WotC has a milking machine now (Draconomicon I)

[Stormtalon]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Business plans on fire in the halls of GenCon. I watched polyhedrons glitter in the dark in a rundown warehouse. All those moments are lost in secrecy, like tears in rain …

Oh, very nice indeed, Mister Maggan the d20Replicant....

 

[Rechan]

I wonder if there was an outcry during the whole "Fiendish Codex I and II". That was fairly milking - splitting Demons and Devils in their own book.

 

[Derren]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Business plans on fire in the halls of GenCon. I watched polyhedrons glitter in the dark in a rundown warehouse. All those moments are lost in secrecy, like tears in rain …

Pff. You Noob*


@Hussar
Of course you can always arbitrarily add/remove/change the powers of a monster, but unlike in 3E you will not have to customize them before you can use them. They will have a fixed statblock like a ogre in the 3E MM. No "choose 5" options like ghosts or the total customization like dragons had in 3E.
So it makes no sense to print sample dragons in the 4E Draconomicon as those would simply be the one from the MM. What the book can do is to include variant rules for dragons (see Dragon magic). But when you fill two books with variant rules you do not have streamlined monsters (no problem) and its likely that you will end up with some overpowered abilities unless WotC starts to test their splatbooks.


*Not an insult. its an online comic .

 

[Hussar]

Pff. You Noob*


@Hussar
Of course you can always arbitrarily add/remove/change the powers of a monster, but unlike in 3E you will not have to customize them before you can use them. They will have a fixed statblock like a ogre in the 3E MM. No "choose 5" options like ghosts or the total customization like dragons had in 3E.

What Monster Manual do you have? Mine doesn't have totally customizable dragons. The only customization you can do with dragons in 3.5 is with spells. After that, you're into adding class levels or templates, nothing that is limited or particularly suited to dragons.

Ghost is a template. Last time I looked in the Monster Manual, Dragon wasn't.

So it makes no sense to print sample dragons in the 4E Draconomicon as those would simply be the one from the MM. What the book can do is to include variant rules for dragons (see Dragon magic). But when you fill two books with variant rules you do not have streamlined monsters (no problem) and its likely that you will end up with some overpowered abilities unless WotC starts to test their splatbooks.


*Not an insult. its an online comic .

Umm, no? You have the basic chasis - Black Dragon - a solo monster. You cross reference solo monster with the expected xp value of the encounter and that gives you a list of suggested abilities and/or add ons you can modify that basic chasis with.

Granted, this is no different than what we've been told you can do with EVERY MONSTER in 4e, but, stat blocks in a Dragonomicon would have those abilities already figured out. Then again, considering you can put the stats of an adult black dragon on a 3x5 index card, filling books with stat blocks isn't going to work so well. However, filling books with adventure locations tied to specific dragons would be ever so coo.... erm.... jammy.

 

[Derren]

Umm, no? You have the basic chasis - Black Dragon - a solo monster. You cross reference solo monster with the expected xp value of the encounter and that gives you a list of suggested abilities and/or add ons you can modify that basic chasis with.

Are you a playtester and know this for sure? Because all the stat blocks we have seen so far do not have this sort of flexibility. They have fixed statblocks with fixed abilities. And dragons are supposed to be the same. Several dragons of each type (for different levels) with fixed abilities. (e.g. Black Dragons lvl 16 -> Acid Breath, Acid Aura, Earthshaker, Weakining gaze). No "suggested list" unless you assume that the whole MM is just a big suggestion.

 

[hong]

No "suggested list" unless you assume that the whole MM is just a big suggestion.

 

[Shroomy]

Ari, congrats on your first 4e assignment. Between you, Rob Schwalb, and Bruce Cordell, I'm really looking forward to this supplement.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ari, congrats on your first 4e assignment. Between you, Rob Schwalb, and Bruce Cordell, I'm really looking forward to this supplement.

Thanks.

Definitely not an easy book to write, as my first 4E gig, but I think the end result is pretty nifty.

 

[Shroomy]

Thanks.

Definitely not an easy book to write, as my first 4E gig, but I think the end result is pretty nifty.

I hope you at least got some milk!

 

[Mouseferatu]

I hope you at least got some milk!

They offered, but I'm pretty severely lactose intolerant.