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

[Wolfspider]

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...)

Let me put it this way. WotC made a big deal out of how the new edition was going to have a new art direction. Much fuss was made over this in the preview books and through the website recently with the daily art selections.

To find out now that WotC is recycling old art from v3.5 seems to fly in the face of this purported new artistic theme running through the new books.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

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.

Wouldn't that be simply "stunned" then, not "level drained"

LOL, I want a boxing zombie now.

Also, wow you can tell people are coming online now, this thread is really moving now.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

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

It's a great book, but that irritated me too.

Even so, the scopes of the two projects (SWSE vs. 4e) are so massively different as to be incomparable. SW is a formidable RPG, but Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular RPG on the market and the flagship of the roleplaying division. I expect them to put their absolute best effort forth to sell this thing.

It does not destroy my expectations of 4e, but it does smack of laziness. How many artists and contractors does Wizards have at their command? Surely one of them could have created some new vampire art?

 

[Gargazon]

Let me put it this way. WotC made a big deal out of how the new edition was going to have a new art direction. Much fuss was made over this in the preview books and through the website recently with the daily art selections.

To find out now that WotC is recycling old art from v3.5 seems to fly in the face of this purported new artistic theme running through the new books.

Perhaps WotC either A) thought that the old 3.5 art still fitted with their new art direction or B) they couldn't find any art that was superior to it, so stuck with the old picture.

I'm glad that we're keeping the old vampire pic. Remember that thing from the templates excerpt? I don't want one of them.

 

[Green Knight]

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?

Well, none of that actually involves Dracula backhanding the guy or punching him. Besides, if you'd just been thrown into a wall and choked by a superhumanly strong vampire, you'd be stunned, too. That doesn't mean, though, that your lifeforce got sucked out or anything of the sort. And vampires sucking out your lifeforce by punching you was just damn weird.

 

[Rechan]

Well, none of that actually involves Dracula backhanding the guy or punching him. Besides, if you'd just been thrown into a wall and choked by a superhumanly strong vampire, you'd be stunned, too. That doesn't mean, though, that your lifeforce got sucked out or anything of the sort. And vampires sucking out your lifeforce by punching you was just damn weird.

And a wight sucking your soul by slapping you isn't?

 

[Lizard]

Hmm. I like most of that.

What I find most interesting about 4e, as it gets closer, is that the developers are much sharper than the pro 4e fans gave them credit for being. Consider, for example, the HUGE frackin' thread on succubi and the apparent belief that, in 4e, things like "How does a vampire make other vampires" would be wholly ignored (and that this was a good thing). Well, looks like it's NOT -- there are actual rules/guidelines for it. Good.

I like the artifacts information, too. Sounds like it's designed mostly to inspire DMs to create their own. A few solid examples to serve as guidelines, the rest is up to you.

Alignments-- well, that's been totally borked up one side and down the other, but since alignments no longer matter (much) to the rules, it should be trivial to add them in -- and add in axiomatic and anarchic energy, as well. Houserules FTW, and depending on how the GSL is written WRT access to the old SRD, it might be easy to add them into commercial products for those who want it.

I like there are still effects which aren't "save ends". I was worried, based on things like the phane, that NOTHING would last longer than a single encounter.

Between this info and the general non-suckiness, rules wise, of KOTS, I am actually beginning to look forward to 4e. I don't see how I could convert my current game, but it might be fun to begin working on my next campaign. (Some people have backup characters; I have backup worlds...)

 

[small pumpkin man]

Only 4 artifacts the DMG?

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

Artifacts are things that you revolve your campaign around, I'm glad they've realized that. As such, I'd say 4 will do most people for a while.

 

[Green Knight]

And a wight sucking your soul by slapping you isn't?

Sure. But then again, I haven't heard very many stories about Wights one way or the other. On the other hand, I have heard plenty of stories about vampires, and not a one of them involved a vampire slapping the experiences out of a guy.

Whatever the case, I'm just glad slam attacks and level draining are gone altogether. They were pretty lame all around (and in the case of the vampire, the lameness was painfully noticeable).

 

[malraux]

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?

I picked up a 2nd ed MM off of CL just to respect the elders and all. The MM is actually reasonably well illustrated and laid out. Each entry stops at the bottom of a page, every entry includes a illustration of the creature (even the invisible strangler). There's a detailed ecology section, etc. Aside from the surprisingly unusable stat blocks and the occasional habit of hiding really important abilities or combat info in the text of the entry, the 2e MM is pretty good on having illustrations and lay out in general. The quality of those illustrations is pretty varied though.