Anchorites and arcanists

[gnomish dwelf]

I had great fun playing an anchorite/arcanist (LN) that evolved into an anchorite/arcanist/engineer (if you ask me) or an anchorite/arcanist/tinker (if you asked my dm), the mix could turn and command undead and was pretty neat, arcanists as domains of dread 2nd edition combo of diviner and necrotheurgist, anchorites are Ezra's priest of defending the poor victims of ravenloft... I dont know if arcanists have an equivalent in 3rd or 3.5th edition, but anchorites do... So it makes sense to hope that we can see them in the webcomic at one point?

[brian 333]

For what purpose?

The Giant has stated that he doesn't care about game mechanics, and there are literally thousands of classes, subclasses, prestiege classes and templates out there that he has yet to use.

The question here is, "Will The Giant include this thing I like?" and the answer is, "If it serves the story he wants to tell or if it is funny, then maybe."

[gnomish dwelf]

the balance needed to play the anchorite arcanist that commands and turns undead is one very delicate and challenging, that is why it would be cool, the giant really knows how to do characterization so him taking the challenge would be a good lecture by example.

[KillianHawkeye]

the balance needed to play the anchorite arcanist that commands and turns undead is one very delicate and challenging, that is why it would be cool, the giant really knows how to do characterization so him taking the challenge would be a good lecture by example.

The Giant is great at characterization, but in OOTS that has very little to do with class features beyond the basic character archetypes. And the Giant is not here to lecture us on how to play RPGs, he's a storyteller.

[gnomish dwelf]

The Giant is great at characterization, but in OOTS that has very little to do with class features beyond the basic character archetypes. And the Giant is not here to lecture us on how to play RPGs, he's a storyteller.

good point, but he is his own man, if he wants to, he gonna... storytellers can lecture on how to play rpgs and still be storytellers.

[brian 333]

He does it all the time. He hates min/maxers, murderhobos, munchkins, and templates designed to produce optimized one trick ponies. He likes characters that are flawed but dealing with it, and which place character choices over mechanical benefits.

Or at least that's what I'm getting after reading for what, two decades now? I know I started before Sunny's first appearance, anyway.

[gnomish dwelf]

He does it all the time. He hates min/maxers, murderhobos, munchkins, and templates designed to produce optimized one trick ponies. He likes characters that are flawed but dealing with it, and which place character choices over mechanical benefits.

Or at least that's what I'm getting after reading for what, two decades now? I know I started before Sunny's first appearance, anyway.

I am pretty sure that achorite arcanists are neither templates nor one trick ponies.

[RatElemental]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any character who is confirmed to have a non-core class that is not:

A. Made up for the story.
B. Included only as a throwaway joke.
or
C. Included as an homage to a specific character or person.

So something as obscure as an anchorite, whose lore is tied to a deity that does not exist in this setting, is probably unlikely.

[gnomish dwelf]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any character who is confirmed to have a non-core class that is not:

A. Made up for the story.
B. Included only as a throwaway joke.
or
C. Included as an homage to a specific character or person.

So something as obscure as an anchorite, whose lore is tied to a deity that does not exist in this setting, is probably unlikely.

I guess if he really wanted to allow them, anchorites wouldn't be specialty priests of Ezra but specialty priests of.... Mmm... I guess Sigrun fits best. (Demeter, Hestia or some other shieldmaiden-figure from Greek mythology could fit better but those are dead deities, unless they are not) or else... Mmm.... Maybe Ereshkigal (with the afterlife mentioned by malak being none other than ravenloft) or Ishtar.

I would appreciate to see the anchorite arcanist as a a throwaway joke, sometimes such jokes breed more permanent characters... but yeah, you are right anchorites by the way appear first in 2nd edition's domains of dread, I doubt they are too obscure, but maybe I am wrong and all this is just wishful thinking

[KorvinStarmast]

The question here is, "Will The Giant include this thing I like?" and the answer is, "If it serves the story he wants to tell or if it is funny, then maybe." Yep.

The Giant is great at characterization, but in OOTS that has very little to do with class features beyond the basic character archetypes. And the Giant is not here to lecture us on how to play RPGs, he's a storyteller. Sadly for your post, my impression from reading both the strip and all of his commentary, in the books and the prequels, and any number of his posts on GiTP (and his articles on gaming advice) is that he is up to exactly that. What makes is palatable is his ability to deliver a joke.

