D&D 3E/3.5 Mearls' 3e Drider: A Hint at 4e Status Effects?

[WhatGravitas]

I really like the simple Web-Power. It's easy to understand and easy to use.

True. That web is a simple, yet evocative thing. I like that.

I do not understand why they have the Cloak of Shadow. It would be simpler to just give them a +4 Racial Bonus to Hide.

I would understand that, if the drider had other swift actions, but otherwise it's just a complicated way to say "only when the not surprised, able to take actions a.s.o.".

The Poison itself is strange. I dislike the old Poison rules, but this has to much bookkeeping and I don't understand how you get Poison-Points. Only when you got hit or every round and what are the additional saves for?

I think the poison would be fine, if it didn't had effects that depend on different numbers of counters. Use -1 square and -1 attack per counter, and it'd be fine.

Generally, I like these mearlsified monsters. But then, I also liked his monster makeovers, except for the rust monster (it should have done damage to the hit points of the weapons - more consistent and simple).


Cheers, LT.

 

[frankthedm]

As was I. I just can't believe this is the way that Mearls does his designs, adding more point-tracking and arithmetic at every turn. And people complain about Grappling?

This is simple math with a few beads to keep track of. Thye only real problem is some cheating players may try and forget thier poison counters.

Grappling:
Turns movement off
Negates two handed weapons
Negates normal sized weapons
Negates two weapon fighting
Negates creatures with large numbers of natural attacks.
Hampers even light weapons and natural attacks
Screws the AC of agility based characters
Screws the last hero/BBEG standing against large amounts of lesser foes
Has options that vary on later WotC publications and DM’s readings.
Leaves the grapplers vulnerable to a relatively uncommon, but very potent attack form
Hands almost a blank check to character builds and especially creatures built for it
Has many options that only occur in grappling
Opposed rolls can take some time as BOTH sides do the "Bonuses I Almost Forgot Count Up".

 

[Mortellan]

Very misleading news.

 

[darious777]

I like it in general but I've done something similar for general poisons in my game, where the points lost are per round instead of singular chunks. I just tossed the increment into the end-of-round actions.

The specifics of this example seem a bit over-worked though.

 

[JVisgaitis]

The mechanics are interesting and kinda neat, but the book keeping is a nightmare. I hope we don't see this type of stuff in 4e personally.

 

[mearls]

The drow poison is really techy, but that is intentional. The drider (and the drow I designed to go with it) all used the same poison mechanic. Their poisons stacked with each other.

It would be crazy to run every poison this way, but in play it was a lot of fun for my group. With the drow plinking the PCs with poisoned blades and hand crossbow bolts, all the characters racked up a lot of poison points. It also made skirmish tactics, drow darting in to fire a volley and running away to wait out the poison, a good move.

In addition, the poison added another element of strategic thinking to the dungeon. The drow had lots of patrols out, and resting for 5 minutes wasn't necessarily a good idea. In the end the party got lucky and escaped, but they had to drag a couple PCs behind them.

I don't think that I'd use those rules as standard for poison, but it gave a nice, unifying mechanic to a wide swathe of monsters.

(In the end, the PCs never returned to the dungeon and the black dragon that the drow had held captive in the dungeon's eastern wing escaped and trashed the entire dungeon. I think the PCs were too busy chasing wererats in the city sewers to go back in time.)

EDIT: The mechanic works pretty well if it's the one complication the DM has to track. I wouldn't release it into the wild as the standard for drow poison, but if I wrote a drow adventure I might use it as a unifying, adventure-specific mechanic.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I like it, and I'm not that bothered by the bookkeeping.

It's a big improvement over the binary 'save-or-out-of-the-fight' paralysis that we currently have.

But then, I don't find 3.5 encounters to be too complex. What I find to be too complex is adventure creation. So I don't mind rules that add complexity to encounters (especially if the end result is either more realism or more fun for players), as long as they don't make it harder to write my own adventures.

Ken

 

[frankthedm]

I don't think that I'd use those rules as standard for poison, but it gave a nice, unifying mechanic to a wide swathe of monsters.

............

EDIT: The mechanic works pretty well if it's the one complication the DM has to track. I wouldn't release it into the wild as the standard for drow poison, but if I wrote a drow adventure I might use it as a unifying, adventure-specific mechanic.

Oh, i think it is a great poison for typical drow since the toxin will be used in quantities. It adds up when used in numbers without having the 5% chance of making the character helpless in one strike. just make sure each poison counter has the -1 move, attacks, AC and reflex and it will be good for 4E.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

The drow poison is really techy, but that is intentional. The drider (and the drow I designed to go with it) all used the same poison mechanic. Their poisons stacked with each other.

It would be crazy to run every poison this way, but in play it was a lot of fun for my group. With the drow plinking the PCs with poisoned blades and hand crossbow bolts, all the characters racked up a lot of poison points. It also made skirmish tactics, drow darting in to fire a volley and running away to wait out the poison, a good move.

In addition, the poison added another element of strategic thinking to the dungeon. The drow had lots of patrols out, and resting for 5 minutes wasn't necessarily a good idea. In the end the party got lucky and escaped, but they had to drag a couple PCs behind them.

I don't think that I'd use those rules as standard for poison, but it gave a nice, unifying mechanic to a wide swathe of monsters.

(In the end, the PCs never returned to the dungeon and the black dragon that the drow had held captive in the dungeon's eastern wing escaped and trashed the entire dungeon. I think the PCs were too busy chasing wererats in the city sewers to go back in time.)

EDIT: The mechanic works pretty well if it's the one complication the DM has to track. I wouldn't release it into the wild as the standard for drow poison, but if I wrote a drow adventure I might use it as a unifying, adventure-specific mechanic.

So, this is not the standard poison mechanic for 4ed.

Ok, could you tell us more about what is the standard poison mechanic for 4ed?

Or does every monster with poison works differently?

 

[Wormwood]

Or does every monster with poison works differently?

Please let this be true!