Heeeey I'm back!

[kippurbird]

A feast with Friends


How about that? It's a chapter that isn't as headache inducing as the previous ones! Of course it's insanely short which helps a lot. I'm not sure if it should have been cut or not. It could have been more, I feel.

We begin with Eragon returning to his tent and there's a hog's head of steaming water waiting for him. I am ninety percent certain that the image Paolini was going for is not that of a of a hog's skull filled with boiling water: There he found a hogs -head of boiling water waiting for him,. Or even that of a hog's un-skull filled with boiling water. I honestly don't know what he meant with that... but that's what I'm thinking and I just can't get it out of my mind. This is why you need to be careful with your words, if they're not right they end up projecting the wrong image and that will completely ruin your scene. Yes, it's just supposed to be a passing description but now I can't move past it. I have to spend some time obsessing about it and trying to figure out what it means!

Inside his own special tent and continues to take bad care of his armor by stuffing it under the bed saying that he'll clean it later. See now armor is not like laundry. You don't just shove it under the bed to clean it later. You take care of it by hanging it up some where so it doesn't get turned into a tangled mess if you can and you clean it! The first thing he should be doing is taking the time to clean it as part of getting ready for the dinner that Nasuada has planed. Instead he acts like any fifteen year old boy trying to keep his room clean by shoving stuff under the cot.

Then from under the bed he retrieves Murtagh's sword. The hand and a half sword that he used. The sword is so poorly made that after a night in the elements, inside its sheathe, it has started to rust.

Yes, rich kid Murtagh, raised in privilege somehow ended up with a sword that starts to rust over night.

Eragon sat and stared at the weapon, conflicted. He did not know what had prompted him, but the day after the battle, he had returned to the plateau and retrieved the sword from the morass of trampled dirt where Murtagh had dropped it. Even after only a single night exposed to the elements, the steel had acquired a mottled veil of rust. With a word, he had dispelled the scrim of corrosion.

AGH! He has time to clean off Murtagh's sword quickly with a short spell, but he doesn't have time to do the same to his armor?! Why?! It takes him about half a second here it looks like! He doesn't even like Murtagh!

Why? Because of this: Paolini isn't connecting one action to the other. That is he could use the same action: Using magic to clean off his armor and the sword, but he's only doing it for one. Logically the one spell could be used for both purposes. It can't be said that it was a powerfully draining spell because Eragon doesn't seem to notice any drain and it's not even a matter of convenience. The armor is less important in this scene than the sword so the sword is the one that gets the special treatment, while the armor is just thrown away. The concept of one spell being used for the two things doesn't appear to have occurred to Paolini because he doesn't think in logical applications of his world or his magic. It exists solely on the rule of cool. Cleaning armor? Mundane. Cleaning sword of your worst enemy while angsting about it? Cool.

And angst he does!

Perhaps it was because Murtagh had stolen his own sword that Eragon felt compelled to take up Murtagh’s, as if the exchange, unequal and involuntary though it was, minimized his loss. Perhaps it was because he wished to claim a memento of that bloody conflict. And perhaps it was because he still harbored a sense of latent affection for Murtagh, despite the grim circumstances that had turned them against each other. No matter how much Eragon abhorred what Murtagh had become, and pitied him for it too, he could not deny the connection that existed between them. Theirs was a shared fate. If not for an accident of birth, he would have been raised in Urû’baen, and Murtagh in Palancar Valley, and then their current positions might well
have been reversed. Their lives were inexorably intertwined.

Poor Murtagh how horrible his fate is, my life sucks because of him. Eragon continues his tradition of turning other people's misfortunes into things that he can angst about because they're bad for him. Sure, Murtagh has a shit of a draw but you know what that shit of the draw could have been Eragon's! Instead of feeling grateful that it wasn't he feels woe because it could have.

Oh, and remember that scar he got from Durza? The one he couldn't get rid of until the elves Magicked away? Well apparently he kept that on purpose and not because they couldn't heal it. As a reminder of their encounter. Nice history revision there. He thinks about this scar because he wonders if he should wear Murtagh's sword for the same reason as a reminder of what happened. He decides against using it and puts it back under the bed.

