Dragon Magazine Court of Stars: The Prince of Frost

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Originally Posted by arscott

I think the point is that the Eladrin Courts don't go to war with eachother. They go to war with the Fomorians, or the Goblins, etc.

The Courts are more like political parties in a democracy--sometimes they work towards opposite goals, sometimes they work towards the same goal, sometimes there are rivalries between specific members of two different courts (or members of the same court) and bloodshed is generally discouraged.

That can't be true! 4E is all about combat!

I think that approach works for me. Fey conflicts definitely look more "political" than violent to me in nature, and I think it makes the Feywild more interesting, and emphasizes the otherworldly nature of the fey. You can't simple thing in good vs evil when entering the Feywild. You have to look careful whether you can trust someone (and how far), and who might be deceiving you, and be prepared for changing allegiances.

Of course, that doesn't remove the room for violence. It just means you will find for more "basic" reasons - being hunted as food, or just as a unwelcome trespasser or intruder.

The more war-like conflicts are with Goblins, Formians and intruders from other planes.

[Hellcow]

Originally Posted by Nightson

Two nitpicks, first the two pieces of art on the prince are totally inconsistent, barely in the same ballpark inconsistent...

This is actually an issue with art placement. I assume you're complaining about the image on page 57, next to the Prince's stat block. The thing about this is that it's not actually an image of the Prince (skin color's wrong, among other things). It's a picture of Azara Iceborn (with her frozen-arm rod) and a generic winter eladrin soldier who I originally planned to put in stats for and didn't have the time. So look to that first image when you're thinking of the Prince.

[Hellcow]

Originally Posted by arscott

I think the point is that the Eladrin Courts don't go to war with eachother. They go to war with the Fomorians, or the Goblins, etc.

The Courts are more like political parties in a democracy--sometimes they work towards opposite goals, sometimes they work towards the same goal, sometimes there are rivalries between specific members of two different courts (or members of the same court) and bloodshed is generally discouraged.

Good overview. I'd say that there are OFTEN rivalries between individuals; the fey lords enjoy their intrigues. But these typically ARE intrigues, not wars. They fight the fomorians... they scheme against one another.

[Belorin]

Thanks for the clarification on the art, Keith! And for the article as a whole, excellent fluff and crunch.
Question and I know you can't answer in any official capacity, but I think you may have an idea due to writing assignments;
How often will we be seeing Court, Deity, etc articles come out?


Bel

[JoeGKushner]

I've done things similiar in Mutants and Masterminds. The first time you fight that sentinle by itself it's a full fledged bad ass. The second time when there's a wave of them? They become mooks!

The game mechanics fitting the actual way the game plays is an excellent step in the right direction in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Dire Bare

While you can use the crunchy stuff anyways you like of course, there are only two sisters serving the Pale Prince. The first set of stats are intended when the PCs encounter the two sisters without their Prince, and the second set of minion stats are intended for when the PCs encounter the sisters AND the Prince together.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around this idea, of conditional stat blocks, but I think I'll like it when I get over my own reluctance to leave old gaming habits behind. It's a pretty big paradigm change, I think, to go from old school stat blocks which seemed to represent the way the beasties actually worked (game rules = physics/biology) to the new wave of stats being only a means to an end, being part of the "scene" rather than being independant of it.

If a 4e monster is alone in the woods, does it have stats?

[Kobold Avenger]

I think it's a good point that it's not necessarily that all of the Summer Court is composed of happy, fun fey. I certainly got the impression that's there's a lot of room for decadence and obsessiveness in the Summer Court, especially when you consider the origin of the Prince of Frost.

[Hellcow]

Originally Posted by Belorin

How often will we be seeing Court, Deity, etc articles come out?

I honestly don't know. Sorry!

[Jack99]

Originally Posted by Hellcow

I honestly don't know. Sorry!

Since you are here - two things.

1) Thanks for writing a kickass article.
2) Would you care to comment on The Prince's hit points? He has 4x instead of x5, is that correct? Also the hit points of the sisters seem wacky at best - Seeing that the only difference in their hit points is 1, which equals their CON, something is not quite making sense.

Normally, insubstantial creatures get around 2 less hit points per level (for a lot of monsters this fits, but some seem to suffer from some variation, although it is never more than 2 less).

That would give us (25*6+CON)*2 = 350 and 352 respectively.

Either way, I am not asking you to tell us if there is some big secret about monster design, but if you could tell us if the monster hit points are correct or not, it would be great.

Cheers

[Hellcow]

Originally Posted by Jack99

Would you care to comment on The Prince's hit points? He has 4x instead of x5, is that correct?

Actually, in this case your guess is as good as mine. I originally designed the Prince as a 29th level monster. During the development phase, he was boosted to a 31st level monster, but his hit points actually went down. Given that they changed from what I wrote, I'm certain that it was an intentional change with some thought behind it, but I don't know the precise reasoning.

[Jack99]

Originally Posted by Hellcow

Actually, in this case your guess is as good as mine. I originally designed the Prince as a 29th level monster. During the development phase, he was boosted to a 31st level monster, but his hit points actually went down. Given that they changed from what I wrote, I'm certain that it was an intentional change with some thought behind it, but I don't know the precise reasoning.

Okay, interesting. Thanks for getting back to us.

Cheers