Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:45 am
Fix'd.
Paizo actually tried this early on during the first year or so of Pathfinder with Achievement Feats. But instead of automatically getting the feat upon completion of the prerequisites like you would in a video game, said prerequisites were dumb "kill XX enemy of type X" or "heal a total of X damage via channeling positive energy" which would be a book-keeping nightmare for GMs. And then you'd still have to take the feat in question with a feat slot.Frank Trollman wrote:What they really should have done is give out a lot more feats, but also give them out in the middle of the adventures. So characters would get Altitude Adaptation during the high altitude adventure so that they could show off their toys in a way that they would actually matter.
I'm reminded of that Northlands Saga campaign setting/adventure path I reviewed, which at the very least tried to make the various deities and religious traditions notably different and grouped by theme. You had not-Sami elves who forswore worship of all gods and instead made pacts with spirits they could perceive and control (druidism). And you had who I believe are not-Celtics who believe that all magic is holy regardless of the source and build their communities around enchanted tree stumps which they claim house their gods. While the dominant not-Nordic culture had priesthood as a part-time thing where the gods may grant power on a case-by-case basis to mortals they deem worthy and the locals contextualized is as akin to a jarl and huscarl's bond.* Although there were still standard "evil demon deities" and "druids who live in the wilds," it was very clear that the various societies approached divine magic differently and their local pantheons in question had clear impressions on the shaping of their culture.The only basic class that gets more than an acknowledgment or a placeholder where an undeveloped Prestige Class might have been is the Cleric. And that's because every Cleric gets to be a prophet of some specific god and get some minor adjustments to their power set. This book has its own set of nine gods for its own pantheon. Some of them had been previously used in other D&D books (including one that got into D&D books through being a Norse god), and three of them were made up by James Jacobs for the lulz. In any case, none of this shit matters because you don't care about these fantasy nordic religions. They aren't as interesting as real world nordic religions and there isn't enough meat here to do anything with. If you step into a shrine to one of these guys, what does it look like? What calendar do they use? What days do they drink reindeer piss on? I don't know. James Jacobs cared enough to write two and a half pages of this drivel, but not enough to flesh these fantasy religions into a fantasy culture. And because of that, it never went anywhere or meant anything to anyone.
From a pure min/max standpoint they aren't bad. It's exactly like a regular Elf except you have a penalty to Charisma instead of Constitution. Since Charisma is a dump stat for a lot of characters and Constitution is a dump stat for almost nobody, it's a good choice. Nobody wants to trade their Gnomish ability to speak with burrowing animals with the ability to speak with Arctic mammals. By the time the ability to speak with polar bears was remotely relevant you'd be high enough level to simply do that.Orca wrote:I have actually seen someone play a snow elf. Probably because despite the terribad illustrations in this book it's not hard to imagine a sexy snow elf adventurer. The rest...never.
The fun part about this is, of course, it doesn't specify anything else except "icy surface." Does that mean you can move normally through sleet storm? I guess! Does it mean you can use them with Wall Runner and skate on walls of ice and frozen waterfalls and shit? Probably!Skates: Skates allow full movement across icy surfaces for
anyone with at least 5 ranks of Balance, but cannot be used
at all on any other terrain.
Snow Elf also doesn't have a CON penalty. That's nice if you're planning on taking a prestige class/class feature that requires you to be an elf.Orca wrote:I have actually seen someone play a snow elf. Probably because despite the terribad illustrations in this book it's not hard to imagine a sexy snow elf adventurer. The rest...never.
One of the things I legit love about 3.5 is that I still learn new things about it from time to time, despite having played the game for 5 years.K wrote: For example, Snowcasting lets you turn any spell into the Cold subtype. This is normally not a interesting thing, even with the +1 caster level if you do it to a spell that already was Cold Subtype.
But, it gets fun when you look at Blue Ice. Armor made from blue ice has no caster failure with Cold Subtype spells, so you took Snowcasting and just walked around as a Wizard wearing full plate with a Tower Shield around 7th or 8th level when you could afford it. Blue Ice also acts as a refrigerator, so a small box in your Handy Haversack provides all the fresh ice you need for the feat.
Now I know this is not high quality cheese, but to an arcane caster player the ability to get on the magic armor train was very attractive to a class that became auto-hit very soon in their career without magic armor.
One of the coolest combos I've seen with Fimbulwinter is to combine it with Fell Drain and create a months blizzard that turns anyone unfortunate enough to be inside of it into Wights.K wrote:Also, I think the spells in this book deserve a little more credit. Ice Castle and Fimbulwinter are cool.
