Power sources and what makes your special.

4th edition has many great things to offer players but one thing that has been bothering me lately is how the different power sources are treated. There are currently 4 power sources that drive all classes, Martial, Arcane, Divine and Primal. What makes each of these power sources special. In previous editions of the game each had it's advantages and disadvantages. Divine casters received their spells from the gods and as a result had more time to develop other skills like fighting. This is seen in the fact that the cleric is a far better combatant than a wizard. However divine casters where limited to doing certain things based on what god they choose. They had codes to follow and their powers could be taken away if they did not follow them. Wizards on the other hand had unlimited freedom to do what every they wanted to, including delving into realms of magic priests where priest could not go. Learning spells and using spell books vs preying and all these other things set the casters apart.

In 4th ed what seems to set people apart are their powers, what powers they get and what party role they fill. Defender, striker, leader or controller, the source of your power has become a story element entirely and rarely matters any more. It's a difficult argument to articulate but the fact is that as written if you took the fighter and changed their power source from martial to primal, nothing happens. Everything stays exactly as it is now. It does not matter that he is martial, it's like wizards of the coast just put the names in there for the hell of it.

This bothers me a bit, I would have liked to see some things on each of the power sources, more lore, rules anything that gives them some context. I have already implemented one house rule when we started playing that made divine casters accountable to their gods. If you look at the PHB as written, a cleic of the goddess of healing and love could, after they are initiated, could go set an orphanage on fire just to hear the screams and nothing would happen, besides pissing off the police.

My question to you and i would like everyones opinion, not just my players, is

Would you be interested in setting up some minor rules to set each of the power sources apart a bit more. A few bonuses and a few penalties for each one. It does not have to be actually +1 when you do this kind of thing. Or am i being too anal and should the distinction between the power sources be left entirely to role playing.

For example to separate divine and arcane powers a bit more you could do something like this

Divine
- Spells are divinely inspired and new powers are learned immediately after leveling up though an hour or so of deep prayer and communion with your deity.
- need to follow a code of conduct for your god and to spread that gods message and teachings. Actions opposed to your god can lead to temporary or even perminant punishments such as loss of powers until you atone for your sins.

Arcane
- Arcane magic wielders can tap directly into the magical weave that flows thought the world. Once they have their powers they are free to do with them as they will. If a warlock makes a pact and then brakes it they retain their power however the entity they made the pact with reserves the right to hunt them down, if they can.
- Spells must me learned through some external source, usually ancient writings but other sources are possible. In order to learn new spells you must have access to that spell some how. New spells can also be researched but that takes time to accomplish.

The Next Great Adventure

Many Questions have been solved, Many Questions are as of yet unanswered. It is now clear that the Attack on Brindol was not some random raid but had a purpose. Was it really as simple as reuniting the red hand or was more at stake? Was Sinruth being groomed for greater things or was he just an unwilling pawn in some greater schema? Who is the Emissary? What is the Emissary? Is there even an emissary at all? If there is, does he prefer apples or oranges?

Ah but it seems like you have time to ponder these these questions as the past month and a half has been unexpectedly quiet. Work is almost complete on the repairs to the city. The dead have been buried and people have moved on with their lives. And you have been doing well for yourselves with your new found fame.

You knew it could never last. Something unsettling has been nagging at the back of your mind. You try to go on with your daily life, like you did before the attack but ….... but your not sure what.

You made your choice, you went to Rivenroar, you rescued the hostages and now your life in inevitably tangled up in the threads of fate. You are being pulled steadily onwards towards some unknown goal with no way of escape in site. Soon you will leave you home, traveling on to your next great adventure at

The Siege of Bordrin's Watch

If only you had taken the blue pill.

A Troubleing letter

Well perhaps this should have been poasted first but i guess a Prequel will have to do.

Sinruth was a hobgoblin with greater aspirations than a life spent preying on the fringes of civilization. He listened closely at the campfires when his fathers and uncles told tales of the Red Hand of Doom, a mighty army that ran across the land like a scythe. And when he became an adult and a leader of his own band of hobgoblins, he found a cache of tunics and weapons left behind by that army. Sinruth felt his destiny calling. He declared himself the new Warlord of Sinruth’s Hand (as he named the group), emblazoned every possible surface with a crudely painted, downward thrusting red hand insignia, and set about recruiting the massive army that he felt was his birthright.

