Cambion: Worst writeup ever?

[Banshee16]

The truth is, I screwed this up due to haste, and I had a misguided desire to fit in the cambion as a nod to Planescape. As best I can tell , it was a quick rip from 2e that I meant to develop and lost track of. Likewise, it was not noted or improved at the development and editorial levels.

I wrote Expedition to the Demonweb Pits under a very, very tight deadline, and worked very hard to deliver the best manuscript possible in the timeframe. That's a fact, rather than an excuse. Some sections had big notes on them that said "Fix this" -- most of those were, in fact, fixed. I knew that the project needed more time, so I organized an external playtest team. I forwarded all their suggestions and notes to the developer. This wasn't one of them.

The reality is, sometimes material is weaker than it should be. Sometimes no one catches a dud monster. My sincere apologies for the train wreck on this creature. Though it went through many hands, ultimately I'm the one who said "Let's redo the cambion!".

Looking back, I shoulda just used a half-fiend template.

I personally don't mind the *idea* of a Cambion.....I think the half-fiend template, as is, doesn't really capture the differences between half-fiends of different ancestries.

It would be really *great* if WotC could release an errata or something for the Cambion.

As to earlier notes about the favoured class being "assassin", I assumed this is possible, *if* the base race meets the requirements of the PrC.....so if your PrC needs +5 BAB and the Alertness feat, and you have a monster with 8 HD, +5 BAB, and the Alertness feat, he can access the PrC, without having class levels.

I have always figured that several of the half-fiend/half-celestials should have had some form of shapeshifting abilities.....ie. cambions/alu-friends....so maybe half-fiends born from specific types of fiends....and eladrin-descended half-celestials, for instance. I've always swapped out the "passive" 2nd lvl spell-like ability for the half-celestial template, and replaced it with Alter Self, when creating half-eladrins, for example.

Banshee

 

[rom90125]

The truth is, I screwed this up due to haste, and I had a misguided desire to fit in the cambion as a nod to Planescape. As best I can tell , it was a quick rip from 2e that I meant to develop and lost track of. Likewise, it was not noted or improved at the development and editorial levels.

I wrote Expedition to the Demonweb Pits under a very, very tight deadline, and worked very hard to deliver the best manuscript possible in the timeframe. That's a fact, rather than an excuse. Some sections had big notes on them that said "Fix this" -- most of those were, in fact, fixed. I knew that the project needed more time, so I organized an external playtest team. I forwarded all their suggestions and notes to the developer. This wasn't one of them.

The reality is, sometimes material is weaker than it should be. Sometimes no one catches a dud monster. My sincere apologies for the train wreck on this creature. Though it went through many hands, ultimately I'm the one who said "Let's redo the cambion!".

Looking back, I shoulda just used a half-fiend template.

I respect that Wolfgang responded so quickly and so honestly. I will take his advice and use the half-fiend template when I run this for my group.

 

[pawsplay]

Thank you for the very gracious response, Wolfgang. It was certainly more explanation than I anticipated, and both enlightening and reassuring.

 

[Shadeydm]

So is someone going to step up to the plate and write up the Cambion as it should have been?

 

[Wolf72]

Shrug and use half-fiend template. Replace the wings with some minor plus somewhere else (say, +2 more natural armor). If the cambion wants to be sneaky, well, grant levels in a sneaky class. Why make things more complex than they need to be?

The fact they even wrote up the cambion seems strange to me... it was not like they were THAT well-defined in the older edition!

2nd'd ... I'd come up with a list of 5 or 6 abilities besides flight to choose or roll from:

1. flight
2. increased land speed (2x?)
3. bonus to skills
4. + NAC
...
...

 

[Piratecat]

The truth is, I screwed this up due to haste, and I had a misguided desire to fit in the cambion as a nod to Planescape. As best I can tell , it was a quick rip from 2e that I meant to develop and lost track of. Likewise, it was not noted or improved at the development and editorial levels.

Boy, do I respect honesty -- and I can certainly deal a lot better with an honest error. Thanks!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was just browsing this thread, but I have to applaud Monkey King for his honesty.

That took guts & class. SALUTE!

 

[Land Outcast]

Wouldn't expect everyone to answer that way.
Thanks for the prompt reply.

 

[Nifft]

Boy, do I respect honesty -- and I can certainly deal a lot better with an honest error. Thanks!

QFT. Thanks, Monkey King.

Of course, the other half of "my bad" is fixing it. So, would it be legal to post the half-fiend in question, stat'd out, with tactical notes?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

OK, it's poor mechanics.

So what? If you're playing the adventure, it's not like the players are looking over your shoulder to quality control your stat blocks. Just play the creature out.

Now, it's a problem if you want to consistently apply it in the future, or if your players all want to play cambion characters, but for the purposes of this particular adventure, I don't see that it really matters in actual play.