Preview: December and Beyond

[Klaus]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (December and Beyond)

Some previews, the most interesting being the ones from Heroes of Shadow.

Blackguards are paladins that cling to a vice instead of a virtue.

New magic schools include Necromancy and Nethermancy (shadow magic).

 

[Jack99]

Heroes of Shadow just looks better and better.., but March is just so far away

 

[Flobby]

It looks like Heroes of shadow is just for essentials though, or am I reading it wrong?

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

Looks good. Necromancy is back, and I'm getting 2e vibes. <3

Now I'd like a usable class/build preview in Dragon Magazine so I can play around with it a bit.

It looks like Heroes of shadow is just for essentials though, or am I reading it wrong?

My impression is that you'll need the Heroes of X books to play these new builds. I guess at least some of the powers in HoS could be taken by "classic" characters.

 

[Mengu]

I'm a little disappointed with the Heroes of Shadow preview. I was hoping for more of the X Power style approach, with a bit more versatility for support among multiple classes and power sources, but this just seems like more Essentials. I think future support looks bleak for pre-essentials classes. If you are looking for support for your tiefling ruthless ruffian rogue, or void genasi dark pact warlock, or gnoll bleak disciple assassin, or duergar devoted cleric of the Raven Queen, or half-orc retribution avenger of Kelemvor, or shadar-kai ensnaring swordmage, or drow chaos sorcerer, this is not the Heroes of Shadow you are looking for.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

As much as I'm keen on HoS for the Necromancy stuff, I'm sure they're going to Do It Wrong. But then, I never liked that the default for necromancers in D&D was always give them lots of Fear-type powers and spells that raise the undead.

I've had a long-running Necromancer that I built with 2e Player's Option: Spells & Magic that I'm still running, and really hoping that HoS will do some justice to.

Taken from the article, "...necromancers have little interest in conquest, instead using their art to examine the secrets of life, death, and the connections between them." (Emphasis mine)

I, for one, would like to see a little more of the Life side of Necromancy. The White, as opposed to always hearing about the Black. It would be fantastic to see a Necromancer built as a Leader. Or even secondary leader. A little variety in archetype, please, instead of the same old tired Evil Necrophiliac in Tattered Black Robes trope.

That said, I'm still hopeful that I can take the material in HoS and twist it to my will

So, when do you think we will see Transmuters, Abjurers, Conjurers, etc? Heroes of Sword and Spell would be a nice place to see some of that, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Jhaelen]

It looks like Heroes of shadow is just for essentials though, or am I reading it wrong?

Every new release will be either 'Essentialized' or at least tainted by the Essentials products.

Unless Freelancers write articles focusing on the _true_ 4e class builds for Dragon, future support for them will most likely be nil.

 

[Mentat55]

I wonder if people are going to be disappointed that WotC made necromancy just a wizard school, so it can be integrated into the mage from HotFL. I think it is pretty reasonable myself, but I have never been that interested in playing a necromancer (beyond making them awesome BBEGs).

I like the blackguard, just like I like the cavalier from HotFK, with its virtues. In HotFK, they stat out the virtues of sacrifice and valor, but also mention justice and compassion. They also mention blackguards and fury, greed, tyranny, and terror. It tears out the need for worshipping gods, and focuses on a central belief (it reminds of the champion class from Arcana Evolved). It also reminds me of the old Dragon magazine, where they introduced paladins and anti-paladins of different alignments (I think they eventually filled out 8 of the 9 alignments, all except True Neutral).

 

[Larrin]

It looks like Heroes of shadow is just for essentials though, or am I reading it wrong?

With the examples they give it looks like they'll give an "essentials" cavalier/blackguard build, but I expect it will have paladin utilites and dailies that can be used by all paladins. Likewise with the wizardry. They specifically state any wizard can take these spells, but essential mages get to benefit from additional apprentice/novice/master features etc. So its not just for essentials, but essentials probably comes out ahead in benefits. Thats kind of their thing now.

 

[Dausuul]

It looks like Heroes of shadow is just for essentials though, or am I reading it wrong?

It does appear to be the focus. If WotC is going all-Essentials from here on out, maybe they will eventually sway my players to make the switch... I can only hope.

As far as necromancy being a wizard school (per previous editions) instead of necromancers being their own class: As a necromancer enthusiast going back over 20 years, I'm ambivalent. I like the versatility of being a wizard, and mixing necromancy in with the other schools allows me to focus as much or as little on necromancy as I like, while cherry-picking from other schools. On the other hand, I am annoyed that necromancy will once more be tied to the Vancian casting mechanic, which I've always found deeply irritating.

I would really love to see a new Essentials wizard build that does for arcane casting in 4E what the sorceror did for 3E--a smaller array of spell options, but freedom to choose among them at time of casting.