Speaking Wuxia and Shao Lin - has anyone seen the previews for Fearless with Jet Li in it? Makes me wanna bust out all my kung fu movies and do a Once Upon a Time in China marathon.
'Cause seeing Jet Li kick ass never gets old.
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Cool. Now I gotta figure out what exactly a dzolob is. Prolly serpent people.
I tried to look it up for you, but aside from some folks who think they were alien visitors from The Sirius star system, all I got was some combination of "Dzolob", "obscure race", and "offenders". On every page I checked. Even the loony Syrian guys. Now I don't know who's plaigarizing who, but it's everywhere.
So, ah, yeah. Serpent-folk it is.
I did find a Gregorian-to-Mayan calendar converter--it's hard to decipher, as I'm pretty sure more and more now that the wonderous Mayan calendar was just made up from day to day, but I'm awesome enough to have been born on one of the five unlucky unnamed days of the year! Woohoo!
Check it out. Don't look at it too hard. The thing reads like a math class word problem.
http://www.michielb.nl/maya/calendar.html
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Mine's heathdandamyd@earthlink.net.
I'll check it out if I am able, but my computer won't let me do excel. My wife says it's loaded on there, but the thing didn't come with discs, so she doesn't have the security code.
But maybe I can turn it into a document somehow.
I've also been doing something along those lines longhand, because it helps me to kinda interact with the new rules.
I made a flow chart on the inside cover of Hordes of the Abyss of all the demon lords, and who hates who and all of that.
There's bubbles and arrows going everywhere.
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Some of the powers look like Wuxia or wizard stuff. But the Diamond Mind and Iron Heart stuff, after a cursory first reading anyway, looks to be within the realm of possibility.
I saw a shaolin monk on television do a hand stand on his index fingers. It's not levitation but I was astounded his phalanges didn't shatter.
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I figure in Sasserine, the crusaders of We-Jas and St. Cuthbert don't get along too well, all things considered.
There's prolly a couple dojos of warblades in the Champion's district, rubbing eachother the wrong way, challenging eachother in the arena--"my dojo's way is FAR SUPERIOR to your meagre way."
And the seeker organization probably has some swordsages, on the trail of...something...
Also, there's a general mistrust among the populace against martial adepts in general; their odd fighting techniques seem reminiscient of the Scarlet Brotherhood. Not to mention the Scarlet Brotherhood probably also has some martial adepts counted among its numbers.
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I'm planning on making my martial adepts a bit mysterious--there will be a (small, maybe a half-dozen, tops) group of warblades at the shrine to Kelanen; both the churches of St. Cuthbert and Wee Jas will have secretive crusader orders; and I think I'll throw a lone skilled swordsage into Shadowshore district, looking for a few good pupils.
I'm also planning on a small aventi presence of maybe 30 individuals (IMC, aventi are seafaring nomads, living aboard small clan-like fleets of ships; see the April '05 issue of National Geographic for the basis of this idea)--they'll prolly have a couple swordsages skilled in the Setting Sun discipline.
The Tiger Claw discipline will be the purview of the ancient Amedians; while some of the basic maneuvers may be accessible to any swordsage or warblade (some of the Kelanen cult are known to utilize this style), a character hoping to learn more advanced techniques will need to explore the lost temples of the Amedio Jungle and study the dilapidated wall-carvings of the ruined war temples there.
Desert Wind will be practiced primarily by the handful of Baklunish swordsages that might be found floating around Jeklea Bay and the Azure Sea. Rumor has it a privateer captain in service to Sasserine is in actuality one of the most skilled followers of this discipline.
A small Stone Dragon monastery, run by stoic dwarves, might dwell within the confines of the Hellfurnaces. Occasionally, mysterious dwarves arrive in Sasserine, collecting supplies or selling wares, and as such most foreign dwarves are given a wide berth until it can be determined what they're capable of.
One of Sasserine's few hobgoblin residents has been spotted at the shrine to Kelanen and talking with some of the folks at the Sasserine Arena. If the rumors are true, that he is in actuality an Iron Heart adept, he could quickly become a powerful favorite in the Arena.
