I just realized something. Eberron books are coming out in 2009, as is the 4e phb2. Are artificers a class that would show up in the Eberron book or is it possible they could be included in the PHB2 along with bards, monks, and druids?
They are most likely going to be in the Eberron Player's Guide, just as swordmages are appearing in the Forgotten Realms Players Guide.
They are most likely going to be in the Eberron Player's Guide, just as swordmages are appearing in the Forgotten Realms Players Guide.
Swordmages are in the FRPG? Interesting. I didn't know that.
The last thing I'd heard was that the artificer would be up on DDI soon after 4E comes out. Basically, if you know a guy that has DDI, you can get it for free.
I must admit it would be pretty cool to have it as a DDI release. That would definitely be a huge article for the online service, what with the requisite ~60 powers that go with a 4E class.
I know a lot of people are griping about DDI right now, even though its not out, but thats the kind of stuff that I anticipate to see on there. At $10 a month, I'm pretty happy with one or two articles of that size, including the online tools. That way, I can easily play with my friends a few states over (or in another country, for that matter).
Yeah, the online tools sound pretty cool. The only problem is I'm probably the only person in my group who would pay for it...
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I know a lot of people are griping about DDI right now, even though its not out, but thats the kind of stuff that I anticipate to see on there. At $10 a month, I'm pretty happy with one or two articles of that size, including the online tools. That way, I can easily play with my friends a few states over (or in another country, for that matter).
I thought it was $14.99 a month?
Just checked... $14.95 a month..but there will be a special introductory price that has not been announced as far as i can see..
you also get discounts for longer subscriptions.. but don't know the price of that..
Edit: I also still think they are asking for to high a price for what they are offering.
I may take the introductory depending on what it is.. $10 a month is about my limit.
You can also pay $10/month if you do a yearly contract.
Yeah, I plan on signing up for at least a year. $10 a month is about my limit too. If they can deliver something worth wanting within that year they'll probably have a pretty consistent subscriber in me.
Cheers! :)
I dont know what my limit is, but suffice to say I could likely afford $15 a month since I stopped buying Pathfinder and GameMastery modules. Actually, I think its still a net gain since total I would probably spending around $20 a month, if not more.
I like the idea of being able to quickly and easily map out stuff, browse other characters if I need one, and hop into a game almost whenever I feel like it.
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I dont know what my limit is, but suffice to say I could likely afford $15 a month since I stopped buying Pathfinder and GameMastery modules. Actually, I think its still a net gain since total I would probably spending around $20 a month, if not more.
I like the idea of being able to quickly and easily map out stuff, browse other characters if I need one, and hop into a game almost whenever I feel like it.
For me it is not that I can't afford $15 a month... I don't think it is worth $15 a month... Especially since that $15 a month does not cover everything.. Like Electronic Minis or the electronic version of my hard cover books that I would have to pay extra for..
Not sure what else is going to end up costing more then my subscription price..
Edit: Though Like someone else said.. I will give it some time for WotC to prove it's worth
I dont know what my limit is, but suffice to say I could likely afford $15 a month since I stopped buying Pathfinder and GameMastery modules. Actually, I think its still a net gain since total I would probably spending around $20 a month, if not more.
I like the idea of being able to quickly and easily map out stuff, browse other characters if I need one, and hop into a game almost whenever I feel like it.
For me it is not that I can't afford $15 a month... I don't think it is worth $15 a month... Especially since that $15 a month does not cover everything.. Like Electronic Minis or the electronic version of my hard cover books that I would have to pay extra for..
Not sure what else is going to end up costing more then my subscription price..
Edit: Though Like someone else said.. I will give it some time for WotC to prove it's worth
I think they decided not to allow you to buy pdf books for a few bucks, and you can get tokens for free, and they wont be randomized. Depends on the price, but I think if you didnt have a local group that it would be far cheaper for you to just buy e-minis and whatnot instead of buying physical products.
Basically, at this point we dont really know how good the online material is, but I'm guessing its going to be pretty solid stuff.Anyway, I'm mostly in it for the dungeon mapper, online service, and DDI offerings. I had a Dragon and Dungeon subscription, but rarely used much of it except for the occasional Dungeon adventure. Sometimes I could use Dragon material, but virtually never: great idea mine, I suppose.
The last thing I'd heard was that the artificer would be up on DDI soon after 4E comes out. Basically, if you know a guy that has DDI, you can get it for free.
Hard to know. I've put a number of quotes from Keith Baker regarding what's going in the books and what he's been working on, and while its clear the artificer will be in the Player's Guide to Eberron, that doesn't rule out a preview in DDI. His talk about a "big" article that will come out is intriguing; I can't choose just one thing that would be most helpful to keep a 4e Eberron campaign running well until the core setting books come out.
I'm working on a number of projects at the moment, including a big Eberron article for DDI (a longer piece than anything I've done for Paizo or the old WotC website) and the 4E Eberron core book. For anyone who hasn't heard the news, WotC has announced that they will be putting out three books for Eberron in 2009: a Campaign Guide (aimed primarily at DMs), a Player's Guide (including material relevant to both DMs and PCs), and an adventure. Beyond this, the setting will be getting DDI support; it's possible that there will be further print books, but that's entirely dependent on whether it proves to be economically feasible - so a lot will depend on how those core books do. Likewise, at the moment there's some significant support planned through DDI, but if you want to see that continue, it will certainly help to let the folks at DDI know that you're interested.
