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[DnD 4E Discussion] Wizards finally filled the Kraken with MM3.
Aegeri
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
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. As an added bonus he's got a free sorcerer on him too! Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane.
He's so dreamy
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. Wizards even has a wallpaper of him, clearly showing they do seem to understand the joke at work here.
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 the worlds of 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.
Some stuff shamelessly stolen from the original post about the races and classes you can play as in the Players Hand Book, with some additions about the PHB2 races and classes by Terrendos.
Thanks Manticore and Terrendos!
Here is a Dungeon:
Here is a Dragon:
Hence the name. As an added bonus he's got a free sorcerer on him too! Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane.
He's so dreamy
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. Wizards even has a wallpaper of him, clearly showing they do seem to understand the joke at work here.
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 the worlds of 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.
Some stuff shamelessly stolen from the original post about the races and classes you can play as in the Players Hand Book, with some additions about the PHB2 races and classes by Terrendos.
First off, races now provide only benefits and no negatives.
Here are the PHB I races:The Dragonborn:
Not those pussies from 3E's draconomicon, these guys are badasses with a racial breath weapon. They make excellent Warlords, Paladins, and Fighters.
The Dwarves:
They're wise and tough as nails, pretty much the best categorization of the tough dwarf I've seen in tabletop roleplaying games. They make great Paladins, Clerics, and Fighters.
The Eladrin:
The "Elves" of last edition were split into two different races this time. The eladrin live in ridiculously magical feywild cities and make good wizards, warlords, and rangers. They can also teleport as a racial ability. Sweet sorcery, bro.
also Elves Elves lol.
The Elves:
The other half of the elves from last time, they're forest living guys who are really accurate. They make good rangers, rogues, and clerics. See what I mean by Elves lol?
The Half-Elves:
Proof that humans will screw anything. They're pretty tough and personable, and make excellent multiclassers. They make good warlords, paladins, and warlocks.
The Halflings:
Short, fat... actually no, these are about as far from tolkien's halflings as a fat american on his couch eating potato chips is from a bush tribesman in africa. Except they both speak english. Halflings continue their tradition of being really lucky and quick, as well as make excellent rogues, rangers, and warlocks.
The Humans:
Look in the Mirror. They're good at everything again and are the most adaptable, again. They make good anythings.
The Tieflings:
Their ancestors made pacts with devils and we're not half-breeds anymore, also we fought a war against Dragons. We get angry really well as a racial ability. We're also merciless, etc. We make good Warlocks, Warlords, or Rogues.
Also they really AREN'T the same tieflings we've had for 20 years.
We also have a bunch of new races now since PHB II came outDeva: Former spirits under the service of good gods fighting an unending war against darkness. Must remain tirelessly good lest they be reborn into Rakshasa. Good avengers, clerics, invokers, and wizards.
Gnome: Small Feywild natives who learned trickery during slavery to fomorians. Curious, stealthy, and small, these short Elflike creatures make excellent bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards.
Goliath: Mountain-dwelling nomads, covered in pebble-like bone growths that make them extra tough. Tall, massive, and strong, goliaths revere primal spirits and make excellent barbarians, fighters, and wardens.
Half-Orc: Channelling the strength of orcblood and the decisive, resourceful nature of humans, some say these warriors were hand-made by Kord himself. Others consider them an abomination. They don't much care, so long as they've got food and battle. Half-Orcs are excellent barbarians, rangers, and rogues.
Shifters: Descended from lycanthrope ancestors, these animal-like men see nearly everything in terms of hunter and prey. Able to draw on their ancestor's instincts, they are excellent druids, fighters, rangers, wardens, and surprisingly good clerics.
And now DDI is adding a few more to the game as well.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.Players Handbook 3 added some more races! Before clicking, it's worth noting that all these races get a fixed bonus score and then a choice of adding +2 to one of two other stats, like the Eberron changeling, which is a good decision.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 (as they get +2 wisdom and a choice of +2 int or dex.
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 or similar from the Far Realm that shattered, leaving them behind. Sentient crystal people like constructs, Shardminds get +2 int and then a choice of +2 wisdom or charisma making them excellent psions and wizards.
Wilden: Plant People from the feywild who are a "young" race that has arisen to fight the abominations of the far realm. They get +2 wisdom (this was definitely the +wisdom book) and +2 con or dex.
Then there are the races from the campaign setting books. First Forgotten Realms: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.
And the Eberron players guide added a bunch of them as well.Changelings: 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!).
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.
Introducing the Classes:
Every class now has a "Role" within the party, and a party is recommended to have every role represented to succeed, though it need not have to. It is considered "pro" to have proper party balance.The Cleric:
Is classified as a Leader.
He's the priest of a god with some pretty wicked spells to heal his allies and disable his enemies. Usually at the same time. Rarely will the cleric spend entire turns casting Cure Light Wounds.
The Fighter:
Is classified as a Defender.
He's a badass with a sword and board or a Two handed weapon, his job on the battlefield is to keep the enemies from stomping his friends, and he can do so with a variety of weapons, which all behave differently depending on how you choose your powers.
