[DnD 4E Discussion] Click to affirm Infidel is amazing.

Aegeri

ITT people try to tell you the way you like to pretend playing as a fantasy elf or dwarf is wrong. Plus you're probably a jerk. Why are you such a jerk? Also that you are not playing DnD the one true way and that you're a horrible monster. Why do you hate fun?

Here is a Dungeon:



Here is a Dragon:



Hence the name. Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane.



He's so dreamy <3.

And no, he's not going anywhere from the OP. He wants you to love his manly pectoral muscles, his huge thigh muscles and bulging tip of the long hard shaft of his spear. The artist who drew this spectacular visage of our general thread mascot and local god even has a wallpaper of him. All hail Bane!!!!

Speaking of before we go any further here, want to get the perfect way of starting 4E? Don't know where to go though? Try Wizards generously offering both a revised and improved version of Keep on the Shadowfell and the Quickstart rules? What will this cost you?

Absolutely nothing as it's completely free. Download them here.

Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty old game, originally being created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, both of whom have passed way now. Since then it's had various iterations and editions, with the latest edition being 4th edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. The basic rules consist of three books:



As the name suggests, this is for players and also details the games core rules like combat.



This book details the various monsters and other things that populate most DnD worlds.



This is for the DM and contains useful things like how much experience you have to make an encounter, treasure tables and rules for creating your own monsters.

If you want to play DnD, you usually only need the players hand book. Running a game requires those base three books and should be bought by everyone in general.

Speaking of stuff, what stuff can you look forwards to playing in this wonderful game of Dungeons and Dragons? How about a handy description of the varied options in 4E?

Your wonderful options for Playing Dungeons and Dragons 4E

The first of the core books in 4E reintroduced many core races that are familiar to anyone who has played DnD before, while also introducing some new options like Dragonborn to familiar fantasy tropes like dwarves and Elves. The main difference in race design in 4E compared to previous editions is that most races gain positive bonuses to stats (no negatives) and are generally more evenly powered across the board. No ECLs or similar are used here.

Additionally this is the book that introduced many of the core classes back to the game like fighters, rogues and wizards while again introducing new elements like the Warlord. Class design is really radical in 4E compared to the way 3E handled things, so you should be prepared for a major shock if you’re coming from a previous edition. Most classes have been broken down into a series of roles that determine what they generally do: Defender, striker, controller or leader.

Further most classes have both a power source (that mechanically ties them into certain things) and a collection of individual powers that determines how they can affect combat (usually flavored by the role the class fits into).

The PHB introduced the following races and classes into 4E:

Spoiler:

Races

Dragonborn
Dragonborn are probably one of the more controversial of the races introduced in the original PHB, much fun has been had in my various groups over the “To play a dragon” part in their description. Overall they are one of the races best supported in 4E, with numerous feats, options and a really solid base class. Like any self-respecting dragon/man creature they have a breath weapon that is hugely expandable by feats.

Additionally they have an entire supplement book dedicated to them, further expanding their options in the game and several DDI articles.

Dwarves
One of the best races in the game for a defender due to their general resistance to forced movement powers and also suit a wide range of divine classes. One of the most iconic races in Dungeons and Dragons it was good to see them in the original PHB. They also got themselves a bit of a size increase to medium, though still overall shorter than a human (As you’d expect).

Eladrin
The Eladrin were formerly the “High” elf archetype of previous editions but this time they’ve been linked closely to the feywild. The feywild being a mirror plane of the natural world where nature is rather crazy and more vibrant than normal. As a result they’ve picked up the ability to teleport a short distance, making for numerous arguments about how you’d build a prison for individuals who can teleport. Overall they manage to pull off a significantly different feel and flavor from standard elves – so justify their inclusion fully.

Did I mention they can teleport as a racial power? Because they totally can.

Elves
Elves are basically as they are from their portrayal in Lord of the Rings, somewhat tall light humanoids that make perfect rangers among other classes. They have an excellent racial ability to reroll a failed dice roll, but are otherwise pretty much the iconic elves of Dungeons and Dragons – minding of course the lack of strength or constitution penalties from earlier editions.

Half-Elves
Half-elves are basically a combination of humans and elves, with generally a friendly atmosphere to them and the ability to take feats from both elves and humans (as well as having some of their own). They make excellent diplomatic characters due to their inherent racial bonuses and their racial power to take an at-will from another class is extremely handy in the right situation.

Halflings
Halflings are one of few races in 4E with the small size category that lets them run through a large creatures space – something that can be rather handy from time to time. They are quick witted, resourceful and can force an enemy that attacks them to reroll the attack – especially useful if the attack was a critical hit! They are the poster child for “classic rogue” in 4th edition as well.

Human
Hey that’s us! As in many fantasy stories, most 4E settings assume human civilization is typically on the rise and overrunning older “wiser” races that scoff at the fast generation times and ingenuity of humans. As a race, humans have some excellent features such as picking up an additional at-will power from their class, can choose what one stat they improve and gain an extra feat at first level. Overall an extremely solid race and can fit anything you want to play easily.

Tieflings
Tieflings are the descendants of an ancient race that made pacts with infernal beings for power. They have a somewhat inhuman appearance with huge horns on their faces, tails and sometimes even goat legs! They recently received errata that changed their core racial power and feats as well, making them one of the only races I can think of that has been drastically changed since publication.

Like dragonborn they are also getting a book dedicated to them that will be jam packed full of options.

Classes

Cleric
Role: Leader
Power Source: Divine
Description: The cleric is the stalwart of dungeons and dragons, serving a god (or sometimes gods) and generally performing the role of party medic. In 4E, Clerics can hold down an offense as well as heal their allies, making them a very versatile and fun class to play as opposed to being the guy everyone got mad at because he wanted to attack instead of heal. It’s a very solid class and can stick it out in melee as well as standing back from the rear playing a supporting role.
Stats required: Wisdom primary, Strength or Charisma secondary.

Fighter
Role: Defender
Power Source: Martial
Description: It’s worth noting this is the most loved class in all of 4E. Copious excellent paragon paths, feats, powers and options await the player of the fighter, backed up by some of the best core class features in combat superiority and combat challenge in the game. Enemies fear shifting, moving or even remotely having you look at them funny. A front line defender that hits things dead while preventing an enemy from leaving the area around them, fighters are one of the best (if not the best) defender in 4th edition.
Stats required: Strength primary, Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom secondary.

Paladin
Role: Defender
Power Source: Divine
Description: A very capable defender, as he is the only one who has immediate access to plate armor from the start without needing high stats and a feat. Although not as directly sticky or powerful as a fighter, their mark inflicts damage without an attack roll and they are super effective against undead (as it does radiant damage). As an added bonus, paladins can do a bit of healing on the side as well helping out the frazzled leader of the party in a tigher situation.
Stats required: Strength or Charisma primary, Wisdom secondary.

