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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[Kramodlog]

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

As I said, it is my theory, or opinion to be clear. Hence me using the word "could be". I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.

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.

Um, an information leak is intentional. From merriam-webster: to give (secret information) to someone so that it becomes known to the public. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leak

At least that is how I used it and how people use it colloquially.

This is conspiracy theory thinkin' right here.

Nah, it is a marketing strategy. It is done to create hype. There are a lot of leaks around movies, if an example is needed. Some real, some fake. Gets people talking. Apple did it with its Apple Watch. Let's not be naive 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.

Depends. In politics you have a lot of leaks. It is the basis of journalism to report what anonymous sources leaked to them. We base expectations of that. Nothing wrong with it or are you saying there it something wrong with people having expectations?

What where the leaks for the books anyway? The cover of the books, the studio (Sasquatch Games) that was making the books, the content of the books (one is an adventure and the other a splatbook). Seems like relevent stuff. And it was pretty much accurate. The only problem is that between January the 3rd and the 19th, WotC decided that the splatbook would be released as a PDF.

It's not an expectation that is going to last.

Of course. At some point the product is delivered and expectations are confronted to reality. Sometimes for positive results (Avengers), sometimes not so much (Adventurer's Hanbook). That is life. If people would live without expectations, I believe suicide rates would be much higher. Yes, that is an opinion.

 

[SkidAce]

I would say the reason we didn't see cleric spells is the fact that anytime new cleric spells come out, the cleric in question could automatically have access to it, unless it's god specific.

Yeah, I house ruled that years ago.

Player's Handbook spells are all fair game...but anything in a supplement that comes out later is not assumed to be on the cleric's list, and the lore must be sought out in game and in character.

 

[occam]

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

No, you're not the only one. "Bothered" might be too strong; "slightly irked", maybe.

 

[occam]

Horrid Wilting may be a good spell for a necromancer who does not want to hurt undead or constructs...

Ah, good point. I hadn't thought of the necromancer, and construct allies; niche usage, but it gives the spell more of a purpose.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Yeah, I house ruled that years ago.

Player's Handbook spells are all fair game...but anything in a supplement that comes out later is not assumed to be on the cleric's list, and the lore must be sought out in game and in character.

Excellent idea

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I like it.

One thing I'm seeing that no one else has brought up is that the Air and Earth Genasi seem weak relative to the other Genasi (or other races in general). Just compare Air to Water, for example--or compare Air to Aarakocra.

I'm thinking that Air and Earth's spell is supposed to refresh on a short rest, rather than a long rest.

Is anyone else thinking similarly about those subraces?

And I like the gnoll in the whirlwind art. For some reason it stands out as exceptional.

 

[pemerton]

the critters are recognizably aarakocra, despite all the additional story details about elemental earth and the wind dukes of aaqa that I'm a little "meh" on.

Aarakocra have been connected to the Plane of Air at least since a late-80s Dragon article (number 124, August 1987). This seems like a reasonable enough development from that.

 

[TarionzCousin]

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

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

I do.

Today I learned my daughter will tolerate two llamas, but a third is unbearable.

Obviously a secret, encoded message.

Link: https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/571854082693996544

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

This kind of material seems like a fair replacement for Dragon Magazine, though perhaps not for the kind of sourcebooks WotC used to publish.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Why are a few people hung up on Mearls statement?

It makes absolutely no sense what so ever.

He claims that you can't cancel something that was never announced. How long have you been in the biz Mike?

Things get cancelled all the time without them ever being "announced". He was trying awful hard to hide something but in a way that tried to make the audience seem a bit thick. Kind of like the "do you take us for idiots with that excuse" kind of moment.