Haunted Temples Map Pack and Elemental Hero's Handbook

Pour · Jun 14, 2011

Not sure if this was discussed or not, but...

For those of you who hate tiles, rejoice! Despite my love of cardboard jigsaw maps, it looks as if WotC are releasing affordable ($9.56 on Amazon) maps.

This accessory includes three double-sided 21" x 30" tactical battle maps -- a total of six beautifully rendered encounter locations, each one suitable for any D&D game. Each map is laid out on a one-inch-scale square grid, allowing it to be used with D&D miniatures and/or card stock tokens.

Two of the mapped locations are new, depicting a dark cathedral and a haunted chapel with an adjoining cemetery. The remaining four map locations are picked up from out-of-print D&D products and present adventure locations tied to the "haunted temples" theme.

Release date is January 17, 2012.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Temples-Map-Pack-Accessory/dp/0786959878/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308059106&sr=1-2"]Amazon.com: Haunted Temples Map Pack: A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Accessory (9780786959877): Wizards RPG Team: Books[/ame]

And if it wasn't confirmed, Elemental Hero's Handbook:

Masters of fire and earth. Lords of air and water. This tome is the definitive sourcebook for creating and playing characters with ties to the Elemental Chaos and the primordial beings that dwell there. It shows how the elements can influence heroes of the natural world and presents elemental-themed character options for players.

In addition to discussing elemental power and presenting new character themes with strong story hooks, this book includes three new class builds--the elementalist, the sha'ir, and the shugenja--and new feats and paragon paths designed to tie existing characters more closely to the Elemental Chaos.

So three new class builds and a ton of options for incorporating Elemental into existing characters, as many suspected, and again partially leaked from Comicspalooza.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Elemental-Heros-Handbook-Dungeons-Rulebook/dp/0786959819/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308059517&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Elemental Hero&[/ame][ame="http://www.enworld.org/forum/misc.php?do=dbtech_usertag_hash&hash=39"]#39[/ame]s Handbook: A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Rulebook (9780786959815): Wizards RPG Team: Books

Ferghis · Jun 14, 2011

Interesting. Here are my thoughts on the new classes:

elementalist: with such a vague name, I'm not really sure what to make of this. My blind guess is that it's a primal elementalist. Possible striker or controller?

sha'ir: a Cha based summoner or familiarmancer, with an arcane power source. My first guess is controller, but I could be wrong.

shugenja: divine elementalist. Maybe another leader, but it could also be a controller.

Incenjucar · Jun 14, 2011

Do note, Amazon's little blurbs are NOT definitive information. I asked a WotC rep about the information on Amazon for the Elemental book and he laughed and said not to trust it, as discussed here.

Herschel · Jun 14, 2011

I love maps, my only concern being the "out of print" sources are the ones I already own.

Vael · Jun 14, 2011

Map packs are crack for me.

Dire Bare · Jun 14, 2011

Ferghis said:
elementalist: with such a vague name, I'm not really sure what to make of this. My blind guess is that it's a primal elementalist. Possible striker or controller?

It's what wizards who specialized in elemental spells were originally called in 2E, so why not use the name, assuming the concept is similar. I'm assuming this is a wizard subclass/build. Hopefully, you'll be able to choose (sub-subclasses?) from pyromancer, geomancer, hydromancer, and, ah, airomancer (can't remember).

Dire Bare · Jun 14, 2011

Incenjucar said:
Do note, Amazon's little blurbs are NOT definitive information. I asked a WotC rep about the information on Amazon for the Elemental book and he laughed and said not to trust it, as discussed here.

Well, they were definitive when Amazon got them from WotC . . . but they do tend to become outdated as the original product changes in the bowels of WotC.

Incenjucar · Jun 14, 2011

Dire Bare said:
Well, they were definitive when Amazon got them from WotC . . . but they do tend to become outdated as the original product changes in the bowels of WotC.

Nah, not even then.

chitzk0i · Jun 14, 2011

I wonder what the maps are made of. Are they just standard poster maps, or are they laminated so they might stand up to more than one or two uses?

Dice4Hire · Jun 14, 2011

The poster maps do not excite me much, but I'll be interested to take a look at them. The four reprints are probably from the minis line, though maybe from adventures.

As for the book, I'll wait and see. I'm also waiting for Heroes of the Feywild to see if it is better than Heroes of Shadow, which was totally useless for me.