Ranger
Role: Striker
Power Source: Martial
Description: Effectively this is the class to go to if you like shooting things with arrows a lot or want to wield two weapons to murder things. The class is largely built on a power called “twin strike”, which lets them attack twice a round and by the late periods of a campaign can deal considerable amounts of damage. They also have copious options for attacking outside of a round (during the monsters turns basically), meaning they can keep doing considerable damage even outside of their turn. Due to some of their powers, they actually come very close to being the martial controller in 4E (as one doesn’t exist as of yet).
Stats required: Strength or Dexterity primary, Wisdom secondary.

Rogue
Role: Striker
Power Source: Martial
Description: The classic “sneaky” class, the rogue relies on getting combat advantage over his opponents and stabbing or shooting them in extremely sensitive places. They favor using light weapons over bulkier ones and can be extremely damaging strikers in the right situation.
Stats required: Dexterity primary, Strength and Charisma secondary.

Warlock
Role: Striker
Power Source: Arcane
Description: The Warlock is one of the oddities in 4E, although it is a striker it actually functions best as a single target controller that does some damage on the side as well. Depending on the pact (as Fey, Infernal and Star in the original PHB, expanded to Vestige, Sorcerer-King, Dark and others later) the Warlock gets different utility out of their powers and core class features.
Stats required: Charisma or Constitution primary, Intelligence secondary
Warlord
Role: Leader
Power Source: Martial
Description: The warlord is a leader who focuses on manipulating his allies and the battlefield. Although not as strong at healing as other leaders, the Warlord has a single minded focus on boosting his allies attacks and initiative considerably, allowing his allies to go well before their enemies and destroy them before healing is even required. The warlord is definitely the leader for the tactically minded in 4E.
Stats required: Strength primary, Intelligence and Charisma secondary.

Wizard
Role: Controller
Power Source: Arcane
Description: This is the class that focuses on exploding enemies violently with various area of effect spells. They have some excellent powers that deal automatic damage to other enemies and can severely hamper opponents by penalizing their saving throws (making it harder to escape from their effects). Wizards also have excellent damage potential with many of their spells, meaning they can stop enemies in their tracks and still blow them to pieces. Just don’t expect them to be completely game breaking like they have been in previous editions: Reality check is Wizards are an excellent addition to a group but won’t win encounters for you by themselves.
Stats required: Intelligence primary, Wisdom and Dexterity secondary.

Wizards were not finished there of course and released the second players handbook further expanding the options available!:

Spoiler:

Races

Deva
Tall blue supermodels, the Deva are touched with divine blood much like how Tieflings are descendants of those with infernal blood. The Deva are the most overtly “good” race in 4E and undergo an eternal cycle of reincarnation. Those that go bad end up becoming a Rakshasa after their next reincarnation. They’re pretty tied into the divine power source – being half angels and can boost their own dice rolls through experience from their numerous lifetimes.

Gome
Second of the short people in 4E DnD, Gnomes are a curious lot from the feywild who are cunning and quite tricky. They have the ability to turn invisible when potentially hit by an attack, which is a rather handy ability and are generally good at most arcane classes. Gnome barbarians are possible as well with some changes to two handed weapons, so rejoice!

Goliath
Huge humanoids from the mountains of the world, Goliaths are extraordinarily tough and very strong – especially as they have a racial power to give them general damage reduction. They are pretty strongly interlinked with the primal power source and so favor classes like the barbarian. They also double as the half-giant from Dark Sun as well.

Half-Orcs
Proving once and for all that human beings will have sex with anything (or that a wizard did it – depending on your interpretation) is the Half-Orc. Mixing the primal brute fury of orcs with the great adaptability of humans – the half-orc proves to be an extremely swift and handy fellow in a fight. Just don’t ask him where he came from.

Shifter
The shifter is as close to playing a genuine lycanthrope as a PC that you can get in 4E. They are part man and part feral beast, with the interesting choice of a different racial power and even stat boost depending on which ‘strain’ of shifter you want to be. They generally tend to be excellent primal characters as a result.

Classes
Class descriptions by Terrendos.

Class: Avenger
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Divine
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Intelligence, Dexterity
"My god has words for you. This blade will show you to him."
Avengers are excellent at isolating and eliminating single targets. Other followers do what should be done. You do what must be done. Pro: roll two attacks under certain circumstances. Con: Reliant on enemies for static damage boosts.

Class: Barbarian
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Strength, Constitution, Charisma
"My strength lies in the fury of the wild."
Barbarians are savage warriors, channeling primal energy through themselves and their massive weapons. Darting back and forth across the battle, your fierce shouts make the enemy quake in fear. Pro: Big damage dice, lots of damage potential. Can fly into mighty rages. Con: Rages are daily powers, so don't expect to use them a lot. Also low defenses that get lowered during certain attacks.

Class: Bard
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Charisma, Intelligence, Constitution
"I play the song of my ally's victory over your corpse."
Bards are artists, channeling magic through unbelievable skill with music, drama, or poetry. Your skill with blade, book, and hymn are the stuff of fables. Pro: lots of fancy rituals to help in conversation. Can take as many multiclass feats as she wants. Con: Comparatively less healing than clerics, and less effective hazing abilities.

Class: Druid
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity
"I am the seeker. I am the stalker. I am the storm."
Druids are the most effective and purist channelers of primal fury and embody all aspects of nature, from the calm of the still leaf to the fury of the thunderbolt. Pro: Alternates between caster form and wild shape for effectiveness in every situation. Con: Too many At-Will choices, fewer burst options than Wizard/Invoker.

Class: Invoker
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Divine
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence
"Mighty Pelor! I beseech ye! Smite these wicked foes with your unending light!"
Invokers are invested with a pure spark of their chosen god, rather than being merely ordained by corrupt priests and weak rituals. They are the purest of their god's mortal agents. Pro: Arguably a better controller than Wizard, plus gains access to the sweet Channel Divinity stuff. Con: Less overall damage potential, less powerful rituals, and lacking the utility spells that make wizards such good generalists. Also I'm not that fond of the PP choices.

Class: Shaman
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence
"The spirits surround me, guiding my movements and obeying my commands."
Blessed with a mighty spirit companion that aids his allies, the Shaman is a primal, spiritual force. His mighty companion serves as both a focus for his attacks and as a shield to protect both him and his allies. Pro: Protector spirit makes an excellent backup Defender or Striker. Con: You have to give up your actions to command it.