But starting an army isn’t as easy as those campfire
tales led Sinruth to believe. Years passed with Sinruth’s band eking out a meager existence in the wilderness. But slowly, he started to gain allies. A temporary bargain with some sinister, mischievous gnomes blossomed into a lasting friendship. The Red Hand’s exploration of the mountains unearthed some undisturbed catacombs beneath the long-ruined Castle Rivenroar. Sinruth struck another bargain, and the undead guardians let the Red Hand move in, in exchange for periodic payment of kidnapped prisoners.

And then The Letter

Brave Sinruth,

The Red Hand will rise again! The other remnants take great cheer in your recent attacks on commerce coming into The Blight That is Brindol.

We’re particularly pleased with your ability to inspire a fighting spirit in others, whether they have true goblin blood or merely wish they did. To be blunt, we think you should have many more soldiers under your command.
Many, many more.

And recent events have rendered some remnants leaderless. With a bold stroke on your part, the remnants would rally to the Red Hand you so proudly display.

As your bold stroke, do this: Attack the The Blight That is Brindol by night. Focus your efforts on their Hall of Great Valor, for it mocks the many hard-won victories by the first Red Hand of Doom. Take from them the spoils
of war they shamelessly hang on their walls and bring those antiques back to Rivenroar.

Do this before the moon is next full. And with regard to your previous question, turning over captives to your unliving allies at Rivenroar is perfectly acceptable. War sometimes makes strange bedfellows, and we appreciate
how you’ve united such disparate forces under your banner. Whatever prisoners you take from Rivenroar you can
give to the wight.

Fight with the valor of your ancestors, Sinruth. And keep your hands stained red with the blood of the weak! I will visit you again next month, at a time of my choosing.

The Emissary

Power, Wealth, A Grand Army obeying his every desire! He would have it all, if anyone could bring back the glory days of the hand it would be him.

And now you know the rest of the story...............or do you?

The Currency of Baden Part 2

For the first hundred years or so after adopting the residium economy each individual kingdom/region of the empire still used it's own currency. Electrum was used for trading and banking to stabilize the economy but it's value was inappropriate for every day transactions. When traveling to a new region one would have to trade currencies. In the year 335 RM a counsel was convened by the current high priest of Shinare, Kefrum Holember. The topic of interest was the current state of the empires economy, it was at this time that a unified low currency was first proposed. It was rejected as the empire was formed by the joining of many smaller kingdoms and they did not like the idea of giving up some of their history.

Pressure from the church of Shinare, and some say from the goddess herself, over the next 10 years eventually wore down the sub-kingdoms and the steel piece was officially adopted across the empire in the year 345 RM. Since steel is keyed to the value of the electrum, unlike the older floating currencies, prices where stabilized across the empire and a new sense of unity began to take root.

The steel piece is a representitive coin worth 1/100 of an electrum, it contains no residium. Steel coins are made out of Dark or Deep Steel which comes from iron veins found in the middle underdark around adamantium deposits. This iron has trace amounts of adamantium impurities which are impossible to completely remove from the ore. Dark steel is much harder than normal steel but is also very brittle making it useless for weapons and armour, ideal for coins.

When the empire fell in 792, currency was in a very bad shape. The war effort had a terrible toll and many regions became very poor. Steel which was once worth very little became the primary form or currency and the electrum became scarce and valuable. Bronze bits where introduced to subdivide the steel piece into more manageable denominations. Most of the world still holds on to the steel piece as their primary form of currency. This means that even through the world consists of islands of light in an ever encroaching darkness, trade can still exist.

The Currency of Baden Part 1

The great Krynn empire was formed by the coming together of all the good nations at the end of the Time of Chains. The empires fledgling economy had a great many problems as different groups had their preferred currencies no one could agree on the value of commodities. Trade wars almost borough down the Empire before it had a chance. In the year 234 RM the emperor gathered all the financial leaders together in a summit to solve the problem. This lead to the adoption of residium as the standard currency for trade across the empire.

