as a long time fan of the Channel awesome and big D&D fan aswell, I thought I would voice my opinions on the 3rd anniversary of the sight and here they are. now I don't what will happen when I review an affectionate parody of adventure movies and books and video games performed by a bunch of other far more famous reviewers may cause a black hole someone in the metaverse but I don't care *evil Laughter and Lightning crash here* seriously though here are my thoughts be warned there be Spoilers past this point.
Firstly it was pretty damn impressive , coming in at around 2 hours and 10 minutes in length it's no wonder they had to take so long to edit it together and divide into parts it was a fun set of videos for the fans who have supported the site. Secondly the plot if you remove the parody from the plot and you could have a decent adventure story like the ones they were parodying the pacing was good and there were several uses of foreshadowing which hindsight were amazingly well done and subtle. Thirdly fuck it, it was a massive crossover with many of the Channel Awesome guys there dressed up, looking ridiculous (though some it worked oddly) that alone was hilarious.
The plot as I said before could easily be used seriously (to be fair as a parody of such stories it would especially if done by fans of those stories) but this was apparent especially by James Rolfe's cameo as the Voice of the ancient world in part 6 six giving much of the back story to Malachite and Aion (With several Photohped images to represent Malachite which I recognised as an image of a male Drow and Sorcerer from earlier editions manuals) where it mentions mentions that Sorcerery basically cast from HP which was shown in the previous part when Malachite actually used magic. this is what i mean by use of foreshadowing also Aion's ring made of lodestone then turning out to be Mahti's that was incredibly well done and many films in Hollywood have pulled Deus ex Machinas many a time that made no sense in the context. as for the ending well Mahti being useful and sacrificing himself and defeating Malachite single handedly WITH THE POWER OF HEART!! of all things made it hilarious.
As for Malachite himself, just fucking wow as an antagonist he was terrifying and wonderfully out of place in this story as opposed to Jaffers and his friends though their threat was there they were more or the less Team Rocket by the end of the story (oh and dead) then we Realise despite his seriousness Malachite is a fucking hypocrite and uses an I-phone was brilliant especially with the timing. that's all I have to say other than Jaffers being a hilarious stereotype of the D&D nerd (me being one and knowing many others makes it even funnier).
As for the reviewers they were funny too each of them getting atleast 1 moment each at being being funny Filmbrains Rivalry with Luke was a noteworthy one and it had it's own story arc which got resolved. though there wasn't time for there to be stories for everyone (the sheer number of reviewers and the running time as it was would probably have doubled the running time making this longer than Ben Hur) but the return of That Dude in the Suede was well timed but he could have done with more time in the story but hey he had to keep quiet otherwise the surprise wouldn't have been a surprise. finally the reveal that Malachite's hand was now a Power glove was one of my favourite jokes of the lot. all in all the special was great and I can't wait for next year's (let the trolls begin their comments now) , This is Owler signing off for now.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Roles and Power Sources
Well running a bit late but I shall carry on regardless, this one is a brief (well I say brief) introduction to the types of class there are in 4e well that and the power sources that there are aswell.
Character Classes can be split up into 4 Roles they are the following, Controller, Defender, Striker and Leader each with varying abilities and effectiveness in combat. so let us begin with Controllers.
Controllers are an interesting bunch. their job is not destroy everything in sight (though some can do that anyway) their job is to make life harder for the DM (Dungeon Master for those who no fuck all about D&D) now that's not what it says they are for in the book but that really is their role.say the DM sends swarms of minions at the party (low grade monsters with 1 health point usually just rush the party and die quickly) a Controller like say a Wizard can take out 9 of these with a regular at-will powers and if they are not minions lower the stats of the monster making them easier to kill out of all the class roles controllers are the least needed purely because 2 or more strikers can easily deal with waves of enemies with out much fuss but they are fun in the right players hands and also if you prefer to play magic based classes it's not a bad choice but be wary as these classes are known to be very squishy and tend to be easier to hit (Wizards can't wear any armour meaning and have the lowest health so they need to stay in the back at 95% of the time the other 5% they should be running away).Best suited for players who enjoy tactics and make the life of the party easier.