Class: Sorcerer
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity, Strength
"The difference between you and me? You wield magic. Magic wields me."
Sorcerers are natural founts of arcane power, resulting from either a history of dragon's blood or a product of mysterious, chaotic forces. Either way, you practically bristle with barely-contained magic, parcelling it out as needed in battle. Pro: Potential for very high damage and lots of cool effects. Con: Those effects are typically random, some of which can hit your allies.

Class: Warden
Classification: Defender
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Strength, Wisdom, Constitution
"Get past me? You might as well try to push the mountain aside."
Wardens are protectors of the earth, drawing on primal spirits to protect their allies from harm, and the natural world from the encroachment of those who would corrupt it. Pro: You are a brick wall, but harder to hit and probably more resilient. Con: You're not supposed to wear heavy armor, and marking all adjacent enemies means you're going to need all that toughness.

That not enough races and classes? Well have some more thanks to the third players handbook!

Spoiler:

Races

Githzerai
Everyones favourite astral monks are back and now a player race! They make pretty decent monks (as you would expect), and their stat spread make them okay for many other classes. Additionally they have some of the best racial feats in the game, making them even better.

Minotaur
Yeah, minotaurs are now a playable PC race, probably inspired off the more noble and civilized minotaurs of dragonlance. They haven't changed much since their dragon racial write up, but do get strength and their choice of con or wisdom - making them more flexible in what classes they can play.

Shardmind
These are the leftovers of a defensive gate from the Far Realm that shattered, leaving them behind. Sentient crystal people like constructs in a similar vein to Warforged, they can split themselves up into a swarm of sentient shards. Definitely a bit … out there even for the existing bunch of races.

Wilden
Plant People from the feywild who are a "young" race that has arisen to fight the abominations of the far realm – which forms a general theme of the third players handbook (especially given Githzerai were originally enslaved by Illithids and Shardminds were part of a barrier that sealed in the far realm). They have several different racial powers and like all PHB3 races a fixed stat and a choice between two others.

Classes

Class:Ardent
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Psychic
Primary Abilities: Charisma, Constitution and Wisdom.
"By carefully manipulating my allies minds, I shall make them fight better without them even realizing my presence!"
This is a psionic version of the warlord, but not as mechanically strong as the warlord and again has the same general PP flaw that all three of these psionic classes share. They do have a lot of close burst and similar powers that have interesting effects on allies and they do like sticking it up close to enemies as well. Of the three psionic classes, they're not too bad and I think was one of the better thought out power point using ones.

Class:Battlemind
Classification: Defender
Power Source: Psychic
Primary Abilities: Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma
"Those that ignore me will be burned by their own attacks with the power of my mind!!!!"
The battlemind is the psionic defender and has similar issues to the psion as it shares the same PP system. Unlike a fighter its mark isn't as easy to enforce, albeit can be highly damaging in the right situations and I think they will be a good secondary defender.

Class:Psion
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Psychic
Primary Abilities: Intelligence, Charisma and Wisdom (I think)
"I am Mentock the Mind Taker and I am here to take your mind!!!"
The first psionic class shown that uses a power point system to "augment" at-will powers into encounter powers using power points (PPs). The class seems to suffer from numerous problems, such as higher level at-wills not being equivalent to some lower level powers that scale better and due to taking less PPs can be used far more often in an encounter. Personally I feel the experiment with PPs was not a good decision.

Class:Monk
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Psionic
Primary Abilities: Dexterity, Strength and Wisdom.
"HYAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
The Monk is a great new striker with unprecedented mobility in 4E. Like the name would suggest they are masters of unarmed fighting and if you've ever wanted to punch a dragon in the face with your iron fist of pure Bruce Lee inspired rage - this is definitely the class to play. They can get a pretty solid unarmed attack and using ki-focuses means they can turn any part of their body into a lethal weapon. Any.

Part.

Spoiler:

:winky:

Overall this seems like a solid addition to the striker family of classes.

Class:Runepriest
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Divine
Primary Abilities: Strength, Constitution and Wisdom (IIRC)
"The runes are the language of the gods and I am the interpreter of their words through my hammer into your skull."
A new leader with some pretty strong all purpose party buffs. They get different "runes" that apply either a damage bonus to the party or a large defensive buff. Seem pretty handy and they like stirring it up in melee. I will say I love this class, but I must honestly feel bad for the strength cleric who has been almost kicked in the gut with the nerf to righteous brand and this class just outdoes it in every way as a close up divine melee leader.

Class:Seeker
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities:
"My arrow flies straight and true to pin the enemy down and punish them for their transgressions..."
A ranged controller that uses a bow and is pretty interesting. In many ways there is some overlap with the ranger here, though the seeker is unusual in that it has a lot of ranged basic attacks that are encounter powers and similar (they play nicely with a warlord that can grant ranged basic attacks as a result). Many of their powers create zones and similar around a target they hit and it's certainly an interesting idea.

Then there are the races and the class from the campaign setting books. First Forgotten Realms:

Spoiler:

Drow
Classic villains turned into PC races by the popularity of Drizzt, essentially another kind of elf with some different powers. I will say they make amazing rogues because of their darkfire and cloud of darkness racial powers.

Genasi
Half-elemental planars who join the ranks of the Deva and Tiefling as being plane touched PC races. They make good wizards and depending on your elemental type they can suit a wide range of classes. They also make good swordmages.

Class:Swordmage
Role: Defender
Power Source: Arcane
Description: A defender that focuses on using arcane energies to entrap attacking enemies or reduce the damage they do to his allies. They have some good burst and blast powers for dealing with minions and grouped up enemies as well – though not quite the raw damage of a defender like a fighter. Overall a very solid secondary defender, with some excellent tricks to help them keep up.

The Eberron players guide added further races again as well as a new class!

Spoiler:

Changeling
These guys, when you want to be derogative that is are classically known as "Dopplegangers" but most people to be polite call them Changelings. Like the name suggests, they can change how they appear and they make terrific rogues or wizards (they get a choice of stat boost!). On the other hand, as a cautionary note they are probably the worst supported race in 4E for whatever reason.

Kalashtar
These are a humanoid race who have bound themselves to dream spirits called Quori. They have some racial psionic talent (communication by telepathy for example) and should obviously fit in well with the Psion and other psionic classes.

Warforged
People usually refer to them as robots but these guys are more of a metal and plant "cyborg" than a robot. They have pretty strong racial abilities and make fantastic fighters and especially barbarians.

