i was able to pick up a copy at GenCon.
i wanted to visit the paizo booth personally, but lack of funds kept me from buying a con badge! thanks again to Psion for doing me that favor.
i like how cryonax was linked to the article later in the mag with the paraelemental monoliths. seemed unfair for the other archos to summon monoliths and him not.
also a nice touch on adding a mention of how water weirds guard Olhydra's citadel - i think we had cut that out for some reason (probably the changes in weirds from 2E to 3E), but with the inclusion of "traditional" weirds elsewhere in the mag, it's good to see them back where they belong.
the only glaring editorial mistake that i caught was under Imix's feats: the note for Improved Whirlwind Attack had a reference stating it was from the ELH (replace with Improved Trip if you don't have the book), though this reference was probably inadvertantly cut. oh well, that's one for the eratta pile!
less notable than that was how Ogremoch's Devastating Critical feat appears to have morphed.
there are numerous reworked phrases, but the only section where any real rewriting was done was in the first two paragraphs, which were totally redone. for what it's worth, here's the text we originally wrote, replaced by the first two paragraphs of the actual article (which were stronger anyway, i think):
"Archomentals are powerful exemplary beings of the Elemental Planes, similar to the archfiends and celestial paragons. Each Elemental Plane may be home to several archomentals with differing alignments and goals. Archomentals fancy themselves rulers of their plane's natives, going by regal titles such as prince and lord. Though they don't truly rule their home planes, archomentals are considerably powerful nonetheless. Each archomental has a vast army of supporters and thralls under its command, and will rarely be drawn into battle without adequate support, unless it does so of its own accord. Each archomental holds sway over a large dominion on its plane and dwells in a well-protected fortress, contributing to its long-lasting survival."
another change i noted was that under Imix's Goals, "Mephistopheles" was replaced with "Hag Countess". we thought it would be more interesting if Haggy wasn't aware of the plot against her, but Mephisto was.
a few selections were cut, but 99% of what we wrote made it into the article (including some references i wasn't sure would make it, like the
amitoks), and feel free to use these as plot hooks if you like:
at the end of the third paragraph of Cryonax's Goals: "He also has been experimenting with the supernatural cold phenomena known as coldfire (see Frostburn)."
at the end of the first paragraph of Ogremoch's Goals (the removal of which seems to make that paragraph pointless): "He has prepared a contingency, a disc-shaped artifact of untold power that lies hidden in Stonemire waiting for that very day."
at the end of the fourth paragraph of Olhydra's Goals: "The altraloth Cholerix has pledged the forces of her superior, Bubonix, in a massive assualt on Imix, in return for Olhydra's help in supplanting Cholerix's master."
