Discoveries/Impressions

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

Post things you discover in the new books here. Also comment on your overall or specific impressions.

One thing that annoyed me about previous Monster Manuals was the plethora of attacks given to, for example, Sahuagin. In one round, they could bite, claw twice, and then rake twice with (I presume) their rear claws. Five attacks? Just because they have five extremeties? Why doesn't that logic hold up for humans, too? I have a head, two fists, and two feet; why can't I attack five times in a full attack?

The new Monster Manual, if you check Sahaugin, now reduces a full attack to either a bite and a claw, or a trident and a claw, or two claws; that makes a lot more sense in my book.

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

The old AD&D first edition was less generic than 3.0. 3.0 is such a bland, featureless, generic toolbox of a ruleset that it just failed to inspire me.

I think the new edition puts a little bit more fun and inspiration into, for example, the DMG. I'm having fun reading the little bit about urban environments and encounters. There's not a lot of information here, and I'm sure almost every DM here will say, "Gee, that's all pretty damn basic," and you're right; still, it's nice to see the DMG actually start address the important matters of world-building and adventure-creating once again.

The Old AD&D PH had the most magical section in the back of the book-- "The Known Planes of Existance." That old silly chart really fired my imagination as a kid. It's nice to see the planes put back into the core game (this time, in the DMG). The DMG's stuff on the planes looks okay so far, nothing really great, and I don't like the D&D Great Wheel Cosmology anyway; but at least it looks like they've provided a bit of a starting place for constructing your own cosmology. Again, I'm glad to have that back in the core game.

Here's a thought: Maybe these books aren't worth all the new money we paid (although, you know, I kinda dig them), but I think they offer a much more complete game than did 3.0 to the new gamer, and there's a certain value you have to place on that, if you want to see this hobby grow.

Emiricol · Jul 16, 2003

Only newbies have a use for 3.0/3.5?

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

In the same vein as "getting back to that First Edition sense of Wonder" is the great picture of a salamander crossing a Sea of Fire to reach the fabled City of Brass in the DMG.

Remember the old DMG had such a painting on its rear cover?

Something else: I'm kind of glad they're calling angels "angels" now. Yeah, it was kind of cute before, for the past twenty or thirty years, when we had to refer to them as "Celestials" and such. But they always were angels. Why not call them so?

It's little touches like this that are reigniting my interest in the game.

Emiricol · Jul 16, 2003

I'll admit the 1e art was a real catalyst for ideas

Very provocative. I do miss that.

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

Emirikol,

I am speaking of the controversy over whether or not these books are "worth it" from the POV of someone who already owns the 3.0 books.

So far, I think these are just about the best D&D books ever, offering the best version of the D&D rules ever offered; but they offer such a slight increase in value over the 3.0 addition that people's opinions may vary on whether or not they're worth it.

But I think for a newbie or someone finally moving on from 1e or 2e, they represent a great value.

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

emirikol,

Earlier tonight I had the idea that if they really wanted to recapture the feel of the old game, they should have commissioned an update/homage to the old Emirikol the Chaotic illustration. That one illustration was enough to get a DM's mind cooking.

Emiricol · Jul 16, 2003

I think that if my books weren't in need of replacing anyway, I'd just use the SRD. Happily, perhaps, they ARE falling apart from overuse, so I have an excuse to pick up the new version

EDIT: Yeah, that Emirikol picture was probably the single strongest factor in getting me into gaming. Ah, the memories... Boy that was a long time ago though. I actually have a JPG of that emirikol pic as my desktop image !!

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

Here's another thing I like.

The 3.0 edition finally solved the problem for me of introducing snakes and spiders into the game-- I mean, NORMAL snakes and spiders. Back in the old 1e days, there weren't, as far as I know, any "official" normal vipers or tarantuals. Just the giant kind. Which is sort of lame, because the real creatures are great opponents. Or at least good for a scare.

So, 3.0 put them into the game. Bravo. Finally.

But 3.5 has done them one better. 3.5 has introduced-- SWARMS!!! Yes, for the first time as far as I know, there's a consistent mechanic for dealing with swarms of hungry (normal) rats and swarms of flying (normal) bats and even swarms of normal centipedes and spiders and locusts too!

That's been something I've always wanted a mechanic for, because I just love the atmosphere of these things. Everytime Indiana Jones faced a swarm of bugs or rats, I wished the game would finally introduce a workable mechanic for handling them. Well, finally, they have.

They missed a couple of opportunities, though. First, they should have given mummies, or at least Mummy Lords, the power to summon swarms of scarabs; second, they should have included swarms of scarabs. (No scarabs.) Both complaints are remedied easily enough (just use the spider swarm as a stand in for scarabs, etc.), but still, I think someone fell asleep here.

billbo · Jul 16, 2003

Skeletons and Zombies-- NEUTRAL EVIL! Finally.

I don't even use alignment. And yes, I know the theory that these mindless creatures cannot endorse or embrace a philsophical scheme; they are no more "evil" than a swarm of rats (see above) or an earthquake.

But theory is fine. Let's talk reality. The reality is that these guys are evil and always have been. You know it, I Know it, the American people know it. I'm guessing everyone's played lip service to that "always neutral" alignment. As in, "Yeah, they're technically neutral, but..."

Well, enough with that nonsense. The guys we always knew were evil are now evil.

It's cool that they give you eight or ten different sorts of skeletons and zombies to run, from Kobold skeleton to Adult red dragon skeleton to megaraptor zombie; you can use the templates to create hundreds more, but it's cool to have a range of already statted up skeletons and zombies ready to go.

One of the best ideas these guys had was opening up certain monsters to gaining character classes, and powering up versions of others. I, personally, love mummies, so it's great to have rules for creating very powerful mummies to threaten characters at all levels.

(Yes, I know I could have come up with these rules myself; I could come up with EVERY rule myself, were I so inclined. One could do everything onself, but one buys rulebooks so one will not, hopefully, need to. So I think it's just cool that they've powered up one version of the Mummy.)