Then he goes to take a bath. Sadly there is no loving description of Eragon's bathtimes.

Saphira is suddenly too big to go walking around the tents without knocking them over so she flies while Eragon meets up with Nasuada. They talk and Eragon realizes how easy it is to talk to her even though she's a girl.

Eragon and Nasuada spoke of many things. Little of consequence passed between their lips, but her wit, her gaiety, and the thoughtfulness of her remarks charmed him. It was easy for him to talk to her and easier to listen, and that very ease causd him to realize how much he cared for her. Her hold on him far exceeded that of a liegelord over her vassal. It
was a new feeling for him, their bond. Aside from his aunt Marian, of whom he had but faint memories, he had grown up in a world of men and boys, and he had never had the opportunity to be friends with a woman. His inexperience made him uncertain, and his uncertainty made him awkward, but Nasuada did not seem to notice.

We've got some informed behavior here, but the sentences are odd. "Her hold on him" seems to indicate something like blackmail, but he means that of a bond of affection. Also there were more than several women that Eragon interacted with back home, including Katrina and Horst's wife. Also, there should have been some girls around Eragon's age as well. This "fear" of girls makes me continue to wonder about Eragon's interest in them.


It turns out that the so called important dinner they go to is a surprise dinner with a bunch of people from Caverhall and a bunch of other supporting cast members, like Jeod and Angela. Jeod you may ask, who is he? Well, he's an old buddy of Brom but this is his first mention in the book. And all we know about him here is that he has a wife named Helen. We aren't reintroduced to him at all. Oh and Elva is there and Paolini keeps on reminding us about how creepy she is.

He saw Elva sitting cross-legged in the far-left corner of the tent, a platter of food on her lap. The other children shunned her—Eragon could not imagine they had much in common—and none of the adults, save Angela, seemed comfortable in her presence. The small, narrow-shouldered girl gazed up at him from under her black bangs with her horrible violet eyes and mouthed what he guessed was “Greetings, Shadeslayer.”

“Greetings, Farseer,” he mouthed in return. Her small pink lips parted in what would have been a
charming smile if not for the fell orbs that burned above them.

Horrible violet eyes and then fell orbs. Though burning fell orbs put me in mind of crystal ball like things that are on fire and not eyes. Burning is, after all, associated with fire which is not violet -unless it's a gas fire. Also using orbs is a rather cliched term that is silly and seemingly over-wrought. There's nothing wrong with using "fell eyes that burned above them". Besides, we already know she's creepy, we don't need it hammered over our heads with a brick.

Saphira sticks her head into the tent as she smells meat. And they eat drink and are merry. Something that is left out but would have been nice to have seen is Eragon's reaction to the food, to the meat to be exact. Would he go back to eating it or does he go back to his pledge of not eating meat. This is not addressed however and it's a missed opportunity for character development.

Instead we have people laughing and he gives several examples of what people do for entertainment. Jeod recites a song, Angela makes a sourdough man dance, Tara dances a jig and Nasuada smiles and has white teeth.

Wait, what?

One of these things is not like the other.

The exact section is this:

Eragon laughed as he watched. Jeod entertained the crowd with a song he had learned from a book long ago. Tara danced a jig. Nasuada’s teeth flashed as she tossed her head back. And Eragon, by popular request, recounted several of his adventures, including a detailed description of his flight from Carvahall with Brom, which was of special interest to his listeners.

This here is a list of things done for entertainment at the party. There are three things here that are entertaining. But Nasuada's teeth flashing here, while odd as it is, presents an image that she's doing this to amuse people. To make it so that she's flashing her teeth at the entertainment (for some reason I keep on thinking her as a horse tossing her head back) something like as she tossed her head back, laughing at the dance... or something.

Eventually the party breaks up.