Class: Artificer
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Intelligence, Constitution and Wisdom
"Let me just help you with your wounds in a minute, right after I finish making this...."
The Artificer is a really solid leader, capable of taking other characters healing surges and making his healing powers out of them. This helps to spread around the parties healing surges so everyone can keep fighting longer. They can use a variety of weapons and fighting styles (ranged, melee and binding constructs like a summoner wizard), making them pretty flexible in general.

And now DDI is adding more options to the game as well – insider exclusive (that is they won’t be printed) to boot!

Spoiler:

Revenant
These guys have come back from the dead or were prevented from dying by some other force (the Raven queen in the default cosmology). They're unique because they actually have the undead subtype and can take feats that make them fully undead. Fun with a cleric in the party that's for certain! They make for decent assassins (another new class coming out in DDI), rogues and warlock.

Class: Assassin
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Shadow
Primary Abilities: Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma
"Please don't mind while I stab you with my Fullblade here - oh you were expecting a dagger? Well that can be arranged after I'm done disemboweling you..."
The Assassin is the first "exclusive" DDI class to be published and is pretty interesting. They can apply "shrouds" to enemies that they can use when attacking to inflict greater damage on their enemies. They also have a wide variety of weapon proficiencies and can teleport between creatures at-will. It's a pretty solid class for a DDI exclusive effort, with the only real flaw being they don't have their Ki-focus elements out just yet.

DM/Player Tools and Helpful Links

• A spreadsheet with all the magic items from the PHB, organized by Item Level and Body Slot (and subtype, in the case of Weapons, Armor and Implements) (Credit DVG)
• RPTools: Pretty useful for playing D&D over the internet. Get Maptool HERE
• Ability Generator from WotC
• Wizards' main site for D&D
• Enworld resource site for tabletop games
• Myth-Weavers Forum's character sheet tool. Has sheets for many games, including 4e
• H1 Keep on the Shadowfell for maptools
• Rescue at Rivenroar

D&D Insider Subscriptions

D&D insider is probably the best method of keeping up to date with 4th edition at the moment. For one thing, it keeps you up to date with all that pesky errata in a simple way and if you subscribe for a month, then cancel you can get a lot of content for not a lot of overall money! You can preview some of the toys at the links below:

• D&D Compendium from WotC
• Dragon and Dungen magazines also from WotC
• Encounter Tool from WotC

This of course is a subscription service and here are the current prices, with a month subscription for what you can get out of it being quite a steal if you are prepared to deal with not having everything up to date each month.

• $71.40 for 12 months - $5.95 per month
• $23.85 for 3 months - $7.95 per month
• $9.95 for month

To subscribe to the D&D Insider service, click here. Prices went up in July (2009), seems about a dollar an issue for a 12 month subscription.

You can find screenshots of the Character builder here.

Aegeri

A lot of stuff has been released currently as well and I have most of it, so I'll give some minor thoughts on each and update as stuff comes out:

Campaign Settings

Forgotten Realms



Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide
Forgotten Realms Players Guide
Scepter Tower of Spellgard

This was the first of the campaign settings released for 4E Dungeons and Dragons about a yearish or so ago. It marks a significant departure from the previous editions versions of the Forgotten Realms, which is either something people hate a lot, are indifferent to or quite like. It has enough detail that any new DM will find it a useful resource for making a campaign and providing an overall world to set that campaign in. It does not have the depth of lore or similar that previous editions have had, which is what leads to a lot of the negativity surrounding the setting. The players guide IMO is a useful resource even if you don't actually like the realms as a setting. Although a fair chunk of the book is dedicated to the FR, the Swordmage, races (Drow and Genasi) and feats make it a worthwhile purchase for anyone.

The adventure is decent quality, but requires a lot of work compared to the 'core' adventure series to get fully implemented into a campaign. It also starts at level 2, which is a real pain for DMs wanting to just jump right into a 4E campaign with the adventure and some fresh level 1 PCs. We have a thread for FR as well here.

Eberron



Eberron Campaign Guide
Eberron Players Guide
Seekers of the Ashen Crown

We have a thread for Eberron related things here.

Eberron is the second setting released and it's pretty good IMO (maybe I am biased though if you read my campaign threads on this forum). It has a lot of solid themes to the game, as it's based heavily on a kind of pulp action + noir feel that really does work. The books are absolutely gorgeous and especially the main campaign guide is worth mentioning, because the cartography of the map of the world is truly great and its packed full of great ideas and detail about Eberron. It is definitely around the top books released for 4E so far IMO. Like with FR, I feel the EPG is really worth buying as well just for the extra feats and mechanics (dragonmark feats are easily applied to other settings with little mechanical fiddling). I will say though some DMs may not like the more "magitech" feel to the Eberron specific Warforged race and Artificer class, so make sure you check with your DM before buying this for your FR or whatever setting game.

Once again though I must complain that the adventure starts at level 2. Why on earth do they do that? It's very good though and it's a fun adventure, but I still wish they would make these adventures from level 1 so you can jump right into the fun without having to make further encounters (or starting your PCs at level 2).

Dark Sun



Dark Sun Campaign Setting
Dark Sun Creature Catalog
Marauders of the Dune Sea (Adventure).

The 2010 campaign setting and boy does it look like a doozy! It looks and sounds like they are doing some major changes to this setting for 4E, not just in changes from its original 2E incarnation but how they approach the setting from a 4E design standpoint. One particularly interesting thing with this particular setting is that it does not having a player specific book, instead it goes with a campaign guide that suggests changes to existing races and its second book is a creature catalog of nasty beasts. Personally I like this idea and am interested to see how it ends up working when it is released.

In what I feel is a lovely piece of common sense, Marauders of the Dune Sea starts at level 1, HUZZAH!

Released books

Spoiler:

Adventurers Vault

This is an excellent book for anyone, with a huge swathe of new awesome magical items and other things to bling your characters out with (or so you don't find yourself handing out bags of holding every single game as a DM because you can't think of anything else). This is a fantastic book.

Draconomicon

This is an excellent DM resource or just for anyone who loves dragons as well due to the artwork. A nice smattering of new monsters, especially in the heroic tier as well as new options, new chromatic dragons and ideas for running encounters with Dragons. I highly recommend this book for any DM, but it doesn't have much utility for players.

Manual of the Planes

Good resource for DMs and a useful introduction to the planes. There is a new "race", Bladeling in the book and some Paragon Paths, but I wouldn't buy this if you're a player primarily. The book makes a lot of assumptions about the cosmology that may conflict with the Forgotten Realms and Eberron as well, which can make life something confusing if you're using those settings. Despite this, it's still useful and will provide plenty of ideas for running planar campaigns.

Martial Power

This is the best supplement for players released since 4E came out. Has a lot of new, interesting and fun options for martial characters, namely Fighters, Rangers, Rogues and Warlords. Good balance as well and has lots of great new paragon paths and more. I can recommend this book to absolutely anyone.

