On Dark Sun, clerics are also different. Since there are no Gods, clerics worship elementals. And in a desert, i can picture myself worshiping water...
On Dark Sun, clerics are also different. Since there are no Gods, clerics worship elementals. And in a desert, i can picture myself worshiping water...
Heh, that was the element pretty much everybody picked, but it's hard not to since it's so useful. I think they had to ban the level 1 create/food water spell at some point in the setting, though.
I would't ban create food/water. I would just make it a lv 3 or maybe 4. And argue that is far harder to create water/food in a country with little lifeforce left. Also, if EVERY cleric can create water, all of water shortage of the planet would not be a problem
On Dark Sun Shattered Lands, there are a village that is considered ""rich"" because they have water for everyone thanks to the high priest.
The final battle on Dark Sun: Shattered Lands CRPG was insanely hard. If wasn't by domination, there are no way to win this battle...
If you have an Earth Druid and explored the sewers properly, there's also the Free Action/Quicksand/Fog Cloud combo (shuts down inbound ranged attacks and slows down the melee attackers). And don't forget about Synaptic Static to shut down the psionicists.
I would't ban create food/water. I would just make it a lv 3 or maybe 4. And argue that is far harder to create water/food in a country with little lifeforce left. Also, if EVERY cleric can create water, all of water shortage of the planet would not be a problem
On Dark Sun Shattered Lands, there are a village that is considered ""rich"" because they have water for everyone thanks to the high priest.
IIRC in 2nd ed it could provide more than enough food and water for a whole party and then some with a single casting. In a setting that's heavily survival based, it does kind of ruin things if it's that accessible. But even without it, there's plenty of other water magic that could save a small town, just not as low level. Funny how a spell that's almost completely forgettable in the other settings becomes so overpowered in another setting they didn't allow it.
Create food/water is something banned OR NERFED on ALL adaptations to more survival focused settings.
IDK where, but i remember a adaptation of 5e to low magical settings like Conan, where there are no wizards, nor sorcerers. only warlock and become a warlock requires a complex ritual bargaining with a fiendish creature for magical knowledge. They also removed ALL huge AoE spells like fireball(but allowed lightning bolt). They also doesn't use spell slots. Instead, using a spell lv 1 deals 1 pt of CON damage to the caster. A lv 2 deals 2 pts(...) And a long rest only restores 5 pts of magic. Using magic in many cities is outlawed. Magical weapons and scrolls exist, but they are 20x more expensive and you can't learn magic from scrolls.
If i find the site name, i will edit this message.
But i love to use magic on magic setting, technology in sci-fi settings and for medieval non magical games, i love to use pollearms, warbows and cavalry. If you wanna make me lose the interest in a game, just force me to be a swordsman.
I did always love how the magic in the Conan setting was generally pretty subtle. Since it's nwn2, if you play a mage it's not that good at capturing that. What it does capture is the brutality of the setting and how often Conan got his ass kicked and barely escaped with his life. Killing the big bad/monster wasn't even an option.
I did always love how the magic in the Conan setting was generally pretty subtle. Since it's nwn2, if you play a mage it's not that good at capturing that. What it does capture is the brutality of the setting and how often Conan got his ass kicked and barely escaped with his life. Killing the big bad/monster wasn't even an option.
In that alteration to 5e, i forgot to tell that eldritch blast is invisible to non magical creatures and that deals unholy damage, which lesser demons are resistant and higher demons, immune.
In order to adapt D&D to low magical setting, you need to change so many things...
Correct me if i an wrong, but there are a total of ZERO good magicians on conan universe?
If i need to say that Thoth Amon belongs to a class, that class would be warlock that learned magic from Set.
"One day, one of Thoth's friends, a boy named Amon, managed to warn a high-ranking priest of Ibis about an attempt on his life. The priest offered Amon an opportunity to become an acolyte of Ibis, the peaceful Heron god of Stygia. However, when Amon told his friend Thoth of his fortune, Thoth crushed his head with a heavy stone. His plan was to go in Amon's place, for the priest had not seen Amon closely and might well mistake any dirty urchin for him. And so Thoth entered the service of Ibis, and acquired much knowledge and learning. However, his insatiable greed and lust for power drove him to delve into forbidden knowledge. In dark, forgotten scrolls Thoth learned of the lost kingdom of Acheron. Desiring its power for himself, he made his way to the site of Acheron. It was here that the serpent god Set tested him. Here Thoth died, or nearly died, but was revived by the Black Ring of Set. With this talisman and his newfound allegience, Thoth returned to the church of Ibis. Secretly worshipping Set, he conducted sacrifices and set horrible sorcerous traps for his fellow acolytes. He was eventually discovered by his mentor, but defeated him in sorcerous combat and framed him for the heresies and murders he himself had done."https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Thoth_Amon
I never go without a Water Druid in my party in the Dark Sun games. I can't imagine a party would survive long without someone who could create it or draw it forth. I have an old playthrough I was posting somewhere in the off topic section.