Just some thoughts--feel free to steal or critique at will.
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I could also see some crusaders of Kord, mucking about and wanting to challenge other adepts, to test their skills.
I think I could see the martial adepts as being viewed by the authority of Sasserine in general as threats to the peace.
The warblade especially; glory hounds can tend to be frowned upon by peacekeepers.
I was also thinking of having a rival thieve's guild with shadow hand adepts.
I like the going into the jungle to find wall carvings to learn tiger claw techniques.
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In Japanese mythology, the tenghus were crazy mountain goblins who had mad fencing skills, and would sometimes teach heroes.
I think there aught to be some sword sage kenkus.
Also, there are some ogre magi in the Amedio Jungle; they prolly know some Ku-Tachi Jutsu too.
Ah yes, how could I forget the kenkus and their waterfall hideout? Stupid me! The bird-men need some good PR after what'll happen to my poor PCs in AoW. And one of my PCs would probably kill me one senator of my choice just to play one.
Nothing against senators, I swear. I don't wanna play STAP at Gitmo.
I might save the ogre mage badass for an Amedian encounter--possibly studing the ancient wall carvings I talked about above. Glad you liked the idea. It was co-inspired by reading too much Secrets of Xen'drik and the picture of that fallen Amedio temple in the STAP preview. Something about trying to decipher giant, stylized bas-relief iconography in a muggy tropical jungle in order to unearth hidden martial techniques just seems awesome.
As for Kord, I'm personally planning on making the religious crusaders pretty hush-hush, and those boistrous brawlers might have a hard time not showing off. not that someone totally inot playing one couldn't--he just wouldn't be the church's secret weapon. He'd be the star attraction in the Arena.
I had noticed the strategic placement of the embassy next to the Kelanen shrine too, but hadn't thjought of the possible "something's going on" rumor mill idea. Strange warriors hanging out next door to the embassy of a nation of dangerous and secretive racists? Brilliant.
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Then, the rakasta on the Isle of Dread, (which the authors of the STAP say not to expect but that ain't gonna stop me from slappin' them in there) gotta know Desert wind or Tiger Claw-style.
Snikety-Snikt!
Know 'em? Who's to say they didn't invent 'em?
Now that's a crazy backstory. But then why did Kaziir-Thet steal Supernal Clarity? Perhaps Diamond Mind is another Rakshasa martial style? Hmm...
This is starting to sound like conspiracy theory paranoia. "The rakshasa/rakasta invented the martial maneuvers, man... and they're comin' to take 'em back!"
-N'wah, Paranoia Agent
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Yeah, I'm trying to keep the extraplanar incursions to one per campaign, thanks. Though I'm cool with a githyanki master of one of the disciplines (Diamond Mind, prolly) offering to train one or more of the high-level PCs in his/her skillz. My girlfriend's character is a swordsage focusing on Diamond Mind, so it should work out well.
So we've covered the origins of Desert Wind (the Baklunish), Diamond Mind (githyanki), Iron Heart (the under-loved hobgoblins), Setting Sun (IMC, the Aventi), Stone Dragon (the dwarves), and Tiger Claw (the Amedians). Devoted Spirit seems to be from human crusaders devoted to some ethos that fractured centuries ago, IIRC. But what about Shadow Hand and White Raven?
White Raven could date back to the Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom. Their brave charges and fierce war cries inspired their troops to levels of bravado unseen on modern battlefields for centuries.
Shadow Hand, though... hmm. Perhaps the halflings, in their travels, discovered the secrets of clouding their foe's perceptions without the use of spellcasting. Perhaps disciples from the Plane of Shadow bestowed it upon their followers in a time and place where the boundaries between the two planes grew thin. Perhaps a long-forgotten race of the Underdark honed their knowledge of their ever-shadowed realm into a weapon, much like the craftsman turns raw ore into a fine steel blade.
Or perhaps, like many secrets in our world, the Rakshasa were behind it all the whole time...
