Back a bit ago WotC announced they were cutting some books and the minis line and other things and the cry went out far and wide that they were doomed. To be fair if WotC had changed the name of a book or the cover art there would be people out there on teh internets claiming it was a sign of their near death.
One of the books that met the gallows that day was "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell". It's purpose was to update some of the earlier PHB classes to the new Essentials format. It was never high on my list as something to get; PHB classes and Essentials classes are still equal. But it would have been nice to see some of the content.
So Wizards has released the Marshal, which is the Essentials version of the Warlord.
And they have done it for free. In Dragon Magazine 397.
You can download the Marshal from Wizard's site here, http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dra/201103warlord
I checked from other browsers to make sure my DDI password was not cached in. It is free.
So if you have not looked into the Essentials classes yet here is a good example.
Since you seem to be up on your 4E knowledge, can you explain the broad differences between 4E and the Essentials line? I saw the Essentials books at a local bookstore and only barely flipped through them, but I had though that they were really just a re-packaging of the 4E rules into softback format. I didn't realize there were rules changes.
ReplyDeleteIs it kind of like D&D 4.5?
The rule changes are minor.
ReplyDeleteThe martial classes have, for the most part, been changed.
The rules presentations are different, but the rules themselves have not really changed.
The classes now have some different powers, for example the Warlock has a Hexblade variant that uses a sword and the druids are better in my opinion. Wizards have minor changes and classes like Fighters and Rogues are closer to their older roots.
The monster book is the best of the lot. Tons of counters for every monster in the book.
@Marthin R. Thomas:
ReplyDeleteNot D&D 4.5, no. It's really just a different form of presentation combined with new class options. The game's actual rules stay the same (or, to put it more accurately, they are the same rules that we have seen organically evolve over the course of 4e's lifecycle). You can play a new Essentials-style fighter (the Slayer) at the same table with a PHB 1 fighter and everything will work just fine.
Essentials is really designed to be a different sort of "path" into playing D&D, easy to digest and understand, simpler to play, and more in line with the "classic" feel of some of the first editions of D&D.
Not sure why any one complained about the martial classes having encounter and daily powers to the point that essentials line was needed. I like it the way it was in PH. But variety and options can never hurt.
ReplyDelete