Open Grave

IMO, hands down the best supplement for DMs released thus far if you want your campaigns to have anything at all to do with the undead. Good adventure hooks, a wide array of excellent new monsters from filling out low level undead to providing even more high level undead monstrosities, this is an absolutely terrific book. Of course, if you don't like the undead much you won't find anything of interest in here and in a similar manner to the Draconomicon, there is nothing here for people playing in games to really make much use out of.

Dungeon Delve

Delayed somewhat and contains a large bunch of adventures of various levels and such. Is actually fairly interesting and really handy if you need an adventure now to put into your game in rapid time. I recommend this actually, especially if you have a collection of Dungeon Tiles.

Players Hand Book II

I think this was a big moment for 4E in many ways, a really good balanced and thought out book would vindicate many of the decisions in 4E as well as really add some more depth and variation. A bad book however would probably really derail the success 4E has enjoyed thus far and the general verdict is it's an excellent book. It's well balanced with the first book, a couple of feats and epic destinies aside but everything in general is really well thought out: most especially the new classes are great and so are the new races. It's really added a lot to the game and IMO is one of the best supplements (and most important) supplements in 4E. I would almost say if you're a player this book is as much a must have as the original.

Arcane Power

This is an excellent book if you like the pew pew style of classes. The summoning wizard is a great option and the new wizard at-wills are amazingly good. Tomes are a terrific new addition to implements and every arcane class got some more new and awesome feats, powers and paragon paths. I highly recommend this book, but be aware that like Martial Power there are some things in here just a bit out of whack power wise. Nothing game breaking though, but certainly more powerful than core book options.

Monster Manual 2

Overall this is a very solid book and seems to have taken some new directions with regards to solos and minions. Solos have less HP and defenses, but do more damage and seem to have more actions per round. Minions have been given control functions or do plain annoying things on death (like immobolise whoever killed them). Has a bit of a sense of humor as well compared with other supplements (Bullywug and such are notable for being a bit out there).

Divine Power

This has given a really substantial power increase to divine classes (for example Clerics now clearly rule the roost in terms of healing potential), Strength paladins now don't suck as much and it again provides lots of new options. It does feel a little on the power creep side in some ways though.

Adventurers Vault 2

This is a pretty solid book in terms of new magic stuff. It doesn't manage to go as overboard in my opinion with the power levels of many items as the original adventurers vault did as well. There are always going to be specific items that will be problematic in certain campaigns, but it's a nice addition and can really expand the variety of items you can give out to your PCs.

Dragon Magazine Annual

I don't own this, but it is my understanding this has some changes and altered material from stuff previous published in Dungeon (Punisher of the Gods got some alterations I hear). The articles in it are some pretty decent ones though, so if you want a print version of some of the better dragon articles I would suggest getting it. Or just get a subscription and get more stuff for cheaper - I dunno (I'm trying to sound unbiased but I don't really see the advantage in this over getting a subscription for a month and downloading the compiled issues).

Dungeon Masters Guide 2

This is a really nice book, detailing updated skill challenges, adding some new options for campaigns that want to reduce the number of magical items (temporary boons for example) and has a wonderful section on Sigil: City of Doors for planar based campaigns. The updated monster creation guidelines are also very appreciated and this is a really solid book if you're running any game of DnD.

Primal Power

This is basically the same sort of affair as all the other "X power" books. Most of the new options are pretty good from a cursory look and its definitely added some more versatility to some classes that needed it a bit like druids. The new swarm druid build is pretty good and everyone who wanted Diablo 2 like dual weapon barbarians will certainly be pleased.

Draconomicon 2

This is an excellent book of as high quality (or better) than the original Draconomicon. Lots of references to the Catastrophic dragons in this book as well and it's pretty clear it works as a resource to be used in conjunction with the original book. The new metallics are very nice, one of which has an interesting breath weapon that makes a minion and it does indeed have stats for Bahamut. Expect someone bored to put a fight club with Bahamut vs. Tiamat - though Bahamuts 2 levels may be the key difference. It also has a big bunch of other monsters and indeed is a great resource for DMs.

The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos

Plane Below is very awesome, though some of the monsters don't come off as well as I would like. But once again it's another source book jam packed with useful information and should find a use in any paragon/epic campaign. It doesn't really feel like something you can easily use in heroic tier though.

Players Handbook Races: Dragonborn

I've not got this or read it, any comments on this book would be appreciated (and still would be!).

Underdark

Firstly, this book is most notable for the most horrific pieces of art in 4E DnD. Poor Torog – he is one twisted wee puppy. Additionally the book introduces a fantastic concept:

Doors. With. Giant. Teeth. I mean, what's more horrifying than a door that eats you? That just ain't right. Other than this it’s another excellent DM resource and has numerous ideas on running a campaign in the underdark.

Martial Power 2

This has expanded the options of Fighters, Warlords, Rogues and Rangers even further! Some of these options are pretty mechanically neat as well, like a fighter that focuses on grabbing enemies and providing a neat new ranger build that focuses on using thrown weapons. Again this is just a good book for generally anyone.

Players Handbook 3

I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but this book has been Wizards first real misstep with fourth edition in my opinion. While it has numerous good new elements, like hybrid classes, skill powers and some new classes like the monk and seeker – it has overall disappointed me in the new races and psionics it introduced into the game. Three of the four psionic classes introduce a new power point (PP) system to 4E: This unfortunately has a side effect that many of their low level at-wills become “spammable” at high levels. As some of these powers scale poorly, doing ridiculous effects like penalizing all of an enemies defenses by a huge amount (-8 for example) they cause considerable issues.

The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea

On the other hand compared with the recently released Players Handbook 3 this book instantly returns to the excellent form that most books released have had. If you're planning on running a planar campaign IMO this book is almost indispensable.

http://www.amazon.com/Hammerfast-Dwarven-Outpost-Adventure-Site/dp/0786955341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275532768&sr=8-1Hammerfast : A Dwarven Outpost Adventure Site[/url]

I don’t have this book yet: Comments/impressions would be appreciated.

Player’s Strategy Guide

I don’t have this book yet: Comments/impressions would be appreciated.

This is notable again because it has art from Gabe of this forum for it. I'll probably be buying it for that. Yeah I'm such a whore, WHATEVER. Albeit with so much stuff coming out in the next two months I’ve put this aside for now…

Released Adventures

Spoiler:

The H series of adventures are essentially dungeon crawls with varying quality. To be honest, you're expected to do the footwork in writing the background and story for many of these, which are often somewhat flimsy.

