Here are Dark Sun characters, including Mul and Thri-Kreen, for the D&D Encounters:
dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/da...
Another poster, DharmaTel, posted it elsewhere, commenting on the amusing discrepancy between the visual description in the text versus the artwork.
Any comments on racial mechanics?
Anybody know about this? Dark Sun characters? Official?
Here are Dark Sun characters, including Mul and Thri-Kreen, for the D&D Encounters:
dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/da...
Another poster, DharmaTel, posted it elsewhere, commenting on the amusing discrepancy between the visual description in the text versus the artwork.
Any comments on racial mechanics?
Old news. ;)
Those were spoiled about two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure that the art and the character descritpions were developed in isolation, as none of the characters match their descriptions. ;)
The new Mul racial is waaaaaaaay better than the one that was spoiled at the D&D Experience in January, and the Thri Kreen racials are the same. It looks like they figured out through playtest that the previous Mul racial was useless unless your whole party was made up of Muls.
As for comments on racial mechanics, I'm assuming that Incredible Toughness is the Mul racial power, and I like it, and I'm assuming that Thri-Kreen Claws is the Thri-Kreen racial powers, and it's terrible. Why is it a standard action and not a minor action like almost every other racial attack power? I was hoping that they would have learned their lesson from the Minotaur, but apparently not...
Also, since this is old, I'm assuming that somebody has done the math to see if Thri-Kreen have a PHB3-like ability score options other than the previously known DEX/WIS? We already knew that the Mul was going to get CON//STR/WIS...
When did this happen, and how did I miss it? O___o
The character sheets linked above were sent out with the D&D Encounter kits for the Summer season, which is starting in my area on Wednesday (here's hoping I can find a spot on a table).
If you check the Dark Sun forum a few boards down, there should be a knowledge base thread which links to the Dark Sun character sheets from the D&D Experience event that happened in January.
Lots of juiciness to be found there, and it all makes me impatient for August to get here already so I can get my Dark Sun Campaign going. :D
As for comments on racial mechanics, I'm assuming that Incredible Toughness is the Mul racial power, and I like it, and I'm assuming that Thri-Kreen Claws is the Thri-Kreen racial powers, and it's terrible. Why is it a standard action and not a minor action like almost every other racial attack power? I was hoping that they would have learned their lesson from the Minotaur, but apparently not...
Yep, the Mul racial ability used to be that they could go 72 hours on 6 hours of rest, which didn't mean anything since, if the Mul wanted to recharge his Daily powers and Healing Surges, he needed to sleep when the rest of the party did. Having a day that was essentially 48 hours longer than the rest of the party was pointless.
Thri Kreen, in addition to the claw attack which can hit multiple targets, also have increased jumping ability, the ability to draw or stow as a free action, and a reduced rest time. It is also possible that the card is in error, and that it is supposed to be a minor action. Its not like they haven't made (glaring) errors on pregenerated characters before. ;)
Also, since this is old, I'm assuming that somebody has done the math to see if Thri-Kreen have a PHB3-like ability score options other than the previously known DEX/WIS? We already knew that the Mul was going to get CON//STR/WIS...
Comparing the two sets of character sheets, I'm more inclined to think that the Mul is Str & Con / Dex. Both of the Thri Kreen characters seem to be benefiting from Con and Wis, so it is hard to guess the floating stat.
Yep, the Mul racial ability used to be that they could go 72 hours on 6 hours of rest, which didn't mean anything since, if the Mul wanted to recharge his Daily powers and Healing Surges, he needed to sleep when the rest of the party did. Having a day that was essentially 48 hours longer than the rest of the party was pointless.
I remember that, but is everybody really sure that it's gone? I mean, the sheets do say that they don't include everything, and it's perfectly possible that the ability is still there there as one of those useless little flavor features like Trance.
Thri Kreen, in addition to the claw attack which can hit multiple targets, also have increased jumping ability, the ability to draw or stow as a free action, and a reduced rest time. It is also possible that the card is in error, and that it is supposed to be a minor action. Its not like they haven't made (glaring) errors on pregenerated characters before. ;)
The increased jumping ability is new, I believe, and I welcome it, but we'd actually already seen the racial power, and I'm pretty sure that it was a minor action last time. The only changes seem to be that now it deals additional damage for each target but takes a standard action, which is lame. The power would be totally fine and balanced as a minor action.
Also, did Multiple Arms used to be limited to a weapon? Because I don't think that it was, and that would be lame too. At least include implements as well...
Both of the Thri Kreen characters seem to be benefiting from Con and Wis, so it is hard to guess the floating stat.
CON? Really? I'm almost certain that the first one had been determined to be DEX/WIS...
Also, sorry for editing so much, I do that sometimes without realizing that people are already responding. =P
I remember that, but is everybody really sure that it's gone? I mean, the sheets do say that they don't include everything, and it's perfectly possible that the ability is still there there as one of those useless little flavor features like Trance.
If your DM never has anybody try to sneak up on the party when they sleep, Trance and like abilities are fluff, but having your regular Passive Perception while you are supposed to be sleeping can be darned useful if you dont like suprises in the middle of the night.
The increased jumping ability is new, I believe, and I welcome it, but we'd actually already seen the racial power, and I'm pretty sure that it was a minor action last time. The only changes seem to be that now it deals additional damage for each target but takes a standard action, which is lame. The power would be totally fine and balanced as a minor action.