Defenders are probably the joint second most needed party members (tied with strikers) their job is to, well defend. especially the squishy Wizard like classes they also make enemies focus all of their efforts on them by issuing marks that lower the enemies attack rolls if they don't hit the Defender (baring the later Knight and Cavalier classes that has an aura instead). they also tend to wear the best armour and use pretty much any weapons baring the ones considered superior. though mainly not damage dealers (unless built to deal vast amounts of damage and trying to steal the spot light from the Strikers or are just plain badly built). not a Role for newcomers especially if your new to a game you want be doing something epic and standing still whilst a bunch of enemies swarm you and keep attacking you isn't always epic also if you are not sensible it will probably end with your character dead or the whole party dead aswell and you will then be the most popular person in the room even the DM will like you for ending his campaign early for them. so in short good for people who are responsible and like playing the tough guys.
Next is probably the most popular (and the ones that eventually need advanced calculus once they get a high enough level) the Striker. The Striker are the damage dealers.They tend to be fast and deal shit tonnes (an actual measurement just rarely used) of damage. these are perfect for beginners purely for the moments of glory they can get (my first character was a Rogue (My favourite class when I review them you can hear me gush over them) killed a wolf in one shot and hog tied the main boss and stole his crossbow the next turn) these classes also tend to get huge bonuses to damage rolls or getting and extra dice rolls to their damage rolls (Rogues add 2 six sided dice when they hit with combat advantage (when a character has an advantage against the opponent and gets bonus for it) or even more if they get to higher levels or use feats (which will be explained next post)) or Warlocks who can "curse" their enemies and deal even more damage when they hit with their spells. This role is also the favourite of the Munchkin (a player who plays to win against even their own allies and not very popular with other players) so be wary of players if they show this sort of attitude. on a lighter note easiest to grasp for a newcomer and a veteran can easily make these classes 1 man-armies
The final Role is the Leader which is by far the most important role in the entire game these classes are the healers and classes that give buffs to the party. the classes that are Leaders are Clerics, Bards Warlords (probably my favourite leader class just for the humour of how they work) and so on. what makes them so important? each leader has the ability to heal party members no other class type can do this bar the Paladin that is a Defender but can only heal a few times a day (in game time not real time) where as leaders heal twice an encounter (a day can have up to 5 or 6 encounters in it) so that makes them irreplaceable. a party can live with out a controller purely because of strength. some parties don't defenders due to the damage output they can put out even a party without strikers can work (but makes things take a far longer time then it should normally) but with out a Leader the party's screwed. again recommended for people who can be responsible for the party or maybe someone who can be a good tactician if the party does't have a controller.
in general the average party of players can be anywhere from 4 (the bare minimum really 3 is doable but nothing special can really happen without complications) but usually are 5-6 and sometimes to horrendously high numbers like 10 if you have more than 4 I recommend each role be filled at least once and if you have 8 players maybe fill em out twice but it's up to the party of course.
Power Sources:
this will be brief as well there isn't as much fluff needed for all these as each power source has at least (usually) 1 class that fulfil a role listed above they are the following
Martial: rely on the physical with use of weapons and skilled combat in the case of the Warlord who is the only Martial Leader their powers are hilarious when you think about them (more on them later)
Arcane: magic users much like wizards each role is covered as before nothing out of the ordinary though the Bard (again a leader) can heal by using music (but again not as funny as the Warlord)
Divine: well these are the holy classes nothing much to say other than the gods help these classes a lot tend to have classes that can heal (3 leader classes and a defender who can also heal) good if you want to play a deeply religious character)
Primal: users of the power of nature they commune with spirits in some form or other each role is filled a couple of times except the Defender with only 1 (the Warden a Defender which probably has the most health at level 1 by a mile) can be a good counter balance to Divine classes as although both are Spiritual in their own way they are both radically different.
Psionic: oh Psionic classes how fond I am of you (not at all, they are really out of place in D&D) these classes use the powers of their mind (except 2 of them (there are only 4 of them which makes it even less interesting to talk about them)the other 2 use their bodies in odd ways) these classes have a unique feature called power points in stead of encounter powers (except the Monk class though it really seems redundant that they are Psionic if they don't use the power points Guess they couldn't come up with a good Psionic Striker) gives a bit of variety but that's about it (MY opinion not a fact).
