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Approved Literature

2016-04-28T18:09:12Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:F90C:DFB7:7317:DB9A: /* Science Fiction */

This page lists the genre fiction which is popular on /tg/, along with a brief description and the notable area's of merit. While paragons of Fantasy and Science Fiction...

==Fantasy==
*'''''Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding''''': A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.
*'''''Robert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian''''': Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
*'''''[[George R. R. Martin]] - [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''''': Best character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and realistically high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else.
*'''''Michael Moorcock - the Elric Saga, the Corum Saga, the Hawkmoon books, and anything he's ever wrote.''''' - The spiritual liege of Drizzt Do Urden and the Witcher, with all of the Mary Sue replaced with badassery and getting shit done. Elric, the High Lord of Chaos, travels reality with a shadow puma and a soul-eating demon sword learning the true nature of Order and Chaos. He also is the destined guy who reincarnates to battle both the forces of Order and Chaos. Among these incarnates are Hawkmoon, a heroic dude who has a jewel implanted in his head, Corum, a badass motherfucker who kills BOTH CHAOS GODS AND GODS OF ORDER for fun, and Erekose, who is an alright bro. The saga that Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy, & Warhammer 40k blatantly stole and/or were influenced by it's ideas in it's concept of Chaos. In fact, pretty much almost everything from Warhmammer was arguably taken by the Elric mythos. Think of it; Warp Gods = Lords of Chaos. Dark Elves/Dark Eldar = Melniboneans, Malus Darkblade = Elric himself, Necrons = The King Under the Hill and the Doomed Folk. His best book of all time is still The War Hound and the World's Pain.
*'''''Terry Pratchett - Discworld series''''': Starts from parodying Fantasy as genre, soon turns to far beyond AWESOME, then the last few books... eh. Rare combination of good humor and wise messages, until at the end when the humor goes out the window and the message becomes preachy. Still great read, though.
*'''''Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind''''': A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.
*'''''[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] - The Hobbit, [[The Lord of the Rings]], and anything else he wrote (eg; the Simarillion)''''': The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable. He is the creator of the entire genre.
*'''''Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders''''': First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two).
*'''''Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss''''': Most of the books seem to be set in canada and revolve around gypsy folk-lore and native american spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.
*'''''Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.''''': A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, center of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequaled, and bros of the highest caliber. Together, they plunder the world of riches, women, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort.
*'''''Glen Cook - The Black Company''''': I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils.
*'''''Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun''''': The setting is inspired by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.
*'''''Richard Adams - Watership Down''''': The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, [[Bunnies and Burrows|everyone's a rabbit]]. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.
*'''''Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea trilogy+''''': Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but suprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.

==Science Fiction==
*'''''Douglas Adams - The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy''''': On of the funniest works of science fiction ever made.
*'''''Edgar Rice Burroughs - the Barsoom Series-aka Mars Chronicles''''': Iconic, manly, and fuckin' A!
*'''''Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream''''': The last five humans alive are being held deep in an underground complex, where they are perpetually tortured by AM, the sadistic AI that wiped out the rest of humanity, with no hope of escape. The most creepy thing in this book is that the author thought it was ''optimistic''. If he someday went to wrote something pessimistic, the universe would implode from the sheer grimdark overdose.
*'''''Robert A. Heinlein - [[Starship Troopers]]''''': Where Space Marines and Tyranids came from.
*'''''Frank Herbert - [[Dune]] & its earlier sequels''''': World-building, politics, super-humans - it's one helluva party. The spice must flow!
*'''''Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz''''' In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Catholicism. Think Fallout meets Farenheit 451 and you wouldn't be too far off.
*'''''George Orwell - [[1984]], Animal Farm''''': WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!
*'''''Neal Asher - The Gridlinked Series''''': Some of the best, hardest sci-fi out there, this is one of those universes that has unique, creative technologies (rare nowadays)as well as 007...EEEN SPESSS
*'''''Aldous Huxley - Brave New World''''': Take 1984, and do the total opposite the way people are controlled (rather than "Do what I tell you or I'll beat you", it's "Do what I tell you and I'll make you feel good") mixed with a Tau-esque genetically enforced caste system and conditioning to make people embrace their servitude.
*'''''John Steakley - Armor'''''

==Horror==
*'''''[[H.P. Lovecraft]] - The Call of Cthulhu & Other Stories, Dreams in the Witch-House, At the Mountains of Madness, and anything else he wrote''''' - Lovecraft is to modern horror what Tolkien was to fantasy.

