Iron Kingdoms: Preview Digest

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Need to catch up on the various previews that have been flying out of the minds working on Iron Kingdoms: Borderlands and Beyond? Look no further for your easy-to-digest… uh digest.

Myrmidon Preview

In case you missed it when it was previewed on the Iron Kingdoms Requiem page, here is a look at how the industrial titans of Ios, the Myrmidons, are coming to Borderlands and Beyond!

Warlocks

There are Warlocks and there are Warlocks. Or more specifically, there are 5e OGL Warlocks, and there are Iron Kingdoms Warlocks. The Warlocks native to the IK are very specific in their role and their natural affinity for warbeasts. And to give you a taste of what IK Warlocks are all about, we’ve got a couple of preview pages to check out below.

You can also check out the Insider article by Faye Reppas that goes into more depth about the mysterious nature of IK Warlocks.

Resonances

Last time we gave you a look at what the Iron Kingdoms version of a warlock is like. Today, we’re going to show off a bit of the resonances we have in store.

A resonance is a subclass of the warlock that you choose at 1st level, and indicates the kinds of warbeasts you are able to bond with. In addition to abilities unique to that resonance, each one also has a list of spells they can learn (we’re holding onto that surprise for now!) and a roster of warbeasts with their animus options.

That’s correct, options. When you bond with a warbeast, you’ll have the chance to shape its animus to your liking from a selection of different spells. Each warbeast you can bond with has at least one animus, but more powerful ones have two or more. The GM can randomly determine what animus a beast has when you first bond with it, or you can take the time to sculpt the creature into your desired tool!

Animi are a versatile way for warlocks to customize their spell lists. The warlock, by default, has a limited number of spells they can know, so choosing the right warbeasts and picking the animi that are right for you is a critical part of playing the warlock class.

Path of the Long Rider & Path of the Runeshaper

For those of you who backed Iron Kingdoms: Requiem, you may have noticed a distinct lack of barbarous options in the book’s many subclasses.

Well, fans of the d12 rejoice, because Borderlands and Beyond introduces multiple new Barbarian paths, including the iconic trollkin long riders and runeshapers!

Mounted classes are always a bit tricky to sort out, so when we were working on the Long Rider we wanted to make sure that some of the path’s features would still function when out of the saddle. The burly long riders are used to using momentum to smash through foes and obstacles, even when on foot.

The Path of the Runeshaper is another trollkin-inspired path, with the durability of a barbarian but also access to some potent earth-bending magic. Take a look!

The Way of the Gun

It’s time to confess a particular weakness… or two. Kung Fu and western movies. If you’re also a fan of gunslinging and wire work, we offer you the next in our subclass preview, the monk who carries a fistful of blasting powder.

The Way of the Gun is a brand new inclusion to the Iron Kingdoms and settles in somewhere between the Gunfighter and Gun Mage classes. These warriors devote themselves to the use of firearms and can instill their weapons with a bit of something extra thanks to the power of their ki. Monks from the Way of the Gun are a good way to represent the silent and patient gunfighters to arise from Ios, or those wanderers in the Bloodstone Marches who roll into town to put an end to the machinations of gang bosses and their underlings. Following a man in black across the desert is optional.

Rhulic Warcaster

It wouldn’t be the Iron Kingdoms without warcasters commanding their warjacks to stomp all over the place, and Borderlands and Beyond has you covered with four brand new archetypes. The Rhulic warcaster allows you to take on the sturdy and defense-oriented warcasters of the dwarven homeland. Like the Controller subclass found in Iron Kingdoms: Requiem, the Rhulic warcaster gets to start off with a bonded steamjack, a little clanker known as the Grundback snapper. Add to that some exciting new spells and abilities to present a solid defensive line, and your Rhulic warcaster can hold the center of almost any encounter.

Glimmerwood Kriel

Adventuring companies are a powerful tool for bringing player characters together, and Borderlands and Beyond has a set of new companies tailor-made for the regions covered in this set.

The Glimmerwood kriel has a natural focus on trollkin characters and their allies, such as the pygmy trolls that are available as a new race in the book, but it allows for characters of any ancestry or background to join. The trollkin have forged close bonds with many of the peoples in the Glimmerwood, and the events of the Claiming only reinforced those bonds. As characters increase the prestige in their kriel, they will grow a larger band of loyal warriors, raise shrines to Dhunia, and become true legends of the trollkin-dominated forest.

Bone Grinder

The bone grinder is something uniquely Iron Kingdoms. To borrow a phrase from the previous edition of the RPG, these “filth-encrusted meat wizards” use the giblets, bones, and blood of creatures to produce an arcane mirror of alchemy through powerful (and often smelly) talismans. The Bone Grinder class allows you to dig around in the viscera of the monsters you fight until you find a promising piece that you can tailor into one of your powerful magical items.

Diseases

Diseases have a long and storied history in the Iron Kingdoms. They’ve shaped the fate of nations, played a roll in driving the Orgoth from western Immoren, and continue to effect people across the world.

In the Borderlands Survival Guide, there are a host of new ailments for Game Masters to use in their games. They range from minor (and uncomfortable) inconveniences to plagues that can ravage a city—or nation. These diseases can be the perfect starting point for whole campaigns, or simply another peril that characters need to be mindful of as they try to survive.

Coal Points

The Borderlands Survival Guide is all about options. The coal points system provides GMs and players with a new, more streamlined way to keep track of how much black stuff your steamjacks, engines, and armor burn through. It is a quick method of seeing how much your ‘jack has left in the tank, so to speak.

Not that the Iosans and their battery-powered myrmidons need to be concerned!

Gorgandur

If you watched Dune over the weekend but didn’t get your fill of sand worms, we’ve got you covered! Here’s a preview of one of the many monsters you’ll be encountering in the upcoming, Borderlands Survival Guide.

Timber Drake

It may sound like a musical mashup, but it’s really one of the approximately 40 new ready-to-mash-you monsters that you’ll encounter in the upcoming Borderlands Survival Guide. And we’ve thrown in a couple other art previews of new monsters, below!

Banshee

Manticore

Soulless

An affliction suffered by the elves of Ios after the majority of their gods vanished and the few who remained steadily weakened, soulless are, as the name suggests, born without a soul. In the few centuries that they have existed, the soulless have gone from pariahs that inspired Ios to civil war, to deadly weapons deployed by the Retribution of Scyrah, to their current status as the majority population within Ios.

Soulless give players an interesting opportunity to play a character whose emotions are muted to the point that others might not even notice they exist, while also trying to find a path for themselves in a dramatically changed world. Who will your soulless characters be? And how will they help shape the future of western Immoren in the days ahead?

Watch for more previews as the campaign rolls on, Iron Kingdoms: Borderlands and Beyond is on Kickstarter until LATER TODAY (Oct 28), back today!

Borderlands & Beyond, Insider, Iron Kingdoms, News, Web Extra
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