Shadow: up until recently there where only 1 of these classes but have gotten a couple of more (the Executioner and the um Vampire... (not Sparkly)) shadow remains the smallest of all the power sources (well unless you include the Primal-Martial classes the Scout and Hunter or even the Martial-Shadow class that is the Executioner (which in itself is a misleading name)) all classes so far with the Shadow power source are Strikers a Shadow Defender or Leader would be really interesting and a Shadow Controller is probably the easiest to do. that's about it for this post this is Owler signing off for now and whatever you do, do not look The Lady in the Face.
Character Classes can be split up into 4 Roles they are the following, Controller, Defender, Striker and Leader each with varying abilities and effectiveness in combat. so let us begin with Controllers.
Controllers are an interesting bunch. their job is not destroy everything in sight (though some can do that anyway) their job is to make life harder for the DM (Dungeon Master for those who no fuck all about D&D) now that's not what it says they are for in the book but that really is their role.say the DM sends swarms of minions at the party (low grade monsters with 1 health point usually just rush the party and die quickly) a Controller like say a Wizard can take out 9 of these with a regular at-will powers and if they are not minions lower the stats of the monster making them easier to kill out of all the class roles controllers are the least needed purely because 2 or more strikers can easily deal with waves of enemies with out much fuss but they are fun in the right players hands and also if you prefer to play magic based classes it's not a bad choice but be wary as these classes are known to be very squishy and tend to be easier to hit (Wizards can't wear any armour meaning and have the lowest health so they need to stay in the back at 95% of the time the other 5% they should be running away).Best suited for players who enjoy tactics and make the life of the party easier.
Defenders are probably the joint second most needed party members (tied with strikers) their job is to, well defend. especially the squishy Wizard like classes they also make enemies focus all of their efforts on them by issuing marks that lower the enemies attack rolls if they don't hit the Defender (baring the later Knight and Cavalier classes that has an aura instead). they also tend to wear the best armour and use pretty much any weapons baring the ones considered superior. though mainly not damage dealers (unless built to deal vast amounts of damage and trying to steal the spot light from the Strikers or are just plain badly built). not a Role for newcomers especially if your new to a game you want be doing something epic and standing still whilst a bunch of enemies swarm you and keep attacking you isn't always epic also if you are not sensible it will probably end with your character dead or the whole party dead aswell and you will then be the most popular person in the room even the DM will like you for ending his campaign early for them. so in short good for people who are responsible and like playing the tough guys.
Next is probably the most popular (and the ones that eventually need advanced calculus once they get a high enough level) the Striker. The Striker are the damage dealers.They tend to be fast and deal shit tonnes (an actual measurement just rarely used) of damage. these are perfect for beginners purely for the moments of glory they can get (my first character was a Rogue (My favourite class when I review them you can hear me gush over them) killed a wolf in one shot and hog tied the main boss and stole his crossbow the next turn) these classes also tend to get huge bonuses to damage rolls or getting and extra dice rolls to their damage rolls (Rogues add 2 six sided dice when they hit with combat advantage (when a character has an advantage against the opponent and gets bonus for it) or even more if they get to higher levels or use feats (which will be explained next post)) or Warlocks who can "curse" their enemies and deal even more damage when they hit with their spells. This role is also the favourite of the Munchkin (a player who plays to win against even their own allies and not very popular with other players) so be wary of players if they show this sort of attitude. on a lighter note easiest to grasp for a newcomer and a veteran can easily make these classes 1 man-armies
The final Role is the Leader which is by far the most important role in the entire game these classes are the healers and classes that give buffs to the party. the classes that are Leaders are Clerics, Bards Warlords (probably my favourite leader class just for the humour of how they work) and so on. what makes them so important? each leader has the ability to heal party members no other class type can do this bar the Paladin that is a Defender but can only heal a few times a day (in game time not real time) where as leaders heal twice an encounter (a day can have up to 5 or 6 encounters in it) so that makes them irreplaceable. a party can live with out a controller purely because of strength. some parties don't defenders due to the damage output they can put out even a party without strikers can work (but makes things take a far longer time then it should normally) but with out a Leader the party's screwed. again recommended for people who can be responsible for the party or maybe someone who can be a good tactician if the party does't have a controller.
in general the average party of players can be anywhere from 4 (the bare minimum really 3 is doable but nothing special can really happen without complications) but usually are 5-6 and sometimes to horrendously high numbers like 10 if you have more than 4 I recommend each role be filled at least once and if you have 8 players maybe fill em out twice but it's up to the party of course.