==Mystery==
*'''''Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep''''': The grandfather of Noir.

==Historical Fiction==
*'''''Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go''''': The story of a brash young [[munchkin|power gamer]] challenging a grizzled old [[neckbeard]] to a championship [[Go]] match. Chronicles the national-scale [[edition war]] that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.

==Shunned/Hated==
*'''Terry <del>Good</del>Badkind - The Sword of Truth:''' An infamous series full of Terry's [[magical realm]] BDSM, utterly gratuitous rape and torture (Terry's cheap/lazy method of making his main characters look better by comparison), and "heroes" we're supposed to arbitrarily like no matter ''what'' horrible things they do. Badkind himself having nothing but contempt for the entire fantasy genre while bragging about how he is a "serious" novelist and packing the later books with his stupid Ayn Ranting (even when it ''contradicted previous fucking events'') did him no favors.
*'''Stephanie Meyer - [[Twilight]]:''' ...Have you ''been'' on the internet lately? The series that singlehandedly killed an [[Vampire: The Masquerade| entire style of modern fantasy vampire]] for an entire generation of fantasy fans who ''aren't'' sexually-frustrated housewives and hormonally-addled teenage girls.
*'''Christopher Paolini - [[Eragon|The Inheritance Series]]:''' A Mary Sue main character and a derivative plot. It was written when Paolini was a teenager and it shows. Every single book could stand to lose at ''least'' a third of its wordcount and there are lot of times when the plot grinds to a halt for entire chapters just for the characters to think and ramble about the most inane of topics. Less offensive than other stuff on this list since it lacks traits such as bootlick fans and an asshole author. The author also put a decent amount of effort into his worldbuilding which is more than can be said for Badkind and Smeyer.

==Other Recommendations==
[https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/27995546/ Fatguys briefly exit their basement comfort zone to recommend /tg/ romance novels.]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Warlock

2016-04-28T18:07:27Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:F90C:DFB7:7317:DB9A: /* 5e */

Warlocks are a type of magic spellcaster in fantasy settings. They are also the male counterpart of witches.

Compared to others, warlocks are usually dedicated completely to offensive magic and in a few cases, dabbling in the forbidden arts like black magic and daemonology to achieve more power, although this is not always the case.

==In Dungeons and Dragons==
[[File:D%26D Warlock.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|A Warlock class character.]]
Instead of gaining their power though meticulous training and study like the [[Wizard]], or natural-born talent like the [[Sorcerer]], they make contracts with very powerful entities and forces and channel that energy. Like an Arcane cleric almost.

===1e===
In 1st ed AD&D, characters had titles as they leveled up. An 8th level Magic-User gained the title "Warlock." Nobody cared about these titles, not even the people who used weapon speed or the AC to-hit modifiers for each weapon. There was a Dragon magazine article (issue 43) describing a 'witch' npc class, and male npcs that took this class were sometimes called "warlocks" instead.

===3.5===
The 3.5 ed Warlock was introduced in [[Splatbook| Complete Arcane]]. It looks like textbook [[munchkin]] bait, but is actually kinda ''meh''. Warlocks have at-will casting and no spells per day in 3.5, which made some people call hax but isn't so hot because very few DMs would ever run enough encounters in one in-game day for [[Vancian]] casters to completely run out of spells. Among the ones the handful that do, some like to have [[Awesome|spells that are at-will and keep 3.5]]. One of the Warlock's most powerful abilities is to [[Dakka|DAKKADAKKADAKKA]] with Eldritch Blasts, without having an accuracy problem. This ability can win encounters, but the time necessary to do so balances it out, so this class is both for people who want fast combat going The Matrix on the ceiling, and for patient masterminds.