But he's got some good advice here and there. Some of his posts that he has removed from the site can be found on the wayback machine. One of the very, very good ones is about making the tough decisions and not getting into My Guy syndrome. Another very good one is about crafting evil NPCs who are more than two dimensional cartoon cutouts.

[Peelee]

But he's got some good advice here and there. Some of his posts that he has removed from the site can be found on the wayback machine. One of the very, very good ones is about making the tough decisions and not getting into My Guy syndrome. Another very good one is about crafting evil NPCs who are more than two dimensional cartoon cutouts.

I especially loved the evil NPCs one. Also, to the best of my knowledge, it's not that those are removed as much as that they simply weren't moved over with the rest of the stuff during the last big site shift. I think.

[NerdyKris]

I especially loved the evil NPCs one. Also, to the best of my knowledge, it's not that those are removed as much as that they simply weren't moved over with the rest of the stuff during the last big site shift. I think.

Are you talking about these in the homebrew forum?
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?172910-Articles-Previously-Appearing-on-GiantITP-com

[KillianHawkeye]

I doubt they are too obscure, but maybe I am wrong and all this is just wishful thinking

FYI, it's this one.

[Peelee]

Are you talking about these in the homebrew forum?
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?172910-Articles-Previously-Appearing-on-GiantITP-com

Hey, neat! They were just relocated!

[KorvinStarmast]

Hey, neat! They were just relocated! *Snort* From the Diplomacy homebrew ...

He {the player} did suggest one idea that I eventually adopted in a later campaign: We renamed the skill Persuasion, rather than Diplomacy, to give a better sense of what it actually does. 5e formalized that.

The two articles I was referring to were in a different part of the forum, and that does not seem to have been moved anywhere on the site.

[Peelee]

The two articles I was referring to were in a different part of the forum, and that does not seem to have been moved anywhere on the site.

Was one of them the only.l where two villains were just friends with each othe? Becuase I was also referring to that one, and didn't bother to check the link beyond the title "articles that formerly appeared on the site". A quick ctrl +F confirms its not in that thread, so it looks like my initial assessment was not mistaken (or, at least, not proven mistaken yet).

[KorvinStarmast]

Was one of them the only.l where two villains were just friends with each othe? Becuase I was also referring to that one, and didn't bother to check the link beyond the title "articles that formerly appeared on the site". A quick ctrl +F confirms its not in that thread, so it looks like my initial assessment was not mistaken (or, at least, not proven mistaken yet).
I'll see if I can find you the link, someone put it on the wayback machine so it's still somewhere.

EDIT: Gambatte reproduced the article on the evil NPCs here (https://www.reddit.com/r/oots/comments/grvs5h/richs_articles_on_worldbuilding_and_char_creation/).

Here is the one about making tough decisions/My Guy (https://web.archive.org/web/20181101075646/https://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html).

[RatElemental]

*Snort* From the Diplomacy homebrew ...
5e formalized that.

The two articles I was referring to were in a different part of the forum, and that does not seem to have been moved anywhere on the site.

Well, sort of. I think that was the result of merging diplomacy and bluff together to trim down the bloated skill list.

[KorvinStarmast]

Well, sort of. I think that was the result of merging diplomacy and bluff together to trim down the bloated skill list. I'll buy that too. :smallsmile:

[Psyren]

The Giant is great at characterization, but in OOTS that has very little to do with class features beyond the basic character archetypes. And the Giant is not here to lecture us on how to play RPGs, he's a storyteller.

Specific class features can intersect with narrative in OotS, even now in the later stages of the comic. For example, because Veldrina is a Favored Soul (a spontaneous divine caster with limited spells known) rather than a cleric, it means that despite being powerful enough to attend the Godsmoot in the first place, she can't help Roy with his problem of raising Durkon herself; this allows Greg's long-running deception to reach its climax.

[Devils_Advocate]

Well, sort of. I think that was the result of merging diplomacy and bluff together to trim down the bloated skill list.
That's not a thing that happened.

Diplomacy —> Persuasion (roughly)
Sense Motive —> Insight
Bluff —> Deception

Some skills were merged, but not those two.

[Kish]

It is, I think, exceedingly unlikely that anything specific to the Ravenloft setting will show up in OotS.