Daily Dram: Bee Stings

Hael Thornweaver stood among the aspen, surveying the goblins encamped in the clearing.  This latest foray of the Split-tongue clan would be turned back, as always.  With the signal given, Hael and the others of his order began sending needles streaking from their fingertips.  By the time the sides joined in melee, the goblins had their numbers reduced by almost a third.

The Concentration of Magic

Henrik raised his hand to his eyes to try to give shade to them.  For the last several minutes, the air had a brightness and haze to it that belonged on a summer's midday, not the wet and chill spring morning they were enduring.  Indeed, it felt as if they were at sea as the prairie's grasses undulated around them.  And just as at sea, they kept their eyes up searching for a tower that might provide the guidance that would save their lives.... 

Daily Dram: Lansig Marble

A tale of caution concerning a fate much worse than quicksand...

Daily Dram: Elma's Crook

A tale of the shepherd's crook used by a human shepherd near the Greyspine Mountains...

Daily Dram: Elma Driviner

Among a copse of trees below the Greyspine mountains, there is a stone house with wisps of smoke snaking upwards. It is the home of Elma Driviner...

Daily Dram: Stone Speaker

Among the dwarves of the Grayspine Mountains, some are called to be Stone Speakers. These clerics tend to the spiritual needs of not only their clan, but also the Mountain itself...

Daily Dram: Krojen

If you travel to the foothills of the Greyspine Mountains, those that live there will tell you stories of stone wolves that stalk the mountain forests...

Lessons in "Level 0" Sessions

Due to the absence of a few players I chose to try a “Level 0” adventure based in the same town as the main story and heroes.  I enjoy roleplaying and often the best experiences come from the situations with the least rules.  Players having to imagine and be creative are preferred to players who look at a sheet of paper for their two or five word answer to a problem.  By limiting what is written on that sheet of paper, I hoped to encourage players who could engage themselves and not rely on me or the system to get them to “buy in”.

Say yes to the Runes, no to the Prestige

As I explained previously, I do not agree with the introduction of prestige classes in the 5th Edition system.  The added complexity of a prestige class with the various requirements that make character creation builds that must be anticipated from level 1 is something that I would want to avoid in the 5th Edition system.

Here is my specific analysis of the Rune Magic and Rune Scribe Unearthed Arcana, with a proposition of how to change such a great magic and class concept into working with the existing 5th Edition system.  Specifically, I believe this class would function exceptionally as an Archetype of the Wizard class, as well as additional Feats for other Wizards or those who do not wish to multiclass.

Just say NO! to Prestige Classes in 5th Edition.

This week WotC released another Unearthed Arcana with the subject of Rune Magic and specifically, the Rune Scribe as a prestige class (PDF).

My initial reaction was shock and disbelief that they would actually bring up the concept of prestige classes returning to 5th Edition.  Prior to the release of 5th Edition, during the play test, I had heard explanations of the overall design philosophy was to learn from the problems of the past editions and not to repeat them.  One of these problems that were named was the "Bloat" from 3.x Editions that particularly arose from prestige classes.  The amount of numerous book surfing, and extensive planning necessary for character progression really took away the organic character development that followed the story of the campaign.  The solution that was presented in 5th Edition was the "Archetype" system.  Having a single class, but multiple iterations that branched upward and outward.  This system allowed for simple progression and minimized the chaos of "Frankenstein-ing"multiple classes to get a unique character concept.  Also the updating of Feats to become fewer but MUCH strong and flavorful allowed for the unique crafting of numerous characters all within a single class structure.

Part of the original "restrictions" were RP based "must find object/teacher" but were mostly ignored by the players and thus guiltily pressure the DM to not deny them the character that they want to build, thus making the DM have to build all the requirements needed for this player into the story.  I'm not one to say the DM is an dictator, I subscribe to the "co-storyteller" school of thought, but at the end of the day, it is the DM that shoulders main onus in this situation.  Also there is the party parity concern that players who have access to more books/sources have the potential to skew the power balance among the others.  Finally, the greatest burden is placed on the developers because suddenly balancing has opened Pandora's Box.  Every future class will have to be balanced with every other possible combination.  Every prestige class that is built for a class, race, skill, country, will then have to be given equivalents for every other class, race, skill, and country.  All having to be attempted to balanced.  It is a VERY dangerous spiral of side effects.  The current answer provided to players of the game is to place such unique design requests in the hands of the DM and let them work in tandem with their player(s) to craft exactly what they want in that specific microcosm.  This allows for a simple solution to DM, player, developer, with all being happy.

With all that being said, the Rune Magic system and class concept is very interesting to me and I will attempt to take this information and present it as an option without worrying about the stigma or plethora of problems that prestige classes present.

Double or Nothing

The smell of bacon wafting up the stairs woke me instantly. Walking over to the water basin I splashed water on the face and looked into the mirror. I always had a good looking face. Thank Tymora for letting me keep it that way.

Boots of the Many Paths

A tale of the boots worn by a gnome ranger in the Icewind Dale region...

Boots of Seldarine's Hand

A tale of boots that can sometimes be found still in the Icewind Dale region...

Messenger of Sseth

A tale of the bow found deep in the roots of the Spine of the World near Icewind Dale by a human ranger...

The Giving Star

The tale told in taverns around Icewind Dale about the morningstar crafted by a necromancer of Cormyr...

Charged Battle Axe of Talos

A tale of the axe swung by a faithful of Talos in the Icewind Dale region...

The Celebrant's Blade

A tale of a beautiful axe crafted by master smith Silverhand, south of the Icewind Dale region...

IWD 5.0 - Prologue

Our tale begins here, in the quiet fishing village of Easthaven.

One of the so-called Ten Towns of Icewind Dale, the tiny community is hardly a town but rather a collection of ramshackle huts crowded together upon the icy shores of Lac Dinneshere. Here, within a dimly lit tavern, a group of travelers sit huddles around a table, swapping tales and making grand plans for the future, completely unaware of the part they are to play in the events that are about to unfold.

IWD 5.0 - Lore and Stories (Jerrod's Stone)

A tale of sacrifice and faith, of a shaman of Tempos sacrificing himself for the many.

In the lands north of the Spine of the World, the tribes of the Reghedmen and Uthgardt lived freely and fiercely independent. Ann archmage named Arakon attacked Icewind Dale seeing this fractured land as a great opportunity to establish his power. The fractured barbarians were destroyed in battle after battle. Eventually a warrior and shaman of Tempos, the barbarian god of battle, came forward and gathered the clans into an unified force.

Patriot Helm

A tale told about the helm that was worn by Danel Silverfrost by a traveler to Icewind Dale...