D&D Miniatures Handbook Interview

[Jürgen Hubert]

Nope. They get their point values through playtesting, not any set formula. But if you're using it for D&D, then it doesn't really matter. The forces are determined by the campaign specifics, not by point values.

Bummer. Even if I play D&D, I'd like to invent new units from time to time...

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

There are new spells for everyone, including rangers, paladins, shadowdancers, and assassins....

Since when did Shadowdancers start casting spells?

 

[Green Knight]

Probably whoever said it misspoke in the interview. Was thinking one thing, said something else.

Bummer. Even if I play D&D, I'd like to invent new units from time to time...

Nothing stopping you from doing so. Just come up with a points value which you and your opponent can agree on. And if it's for a battle which takes place in your D&D campaign, then you don't need a points value.

 

[Pants]

Some more info on the D&D Miniatures Handbook. Check out that War Hulk Prestige Class. SWEET GOOGLY MOOGLY!

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20030914a

I wonder if there's a reason why it doesn't get a BAB?

 

[Green Knight]

I wonder if there's a reason why it doesn't get a BAB?

Holy crap, it's true! I hadn't noticed that, before. And here I thought when I read your post that we were looking at another Halfling Outrider situation.

As for why no BAB? Just look at the Special Abilities. The War Hulk gets a +2 to Str EVERY LEVEL. So they're essentially getting a +1 BAB increase, along with a +1 to damage at every level. Geeze, these guys are scary (Though they DID screw up on the Prestige Class. They left out the description of the "No Time To Think" ability).

 

[Henry]

After reading this I'm not sure that this is what our group is after. We have been waiting for a good set of mass combat rules but we are not realy looking to play out the whole fight but at the same time we want to play out our portion of it.

A couple of quick notes on Cry Havoc, from my demo of it at Gencon.

1) It contains rules for tactical combat at a troop scale (20-200 roughly on a side) and strategic rules for Army Combat (1000's on a side.)

2) The tactical scales up and works VERY similar to regular d20 combat; there are also rules for "Hero Challenges" that let you break down to individual-scale for the length of a combat, and let that outcome affect your units.

3) The Army rules are more mathematical, and have three scales: (A) whole war is resolved in a couple of die rolls, (B) Whole war is resolved month-by-month, and (C) battles are resolved on a day-by-day or morning-afternoon-night basis.


Overall, pretty flexible, but not prone to quick resolutions.

That's all I'll add here, because this is for D&D miniatures Game; if you are interested, we could start a thread in d20 Systems Forum, and continue there.

 

[Zaukrie]

So, am I going to need to buy this book to get the new core classes, or will they be repeated in the new warriors handbook and new unearhed arcana?

anyone know?

 

[MerricB]

So, am I going to need to buy this book to get the new core classes, or will they be repeated in the new warriors handbook and new unearhed arcana?

anyone know?

No idea. But I'd be surprised if there's that much overlap between those books.

Cheers!

 

[Estlor]

Yeah, WotC's been pretty good about keeping repeated content down to a minimum. These new core classes (or at least the one we've seen) strike me as having been created to fill a niche perceived in a table top miniatures wargame, not a niche in D&D. However, since the rulesets are very similar, crossover is a natural.

I'd expect the complete warrior to present different concepts as new core classes.

 

[Arnwyn]

The bits about the mass combat system I found to be especially interesting. Nice to see that what I was hoping for, armies of a hundred or so miniatures a side, will be what they were planning to do.

Yep, saw that and thought it was interesting... and definitely *not* what I'm after. I was stuck with Battlesystem for mass combat in previous editions, and I sure didn't want to go back there. Anything that required hordes of miniatures is right out.

Looks like either Cry Havoc or Fields of Blood for me.