Friday, May 11, 2012

This Just Isn't MY D&D

Saw this out on the blogosphere.  It's a list of characters (pregens) being played in a D&D Encounters 4e game.

  • Windsoul/Firesoul Genasi Assassin
  • Earthsoul Genasi Swordmage [Earthforger]
  • Firesoul Genasi Barbarian (Berserker) [Ironwrought]
  • Sandsoul Genasi Ranger (Hunter) [Unseelie Agent]
  • Elf Ranger (Scout)
OK, that last one I get. 

What the hell are those other characters?  What's a Genasi?  Are they playing in Talislanta now?

Just sayin...

11 comments:

Trey said...

Heh. I think Genasi came in the Forgotten Realms book for 3e. I don't think you're missing anything.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

From 2nd AD&D Planescape in fact.

They are about 18 years old really.

Necropraxis said...

I run a Fourth Edition game and even I don't know what all those categories mean. What is that, race, class, build, background? Genasi are basically elemental humanoids, and I never heard of them back when I was playing 2E (though I believe Tim Brannan when he says they were there; I just don't think they were central).

I don't mind weird races in the proper context, but I dislike having to be familiar with all these options and all the interactions that are possible. I have to say though, unseelie agent sounds cool (whatever it is).

Gothridge Manor said...

Actually I thought it was some Chinese menu from down the road. General Soul Forgers Chicken (Barbequed) ect...

faoladh said...

I know a lot of people liked it, but I am not fond of Planescape. In part, that's because of weird races, which all seem to come back to that line. I long for the days when D&D was explicitly a humanocentric game. I don't mind things like Cambions and whatnot, but I do mind them being player-available races.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Blergh. This is what you get for stepping away from the game for a decade. I empathize.

Kiltedyaksman said...

It's a big ball of shite.

I didn't play planescape at all so those things are meaningless to me.

Anonymous said...

I wanna play a Lockpick Wizard. That is, I'm a lockpick who can cast spells. And also if someone needs to open a lock there's always a lockpick in the group!

Or I want to play The World Druid. Since I'm the whole world, I have above-average HP and am adjacent to anyone on or under the ground or less than 5' above it, which has interesting Attack of Opportunity and Cleave implications.

Or maybe I'll play Jim's PC's superego / half white draconic Bard.

And what's up with Swordmage? To me, that's a Fighter / M-U. Seriously do we need a class for every multiclass combination? Why not just start making up shit like Cutsword and Bashmace? Yeah I'm a Dung Genasi Takemoney.

Lounge Lizard Kev said...

4th ed is less a role playing game, and more of a tactical combat simulator, with RPG elements serving as a mechanism to link combat encounters together. Each class is completely unique in play style, and the range of tactical options, and indeed, as a tactical game, cutting down to 4 basic classes really would limit the game completely. Jim's right though, it's definitely not his D&D. The point of the game and the approach to it is completely different. While older editions were generally about creating your own epic stories in the vein of your favourite fantasy authors and mythology, the current iteration is generally about killing things in cool ways, and exotic creatures with atypical classes generally have the coolest ways to kill things.

Jim said...

@All -- thanks for the comments!
@d30 -- "Jim's PC's superego / half white draconic Bard" Huh? I don't get this... :) Help me out!

yell0w lantern said...

Genasi is a low to middle tier American beer.

Genasi
Genasi Light
Genasi Cream Ale
and
Genasi Ice