New 5E Epic Books coming in 2020

[Upper_Krust]

I wholeheartedly support your idea of going with 5E for the start and then let the helpful community here make the conversion to 3.5. Would hate for you to feel forced into something you clearly don't want to do (getting back to creating 3.5 statblocks) and eventually prefer to give up on the project altogether than hitting your head against this wall over and over again. I'm convinced people here will not mind if you do it this way, especially if it might get done a lot sooner than the other way around.

Keep us posted how the weekend went then (and maybe a teaser or two about what monsters you worked on?)!

Hello again amigo!

Its not that I don't want to make it 3.5E I just don't think I am still capable. But 5E is SO much simpler it will speed things up (or at the very least not bog things down). I am planning a page in the book that will give brief conversion notes for the monsters into 1st, 3rd and 4th Edition.

First monster I am working on is an Abomination (only one in the book). Its a monster AND a template. Already picked out the poor deity to add the Template to...one of the ones from the partially completed Gods & Monsters pdf, which perfectly complemented this 'thing'.

Entry two I might leave til the end because its ridiculous in multiple ways and might take a bit of extra development time.

The third entry is a Dragon (again only one in the book)...plus a deity that I believe is relevant to this entry and adds a good bit of lore.

Overall the book has 12 entries, 5 of which have 4-5 'independent' monsters (by independent I mean not like the same dragon but different age categories, nor like different sizes of construct, but unique in the way the angels from the Bestiary were unique).

 

[Rhuarc]

Thanks for that, much appreciated!

So the Alien Gods & Fallen Angels book will have 7 entries with one monster, and 5 entries with 4-5, meaning in total some 30 monsters?

And I can't recall, but did you mean one entry per week, or one monster per week back when you gave an estimate of how quickly you think you'll get things done?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Thanks for that, much appreciated!

So the Alien Gods & Fallen Angels book will have 7 entries with one monster, and 5 entries with 4-5, meaning in total some 30 monsters?

And I can't recall, but did you mean one entry per week, or one monster per week back when you gave an estimate of how quickly you think you'll get things done?

Howdy Rhuarc mate!

Some of the other entries have 1, 2 or 3 monsters. Lets see what I can get done within the first 4 weeks (officially starting from today lets say).

If I start to get bogged down I can always take out a monster or two.

I think the "one monster per week thing" was for a 3.5E entry where I am also having to do the art. Now I have switched to 5E and I also have an artist doing pencils (before I finish the inks) for the monsters. So its not beyond possibility I could get two standard entries done per week.

But as noted, lets see where we are after say 4 weeks and we can reevaluate.

 

[Alzrius]

Also having a bit of a 'mare' getting back into 3.5E to the extent that I'll probably make the book 5E (which is SO much simpler) and then get someone to help me convert it to 3.5E and make an alternate version available. For me, looking at 3.5E epic stat-blocks now are like trying to decode Hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone.

Nuts. I worry about trying to have the community here work out 3.5 translations of what you write for 5E, if for no other reason than design-by-committee tends to be inefficient.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Nuts. I worry about trying to have the community here work out 3.5 translations of what you write for 5E, if for no other reason than design-by-committee tends to be inefficient.

Hey Alzrius mate!

Well I will have basic conversion notes for all other Editions in the back of the book. If there are any contentious points of further design I guess it only makes sense for me to have the final say on it. Perhaps we could have a thread here (after the book is finished) for the eventual conversions.

 

[Drazen]

Hey all!

Mulling over some potential header fonts (the text "Alien Gods & Fallen Angels") for the next book...any thoughts?

Title with Header Font A

View attachment 126997

Title with Header font B

View attachment 126998

Title with Header font C

View attachment 126999

Also I thought I would shorten:

Immortals Handbook, Epic Bestiary - Addendum A: Alien Gods & Fallen Angels

down to just

Epic Bestiary: Alien Gods & Fallen Angels.

I vote for B. It's pretty cool. But so is A.
The last is a little much

 

[Drazen]

Hey Rhuarc buddy!

Its going okay. I did spend a bit more time than I wanted sorting out the fonts and general layout. Its been a while since I have used a Publishing program and this is a completely new one (Affinity Publisher). So it took a day or two getting everything right, and I also wanted to go back to the sub-heading font I used in the Epic Bestiary (Not the crazy one from the original pdf that got changed after a week or so, but the font used in the Hardcover print version) but of course I could not find it (nor even remember its name and weirdly my original docs don't show its name if you can believe that) so I had to go with something very similar (after spending literally hours searching for the original font online).

Also having a bit of a 'mare' getting back into 3.5E to the extent that I'll probably make the book 5E (which is SO much simpler) and then get someone to help me convert it to 3.5E and make an alternate version available. For me, looking at 3.5E epic stat-blocks now are like trying to decode Hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone.

So initially I'll concentrate on the non-stat parts of the entry to find my feet and get a few monsters typed up this weekend.

And on this note, very well. But just to let you know when the books come out i will be nagging my dm to customize the stats in those books to 3.5 because 5e is simpler...... And I hate simple. I must complicate things, it's in my nature.
So no rush krusty, but don't go TOO long, i hate long waits.

Also, will you include new templates? Or do they not have those in 5e? And on that note, what are the average CRs in these books? Will you have adventures ideas for people in the level 900's and 1000's?

 

[Upper_Krust]

I vote for B. It's pretty cool. But so is A.
The last is a little much

Thanks. I have run my tests on Font 'B' and while it looks good in *(relatively big) Headers, it doesn't hold up for the sort of sub-heading sized text you would see in a typical column. I have an alternative in place currently. But I can easily swap in a a new header font if I need to.

 

[Upper_Krust]

And on this note, very well. But just to let you know when the books come out i will be nagging my dm to customize the stats in those books to 3.5 because 5e is simpler...... And I hate simple. I must complicate things, it's in my nature.
So no rush krusty, but don't go TOO long, i hate long waits.

Also, will you include new templates? Or do they not have those in 5e? And on that note, what are the average CRs in these books? Will you have adventures ideas for people in the level 900's and 1000's?

Howdy Drazen amigo!

I'll do my utmost to make the best book I can in a reasonable amount of time.

...as noted previously there is one monster in the book potentially capable of challenging your party. Its more powerful than the Neutronium Golem.

I will have quite a few new templates (off the top of my head about half a dozen). They do have them in 5E although I think the CR increase determination aspect of 5E Templates is a bit guess-y.

The CRs in the next Bestiary will be mainly in around the CR 20-40 mark with one exception. ;-)

THAT SAID, I have been studying 5E's CR's and I think my monsters are a bit tougher 'pound-for-pound'. In 5E a CR 23-24 monster is supposedly a "Deadly" rated encounter for a Level 20 party. However, reading the various testimonies about this suggests that a "Deadly" encounter would be more akin to CR 30 (ie. Tiamat). I'm thinking my CR 23-24 monsters WILL represent a deadly challenge. So when I have something that is CR 38 (or whatever) you are simply not going to be beating it with Level 20 characters (regardless of epic boons). Which raises the question of what ARE you going to be able to beat that CR 38 monster with.

The monsters will all have Adventure Ideas for use below, at...and above their level - just like the first Bestiary. So in that regard only Monster 'x' will have ideas for in and around the Level 900's (a converted to 3.5E Level 900 that would be).

 

[Rhuarc]

Hey UK!

I believe we have now reached the halfway mark of the 4 weeks you mentioned earlier. Any update on how well your progress is going?
Thanks