Nasuada before she leaves gives him a two day vacation. Which is nice of her, I suppose, but I would think it'd be more reasonable to put him to work right away. After all they need him, don't they? But he's getting special treatment, apparently. Also apparently he's not that needed if she can afford to give him the vacation.

Then the conversation turns to Elva. Eragon wants to remove the curse from her which he promised to do. But he's asking Nasuada if she minds. Since when does she have an opinion on this matter? It's a matter between Elva and Eragon. By consulting Nasuada first on this Eragon is disregarding Elva's feelings on her curse. A curse that causes her constant pain! And a curse that Nasuada wants her to continue to bear because it's helpful. Her pain is helpful.

Surely a good and kind and wise leader that Nasuada is supposed to be would reluctantly allow it saying that while it would be hard to replace her talents they would have to find another way. After all the point of the Varden is to alleviate suffering isn't it?

No, instead Nasuada asks Eragon if he could pretend to do it and have it fail. This does however give Eragon a chance for righteous indignation as he chides her. But the reasoning for it seems to fail. It's so that she doesn't turn into an enemy and not because it would be breaking a promise he made. And then he adds it might fail so she could still be like that anyway. Eragon has twelve learned elf spell casters with him. Apparently they're there for decoration because he doesn't think about asking them for help or advice.

Or at least not at this juncture. It seems that he's going to give it one shot and if it doesn't work... oh well.

Instead of trickery, Eragon suggests that Nasuada talks to Elva about what her powers mean for the Varden etc and ask her to continue. He says "She may refuse; she has every right to, but if she does, her character is not one we would want to rely upon anyway." Yes because a little girl not even a year old deserves to feel all the people around her suffer. And if she doesn't want that it means she's cruel and selfish. Unlike the others. God forbid she should want to be a normal child!

Nasuada agrees and says that she'll talk to her in the morning, three hours after sunrise. Still wondering how Eragon will know it's three hours after sunrise, for she wants him there too. To help plead her case and if not to reverse the curse.

She then leaves.

Later Roran pulls Eragon aside and asks about what happened at the Evil Mountain. If what he said was all there was too it. Eragon asks him not to ask that question again. After a moment, Roran decides to trust him and instead asks Eragon to marry him. I mean marry him and Katrina. >.>

After being surprised and saying that someone else should do it, Eragon agrees, much to Roran's delight. Eragon suggests next month but Roran's all um... that'll be to late if you know what I mean. Eragon does and agrees to do it in two days time.

Roran gone, Eragon slips out to go flying with Saphira, or she flies and he takes a nap. A nap with visions.

And he rested, and visions beset him of a circular stone city that stood in the center of an endless plain and of a small girl who wandered among the narrow, winding alleys within and who sang a haunting melody.

This is foreshadowing of some sort, we'll have to see of what though. However circular stone city reminds me of Minas Tirith. Something to keep in mind for later. Whenever it appears again.

Still no plot though.

Comments

A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Wow... so... yeah. Either expanded or cut. I'm in agreement with you there. Actually, probably expanded since some of what happens is a tiny bit of setup for later events. Poor Elva... and from what I understand, some of the fans of the series loathe her because of what happens later. ;P

But yeah... Eragon doesn't work on his armor because Murtagh's sword is more important. You know, I think this also shows what Paolini thinks of armor in general. Clearly your defense is nothing compared to the weapon that you wield. I'd say D&D could be to blame since defense is so static in most classes and damage tends to be a bit more emphasized. But that's still no excuse! I really want to see a hero who lovingly tends both his armor, shield, and weapon now... or who is just more defense oriented overall. Yes... XD

Also, I really hate how Nasuada continues to fail at everything. Paolini really should have given her something to entertain everyone else with. I'd be intrigued, considering she supposedly has a different culture.

[mistyeyedreamer.livejournal.com]

Horse!Nasuada is giving me really funny mental images right now...

Yay more recaps!

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I'd say D&D could be to blame since defense is so static in most classes and damage tends to be a bit more emphasized.

It could be! After all in D&D you never have to take care of your armor or anything. It's always fine no matter how much damage it takes.

