New 5E Epic Books coming in 2020

[Upper_Krust]

Hey UK,

Hey Rhuarc mate!

glad to see you are still around and somewhat active here (always dread the inevitable disappearing for months or years).

In my defense I have always been around. I think sometimes email notification might accidentally end up in my junk mail and as a result I miss it and I don't routinely check the forums as I used to (and that's simply a traffic thing - which is itself understandable).

Gives me hope that you will actually manage to get something done this time, fingers crossed (no offense intended, simply burnt by experience)!

If I plan small, start small and just keep consistent hopefully I can have something tangible.

I will echo what Alzrius said, epic vampires are rather high on my personal wishlist as well. And from your presented four categories, I'd go in order:

Okay that's two for epic vampires, noted.

Epic Bestiary - Addendum B: Dead Gods & Primordials
Epic Bestiary - Addendum C: Alien Entities & Fallen Angels
Epic Bestiary - Addendum A: Atomic Demons & Vampire Gods
Epic Bestiary - Addendum D: Overdeities & Demiurges

Those were not specific things I have planned. Just random ideas (although the Atomic Demons are a 'thing'.)

Although out of curiousity, if you are looking for Vampires why did you put that Addendum 3rd on your list?

with the top three being very close together and 'D' in faraway 4th place.

That was just a bit of fun channeling the Deities & Demigods book.

Anyway, really looking forward to more details and ideas, so don't stop asking or musing on the forums here

I won't.

EDIT: Small Addendum of my own: Please don't go ahead and get overwhelmed with two dozen different ideas which you start to develop simultaneously, getting some work done on each but never finishing even a single one of those projects!

I'll pick one Addendum idea (likely having epic vampires involved somewhere). It will have 16 entries. I'll try to get one done per week.

• In a nod to Gods & Monsters I'll add one mythological deity.
• Likely 1 Dragon per Addendum (and no more).
• I might revisit (and fix) one monster from the original book in each addendum.

Approach this in a more limited way, focusing on one part, finish and publish this, then move on. At least this it what I think is necessary to break the same routine of the past 10+ years.

Agreed.

 

[Rhuarc]

In my defense I have always been around. I think sometimes email notification might accidentally end up in my junk mail and as a result I miss it and I don't routinely check the forums as I used to (and that's simply a traffic thing - which is itself understandable).

Fair enough. Guess once discussions run their course and no one is continuing to post about whatever, silence is the natural result.

If I plan small, start small and just keep consistent hopefully I can have something tangible.

Glad to hear we are on the same page

Those were not specific things I have planned. Just random ideas

Ah, got it. Still, getting some more details about those random ideas sounds pretty great!

Although out of curiousity, if you are looking for Vampires why did you put that Addendum 3rd on your list?

Simply because I have no idea what 'Atomic Demons' could be. So even while 'Vampire Gods' might have the most interest for me of all the parts listed there, based on my expectations (or the lack thereof), the combined value of Addendum A + B is higher than the single entry of C.
Now, if you could enlighten me (and maybe other lurkers here) what Atomic Demons are, this list might change

I'll pick one Addendum idea (likely having epic vampires involved somewhere). It will have 16 entries. I'll try to get one done per week.

Sounds like a great plan! Having one per week would be quite awesome, but even getting one per month would already be enough for the epic-starved me

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hello again amigo!

Fair enough. Guess once discussions run their course and no one is continuing to post about whatever, silence is the natural result.

Well exactly. If I am not publishing or creating stuff then interest will naturally dry up.

Glad to hear we are on the same page

What you guys haven't answered as yet is how powerful you would prefer the monsters?

A. Low CRs - concentrate on the CR 21-50 range
B. Moderate CRs - about the same spread as the original book; mainly CR 31-100 with maybe 10-20% above and below
C. High CRs - CRs 41-200 with 25% beyond even that

Ah, got it. Still, getting some more details about those random ideas sounds pretty great!

I have about 400 monster ideas still unpublished. If I can give them a bit of a theme, or two themes that could be linked then that might make a more interesting package than 16 random epic monsters with no cohesion.

