Hierophant Druids

In case you’re one of those people that think that the Essentials line divided classes pre-and-post release well, this article is geared for both druids and sentinels, as indicated by the Player’s Handbook 2 and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms stamps of approval. So, ha. You know, if they’re going to put little icons in the article that denote which book they pertain to, they could at least make them not so blurry/more stylish.

The article is kind of a throwback to 2nd Edition, in which you could only advance to a certain level before you had to start offing other druids of your level, as there could be only a set number of a given level. Mostly, it’s about an organization that tries to blend primal magic with elemental forces, something that most druids don’t like due to the Primordials’ prior agenda of keeping the world in a constant state of elemental flux.

The article also provides a couple new evocations, intended as benefits for Hierophant members, but technically anyone can pick them up. Unfortunately, you have to be at least 22nd level, which severely limits the scope.

• Elemental passage is a 22nd-level daily utility that lets you vanish, presumably into the Elemental Chaos, and reappear when your turn starts. When you return, there are four different effects that can occur, each tied with an element: push, pull, create difficult terrain around you, or impose fire vulnerability. It’s a standard action to use, which is a turn-off.
• Summon elemental warrior is a 25th-level daily attack that, as the name implies, lets you summon an elemental. The exact element is up to you, and there are four stat blocks to choose from. They all mark targets that they hit (along with a kicker effect, like ongoing damage or forced movement), and have an opportunity action that works on marked creatures. About what I’d expect.

EDIT: A buddy of mine pointed out that the evocations have the Elemental keyword (and Primal). Does this mean that Wizards is considering a class with the Elemental power source, or is this just a keyword that serves to globally encompass the four classic elements (instead of printing out a bunch of keywords). Frankly, I don’t see how much different an Elemental class could be, especially considering that wizards can summon elementals, and chaos sorcerers tap into it a bit as well.

And to wrap things up, the master hierophant epic destiny. I think the coolest part is the Immortality part: you eventually leave the world, drift through the Astral Sea, and become a new world. It’s kind of like radiant child, but for druids instead of warlocks…and a planet instead of a star. I could see this being used for an adventure hook, where the players have to explore the Astral Sea for a new world forged from the body of an ancient druid. Hell, you could use this as the basis for having a solar system, as the worlds don’t have to look like our own.

• Level 21: You gain a Wisdom bonus, as well as a bonus to something else.
• Level 24: You are immune to disease, stop aging, and can enter suspended animation once per encounter, during which you gain regeneration and make saves when you turn starts and ends. The regen only works while bloodied, and it renders you unconscious. On the plus side, you can end it when your turn also ends.
• Level 26: You gain elemental transmogrification, which makes you a Huge elemental with a variable benefit based on the element you choose.
• Level 30: You can use two options from elemental transmogrification, and once per day if you get dropped below 1 hit point, you immediately regain a shitload of them.

The article has some nice inspiration for campaigns of any level, but the provided crunch is intended entirely for epic-tier play, which reduces its utility. Personally, I’d like to see elemental evocations for a wider level spread, allowing players to be Hierophants from a lower level. Great for druid players approaching epic tier, also good for DMs.

Star Pact Hexblades

I’d almost completely overlooked this addition to the hexblade pact choices, available before Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom was supposed to be in stores. I’m not complaining, as the star pact has always been my favorite anyway. The article provides some interesting flavor as to the nature(s) of stars and a hexblade’s relationship to them, if any. One thing of particular note is that under the races section, shades get quite a bit of mention, including confirmation that they will be in Heroes of Shadow. A nifty not-quite-easter egg.

The rest of the article has a sidebar on the Revelations of Melech, a list of known stars and qualities, in addition to new class features. Unfortunately there are no extra powers (or feats) for levels where you would get to pick something, so hopefully your DM will let you peruse Player’s Handbook and/or Arcane Power for thematic options. Most of the class features allow you to deal radiant and/or psychic damage with some blind kickers here and there, and the summons let you conjure up an invisible entity that eats thoughts or an emotion sapping void. I like the neither are really described (thought the way walker is mentioned as being vaguely humanoid), as it better invokes a Lovecraftian flavor.

Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms Review

I hit up my not-so local store and picked up Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Monster Vault, and a couple Gamma World booster packs since Famine at Far-go wasn’t out despite ads being plastered all over the D&D sit. Since I want to do a video review of Monster Vault I’m going to tackle Forgotten Kingdoms first.

The second (and final) player book from the Essentials line, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms is, like Player’s Handbook and Heroes of the Fallen Lands, a stand-alone deal. It’s virtually a direct copy of Fallen Lands, as information is written in the same friendly style and even dispensed in the same order page-by-page for the first three chapters, which explain the rules to you and informs you about the significance of your decisions, culminating in an analysis of power structure. Additionally, the chapters on skills and equipment are likewise almost the same, though feats has a few new entries to account for new classes and races.

Really, the main difference is in the non-standard classes and races. Instead of fighters you get cavaliers, sentinels instead of clerics, drow instead of elves, tieflings instead of eladrin, etc. If you want a more detailed review on other chapters, check out my review of Heroes of the Fallen Lands. Actually, you might want to read it if you haven’t and then come back.

