JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Denizens of Dread is the 3.5 update to the old Denizens of Darkness and according to the hype, contains new monsters as well. At 240 pages, I'd be surprised if it didn't. It's a bigger book, but also at a bigger price. The core Ravenloft Player's Handbook didn't impress me as a Player's Handbook so much as an update to the core rules. A good thing but not a Player's Handbook by any means.
Denizens of Dread looks to have improved on the formula a bit. Then again, this is a specific book covering a specific topic that I hate to convert. Monsters with their damage reduction changes, feat changes, skill changes and even type changes, are one of the more problematic things to update quickly, easily and correctly.
There were a couple of things I checked right away. I remember that the Shadow Fey or Arak, didn't have any racial traits to use them as character races, just their favored class. Unfortunately, that's still true. No notes on starting hit dice, skills, feats or other innate starting characteristics, but it does include the level adjustment. Okay, not bad, but it could've been better. There are several monsters that could've benefited from having that information there like the Paka or Reavers.
In one campaign I played in, one of my fellow players was a Dhampire or half-vampire. This template didn't have a level adjustment, just a note on them being +2 CR. Well, during game play, I can assure you that he was way above a +2 level adjustment. Seems that the folks here agree with me as it's now a +8 level adjustment. Score one for my common sense here eh?
Most of the mechanics look pretty good. Things that 3.5 made common in listings, like number of squares a creature can move, different armor class listings, base attack and grapple, full attack, and descriptions, are present for the monsters. In looking at number feats, the ones under 6 hit dice are automatically correct as the change isn't noticed until that point where the feats went from every 4 hit dice to 3 hit dice. So I looked up the Kizoku, a creature that hails from oriental cultures like Rokushima Taiyoo, beings that manipulate women into murdering their lovers or husbands. These things have 10 hit dice so should have four feats, one for first hit dice, and three for advancement, as opposed to the old ways of having three, one for hit dice, two for advancement. They have more than four, but the good news is that those extra feats are all clearly marked with a B for bonus.
Since I didn't keep my original 3.0 version, I can't tell you which monsters are new. However, I know that new to this printing are the monsters that were in the web enhancement that covered the various vampires. That's kinda good and kinda bad as you're now charging people for what was once free. Does this mean we get a different web enhancement or maybe even a dedicated website by Sword and Sorcery for Ravenloft as opposed to a brief introduction to the setting? Looking over the old website, I don't even see that old download anymore and when I go to the Kargatane website, I get bad links.
On the other hand, there is no preview for any future upcoming books, something that the last version of this book had.
The challenge ratings range from ¼ to 16. No epic creatures here I'm afraid. Art ranges from great to poor. For example, the artists who did the Moor Man, isn't my favorite as this guy looks like a silly gnome or something getting ready to celebrate as opposed to a chaotic evil medium sized humanoid with fangs for teeth. Same problem with the werejaguar who looks like he's been caught doing something bad as opposed to being a fierce creature. On the other hand, the artists who did the ghosts and elemental lich, did a fantastic job with a lot of ambiance and power behind his work.
The appendix arranges creatures by challenge rating and a separate one breaks them down by type. The bad thing is that there is nothing for terrain nor a page number for any of them. In addition, because some are variable, like templates, they're just grouped under a CR Variable instead of showing the example creature under the CR and noting template.
Like other books by Sword & Sorcery Studios, there's a little too much advertising for my taste. Three pages, one for Ravenloft, one for Dark Age Vampires, and one for Everquest, could've been used for other things. The layout is standard two columns. Monsters tend to have a little space between them, most often being one to a page. Unlike Mongoose Slayer's Guide To Elementals, Denizens of Dread manages to get six to a page as opposed to three.
Having more racial traits, page numbers for encounters, an index to look up things like templates and other goods, would've added to the utility of the book. Getting rid of that bad art would've been another huge step in making this a great book. As it stands, it's a solid update for those like myself who are too lazy to add stats, change types, reduce damage reduction and make those other little tweaks needed to update creatures to 3.5.
Denizens of Dread looks to have improved on the formula a bit. Then again, this is a specific book covering a specific topic that I hate to convert. Monsters with their damage reduction changes, feat changes, skill changes and even type changes, are one of the more problematic things to update quickly, easily and correctly.
There were a couple of things I checked right away. I remember that the Shadow Fey or Arak, didn't have any racial traits to use them as character races, just their favored class. Unfortunately, that's still true. No notes on starting hit dice, skills, feats or other innate starting characteristics, but it does include the level adjustment. Okay, not bad, but it could've been better. There are several monsters that could've benefited from having that information there like the Paka or Reavers.
In one campaign I played in, one of my fellow players was a Dhampire or half-vampire. This template didn't have a level adjustment, just a note on them being +2 CR. Well, during game play, I can assure you that he was way above a +2 level adjustment. Seems that the folks here agree with me as it's now a +8 level adjustment. Score one for my common sense here eh?
Most of the mechanics look pretty good. Things that 3.5 made common in listings, like number of squares a creature can move, different armor class listings, base attack and grapple, full attack, and descriptions, are present for the monsters. In looking at number feats, the ones under 6 hit dice are automatically correct as the change isn't noticed until that point where the feats went from every 4 hit dice to 3 hit dice. So I looked up the Kizoku, a creature that hails from oriental cultures like Rokushima Taiyoo, beings that manipulate women into murdering their lovers or husbands. These things have 10 hit dice so should have four feats, one for first hit dice, and three for advancement, as opposed to the old ways of having three, one for hit dice, two for advancement. They have more than four, but the good news is that those extra feats are all clearly marked with a B for bonus.
Since I didn't keep my original 3.0 version, I can't tell you which monsters are new. However, I know that new to this printing are the monsters that were in the web enhancement that covered the various vampires. That's kinda good and kinda bad as you're now charging people for what was once free. Does this mean we get a different web enhancement or maybe even a dedicated website by Sword and Sorcery for Ravenloft as opposed to a brief introduction to the setting? Looking over the old website, I don't even see that old download anymore and when I go to the Kargatane website, I get bad links.
On the other hand, there is no preview for any future upcoming books, something that the last version of this book had.
The challenge ratings range from ¼ to 16. No epic creatures here I'm afraid. Art ranges from great to poor. For example, the artists who did the Moor Man, isn't my favorite as this guy looks like a silly gnome or something getting ready to celebrate as opposed to a chaotic evil medium sized humanoid with fangs for teeth. Same problem with the werejaguar who looks like he's been caught doing something bad as opposed to being a fierce creature. On the other hand, the artists who did the ghosts and elemental lich, did a fantastic job with a lot of ambiance and power behind his work.
The appendix arranges creatures by challenge rating and a separate one breaks them down by type. The bad thing is that there is nothing for terrain nor a page number for any of them. In addition, because some are variable, like templates, they're just grouped under a CR Variable instead of showing the example creature under the CR and noting template.
Like other books by Sword & Sorcery Studios, there's a little too much advertising for my taste. Three pages, one for Ravenloft, one for Dark Age Vampires, and one for Everquest, could've been used for other things. The layout is standard two columns. Monsters tend to have a little space between them, most often being one to a page. Unlike Mongoose Slayer's Guide To Elementals, Denizens of Dread manages to get six to a page as opposed to three.
Having more racial traits, page numbers for encounters, an index to look up things like templates and other goods, would've added to the utility of the book. Getting rid of that bad art would've been another huge step in making this a great book. As it stands, it's a solid update for those like myself who are too lazy to add stats, change types, reduce damage reduction and make those other little tweaks needed to update creatures to 3.5.
