[Silverthorne] Template Troves II Cover & Previews!

[Frilf]

Howdy, all!

As Christmas approaches, so does the imminent release of the second volume of our Template Troves series: Oozes & Aberrations. Penned by industry veteran Philip J. Reed, with assistance from rules maven Michael Hammes, this book packs 20 brand-new, twisted creature templates for those that love to tinker with their monsters!

Below is the cover art (created by the talented Ted Wing III) to get you started. Soon, I will post some of the interior art by Cara Mitten, as well as a sneak peek template!

Official day of release is December 20, 2004. Enjoy!

 

[philreed]

Nice product! I look forward to seeing the final PDF.

 

[Frilf]

Thanks! I couldn't have done it without you, Phil!

 

[Frilf]

Here is the first preview of Template Troves II: Oozes & Aberrations featuring the half-ooze template. There has been some speculation about the nature of this template in the past, so the preview is here to set the record straight! Preview #2 should be up very soon! Enjoy!

EDIT: If you have downloaded this preview prior to 12/20/2004, you'll need to download it again. This is the corrected version

 

[JoeGKushner]

Why is the CR of the 1st level socererous 3? Shouldn't it be 2 (1 for 1st level, 1 for template?) Also notes in the template that the creature's size is unchanged but the human is listed as large.

What does this mean? "As the spell energies course through the ooze, they
cause the ooze’s essence to 6." To 6?

OGL declaration looks like it's usign the first book too...

Just flipping through it so sorry if the answers are in front of me...

 

[Frilf]

All good questions that will be addressed before launch, I assure you. I'm not quite sure how that snuck past my editor, but I have a *very* good proofreader on the case, so I have no worries there. There should be no issues like these when the product launches next week (the wonders of PDFs, you know?). Anyway, did you like anything about the template, Joe?

 

[philreed]

What does this mean? "As the spell energies course through the ooze, they
cause the ooze’s essence to 6." To 6?

That's pretty weird.

 

[Jon Potter]

Why is the CR of the 1st level socererous 3? Shouldn't it be 2 (1 for 1st level, 1 for template?) Also notes in the template that the creature's size is unchanged but the human is listed as large.

I took a look at the preview and can think of several places to use such a template. Great work. I loved the first Template Trove and it looks like the second won't disappoint either.

I think that the answer to Joe's problems is that the sorcerer example in question uses a template that's actually not included in the preview: the Guardscale. Presumably, that's the template that appears before the Half-Ooze in the book and got snipped in the preview. The sample npc remains, however. We might surmise that the Guardscale template increases CR by +2 and size to Large.

The 6 reference, however, is beyond me.

 

[Frilf]

I took a look at the preview and can think of several places to use such a template. Great work. I loved the first Template Trove and it looks like the second won't disappoint either.

I think that the answer to Joe's problems is that the sorcerer example in question uses a template that's actually not included in the preview: the Guardscale. Presumably, that's the template that appears before the Half-Ooze in the book and got snipped in the preview. The sample npc remains, however. We might surmise that the Guardscale template increases CR by +2 and size to Large.

The 6 reference, however, is beyond me.

Thanks for the kind words, Jon! We're glad you're enjoying your Template Troves 1!

With regard to the issues that Joe raised, your assumptions here are correct. The preceeding template is the Guardscale, which creates an entirely different effect for the base creature. The NPC at the end of the Half-Ooze entry is the one to look at for purposes of this preview.

As far as the "6" thing goes, we're on it! I've never seen a creature "6" before (although some 7-ing and 8-ing has been known to happen), so it's probably something that "cropped up" during layout late one night Consider it fixed.

 

[Frilf]

Second preview is hereby attached. It applies to oozes, but it makes them significantly more powerful. Let me know what you think!

BTW, Template Troves II: Oozes & Aberrations should be available for purchase later today or early tomorrow at RPG Now!