Several projects which were languishing can be started on as soon as 3.5 comes out due to the fact that I know which classes can be played. My bardic colleges can be designed. I can work on the silver and golden haired sorcerers crawling out of Sanction's brothels and slums... a legacy of draconian occupation. I can design "The Blade" as a stronghold of renegade sorcery. I can do writeups about the Solamnic Auxillaries. If anyone was made for the "Eldritch Knight" prestige class, its them.
I'm looking forward to a couple other things as well. If they do it well, the spell-shaping Citadel Mystic and Academy Sorcerer can be stolen for any setting, along with the Mystic base class. I'm kinda lukewarm to the Noble base class, though I can see a niche for a consumate leader and diplomat who isn't a bard. I can't say I really support the idea of a mariner base class (since it means you have to be at sea to be effective, which means you're too specialized to be a viable option. I'm a little curious about the whole division between the "civilized" and "barbaric" humans, and I'll reserve my judgement on them. My gut tells me that the distinction could be better served with a feat or two rather than making distinct "race stats". After all, barbaric humans can't have supernatural abilities, and wilderness skills are covered by both the ranger and barbarian classes.
I cried with joy when I read that all 5 towers of High Sorcery will have maps though. I was planning an adventure set in the ruins of Daltigoth's tower of High Sorcery. Undead are chained beneath it, and the magical "sleep" effect has decayed until it gives a "fatigue" effect. Now that I have the spells "waves of fatigue" and "waves of exhaustion" in 3.5.... all I need is to roll up undead monsters and fill the ruins. Ah... serenity. Well, for me anyway... my players will be quite a pickle.
I don't think that a seperate book for the Citadel of Light is really necessary. After all, Krynn only has 21 dieties, and the Citadel of Light and the Seekers could easily be folded in the HOoS in a single, crunchier, book.
I like everything I hear so far... but I'm gonna have to shrink the desolation realms if WotC or Sovereign Press doesn't. This isn't so bad because I know what to do with Ogrebond, Kharolis (south of Qualinesti), Blodeheim, New Coast, Northern Solamnia and of course Southern Ergoth. If I'm going to have to wait for the devastations of the Dragon Overlords to heal "slowly but surely" I'm going to press the fast-forward button. A lot can happen in 10 years. Did I mention I now know what to do with Ogrebond?
Originally posted by ferratus
I can't say I really support the idea of a mariner base class (since it means you have to be at sea to be effective, which means you're too specialized to be a viable option.
I agree. I think that Mariner should be a Prc. In my DL campaign I made a Blood Sea Mariner PrC (its basically the Dread Pirate from Song & Silence but with a few changes.
Originally posted by ferratus
I don't think that a seperate book for the Citadel of Light is really necessary. After all, Krynn only has 21 dieties, and the Citadel of Light and the Seekers could easily be folded in the HOoS in a single, crunchier, book.
TSR would disagree with you. After all, they put out a fully fleshed-out Citadel of Light boxed set for SAGA. Stan! was the author of that one, and he further developed it in Bertrem's Guide to the War of Souls Vol. II.
The Citadel of Light has been the primary learning center for mystics since the discovery of mysticism. This book may also cover mysticism as a whole, which would be a wealth of added info as well.
Anyhoo, I'm personally excited about the Citadel of Light book. With the recent developments in the War of Souls series, there is little doubt in my mind that the Citadel will become the primary learning center for mystics and clerics who follow Mishakal.
I hope that Sov. Press can get Stan! to write this compendium. Nobody knows the Citadel better.
Originally posted by Dragonhelm
[b]TSR would disagree with you. After all, they put out a fully fleshed-out Citadel of Light boxed set for SAGA. Stan! was the author of that one, and he further developed it in Bertrem's Guide to the War of Souls Vol. II.
[b]
Actually, the "Citadel of Light" was Steve Miller's. I do know about the boxed set for "Citadel of Light" but frankly all the information in that boxed set could fit into a single chapter of a regular sized book. The type was pretty large, and the book was more of a "booklet" It did though, pretty much explain the history and function of the Citadel of Light enough for me to use it, which is why I figured we don't really need one by itself.
On another note, I really hope they fix the history of both the Citadel of Light and the Academy of Sorcery. I mean, my god look at the pictures of the Academy of Sorcery! It looks bigger than Angkor Wat! Something that took an empire centuries to build was built by sorcerers in under half a decade, when they were just learning the rudiments of their craft? I hope the artwork was just that, artwork, and that the map of the new academy is more sensible. I myself drew a map. Basically, it has 11 3 story towers for each school (with a classroom, master's quarters, and a guard station) linked together by an outer wall. The Tower of the World is a central keep with the dorms, Headmistress' Emma Xela's quarters, the laboratories, the library, and the lecture hall. The "quads" still remain, but instead are divided by cobblestone paths rather than bejeweled pillared walkways.
The Citadel of Light, also ludicrous. How in the heck did "the dwarves" craft so many huge crystal domes, several stories high? I mean, even if you got the entire nation of Thorbardin to do it, it would be impossible in that short amount of time. Heck, even shipping that much crystal across the Newsea would take a long time. So a retconn is necessary to preserve myself from banging my head against the wall. It therefore has to be a temple to Mishakal built by the Qualinesti Elves over centuries, during the Age of Might. Then its existance (since we have maps of it already) would make sense.
See, this is why I didn't like the 5th Age. They didn't make an effort to really blend the new ideas with the existing product. It was more a fact of "this would be cool" and then running roughshod over common sense. I hope I'll do a little better when I'm designing stuff.
Oh, and as for TSR disagreeing with me, I don't really think that's a problem. After all, we all know where TSR is now and what state they were in when they were bought out. ;)