The original was a Minor, with higher accuracy, lower base damage, and it still did the same extra damage for multiple targets. I'm inclined to think the Pre gen cards have a mistake on them, and that the ability in the final edit is also a minor.
CON? Really? I'm almost certain that the first one had been determined to be DEX/WIS...
Just going off of the highest ability scores. The Shaman has 20 Wisdom and 14 Con and 12 Dex. The Battlemind has 20 Con, 16 Wis, and 12 Dex. They also both have a single score at 11 (Int for the Shaman, Cha for the Battlemind), so I'm not sure about the point buy they used. I do remember reading that the math was off for several of the D&D Experience characters, so numbers derived from them should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Also, sorry for editing so much, I do that sometimes without realizing that people are already responding. =P
No worries. If I recall my forum posting ettiquete correctly, one is supposed to edit one's posts rather than make a new post if no one has posted after you yet, as it cuts down on the clutter.
If your DM never has anybody try to sneak up on the party when they sleep, Trance and like abilities are fluff, but having your regular Passive Perception while you are supposed to be sleeping can be darned useful if you dont like suprises in the middle of the night.
Meh, whenever I play in a party where nobody has an ability like Trance, we just sleep in shifts.
If I recall my forum posting ettiquete correctly, one is supposed to edit one's posts rather than make a new post if no one has posted after you yet, as it cuts down on the clutter.
Yeah, but I should put more thought into each of my posts before actually posting them so I can make sure that I've said everything that I want to say to avoid such confusions to begin with. >_<
*chuckle*
to avoid such confusions to begin with.
"to avoid such confusions to being with."
*chuckle*
to avoid such confusions to begin with.
; __ ;
Meh, whenever I play in a party where nobody has an ability like Trance, we just sleep in shifts.
Even when you're at the inn in town? Or any other place where your characters would logically expect their sleeping there to be safe and secure?
So, basically, you're saying an ability is useless because your group metagames to make it useless?
Do you all sleep in your armour at the inn too?
Even when you're at the inn in town? Or any other place where your characters would logically expect their sleeping there to be safe and secure?
No, but in those situations, characters that have Trace or whatever else aren't necessarily in the same place as the rest of the party. They're away doing stuff because they're awake, so in those situations, it doesn't matter one way or the other whether anybody in the party can Trance. Heck, in town, there's no garuntee that the entire party will sleep in the same place anyways or even all decide to go to sleep at the same time to begin with even if they do all need sleep.
So, basically, you're saying an ability is useless because your group metagames to make it useless?
What metagaming? It's perfectly logical that at least one character should always keep watch for the night if the party is out in the dangerous wilderness or in the middle of a monster-infested dungeon. If one party member doesn't need to sleep, that's certainly convenient from a role-playing perspective, yes, but if everybody requires sleep, then it only makes good sense that the party should sleep in shifts. There's no metagaming here. As a matter of fact, I think that if nobody in a party can Trance and they decide to all go to sleep at the same time in a monster-infested dungons or dangerous wilderness environment with nobody to keep watch, then they they're all incredibly stupid and deserve to die horribly in their sleep for their incredible stupidity.
Is the feature totally useless? Not totally. I guess that in some campaigns the hours that you save from not needing to sleep in shifts might matter, but I've never played in any such campaign, and I find that campaigns in general where the DM is looking to **** everybody over in their sleep aren't very common to begin with (and for good reason).
All I'm saying is that they're fluff abilities that have little if any impact on whether the race is balanced or not. Pick any race with Trance and remove it. That race is still mechanically balanced. Pick any race without Trance and add it. That race is still mechanically balanced. It's just not a big deal. It's like origin keywords or racial military weapon proficiencies. They're mostly just there for flavor, and when they do provide a mechanical benefit, it's normally minor at best. The Mul feature (I think that it was called "Tireless"?) sounded like such an ability to me.
Also, since this is old, I'm assuming that somebody has done the math to see if Thri-Kreen have a PHB3-like ability score options other than the previously known DEX/WIS? We already knew that the Mul was going to get CON//STR/WIS...
Comparing the two sets of character sheets, I'm more inclined to think that the Mul is Str & Con / Dex. Both of the Thri Kreen characters seem to be benefiting from Con and Wis, so it is hard to guess the floating stat.
Muls have been confirmed by WotC itself as Con +Str/Wis for a few months now - whenever the expo with the initial Dark Sun characters was. One of the people at the seminar flat out said Con +Str/Wis. Thri-kreen were reversed engineered to be Dex + Wis, with the third boost uncertain. The new Thri-kreen character, while a different class and stat array, is still the same.
22 point buy:
Str 10 (10 + 0) = 0
Con 18 (18 + 0) = 16
Dex 12 (10 + 2) = 0
Int 8 (8 + 0) = 0
Wis 16 (14 +2) = 5
Cha 11 (11 +0) = 1
16 + 5 + 1 = 22
So Kreen are Dex + Wis. Third stat unknown, static stat unknown.
Do you all sleep in your armour at the inn too?
Who wouldn't? There's no penalty anymore.
Just like Boy Scouts... Always be prepared.Another poster, DharmaTel, posted it elsewhere, commenting on the amusing discrepancy between the visual description in the text versus the artwork.
Thank you. I take great pride in pointing out the flaws in other people's work. ;)
Thank you. I take great pride in pointing out the flaws in other people's work. ;)
As do most forumgoers. It's the internet passtime.
As for the Thri-Kreen's ability scores, I'm gonna bet +Dex, +Str/Wis. If only because we need more Str/Dex races. I waaant it.