Chapter 4 features five classes based on previous classes with a twist: sentinel (druid), cavalier (paladin), hunter (ranger), scout (again, ranger), and hexblade (warlock). As before there’s plenty of paragraphs explaining the concept behind the class, key ability scores, ideal races (with information as why that race might choose that class), skill selection, and more. As per Essential’s standard they all follow a fairly linear path of class feature accrual, and unfortunately when you get the chance to pick something your options are severely limited (especially if you are trying to do an Essentials-only campaign). This isn’t something that will bother new players a lot, but when I’m used to getting upwards of 10 choices, seeing two or three is disappointing to say the least.

To be clear, I don’t think that the classes are bad, just restrictive. I understand that having fewer meaningful choices is better than a dearth of shitty ones, but when trying to maintain a theme it helps to have two or more to differentiate. Despite this I’m definitely going to give the hexblade a shot, which is a melee-oriented warlock that gets a slightly modified eldritch blast, and can conjure up different arcane weaponry depending on their pact (fey or infernal, though star is coming this month). A good chunk of your class features hinge on your pact, and though utilities and dailies are somewhat more flexible there’s only like, one thematic choice on the list. It still looks like the most appealing class to me, since you can summon minions, and I like conjuring up devils to boss around.

Chapter 5 has six races; dragonborn, drow, half-elf, half-orc, human, and tiefling. Again, as in Fallen Lands each race gets several pages of exposition on origins, personalities, physical qualities, role-playing tips, etc. Mechanically they, for the most part, remain the same as their original incarnations with the exception that instead of getting two set ability score bonuses, they can pick a secondary one from two others (a trend started in Player’s Handbook 3). A few races get some additional modification: half-elves can opt for knack for success if they don’t like their dilettante options, and drow now have to pick between cloud of darkness or darkfire. Sucks for them.

As with Heroes of the Fallen Lands, this book is not a substitute for 4th Edition, and probably not a good enough substitute for Player’s Handbook since most people are used to seeing human, elves, dwarves, fighters, wizards, etc in their rulebooks. That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book. On the contrary, it’s an excellent supplement for those that prefer how Essentials is doing things. If you like 4th Edition, I’d get it if you really want to see what they did with the hexblade and hunter (4E’s first ever official martial controller), and/or want to check out the new feats (some of them are really badass).

Now to break open Monster Vault.

Meet The Hexblade

The 3rd Edition hexblade sucked, to say the least. From what I recall, it was a hybrid class that attempted to mix martial swordplay with a pittance of arcane practice to create a sub-par fusion of incompetence. It’s key ability was to impose a generic curse upon an opponent, that would penalize them in some fashion for baaasically the entire battle.

This hexblade is a melee-oriented arcane striker that comes with a built-in pact weapon, that she can form out of raw, arcane energy.  They’re proficient with chainmail, can use all simple and military melee weapons (and simple ranged if you give two fucks), in addition to rods and wands. All of the 1st-level infernal stuff is previewed with the exception of daily spells, which is fine because I prefer devils to faeries anyway.

• This time around, eldritch bolt is the new blast. It’s still keyed to Charisma and deals the same damage, but its force instead of untyped. Infernal hexblades can conjure the blade of annihilation, which aside from sounding badass, is a heavy blade that gets +2 to attack and deals 1d12 damage. The best part? It’s one-handed.
• Like warlock pacts you get an attack based on your pact, in this case soul eater, which is a Charisma-based melee attack that deals necrotic damage and gives you a bonus on the next attack you make against the same critter.
• There’s also a previewed encounter spell, blazing doom of the void. It’s also Charisma based, but deals double-weapon damage and gives you a hefty damage bonus against the next attack you make.
• Infernal Pact Reward grants you a bonus to all damage rolls equal to your Constitution modifier.
• The last class feature previewed is level nine’s Summon Warlock’s Ally, which in the case of infernal hexblades is a spined devil lackey that grants a bonus to Intimidate checks and can make ranged attacks with its quills. I can’t tell if its a daily or what, but it might be a similar to a familiar or spirit companion. 

Personally I’d like to see a star pact hexblade, but this is pretty damned cool.

Meet The Scout

An Essentials take of the melee ranger, the scout is a martial/primal hybrid that can either emphasize swords or axes, gaining a bonus to accuracy or damage respectively. Like rangers, scouts can use their Dexterity modifier for attack and damage with their melee basic attacks, and make a free attack once per round when they hit with one thanks to dual weapon attack. Unlike rangers, they can’t use one-handed weapons in both hands, having to instead rely on weapons with the Off Hand property.

They have at-will stances, referred to as aspects, that function as stance and seem to provide multiple benefits. For example, aspect of the cunning fox causes you to take half damage and let’s you shift 2 squares whenever you hit or miss with attacks. Another, aspect of the charging ram, greatly enhances your charge attacks; you ignore opportunity attacks while moving, can prone targets that you hit, and you gain a damage bonus. There’s a bunch of other aspects listed, but not hard mechanics.

The other previewed class feature is power strike, which does what it always does. As with the sentinel and hunter, wilderness knacks doesn’t get any elaboration.