Hey everyone,
My group is gearing up to start the Savage Tide, with me as DM. I'm still waiting for the adventure to arrive and don't have a firm idea about where the adventure is heading.
Does it make sense to buy stormwrack for this campaign? How much of it will be spent at sea? From what it sounds like, there is a lot of combat on land and in the abyss, so I don't know whether it would be worthwhile.
Just trying to get a sense of how much I would use the book. I won't buy it if I only need it for a chapter (and I don't "collect" D&D books, only the ones I really need).
Thanks!
Greetings Pivot,
Depending on how much you want your players to have access to, Stormwrack can still be a very good book to own. Most of the AP will be above the waterline, but these points might still be worth looking at:
- There are several new races (and aquatic variations on the "core" races) that can make the campaign interesting. Also, the inclusion of a zero-ECL "Amphibious" template allows you to make an aquatic version of almost any creature or race, and still be able to function on dry land just fine.
- The various prestige classes definetely would add flair to a pirate & swashbuckling style campaign like Savage Tide. The spells and magic items run along this vein as well.
- There are rules for "cinematic" ship battles, designed to keep the theme of being on the open seas, but not bogging down the combat rules overly much.
I hope that helps out a little bit. Ideally, borrowning a copy from someone who already owns it would give you the best chance to make an informed decision, but I'm sure you'll get enough good comment on this thread to help! :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
I don't generally buy a lot of D&D books either and since my group is still doing Age of Worms, I don't have personal experience on how helpful Stormwrack is to STAP. Still, I bought Stormwrack about six months ago and I think it's the best suppliment going. When I read the overview of Savage Tide I was really excited and pleased that I had purchased Stormwrack earlier because I'm just dying to make full use of all the goodies in there. The rules for ship battles and ship design/maintenance are just plain awesome. Also the rules for surges of water (like in water traps or sewers), creating coastlines, new feats & Prestige Classes, etc. can be useful in a variety of adventures - not just STAP. I guess it depends heavily on how much you plan to "tinker" with STAP. If you're going to play it exactly as written, Dungeon is sure to provide every bit of detail you'll need. If you want to be open to added flavor and side-treks, or just having a better understanding of aquatic mechanics - this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.
Creative Director
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Issue #138 has a detailed outline of the 12 adventures of the campaign, so you might wanna pick up a copy of it if you're wondering where the Savage Tide Adventure Path is going.
That said: Yes, Stormwrack will be very helpful in running this campaign. Especially if you want to expand the adventure beyond what appears in print.
The 3rd adventure covers the ship voyage south to the Isle of Dread, and it's pretty much all about that type of stuff; ship battles, sea monsters, storms, etc. We, of course, reprint all the relavent rules for each section, but in some cases (like ship-to-ship battles) we have to abridge or simplify the rules in order to make them fit.
Without revealing much beyond the scope of the Player's Guide, I am encouraging my players to use Stormwrack. I plan on using the book to help with the weather aspects and to generally flesh out the ideas of a 'sea-related' campaign. My group has had great success in the past with a 'pirate' campaign, and so I decided that this would be a great campaign to try and pull the group together once more.
From what I can see, Stormwrack will be a great book to use with this. We'll just have to see what gets used and how.
Just to chime in, Stormwrack looks like a great book to use for this campaign. Good prestige classes, cool aquatic themed spells and monsters and good rules for ship-board combat. I plan on getting a lot of use out of it.