason why some of these other rituals can't have a shorter casting time? Would it be too powerful if I could preserve MANY flames quickly?
Some of my favorite new rituals include Explorer's Fire, which can confound many a random encounter by hiding the characters' camp; Memory Seal, which has a variety of uses against PCs and NPCs, cast by PCs or NPCs; Tenser's Binding obviates the need for the party to carry rope or shackles to bind foes, and Mordenkainen's Ascent removes the need for rope or a ladder for climbing.
And the silliest one: Fastidiousness. In the next installment: Hair Mussing Immunity!
I really like the ideas of rituals, and was happy that they provided a whole bunch of them from the start. Getting another batch of them so soon was a pleasant surprise, as I expected to see only a few here and there until the Player's Handbook II came out.
The time taken to cast certain rituals, however, still seems a bit off. I understand (as mentioned by readers in their comments) that these are meant to be different from spells, that rituals are not encounter-based and not meant to be an off-the-cuff effect. The Battlefield Elocution ritual should be a bit quicker, I think - by the time you finish casting the ritual, you could have walked around the battlefield and talked to everyone personally. By the time you finish Preserve Flame, it might need to be renamed Preserve Embers for what's left of your campfire. And let's hope the enemy is patient while you cast Earthen Ramparts to defend against them.
But these are just nitpicks - it seems like 10 minutes is the minimum time we're going to see on any ritual, and I'll just have to accept that. Anything that really needs to be finished faster will have to be considered for the role of Power. Well, except that Signal of Pursuit breaks that rule, being a 1 minute ritual - it has that sense of immediacy that I'm referring to. Is there a reason why some of these other rituals can't have a shorter casting time? Would it be too powerful if I could preserve MANY flames quickly?
Some of my favorite new rituals include Explorer's Fire, which can confound many a random encounter by hiding the characters' camp; Memory Seal, which has a variety of uses against PCs and NPCs, cast by PCs or NPCs; Tenser's Binding obviates the need for the party to carry rope or shackles to bind foes, and Mordenkainen's Ascent removes the need for rope or a ladder for climbing.
And the silliest one: Fastidiousness. In the next installment: Hair Mussing Immunity!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
PHB - Rituals
Since I was at the end of the book for the Combat chapter, I figured I'd read the last chapter, which is on Rituals.
Rituals were definitely a good move. The long casting time and occasional utility of certain spells in 3rd edition meant that they were something that you only memorized (as a cleric or wizard) if you really knew you were going to use them, and often led to delays in adventuring when you had to rest to get that one utility spell you needed. Sorcerers were pretty much left out of the whole deal, not wanting to waste on of their precious slots on an occasional spell. Granted, scrolls were possible, but who thought ahead for those?
I was bit disappointed, though, that the rituals are being restricted to the arcane and divine powers. With the idea of power sources being stretched across all classes, it seems unfair that those with martial powers are denied rituals.
At first I thought that perhaps it was to let the "spellcasters" keep themselves special from the brawlers, but the role is supposed to dictate how the character contributes to the party, not restrictions because of your career choice.
Why couldn't fighters have rituals? Some sort of meditation, or calisthenic routine, or focused weapon practice? Benefits could include a 24 hour bonus to AC, or to to-hit; Leaders could give a morale bonus to the party members that witness their amazing prowess during this training ritual. An hour of deep, focused breathing could give the striker a bonus to their ranged attack or opportunity attack.
It wouldn't make sense to allow these rituals to exist on scrolls, of course. The idea of a scroll is that some of the arcane or divine power has been stored within the parchment. But a ritual book for martial adventurers doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Perhaps the idea of practice, meditation and deep breathing is planned more for a different power source, such as the ki power source hinted at for a future monk class. And I'm sure the psionicists will have rituals of the mind. In fact, it seems that as more power sources are introduced in further sourcebooks, the martial character is going to be left out more noticeably.
I've not really given any thought to cost, level, or anything else except for the end result for this proposed martial ritual.
Weapon Familiarity
You hone your primary weapon to perfection, making its keen blade an extension of yourself.
Level: 3
Category: Attack
Time: 1 hour
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 25gp
Market Price: 150gp
Key Skill: Athletics
You focus all of your training on one weapon you possess, getting a feel for every little nuance. For the ritual's duration, you get a +1 ritual bonus to attacks with this weapon only. This does not carry across to another weapon of its type; practicing with one longsword does not give this bonus when using any other. A new weapon may be chosen each time this ritual is performed, but you lose any Weapon Familiarity you previously had when you perform this ritual.
Rituals were definitely a good move. The long casting time and occasional utility of certain spells in 3rd edition meant that they were something that you only memorized (as a cleric or wizard) if you really knew you were going to use them, and often led to delays in adventuring when you had to rest to get that one utility spell you needed. Sorcerers were pretty much left out of the whole deal, not wanting to waste on of their precious slots on an occasional spell. Granted, scrolls were possible, but who thought ahead for those?
I was bit disappointed, though, that the rituals are being restricted to the arcane and divine powers. With the idea of power sources being stretched across all classes, it seems unfair that those with martial powers are denied rituals.
At first I thought that perhaps it was to let the "spellcasters" keep themselves special from the brawlers, but the role is supposed to dictate how the character contributes to the party, not restrictions because of your career choice.
Why couldn't fighters have rituals? Some sort of meditation, or calisthenic routine, or focused weapon practice? Benefits could include a 24 hour bonus to AC, or to to-hit; Leaders could give a morale bonus to the party members that witness their amazing prowess during this training ritual. An hour of deep, focused breathing could give the striker a bonus to their ranged attack or opportunity attack.
It wouldn't make sense to allow these rituals to exist on scrolls, of course. The idea of a scroll is that some of the arcane or divine power has been stored within the parchment. But a ritual book for martial adventurers doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Perhaps the idea of practice, meditation and deep breathing is planned more for a different power source, such as the ki power source hinted at for a future monk class. And I'm sure the psionicists will have rituals of the mind. In fact, it seems that as more power sources are introduced in further sourcebooks, the martial character is going to be left out more noticeably.
I've not really given any thought to cost, level, or anything else except for the end result for this proposed martial ritual.
Weapon Familiarity
You hone your primary weapon to perfection, making its keen blade an extension of yourself.
Level: 3
Category: Attack
Time: 1 hour
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 25gp
Market Price: 150gp
Key Skill: Athletics
You focus all of your training on one weapon you possess, getting a feel for every little nuance. For the ritual's duration, you get a +1 ritual bonus to attacks with this weapon only. This does not carry across to another weapon of its type; practicing with one longsword does not give this bonus when using any other. A new weapon may be chosen each time this ritual is performed, but you lose any Weapon Familiarity you previously had when you perform this ritual.
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