Matthew L. Martin said:
Lycanthropes have undergone some changes. There are only two of them in the MM--wererat and werewolf--and lycanthropy is no longer contagious. They do carry diseases that appear to have somewhat similar effects, though; the werewolf's moon fever can turn you into a bloodthirsty maniac. Diseases appear to function on some sort of condition track, where you move back and forth between 'cured' (at which point you stop moving) and several intermediate states before an end state, such as 'you attack the nearest creature' for moon fever. Still, given how important infective lycanthropy is to Eberron's backstory as I understand it, I wonder how they'll play that in 4E.
Interesting. I wonder how one becomes a lycanthrope then. Do you have to be cursed by the gods or something? Sounds to me like they just weren't able to come up with a good replacement for the problematic 3.5 lycanthrope template (actually, come to think of it, most 3.5 templates were problematic due to the accompanying power spike).
The art's recycled from the 3.5E MM, so yes, the example vampire lord is using a spiked chain.
This is really hard to believe. I don't even
like that picture! Are they honestly going to tell us that they couldn't be bothered to commission someone to do a new illustration of the vampire? Or do you mean that there's a new illustration but it shows the same spiked chain-wielding vampire?
There's also a ritual for vampire creation by vampire lords--it involves an exchange of blood, killing and burying the victim, and a prayer to Orcus.
Does it actually list the ritual in detail or does it just mention that there
is one in the same way that the 3.5 MM mentioned that there was a ritual for turning someone into a lich without giving the specifics on how to do it?
Speaking of Orcus, he gets four pages in the MM. One of those pages is a reproduction of the cover art, but the other three give a writeup for him, his aspect, and his cultists. The Big Goat-Pig himself looks to be nasty--1,545 HP, anyone dead in his aura spontaneously animates as an abyssal ghoul myrmidion, and anyone slain by the Wand who's still dead at the state of his next turn revives as a dread wraith.
I find it interesting that they chose to put the details of his "cult" in the MM. I suppose it makes sense. That's really disappointing about the full page illustration. Is that the only one in the book or are there other full pagers? I don't mind them. In fact, that was one of the first things I noticed was lacking when I first got the 3.5 books. What I don't like is the repetition. If it's on the cover, I don't need it in the book too. Thanks just the same.
Evil gods: Yes, they're here. The 'plus one' is Tharizdun, who is specifically noted as not mentioned in the PH or MM because of his obscurity in the default D&D world. Tiamat is enjoying her new role as a goddess of greed as well as evil dragons. Torog, who's been an enigma so far, is revealed as the patron of the Underdark, jailers, and (I believe) torturers. Lolth is specifically identified as a god and not a demon, even though she's called the Demon Queen of Spiders.
Is there any actual organization to the gods this time or are they still just a sort of random assortment? This is one of the things I like about the Eberron religions. They've actually got some organization to them (and I really like how clerics can choose to worship a whole pantheon of gods rather than just one). I'm attempting to do this for my own 4e homebrew campaign, partly because I'm just sick of Pelor, Moradin, Bahamut, Lolth, and the rest, but also because I'm sick of the "random assortment of deities" schtick. I
am keeping the Raven Queen, though, cos she's
cool sweet as!
Also, did you happen to see if the Primordials are detailed anywhere? Have they got names? Stats? Etc. The reason I'm asking is because I want my campaign to be based around the idea that the deities are all about law and order while the demon princes and primordials are all about chaos. So if you want to be an evil and/or insane cultist, you don't worship a deity. You worship a demon prince or a primordial or something instead.
There's also a note on evil cleric powers--the powers in the PH, they admit, were designed primarily for Good or Lawful Good clerics and thus may be too 'shiny' for clerics of Evil or Chaotic Evil patrons. They suggest changing the radiant damage to necrotic damage, or just changing the special effects.
Sounds ok to me. I don't know what the problem some people have with this is.
There are only four artifacts in the DMG
Disappointing but, if I'm not mistaken, there's another one in KotS (unless it's one of the four in the DMG). Oh well. It sounds like artifacts might actually be useable at sub-epic levels now, so that's a plus, and I'm sure there will be more of them, either in the
Adventurer's Vault or the DMG2, if not both.
