Community

Following up on some recent posts I made on another thread, some of the handbooks--largely those that LDB was maintaining--have not been updated in quite some time. The guides that have not been updated since around last July include those for the Knight, Slayer, Ranger, Rogue, Warlord, Barbarian, Fighter and Scout. Zelink has already stepped up and is taking over the Warlord guide, but that still leaves several guides falling behind. As has been pointed out the rogue and barbarian ones are in the most need at this time, but they all will be sooner or later.

The updates needed will include feats, races, themes, PP's & ED's, errata, and equipment from several books and sources (i.e. Neverwinter Campaign, Feywild, Vile Darkness, Elemental Chaos, Mordenkainen, Shadowfell and Dragon issues). The good news is nobody will need to start from scratch if they don't want to as most consider LDB's guides extremely solid, but it's entirely up to you.

The key qualities needed are of course expertise, the respect of the community, and the time/willingness to maintain the guide. I was hoping we could find some folks willing to do this. I'll be the first one to say I lack the expertise or clout to handle it at this time, but this community has a ton of experts so I know you're out there. Who around here might be good candidates to work on handbooks for these classes? Is there something else we can do that I haven't considered?


J 

I'm certainly interested in maintaining the rogue handbook, although the question I have been struggling with in the past few days is what new value and insights I can actually add to the knowledge base, and what actually requires an update. I have a hard time actually coming up with new stuff aside from a handful of Arena/Style feats (and frankly, there's way too many, so I'd really just want to cover only the good arena feats).

Curses, I would have been able to have a decent stab (so to speak) at the rogue or barbarian handbooks, but people have already laid claim to them.

Thanks Arm for stepping up, that's terrific! I'm sure the whole community will benefit from that. As for the ranger and rogue, I don't know that there have been any major changes, the biggest deal right now is just finding someone who is willing to maintain them. There were new PPs and EDs in the book of Vile Darkness, for example; new feats, races, classes, PPs and EDs in the Feywild book; updates to classes in the Elemental Heroes book, and new themes in virtually all of the above. Lots of equipment/items in Mordenkainen as well, which I think can be very relevant for planning a character. Then of course there is stuff coming out in the issues of Dragon and errata updates, which will continue. Later this year Menzoberranzan comes out, which will likely have significant updates for the drow--that should affect several classes I'm thinking.

Largely at this point the stuff is just housekeeping, which is why it's a great time to hop on. Things need updating but there won't be an overwhelming amount of things to do (I would hope), and most of the work is already done by LDB if folks want to use it. Zelink and Arm would be a great resource if anyone wants to gauge what kind of work would be involved as they are in process right now.

J