Monster Manual 2 hits Los Angeles area

[Psion]

The Famine Spirit is the converted version of the Athasian undead, the Fael, I believe.

Not what Jeff Grubb said. He said it was inspired by Planescape IIRC.

 

[Grazzt]

Gotta ask...

did they do the gem dragons justice? Or will I still be using the online enhancement version?

Same ones I believe. I will have to sit down and do a closer comparison, but initially I believe they are the same.

 

[MulhorandSage]

How does the layout look? Less cluttered and easier to use than 3e MMI?

Scott Bennie

 

[Psion]

Same ones I believe. I will have to sit down and do a closer comparison, but initially I believe they are the same.

I thought the authors of MM2 had mentioned in the intereview a while back that we were going to like "their version of the dragons..."

 

[Psion]

Er... here's where they talk about Dragons:

Wizards: Dragons are, of course, consistently popular. Do you find developing dragons to be easier or more difficult, given how much history they have
in the game?

Jeff: Steve developed the gem dragons, done originally for the web by Bruce Cordell, and recast the linnorms. Both of these, by the way, are in the book because Rich Baker lobbied strongly on their behalf.

Rich: And 'cause he's bigger than me. No offense meant to fans of either the gem dragons or the linnorms, I just think we did dragons really, really well in the Monster Manual, and we have this other dragon-focused product coming up....

Steve: Until you start delving into the really silly stuff, dragons are always fun to work on. I especially enjoyed the linnorms because they're closer in concept than any other D&D creatures to what I think a dragon should be like. They're darker, more enigmatic, and more mythological than other dragons. The gem dragons, on the other hand, have a tendency to come off as somewhat whimsical, though I tried to downplay that. At least they're not just more Smaug clones.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Were any of the new creatures given PC info. Like ECLs and favored classes?

 

[ThomasBJJ]

Were any of the new creatures given PC info. Like ECLs and favored classes?

Yes, there are many. Formorian comes to mind. I saw several others as well.

 

[ThomasBJJ]

Just one question Thomas. Did they not include an appendix for more animals? I was hoping to have a vulture or two. No new Lycanthropes?

Nope, just a few Dire animals.

 

[Olive]

Rich:...and we have this other dragon-focused product coming up....

um... any ideas what this might be?

 

[Nightfall]

Nope, just a few Dire animals.

Oh well. Guess I'll keep waiting for Tome then. But I will get this if only for the templates I can use.