About what percentage of the Athasian populus are wild talents?
Are those without a talent viewed any differently that those with?
I'm getting two conflicting views on the wild talent issuse. The Wanderer's Journal (Second Edition Box Set) says that every human and demi-human has some extent of psionic power, most being wild talents. However, I read on various forums that only the PCs and important NPCs can be wild talents.
Could someone give me something a little more definitive?
The Wanderer's Journal (Second Edition Box Set) says that every human and demi-human has some extent of psionic power, most being wild talents. However, I read on various forums that only the PCs and important NPCs can be wild talents.
Various forums are not so official as page 18 of The Way of the Psionicist is.
All PCs are wild talents. Some 10% of monsters and NPCs are wild talents too.
... but I'm still a little puzzled on why it went from all humans and demi-humans being talents in the first Second Edition box set...
There was no such thing.
Page 38 of the Rules Book said that "all non-player characters who meet the ability requirements for the psionicist class are wild talents, as well". Not "all" have Con 11, Int 12 and Wis 15.
Well.. I like the idea of giving the Hidden Talent feat to my PCs. However, in the spirit of being an evil DM, how would it affect things if I gave it to creatures as well? I know in the box set that monsters too could be wild talents.
In most cases it wouldn't do much; if you want to "spice up" some of your monsters, I'd suggest that you instead give them the Phrenic template from the EPH; for low-CR monsters it adds a little psionic flavor to them without increasing the CR by that much, and for tougher monsters it can make them pretty powerful psionic creatures. I wouldn't suggest doing this with creatures from Terrors of Athas (most of the PC-eating monsters from ToA already have psionic powers, anyway), but it's a nice way to make "old standby" creatures from the Monster Manual feel more Athasian...and it'll throw off your PCs, too.
Well.. I like the idea of giving the Hidden Talent feat to my PCs. However, in the spirit of being an evil DM, how would it affect things if I gave it to creatures as well? I know in the box set that monsters too could be wild talents.
In what I think was the spirit of what Troy Denning was trying to do, whenever I bring a creature that isn't normally from Athas into Dark Sun, I apply the Phrenic and Dire templates if possible.
Believe it or not, but in the grand scheme of things, Hidden Talent replacing Wild Talent doesn't really impact the campaigns all *that* much. It just means that some characters have an extra little ability they can call on, for the non-psionic-class characters, their power point limitations considerably cripple how much that is used, and for the psionic-class characters... they get better stuff and start to rely on that pretty soon.
Maybe I should give me creatures two Hidden Talent feats. :D
Excellent... Hidden Talents all around. However, I think I need to take more classes on being evil... one of my players was creating his character. Half-Giant Gladiator, with Monkey Grip, wielding a Huge sized Swatter... *gulp* 4d8 points of damage... :surrender I think I have my work cut out for me.
Maybe I should give me creatures two Hidden Talent feats. :D
Hehe...don't worry, if the wizard/cleric/psion/druid in the group is any good, they'll surpass the silly half-giant soon enough ;)
Monkey Grip, btw, isn't a particularly good feat, and is made redundant by Power Attack. To see why: the swatter (which requires expending a feat, making it an ok but not more than that weapon) will deal an extra d8 damage, on average 4,5. I'm betting the half-giant has power attack in addition? If so, power attacking for 2 will deal 4 more damage. So by taking monkey grip, the half-giant deals a whopping 0.5 more damage for the cost of one feat. This is further compounded by the fact that the -2 to hit is NOT adjustable, whereas with Power Attack you can choose to forego the damage bonus if you meet a monster with a huge AC. With any other weapon (say a greatsword), monkey grip is actually worse than Power Attack (3.5 dmg extra vs 4 from Power Attack).
Regarding Hidden/Wild Talent: I always give my PCs a random psionic power, as I think this is in the flavor of everyone on Athas having some measure of psionic power. Worse than Hidden Talent, better than Wild Talent ;)
Sorta got a point there, but still doesn't make me feel better... looking at ToA, I find very few critters of the same CR that he can't smash into oblivion, but I guess thats the point... I suppose I can just pile on the lesser creatures and swarm him. They are a very powerful +1 LA race.
Half-giants are a powerful melee race, that's true...the reach is easy to overlook at first, but makes them especially powerful. They do have other hindrances though, which a DM should always play to...especially socially. The half-giant in my group is probably the most powerful now as well (the group is level 4), but I expect him to lag behind the psion, wizard and cleric around level 9 or so. Melee types are rarely a big problem for a DM balance-wise. You did have him start with 2 racial HDs yes? That's another drawback that needs to be accounted for.
Sorta got a point there, but still doesn't make me feel better... looking at ToA, I find very few critters of the same CR that he can't smash into oblivion, but I guess thats the point... I suppose I can just pile on the lesser creatures and swarm him. They are a very powerful +1 LA race.
I guess it also depends on your starting level. Hidden Talents are impressive at level 1, they get less so by level 3 or 4. I start my campaigns at level 4, because the Half-Giant and Thri-Kreen versions I use, have an ECL of 4 (and such characters start without any class levels at all). Hidden talent becomes somewhat of a novelty at that point, but definitely nothing to write home about.