- Every once in a while, a new type of subclass
feels like it fits into the D&D multiverse perfectly.
I talked to Mike Mearls
about the forge domain for the cleric
in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
- Forge domain is one of those ones
where it's like, "Why wasn't this in the Player's Handbook?"
Right?
Like it's the dwarf cleric. (laughs)
Dwarf clerics have become so iconic to the game,
and it's funny 'cause they weren't technically really like,
second edition let you play dwarf cleric
but I think people just naturally always.
I don't know what it is about dwarves.
Dwarves and clerics just goes together,
and I think part of it is because you have the story
of Moradin forging the dwarves.
He literally makes them, right?
And I think that's mythically very interesting,
this idea that you have a craftsman who is a god,
who basically challenged himself like can I make a folk,
the dwarves, my children.
I'm gonna forge them out of iron, in metal and ingots,
whatever it is, you know?
And that, to me, is really interesting,
and I think that would have such profound implications
for that society where like you're god physically made you
out of iron, out of metal, and breathed life into you.
And then you have that association
in dwarves of crafting things.
Of course, creation would be sacred to dwarves
'cause that's what their deity does.
It's what their deity did to create them.
And again, this is where I think it's interesting in D&D,
when you have the divine, the divine is knowable
like Moradin's day-to-day desires
might be unknowable or cryptic but Moradin is a person.
That is like what happened.
People know.
There is not a question of faith.
It's just a question of which team you pick.
And so the idea of the dwarf cleric
is essentially to my, when we were working and it,
what I was thinking 100% was the dwarf cleric,
and the dwarf cleric
who decides I am going to emulate Moradin,
I want to be a great smith,
that the deity who created me was a great smith,
and I will follow those footsteps
because creation is sacred to our folk,
and then (laughs) since it's a cleric,
you have to ask yourself, how do you use creation
to beat down orcs and goblins, (laughs)
and then it's just like make magic weapons.
That's it.
You get to imbue a weapon and make it magical,
and that just felt very sensible, very obvious,
and the great thing is that in our system,
it's not game-breaking.
It's powerful but it's not over the top.
This is one of those subclasses I think really encapsulates
when we're doing things really right.
The initial playtest feedback was through the roof positive.
I think we need to tweak a few things here and there
but it hit that note I think of.
I was joking when I said this should have been
in the Player's Handbook
but really it should have been
in the Player's Handbook (laughs)
because it's so iconic, right?
As soon as we showed it to people,
they were just like yes, this makes sense.
This fits.
The mechanics make sense.
Mechanics are easy.
There is nothing in those mechanics
that's tricky or strange or clever.
It's just obvious.
I make things magical.
I make my armor better.
I make my weapons better.
I make things.
That's it.
But it just hits such a resonant tone,
and that's always what we're shooting for
when we do these new subclasses.
We want to hit that resonant tone.
You can go for the thing that's very experimental
that people haven't seen before,
and that's part of the approach.
You need to do some of that
but when you're doing things
where people just look at it and go, "Yeah, that's D&D."
Like yes, you feel really good about yourself as a designer
'cause I filled the gap that everyone wanted to play
but they couldn't play.
Maybe they didn't know the gap was empty
until you gave them this,
and then suddenly everyone is playing it,
and I think that's how we are really truly growing the game
when we do that, when you could imagine
oh if you could go back in time
and give Xanathar's to the Player's Handbook team,
this is one of the domains, one of the options
they would just be yes, of course,
let's put this right in the Player's Handbook.
That always feels good as a designer to do that. (laughs)
At least for this type of design,
it's not the exotic new wacky thing,
it's the thing that's just like,
"You've invented baked potatoes," right? (laughs)
Now that you've invented it,
everyone will have these with their steak forever.
(laughing)
You just feel like. - Yeah, right, right.
- "Wow, that's kinda cool." - It did, it does.
(Jeremy laughs)
- [Man] It has that weird feeling.
It has a feeling like this should have been
in first edition.
- Yeah, yeah because like I said, it fits,
and that's when we know as designers, as creators
we're connecting with the audience,
we're hitting on things that people want,
we're hitting on things that just makes sense to people.
I love that feeling as a designer
on a game like Dungeons and Dragons.
It has a history that has a big active user base.
It means we, as designers, are in touch with players,
that we're on the same page.
I love that feeling.
- The cleric forge domain
appears in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
You can purchase that book on dndbeyond.com,
and also earn free order bonuses as well.
I'm Todd Kenreck.
Thanks for watching.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét