[WOTC] Revised Corebooks for July confirmed with info

[thalmin]

Anyhoo, I hope they revise the CRs in the new MM. That would be worth the price of admission alone

That would be a bonus!

 

[Thorntangle]

Guess the changes time:

Half-orcs get Scent

Skill Focus is now +3

Tracking becomes a skill instead of a wonky feat.

Rangers get access to Tracking skill and bonus feats instead of TWF frontloading.

Monks may multiclass

AoO get Sage diagrams inserted

Shield/Tower Shield clarified

 

[Dagger75]

I am all for it as well. I am a WOTC addict and will buy all 3 books. I bought the 2nd 3rd Edition Star Wars book the day it came out and it was worth to me.

So in a few months we get have more rounds with different players on how Clerics got the shaft, Magic Missle is broken, and is skill focus a broken feat because every character has it. Ahhhh can't wait.

 

[Darkness]

They always were VERY plain spoken about the price increasing to around $30 in the future. They have already done so.

They are inreasing the size of the books and NOT increasing the price. The core books are still cheaper than the supplements, in terms of price per page...

Absolutely.

Also, good to see you on the boards, Gene!

- Darkness, now no longer just a "shadow of my former self"

 

[Assenpfeffer]

I don't understand the (few) negative reactions I've seen in this thread so far. Once these revised books come out, it's not like the ones you already own are going to burst into flame or something, forcing you to buy more. If you want the new books, buy them. If you don't want them, don't.

Some people just need to feel persecuted.

 

[Urbanmech]

I bet the bard is beefed up, the ranger and monk have more options for customization, haste is reduced in power, harm gets a save, and there's yet ANOTHER version of polymorph self.

Could it be that someone's group has been tapped for playtesting again? Or just well educated guesses by the cat with 3 legs?

 

[Tom Cashel]

10 Austrian cents (about .000000625 USaian dollars) says that harm STILL won't get a save.

That's because Harm doesn't NEED a save. That's your crazy house rule, Hong.

Who provided feedback and in what way? Another round of playtesting? Surveys? Word on the street?

And more importantly, who wrote the changes?

I'm wondering the same thing, since they recently laid off all their top designers in spectacular bullet-in-the-foot fashion.

But...I'm doing all right. Revised Core Books (at $30 a pop) are fine with me if the content is quality.

 

[JeffB]

Well here’s what I’d want (but I don’t necessarily have any real hope that I’ll get)

1) They already said new covers. I’m happy!
2) New art..especially for some of the monsters. For pete’s sakes, feed that poor displacer beast! And give us an Orc & Vampire I don’t chuckle at every time I see them!
3) Basically if the layout and formatting looks something like the RSWCB, I’ll be very happy. I thought the skill section was done particularly well in that book. The skill descriptions were much clearer, and also gave a fairly in-depth discussion of when the Take 10/20 mechanic applied for each skill. In addition, example DC’s are more clearly explained (and given a “rating”), and the Skill Synergy rule is improved.
4) For the new players, the introduction to the rules mechanics like the RSWCB had would be good.
5) Get rid of those horrid college rule lines! They give me a headache!
6) I’d like to see the ranger somewhat revised. Just so that class has more to look forward to after 1st level.
7) Either an official or more likely, a variant Item creation system that ties in with the XP/ECL/CR system so that individual DM’s don’t have so much guesswork when they run a campaign that differs from the core in how much or little magic is available. At the least some advice on doing so (other than the paragraph in the current DMG that does really nothing other than to say” things will change if you vary magic levels”..duh..thanx…)
8) The “actions” system needs to be cleaned up and explained more clearly. Again, SWRCB did a good job of this.
9) I’m not looking forward to the “miniatures” add-on, really but If the combat system overall is cleaned up and explained better (grappling, constriction, AoO’s,etc.), this will go a long way with convincing my group to keep playing 3E instead of playing through a module, then playing some other game for 6 months, playing a few sessions of 3E quitting again…etc.
10) This is totally just an aesthetic preference and has no bearing on the game really, but I would prefer a more classic look to the art and feel of the revised books vs. the dungeon-punk, bizarre look and feel of the current 3E books. But I’m not terribly hopeful for this (and I’m sure many others would disagree with me)

All I can think of for now.

 

[Psion]

Why not? Wasn't it always Wizards' intentions to revise the books after a while? It's not like Star Wars which was revised, what, a year after first printing? Even then, I'm glad they did it, as the revised book is so much superior to the original book.

Oh, I agree. But as to why not - look at the very recently released d20 modern. WotC has obviously decided that deviating as much from the core forumala was a bad idea. Despite the fact that VP/WP were widely clamored for and (IMO/E) clearly superior for modern games, WotC went the "most compatible" route. I would expect the deviations between revisions to be far less than what we see between 3e and d20 modern, which with the exception of the class structure, is precious few.

I expect the scope of these revisions to be about the scale of the "black cover" revisions in 2e, with some bonus material to drive more sales. Of course, I fear something worse, as we have been burned before.

 

[Tom Cashel]

I’m not looking forward to the “miniatures” add-on...

Speaking of this, do we have any more info on the Fall 2003 D&D Miniatures line? Will they stink like the current line, or be really cool...like Reaper?