Simply because I have no idea what 'Atomic Demons' could be.

Now, if you could enlighten me (and maybe other lurkers here) what Atomic Demons are, this list might change

Well, without giving too much away, the classic AD&D Demons were listed up to Type VI: Balor; but what if...[snip]

So even while 'Vampire Gods' might have the most interest for me of all the parts listed there, based on my expectations (or the lack thereof), the combined value of Addendum A + B is higher than the single entry of C.

Fair enough.

Sounds like a great plan! Having one per week would be quite awesome, but even getting one per month would already be enough for the epic-starved me

Well to clarify, I mean I create one a week and then (hopefully) by the end of 16 weeks I might have enough material to fill an Addendum pdf.

If I can come up with some fun category names for each then that would be half the battle.

...Vampire Eaters
...Torture Titans
...Doomsday Machines
...Alien Gods
...Fallen Angels
...Atomic Demons
...Time Slayers
...God Killers
...Dead Gods
...Cyberdevils
...Bat Gods
...Interdimensional Invaders
...Apocalypse Armies
...Living Artifacts
...Soul Bursters
...Divine Nightmares
...Chrono-Soldiers
...Cosmic Vampires
...Hyper Beings
...God Spawn
...Planet Crushers
...Words Made Flesh
...Necro-Messiahs
...Eldritch Seed

 

[Drazen]

Thank you for continuing your work! (you have no idea how many times i screamed at you for dropping immortal handbook products...) but I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Kehzathria!

Thank you for continuing your work! (you have no idea how many times i screamed at you for dropping immortal handbook products...) but I wish you the best of luck.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. I don't have anything finished yet and with my track record we should wait until its completed.

...but thanks for the kind words.

 

[Alzrius]

On a tangential note, U_K, let me say something with regards to the game system of choice for these:

Use D&D 3.5, not Pathfinder 1E.

While I've long since moved on to Pathfinder as my game of choice (but not PF 2E, which is too different from the baseline d20 System that I've enjoyed for twenty years now), the differences between it and 3.5 are (at epic levels) just different enough that it's likely to prove to be more of a headache than it's worth.

Consider how Pathfinder doesn't have a native epic-level system, instead stopping at 20th level. While it does support monsters of up to CR 30, it doesn't go any higher. So, for example, if you were to create new epic monsters of CR 31+ for Pathfinder, you'd have to create a table for how much XP each CR is worth (since monster XP listings are in their stat block), especially since Pathfinder uses different XP values at each level than 3.5 does. And that might require listing new XP progression listings for beyond level 20 (on three different tracks) if you want to make it more useful to PCs.

It gets worse from there. Since Pathfinder doesn't have a native epic-level system, do you import the basic epic-level rules from 3.5? What about epic feats? Epic spellcasting? Does gaining a feat every second level instead of every third change any of the CR calculations, especially since six feats equals a divine ability? And of course, using Pathfinder and ignoring the mythic options would be awkward. Would new mythic tiers beyond 10th need to be written?

It's basically a mess waiting to happen, and would almost certainly bog you down in the process. I say avoid it and stick with the system that you've already made use of.

 

[Rhuarc]

What you guys haven't answered as yet is how powerful you would prefer the monsters?

A. Low CRs - concentrate on the CR 21-50 range
B. Moderate CRs - about the same spread as the original book; mainly CR 31-100 with maybe 10-20% above and below
C. High CRs - CRs 41-200 with 25% beyond even that

Well, whatever high epic - low cosmic would be. I guess for me that's definitely for the most part 'C', with no need to get higher than CR 200.

I have about 400 monster ideas still unpublished. If I can give them a bit of a theme, or two themes that could be linked then that might make a more interesting package than 16 random epic monsters with no cohesion.

You were always good with teases sigh Really hope you will be able to get to any (all) of these ideas

Well, without giving too much away, the classic AD&D Demons were listed up to Type VI: Balor; but what if...[snip]

Sorry, still confused about what the old demon types have to do with being 'atomic'? Maybe I'm simply missing something here.