H1: Keep on the Shadowfell

This is a straightforward dungeon crawl. It's worth noting that it can be downloaded for free now and in an updated form here! Like many of the adventures in this series, I am certainly not kidding when I say that it really is a very long dungeon crawl. It has a lot of combat encounters and a loose story connecting them, so it does require some work in that department. Still the fold out maps are nice and its a decent adventure (especially with the improvements in the downloadable version).

H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth

This is a really solid adventure and is one I enjoyed a lot. It's again, a dungeon crawl (but you should expect that from all of these) but has some really fun encounters and some interesting traps.

H3: Pyramid of Shadows

Personally this is the one I didn't really like all that much after running it. Although it's a zany adventure it has a few problems with some encounters being fairly poorly balanced and I felt it was way to long to have my PCs stuck somewhere. I ended up cutting it short by a lot.

P1: King of the Trollhaunt Warrens

This was a really fun adventure and was a good introduction to the paragon tier. I also liked the backstory behind it and the general design of the dungeons. It also has by far one of the most useful maps that I own, which is a small section of a town.

P2: The Demon Queen's Enclave

Again I really enjoyed this map and the backstabbing between the various Drow factions and politics that you can potentially insert (if you so desire). It has my least favourite of the fold out maps, but still a nice adventure anyway and they really are doing well with making interesting encounters.

P3: Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress.

One of the main reasons for buying this was so I could see the stats of Shadow Dragons and while they are okay, they don't really do enough damage and can be very tedious to fight (blinding people constantly for example). The adventure itself is still pretty nice though and I approve of it.

E1: Deaths Reach.

I haven't really had a lot of time to read this in depth!

E2: Kingdom of the Ghouls.

By far, this has the greatest final encounter in any of the modules that I've seen. It's also awesome all the way through and is by far and away my most favourite module out of this series. – I have decided to leave this here for a while, because after actually playing said adventure you quickly realize the flaws of that final encounter.

E3: Prince of Undeath

This is the final of the adventures and should be coming out next month; highlight is new (hopefully non-sucky) stats for Orcus. I am very curious to see if Orcus has friends or not for that fight and its EL. Personally I must concede that I am going to be buying this partly for the new Orcus stats. It's out next month =D

There is also another series of adventures coming out after this starting next year. The first of these has been released:

HS1: The Slaying Stone

Excellent from a cursory look. Although it is substantially shorter than the original H/P/E series – it is more open in its design and gives advice to the DM and feels much less like a linear series of encounters (which the original series can feel like at times).

There are also larger "super" adventures too.

Revenge of the Giants

Oddly this was a hardcover book compared with the previous softcovers for the other adventures. It's a very nice adventure though, has a good length and can be easily adapted to fit into FR or Eberron. Personally I will be running this in my IRL game later on in the year because I like it sufficiently enough. I am hoping the Tomb of Horrors super adventure is of similar quality.

Upcoming Stuff

Monster Manual 3
Players Handbook Races: Tiefling
Vor Rukoth: Ancient Ruins Adventure Site
Tomb of Horrors
HS2: Orcs of Stonefang Pass
Demonomicon
Psionic Power

Future Release Speculation and Rumours

Gamma World, which is a pretty zany sounding card based way of playing a "DnD 4E light" type game will be out later in the year.

Useful Stuff Provided By Wizards and other people

To go with some of the links provided from the previous threads, Wizards have an Art and Map Gallery here. This is free and provides a lot of useful maps and art for use in your games to pillage at will. The OP dungeon is shamelessly stolen from there

Additionally I recommend this site, which has a wide collection of fantasy art and such forth. Some of it is distinctly NSFW however, so consider yourself warned. They love naked women.

Another useful site is the Cartographers Guild forums. Many talented map artists at this site who make a range of maps, both large scale continental maps, town maps and dungeon maps. Some of the maps here IMO are a bit too fancy, with excessive mapsizes for use with maptools but there are some real gems on here as well. Incidentally, the guy who did the cartography for the Cormyr article in Dragon Magazine posts here as well. Here's an example.

Infidel has provided us with a handy 4E stat calculator. Especially useful if you don't have the character builder to do it for you. The most common problem I find with 4E games is people messing up their initial point buy by a couple of points. In an unexpected twist, this is because some people tend to give themselves less points overall and accidentally gimp their character as opposed to going over the limit.

He's also produced a handy online character sheet device, which can be found here. Seems to work pretty well and is very handy and is even becoming a popular alternative to Mythweavers around these forums. In further character sheet interests, there is also this lovely looking Victorian themed sheet available by Orikaeshigitae.

Cheap miniatures seems to come up quite often in the thread, given that a good mini or three can make 4E a lot easier to run (probably an understatement). One place to get them is ebay, but the number and quality (even type) may be hit and miss. Another online seller of DDM is Dragon Justice, which sometimes has a good range and sometimes not. Really if you look around online you can get a good bunch of models for a fairly cheap price.

There is a general campaign design and advice thread that I have been writing for a while over here. If you're a new DM this might be worth checking out.

I also recommend this fellow called the Angry DM. His advice is pretty good and he's wrote a couple of really good articles on how to make solo fights more interesting.

Finally, a major collection of the games errata was released recently in a big PDF from wizards that you can get here.

Also, as a reminder, don't discuss pirating books in this thread. It's not going to get you anything except some infractions and probably a ban. So just don't. Plus Chris Perkins is totally going to come around to your house and ruin your shit. Not to mention eat your dinner and steal your dice.

We have a general CF IRC channel too if you're that way inclined. You'll need some chat client to use it, or something.

irc.slashnet.org
#criticalfailure

Apparently this was SUPERSUGAs idea.

Penny-Arcade Podcast series!

Also, given this forum is Penny-Arcade we should in fact note that Gabe and Tycho, Scott Kurtz of PVP and after the first series Wil Wheaton sat down and played some DnD together and recorded it. There are currently three seasons and you can find links to download them all below for much good times. This is a good way of getting new people interested in DnD I've found as well.

Series 1: Chris Perkins as DM with Jerry (PA), Mike (PA) and Scott (PvP) playing some DnD!
Part one. Part two. Part Three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight.

Series 2: Chris Perkins as DM with Jerry (PA), Mike (PA), Scott (PvP) and Wil ('s Law) playing some DnD!
Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight.

Series 3: Chris Perkins as DM with Jerry (PA), Mike (PA), Scott (PvP) and Wil ('s Law) playing some DnD!
Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part Six. Part Seven. Part Eight.

Series 4: Jerry takes over the DMing mantle in Dark Sun with Mike (PA), Scott (PvP) and Kris (Krisstraub).
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5.

