In the Works: February and Beyond

[DonAdam]

Will the Vampires "Sparkle?"

If they do, I'll target them with every monster attack.

Vampire sounds goofy, especially in conjunction with the Mos Eisley Cantina approach to races that 4e has taken.

 

[Klaus]

Did I miss the "rule of three" article yesterday, or did they fail to do it the very first week they said they'd do it?

Rule of Three is scheduled to start on the 14th.

 

[ggroy]

the Mos Eisley Cantina approach to races that 4e has taken.

Is this any worse than the "Savage Species" book from the 3E/3.5E era?

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Species-Monstrous-Characters-Supplement/dp/0786926481"]Amazon.com: Savage Species: Playing Monstrous Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) (9780786926480): David Eckelberry, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Rich Redman, Sean K Reynolds: Books[/ame]

 

[DonAdam]

Is this any worse than the "Savage Species" book from the 3E/3.5E era?

Certainly less over the top than Savage Species, but also in the Core books so more pervasive. (I move around geographically a lot, so the overall patterns of activity encouraged by the rules influence the sorts of games I play in.)

It also helped that Savage Species was so poorly designed and niche that few people wanted to play it.

 

[ggroy]

Certainly less over the top than Savage Species, but also in the Core books so more pervasive. (I move around geographically a lot, so the overall patterns of activity encouraged by the rules influence the sorts of games I play in.)

For the most part.

A particular race appearing in a "core" Player's Handbook, seems to give it an aura of "legitimacy" for casual use. This especially seems to be the case for something like the Dragonborn and Tiefling in the 4E PHB1.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

For the most part.

A particular race appearing in a "core" Player's Handbook, seems to give it an aura of "legitimacy" for casual use. This especially seems to be the case for something like the Dragonborn and Tiefling in the 4E PHB1.

So? Just agree on a set of parameters for the setting you're going to play. Not all races have to be used in all games. Why are dwarves, elves, and halflings somehow not creating the same issues, yet nobody complains about them.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I dunno...I think I need to see the thing before I evaluate it entirely.

I'm not against the idea of a Vampire Class inherently. I actually liked Savage Species' "class as creature type" mechanic, and I really don't have a problem with gaining vampire powers as you level up.

I'm a little wary of how this changes what a class is, but only a little. Why can't I be a "vampire sorcerer" or a "vampire warlord"? At the same time, I get to be a "vampire dwarf" or...a "vampire warforged"? Vampire killoren? Vampire revenant? Or maybe all people with the vampire class also have the vampire race? Which would be weirdly limiting -- I wouldn't be a fan of that...

Hm....what role would a vampire have? I'd peg it as Controller first, but I could see Striker and even Leader (it's hard for me to see Defender, but it could work).

I imagine they're well aware of this trickiness, and who knows, it could be pretty awesome. I'm curious. I'm not against it yet. We'll see how it turns out.

 

[Barastrondo]

The Vampire class is the class that all DM's are going to hate, and at least one person at your table is always going to want to play.

Well, either "all DMs minus one" are going to hate it, or I don't qualify as a DM. I'm looking forward to it.

I don't see the appeal myself, but I dislike Changelings, Dragonborn, Shardminds, Tieflings and all the other monsters already. The vampire is certainly not any worse than any of those oddball options if you like your D&D in a Tolkienish flavour like I do.

Personally, I like Tolkienish D&D -- but I also like Arabic Fantasy D&D, Gothic Horror D&D, Sword & Sorcery D&D, Post-Apocalypse D&D, Swashbuckling D&D, Ramayana D&D, Three Kingdoms D&D and even weirder hybrid themes like Gormenghast Steampunk D&D. And I'm always delighted whenever D&D introduces something that lets me do one of those a little better. Genasi let me really play up the genie-human romance angle in an Al-Qadimish game in ways that halflings don't. Tieflings fit a lot better into a Clark Ashton Smith-styled sword-and-sorcery setting than elves do. So yeah, I'll take as many options as I can get. I never know which one might be perfect for the next game I'm going to run.

I also have to admit that a new class is also the best way to add a template onto an existing player character race. As well, it isn't any more bizarre than playing a revenant, and I've seen revenant builds that are designed to look and act like vampires already.

Yeah, that's what makes it particularly interesting to me: playing a vampire isn't going to be about a power grab or seeing if you can be more badass than the other PCs, or at least not any more than usual. It's going to be about playing a vampire because you want to play a vampire. I'd trust my players with it for sure, as long as it's a well-designed class.

 

[Siberys]

This is old news - we've known about this for at least a month. Plus, IIRC, [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] is the one that designed it - he's done good work.

It may not be my cup of tea, but more options is a good thing.

 

[TerraDave]

So we are going to see Ravenloft after all, and sooner. Plus, you can now play Strahd.

In a more annoying note, did they always have so many novels in the previews? Thanks for that .