Well to clarify, I mean I create one a week and then (hopefully) by the end of 16 weeks I might have enough material to fill an Addendum pdf.

That does sound a lot more reasonable, good approach in my opinion. 4 months per addendum? Sure! Might even doable this time around

If I can come up with some fun category names for each then that would be half the battle.

If you ask me, all of the categories listed below sound pretty awesome and suitably epic. If that's already half the battle, then you should be good to go.

...Vampire Eaters / ...Atomic Demons

Those two are the only ones I can't really wrap my head around. No idea on what they will be based upon.

...Cyberdevils

Including technology or is this only a fancy word for something similar?

...Bat Gods

There are more than one? Enough to make this an entire category by itself? What is about bats in particular that gives you that many ideas and not for other god races/types?

Also, to add to Alzrius's wise words about sticking to the system you are (somewhat still) familiar with. For me personally, I'd go even further and be more than happy with mostly fluff alone for those monster ideas and maybe have a couple of abilities listed for each entry with a short description. No need to create full-blown 3.5 stat blocks. Seeing as I won't be playing under these rules anyway, having a general description of each monster, their role in the world and some idea about their features and powers, that'd already be enough for me to make my own version (either D&D 5th or PF2) out of this.

But as said, that's just for me. Especially as I imagine having not to crunch through all those numbers would save you a ton of headache and time, increasing the chance of finishing stuff.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Alzrius amigo!

On a tangential note, U_K, let me say something with regards to the game system of choice for these:

Use D&D 3.5, not Pathfinder 1E.

While I've long since moved on to Pathfinder as my game of choice (but not PF 2E, which is too different from the baseline d20 System that I've enjoyed for twenty years now), the differences between it and 3.5 are (at epic levels) just different enough that it's likely to prove to be more of a headache than it's worth.

Consider how Pathfinder doesn't have a native epic-level system, instead stopping at 20th level. While it does support monsters of up to CR 30, it doesn't go any higher. So, for example, if you were to create new epic monsters of CR 31+ for Pathfinder, you'd have to create a table for how much XP each CR is worth (since monster XP listings are in their stat block), especially since Pathfinder uses different XP values at each level than 3.5 does. And that might require listing new XP progression listings for beyond level 20 (on three different tracks) if you want to make it more useful to PCs.

It gets worse from there. Since Pathfinder doesn't have a native epic-level system, do you import the basic epic-level rules from 3.5? What about epic feats? Epic spellcasting? Does gaining a feat every second level instead of every third change any of the CR calculations, especially since six feats equals a divine ability? And of course, using Pathfinder and ignoring the mythic options would be awkward. Would new mythic tiers beyond 10th need to be written?

It's basically a mess waiting to happen, and would almost certainly bog you down in the process. I say avoid it and stick with the system that you've already made use of.

To be honest I am just not sure how it would work at all with Pathfinder capped as it is (as you note). It will likely just be 3.5E and I'll try and get help from the usual suspects here over the minutiae of the details in the likely event I miss something.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Rhuarc amigo!

Well, whatever high epic - low cosmic would be. I guess for me that's definitely for the most part 'C', with no need to get higher than CR 200.

Sounds about CR 100-200 ish.

You were always good with teases sigh Really hope you will be able to get to any (all) of these ideas

Fingers crossed.

Sorry, still confused about what the old demon types have to do with being 'atomic'? Maybe I'm simply missing something here.

I'll explain it all in the entry for the monsters themselves.

That does sound a lot more reasonable, good approach in my opinion. 4 months per addendum? Sure! Might even doable this time around

Assuming I get one done per week that is.

If you ask me, all of the categories listed below sound pretty awesome and suitably epic. If that's already half the battle, then you should be good to go.

I'll likely tweak a few (if I ever get that far) but glad to hear they all sound epic.

Those two are the only ones I can't really wrap my head around. No idea on what they will be based upon.

Atomic Demons are just that. Vampire Eaters refers to Epic Abyssal Vampires (Strigoi) who prey on vampires the way Vampires prey on humans.

Including technology or is this only a fancy word for something similar?