Power Sources:
this will be brief as well there isn't as much fluff needed for all these as each power source has at least (usually) 1 class that fulfil a role listed above they are the following
Martial: rely on the physical with use of weapons and skilled combat in the case of the Warlord who is the only Martial Leader their powers are hilarious when you think about them (more on them later)
Arcane: magic users much like wizards each role is covered as before nothing out of the ordinary though the Bard (again a leader) can heal by using music (but again not as funny as the Warlord)
Divine: well these are the holy classes nothing much to say other than the gods help these classes a lot tend to have classes that can heal (3 leader classes and a defender who can also heal) good if you want to play a deeply religious character)
Primal: users of the power of nature they commune with spirits in some form or other each role is filled a couple of times except the Defender with only 1 (the Warden a Defender which probably has the most health at level 1 by a mile) can be a good counter balance to Divine classes as although both are Spiritual in their own way they are both radically different.
Psionic: oh Psionic classes how fond I am of you (not at all, they are really out of place in D&D) these classes use the powers of their mind (except 2 of them (there are only 4 of them which makes it even less interesting to talk about them)the other 2 use their bodies in odd ways) these classes have a unique feature called power points in stead of encounter powers (except the Monk class though it really seems redundant that they are Psionic if they don't use the power points Guess they couldn't come up with a good Psionic Striker) gives a bit of variety but that's about it (MY opinion not a fact).
Shadow: up until recently there where only 1 of these classes but have gotten a couple of more (the Executioner and the um Vampire... (not Sparkly)) shadow remains the smallest of all the power sources (well unless you include the Primal-Martial classes the Scout and Hunter or even the Martial-Shadow class that is the Executioner (which in itself is a misleading name)) all classes so far with the Shadow power source are Strikers a Shadow Defender or Leader would be really interesting and a Shadow Controller is probably the easiest to do. that's about it for this post this is Owler signing off for now and whatever you do, do not look The Lady in the Face.
Friday, 24 June 2011
an Introduction of sorts
Hello fellow nerds, geeks and average bloggers who stumble upon this page by accident welcome to my humble little blog focusing on my general nerdiness or rather my COMPLETE nerdiness. I have been a typical nerd (or occasionally very unusual nerd) I don't study any form of science in fact I hated studying science at school well ok not hated I like Biology and some of Chemistry but despised Physics (it isn't the coolest of sciences to say the least) but that isn't really the point of this article so I will speedily move on from there. as you may have already noticed (though really you would have to be pretty on the ball to notice from a paragraph) that I will go on many a tangent so bare with me on that, also beware of awful awful grammar and spelling this I will try to rectify as often as possible. the main purpose of this little blog is to show my opinions on aspects of a hobby that I have become engrossed in over the past year, Namely Dungeons & Dragons, I will not being doing in depth history of the series (many have already done that and fuck it there's wikipedia to tell you what is need to be known (well as long as it doesn't get vandalised) about the series) I will be focusing mainly on the 4th edition and the essentials line mainly because well that is the edition that got me into the game and is probably the easiest to get into and also the hardest for a player character to die (especially compared to 2nd or 3rd edition) though of course not impossible I have seen one character death (in a very dangerous campaign setting but apart from that) I will be focusing mainly on the classes and the races of the game though my first proper post will be explaining the different class types (which won't take long there are only 4 types) I will occasionally make comments on other systems I'd like to try or have tried and may post events from campaigns I run online (a 3.5 game (those of you with no idea why it's 3.5 instead of 3rd it is a version of the rules to rebalance the game (with limited success) and a 4th edition game which I'm rather proud of) so that's about it from me for this post as you may have noticed there are several asides within asides (this will happen a lot more in the future) but I shall see you around soon, this is Owler signing off for now and whatever you do, do not look The Lady in the Face.
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