New troglodytes

New Realmslore article is up at WotC (link).

The article mentions troglodytes as the lich's servitors... and on the pic there's something lizard-like (the flying thing is, obviously, a gargoyle), but it's far bulkier than traditional troglodytes... then again, the lizardfolk concept sketch from one of the design & development articles featured a bulky lizardman.

So are you suggesting that the monsters have been putting on some wieght between 3rd and 4th edition? I guess that means we adventurers need to give them a bit of 'excersise'....and then take their stuff.

Didn't we see either a forthcoming D&D mini or concept sketch (forget which) of a troglodyte that looked like this? The troglodyte seems to be one of the many victims of the edition change.

We've already seen a sketch of a short, stocky troglodyte.

Looks fine.

Am I the only one who's never used a trog outside the long-ago D series? Smelly lizardmen just seem like a waste of space, or a sub-entry under regular lizardmen.

The new trogs look more like their 3.5 stats, but the old trogs just look a hell of a lot cooler.


cheers

Whizbang Dustyboots said:

Am I the only one who's never used a trog outside the long-ago D series? Smelly lizardmen just seem like a waste of space, or a sub-entry under regular lizardmen.

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I most recently remember them from the "Learn how to play D&D" tutorial off of WotC's 3.x website.

Whizbang Dustyboots said:

Am I the only one who's never used a trog outside the long-ago D series? Smelly lizardmen just seem like a waste of space, or a sub-entry under regular lizardmen.

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I've used both trogs and lizardmen plenty. Lizardmen are the savage dinosaur-people that live in the jungles and marshes, trogs are the lovecraftian Tsathoggua-worshipping subterranean degenerate elder evil race.

I personally prefer the 2e MM Toni DiTerlizzi's troglodytes. They're humanoid only in the most basic sense, and their heads and faces are salamander-like.

Although Sam Wood's 3(.5) MM troglodyte isn't bad either.

I just don't get the buff lizard hype that seems to be present in 4e

Interesting article.

So, there were warlocks in 199 DR? I guess they've decided to go with "retcon" in that department, rather than let the Spellplague explain it.

A master of gem magic, ...

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What do you think this means? Asharon is a warlock, not a wizard, so it's not a 'wizard tradition' like Emerald Frost. Likewise the two perfect emeralds that are his eyes probably aren't "orb" implements.

The lich controls his minions by means of a ritual in which he embeds a magic emerald in the flesh .... the ritual dominates the creature, and it also gives Asbaron the ability to perceive what his enslaved monsters perceive and issue them telepathic commands ... in practice he only looks in a particular monster for a few minutes at a time once every day or so ...

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I find this passage fascinating.

1. We have rituals. This sounds like a very powerful one, but it does require expensive and magical material components and he is a lich, so we can assume its rather high-level.

2. The limitations are practical, rather than hard coded. It says he can watch through their eyes for long periods of time, but that the real limited resource is his attention: he only has 24 hours in the day, no matter what level he is, and has lots of important stuff to do. Just because he can look through their eyes does not imply that he usually (or even often) is.

I like both of those. A lot.

Asbaron's servitors include a number of undead ... a large tribe of troglodytes, a band of gargoyles, and a variety of monstrous guardians such as leucrottas, manticores and a gorgon.

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Evidence of "mixed monster" encounter design. I bet all of the monster roles are represented in that list.

Also, we have "regular" troglodytes and a troglodyte shaman. Since I doubt they're going to write up a shaman class (and monsters don't have classes anyway) I wonder how many types of trogs the MM supports.

A shrine to Orcus ...

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Cross-racial deific appeal makes its entrance in the Realms. Orcus is not limited to being a demon or the orc pantheon.