Well my initial 5E project was going to be Rise of the Cyberdevils, however, the size of the thing swiftly got out of hand and would have needed 50+ stat blocks to do it justice. It was the beginning of a big war in Hell with evil deities behind the scenes manipulating events. The Cyberdevils were one aspect of that - I don't want to give away more than that.

There are more than one? Enough to make this an entire category by itself? What is about bats in particular that gives you that many ideas and not for other god races/types?

Bat Gods would be the category for the Nosferatu. Its just a way of selling the concept. I can't think of a better short description that would mean anything.

Also, to add to Alzrius's wise words about sticking to the system you are (somewhat still) familiar with. For me personally, I'd go even further and be more than happy with mostly fluff alone for those monster ideas and maybe have a couple of abilities listed for each entry with a short description. No need to create full-blown 3.5 stat blocks. Seeing as I won't be playing under these rules anyway, having a general description of each monster, their role in the world and some idea about their features and powers, that'd already be enough for me to make my own version (either D&D 5th or PF2) out of this.

I'll almost certainly need help on the stats.

But as said, that's just for me. Especially as I imagine having not to crunch through all those numbers would save you a ton of headache and time, increasing the chance of finishing stuff.

I suspect the art will take longer than the stats...and I like to have each monster illustrated (otherwise its not really a proper Bestiary in my opinion) unless its something like Legendary Elephant etc.

So if its worthy of an illustration its worthy of a stat block you could say.

 

[Rhuarc]

Hey UK!

I'll explain it all in the entry for the monsters themselves.

Alrighty, will wait (im)patiently then for this entry to come out.

Assuming I get one done per week that is.

Naturally. So you haven't actually started working on any of this in earnest, correct? Still finishing your other project (visual novel was it?) first?

I'll likely tweak a few (if I ever get that far) but glad to hear they all sound epic.

That is definitely the case. Just don't get too hung up on the category names. I reckon people are more interested in epic stuff in general (at least the crowd of players you are targeting with these addendums) and will be happy with monsters of any kind, than being concerned that the various categories are aptly named. I'm pretty convinced that all of the titles you have listed will draw sufficient attention as is.

Vampire Eaters refers to Epic Abyssal Vampires (Strigoi) who prey on vampires the way Vampires prey on humans.

Gotcha. Cool concept now that I get what they are supposed to be. Guess this would be one category name that could have a more evocative title , though unsure what a better name would be.

Well my initial 5E project was going to be Rise of the Cyberdevils, however, the size of the thing swiftly got out of hand and would have needed 50+ stat blocks to do it justice. It was the beginning of a big war in Hell with evil deities behind the scenes manipulating events. The Cyberdevils were one aspect of that - I don't want to give away more than that.

Man, yet another great sounding idea that never saw the light of day. Really tough to see all these ideas that are going to waste because of mechanical/time issues.

Bat Gods would be the category for the Nosferatu. Its just a way of selling the concept. I can't think of a better short description that would mean anything.

How about Antediluvian Vampires? Seeing as vampires are for me not just (or even mainly) about being bats, the association escaped me when I read this title.

I'll almost certainly need help on the stats.

Then I hope you get it. I guess it wouldn't be a product worth selling without a statblock...

I suspect the art will take longer than the stats...and I like to have each monster illustrated (otherwise its not really a proper Bestiary in my opinion) unless its something like Legendary Elephant etc.

Well, I'm a sucker for good art, but (as pointed out more than once now) I'm way more interested in the flavor and world-building of your ideas than anything else. This is why it pains me always to read snippets about your ideas and then see them get lost in the process of actually getting them published. May it be due to a clunky, time-consuming system, delays of artwork, or other stuff. Especially when any of this extra stuff is not that important to me personally (would pay just as much for a pdf filled with only descriptive text than for one with statblocks and art, at least when you are the publisher!).

Anyway, enough of me complaining. I would ask if you might reveal some more info about each of the listed categories-mainly to keep this interesting discussion from dying down as well-, but you were already rather reserved about the Atomic Demons, so I doubt there is much hope for more.