The Paladin:
Is classified as a Defender.
This guy is the champion of a deity, who uses some pretty powerful melee spells to lay waste to the enemy. He does alot of glowing holy magical energy damage, too. He also uses either a sword and shield or two handed weapon. His crappy spellcasting from previous editions has been replaced by a whole host of wicked awesome prayers that can heal his allies and smite his enemies.
The Ranger:
Is classified as a Striker.
This guy can use either a bow or two one handed weapons to mercilessly mutilate his enemies. He can also designate specific enemies as his quarry, this includes a giant glowing red arrow above their head.
The Rogue:
Is classified as a Striker.
Is only good for picking locks and disarming traps, not really though. Sneak attack has been toned down a bit, but the rogue's huge damage boost makes up for it, because he really tears shit up with some pretty awesome powers.
The Warlock:
Is classified as a Striker.
Makes soul selling pacts with either Fey, Demons, or Cthulhu. Fires blasts of eldritch energy and murders people. Also, curses people so that he deals even more damage. Strikers are nuts.
The Warlord:
Is classified as a Leader.
This is the new class focused on tactics and inspiring your fellows. He's pretty cool and can actually replace a cleric in your party very effectively, and he brings a different playstyle to the table too. Cleric Inc. hates him for breaking its monopoly on this role.
The Wizard:
Is the only Controller.
The wizard is good at killing lots of enemies, very fast. He's not as amazingly and unstoppably powerful as he used to be, but still is pretty cool.
The Swordmage:
Is classified as a Defender.
The Swordmage was released in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. He combines arcana and swords to make wonderful stabby magic. But probably not swordchucks.
We also have some new PHB II classes just to add to the excitement and the EPG has the artificer!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.
and the EPG Artificer
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.
finally last but not least is the new DDI exclusive class, the AssassinClass: 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.
Of course now we have even MORE classes with PHB 3 and dear god I'll try to restrain myself here about the new additions to the family "Psionics".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.
: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.
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: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: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.
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
- Asmor.com's Monster Maker makes a cool looking statblock, similar to the MM ones (thanks, Hexmage)
D&D Insider Subscriptions
D&D Insider has gone into subscription beta mode. What that means is, for three preset payment structures, you can access all of the online content Wizards is producing exclusively for Insider members without restriction. There are currently demos available for all the previously released content, listed below:
- D&D Compendium from WotC
- Dragon and Dungen magazines also from WotC
- Encounter Tool from WotC
More and more exclusive content will be added each month. Also, Insider subscribers will be included along with those who signed up at D&D Convention events in the closed beta testing for the new Character Builder application, the next tool on the slate to be released for the Insider. So, what are the prices, you ask?
- $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, seems about a dollar an issue for a 12 month subscription.
You can find screenshots of the Character builder here.
Thanks Manticore and Terrendos!
The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
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Posts
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
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 (It has some great artwork in it IMO). 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 and yes I know it's a 4E book that I don't own so I am epic failing, 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
Still reading through this, but my impression is that it's really good and you can make doors with giant teeth and such. Plus it has one of the most horrific pieces of art in 4E DnD (Torog - oh boy is he one twisted puppy).
Also.
Doors. With. Giant. Teeth. I mean, what's more horrifying than a door that eats you? That just ain't right.
Martial Power 2
Recently released, has added some good new options for martial classes and seems a pretty solid book.
Players Handbook 3
I will write more in this space later, but there is some divided opinion about the book and now I've read it all I'm not sure how I feel about it.
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.
Released Adventures
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.
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.
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
Hammerfast
HS1: The Slaying Stone
Players Strategy Guide. 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.
Monster Manual 3
Players Handbook Races: Tiefling
Demonomicon
Dungeon Master's Guide 3
Vor Rukoth
Tomb of Horrors
Gamma World
Future Release Speculation and Rumours
There was a release schedule for late next year published as well, which includes the Monster Manual 3 (with Lloth apparently in it, making a good trio of high level Daemons - albeit Lloth is also a God so I am curious how powerful she will be in comparison).
There will be a book on Daemons later next year probably in the line of Open Grave or Draconomicon. Personally that is the book I am looking forward to the most.
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.
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: Part one. Part two. Part Three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight.
Series 2: Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight.
Series 3: Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part Six. Part Seven. Part Eight.
There is also Robot Chicken's writers playing DnD. This is getting pretty funny as they are clearly starting to relax and get into the game.
I have a new character for the 4e maptools game starting up in May. I finally have his backstory which is based off of a pivotal event in his life.
He is a Kalashtar Bard named Ryth Yfandes. He is young but mature ( most Kalashtar mature much faster than humans ) and he primarily uses an instrument rather than a wand.
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is his backstory:
“You can’t lay on that bed forever, Ryth. You’ll need to leave at some point.”
A mixture of emotions threatened to overwhelm the bard before being quashed by a single thought. In a dull monotone Ryth returned, “What do you care, Lethian? You’re dead. I left you to die. I left all of you to die.”
