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The Plane Below - Secrets of the Elemental Chaos


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What is the lanscape art like? Anything like the Worlds and Monsters preview book?

Based upon The Plains of Rust preview we got today, it looks good so far. I really like that piece, though it is a typical-looking piece.

I have to admit, though, the art piece for the Pandemonium Stone in the preview article we got on Nov 30th wasn't at all how I envisioned it after reading the article. Where are the two "settlements"? And based on the description, it has a defined base and top where the settlements exist.

I wish that picture was more in line with the description.
 


Having finished reading the book, I have to say, I like it quite a bit. Just flipping through it, it did look a bit meagre. I think where it really succeeds is usability: It's easy to drop the presented material into your game with a minimum of effort.
I also like the links between the different sections, e.g. locations, npcs, sample encounters, and new monsters.

While there aren't many monsters, the ones that are in the book are quite cool. Many include a neat new twist that I haven't seen anywhere before. I particularly liked the new take on the frost dwarves (oddly named 'eisk jaat' now).

What I like about the example encounters is that they often include hazards and sometimes use templated or reskinned monsters. I think that's a first.

If the forthcoming 'cosmology' books (Plane Above, Underdark, Demonomicon, etc.) are similar, I'll definitely get them.
 

I look forward to introducing my PCs to a bunch of crazy extraplanar toads.
One thing I loved about the launch of the 3e Monster Manual was that the toadiness of the slaad was way played down.

I agree with you that finding the "role" of the slaad in a 9 alignment system was always tricky. I ended up just making them a court of foreign demons.
 


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