I'd be intrigued, considering she supposedly has a different culture.

Maybe she could cut herself more.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Me too. I see a cartoon horse.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[16lettersonly.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, you never need to take care of your weapons in D&D either.

However I suspect there's a reason for this. Most fantasy heroes also never wear armor and/or never get hit. Armor, if heroes bother to wear it, just sits there and softens blows for you. Swords cut off a guy's head in a graceful arc and flash in the sunlight, ting. Advantage: sword. Also, realistically armor is going to get blood and dirt and sweat and all sorts of unmentionable gunk trapped in it after a battle, which is not exactly exciting to write, whereas with swords, sweep through the air, or dip in a puddle of water, and all the blood/guts just fall away.

Still, at least Eragon remembers to take off his armor. In D&D you can sleep in full plate right after an encounter with no problem whatsoever.

[16lettersonly.livejournal.com]

Is Paolini trying to make me hate Nasuada?

And seriously, Shadeslayer, Stronghammer, Nightstalker, "Farseer"? What's with giving all the semi-important characters nicknames?

Eragon has twelve learned elf spell casters with him. Apparently they're there for decoration because he doesn't think about asking them for help or advice.
Then why even mention them?

Still wondering how Eragon will know it's three hours after sunrise
Clearly he invented the sundial when we weren't looking.

Roran decides to trust him and instead asks Eragon to marry him.
So Eragon has taken a level in Cleric. Well...he does have that ridiculous healing ability...

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

These "heroes" continue to amaze me with their awfulness. I have this suspicion that even the assorted gray people in George R.R. Martin's books are more hero like than Paolini's heroes. (I don't know, as Martin's books are decidedly not my thing, but still, given how much people talk about caring about his characters...)

The thoughtlessness of their non-heroism and non-decency is really disturbing. They angst over things only when Paolini thinks it would be cool, then turn around and fail to angst about things they either should angst over or shouldn't do at all. Blargh.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

I really want to see a hero who lovingly tends both his armor, shield, and weapon now... or who is just more defense oriented overall.

You should read A Dark Winter, by Dave Luckett, then. The main character focusses so much on his plate armour, because it's a new and foreign thing to him, so we get a lot of wonderful descriptions of how it feels, the weight, the heaviness, the heat and pressure inside, the feeling of invulnerability, and so on. It's a really brilliant, detailed book that everyone should read at least once.

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

Instead of trickery, Eragon suggests that Nasuada talks to Elva about what her powers mean for the Varden etc and ask her to continue. He says "She may refuse; she has every right to, but if she does, her character is not one we would want to rely upon anyway." Yes because a little girl not even a year old deserves to feel all the people around her suffer. And if she doesn't want that it means she's cruel and selfish. Unlike the others. God forbid she should want to be a normal child!

This, right here. *facepalm* Paolini needs to take a good long look at the way the world works. Human nature seems to be a foreign thing to him. He really, really needs to at least look up a few books on psychology, although the amount he seems to be missing on even the most basic of human instincts and motivations is far too overwhelming for most psychology texts.

Seriously. Paolini's treatment of Elva nearly made me weep for the complete c*ckup of the nigh-nonexistent characterisation and psychology.

[attack-bunny.livejournal.com]

>And he rested, and visions beset him of a circular stone city that stood in the center of an endless plain and of a small girl who wandered among the narrow, winding alleys within and who sang a haunting melody.

I don't think this comes up by the end of the book. So in Book Four, Elva or Maud will end up singing in a stone circle city. (Where is there a circular stone city in Inheritance? Is the entire city the Rock of Kuthian?)


>Yes because a little girl not even a year old deserves to feel all the people around her suffer. And if she doesn't want that it means she's cruel and selfish. Unlike the others. God forbid she should want to be a normal child!

Eragon's moral system is completely black and white. Which mental disorder is that a symptom of? Idiocy?

[araine.livejournal.com]

Inside his own special tent and continues to take bad care of his armor by stuffing it under the bed saying that he'll clean it later.

