Libris Mortis Excerpts

[Gez]

There.
Outside of the mechanical crunch, one thing I noticed is the picture.

Does it look like a Photoshop job from actual cat pictures, rather than a painting, in your opinion, too?

That would be an interesting precedent. Except this (in)famous Valar Press book, D&D and d20 at large haven't used modified photos to illustrate books. (It's usually kinda hard to find real-life things that could look like convincing balors...) Wonder if we'll see more of the same style.

 

[DragonLancer]

The previews are ok, nothing special IMO.

And I agree about the cat picture.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

It does look photoshopped.

The picture looks a little... iffy to me as is, but I imagine that has much to do with the fact that it's just standing there metaphorically naked, without the benefit of layout and text around it to reduce the harshness of the stark white background.

Interesting.


Also, from that excerpt - Am I the only one who thinks the Hooded Pupil is possibly the dumbest template ever? A template for a "living humanoid that is jealous of undead, but isn't ready to be undead yet"? Not the most compelling template concept ever.

What's next, the Scale-mail Student? For "humanoids who really like dragons but whose mothers weren't ready to commit to a physical relationship with a dragon, so instead of being awesome half-dragons they're just these losers that wear scale mail - oh, and sometimes they roar."

Patrick Y.

 

[DragonLancer]

Also, from that excerpt - Am I the only one who thinks the Hooded Pupil is possibly the dumbest template ever? A template for a "living humanoid that is jealous of undead, but isn't ready to be undead yet"? Not the most compelling template concept ever.

I'm very much in agreement.

 

[EricNoah]

Is it akin to the "pseudoundead" introduced in, what, Monster Manual II (2nd ed AD&D?). That was a silly concept back then and it's still silly.

 

[Gez]

Well, the pseudo-undead were races of humanoids that had genetically adapted to mimic a specific kind of undead. It's silly, but in way, it's kinda close to how some species of flies mimic the appearance of a wasp, or snakes that look exactly like a species of venomous snakes without being venomous themselves, etc.

It's silly, but there are some settings were it could be justified. (In a quasi Dying Earth feel, where there are lots of strange human races that have evolved over countless eons, for example.) Not justified in the typical heroic-fantasy setting, though.

This template is different. It's rather like those people who think they're real vampyres and all that. Deluded fools.

 

[Li Shenron]

Mmm... I don't like the idea of switching from painted art to photo-like art or other too much realistic effects. Let's see how it looks like on the printed paper.

About the preview, well it's not bad IMO

 

[Pants]

Looks good to me.

The Hooded Pupil is strange... but I really don't mind it. It works well as a stepping-stone between life and undeath.

I really like the feats though...

 

[jester47]

Also, from that excerpt - Am I the only one who thinks the Hooded Pupil is possibly the dumbest template ever? A template for a "living humanoid that is jealous of undead, but isn't ready to be undead yet"? Not the most compelling template concept ever.

Patrick Y.

I was inclined to agree with you before I looked at it. But when I went and read it myself it made sense. If you are a necromancer lich thing (vampires are an exception I would think) you might want to have some living servants around. The way I read the description, these guys are dupes.

Hooded pupils are humanoids who were lured by the promises of necromancy, envious of the power the necromancer wields and unending existence the vampire enjoys, but yet are not ready to relinquish life."

Hooded pupils usually are found serving an "apprenticeship" with a more powerful intelligent undead.

I think the wording here is bad. I would have cut "but yet are not ready to reliquish life" and changed it to "but most never recieve such a gift from thier masters."

Basicly, the "master" is never going to make them undead. Why? Because that would count against the Undead he can control at once, and the master already controls the apprentice so why make him undead? Ever?

Think of it as "Hoodwinked Pupil" Also consider that hoods in those days were made of wool, and someone is pulling the wool over their eyes.

I like it. It gives me a extra onion layer to work with...

Aaron.

 

[Knight Otu]

There's also the designer interview and a 10 Reasons article aimed at DMs up on the WotC site, for those who have not seen it (swarm-shifter sounds interesting...

).

The Hooded Pupil is a bit odd; I'm seeing it as more of a Vampire-touched than what the flavor text says.

As for the picture... I'd rather have painted art.