Dungeonscape Answers

[heirodule]

DUNGEONBRED: Large Aberrations, Animals, Magical Beasts, or Vermin that are decreased in size in order to fit in dungeons and not require much maintenance to keep in dungeons. Good example was once such a creature eats a particular meal, it can forever sustain on the meal, which annihilates the need to acquire exotic meals for creatures that need it.

I'd rather have my supsension of disbelief challenged then have a game mechanic explanation for irrational dungeon ecologies

 

[Shade]

Wow. I can see using all of those (acidborn only in the more wahoo dungeons, but still, I can see doing it). Pretty impressive, since normally I give a big thumbs-down to most new monsters and templates.

Ditto. I really like the acidborn and guardian templates and definitely will make use of them.

My excitement for this book is growing rapidly.

Thanks, Razz!

 

[Razz]

I might have some material that got cut that might find its way into a Class Acts article in the near future. I only got the book today myself and am still digging through it to see what stayed, what was cut, and what was polymorphed.

All and all though.. I am very please.

Jason Bulmahn
Co-Author of Dungeonscape
Death to the Iconics!

Yeah, me and my friend were going through the Factotum and dissecting it. I can see what was intended with it but I don't believe enough was done. It's also one of those classes that really feels horrible to play a low levels, picks up only a little in mid-level, but really starts moving at high level.

I also feel that it doesn't have enough of the diversity it was intended to have. Instead of being a class that can truly mimic others and perform many different abilities (not just skills), it seems to be more of a Rogue class tailored to dabble in the core classes and the rest tailored to a high Intelligence score.

I hope you can manage to publish more material on the Factotum. I believe that it really has great potential. A couple of PrC devoted to it, a dozen feats specifically tailored for it, and something to help use material from other sources would bring it in the right direction and polish it up nicely. Similar to the Soulknife class in that even though the work is done, the "fixes" for it can be implemented via PrC, alternate class features, and new feats.

I guess the best quick fix is a feat that grants it more Inspiration points and one to give them the ability to recharge an inspiration point. I don't think the class is given enough of these points to last a whole encounter, especially when almost all of its abilities rely on using inspiration points and the abilities themselves last only 1 round or for one die roll. About half actually make you use 2, 3 or even 4 points! So much is happening, too, at high levels that being given only 10 points to use for the battle might not really be enough. I've had combats last up to a full minute, especially at mid-levels, and a Factotum with only 4 or 5 points in those level ranges won't get very far.

We have yet to playtest it. Don't really know for sure until someone's played it from 1-20, but we currently don't have anyone willing to try in our games. I'll use a few NPCs with the PCs that are Factotums to test it out when I get the chance.

 

[dargoth3]

Razz

Do you reckon Dungeonscape would be a good for fleshing out a dungeon like Undermountain? How does it compare to the Ruins of Undermountain boxsets?

 

[Razz]

Razz

Do you reckon Dungeonscape would be a good for fleshing out a dungeon like Undermountain? How does it compare to the Ruins of Undermountain boxsets?

From the looks of it I believe it to be very useful. I'll most likely finish at least half of the book tomorrow so I can give more detail, but it looks really useful, almost every part of it I can see myself using and I am very picky about what content I like to see in D&D books.

 

[BOZ]

And, yes, the Rot Grub Swarm is a nice comeback for it. CR 6, infestation, and if you destroy the swarm a few of them are leftover to count as the dungeon hazard version of the creature.

sweet!

 

[megamania]

From the "I will get this book for sure" list it may have just become the "NEXT" book I must have. Looks good.

 

[Li Shenron]

FACTOTUM

Wow, it's even worse than I ever imagined...

 

[Li Shenron]

ACIDBORN:

Not particularly original, but it sounds useful to me.

DUNGEONBRED:

The decrease in size is something unprecedented I think! I don't think this is useful in dungeons only, but anywhere. It might be an odd choice (I guess most players expect bigger versions of core monsters, not smaller) but definitely interesting.

Does this template have a LA or is it +0?

GUARDIAN:

Again not really original, but useful indeed. Why creatures with Int4+ are not allowed? I see not reason for that...

SENTRY OOZE:

This is interesting, it's a bit like a minor awakening of oozes. Not something I am particularly willing to do, but I think many DM would like this one!

HIVENEST MONSTER:

Described like that, I don't get how it is really different from just encountering the 2 creatures at the same time. There must be something more about it...

And, yes, the Rot Grub Swarm is a nice comeback for it. CR 6, infestation, and if you destroy the swarm a few of them are leftover to count as the dungeon hazard version of the creature.

Nice idea IMO.


edit: from their names alone I thought I had no interest in these templates, but now I' definitely positive about them

 

[Razz]

The decrease in size is something unprecedented I think! I don't think this is useful in dungeons only, but anywhere. It might be an odd choice (I guess most players expect bigger versions of core monsters, not smaller) but definitely interesting.

Does this template have a LA or is it +0?

LA +0, CR stays the same too. Probably because most of the creature's abilities remains similar, despite the size decrease, since it receives Endurance and Improved Natural Attack feat for all its natural weapons for free and gains +4 Str and +4 Con. They also get +2 bonus to save against disease and poison, but any modifiers to Hide and Move Silently when in a specified terrain only apply in dungeons/underground. Fly maneuverability improves one step.

Described like that, I don't get how it is really different from just encountering the 2 creatures at the same time. There must be something more about it...

They get hivenest attack which, if hit by a hivenest monster, deals the host's damage along with the swarm's damage and special attacks (like poison). There's also the distraction ability kicking in if a character remains adjacent to the creature. The hivenest monster gains the senses and modifiers to Listen and Spot from the swarm infesting it. Killing the hivenest monster destroys the host, but between 1 through 4 swarms of the same type that was infesting it are released at full hit points. The larger the creature infested, the more swarms released.