From Critical Hits:
From the Q&A:
Unearthed Arcana like options.
Less Errata.
Better story to magical items.
Some variance to parcels, random tables.
Dealing with Daze and Stun.
Enjoyable reads for books.
Ebooks
I think this is a great sign. That we are being heard and they are working (slowly but surely) to not just make the game better, but to make it better when we ask for it.
Mordenkenian’s Magical Emporium is a book of magic items designed to inject more story and descriptions into magic items. Not just a bland history, but a real story hinted at by the item’s description. The big news with this book, and all magic items in Essentials and going forward, is that magic items will be given “Common, Uncommon, Rare” designations. Common and uncommon items can be bought and created by characters. Rare items can only be given out by a DM. Most items already in existence are going to be retroactively classified as Uncommon, and almost all items going forward in new books will be Rare.
Emphasis mine.Player’s Handbook: Champions of the Heroic Tier is a set of options, almost like Unearthed Arcana, for characters to pick from and DMs to choose to use in their games. Character themes (introduced in Dark Sun) will be here for core D&D characters, in addition to new options, new feats, and non-combat options like Blacksmith professions that don’t cost feats to acquire.
From the Q&A:
- PDF and E-books for the game books: again, nothing to announce quite yet, but probably soon.
- In the DM Kit and Rules Compendium, there will be alternatives to the “Treasure Parcel” system of giving out magic items, including random magic item tables. The new item rarity system also factors into an alternative system.
- Races in Essentials will be retro-fitted to have an option in ability score adjustments, just like the PHB3 races.
- The team is aware of how some groups dislike stun and daze, and so they’ve been using it more sparingly in the design of monsters. They are also taking more into account what happens when Solos get stunned or dazed.
- One of Mike Mearls’s new job duties is to reduce the amount of errata in new rules going forward so not as much is needed.
- One of Mike’s personal goals is to make the D&D books more interesting to read by themselves.
Unearthed Arcana like options.
Less Errata.
Better story to magical items.
Some variance to parcels, random tables.
Dealing with Daze and Stun.
Enjoyable reads for books.
Ebooks
I think this is a great sign. That we are being heard and they are working (slowly but surely) to not just make the game better, but to make it better when we ask for it.
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