Buh-buh-whaaat?
In the rescue-mission, didn't his armor get rusty because he hadn't had a chance to clean it after the battle?? And then... now he's doing the same thing...?
It makes no sense!

[chaosarmoury.livejournal.com]

Martin's characters do whatever they think is best (usually for themselves). Eragon, Roran and Nasuada just do whatever's supposed to feel most dramatic and often fail horribly.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Cleaning and maintenance of equipment is an assumed part of "downtime" - the boring, mundane bits you gloss over because they're boring, mundane and, most of all, do nothing to actually drive the plot, role-playing or interaction of characters.

This is what the various types of rest cover.

As for sleeping in armor, depends on your edition.
4E makes no mention of it. This is in the interests of the KISS principle, I expect.

In 3rd, however, sleeping in anything but light armor (leather or hide) would result in you waking up Fatigued, and you would stay that way until you had a night's sleep out of your armor. -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, and cannot charge or run.

Older editions are less friendly about it.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

What, no drinks?

[the-norseman.livejournal.com]

For the first bit it depends if it is a Hogshead of wine or of beer. I think it has to be a hogshead of beer, since anything more would be silly.

Speaking of nicknames Paolini should try on: Elfstalker, nerdcreepy, emowangster, or something that's actually suitable for the, ah, characters.

[kevias.livejournal.com]

Considering how important Eragon is, I'm surprised that he doesn't have servants to take care of this stuff for him. His time is (or should be) valuable!

[berseker.livejournal.com]

After a moment, Roran decides to trust him and instead asks Eragon to marry him. I mean marry him and Katrina

I love you so, so much right now. I think I´ll try to include something like that in the next thing I write. =)


Anyway, no wonder Eragon likes Nasuada. She´s just like him.

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

The problem is that Paolini doesn't actually have characters. Okay, there are many problems, but that's a big one. If he had characters (as opposed to props who do random, supposedly dramatic things), the fact that they don't act heroic would have some explanation. There's something extra creepy about prop people with "hero" stamped on them doing anti-heroic things. I think it's that the author doesn't seem to grasp the problem...

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

No. He's trying to make you admire her. Or... something.

What's with giving all the semi-important characters nicknames?

Isn't that what all fantasy characters have?

Then why even mention them?

Cause it's fancy.

So Eragon has taken a level in Cleric.

Nah, just Jack of All Trades Cause it's Awesome.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I was talking about that last night with someone. We think that it could be that he's been too isolated from everything to get a proper picture of how things work.

Elva has been turned into a thing, a tool to be used and they've forgotten her humanity and her family's too, I'm sure. I bet her parents would like their baby back.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I don't think this comes up by the end of the book

From what I've heard, I don't think it does either.

Eragon's moral system is completely black and white.

Black and white and sometimes the colors are in the wrong places.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Thar thar, I tend to think about these things as parallel evolution.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[easol.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is that it would be easy to include such things in the book, without taking up too much space. A better writer would open a chapter with:

"It had taken [insert appropriate time period here], but he was finally done. Eragon tossed away the grimy cheesecloth, and examined his newly-polished armor with satisfaction. After he carefully stowed it under his cot, he pulled out Murtagh's old sword..."

Then again, perhaps Paolini doesn't want to imply that Eragon has to deal with such mundanities. He just whines about how they don't get done.

[arial-vs-lotus.livejournal.com]

There he found a hogs -head from whence expelled a tall, bone-thin old man with a great greying beard and blue eyes flashing cold fire. He was swearing and tossing hexes at intervals and brought with him a suspicious smell of...goats?

"Teach ye to mess with Reality, boy!" he shouted, before "Stupefy!"

and Eragon lay stunned on the ground although it was hard to tell that from his normal state.

Aberforth snorted in satisfaction.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Hey, Elfstalker sounds quasi-believable in a fantasy setting too! I mean, as an actual name/nickname. XD But yeah...