There is also Robot Chicken's writers playing DnD. Also features commentary on the game from Chris Perkins!

There will also be another PA/PVP podcast featuring Wil and Chris Perkins back as DM later in the summer.

Aegis

New thread smell.

SkyCaptain

It's time for me to get back behind the screen. I'm putting together an OP for a MapTools game for my Heaven's Gate campaign setting. Look for it soon!

Aegeri

And why not post more MM3 stuff. Because that's the best, this time on my beloved Krakens:

M4kitsu wrote:

Krakens. Hee.

*m4ki titters evilly at the thought*

So there are two of them in MM3... and Dear Sweet Siberys Above are they nasty.

The basic version is the Sea Kraken, a Gargantuan aberrant magical beast 10 Solo Soldier likely capable of taking on the crew of an entire ship... as well as the ship itself.

In addition to the tentacle-y doom you might expect from such a creature, which, yes, includes Threatening Reach, it also has a nasty surprise to anyone who thinks themselves safely out of reach in the form of a blinding Venom Bolt ranged attack, and an ability called Devourer of Ships... which does exactly what it says on the tin.

The interesting thing here is that the wording on Devourer of Ships implies mechanics that I've never heard of -possibly hinting at things yet to come (likewise, Deserts of Athas has a small sailing vessel included on one of the tiles).


And then we come to the Sea Kraken's big brother, the Astral Kraken. Weighing in as a 25 Solo Controller, this monstrous (flying!) beast can seriously ruin someone's day. It also has all the same tentacle-y doom as its sea-bound little brother, plus an extra square of reach, but tacks on some devastating additional tricks, including the at-will ability to cause a PC to fire his highest-level encounter attack power at one of his allies, which doesn't expend the power and goes off even if the PC has already used the power as well as a triggered reaction Dominate.


...so yeah, they brought Krakens back. That poor slobbering animal from the PotC movies wouldn't stand a change.

Oh Krakens <3

Delmain

I love the new OP.

Houn

Wil Wheaton is spelled with one "L". And if you want to list something behind his name, might I suggest, instead of (Star Trek?), you might go with (Notable Author), (Secretary of Geek Affairs), or perhaps ('s Law).

Aegeri

And thus it is done.

Plans in future for OP:

Pictures of upcoming books. I won't be doing this for all books for space sake, but for stuff coming up a nice look at what it looks like I feel is a great idea.

Pictures in the first part of the OP: Some example classes + races to adorn what is right now a very big collection of walls of text. Reading a bunch of text is one thing, but a few example characters is another. I will bear in mind that I am going to try to be careful with what I put there, because most of the art isn't freely available anymore and stealing wizards pictures might upset them (most of the things I post are available on google image search or from free galleries on Wizards site).

I shall also add Lolth to the OP alongside bane once Wizards make a wallpaper of her or something (that I can resize to match). She's so dreamy <3

Edit: The Apocalypse Spell preview at Wizards now works. Aside from being yet another awesome monster it provides key confirmation that damage has risen in MM3. It's a level 27 skirmisher and does 3d10+19 damage. The normal damage output for a level 27 skirmisher should be: 3d8+9 damage. That's a pretty big hike in damage.

Mr_Rose

Aegeri wrote: »

I shall also add Lolth to the OP alongside bane once Wizards make a wallpaper of her or something (that I can resize to match). She's so dreamy <3

Dreamy? Giant spider-demon gods are your thing?
No wonder you went into biology.

Magister

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

Spelljammer had so much potential. If they went back and 'did it right' (no talking about visiting other campaign settings as UFOs, no tinker gnomes, no elvish navy and nothing about that stupid space manta-ray you can never escape), and made it all about the Rock of Bral and sailing, it could really be awesome.

Plus solid nautical rules could really be a strong exportable mechanic. Boats are awesome, and most campaigns end up on a boat at some point.

That one of the WotC people is running two weekly games set in an 'island based campaign world' makes me hope that Spelljammer is in the pipe.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

Hexmage-PA

Apparently the new race book about tieflings includes feats that make use of the tieflings' prehensile tails. For example, one feat lets Tiefling Fighters trip an enemy with their tail.

Magister wrote: »

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

Have you looked at The Plane Above?

Kay

Why only Fighters? That doesn't make a great deal of sense.

Aegeri

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Aegeri wrote: »

I shall also add Lolth to the OP alongside bane once Wizards make a wallpaper of her or something (that I can resize to match). She's so dreamy <3

Dreamy? Giant spider-demon gods are your thing?
No wonder you went into biology.

Spoiler:

Maybe they are?

Edit: I do wonder what the hell is going on with her throat though.

SkyCaptain

Eh, she looks like a man in drag.

Infidel

Nothing wrong with a little drag!

Aegeri

Clearly she's not showing enough leg, which is okay because for leg fans she has a drider form with eight of them.

Magister

Hexmage-PA wrote: »

Apparently the new race book about tieflings includes feats that make use of the tieflings' prehensile tails. For example, one feat lets Tiefling Fighters trip an enemy with their tail.

Magister wrote: »

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

Have you looked at The Plane Above?

No, I usually don't like the planar stuff. What did I miss?

Aegeri

Magister wrote: »

Hexmage-PA wrote: »

Apparently the new race book about tieflings includes feats that make use of the tieflings' prehensile tails. For example, one feat lets Tiefling Fighters trip an enemy with their tail.

Magister wrote: »

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

Have you looked at The Plane Above?

No, I usually don't like the planar stuff. What did I miss?

It already has rules for engagements between astral ships - which can easily translate to a spell-jammer game.

Premier kakos

Aegeri wrote: »

Magister wrote: »

Hexmage-PA wrote: »

Apparently the new race book about tieflings includes feats that make use of the tieflings' prehensile tails. For example, one feat lets Tiefling Fighters trip an enemy with their tail.

Magister wrote: »

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

Have you looked at The Plane Above?

No, I usually don't like the planar stuff. What did I miss?

It already has rules for engagements between astral ships - which can easily translate to a spell-jammer game.

Also, it should be noted that the Manual of the Planes has stats for the Spelljammer in it!

poshniallo

This Boss Fight stuff on Angry DM is pretty great. Thanks Aegeri.

Does anyone listen to Radio Free Hommlett? That sounds interesting too.

dresdenphile

Do any of the books talk about the actual process of gaining a Paragon path from a flavor standpoint? The descriptions are pretty detailed about the sorts of people that gain them, but it seems like mechanically, you just hit 11 and pick from the catalog.

Powerpuppies

dresdenphile wrote: »

Do any of the books talk about the actual process of gaining a Paragon path from a flavor standpoint? The descriptions are pretty detailed about the sorts of people that gain them, but it seems like mechanically, you just hit 11 and pick from the catalog.