Eh. Like a lot of things D&D, it's not that you can't do X, it's just that the way to do X is never optimal or even good. How do you build a magical ice fortress? Well, there are options. There are just never good options. Are you ever going to build an ice fortress as a player character? Probably fucking not. Ice fortresses are a thing mostly for NPCs, who don't have to consider the logistics. Fimbulwinter is an 8th/9th level spell. It is worth being an 8th level spell? At 8th level you can use greater planar binding and summon noble djinn to grant multiple wishes.K wrote: Also, I think the spells in this book deserve a little more credit. Ice Castle and Fimbulwinter are cool. Building an ice fortress out of spells is what I want to do as an ice-caster, and honestly the game is poorer for not going into this shit more often. That there is a spell that makes ice boats is just cool.
When you're tired of writing mechanics, that's the kind of ability you write.Master Smith (Ex): Midgard dwarves gain Craft Magic
Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, and Forge Ring as
bonus feats. They are considered to possess the prerequisites
necessary to craft any magic item of those types, even if they
do not otherwise meet the requirements or have the ability
to cast the necessary spells.
I am amused that D&D 3rd edition has the Yuki-onna not just in this book but also in Oriental Adventures.FrankTrollman wrote: There are a few monsters from German and Japanese lore, and actually several from Russian folk tales.
FrankTrollman wrote:Not all D&D monsters are winners. Some of them are straight goofy. Some of them seem like someone was playing mad libs.
When you're making genuinely new material, there are hits and misses. The Rimefire Eidolon is a miss. The Shivhad is... well... it's inexplicable. It's a crab with a lot of protruding mouths that wanders around on glaciers. It's like... what the actual fuck?
I just don't know.
I know what I'm having my players fight in the end game of our campaign.Ancient History wrote: The Shivhad is CR 21. Your game will never see it.
It can't fly and has no ranged attacks. It's got a cold aura but if you fly 65+ feet above its head it can't do a damn thing about it.Blicero wrote:Does the Shivhad have any ability to deal with flying dudes using ranged effects, or is it Tarrasque-equivalent in its vulnerabilities?
Maybe it could throw snowballs if someone figures out how that works.ColorBlindNinja61 wrote:It can't fly and has no ranged attacks. It's got a cold aura but if you fly 65+ feet above its head it can't do a damn thing about it.Blicero wrote:Does the Shivhad have any ability to deal with flying dudes using ranged effects, or is it Tarrasque-equivalent in its vulnerabilities?
It's basically a lamer Tarrasque.
Poor guy never could never fill the shoes of the Thing. XDColorBlindNinja61 wrote: It can't fly and has no ranged attacks. It's got a cold aura but if you fly 65+ feet above its head it can't do a damn thing about it.
It's basically a lamer Tarrasque.
Interestingly, d20 Modern's Menace Manual has a monster called a Star Doppelganger.Sir Aubergine wrote:Poor guy never could never fill the shoes of the Thing. XDColorBlindNinja61 wrote: It can't fly and has no ranged attacks. It's got a cold aura but if you fly 65+ feet above its head it can't do a damn thing about it.
It's basically a lamer Tarrasque.
No you're right I meant the body horror one from the movies. Shame the designers of Frostburn didn't go for something like the Star Doppelganger and not the spider+lamprey loser with no cool abilities.ColorBlindNinja61 wrote:Interestingly, d20 Modern's Menace Manual has a monster called a Star Doppelganger.
It's quite literally The Thing, right down to disguising itself as a Husky in its backstory.
Or did you mean the Thing from Fantastic Four?
Gotcha.Sir Aubergine wrote:No you're right I meant the body horror one from the movies. Shame the designers of Frostburn didn't go for something like the Star Doppelganger and not the spider+lamprey loser with no cool abilities.ColorBlindNinja61 wrote:Interestingly, d20 Modern's Menace Manual has a monster called a Star Doppelganger.
It's quite literally The Thing, right down to disguising itself as a Husky in its backstory.
Or did you mean the Thing from Fantastic Four?
There are three different statblocks for the Star Doppelganger. A medium one (CR 3), a Large one (CR 7) and a huge one (CR 10).The Adventurer's Almanac wrote:Oh, fuck, that looks amazing. The fact that someone actually statted up the Thing is far more interesting than anything in this book... even if I'm not certain how strong it is.
Goddammit, why write up an apocalyptic rape-monster if you remove the apocalyptic part?ColorBlindNinja61 wrote:It's a pretty complicated monster since it can mimic other lifeforms. The main limitations from keeping it from launching into crazy town is that it can only mimic a given creature once and it only lasts for 24 hours.
I'd assume to make it possible for the PCs to actually kill it. Or maybe to avoid ending up with something like Pun Pun.The Adventurer's Almanac wrote:Goddammit, why write up an apocalyptic rape-monster if you remove the apocalyptic part?ColorBlindNinja61 wrote:It's a pretty complicated monster since it can mimic other lifeforms. The main limitations from keeping it from launching into crazy town is that it can only mimic a given creature once and it only lasts for 24 hours.