D&D Experience: Two Page Spreads on Display

WhatGravitas · Mar 1, 2008

Klaus said:
Man, I do NOT like that picture (seems to be Franz Vohwinkel). The pose of the tiefling in particular is awkward at best.

Is it simply the Dance Dance Revolution Tiefling or the entire picture that is bad for you. I dig the rogue there the tiefling looks a bit goofy, but I can accept it. Though I still have to think about "DDR Tiefling"!

Cheers, LT.

hong · Mar 1, 2008

Stupid tiefling tail. Die, stupid tail. Die. Die. Die.

am181d · Mar 1, 2008

Klaus said:
Man, I do NOT like that picture (seems to be Franz Vohwinkel). The pose of the tiefling in particular is awkward at best.

Also not a fan. The scene is overly busy, the figurework is weak, and the coloring and computer effects look really amateurish (i.e. like they were put in as an after thought with little attempt to make them seem like they're organically part of the scene). Reminds me of 1st Edition art on crack... which is not a compliment.

Klaus · Mar 1, 2008

Lord Tirian said:
Is it simply the Dance Dance Revolution Tiefling or the entire picture that is bad for you. I dig the rogue there the tiefling looks a bit goofy, but I can accept it. Though I still have to think about "DDR Tiefling"!

Cheers, LT.

The entire scene. The composition is weak, and the mish-mash lighting makes it flat. The bright background bring the adventurer in the back forward, and steal the spotlight from the rogue disarming the trap (supposedly, the subject matter of the chapter about Skills).

Also, everything is too RED! YELLOW! RED! ORANGE! with much the same values.

Rain · Mar 1, 2008

I am kinda bummed about the lack of background info on those monster pages, I hope this is just a special case since the MM will be a lot less interesting if it is just raw stats

keterys · Mar 1, 2008

They have been rotating what pages were in the case - it was armor and chokers and chuuls when I looked in on it. I'll attempt to transcribe my pictures later. Or, let me see if I can embed and hopefully someone else will have at it... Just the monsters, the armor was mostly just stuff we knew from Races and Classes and artwork.

keterys · Mar 1, 2008

Well, here's the first one:

Cavern Choker Level 4 Lurker
Small natural humanoid XP 175
Initiative +9 Senses Perception +3, darkvision
HP 42; Bloodied 21
AC 17 (see also chameleon hide); Fortitude 15, Reflex 15, Will 13
Speed 6, climb 6 (spider climb)
m Tentacle Claw (standard; at-will)
Reach 2; +9 vs AC; 1d8+3 damage and the target is grabbed
(until escape). A target trying to escape the grab takes a -4
penalty to the check.
M Choke (standard; at-will)
Grabbed target only. +9 vs Fortitude; 1d8+3 damage.
Chameleon Hide (minor; at-will)
The cavern choker gains concealment until the start of its next turn.
It can't use this power while grabbing or creature or while grabbed.
Body Shield (immediate interrupt, when targeted by a melee or a
ranged attack against Reflex or AC; recharge when the choker
makes a successful tentacle claw or choke attack)
The cavern choker makes its grabbed victim the target instead.
The choker cannot use this power to redirect attacks made by a
creature it is currently grabbing.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Stealth +10
Str 17 (+5) Dex 17 (+5) Wis 13 (+3)
Con 12 (+3) Int 6 (+0) Cha 6 (+0)

keterys · Mar 1, 2008

Today's are several gnolls, and the tiefling race page, as an aside. I'll post pics later if no one beats me to it.

MaelStorm · Mar 1, 2008

am181d said:
Also not a fan. The scene is overly busy, the figurework is weak, and the coloring and computer effects look really amateurish (i.e. like they were put in as an after thought with little attempt to make them seem like they're organically part of the scene). Reminds me of 1st Edition art on crack... which is not a compliment.

I agree, but less on the amateurish aspect. It's the idea in general, the feeling conveyed. And I agree with the other poster about the stance of the tiefling. Why does the movie Matrix (which I liked a lot) slow-motion pose has to be reproduced ad nauseam. It is so cliche, so videogame-y. Everybody's busy, while the tiefling is there doing mister tough guy dance in suspended animation, I mean c'mon! I will take a break, because it is not good for my nerve!