Smuggled photos

[cdrcjsn]

I'd feel much better about that dragon picture if someone could tell me where the hell those red streaks of magic came from. As drawn, they don't appear to have come from any of the characters or creatures in the picture. They are jsut there.

I am utterly convinced that the red glowing line is a psionic weapon from a Soulknife type character.

Strange psionic tattoos? check.
Glowing crystal implement in oher hand? check.
Presence of wand wielding wizard already in the picture indcating that the glowing spear wielder is not a wizard? check.

 

[pweent]

imsortofsurpriseditseemslikewhitespaceisbeing treatedasadefactoderogatorytermbysomeofthe postersonthisthreadcertainlytoomuchwhitespace isaproblembutsoisitslackthenewlayoutlookslikean improvemtntomeithink3rdeditionerredontheside oftoolittlewhitespaceprobablyasacallbacktofirst editiontheoriginal30monstermanualwasnightmarish surethehighdensitytextgivesasurfaceimpression ofvaluelookatallthecontentperpagebutithinkthe lossofclaritwasntworthithereshoping4eismore usableandifnotwellivegotaplanforfiftheditionwhat doyallthink?

 

[ZetaStriker]

As to why I label all of WotC as glowing item lovers... well, I remember seeing a DnD Insider preview video where the WotC rep was talking about how you would make your weapons in the character builder glow with a strength equal to their +x enhancement bonus. Hence, me thinking they really want all magic to glow.

 

[Nytmare]

painful text

ha HA

Of course, a solid block of white text on a black background might technically be considered "white space".

 

[AZRogue]

They look much easier to read. I see it's been said that the books look to have too much white space, but I think it's just a better layout. I know that, with 3E, the books really, really irritated me. I NEVER just found myself glancing through the books for inspiration because they were a pain to browse. The layout now looks much easier on the eyes. More inviting. YMMV.

 

[pukunui]

Why do people expect characters fighting a gargantuan White Dragon, CR 19+ in 3.5e, to not having glowing magic weapons?

I wasn't complaining about that one image in isolation. I was complaining about the amount of glowing stuff in the 4e art released so far overall. It's not just weapons. All sorts of things are bathed in that lovely photoshop glow ...

I just happen to have the Star Wars DVDs on my desk at the moment and I'm looking at all the lightsabers and laser beams on the cover and I'm seeing a lot of similarities.

As to why I label all of WotC as glowing item lovers... well, I remember seeing a DnD Insider preview video where the WotC rep was talking about how you would make your weapons in the character builder glow with a strength equal to their +x enhancement bonus. Hence, me thinking they really want all magic to glow.

Indeed. I believe you are correct. Of course, we can all choose to have magic glow or not glow in our own campaigns. Frankly, I think I'll tone it down in my game.

 

[Fobok]

Indeed. I believe you are correct. Of course, we can all choose to have magic glow or not glow in our own campaigns. Frankly, I think I'll tone it down in my game.

See, for me, I really like this. Though, I fully admit this is in part because of my first encounter with a magical weapon in the first fantasy novel I ever read glowed under certain conditions, (Sting, when I read The Hobbit), so to me magic weapons that glow is natural.

 

[pukunui]

See, for me, I really like this. Though, I fully admit this is in part because of my first encounter with a magical weapon in the first fantasy novel I ever read glowed under certain conditions, (Sting, when I read The Hobbit), so to me magic weapons that glow is natural.

I don't mind if some magic weapons glow. I just don't think they all should. Some of them should come over all icy. Others should burn with fire. Others still should be so black that you feel like you're being sucked into their endless depths ... Others might simply have runes or other symbols that glow rather than having the entire thing glow. But most of the glowing artwork for 4e has had the entire length of the blade, if not the entire weapon, glow.

I've never played WoW but I just get the feeling that the art direction for 4e has been one of "Magic stuff always glows in computer games. Let's make the art look like that, and since all our new artists do their work on computers, the glowing magic items will look like they've come straight out of a computer game!"

All I'm really getting at is that I think some of the art is over-the-top in terms of computer-generated glow effects. It needs to be used in moderation. And perhaps when placed in the context of all the art in the core books, it will be. Who knows ...

 

[Fobok]

I've never played WoW but I just get the feeling that the art direction for 4e has been one of "Magic stuff always glows in computer games. Let's make the art look like that, and since all our new artists do their work on computers, the glowing magic items will look like they've come straight out of a computer game!"

Neverwinter Nights is probably is a better example of this than WoW. In WoW, only specific Enchants (and even more specific list of weapons) give glows. In NWN, almost every magical weapon glowed in some type or another.

 

[pukunui]

Neverwinter Nights is probably is a better example of this than WoW. In WoW, only specific Enchants (and even more specific list of weapons) give glows. In NWN, almost every magical weapon glowed in some type or another.

Hmm. I don't remember that. You're probably right though. I do remember that flaming swords in NWN actually had flames on them, though. So far we've only seen weapons with lightsaber-like auras of light on them. No special effects like I described before (a frost weapon rimed with ice or a flaming weapon burning with fire or a wounding weapon dripping with blood or something ...). If magic items have to have some sort of visible effect, I'd prefer lots of unique effects rather than having everything look like a lightsaber.