ELEMENTAL EVIL Player's Companion - FREE!

The Elemental Evil Player's Companion is available for free download over at DTRPG (and RPGNow). It includes new races (aarakocra, deep gnome, genasi, and goliath) and ove 40 new spells. The PDF is a full-colour 25-page PDF; according to the first page, the genasi in chapter 1 and all of the spells in chapter 2 also appear in the appendices of Princes of the Apocalypse, the adventure due to hit store shelves very soon.

"Not inherently evil, elemental power can be mastered by those with both malevolent and benign intentions. The Elemental Evil Player’s Companion provides everything players need to build a character that is tied directly into the Elemental Evil storyline.

New race options include the aarakocra, deep gnome, genasi, and goliath. Additionally, a plethora of new spells put the elements directly at your command.

The Elemental Evil Player’s Companion, was original designed by Richard Baker, Robert J. Schwalb and Stephen Schubert, with additional design and development by Wizards D&D R&D.

This accessory is specifically meant to support the Elemental Evil–Princes of the Apocalypse adventure product."

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[FormerlyHemlock]

I don't think WotC sees the beastmaster animal companion as weak. The fact that it doesn't line up with player expectations is a different, though quite valid, concern.

I don't think the beastmaster is weak either. It's just very peculiar from a verisimilitude perspective because of how the mount's action economy works--but there's nothing weak about it. As in, you could have a party composed entirely of beastmasters and they could handle encounters normally. They're not STRONG but they're not weak.

 

[MoonSong]

A quick scan through the document.

Am I the only one bothered by sorcerers receiving name spells?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

The images in the document are a bit sharper and darker in the WotC version too, maybe more hi-res... I can't page through the WotC version quite as easily either, but I have a slow computer.

Perhaps DTRPG's watermarking process compresses the PDF layers at the same time it ads the watermark.

 

[Mistwell]

Do you have an official comment from WotC saying it was an unauthorized leak or is it your opinion?

It's not my opinion, there was a thread here about it at the time, and more than one WOTC person commented on it. Here is what I found so far:

It started when I asked Mike Mearls why it was cancelled. He responded...
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : We can't cancel a book we never announced!
[MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] : Interesting. You guys made ad copy and designed a cover for it, though?
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product.
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : we've played things close to the vest is that it's a huge, open question on what support for the RPG should look like
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : for instance, we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls: lots of experiments ahead...

That looks pretty clear to me that this was not authorized and was never intended to be anything (at that time) other than "stuff that may or may not end up as a released product".

 

[Eric V]

Anyone else find the deep gnome magic presented as a feat to be...interesting? I don't know if I like it or not. It was certainly unexpected to be put in that way...and, of course, has implications as to the "optional" expectations of Feats in general...or opens up the whole can of worms o individual tables "ok'ing this feat but not that one".

But, like I said, unexpected...not entirely unwelcome...but intriguing why they would chose to do innate racial magic for this race this way...

Yeah, I know what you mean...it has serious potential. Could be used for other classic abilities as well: Imagine a feat with a high level pre-req (12?) that allowed the svirfneblin to summon an earth elemental.

 

[Kramodlog]

It's not my opinion, there was a thread here about it at the time, and more than one WOTC person commented on it. Here is what I found so far:

It started when I asked Mike Mearls why it was cancelled. He responded...
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : We can't cancel a book we never announced!
[MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] : Interesting. You guys made ad copy and designed a cover for it, though?
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product.
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : we've played things close to the vest is that it's a huge, open question on what support for the RPG should look like
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls : for instance, we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D
[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls: lots of experiments ahead...

That looks pretty clear to me that this was not authorized and was never intended to be anything (at that time) other than "stuff that may or may not end up as a released product".

So, like I thought, no official communications from WotC about Kettie leaking info they shouldn't have. My theory that it was a planned leaked, both times Ketties leaked info on the books, is still valid.

Thank you for your cooperation, citizen.

 

[steeldragons]

Yeah, I know what you mean...it has serious potential. Could be used for other classic abilities as well: Imagine a feat with a high level pre-req (12?) that allowed the svirfneblin to summon an earth elemental.

Right. Yes. See, that strikes me as a cool idea now. This morning I would have thought, "Innate racial ability, why would that be a feat?!"

But the traditional elemental summoning of the svirfs, which would otherwise seem amazingly OP for lower level PCs to have access, makes sense now.

It's growing on me...and could see it in other -traditionally more magical or special- races one might not normally use for PCs, as well.

 

[Eric V]

Some neat stuff in there, but the 2 things I was most looking forward to (elemental sorcerers and Genie-pact warlocks or sha'irs) are absent; meaning my work on converting Al-Qadim just became that much more. I'd have liked some designer expertise on balancing the sha'ir, in particular. :/

 

[I'm A Banana]

Do you have an official comment from WotC saying it was an unauthorized leak or is it your opinion?

Do you have an official comment from WotC saying it was an authorized leak, or is it your opinion?

Also, what definition of the word "leak" are you using that allows it to be authorized? Pretty much by definition, a "leak" is something that is not intentional (or at least claimed to be not intentional), and at the very least, is a far frickin' cry from any sort of release announcement.

Why would WotC give them the covers in the first place if they new Kettie was not rust worthy?

This is conspiracy theory thinkin' right here. And is at any rate irrelevant - anyone basing their expectations of the future on anything called a "leak" is building a house of straw on sand. It's not an expectation that is going to last.

 

[Eric V]

If you've started a conversion of the Sha'ir then I'd be interested in seeing it. I've worked on a conversion myself and seen some excellent conversions, possibly yours if you've already posted it here in the homebrew section.

I had a skeletal outline then stopped because I thought it would be in the Adventurer's Handbook. :/

Instead, I worked on charting out all the chapters from "A Dozen and ONe Adventures," "Ruined Kingdoms," "Cities of Bone," and "Assassin Mountain."