“And so you’ll give up on yourself just as easily? I thought you were special, Ryth. I still do, even if you’ve forgotten. If you’re not going to keep going for your own sake, then do it for mine.”
“What am I supposed to do, Lethian? I can’t save any of you, you’re dead in the dark and being eaten by spiders and – “
“Get a grip on yourself. Move on. Father Creeghan’s going to be angry that you didn’t come back with the amulet. He’s going to be even angrier that you came back alone. Take the wagon and head north, get out of here. Find adventure elsewhere.”
“But I can’t just leave you. I c-can’t… I mean, wh – “
“I’m not a ghost, Ryth. I’m not going anywhere. You know that.”
Ryth sat up slowly before sighing. “Alright, I’ll go. I guess there would be no point in staying anyways.”
As Ryth headed for the door he paused and asked, “Is this what it’s like to be mad, Lethian? To see and talk to ghosts that don’t exist?”
“Ryth, just go. You can contemplate your sanity on the way.”
Once on the road, Ryth unslung his bandore and began to play.
Little left in the moonlight
Whats left for you is alright
Lifes river flows across the bend
We all see each other in the end
A life of memories shared and said
I lay me down to join the dead
Smells good man. Smells good.
Ferocious Charge, the Gnoll Racial power. Given that this power states 'You charge, with the following bonuses', I can assume that it's a standard 'move up to your speed to the closest square you can attack your charge target from, perform a melee basic attack' charge, and I can substitute any power that allows you to use it in place of a MBA when charging in tandem with it?
Because this plus Marauder's Rush, especially when bloodied, is a really, really heavy hitter.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
I'm pretty sure this is how it works. Devastating for Marauder's Charge, but also for a Barbarian at all.
nobody else wants to start the 4E discussion thread, Aegeri. ;p
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Total Participant Ban.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I was going to go to sleep and do it tomorrow actually.
But you people, you killed it. Killed it. It had to be done.
Yes.
ah. I dunno, I read like every 5 pages, lol. but now I see what we are not talking about that never happened.
and how old is that picture of that dragon? it looks like an early print of a MT:G card or something :U
edit: also, you list the PHB3 races twice.
Edit: I see where the duplication comes in. I never removed the descriptions of the races from the previews and such compared to the actual books release. I'll do that now.
You want to see Radiant vs Undead exploits, check out the lvl 16 cleric utility "Radiant Beams." That power single-handedly won us a big bad fight yesterday from the draconomicon yesterday.
...Rabbitbait?
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
I AM NEVER SHOPPING HERE AGAIN
p.s. What is a soulgem? I am completely unfamiliar with this concept.
It just gave Radiant Soul, Cascading Rush and Speed Loader to an Ardent. Most of those as Paragon Tier feats.
It makes my soul hurt, but it also makes me laugh. Way too much.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
That would actually be a really interesting concept for some one-shot adventure's or delves, making it so all your characters have to be randomly generated.
Hmm.
Edit: And since my last question might get lost, I'll ask it again here.
So, has anyone heard if the new Castle Ravenloft game is going to be full of 4e-y goodness?
How about a Vistani Gnoll Barbarian that is pimped-out on Bola training feats, but isn't equipped with a bola?
2 different weapon proficiencies (neither of which were equipped)
Invoker MC feats (this was before the Wis secondary stat Warlord - ?????)
Weapon Focus for neither of the two weapon proficiencies (though at least it was for the one he had equipped)
Several Cha-based powers with Int as the secondary stat (Cha was a 10 at level 1).
So yeah.
I wonder if it's just a coincidence that they are starting a new lookouts comic today?
i would love for that to be the case, but my wallet would not.
Zithra Melitch in Star Wars: An Empire's End
Jellica in In the Shadow of Zeus
however after you make that hit and you are... say... a rogue... spending an action point right after that would be keen.
you know that could actually be a hilarious or fun way to run one-shot adventures
everyone plays a random character from the builder and just has to deal with it
Technically speaking, if you grant CA as an effect of the attack, then it would take place on anything after the attack. If the enemy uses an Immediate Interrupt to attack you, then it wouldn't get CA. if it used an Immediate Reaction, then it would.
"You think [the dm] would let me play a deva, but look human?"
What are your guys thoughts on this.
This actually sounds like a fun idea.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Depends on how much "look human" you mean.
Like just remove the full body paint? I don't think I'd mind; earlier editions had Deva (aasimar) looking pretty much like tall humans with a supernatural kind of glow right?
Now if he starts changing around much more than that I'd start to get min/max suspicious. Is he playing a class that would benefit from +Wis and +Int?
He is playing an avenger.
He just mentioned that he wants to look completely human. He thinks deva look stupid.
It's just a reskin of something that already exists, and it doesn't seem fundamentally at odds with the "risen again to finish my work" vibe the Devas have anyway.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Like, a Dwarf using Deva stats could be hilarious. Reflavor memory of a thousand lifetimes into Memory of a Thousand Late Nights, and it represents the dwarf remembering something he'd forgotten in a drunken haze.
He essentially wants the special stuff the other races get, without being that race.
I dont know what to make of that.