User:Downzorz

User:Downzorz/Tome of Steel

Miscellaneous Rants

Here is where I write about stuff that one time I thought about, and then wrote down.

Aberrations

Aberrations, generally, are somewhat ill-defined. According to the SRD, they have “a bizarre anatomy, strange abilities, an alien mindset, or any combination of the three.” That is a somewhat difficult definition in the D&D world, as how are “strange abilities” their defining mark when we have dragons that breathe cones of magical light? And a “bizarre anatomy?” There are plants in the D&D world that strangle people with more dexterity than the average archer and people that transform into wolves- looking at the anatomy of the Beholder or Aboleth, nothing is so remarkable as to be shocking in the word of D&D. And as for the “alien mindset,” all the Aboleth have is vast racial memories, Beholders are crazy and xenophobic to an extreme, and Mind Flayers are just your garden variety sociopath, with a touch of “superior species” mindset thrown in. And in D&D, there is nothing so alien about that. Consider that in the world Elementals are supposed to be “natural,” and certainly Aberrations have more in common with Humanoid mindset than Elementals. So having determined that the standard description is insufficient, we need to figure out something else. But it is made easier by the de facto definition of Aberration- an excuse to use all your Lovecraft tropes in what is otherwise a non-cosmic-horror-fantasy. So they are evil creatures, with powers that extend beyond “hit it really hard,” and they all have tentacles or spider legs or something. And for some reason, they all seem to have some method for controlling others- Aboleth have their Skum, Beholders have Charm Person, Mind Flayers use mind control, Neogi just are straight-up slavers, so on and so forth. Another trend in Aberrations is to make them psionic somehow- not in huge numbers, but Mind Flayers and Aboleth are (IIRC) the only Core monsters to be psionic. So what we’ve got is tentacle-horror that acts simultaneously as a mastermind villain via mind control and a big piece of supernatural artillery. Really the only big difference between Magical Beasts and Aberrations is that Magical Beasts are brutes and Aberrations are the monster version of spellcasters. Now, obviously, there are exceptions. Some Nagas lack ability to charm or control, and Gricks and Carrion Crawlers are brutes with tentacles. So really there are some creatures, the aforementioned Gricks and Carrion Crawlers, that have no reason to be part of the Aberration type. Basically, what this whole giant rant is saying is that the Aberration type needs some fixing. I know some settings give them a common origin (like the Far Realms), which basically makes them like Elementals- extraplanars that for some reason are not Outsiders.

Creatures of Law and Chaos

Creatures of Law and Chaos are not as well-defined as the Good and Evil outsiders, probably because Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral are the redheaded stepchildren of alignments. The creatures that represent Pure Law best are the Modrons, the dice-monsters of the early days. They are all following somebody else’s plan to the letter, and they are all as individualistic as the cogs they reside upon- that is, not at all. On the other side, there are “Creatures of Pure Chaos.” I put quotes around that because there are no creatures that represent Pure Chaos. Pure Chaos is a bumbling mess of energy that does not follow any fixed laws or have any fixed dimensions. You could fight Pure Chaos- but it wouldn't really be dead, or alive, or attacking you in any way. The closest you can get is fighting things like Chaos Beasts, but even those are not Pure Chaos. There can only ever be closer and closer approximations, because defining anything as a “creature” puts it in too much of a box to ever be of “pure chaos.”

Planes of Law and Chaos

The biggest problem of the planes of Law and Chaos is the same problem Frank and K wrestled with in the Tome of Fiends- how is Law depicted? For the purposes of this book, the “Laws of the Land” system will be used: Lawful means following laws, traditions, and systems. Chaos means less of that. And as for Chaotic societies, they basically are Objectivist paradises: as long as you aren’t brutally murdering people, you can do what you want.

So on to the planes. The planes are the physical embodiments of Law and Chaos, and as written they match it pretty well. Mechanus is all gears and cogs, working together in some great clockwork machine of unknown purpose. Basically, the whole plane is following the same “laws,” everything uniformly turning and shifting. Limbo, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. What is going on in one area of Limbo has absolutely no effect on another area, and there are no consistent “laws” governing Limbo. There are no “blueprints” for parts of Limbo, and maps don’t work for very long. There are some areas of stability, but these come from creatures that impose their will on the otherwise lawless chaos. The same holds for Mechanus; there are some areas of disorder and asymmetry, where the gears might not connect to each other, but this is because of living creatures coming in and messing up the otherwise perfect order.

This means that any meaningful adventures going on in Mechanus or Limbo are going to be involving incursions of relative neutrality into an otherwise strange place. In Limbo, the only areas with enough stability to adventure in will be stable structures brought in by outsiders, temporary law imposed on the chaos. After all, adventuring in a mess of unformed chaos is no fun. Mechanus, on the other hand, has two types of adventures: one where the players are trying to fix something that was broken, and one where the players are trying to break something. If they are trying to fix something, that something was probably good- celestial cogs or something. On the other hand, the gears can be dangerous or evil as well, and the players may very well desire to destroy them and stop what they might bring to pass.

My Take on Scaling Feats

My issue with the Races of War scaling feats is with the dilution of character it provides. A 15th-level fighter with Tome Combat Feats isn't just a master of any particular form of combat- he is a master of a huge variety of styles and techniques. And that is what I dislike- the fact that a single character can do anything. Now, I am aware that the Wizard can do all of that, which is why I think that the wizard, cleric, druid, etc. all need overhauls. As for feats, I prefer feat chains, but single feats that provide a scaling bonus (Weapon Focus granting a bonus equal to 1/2 BAB, for example) or one that remains useful across all levels (like Weapon Finesse).

Concepts

Stuff that I have not made stats for yet.

Sublime stuff that uses "points" that are regenerated over time- like the Psion to the Tome of Battle's wizards. Rewrites of Core and other feats to stick it all to the Rogue balance level, keeping away from the Tome scaling feats while still granting a boost in power. Making most major templates (half-dragon, celestial, lycanthrope) into classes instead of templates with LA.