{{D&D3-Classes}}

===Pathfinder===
[[Pathfinder]] didn't give the warlock a conversion due to their non OGL status. ''Occult Adventures'', however, introduced the [[Kineticist]] class, which follows Warlock mechanically a bit more closely than [[Magus]] to [[Duskblade]], but thematically you are an element bender instead of having made vague deals with evil outsiders or fey. The [[witch]] takes up the flavor portion of the warlock while having its own mechanics.

{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

===4e===
In 4e, Warlocks are divided into pacts. In the first player's handbook, we got the Infernal, Fey, and Star Pact Warlocks. Infernal Warlocks channel demonic energy, and need a high CON score to avoid succumbing to waves of demonic power. They also want an above-average INT, to make the most of their powers. Fey Warlocks made Pacts with Fae, and most of their powers involve Charm effects and teleportation. They use a high CHA score. Star Pact warlocks basically made a deal with the [[C'Tan]] or [[Cthulhu]], and they manipulate fate, rolls, and what have you. However, they need to focus on three stat scores, leading to heavy [[MAD]]. The plus side of playing a Star Pact Warlock is you get all the coolest powers. The [[Forgotten Realms]] handbook introduced the Dark Pact Warlock, who have made deals with things in the Underdark (poison, necrotic, no dual scimitars). The Arcane Power sourcebook gave us the [[Vestige]] pact, which is basically the 3rd Ed [[Binder]], making contracts with Primordials, dead gods, and ancient warriors, and wins out in sheer variety regarding damage types, powers, and such. "Heroes of Shadow" has given us two new ones, one for Essentials and one for Core, that are heavily implied to take their powers from the Darklords and/or Dark Powers of [[Ravenloft]], which kind of makes up for the whole [[Vampire]] thing.

So in short, Warlocks make pacts with the Powers that Be; namely Before (Vestige Pact), Below (Infernal Pact), Beneath (Dark Pact), Behind (Fey Pact) and Beyond (Star Pact).

4e paired the Warlock class up with the [[Tiefling]] race, much like how Dwarves make iconic [[Fighter]]s or [[Clerics]], or Elves make good [[Wizard]]s, or [[Half-orc]]s make good [[Barbarian]]s. 5e continues this tradition.

{{D&D4-Classes}}

===5e===
The 5e Warlock is a complicated marriage of 3e invocations, 4e pacts, and 5e spellcasting, with a few caveats. They gain a pitiful amount of spell slots, as well as only a handful of spells known. To the untrained player's eye, they're painfully limited compared to "real" casters, but in reality they're <strike>roid-pumping nightmares</strike> not bad. Their spell slots all automatically scale the slot level up so their spells are always guaranteed to be pumped up, and also refresh after every encounter or few (short rest). Invocations are back from 3.5, albeit scaled back a bit, providing various kinds of special abilities, from access to spells that aren't on their list as at-will, encounter or daily powers, to power-ups for the pact form, and of course power-ups for Eldritch Blast.

To complete the Warlock package, you get a pact with a supernatural being. The pact gives you a thematic extended spell list; for example, Great Old One Warlocks can cast (but not spam, sadly) Evard's Black Tentacles. Pacts provide a bevvy of unique class features like teleportation, damage resistance or telepathy. On top of magical powers, they also give you a consolation prize in the form of a pact boon, which can either be a souped-up familiar, a free enchanted weapon that you can shapeshift into whatever kind of weapon you need, or a magical book that gives you three cantrips from ''any'' other spellcasting class.

The available pacts are:

