Gaming Tonic
First Post
D&D Next and what that means for divine classes gets a lot of digital ink this week. Backgrounds and Themes for the next edition are also discussed again. We also receive something for Eberron and Undermountain. The fans are chomping at the bit for any D&D Next news and the forums here at EN World have been busy. Make sure you go and get involved in the conversation.- Mike Mearls opens up a little about Cleric Design Goals in Legends and Lore this week. I think that the cleric is one of the most important classes to the game and am glad to see that so much thought is being put into the class. The fans have a lot to say about it as well and are talking about it here.
[*]Monte Cook offers up Paladin vs. Cleric: Fight! because this topic really needed some discussing. The paladin should be it's own class and has been outlined in previous editions fairly well. Some were overpowered but that is just because nobody ever actually rolled one. Several polls at the end are rather interesting in their results. EN World readers are talking about this here.
[*]Trobriand's Machinations by Philippe-Antoine Ménard gives you more baddies to throw at adventurers in Halaster's Halls. This time constructs are the focus and Undermountain becomes even more challenging for your players. Throw something at them that they haven't seen before, they will appreciate it.
[*]Kitchen Sinks and Frying Pans by Chris Perkins in The Dungeon Master Experience is much more interesting than the title would suggest. Chris talks about setting encounter levels and knowing what is a challenge and what is a TPK. I always liked in earlier editions of D&D that you never knew if what was behind the door was a challenge or certain death.
[*]Backgrounds and Themes: A Closer Look by Robert Schwalb revisits the earlier topic and expands on the tidbits of info that readers were given there. I love themes and wish 4th Edition would have started with them. I am happy that D&D Next is including them from the beginning and have been impressed by what I have seen of them so far. EN World readers are talking about this article here.
[*]Rule of Three by Rodney Thompson answers three questions about the modularity of D&D Next and which components we may find in the initial release, weapons and exotic weapons, and combat and non-combat abilities. We don’t get much in the way of a solid answer here except for that the folks at Wizards of the Coast are still designing the rules. I wonder if they will answer any more 4th Edition questions, or if any gamers are even asking them anymore.
[*]The Side Trek, Death and Taxes by Aeryn Rudel is one of the more interesting side trek style adventures I have seen in a long time. It inserts perfectly into a game anytime your party is travelling down the road. I hope we see more short encounters designed like this instead of being a detour to the current story.
[*]The Blog: Monstrous Musings by Tom LaPille examines how monster descriptions have been handled and what would be the ultimate goal going forward in the balance between mechanics and flavor text. I agree with keeping the amount of mechanics to a minimum in order for the DM to easily track the combats but the flavor text powers are what really separate one monster from another. I don’t know where I stand just yet on adding classes to monsters as a way to increase their encounter level.
[*]The Bloodsail Principality by Keith Baker in Eye on Eberron introduces some mean elves who you don't want to cross sails and swords with. There is even a section included in case one of your players wants to play a Bloodsail. Eberron is really just too cool to be ignored so I am happy anytime I get new material. The fact that this material is good is a bonus.
[*]Matt Sernett continues Building the Halls of Undermountain in Design & Development. Matt explains how the final product differed from what he had originally envisioned and why it was necessary for the Halls of Undermountain to undergo those changes.
[*]It’s Elemental is the theme in D&D Alumni by James Maliszewski this week. James gives us an in-depth look at the history of the elemental going all the way back to 1974. Lots of great source material is highlighted if you want to go check out some of the sources for yourself. I think over the course of my role-playing years more elementals have been battled than dragons.
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