MM2 Excerpt: Pod Demon

[avin]

I knew I have seen this idea before!

Legion of One has a menacing look appropriate to a demon, in my opinion, not that "dude, I'm lost" look from the iPod demon

 

[Zaukrie]

Very cool. I bought the creature collection, I'll have to figure out how the two compare.

Frankly, this one is close to a far realm creature/powers I was thinking up, I'll have to think about the similarity/approach.

My players will hate this thing.

 

[Nebulous]

My players will hate this thing.

Usually monsters my players hate are the ones i love most.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Which might not be a bad thing, really. Despite WotC's efforts to sex up the role, you still have the problem where noone wants to play the party medic.

Well, I am pretty much happy with my Dragonborn Warlord, except that I don't even know where to spend all the healing. So I suppose there is indeed still some room for more offense against us in there.

 

[Zaukrie]

Usually monsters my players hate are the ones i love most.

True, and my players actually love to hate monsters, I think. We're only about 6-7 games in....

 

[Ycore Rixle]

You caught a typo! Hardly cause to insult the writers so.

Diction is not typography.

Given the context, not in the slightest.

I disagree. But even if my suggested re-write doesn't work for you, the point remains: a mixed metaphor is bad writing. Risible, even.

Sadly, 4e is rife with bad writing. I'm a high school teacher. I would correct any of these errors on any student paper. And I don't even teach English.

The clarity of the writing is fine. But RPGs need to move beyond mere clarity. Words and art are our means of inspiring and communicating with the player. I'm tired of RPGs being in the literary gutter. They need to grow up, like science fiction did in the early- to mid-20th century.

D&D, as the #1 RPG, could lead this movement.

 

[hong]

Diction is not typography.

You... do know what a typo is, yes?

I disagree. But even if my suggested re-write doesn't work for you, the point remains: a mixed metaphor is bad writing. Risible, even.

Sadly, 4e is rife with bad writing. I'm a high school teacher. I would correct any of these errors on any student paper. And I don't even teach English.

It looks like you're searching for reasons to criticise. It would be like me pointing out the awkward use of "stick" and "it" as related to words, as a sign of confusing plural and singular. I am sure you will agree that this is not a very important issue.

The clarity of the writing is fine. But RPGs need to move beyond mere clarity. Words and art are our means of inspiring and communicating with the player.

This is very true. This is why I think Dragon and Dungeon are a vital part of the overall D&D framework. They provide a lot of background material that serves to inspire and communicate, beyond the bare-bones ruleset given in the books. The PoL setting is looking more and more compelling with each article they publish, and many of the race articles have been excellent for fleshing out what it would be like to have one of these as your PC.

It also doesn't have much to do with your criticism, however.

 

[hong]

Also, when does the pod demon generate new spawn, exactly?

Generate Podspawn (standard; recharges when first bloodied) Poison
Close burst 2; +18 vs. Reflex; 3d6 + 5 poison damage. Effect: If the pod demon has fewer than four podspawn, it spawns podspawn into unoccupied squares within the burst, bringing its total number of minions to four.

Spawn
If a pod demon has fewer than four podspawn at the start of its turn, it spawns one podspawn within 2 squares of it.
​

Is it only twice (at the start of the fight, and when it's bloodied) or is it any time there's fewer than 4 podspawn? If the latter, what sort of action is it to use the Spawn ability?

 

[Zaukrie]

I saw that also. But I missed the recharges when bloodied part on first reading, so I believe it can do it once, then not again until bloodied.

I don't think Spawn requires an action of any kind.

 

[the Jester]

Also, when does the pod demon generate new spawn, exactly?

Generate Podspawn (standard; recharges when first bloodied) Poison
Close burst 2; +18 vs. Reflex; 3d6 + 5 poison damage. Effect: If the pod demon has fewer than four podspawn, it spawns podspawn into unoccupied squares within the burst, bringing its total number of minions to four.

Spawn
If a pod demon has fewer than four podspawn at the start of its turn, it spawns one podspawn within 2 squares of it.
​

Is it only twice (at the start of the fight, and when it's bloodied) or is it any time there's fewer than 4 podspawn? If the latter, what sort of action is it to use the Spawn ability?

Spawn happens automatically at the start of its turn. It can use Generate Spawn as a standard action twice. This means it is pretty darn hard to clear out the minions and keep them cleared out.