Looking to the 4E Campaign Guide and the Player's Guide, I want to say that these are NOT simply 4E translations of the ECS and the PGtE. You're not going to see a lot of duplication of material between the two; because they are coming out around the same time, if there's material that is equally relevant to both PCs and DMs, it's going to go in the Player's Guide. So looking to the current ECS, things like feats, dragonmarks, racial descriptions, the artificer, spells, and so on would all go in the Player's Guide. Nation descriptions will be aimed at what you need to know to create a character from a particular region - as opposed to the Campaign Guide, which will tell you things like which noble may be undead, who wants to go back to war and who wants to stop it, and so on. First, this means that there will be a much clearer delineation of "These are things known to the public, and these aren't". Second, it means that we will have room in the Campaign Guide to present information NOT available in the 3.5 ECS... whether it's just a greater level of depth on old ideas or organizations (what's House Tarkanan up to? How do you actually use the Dreaming Dark?) or presenting a few entirely new ideas to play with. With the benefit of hindsight, there are certainly things I wish we'd done differently in the 3.5 ECS, along with issues where we've had conflicts and contradictions between sourcebooks in the following years. MY goal is to have the 4E core books provide a solid and consistent foundation for the setting, and to ensure that they are interesting and useful both to newcomers to Eberron and to people who have been playing it since the start. Of course, I'm not the only person working on the books, and a lot can happen over the course of a year - so I can't promise specific coverage on any specific topics or go into great detail about anything. However, I'm excited by the potential I see in these books, and I believe that we've got far more to offer than just a mechanical update to 4E.
It has been confirmed by a WotC source that Shifters, Warforged, and Changelings/Doppelgangers (now one race) are in the 4E Monster Manual. Nothing's been said about Kalashtar, so I can't speak to that.
First, I lied earlier. I went ahead and created least dragonmarks right away for people who wanted to use them, and I have a number of characters in my game with least dragonmarks (Medani, Lyrandar, and two Oriens). However, I made it clear that they were playtest material (and have already changed significantly). I haven't created lesser, greater, or Siberys dragonmarks because I wanted to play the game for a significant period of time and be certain I understood the issues involved. Furthermore, for me fully developed dragonmarks also requires the creation of dragonshard focus items, since those are the real source of the dragonmarked house's power and a factor in understanding the power of a dragonmarked character.
So, I've started work on dragonmarks, and I'm happy with the initial progress. However, I don't think that they are absolutely necessary to a campaign. The 4E Eberron game I ran at Penguicon doesn't use any dragonmarks, and it still feels like Eberron to me.
The artificer is the same issue, only more so. It's a complex class, and I want to make absolutely sure I understand all of the aspects of 4E it's connected to - magic, noncombat magic, magic items, item creation - before throwing something out. There's so many possible characters that can be created with the current rules that I simply didn't feel the need to rush into the artificer. I've got a changeling cleric of the Silver Flame in the same party as a dragonborn paladin of the Blood of Vol and a Valenar ranger torn between two ancestors; it's not a question of not having enough Eberron flavor to go around.
Beyond that, I do expect to have access to a playtest version of the artificer early, because I'm working on the Eberron books. But the main thing is that I have no trouble playing Eberron without artificer PCs or PCs with greater dragonmarks. I know these things can be created within the rules; it's just a question of the best, balanced way to do it. They're in the world around the PCs; it's not like Merrix d'Cannith has vanished. It's just that at the moment, no PC can match the power of Merrix's mark.
I really can't announce anything WotC hasn't announced. I know that there will be Eberron-related articles in the next few DDIs - they've mentioned a Warforged article (which technically isn't Eberron specific, but which will provide the options needed to set warforged on the same level as all of the PHB PC races), and another one which I don't think I can announce yet. I've written a few Expeditionary Dispatches that you'll see soon, but the big article I'm working on won't come out for a while.
So there will be support, but I can't say exactly how much or what it will be.
I really hope support for Eberron in the DDI will be plentiful. That will be something seriously affecting whether or not I subscribe.
Question: If I subscribe for one month, do I have access to EVERYTHING previously released. In theory, could I subscribe for a month every six months and then print out all the material I want from the last six months and then cancel my subscription after that month?
The artificer is up on the DDI page under Dragon 365 (I think, but it might be 364). You can download the entire article for free right now. And WOTC made an announcement a week or so ago, saying that DDI would be $7.95/month or $4.95/month (if you pay for 12 months).
It was in Dragon 364, actually.
So, does anyone have any experiences with the Playtest version of the Artificer?
I allowed it in my newly-started 4e campaign, but no-one has made one yet.
It was in Dragon 364, actually.
So, does anyone have any experiences with the Playtest version of the Artificer?
I allowed it in my newly-started 4e campaign, but no-one has made one yet.
It's in Dragon #365. I'm playing a DMPC artificer right now, and I really like them. There's a long thread on the WotC boards that includes some changes they've already decided to make, and they've got me pretty optimistic about the final version.
It's in Dragon #365. I'm playing a DMPC artificer right now, and I really like them. There's a long thread on the WotC boards that includes some changes they've already decided to make, and they've got me pretty optimistic about the final version.
Thanks for that. Yeah, 365, guys :P
Sebastrd, do you have a link to the thread on the WotC boards?
Sebastrd, do you have a link to the thread on the WotC boards?
Sure, but I'll have to post it when I get home. I can't access WotC at work.
Sebastrd, do you have a link to the thread on the WotC boards?
Sebastrd, do you have a link to the thread on the WotC boards?Link
Thanks. I read through and printed the relevant changes. It's looking pretty good --- I especially like the new healing infusion, I hope they come out with more uses for it, maybe acquired through feats (similar to the cleric's Channel Divinity).
what I really need now is a group to play an Artificer in :P
Sebastrd, have you incorporated any of those into the artificer you're playing?