The Dark Sun world in general has a fantastic conception of magic. Great power is easily obtainable, but at a high cost to the living world, and you see the results of it all around you.
Mass dominate does help against the final boss, but so do lots of webs. Just keep the army off your back and you are solid.
I would say "I avoid Web in Shattered Lands since it cuts visibility and I lean on ranged attacks" but anything blocking visibility blocks all ranged attacks, not only hostile ones. Web is certainly handy, though, since the "fireball removes web" interaction isn't in Shattered Lands
One game which magic I loved was the elemental series.
I always chose one of the two magical kingdoms, well three if you got the dlc for the undead kingdom and also
Ways focused the magic chain. I loved the world magic and having the power to completely reshape the world,
My problem with powerful attack magic, instant kills, and curses is that it's too easy to become corrupted to evil ends by using them. Think about what you're really doing if you cast, say, Horrid Wilting on a group of animals, humanoids, or even sentient monsters. Now multiply the evil of that if you're getting a sadistic thrill out of the thought of it.
While I do see your point, I don't think it is magic itself that is the problem. Rather, POWER is what corrupts the hearts and minds of men. When you start to see yourself as better or above your fellow man, their needs and desires become less important to you, and the more powerful you are, the less consequential. It is just as easy for a King or a Prelate to be corrupted by his power, temporal or otherwise, as it is for powerful mages.
The final battle on Dark Sun: Shattered Lands CRPG was insanely hard. If wasn't by domination, there are no way to win this battle...
I beg to differ! The way I beat the final battle (and I kept all the allied NPCs alive too! In fact, I devised this strategy specifically I wanted to ensure that Jasmine and Uskuye survived) was that I used Walls of Force/Stone to box my party and the allies into a small corner in the NE part of the map, leaving only a small gap through which enemies could come through. In front of this gap, I cast Wall of Fire, which blocked line of sight/effect. This meant that enemies could only funnel in 2 at a time, and they'd be forced to fight my god-like Half-Giant Gladiator (with 25 Str ) and my dual-wielding Mul Ranger (Str 24, thanks to the Draketooth sword). The pair promptly DESTROYED anything that came through the gap, and because the Walls blocked line of sight, battle "ended" every time the lone stragglers came in to die, meaning the NPCs never got a go (they couldn't get around my party members blocking the gap anyway).
I remember the original ruleset for Dark Sun was so brutal everyone started at level 3, rolled 4d4+4 for attributes instead of 3d6 and everyone got a free psionic wild talent. Hell, even that spider in your home could have psionic powers. You were still expected to make back up characters in the event your character got offed.
Man, that was such a fun setting.
Yeah, I have very fond memories of the Dark Sun setting. It, along with Ravenloft, are my two favourite D&D settings, even though generally I stick to generic high fantasy settings for my players. One of my favourite memories from Dark Sun was where one of my players (let's call him Jim) walked into the tavern and started acting all high and mighty because he was enamored of the higher stats Dark Sun offered and thought he was like a god among men. One thing led to another and he picked a fight with one of the tavern's regulars.
Me: Jim, all 20 of the bar's patrons turn towards you... and activate their Mind Thrust psionic power. (For those unfamiliar with 3.X psionics, this equates to 20 x 1d6 damage, WAY more than enough to instantly kill a cocky 3rd level adventurer. )
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Heh, that was the element pretty much everybody picked, but it's hard not to since it's so useful. I think they had to ban the level 1 create/food water spell at some point in the setting, though.
On Dark Sun Shattered Lands, there are a village that is considered ""rich"" because they have water for everyone thanks to the high priest.
If you have an Earth Druid and explored the sewers properly, there's also the Free Action/Quicksand/Fog Cloud combo (shuts down inbound ranged attacks and slows down the melee attackers). And don't forget about Synaptic Static to shut down the psionicists.