Nah, that's crazy talk! The last thing the Rakshasas invented were left-handed scissors--truly a reason to earn their diabolical reputation. Hell, I'm a lefty, and even I don't trust those things!
Oh, and bold, italicized text roxorz boxorz.
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I was thinking about this statue.
It's about 12 feet tall, human with ten arms, like a hindu divinity.
It is situated in an alcove.
9 of its arms hold masterwork replicas of the 9 swords. The tenth arm is behind its back.
If anyone tries to walk into the alcove, reality glitches out like a video game with problems, and they appear before the statue like nothing happened. Anyone watching them doesn't know what precisely occurred; one second they were walking behind the statue, the next they were standing in front of the statue.
The mystery of the tenth sword won't be so easily revealed as all of that.
I had a race I was working on getting around to making up, a third race of gith, that were so mysterious that noone knew they existed. They live on the plane of shadow.
The shadow hand style kinda aces the deal in my mind.
Githyanki, githzerai, and githninja?
Eternal blades--do you think they should have to be elves?
Don't get it.
They have no more reason to be elves than dwarven defenders do to be dwarves. Basically, all I see is that it is an elven order and doesn't admit non-elves. It could just as easily be completely open, or an order of any other races you'd care to make it without having to change very much fluff.
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But what about Shadow Hand and White Raven?
White Raven could date back to the Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom. Their brave charges and fierce war cries inspired their troops to levels of bravado unseen on modern battlefields for centuries.
Maybe the yakfolk came up with the white raven.
Crazy yakfolk in their hidden mountain valley.And then they taught it to the Knight Protectors.
And maybe some of those Death Knights got some White Raven skills.
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So I read the weapon descriptions of the Nine Swords, and it says each sword has 3 rituals, each of which unlocks the least, lesser, and greater abilities of the sword respectively.
But I can't tell which ability is which. Am I missing something, or does one have to buy Weapons of Legacy to be able to figure this out? I tried looking at the DMG, but it has no guidance, as far as I can tell.
So I read the weapon descriptions of the Nine Swords, and it says each sword has 3 rituals, each of which unlocks the least, lesser, and greater abilities of the sword respectively.
But I can't tell which ability is which. Am I missing something, or does one have to buy Weapons of Legacy to be able to figure this out? I tried looking at the DMG, but it has no guidance, as far as I can tell.
This information is covered in Weapons of Legacy. Basically, until your PC has completed the first (easiest) ritual the weapon is essentially whatever the basic form is (like a +1 scimitar). Each of the rituals grants a free feet (Least, Lesser and Greater Legacy Item, or whatever) and opens up additional levels of powers. The first ritual unlocks character levels 5-10 powers, the second character levels 11-16 powers, and the third character levels 17-20 powers. I believe these are correct.
Anybody got it yet?
Is it any good?
Does it look like it is any good for the SCAP?
Two words : wup a$$. Warblade or Crusader, offensive or "soak up lots of damage", it all spells BBEG's smeared all over the place. Won't matter much which way the module goes, just keep your trusty cleric alive until he/she/it expends thier reservoir of cure wounds spells before beating a hasty retreat when necessary.
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Two words : wup a$$. Warblade or Crusader, offensive or "soak up lots of damage", it all spells BBEG's smeared all over the place. Won't matter much which way the module goes, just keep your trusty cleric alive until he/she/it expends thier reservoir of cure wounds spells before beating a hasty retreat when necessary.Anybody got it yet?
Is it any good?
Does it look like it is any good for the SCAP?
Yeah, I really dig it too. It doesn't get too Wuxia weird (guys fighting on top of bamboo trees and running across water) which is all I was ascairt of.
Yeah, going full-bore Wuxia would have wrecked the book for me.
That's what the buff-slinging spell-casters in the party are for - to make the Crusader / Warblade in the party look good while they're buttkicking with a pet hamster in thier shirt pocket ... oh, and balance on top of bamboo (Fly spell) and other Wuxia stuff ...
None of that without proper class abilities and/or magic items and/or spells-in-effect. Wuxia can be done without cramming it all into class abilities.
Although infinite slow fall is REALLY nice ...