I wanted to tell you that your stunt in my thread amused me.

dresdenphile

:oops:

We're all friends here, right? All in good fun, eh?

Probad

dresdenphile wrote: »

Do any of the books talk about the actual process of gaining a Paragon path from a flavor standpoint? The descriptions are pretty detailed about the sorts of people that gain them, but it seems like mechanically, you just hit 11 and pick from the catalog.

You have to wait a few weeks for your PP Diploma to arrive in the mail.

Pinfeldorf

Turns out a Lesser Berbalang vs a party of 5 level 6s doesn't really act very much like a solo. The party spent a grand total of 2 daily powers and 5 healing surges to deal with it.

Well, 5 Action Points, too, but w/e.

dresdenphile

Probad wrote: »

dresdenphile wrote: »

Do any of the books talk about the actual process of gaining a Paragon path from a flavor standpoint? The descriptions are pretty detailed about the sorts of people that gain them, but it seems like mechanically, you just hit 11 and pick from the catalog.

You have to wait a few weeks for your PP Diploma to arrive in the mail.

"I had a... hankerin' to be an Kensei when I was a young feller when I got out of the King's Guard, but I... I went to Iron Vanguard school instead... well, I took a correspondence course."

Aegeri

That's not entirely unexpected. One of the complications solos have is the beginning of the fight is always a huge dump of action points into it.

Pinfeldorf

How does a Barbarian get initiated into the Frenzied Berserker guild? Does he have to rage out and break down some doors?

What about the new Barbarian PP that focuses around *not* being raged? Does he have to like, protest ridiculous government shenanigans with sit-ins and hunger strikes?

Jack Hobbes

So is anyone other than me really fucking excited about Themes?

I'm really fucking excited about Themes, as they will add a whole new layer of character options (as well as roleplaying opportunities). Lots of stuff that have strong thematic connotations (Samurai, Pirate, Blackguard, Knight) but weren't strong enough to hold up as their own class (or shared too much of another class' conceptual space) can be re-introduced to the game as Themes.

Yay!

Terrendos

I'm more interested to see how the themes will apply. I'm not a fan of the Primal power source, so if I have to be one to use the Elemental Priest theme I'm going to be disappointed.

ravensmuse

Magister wrote: »

That Kraken stuff makes me want Spelljammer to be the next campaign setting so bad.

Spelljammer had so much potential. If they went back and 'did it right' (no talking about visiting other campaign settings as UFOs, no tinker gnomes, no elvish navy and nothing about that stupid space manta-ray you can never escape), and made it all about the Rock of Bral and sailing, it could really be awesome.

Plus solid nautical rules could really be a strong exportable mechanic. Boats are awesome, and most campaigns end up on a boat at some point.

That one of the WotC people is running two weekly games set in an 'island based campaign world' makes me hope that Spelljammer is in the pipe.

I mean, the only campaign setting I would want more than Spelljammer is Darksun, specifically the Darksun in the timeline of the original box... Which I get in two months.

While I agree with you on absolutely needing a 4e Spelljammer, part of the fun of the setting was how friggin' weird it was. Look. Orc Space Nazis, crazy tinker gnomes, intergalactic penguins...that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Removing the silly elements takes some of the wind out of its sails, y'know?

Aegeri

Terrendos wrote: »

I'm more interested to see how the themes will apply. I'm not a fan of the Primal power source, so if I have to be one to use the Elemental Priest theme I'm going to be disappointed.

Themes apply to anyone who wants them, you don't have to be martial to take gladiator and you don't need to be an arcane user to take templar (as far as I know, I might be mistaken).

Terrendos

Aegeri wrote: »

Terrendos wrote: »

I'm more interested to see how the themes will apply. I'm not a fan of the Primal power source, so if I have to be one to use the Elemental Priest theme I'm going to be disappointed.

Themes apply to anyone who wants them, you don't have to be martial to take gladiator and you don't need to be an arcane user to take templar (as far as I know, I might be mistaken).

Yeah, but if the powers and such depend on Wisdom then there's still trouble. Excluding Divine and Primal there's not a lot of classes that use it.

hippofant

Aegeri wrote: »

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Aegeri wrote: »

I shall also add Lolth to the OP alongside bane once Wizards make a wallpaper of her or something (that I can resize to match). She's so dreamy <3

Dreamy? Giant spider-demon gods are your thing?
No wonder you went into biology.

Spoiler:

Maybe they are?

Edit: I do wonder what the hell is going on with her throat though.

There are some serious perspective issues with this that weird me the fuck out. Like, how far down does her crotch extend, because it looks like it's over two feet below her navel. And how are her forearms as thick as her thighs? And there's like no elbow! It's just looks like a smooth curve! wtfwtfwtf

smeej

Pinfeldorf wrote: »

How does a Barbarian get initiated into the Frenzied Berserker guild? Does he have to rage out and break down some doors?

What about the new Barbarian PP that focuses around *not* being raged? Does he have to like, protest ridiculous government shenanigans with sit-ins and hunger strikes?

I tried to make a barbarian power called Hunger Strike as a joke, but I am too tired to do it justice. It involves giving yourself a Weakened state tho!

Drswords

Just getting my dot in here.

Also Im fascinated with the Dark Sun podcast. So far its been some great, and dark stuff.

Terrendos

Sooner or later I'll get around to my idea of making monsters themed after people in this thread.

The power names will all be jokes.

Horseshoe

Aegeri wrote: »

Edit: The Apocalypse Spell preview at Wizards now works. Aside from being yet another awesome monster it provides key confirmation that damage has risen in MM3. It's a level 27 skirmisher and does 3d10+19 damage. The normal damage output for a level 27 skirmisher should be: 3d8+9 damage. That's a pretty big hike in damage.

Also bringin' some of the old Greyhawk flavor with the "Rain of Colorless Fire" if I'm not mistaken.

SlickShughes

Aegeri wrote: »

Terrendos wrote: »

I'm more interested to see how the themes will apply. I'm not a fan of the Primal power source, so if I have to be one to use the Elemental Priest theme I'm going to be disappointed.

Themes apply to anyone who wants them, you don't have to be martial to take gladiator and you don't need to be an arcane user to take templar (as far as I know, I might be mistaken).

Straub's character in the new podcasts is a Templar warlord, so you're right that far.

Amigu

Hey guys does anybody have the picture of that green elven druid from the third ed. PHB? I'm trying to show my friend the character she'll be playing...

TimFiji

Thanks for the info about 4e from the previous thread. I am leaning toward 4e now, just gotta push my cohort that way.