Residuum was a transportable, universal and stable unit of valuation, and quickly became the empires dominant economy. Residuum is extremely valuable in small quantities. To aid in it's use for small frequent transactions it was mixed with precious metals and minted into coins called electrum. These had a much more reasonable value than a tube of pure residium which is valued at a small fortune in itself. The coins where then enchanted to bind in the residium. This made them virtually immune to counter fitting as it was simply not profitable to do so.

Over the age of the empire various electrum pieces have been minted using different metal bases. Silver was used for low denomination coins while gold and even platinum was used for larger denominations. On average 90% of a coins value is based on the residuum contained within it while the other 10% is the residuum equivalent value of the precious metal it is made out of. In all provinces destruction of electrum coins for use as a ritual component is an imperial offense. It's also pointless as any bank will trade electrum for pure residium in a one to one ratio. If one where still inclined to do so, say in an emergency situation, one would find it quite expensive as only a master minter has the knowledge necessary to extract all the residium from a coin. If one where to simply use coins to fuel a ritual only half the value of the coin could be harvested. Using the disenchant ritual can increase this up to about 75% of the coins value.

Polearms of the future

And you thought Halberds where cool

Day 0 - Mead for all, Heroisim for some

Tuesday 10th of Freyja, 894 RM

What a wonderful day for a festival. The blossoms are in full bloom. The bees are buzzing around producing new honey for the coming year. Time to get rid of all the previous years store of mead ready for the new batches coming. Winter mead, golden liquid, bringer of life and drunkeness. The taverns have opened early this year. Already merrymakers are on the streets, and with good reason. People need time to relax. Already rumors of hobgoblins being seen in the borderlands are getting people unnerved. The reassurance of the Kartenix the guard captain of Brindol does not seem so reassuring. Memories of the attacks 10 years ago are still in the minds of the older residents.

5 Future Heroe's go about their daily routine. Shopping for new duds at Congo Red's Mead day sale. Preying to their favored god for the good fortunes of the coming year. Dreaming of famous battles with manticores and dragons. Patroleing the streets looking for pickpockets or marks. Drinking it up at the Antler and Thistle or any other of the many watering holes in the town. All unaware of the events that will unfold with the new day.

Rest well this night, for tomorrow you sail for the Kingdom of Daggerfall, i mean have nice completely uneventful dinner with your friends.

SoW Part 1 - Rescue at Rivenroar

It is the year 894 in the age of mortals. The world stands now, bastions of civilization populate a dark, menacing world—islands of order and reason exist in a land otherwise overrun by dark cults, vile monsters, creatures from the dark edges of the imagination, and worse.

Elsir Vale
The vale stretches almost 250 miles east to west and averages about 70 miles north to south. Several small mountain ranges and dense forests form the vale's borders. The weather is temperate with warm summers and cold winters. One major highway connects the vale with towns to the east and west. Travel along the highway is sparse and well guarded when it occurs.

The vale has ridden out the years since the great war in relative peace, mostly because it has been ignored by the surrounding world. Small amounts of protected farmland are used to feed the vales population with a small ammount left for trade to surrounding cities. The primary form of trade in the vales is tulaberry wine from the tulaberry bushes that bloom in the foothills of the surrounding mountain ranges. Harvested once a year with armed guard, set to protect the workers from the monsters that inhabit the region. Honey is the other major export and is produced in large quantities from the flowering plants in the region. Many other exports exist
but in amounts too small to mention.

Ten years ago the vale was terrorized by a large army of hobgoblins and other goblin kin called the Red Hand. A great many people in the vale where slaughtered and the small towns that dot the vale are still rebuilding. The army was stopped in the town of Brindol where the residents made their last stand. The battle was won mostly due to the delaying tactics of a small group of adventurers who were in the vale at the time of the attacks. The war is still strong in peoples memories and the victory is one of the most important events in the vales history.

Want to know more ?