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Dungeons & Dra.. D&D Insider Dragon 396 - Winning Races: Genasi of Athas
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 21, 2011 - 9:47PM #1
MaximumHavoc
  • Dragon Slayer
Date Joined: Apr 27, 2006
Posts: 2,708
Dragon 396
Winning Races: Genasi of Athas

by Robert J. Schwalb

After generations of isolation, genasi are once again being met in the Tyr Region.

Talk about this Article here.



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2 years ago  ::  Feb 21, 2011 - 10:22PM #2
sawbladex
Date Joined: Apr 15, 2005
Posts: 259
Looks neat.

Kinda funny that a good deal of issues in both dark sun and the core setting are results of bad planning on before of both gods and primordials.

also, sandslide should probably say something like you can enter enemies' square and don't provoke OA for moving while in that from.
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 21, 2011 - 10:43PM #3
Janx_14
Date Joined: Sep 19, 2007
Posts: 3,448
I really like this, I always wondered how Genasai would turn out in Athas.

A Sun/Ash genasai would be quite interesting with the extra manifestation feat and/or the PP. You'd be both the 'dark and the light'. Or i guess...a Dark Sun Tongue out.

Honestly though, more articles like this, the druid, and the Duergar article are what we need.
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 12:44AM #4
Blinkey
Date Joined: Oct 15, 2010
Posts: 26
This is a really cool article. I like it lots Laughing

It seems odd (especially for the paragon path) that with 'elemental' as a viable keyword (see hierophant druid article) that all these apparently flavored elemental powers don't have it.

Anybody else think that's odd? (Or have I got the wrong end of the stick on the keyword?)

Cheers

Blinkey

(On reflection it occurs to me that 'elemental' is quite probably reserved for stuff that directly links to the elemental chaos which makes sense I guess).
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 12:54AM #5
Crimson_Concerto
Date Joined: Aug 28, 2005
Posts: 9,918
I'll post the same thing here that I posted on CharOp:

Ember-Soul
+1 Reflex is unnecessary and unoriginal. It should have been replaced by something interesting.
I've  always had a problem with the wording of saving throw bonuses "against  ___", when they should instead be "against effects that cause ___".  Saving throws are made against effects. It sounds like a stupid nitpick,  but there we go. Either way, only against ongoing fire? Lame. Why not  just give them fire resistance?
Ashfall Evasion should allow for any  ability score and shouldn't be restricted to only three stats. I thought  that they learned their lesson about these in Dark Sun when they  introduced themes. Then again, Thri-Kreen still mess this up.
As for the thematic effects of the racial power, meh.

Magma-Soul
+1 Fortitude is unnecessary and unoriginal. It should have been replaced by something interesting.
The  other benefit is exclusively useful to melee characters, and that's not  good. Genasi are a very special issue because may consider them to be a  singular race, such that it's okay for some to be more specialized  because those options don't need to be selected if they wouldn't be  benefitial, and I can sort of understand that viewpoint, but it's still a  shame.
As for Flowing Magma, I've generally been pretty against  racial powers that include detriments to their user, and I wouldn't  consider this to be one of the exceptions. This is only passable because  of the aforementioned little Genasi dilemma, but it would still be  better if the excuse didn't need to exist. Also, this still has the  problem of being restricted to three ability scores.
And again, as far as thematics go, it's just too complicated for a racial power.

Sand-Soul
No  complains here. I actually like this one. No defense bonus, features  are reasonably unique and interesting, both mechanically and  thematically, and the racial power doesn't try too hard. Great  manifestation, definitely one of the better ones in general.

Sun-Soul
Repeat what I said about Ember-Soul with relation to the saving throw bonuses against ongoing damage.
This one does try to be more unique, though, with the cute little temperature and sun sickness things.
Sun  Flare still has the three ability score problem, and also apparently  missed the memo that accessory-less powers that target a NAD are now  supposed to be scaling at a rate of +3 at heroic, +6 at paragon, and +9  at epic.
The racial power here is more thematically interesting than Ashfall Evasion and Flowing Magma, but it's still only so-so.

Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am the Unfailing Arbiter of All That Is Good Design (Even More So Than The Actual Developers) TM

Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask?
"If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB
"If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave
"WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm
"Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha

Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.

Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 2:48AM #6
Style75
Date Joined: Oct 25, 2009
Posts: 1,949
Pure awesome. Makes me want to immediately make a genasi for my DS campaign. Lots of crunch, lots of great fluff. This is what I expect from the magazines.

Diseases in the compendium and now this article. Feb is making me a happy ddi subscriber.

How about this kind of treatment for runepriests? Or artificers? Please?

Want to know more about the history of D&D, especially how to play older editions of the game? Check out Crazy Monkey's "Tour through the editions":

http://community.wizards.com/crazymonkey/go/forum/view/133793/225799/Asylum_Play-by-Post

The current edition is BECMI, the most popular form of Basic D&D and the adventure is the classic Red Box quest to kill Bargle the evil magic user. Check it out, learn about the games roots, and enjoy the story as it unfolds.
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 3:31AM #7
thespaceinvader
Date Joined: Oct 28, 2010
Posts: 9,649
Is there anyone else writing for Dragon these days, or has it become the Robert J Schwalb show?  It's not something I've a tremendous objection to, RJS's work is for the most part of good quality, and feels limited more by the WotC policies than his own skill as a writer/games designer.  But some variety in writers might help.

A hint to Wizards: there are plenty of people who'd write for Dragon for no money in exchange for the credit on their CV and the chance to enhance the hobby they love.
Harrying your Prey, the Easy Way: A Hunter's Handbook - the first of what will hopefully be many CharOp efforts on my part.
The Blinker - teleport everywhere. An Eladrin Knight/Eldritch Knight.

CB != rules source.
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 5:39AM #8
mysticbelmont
Date Joined: Jun 8, 2008
Posts: 781
Once again, Schwalb delivers.
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 5:49AM #9
Madfox11
  • LFR Global Admin
Date Joined: Dec 2, 2005
Posts: 4,440
Great fluff... not so sure about the mechanics. I always find it a bit of a shame when racial stuff is so dependend on just physical attributes, even more so when it is a racial paragon path. Sure, the PP also includes Intelligence (instead of Dex), but what about Wisdom for druids and shamans? Then again, I am currently playing a swordmage genasi in one non Dark Sun campaign, so I might be biased. At least the PP deals with the implement/weapon issue of the previous genasi racial PPs...
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2 years ago  ::  Feb 22, 2011 - 5:53AM #10
Marandahir
Date Joined: Nov 9, 2008
Posts: 4,226
And here, at last, is an awesome article, full of flavour and useful crunch.  This is the sort of thing that should be covered in the digital magazines.

On the subject of the Schwalb show – I love Schwalb's work, so I'm not upset, but I can't help but think that part of the reason the articles are so few and far between (the magazines are a lot smaller these past months) is because it's nearly all R.J. Schwalb. 

More writers could also mean more articles per month.
A great man once said "If WotC put out boxes full of free money there'd still be people complaining about how it's folded." – Boraxe

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