D&D 4E Notes from the 4E Corebooks: Alignment, Monsters, Artifacts and More

[Wolfspider]

Well you figure, they probably have about 300+ monsters in the MM. They have said every single one is going to have a illustration. It isn't that unreasonable to assume there be some duplicates.

Perhaps...but it still seems odd for me. I can't remember a single piece of artwork being recycled from one edition of D&D to another before...barring the half edition change of 3.5, of course, which is not really a complete edition change.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Only 4 artifacts the DMG?

Guess we'll be getting a book of artifacts down the road.

There will probably be lots more in Adventurer's Vault in September and future DMGs. There could maybe be rules to make your own too in the DMG.

 

[pukunui]

Hereditary, mostly.

But how did the family get infected in the first place?

It's the same illustration--it's even got his kama-wielding sidekick.

Damn, that's disappointing. Did anyone else notice that the vampires in NWN2 are the same ones? At least, the kama-wielding one is. I don't think the other one has a spiked chain.

There's a full ritual writeup.

Cool. This begs the question though: is there a vampire template in the DMG? We know there's a lich template. So I wonder if the templates are in the DMG but the rituals required for creating them are in the MM along with the sample stats? I hope there's an actual ritual for the lich as well.

It's more like there are cultist writeups attached to his entry, actually.

Ah ok. Gotcha. Good enough. There will probably be more fluff about his cults and stuff in the DMG and in the upcoming MotP.

Didn't spot any, but I was only looking for a handful of specific things.

The 3.5 Spell Compendium only has one full page illo and it's one that's been recycled from Complete Divine, I think. Just seems kind of odd when it's the only one there ...

Like I said, artifacts have serious meat to them now. I'd really look forward to a 4E Book of Artifacts.

Cool. I've always liked artifacts but I haven't liked that you have to wait so long to introduce them to your game. It'll be fun to be able to include them in sooner. Did you see if there were rules/guidelines for creating your own artifacts? I had this great idea for giving the PCs an evil artifact that causes bad stuff to happen to other people (but not them). So they go to the little village after raiding the dungeon and after a while the crops start failing and the cows' milk goes sour and the villagers all come and blame the strangers in town for bringing misfortune to them. Hopefully it'll take a little while for them to realize that it's an evil artifact ... and then when they figure it out, they'll find out they can't get rid of it easily! Mwaahahahahaha!

There is a named item in KotS, but it certainly isn't considered an artifact.

A misunderstanding on my part then. I was reading a different thread with a review of KotS and someone described it as an artifact.

So there could be ways of having a Template or Feats to become a Werewolf.

Good point. There might very well be a lycanthrope template in the DMG.

 

[drothgery]

Wait wait wait...

Recycled art... in a new edition's core rulebook?

I hope that is the single exception, and not a general rule.

Hmm... almost all of the art in the Star Wars Saga core rulebook is recycled from Star Wars Revised books.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Perhaps...but it still seems odd for me. I can't remember a single piece of artwork being recycled from one edition of D&D to another before...barring the half edition change of 3.5, of course, which is not really a complete edition change.

QFT

I don't remember seeing any 2e art re-used in the 3e core books. I might be wrong as I didn't see every single piece of 2e artwork, but what was in there didn't look like the 2e material I'd seen, even the base style was a change.

 

[Gargazon]

Perhaps...but it still seems odd for me. I can't remember a single piece of artwork being recycled from one edition of D&D to another before...barring the half edition change of 3.5, of course, which is not really a complete edition change.

Yes, but how many monster illustrations and how many monsters were in the old edition monster manuals?

(I'm probably going to regret asking this, aren't I? Cause I don't have a clue what the answer might be...)

P.S. 2e was a TSR product, 3e was a WotC product. I imagine there may have been issues with copying art between the two as they belong to different companies, but what do I know?

 

[Green Knight]

Hey, as someone who didn't like the 3e version either, it all comes down to "add what you like, strip what you don't". At least that the new vampire isn't like the 3e one; taking things away was harder than adding things IN. Adding weaknesses shouldn't be hard.

That's not saying much, as anything is better then the 3E Vampire. I still can't get over their level draining bitchslap. Where'd that come from?!?

 

[Rechan]

I'm not really bothered by there being no inflicted methods. I never liked that from rules perspective. Also the forced alignment, etc. The "You turn into a raving psycho lunatic" seems suitable enough.

Especially given that I've been pondering lycanthropy, or at least Infectious lycanthropy, as "The Endowment of the Id"; stripping the morality and inhibitions of the human mind, allowing the desires that someone locks away in their heart to surface. The greedy man robs and steals without repentance, the man who covets his neighbor's wife takes his neighbor's wife by force, the man who harbors hate acts upon it.

It wouldn't surprise me if we see Lycanthrope as a playable race in the MM2 maybe?

 

[Rechan]

That's not saying much, as anything is better then the 3E Vampire. I still can't get over their level draining bitchslap. Where'd that come from?!?

Isn't there a scene where Dracula grabs someone by the throat and slams them up against a wall, choking them, and at some point he lets go and the guy is just sort've stunned laying there?

The one thing I never understood is zombies having a slam. ZOMBIES DON'T PUNCH PEOPLE.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Perhaps...but it still seems odd for me. I can't remember a single piece of artwork being recycled from one edition of D&D to another before...barring the half edition change of 3.5, of course, which is not really a complete edition change.

True--but bear in mind the radical jumps in production values between 1E and 2E, or 2E and 3E, as well as the shift in the game's look from 2E to 3E (which would have mitigated against reusing any of the color art). 3E to 4E isn't nearly as big a shift in quality or style.

I wouldn't want them to make a habit of it, but I'm not going to condemn them for a handful of reused pieces. Besides, so far, the only reused piece we're aware of comes from 3.5, not 3E proper.