"The next ______"?

[Feathercircle]

I[*]Deathless: First introduced in Book of Exalted Deeds and then expanded upon in Eberron, this allows for good undead that actually make sense. Of course, I'd also mark this one as the most likely to be done to death (pun intended) quickly.
[/list]

Funny, that's the exact OPPOSITE of the reaction that I've mostly been seeing for them. Good-aligned sentient undead make sense already, particularly for types like ghosts. Spirits of the wrongfully slain or those with an unfinished purpose left to fulfill, clinging to the the world of the living until they can be put to rest- that's fairly classic. "Undead" that are tied to Positive energy for no real reason other than turning immunity- that doesn't make sense even in terms of flavor let alone in terms of D&D 'physics'. (Undead fueled by POSITIVE energy- wouldn't that be the living?) You're just about the first person I've seen who actually likes the idea of the Deathless.

 

[S'mon]

Hm, I think the Githyanki (and even Slaadi) were cool even in their original White Dwarf entries. Some things just are cool, but it takes an uncommon level of talent to make them. That said, there was far more RPG talent concentrated in the pages of '80s White Dwarf than you're ever likely to see in one place today.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Funny, that's the exact OPPOSITE of the reaction that I've mostly been seeing for them. Good-aligned sentient undead make sense already, particularly for types like ghosts. Spirits of the wrongfully slain or those with an unfinished purpose left to fulfill, clinging to the the world of the living until they can be put to rest- that's fairly classic. "Undead" that are tied to Positive energy for no real reason other than turning immunity- that doesn't make sense even in terms of flavor let alone in terms of D&D 'physics'. (Undead fueled by POSITIVE energy- wouldn't that be the living?) You're just about the first person I've seen who actually likes the idea of the Deathless.

I like the idea of the Deathless -- i.e., non-evil undead -- but I have the same issues with the mechanics that you do.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hm, I think the Githyanki (and even Slaadi) were cool even in their original White Dwarf entries. Some things just are cool, but it takes an uncommon level of talent to make them. That said, there was far more RPG talent concentrated in the pages of '80s White Dwarf than you're ever likely to see in one place today.

No argument. I'd love it if they ever went back and converted a lot of their old adventures to 3.5. The flavor of "White Dwarf" and "Imagine" was vastly different from that of American game magazines at the time. I'm not sure what it was about English game designers that seemingly loved having players wallow in poverty and filth and face enemies that had a whole lot more horror about them than they did high fantasy, but it was a really interesting alternative and made for some great material. I still have a bunch of the yellow pull-out adventures from "Imagine," all these years later.

 

[Darkness]

You're just about the first person I've seen who actually likes the idea of the Deathless.

That makes me the second, then.

 

[Desdichado]

No argument. I'd love it if they ever went back and converted a lot of their old adventures to 3.5. The flavor of "White Dwarf" and "Imagine" was vastly different from that of American game magazines at the time. I'm not sure what it was about English game designers that seemingly loved having players wallow in poverty and filth and face enemies that had a whole lot more horror about them than they did high fantasy, but it was a really interesting alternative and made for some great material. I still have a bunch of the yellow pull-out adventures from "Imagine," all these years later.

I love that whole vibe too. My games always tend to gravitate towards that when I'm running; I'm just not that much of a high fantasy type of guy, I suppose.

And I'm not British either.

 

[Kaodi]

Hmmm...

What would you people think of a thread devoted to this very thing, attempting to create new monsters that probably won't be, " The Next Big Thing " but can still be cool all the same. At some point, there could be a poll to see which one was thought to be the coolest, and see how the concept stacks up.

 

[Widowmaker]

For something to be cool and the Next Big Thing it has to have "X-treme!" in the name somewhere. It is known.