''Archfey'' - Bound to a powerful faerie lord or sylvan pseudo-deity, a warlock with this pact gains the power of Fey Presence (Charm or Frighten all creatures in a 10ft cube around you once per short rest), Misty Escape (teleport 60 feet and turn invisible once per short rest), Beguiling Defenses (you are immune to Charming and can attempt to Charm anyone foolish enough to try a Charm effect on you) and Dark Delirium (can attempt to entrap a target in an illusion to Charm or Terrify it once per short rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Fiend'' - Bound to a Demon Prince or Archdevil, a warlock with this pact gain Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP for dropping another creature to zero HP), Dark One's Luck (can choose to re-roll an ability check or saving throw with a +10 bonus once per short rest), Fiendish Resilience (gain Resistance to a single damage type of your choice after completing a short rest, though magic and silvered weapons can pierce it) and Hurl Through Hell (teleport a target into some hellish dimension for 1 turn, causing 10D10 Psychic damage to a non-fiendish target, once per long rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Great Old One'' - Warlocks with this pact are bound to terrible abominations from outside time and space, drawing on the power of aberrant gods like [[Cthulhu]]. They gain the books of Awakened Mind (telepathy with a 30ft range), Entropic Ward (can make yourself harder to hit and get a bonus if the target missed once per short rest), Thought Shield (mind cannot be involuntarily read, Resistance to Psychic Damage, inflict equal Psychic damage on anyone who inflicts Psychic damage on you) and Create Thrall (permanently charm a single creature with a touch, gaining telepathic communication with them from anywhere on the same plane). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Undying'' - A Warlock with this pact has offered their soul to something that has "cheated death"; most obviously a powerful [[lich]], [[ghost]] or [[vampire]], but mortals ascended to godhood and weirder things are also valid. [[Planescape: Torment|The Nameless One]] isn't mentioned, but would be a perfectly thematic (and awesome!) patron for this pact. The "necromantic" pact, these warlocks get features related to the ability to cheat death; Among the Dead (Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip, Advantage on saving throws against disease, Undead must pass a Wisdom save to attack you), Defy Death (gain a significant healing 1/day by passing a death saving throw or using Spare the Dying), Undying Nature (can hold your breath indefinitely, don't need food, water or sleep, immunity to magical aging, age 1 year for every 10 you live) and Indestructible Life (can freely heal yourself 1/encounter, including reattaching limbs as part of it). Comes from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

''Ghost in the Machine'' - A Warlock with this pact comes from a hyper-dungeonpunk, high-magitek or urban fantasy type setting, having made a pledge with some sort of [[Deep Rot|powerful artificial intelligence]]. This warlock gains the ability to mentally control computers, teleport along electrical wires & data cables, resistance to magical forms of detection and information retrieval, and the ability to "infect" others with a techno-virus by touching them, which hurts them with Psychic damage and lets you control them like puppets. Comes from the "Unearthed Arcana: Modern Magic" article. This is awesome, but sadly useless in the standard high fantasy setting your group insisted on playing in.

''Undying Light'' - Making a pledge to the force of Positive energy itself, these warlocks are a weird melding of warlock and [[cleric]], making them a pretty interesting alternate take on the [[Favored Soul]]. In addition to a bunch of fire/light based spells, including two new cantrips, it gives Radiant resistance, a bonus to Radiant or Fire damage that it inflicts, increased vitality, and a healing touch. It also comes with a d6 table of optional personality flaws, which basically revolve around hating the dark and loving the light - despising the undead, being afraid of the dark, always needing to light up any place that's dark, things like that. Comes from the "Unearthed Arcana: Light, Dark, Underdark" article.

{{D&D5-Classes}}

==In Warhammer 40,000==
[[File:Altansar Warlock.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|A fan's interpretation on how an Altansar Warlock should look like. No wonder, since one very well known [[Phoenix Lord]] that comes from Altansar has a lot of skulls incorporated into his armour.]]

Warlocks are [[Eldar]] psykers. Unlike Farseers, who specialize in divination and typically follow the path of the Seer for their entire lives, warlocks were at one point on the Path of the Warrior, who switched to the path of the Seer. Due to this mixing of psychic potential and warrior background, warlocks apply their psychic powers more towards direct combat, rather than the supporting style application used by Farseers.

They are often seen accompanying Eldar Guardians as squad leaders and may even lead parts of a warhost like a field officer. Some specialize in leading Wraithkind, and these are called Spiritseers, and are typically found accompanying [[Wraithguard]] around to allow them to act faster (As Wraithguards are souls, they aren't very fast to act on their own. Thus, commonly needs direct guidance). They can also make up a Seer Council, which is basically a 10-elf squad of warlocks that serve as a Farseer's retinue, where their duties range from keeping the Farseer safe while in combat, to assisting the seer in casting certain spells.
{{Eldar-Forces}}
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Classes]]
[[Category:Eldar]]