[dryaunda.livejournal.com]

If whatever I'm writing can be summed up as "characters chat and effectively do nothing," I wouldn't want to write it no matter how in love I am with my Sue.

Something is seriously not right in Paolini's head, to the point where I'm almost worried for him. My guess is that he thinks a good story has to be stretched out as much as possible, lest it not be "epic."

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

No, you have it wrong! Paolini's morality system is red and green, only he's colourblind.

[torylltales.livejournal.com]

'Nerdwank' sounds cool.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

But Eragon was a poor farmer boy! He can't have servants... That would be unbelievable. 9_9 ^_^

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I think that's the most accurate way to describe it, disturbingly enough. ^^;

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I originally imagined little cardboard people running around and flailing their thin arms at people and I giggled. Then I remembered that disturbing scene from a claymation tv series (too lazy to look up the name right now) and I'm shuddering. o_o;;;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nir9TjozWvU&NR=1

Not trying to compare Paolini to Lucifer. I'm just saying it suddenly reminded me of that vaguely.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Still wondering how Eragon will know it's three hours after sunrise
Clearly he invented the sundial when we weren't looking.

That reminds me of a documentary that stated the whole reason we have clocks today is because various religions required people to know what time it was in order to do certain things. Otherwise, we might not have had it (or else a lot later.) XD

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

To clarify what I meant earlier... in D&D, the armor bonus doesn't increase that much. It grows at a slower rate than weapons a lot of the time, for both enemies and heroes. Mostly because it's frustrating to deal with enemies you can never hit? XD

Also, there are fewer abilities and bonuses that tend to go into armor, unless your class or prestige class/path is dedicated to it. Even many of the monsters don't tend to have uber armor (with the exception of damage reduction.) People also don't tend to think of their armor because the stat itself rarely fluctuates except in the case of a buff or a debuff. In fact, any good DM should have the character's ACs written down for each battle (updated when need be) so they don't have to keep asking.

So in this regard, the armor seems more static.

Weapons however get picked up more often, have more variable damage applied, frequent enchantments, and are the first new thing adventurers tend to upgrade (unless they intentionally made themselves more defense or magic oriented.) Even in the case of magic users, they tend to pick up weapons that enhance spells or give them a stored spell. That sort of thing. The armor might also but it gets overlooked in the scuffle for the weapons. I think most players debate over the weapon before the armor too, unless they really need new armor and then there's usually very little debate. Whoever can wear it and needs the higher AC more will get it.

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I've got to say that I love reading and writing dialog. But I love it when it is character-oriented. If it doesn't serve the plot, it should serve to show more about the character's personality and how they interact with their world and the people in it (it should probably do all of that at the same time anyway.) Paolini doesn't know how to accomplish that because his characters have no personality, no world, and there are no real people beyond a few random ill-fated "foes" that Paolini dislikes and doesn't explore in as much depth as he does his "heroes" which saves them from his fatal "depth" that only shows how shallow their characterization truly is. XD

Something is seriously not right in Paolini's head, to the point where I'm almost worried for him. My guess is that he thinks a good story has to be stretched out as much as possible, lest it not be "epic."

I think he's trying to add more exploration (which it also doesn't need to be "epic"; especially since it's not even a treasure hunt for the obligatory plot coupons yet) and put more detail into his world. The problem is he should have started doing that from the beginning to make it seem relevant and logical. Having it in a big, awful, sticky glob towards the end of the "series" is all because of poor planning and just as bad as if he had dumped all of it on us at the very beginning. At least it's more lulz inducing having all these details cropping up in the third book. :P

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Prestige class... that would be 3rd Edition.

and in that case, you are quite wrong in your "armor grows slower than weapons".

Assuming mundane gear is equal (the easy approach), we have the following comparisons.

A: The cost of an enhancement bonus to armor (increasing AC) is the plus bonus, squared, in thousands of GP. So +1 is 1000, +2 is 4000, +3 is 9000
B: The cost for enhancement on shields is the same as armor
C: The cost of an enhancement bonus to weapons (increasing chance to hit) is the plus bonus, squared, in thousands of GP... TIMES TWO. So +1 is 2000, +2 is 8000, +3 is 18000...

