The Shugenja operates by asking the elemental spirits to perform tasks for them. Their power is not their own, it is not something that comes from within. Their power is due to their relationship with the spirits. In 4E, that is either Primal or Elemental.
The Wu Jen operates by manipulating the elements through rituals, and they keep this power by living without breaking taboos. Again, they are commanding the elements of the world, but they do it without having a religious relationship with the elements; no spirits are involved, it is just ritual over the elements. In 4E, that is either Arcane or Elemental.
Neither has ever been described as a Ki class. Period.
*plop!*
then Ki died.
wu-jen and the other will likely be elemental
Neither has ever been described as a Ki class. Period.
Dumb people assumed Ki = East Asian Power Source.
So far, no classes have been moved from divine or arcane into another power source. Yes, there were not official power sources in 3E, but there sure as heck were "divine casters" and "arcane casters".
.... Druid? Barbarian?
Shugenja, if it comes, will probably be Primal now, especially given the news today.
.... Druid? Barbarian?
Shugenja, if it comes, will probably be Primal now, especially given the news today.
Druids were always slightly different than Clerics; so you caught me, I was wrong as they were divine casters. I forget that my lumping of Druids and Rangers into "nature casters" was my own.
What was the news today?
Druids were always slightly different than Clerics; so you caught me, I was wrong as they were divine casters. I forget that my lumping of Druids and Rangers into "nature casters" was my own.
What was the news today?
That's good to know. I'm not happy about more divine and primal classes; I would have rather seen 2 completed power sources (which would have let them release two splat books that year), but whatever.
Neither has ever been described as a Ki class.
Well, the Des&Dev Monk article does mention the idea. It appears to have been briefly considered but then rejected. Presumably this happened pretty early on in the design process.
LOL. I got that email, but the image did not load properly. Oops.
That's good to know. I'm not happy about more divine and primal classes; I would have rather seen 2 completed power sources (which would have let them release two splat books that year), but whatever.
I wouldn't be surprised if we only see 1 more of each for Divine and Primal, or Divine and Primal may still be placeholder text (I seem to recall the early PH2 art had different power sources listed than what ended up on the final cover and in the book), though with the annoucement that over 100 pages of the book will be made available to DDi subscribers starting in July until it's release in March 2010 it's not likely to change power source content.
I think we'll see 4-5 Psionic classes though. As for why light on classes? We'll have the hybrid classes in PH3 and that means a writeup for each hybrid class from all sources up to that point: PH1, PH2, EPG, FRPG, as well as the PH3 classes. So if they do 8 in PH3 that'd be almost 30 hybrid classes to write up at once.
They're also putting out more than 2 X Power books per year now. They've already talked about Martial Power 2 as well as having Arcane Power, Divine Power, and Primal Power (plus safe bet we'll see Psionic Power next year) which can each have sequels. I think we'll see as many X Power books as they can create enough content for each year, though no more than one of each Power Source per year.
Well, the Des&Dev Monk article does mention the idea. It appears to have been briefly considered but then rejected. Presumably this happened pretty early on in the design process.
Yeah, the designers were briefly dumb that way. I still think it was exceedingly stupid to define Ki at the start of the design process as "The Asian Power Source" and then dump it for being "The Asian Power Source". Sheesh.