races of destiny --has D&D 3.5 jumped the shark?

[Prince of Happiness]

I think ENWorld has jumped the shark.

I rock the Casbah.

 

[Ulrick]

Whatever happened to SHARK???

You know: the "Going down the road to HELL" guy?

 

[Desdichado]

I rock the Casbah.

Watch it... Sharif don't like that.

It's possible that the generic line of D&D books has jumped the shark, although that's a really lame phrase. Eberron, however, is just getting started and I'm loving everything coming outta that. Can't wait for Keith's novel in Jan.

 

[Darkness]

OK, reading about races of destiny has got me thinking that WoTC has just run out of creative energy.

WotC has jumped the shark because some supplement contains a lame race?

Mate, if this was a sign of trouble, the shark would have been jumped from the very beginning, in the Monster Manual.

(Or the PHB, with the gnomes.)

Just look how many less-than-inspired critters are in the MM. Here are a few:

Ethereal filcher? Wow. A critter whose purpose in life primarily amounts to robbing adventurer parties. How... Interesting.

About a bajillion different evil outsiders that are basically dogs with a few special powers? They're cool and all, but did we really need quite this many of them?

Shocker lizard? Pikachu with a different appearance and name.

Girallon? It's a gorilla. With 4 arms. Even its name is 'gorilla' with a few letters swapped out and an 'n' added.

And don't get me started on some classics like the rust monster, the blink dog and the mimic.

 

[Desdichado]

Girallon? It's a gorilla. With 4 arms. Great. Really great.

Actually, it's a Barsoom Great White Ape. Not that that really makes it all that much better, though...

 

[Darkness]

Ok, so it's a gorilla with a paint job.

 

[rounser]

Mate, if this was a sign of trouble, the shark would have been jumped from the very beginning, in the Monster Manual.

It did. Lots of monsters with concepts that just plain suck (IMO) like the yrthak, destrachan and digester, way too many outsiders for the core monster tome (you'd think the designers had Planescape hangovers - the core monster book should be primarily prime material IMO) and lots of redundant undead.

I think that this is what comes from placing "the game needs a mid-level CR flying outsider with a sound attack" ahead of decent monsters that are actually cool and you'd want to use, which is self-defeating...because monsters that suck don't end up getting used, and ruin the tone of D&D in general.

Thank you Necromancer Games for Tome of Horrors for covering some of the game's extensive losses in this department.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Actually, I think there's an "predator jumper" prestige class in the back of the upcoming Monster Manual IV.




Just kidding.

 

[MythosaAkira]

And don't get me started on some classics like the rust monster, the blink dog and the mimic.

Don't forget the gelatinous cube

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I'm disappointed that creative people such as I know frequent these fora seem so often hidebound and unimaginative.

So you don't like the illumians' sigil "stock ticker". Change it, for God's sake! You don't even have to retain the idea of "word made flesh" - boiled down to its gameable essence, the illumian race is simply a customisable race especially well-suited to otherwise awkward multiclasses. Whether they derive this trait from the manifestation of glowing sigils around their head/on their skin/wherever, or from the blessing of their ancestors, or something else, it's all modifiable.

Who cares how Wizards wraps the chocolate? What counts is the taste - and ironically, it's the flavour in this case which is the completely and utterly disposable wrapper, so if you don't like it, change it.