So if nothing else, armor bonuses go up faster and cheaper than weapon bonuses... a +2 weapon is near the same value as +3 armor.

But even more insidious is that shields can have AC bonuses as well.
2000 gp buys +1 to hit...
Or it buys +1 armor AND +1 shield for +2 AC.

Armor clearly comes out ahead in terms of progression. In the end, you can have a max of +5 weapon, but +5 armor and +5 shield = +10 defense.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Which is why you buy the good armor first and expect to pick up a weapon later. Unless it's just the games I've been in where everyone bought the best armor they could first, upgraded only as needed, etc. and found most of the awesome weapons. I suppose what I really meant was the armor doesn't go up as frequently? I mean, how often do people go past armor that gives them 20+AC? When they're playing in a short or long campaign? Not to mention that some classes, even in 4th edition, don't worry as much about their armor. Then again, those are usually blasting shit left and right. XD

Plus, the shield depends on the weapon style the person is using. Some classes don't use shields. But yes, shield bonuses are nice. XD

And I couldn't remember what fourth edition called the specialized advancement. I think it's path, right? I just started playing that so I don't recall all the terms. ;)

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

For a typical DM, they hand out treasure that fits what the group wants or needs. If everyone buys armor and has weaker weapons, they tend to find weapons - make sense?

People do go bast 20 AC, and quickly. Serious players know that AC is the difference between winning and losing - I've seen people make builds that get low level wizards up to like 28 AC.

Armor is still Serious Business in 4th and costs the same as the weapon. Moreso, many of the armors got some seriously Cool Powers making them more desirable. However in 4th, shields no longer can get enhancement bonuses, so no more +5 armor and +5 shield.

4th Ed has Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies.

Don't mind my pedantry, I've been DMing for 22 years and am Kip's DM as well :)

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

Well, I've been gaming a good while but I only DMed once and it wasn't any edition of D&D. I still understand; you have the experience so you're putting it out there. ;)

I think one of the key problems is most of the games I've been in haven't for longer than maybe six levels. Plus I'm not really my best thought process right before bed and 20 minutes before work. XD

But we do both agree that players pay closer attention to how much their damage fluctuates right? And their armor stays the same during individual encounters, except in the case of buffs and debuffs. The out of combat stuff glosses over the little things, unless players specifically bring it up. So I still think it's easy for the players to only work on their armor when leveling up and forgetting about it the rest of the time (unless the DM asks what it is currently.)

That's really what I've been trying to get at, even if I failed at expressing it.

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I'll try to get a copy of that. It sounds good. :)

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[dove-cg.livejournal.com]

I think you're right but it's not just whining. He was trying to give Eragon a flaw (hah, as if) and increase the "drama" of the battles where the armor was less useful because of it. But it failed because the flaw and the drama got tossed aside as soon as it was no longer convenient. Not to mention, I guess he figured since the sword could be cleaned so easily and without any REAL, permanent damage to the weapon, then the same applied to the armor, effectively meaning that the entire "drama" was utterly pointless. In fact, it really was if he could have done that at ANY time during the battle without any ill-effects to himself.

It's as if he's easily distracted and hops from one tangent to the next with nothing impacting on anything else. Paolini continues to show how contrived every situation is either because he doesn't realize it or he doesn't think it matters if we can tell. ;P

Re: A short chapter? Those exist?

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Oh I do understand. Just saying there's a difference between what happens, and what APPEARS to be happening. The same principle is the one that makes people think $3.99 plus tax looks like a better deal than $4.00 tax included.

And yes, when shopping/levelling, armor is very important. But you are right that it doesn't get looked at much once combat is on. Weapons are much more dramatic with their varying damage.

I've never had games go on for a really long time either, but I'm hoping to get that turned around. Kippur and co have just hit Lv 5...
(I've played a lot that wasn't D&D as well, for the record. LOTS.)