IIRC in 2nd ed it could provide more than enough food and water for a whole party and then some with a single casting. In a setting that's heavily survival based, it does kind of ruin things if it's that accessible. But even without it, there's plenty of other water magic that could save a small town, just not as low level. Funny how a spell that's almost completely forgettable in the other settings becomes so overpowered in another setting they didn't allow it.
IDK where, but i remember a adaptation of 5e to low magical settings like Conan, where there are no wizards, nor sorcerers. only warlock and become a warlock requires a complex ritual bargaining with a fiendish creature for magical knowledge. They also removed ALL huge AoE spells like fireball(but allowed lightning bolt). They also doesn't use spell slots. Instead, using a spell lv 1 deals 1 pt of CON damage to the caster. A lv 2 deals 2 pts(...) And a long rest only restores 5 pts of magic. Using magic in many cities is outlawed. Magical weapons and scrolls exist, but they are 20x more expensive and you can't learn magic from scrolls.
If i find the site name, i will edit this message.
But i love to use magic on magic setting, technology in sci-fi settings and for medieval non magical games, i love to use pollearms, warbows and cavalry. If you wanna make me lose the interest in a game, just force me to be a swordsman.
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/conan-chronicles-1-barbarian-chronicles
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/conan-chronicles-2-zamorian-chronicles
I did always love how the magic in the Conan setting was generally pretty subtle. Since it's nwn2, if you play a mage it's not that good at capturing that. What it does capture is the brutality of the setting and how often Conan got his ass kicked and barely escaped with his life. Killing the big bad/monster wasn't even an option.
In that alteration to 5e, i forgot to tell that eldritch blast is invisible to non magical creatures and that deals unholy damage, which lesser demons are resistant and higher demons, immune.
In order to adapt D&D to low magical setting, you need to change so many things...
Correct me if i an wrong, but there are a total of ZERO good magicians on conan universe?
If i need to say that Thoth Amon belongs to a class, that class would be warlock that learned magic from Set.
"One day, one of Thoth's friends, a boy named Amon, managed to warn a high-ranking priest of Ibis about an attempt on his life. The priest offered Amon an opportunity to become an acolyte of Ibis, the peaceful Heron god of Stygia. However, when Amon told his friend Thoth of his fortune, Thoth crushed his head with a heavy stone. His plan was to go in Amon's place, for the priest had not seen Amon closely and might well mistake any dirty urchin for him. And so Thoth entered the service of Ibis, and acquired much knowledge and learning. However, his insatiable greed and lust for power drove him to delve into forbidden knowledge. In dark, forgotten scrolls Thoth learned of the lost kingdom of Acheron. Desiring its power for himself, he made his way to the site of Acheron. It was here that the serpent god Set tested him. Here Thoth died, or nearly died, but was revived by the Black Ring of Set. With this talisman and his newfound allegience, Thoth returned to the church of Ibis. Secretly worshipping Set, he conducted sacrifices and set horrible sorcerous traps for his fellow acolytes. He was eventually discovered by his mentor, but defeated him in sorcerous combat and framed him for the heresies and murders he himself had done." https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Thoth_Amon
The Dark Sun world in general has a fantastic conception of magic. Great power is easily obtainable, but at a high cost to the living world, and you see the results of it all around you.
Mass dominate does help against the final boss, but so do lots of webs. Just keep the army off your back and you are solid.
I always chose one of the two magical kingdoms, well three if you got the dlc for the undead kingdom and also
Ways focused the magic chain. I loved the world magic and having the power to completely reshape the world,
While I do see your point, I don't think it is magic itself that is the problem. Rather, POWER is what corrupts the hearts and minds of men. When you start to see yourself as better or above your fellow man, their needs and desires become less important to you, and the more powerful you are, the less consequential. It is just as easy for a King or a Prelate to be corrupted by his power, temporal or otherwise, as it is for powerful mages.
I beg to differ!
Yeah, I have very fond memories of the Dark Sun setting.
Me: Jim, all 20 of the bar's patrons turn towards you... and activate their Mind Thrust psionic power. (For those unfamiliar with 3.X psionics, this equates to 20 x 1d6 damage, WAY more than enough to instantly kill a cocky 3rd level adventurer.
Which one? If the fist post, Gothic 1/ Gothic 3 and pathfinder kingmaker.
Gothic 2 returning also has amazing magery