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Author Topic: Tome of Magic  (Read 3244 times)

Janos

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Tome of Magic
« Reply #30 on: March 06, 2006, 10:18:55 PM »
Quote from: Vermicious Knid
Magic of Incarnum is the worst WOTC product I've ever seen in terms of art and fluff.


Look up Unapprochable East for Forgotten Realms, it trumps MoI for terrible fluff and art.

Incarnum is a wonderful idea poorly implimented.  The system has some real merits and solid ideas, but the idea of blue glowy stuff coupled with uninspired backstories meant an otherwise great product became very ho-hum.  Pity.
 

Sojourner Judas

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« Reply #31 on: March 06, 2006, 10:30:12 PM »
Quote from: Janos
Incarnum is a wonderful idea poorly implimented.  The system has some real merits and solid ideas, but the idea of blue glowy stuff coupled with uninspired backstories meant an otherwise great product became very ho-hum.  Pity.
I think what I hated about Incarnum is it really had no fantasy precedent. Psionics at least has some Eastern mysticism that works regarding it, which I wish they'd drawn more thoroughly upon in the 3/3.5 representations. Regardless, the notion of psychic powers is established and worth revisiting.

The trouble with Incarnum is they tried to make up something completely new, and failed miserably. They used a lot of the leftover Eastern mysticism that could've been used to enhance psionics, and they yet again made the mistake of treating it as a completely seperate source of power meaning they had to reinvent the wheel for the umpteenth time regarding how it interacts with existing magic.

As a result, a lot of the justification for Incarnum requires your campaign to accept Psionics as a given, because Incarnum bends over backwards to distinguish itself from Psionics, and how it's a power of the body whereas Psionics is a power of the mind.

Which makes things even more of a muddle than they were before.

The types of magic they're touting for this new book seem to be a lot better grounded. Thematically, they have much more basis both in a generic D&D setting and in fantasy and mysticism as a whole. You don't have to retool your campaign setting to accomodate them, as they build off of existing concepts and can be treated as merely obscure practices within a campaign world.

It's a better approach, in my opinion.
 

Ottomsoh the Elderly

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« Reply #32 on: March 07, 2006, 08:07:04 AM »
(OOC)

I'd like that next time WotC tries up a new subsystem, rather than do what they did with Psionics and Incarnum, they try not putting in any new race nor base class.

Something that would be skill & feat based, maybe. But not class- or race-based.

Touchstones and rituals are more to my liking. They're far easier to integrate to the existing game.
 

Cyberzombie

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« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2006, 12:06:08 PM »
I have to admit that the article in Dragon -- unlike most of the pimping articles -- did get me interested in the Tome.  Not Kas, though -- Primus.  The idea of selling your soul to a being of pure law is kind of cool and very different than the usually soul selling routine.  The article left few clues as to how the rules actually work, though, so I'm only at the stage of intrigued, and not "ready to buy".
 

Sobek

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« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2006, 12:15:17 PM »
I found the blurbs on the WotC site to really get me interested in the Pact magic.  I'd thought about adding loa to my game, but there was no system even remotely appropriate.  I think pact magic may fit that bill, though, as well as the Faustian soul-selling.
 

ColonelHardisson

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« Reply #35 on: March 08, 2006, 01:55:01 PM »
I have to say that references to Kas and, damn, Dahlver-Nar ?!?!?! have me intrigued.
"Illegitimis non carborundum." - General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell

4e definitely has an Old School feel. If you disagree, cool. I won't throw any hyperbole out to prove the point.

BOZ

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« Reply #36 on: March 08, 2006, 02:02:31 PM »
digging into old nostalgia-stuff... in a good way.  :)
don't quote me on that.  :)

Visit the Creature Catalog for all your D&D 3E monster needs!  :)

Aelfinn

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« Reply #37 on: March 08, 2006, 02:56:55 PM »
I like the Kas and Acherak (lord I can't spell that) references for pact magic that i've seen. It shows that that even though WotC seems to be dropping support for Greyhawk, there's still plenty of material from Greyhawk that they are using in order to fill in interesting concepts.
Bedd Ann ap lleian ymnewais fynydd  
Iluagor Llew Ymrais
Prif ddewin merddin Embrai
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Janos

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« Reply #38 on: March 08, 2006, 08:07:52 PM »
Quote from: Sojourner Judas
I think what I hated about Incarnum is it really had no fantasy precedent. Psionics at least has some Eastern mysticism that works regarding it, which I wish they'd drawn more thoroughly upon in the 3/3.5 representations. Regardless, the notion of psychic powers is established and worth revisiting.


I don't think it has to have a fantasy precedent to be interesting.  In fact that is one of the major draws of Incarnum to me.  But I agree that a lot of the names were basically psionic cast-offs.  I think they created a solid system, but the names (i.e. the fluff), was terrible.  Taken as a mechanic with a new source of power beyond the "souls" or without psionics in the world, and I think it provides some fun options unlike regular spellcasting.  

Psionics at it's core is really just point based magic.  Incarnum is a whole new system.  I think that's the strength rather than the weakness.