March and Beyond

[UngeheuerLich]

The gloomwrought book and the MV are giving you Monsters in encounter groups. Which is huge, especially for a new 4e DM...
I am still lazy and often do too much only "1 sort of monsters"-encounter... those work, but don´t play to 4e´s strength...

 

[Dausuul]

Not a lot new here, but I'm really looking forward to Heroes of Shadow and the new Monster Vault. Especially the penanggalan, which has always been one of my favorite monsters.

 

[abyssaldeath]

It's a daily utility. I'm pretty sure the 11th-level attack power is "Hound's Baying," mentioned at the end of the second page (statblock is presumably on the page 3 that we didn't get).

Then the end of the "till the end of the encounter" is a mistake because the fluff for "Hound's Baying" seems to indicate that it's going to work in conjunction with your companion. If you can only call you companion for one encounter and "Hound's Baying" is an encounter power then that would make it useless for every other encounter. I feel confident that the is a mistake with "Summon Shadow hound". It's just a matter of where that mistake is.

 

[Dausuul]

Then the end of the "till the end of the encounter" is a mistake because the fluff for "Hound's Baying" seems to indicate that it's going to work in conjunction with your companion. If you can only call you companion for one encounter and "Hound's Baying" is an encounter power then that would make it useless for every other encounter. I feel confident that the is a mistake with "Summon Shadow hound". It's just a matter of where that mistake is.

I think you may be reading more into the flavor text than is there. Keep in mind that the PP is built around the idea of the Black Hound being a spirit creature that only inhabits a hound's body; it may not have to be physically present for your enemies to hear its cry. (The idea that you would hear the Hound's baying on a regular basis, but only see the Hound itself on rare occasions, works rather nicely.)

In fact, I'm almost certain that's the case. If Hound's Baying were something that the summoned creature did, then it would be in the summon's statblock, not broken out as a separate power.

 

[abyssaldeath]

I think you may be reading more into the flavor text than is there. Keep in mind that the PP is built around the idea of the Black Hound being a spirit creature that only inhabits a hound's body; it may not have to be physically present for your enemies to hear its cry. (The idea that you would hear the Hound's baying on a regular basis, but only see the Hound itself on rare occasions, works rather nicely.)

In fact, I'm almost certain that's the case. If Hound's Baying were something that the summoned creature did, then it would be in the summon's statblock, not broken out as a separate power.

Hmm, ok, I can get behind that.

 

[the Jester]

It's amusing that he calls out the art on the peryton for notice when it was from 3e's Monsters of Faerun.

 

[Mentat55]

The example art for the Monster Vault is nice, I especially like the minotaur (bronze golem maybe?) and the eye in the tower (awesome). The artwork for the peryton actually makes that monster look scary and evil, unlike the 1e MM version, where it just looks like taxidermy gone wrong.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's amusing that he calls out the art on the peryton for notice when it was from 3e's Monsters of Faerun.

It is a pretty badass peryton picture.

3e art, contrary to some trufans' hyperbole, wasn't all buckles and spikes (not that I mind buckles and spikes, myself!).

 

[SparqMan]

It's interesting to hear DMs talk about counters as if they're minis. My group hasn't used counters yet, but I suspect the effort to create a counter for an NPC or monster is extremely easy. Even if you don't get fancy as the internet guides, you can just find-crop-print, right?

 

[Mirtek]

So this mace of destruction is their idea of an rare? Really?