Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave

[John Cooper]

- Complete stat blocks included for all creatures. Note: I did not check stat blocks for mechanical consistency or proofreading errors.

Don't worry, Olgar - I've got your back. I'm reading Magic Item Compendium right now, but Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave is in my to-be-reviewed pile.

 

[BlackMoria]

Hey Nightfall,

I don't see the **numbers** in your posts so congrats on getting off parole.

As for the topic, I just picked up the book and my quick thumb through shows it has top notch production values and seems 'solid' for its content. I need to read though it further to confirm that initial impression.

Also, I am of the camp that a FR adventure should (note - 'should', not 'must') have FR elements in it. I rather dislike the notion of making a generic adventure that fits any campaign and allows wordsmithing out the names of religions and localities and slapping a 'Forgotten Realms' sticker on it and then selling it as a FR adventure. Any DM worth his/her salt can do. Therefore, the inclusion of the Shadow Weave and other FR elements is a big selling point for me.

YMMV.

 

[Nightfall]

Moria,

I'm still on parole. I just stopped counting for now.

I'm managing to keep track by counting to five and stopping.

*has nothing more to add since Olgar did a nice job and now John Cooper will soon be on the case.*

 

[John Cooper]

For those interested, I just posted my review of Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave in the reviews section. (Here's a link: http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=review&reviewid=3761627). Come see the "unofficial errata" for yourself; it almost needs to be seen to be believed.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Wow, that's a lot of errata. Some of it really doesn't matter -- personally I could care less if all skill points are spent -- but it is an indication of attention to detail. One wonders if part of the motivation behind 4E is to keep from getting beaten up by John Cooper!

As an aside: some time I should really post the reviews I've posted in General to the reviews section (and I could probably port over the 90+ reviews I did for d20 Magazine Rack that don't carry my name here). But on second thought ... why bother?

 

[John Cooper]

Some of it really doesn't matter -- personally I could care less if all skill points are spent....

Oh, I agree - skill points are the most trivial of stat block errors, because 9 times out of 10 they won't even come into play during an encounter. I only include them in the interest of completeness, and because you never know when somebody might want to swipe a given stat for another adventure, where a given skill might be more important.

 

[Nikosandros]

As an aside: some time I should really post the reviews I've posted in General to the reviews section (and I could probably port over the 90+ reviews I did for d20 Magazine Rack that don't carry my name here). But on second thought ... why bother?

Well, it's up to you of course, but a thread will soon be submerged and disappear, while a review will remain useful also in the future.

 

[Felon]

I thought Corymyr: TTOTW was mediocre at best. Few good monster encounters, and a lot of fights with boring mooks that can't do anything that take place in cramped areas with lots of choke points.

The plot is also pretty questionable. I don't think the big con that the bad guys pull off would succeed in such a heavily-populated, high-traffic area. Somebody, somewhere is going to get the news, questions will be asked, spells will be cast, and the jig will be up.

 

[Bacris]

That's... a whole lot of errata. Yowch.

 

[hamishspence]

Zombie dragon turtle

I checked the errata and realized why it appears so messed up: its not a "zombie" dragon turtle, it's a "zombie dragon" dragon turtle. Zombie Dragons appear in Draconomicon. Among other things, they use the base HD of the creature, and get many of the creature's base abilities, including a weakened breath weapon, if the original dragon had it, movement modes like flight, immunities, etc. It also explains the apparent error in OOTS: Paladin Blues of Xykon animating a ancient silver dragon: using the zombie dragon template it is possible.

Now it would require the DM to houserule that all attempts to animate dragons produce Draconomicon zombie dragons, if the HD is below double character level. Draconomicon zombies are a bit better than normal ones, so this would be a boost t animate dead, so might not be suitable for some campaigns.