The Shadar-kai are NEVER going to be the next drow

[Shemeska]

Mine was the ethergaunt, which since it was mentioned twice already in this thread means it has now been discussed online a total of seven times. I'm not sure I succeeded in the challenge, is what I'm saying, but it's nice to see the mention.

Mechalich fell head over heels for them and wrote that wicked article on them which he posted in a few places. More than 7 people liked them, you might just be looking in too few places for praise on those critters of yours.

 

[Shemeska]

I don't totally hate the S-Kai, but if you want malice drained of emotion, you go to the yugoloths, who would have been perfect fiends of the Shadowfell. Instead of getting petitioners/larva, they could capture the shades of mortals lingering on the plane to use for unspeakably awful things.

That's what I would have done with 'loths in 4e, fiends of the Shadowfell. Either that or had them as wandering fiends with no (known) native plane, potentially not knowing their own origins, or being bitter exiles from another reality altogether, spreading a gospel of blind misery in the wake of their poisoned smiles.

But alas, gone are the fiends of malice drained of emotion in 4e. Now we've got "soldier demons". :\

 

[Kishin]

But in order to make them useful, as well as things like the Ethergaunt and other neat races from the Fiend Folio, they have to do something in some type of mega adventure that is good and is looked at as a shared experience much like the old drow adventurers were. They need novels and other support. Some game talk isn't going to do it. They need "faces".

I don't agree. While adventures certainly can catapult something into a limelight, I think elucidating on an intriguing concept can snare its fair share. The Shadar-kai (And the Kaorti and the Ethergaunt, IMO, have more interesting fluff to them in 3E (and 4E, from what we've seen of the Shadar-kai) than the Drow, who I find little more than prissy annoyances and a terribly weak example of an 'evil' society. Basically, the obsessive fanboism surrounded them has inflated them far beyond their stature: The drow are one of the most supremely overrated villian groups in fantasy.

Rant aside, I agree with Umbran. While they seem to like the concept and want to revisit it, I hardly see this as a full on marketing blitz. Maybe they just want to talk about something new for a change? I'm pretty sick of drow, myself. (Though I'd like order several more servings of Githyanki/zerai, if anyone's in the kitchen). I don' think they'll ever get novels, either: Not when so many more books can be sold namedropping Drow or another D&D standard.

EDIT: Would also enjoy more yugoloths. Please facilitate this.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I wrote a blog entry about this three years ago. You guys might find it interesting.

I did find it fascinating. Thanks for the link.

Personally, I'm glad that WotC is trying to create another race of monsters with as much "sticking power" as the Drow have shown. What's wrong with them trying to create cool and useful monsters? Yes, they are trying to sell them to us, but that's the nature of the beast... so to speak.

 

[Darrin Drader]

What's wrong with them trying to create cool and useful monsters? Yes, they are trying to sell them to us, but that's the nature of the beast... so to speak.

Absolutely nothing. However, in determining which monsters to choose to populate settings and drop into adventures, they really should look to see what the fans are interested in. Cool monsters tend to rise to the surface because people demand to see them again. Uncool monsters are usually just forgotten. Now a Dragon article about a race happened because somebody thought that the race was interesting enough to do an article on them and made a pitch, which was accepted (assuming that this isn't one of those articles that originated from within Wizards and I haven't checked who the author is).

So yes, this is fundamentally a good thing. What isn't cool is when D&D starts getting overly polluted by a few monsters that one guy thinks are cool and everybody else hates because that one guy happens to work in WotC R&D. I don't think this is that situation. I just don't see the great appeal of the Shadar-Kai.

 

[hong]

Yeah, and that seldom works.

Anyone remember Desmondu? :\

Cheers, -- N

He was the best part of the D&D movie!

 

[Evilhalfling]

well Ive used Kaorti, Ethergaunts and Shari-kar

The etherguants got the least playing time, not sure if the players even saw them.
they had created a trap that would suck a single player into the ethereal realm, the players identified that it was a trap and avoided the bait.
I think their biggest problem is that they are too powerful, not a lot of ability to scale them.


The Shadri-kar were allies, from the plane of shadow, which fit really well in my homebrew.
The best was an NPC who was helping the PC elven druid, although the other elves acted incredibly bigoted and warned her against the S-K again and again. he was appointed was home sitter, and he did a fair job of it. Although she managed to avoid the more obvious problems, he eventually opened a hole into the shadow realm, in the middle of her grove. Mostly by refusing to believe what he was doing was wrong.
Not a bad sub-plot.

the Kaorti were the BBEGs of an entire campaign, seducing the PCs mentor into their ranks, and eventually only defeated by trapping the chairman underground for 1000 years, and creating a cyst destroying explosion, that left a 100' deep smoking crater. I think they managed to kill at least 2 PCs and a romantic interest. One PC was almost converted as well.
They win - hands down.

 

[Derro]

I wrote a blog entry about this three years ago. You guys might find it interesting.

Thanks Erik. That was quite interesting.

The yellow musk creeper is near and dear to me. In my early days of gaming it was central to an encounter that has stuck with me. It was the first time I ever felt real fear in a game and the creeper has been a staple for me ever since.

The original Fiend Folio always felt different than the other books. I still have two copies. The art was somehow grittier and more fantastic than the Monster Manual. With the exception of the flumph and the chaotic good tendencies of the booka and killmoulis there were no good creatures. And most of the creatures were weird, dangerous, and sometimes incredibly outlandish.

I don't know that I've ever used a Frostman or an Elemental Prince of Evil but I know I've used Dire Corbies (against my friend Corby no less) and Jermlaine and Tabaxi and Kenku and whatever the hell else.

I think your ethergaunt fits in with the original feeling of the Fiend Folio. Their alien physiognomy, overly mindful agenda of extermination, and psychogenic technology paints a memorable villain. I've always thought Doubt Bomb would be a great name for a band.

My only problem has been that they are too powerful for the usual levels I run my games at. But that's not really a fault.

 

[Soel]

Mine was the ethergaunt, which since it was mentioned twice already in this thread means it has now been discussed online a total of seven times. I'm not sure I succeeded in the challenge, is what I'm saying, but it's nice to see the mention.

Ethers are my favorite critter out of the FF. Haven't got to use them, as of yet, though a concept of one as a psychic far realms warlock has been kicking around my head for some time.

Still can't forgive you for the Century Worm...It's just dirty....

 

[Graf]

It's interesting, at least to me, to see where shadar kai and co. differ from the gith.

As EM pointed out: the gith were connected to an earlier monster, the mind flayer, and came as a set with another related and cool monster the githzerai.
But the gith attempts were completely disconnected from each other and existing monsters.
If ethergaunts and koatri were fighting for dominance in days of yore and one's return had summoned the other it would have raised the profile of both.

Also the 3e FF was a terrible book to do it in. Unlike oDnD 3e had vast hordes of monster books with "weird stuff" AND it was a stuck-in-the-middle transition book between 3.0 and 3.5.