New Podcast Posted!

[Glyfair]

I mean seriously . . . why the hell is there a Plane of Neutral Good?

Worse, why is there a plane of "More lawful than Neutral Good, but not quite Lawful Good"?

 

[Wormwood]

Worse, why is there a plane of "More lawful than Neutral Good, but not quite Lawful Good"?

*shudder*

 

[Zaukrie]

Azers are level 14-17, because planar encounters should be about Paragon Tier only? Did I hear that correctly? So, there are no low level planar challenges?

Around minute 20.

Gah, I like to use the planes extensively, and I don't want to wait 10 levels to do so.

 

[TwoSix]

Worse, why is there a plane of "More lawful than Neutral Good, but not quite Lawful Good"?

So, not only are they killing the gnomes, they're killing the plane their souls go to when they die? Ouch, somebody has a grudge.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

The Roc is more than a big bird and I welcome its return.

It is indeed. My point was that I think most DMs will use more Frost Giants than Rocs.

Orcus rocks he is in there for a high/epic level threat.

Yes indeed, see my sig! But again I think it is more likely, that in the first year of 4th you will rather throw Frost Giants at your players than the Demon Prince of the Undead.

That said, I like some of the direction of the new monsters we are hearing about. A Briar Witch Dryad tree striding around the battle field through here twisted treant thralls? Sign me up. I can afford to lose some 'iconic' and favorite monsters if the new monsters fill a previously unfilled niche. Ymir protect them for every Yrthak and Tojanida they throw in the MM1 that could have been a Frost Giant though.

I said it before and say it again: I love good new Monsters and will use them as often as possible. That said, I do not consider the Yrtak or the Tojanida Monsters that I used often or at all.

On the money grubbing thing, the only thing that 'Core' represented was a shorthand for allowable books in a DMs campaign. Instead of saying Core you say v.1 of the PHB, DMG and MM. You can then pick and choose out of the yearly updates. I hope that the cycle of new core books will prevent the one-upsmanship of 3.5 splats. Use the New Core to fill in holes in the rules not circumvent rules.

Amen to that

 

[Irda Ranger]

Azers are level 14-17, because planar encounters should be about Paragon Tier only? Did I hear that correctly? So, there are no low level planar challenges?

Around minute 20.

Gah, I like to use the planes extensively, and I don't want to wait 10 levels to do so.

I think the expectation is that the planes (like the PC's) are tiered. You can access Shadowfell and the Feywild while Heroes, the Elemental Tempest while Paragons, and the Astral Sea once Epic. This is managed both by spell access (Plane Shift, Astral Travel, etc.) and by the spells necessary to survive on those planes (Fire Immunity, etc.).

Naturally a Plane-travelling campaign would have to tweak this all downwards, but for a Core Assumption I don't have any problems with it.

 

[Zaukrie]

That's cool, and all, but it leads me to another question: will the low level challenges become bland? Cool planar monsters are high level. Feywild and Shadowfell are mirror images of our world - so, the monsters are pretty much the same? I'm not assuming this is true, but it is a question in my head that wasn't there before they changed Azers.

 

[Rechan]

I also will anticipate that, if the OGL is open and suchlike, that we will see various third party resource monster books ASAP.

 

[Shroomy]

Azers are level 14-17, because planar encounters should be about Paragon Tier only? Did I hear that correctly? So, there are no low level planar challenges?

Around minute 20.

Gah, I like to use the planes extensively, and I don't want to wait 10 levels to do so.

No, you are correct. However, I think it may be somewhat hard to make a direct comparison between 3.x and 4e power levels given the different level structure (level 14 is the new level 7!) and sweet spots.

 

[Zaukrie]

Good point shroomy. There is a lot we don't know yet, so many of us are operating from our existing paradigm.

I also anticipate 3rd party MMs early in the process, if WotC gives them a chance by giving them the data they need to do so (which I actually am beginning to doubt).