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Archwizard
Learned Scribe
USA
266 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Jun 2007 : 05:59:09
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In regards to the Fighter series, I liked the use of prestige classes in them. I don't find the story jarring if the author works the prestige class element into the character background, something I felt all the authors of the Fighter series did or tried to do. Prestige classes can be useful tools to develop characters in a setting and for developing the setting itself.
I feel part of the reason for authors and editors shying away from using a regular Fighter is because Fighters in D&D don't have anything particularly noteworthy about them. They get feats; however, other characters can pick up a number as well, so the impact is lessened. The few feats unique to the Fighter class are nearly indistinguishable from a regular attack. All of these factors mean nothing in a novel where the author takes effort to describe an exciting battle anyway. Prestige class offers Fighters special, discrete, recognizable abilities. It essentially stands in for a Fighter's style of fighting, which in D&D, including the published Realms, seems very underdeveloped. Fighters in the Realms generally seem to fall into the background more readily than other classes unless something about them already is extraordinary (Azoun was king, Dove is a chosen, Drizzt is a good drow).
The prestige class abilities become as recognizable as a wizard's spells, and we see that many of the prestige class abilities mentioned in the novels border on the magical if they aren't magical outright. So at least with Fighters, I feel use of prestige classes is justified given the position of Fighters in the Realms and from the treatment they're given through the mechanics.
I do agree that when the novel isn't focused on a class, then the use of prestige classes becomes a lot more optional. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2007 : 23:54:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Archwizard
I feel part of the reason for authors and editors shying away from using a regular Fighter is because Fighters in D&D don't have anything particularly noteworthy about them.
I think the focus in any novel--even a D&D-based novel--should be on character and story, not game mechanics. A character is only as "interesting" as the author makes them, and I honestly believe that has little to do with superficial things like class, race, and the like.
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"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Archwizard
Learned Scribe
USA
266 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jun 2007 : 02:36:27
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| I guess we just have to agree to disagree. I feel what you call superficial aspects should hold importance to a character, at least a mild influence if not a major effect. I'm not advocating a separation of good story-telling from mechanics and then focusing only on mechanics as a supposedly better alternative. I feel you need some of both. I don't feel the recent novels like the Fighter series emphasized any sort of separation either, at least not intentionally. I do think the mechanics setup in D&D has influenced how fighters were portrayed, but it wasn't something I felt diminished the quality of the stories told. In fact I felt the elaboration on different martial traditions and origins based on prestige classes helped make the characters more interesting (but they weren't the only things that made the characters interesting). |
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Lauzoril
Seeker
Finland
71 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2007 : 10:24:27
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I can partially understand your feeling Razz. Almost everything that has been released have dealt huge events in Realms. Not that it is bad in general to have such things, the only trouble imo is they've happened way too close to each other, each saying "that was just a breeze, next one is hurricane" etc.
Fortunately FR has so much base from the smaller scale stories released in the past that it makes Faerun feel more diverse, especially the villains, unlike DL, which just about always focused on Takhisis attempts to enter Krynn.
I admit I quitted Dragonlance after the main Dragon Chronicles (nothing from Fifth Age onwards). Outside them, the whole world of Krynn felt flat. They seemed to overshadow every small story made around them. FR hasn't made me feel that, despite RSE's.
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"Death to the enemies of Bane."
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Edited by - Lauzoril on 28 Jun 2007 10:26:22 |
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Pharaun Mizzrym
Acolyte
Canada
34 Posts |
Posted - 06 Sep 2007 : 02:42:57
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| Nope I'll be reading them on my deathbed |
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Quitting Realms novels
