Does anybody actually like Desmodu?

[Psychic Warrior]

Well, I agree with him... Those miniatures are god-awful. Especially the blood-hulk.
I love D&D minis. But those things rank right up there with skeletal dogs.

If you post on www.maxminis.com you see how tiresome his refrain becomes.

 

[was]

I wasn't impressed with them.

 

[demiurge1138]

Frankly, I like the MMIII's nycter much more than I like the desmodu. They seem to be more about what a bat-person should be (small, dexterous, capable of flight), even if they were refugees from the Eberron Campaign Setting. And I just happily ignore the part about how they're related to desmodu.

Demiurge out.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

No.

Batmen. How trite. What's next, cat people? Oops ...

You have to wonder what the game designer (and manager, for that matter) was thinking. I can imagine the story pitch:

Designer: "And for the next module in the adventure path, we'll head into the Underdark and introduce a new monster race that will be just as mysterious as the dreaded drow!"

Manager: "Sounds awesome! What are they?"

Designer: "Batmen!"

Manager: "Uhhh ... OK?"

 

[Mad Mac]

I don't have a problem with Batmen, per se, or anthromorphic races in general, as long as they're well done. I mean, really, you've got Orcs? Goblins? Giants, dragons, demons, and medusae? How original. I don't care about original race or monster ideas, just execution.

And they really botched the execution on the Desmodu. "Ok, we've got a race of bats, now what?"

"Lets make them as big as Ogres!"

"Strong as Giants, yeah!"

"None of that flying, agile, bat-like crap for these guys!"

"Ooh, add some poorly explained sonic attacks!"

"You mean like stunning shrieks? Or echolocation?"

"Waaaay too plausible. Lets have them do weird buff-debuff effects, and explain it away as sub-sonic"

"I know, give them a goofy weapon!"

"Brilliant! Make it a double weapon. You can never have too many uniquely goofy double weapons."

"Hmmm...it's a good start, but not weird enough. We need more."

"Give them batwires! Like Batman!"

"And silly Alchemy weapons these great, hulking, melee brutes will never need!"

"Excellent! Now get me an artist who can really ham it up, and we've got a new race everyone will love!"

(all) "Yay!"

 

[coyote6]

What four-ish books were they in, anyways? Deep Horizon, MMII (of course, most of the monsters from the adventures were collected & reprinted), and Savage Species. Anywhere else, or was that it?

 

[Simplicity]

"Give them batwires! Like Batman!"

"And silly Alchemy weapons these great, hulking, melee brutes will never need!"

"Excellent! Now get me an artist who can really ham it up, and we've got a new race everyone will love!"

(all) "Yay!"

That's actually one of the things I find funny about these guys. They're giant hulking bat people... Who fly on bats... Okay, I guess. Them's are some strong bats but okay. I'm no expert on giant bats. Who shoot grappling hooks like Batman? Okay. I get it. Bat People.

It's like somebody said: "You know how drow can't get enough of spiders? And if you were to check their underwear, they'd probably have some sort of spider motif going on down there? NOW think of bat people who REALLY like bats."

Why can't they be bat people who ride giant flying manta-rays or something?
Why can't they be really good at taming beholders so they can ride them?

Plus, I would imagine that they'd just shoot their grappling hooks into a wall... And then break the rope trying to climb it because they aren't exactly small are they? But then fall without too many problems because they have so many hitpoints, they should just bounce right back up.

 

[Simplicity]

What four-ish books were they in, anyways? Deep Horizon, MMII (of course, most of the monsters from the adventures were collected & reprinted), and Savage Species. Anywhere else, or was that it?

I thought they were in one other monster book... It's been a while though, so I might be wrong.

 

[CM]

I hated desmodu the instant I saw them, with their utility belts, cable spools, gas masks, and other corny sci-fi gear. If I wanted batman in my campaign, I'd be playing a supers game.

I replaced the desmodu in Deep Horizon with svirfneblin.

Edit:
(hugging my skeletal dogs, bloodhulks, wrackspawn)

 

[Felon]

The desmodu were only detailed in three books. Granted, they were three books released within a fairly close timeframe, so it did feel like a hard sell at the time. But they haven't even been in a single 3.5e product. How can this even remotely be considered a timely topic?

The desmodu are a bit kitchen-sinked with abilities, and both Savages Species and MMII used the same lousy pictures, but overall I'm fine with'em. Even worked out a desmodu monster class for players.

Why can't they be bat people who ride giant flying manta-rays or something? Why can't they be really good at taming beholders so they can ride them?

Taming beholders? Beholders are genius-level monsters, not dumb beasts to be tamed. But whatever.

Making the desmodu into big, hulking, quasi-simians was done in an attempt to deviate from the standard preconception of a of what a bat-humanoid's form would resemble (q.v. the nycter in MM3), and yet you and other people kvetch about it being un-batlike, so why turn around and lambaste them because they didn't deviate from the bat in other areas?

I think a desmodu mini would be great, as long as they use the illos from Deep Horizon as their basis.