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slydingdoor posted:TPK factory, what? It's a melee monster with 5 ft reach. If it tries to skirmish it'll be eating opp attacks, 2 with the right formation, which would also keep it from body splashing two people at once. It's not going to be able to beat half decent passive perceptions either, so it probably won't get surprise.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:36
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| # ? May 15, 2024 02:17 |
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ritorix posted:The monster manual is pretty gorgeous. And it has skeleton minotaurs and zombie beholders. I'm sure we can think of a use for those. Necromancers can raise zombies, right? Does the spell specify what kind of zombie?
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Aug 15, 2014 05:51
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WTF they didn't go with Beholder liches? Beholder zombies would anti-magic themselves.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:56
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I didn't say they don't have beholder liches.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:02
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MonsterEnvy posted:Not really. And I think the Empyrean may be a new monster. But MM1 3e and 4e did not really have anything new ether. Archons Also of note is that I'm pissed that Archons got cut.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:02
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ritorix posted:The monster manual is pretty gorgeous. And it has skeleton minotaurs and zombie beholders. I'm sure we can think of a use for those.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:05
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ritorix posted:I didn't say they don't have beholder liches. Ok that's good! It's a shame they're back to being TL;DR word-walls though.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:05
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The worst part of those huge word-salad statblocks is that they crowd out the art, which is legitimately the best part of Next so far.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:22
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Wall of words you dislike and monsters with spells you dislike. What do you like? Also ritorix you I am so jelous of you I have to wait till november while you get it nice and early.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:44
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That's almost legit though since the wall 'o' text is describing a bunch of semiunique random effects. It's better than having to cross-reference spells at least. If the MM doesn't include a bunch of condensed statblocks and things ima be real mad about having to write out Beholder Eyebeam Table Quick References my own self. I suspect being real mad is in my future.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:58
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MonsterEnvy posted:Wall of words you dislike and monsters with spells you dislike. What do you like? Skeletons.
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Aug 15, 2014 07:07
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Clear, concise stat blocks. Powers that show off the creature's unique traits in combat. Enough information to create adventure hooks without going into so much detail that the creature becomes overdefined. The Iron Kingdoms "Monsternomicon" books had a specific "Hooks" section for each monster that gave a lot of fantastic ideas for adventures. Let's go over the 2E Owlbear for fun! quote:Owlbears are probably the crossbred creation of a demented wizard; given the lethality of this creation, it is quite likely that the wizard who created them is no longer alive. Owlbears are vicious, ravenous, aggressive, and evil tempered at all times. quote:Owlbears are a cross between a giant owl and a bear. They are covered with a thick coat of feathers and fur, brown-black to yellow-brown in color. The 8-foot-tall males, which weigh between 1,300 and 1,500 pounds, are darker colored. The beaks of these creatures are yellow to ivory and their terrifying eyes are red-rimmed. Owlbears speak their own language, which consists of very loud screeches of varying length and pitch. quote:Combat: The owlbear attacks prey on sight, always fighting to the death (ignore morale rating for purposes of determining retreat). It attacks with its claws and snapping beak. If an owlbear scores a claw hit with a roll of 18 or better, it drags its victim into a hug, subsequently squeezing its opponent for 2-16 points of damage per round until either the victim or the owlbear is slain. The owlbear can also use its beak attack on victims caught in its grasp, but cannot use its claws. A single attempt at a bend bars/lift gates roll may be made to break from the grasp of an owlbear. Note that if the Armor Class of a victim is high enough that 18 is insufficient to hit, the hug is not effective and no damage is taken. quote:Habitat/Society: Owlbears inhabit the depths of tangled forests in temperate climes, as well as subterranean labyrinths, living in caves or hollow stumps. quote:Ecology: Owlbears have a lifespan of 20 years. They are warm-blooded mammals, but lay eggs. They prey on anything, from rabbits to bears, to trolls, to snakes and reptiles. Owlbears prefer temperate climates, but some thrive in subarctic environments. As a hybrid of two animals, one diurnal and the other nocturnal, they have an unusual active time, waking at noon, hunting animals active during the day, then hunting nocturnal creatures before going to sleep at midnight. Owlbears are active in the summer months and hibernate during the cold season. There are rumors of white arctic owlbears, a cross between arctic owls and polar bears, but no specimens have ever been captured. Preferred environment and activity cycle should really depend on the campaign, so that the DM can use the creatures wherever it fits best. This comes from someone who bought the 2E beholder and illithid books. It's fun to read, but who really cares? Plus, with everything so strictly defined, it seems an impediment to imagination, but that's just how my mind works. Making monsters more vague lets you use them in surprising ways. Also, 5E art seems to be pretty great so far. I liked the variety of quality and style in 2E and earlier. The 3E "dungeonpunk" look wasn't bad, but it didn't really click for me. 4E's art was probably the least attractive to me, with some exceptions.
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Aug 15, 2014 07:10
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MonsterEnvy posted:Not really. And I think the Empyrean may be a new monster. But MM1 3e and 4e did not really have anything new ether.
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Aug 15, 2014 07:59
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jigokuman posted:Plus, with everything so strictly defined, it seems an impediment to imagination, but that's just how my mind works. It's not just your mind, but 25 years of playing D&D has shown me that there are a hell of a lot of RPG players with no imagination whatsoever. That's the reason we have to hear about how 30% of orcs wear leather armor and carry spears, 25% wear hide and carry axes, 25% wear scale and carry shortswords, and the remaining 20% are DM's Choice. e: I can remember having this argument with some fucktard in the early 90s where he was telling me how I was doing it wrong because whatever monster wasn't listed as using whatever weapon I was describing it as using and the MM entry didn't say "DM's choice" as one of the options so it couldn't possibly be what I was saying it was and... yeah. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 08:00
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A Catastrophe posted:4e had heaps of new things in mm1. Archons, Drakes (iirc), Kruthik, Foulspawn, and of course, everything was new in 4e because the monsters could actually do poo poo. Kruthiks and Foulspawn are 3.5 monsters, not new ones.
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Aug 15, 2014 08:53
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How many thread titles have we gone through in the past week? 20?
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Aug 15, 2014 09:45
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Was the Flameskull new in 4e? It's not in the 3.5 mm1, but I didn't DM enough 3.x to have a good idea of what was new. I'm pretty sure 2e had the most new new monsters. Monstrous manual, 4 or 5 "annual compendiums", >20 setting specific "appendix" books (the ones that were the size of the "complete" books, not the pamphlets form the boxed sets), the pamphelts from the boxed sets, the extra stuff from the 5+ "Van Richten's" books, the few things form the <race> or <history> "complete" books, and the weird extras from things like the Conan books. e: the extras from the "monstrous arcana" books, too I guess? Actually, I'm no longer sure if there were D&D-based Conan books. I've found (online) references to a non-D&D Conan game by TSR, but I could have sworn there were actual 2e-based Conan-branded books too. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 10:01
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Why are Wizard's miniatures such garbage?
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Aug 15, 2014 10:09
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Made of PVC, which doesn't hold it's shape well at the best of times, let alone at such small scales. Plus the general molding is just very poor to begin with. Any miniatures worth their salt are either made of metal or resin. (although even Games Workshop fucks up resin molding, somehow)
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Aug 15, 2014 10:15
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The old miniatures were bad because how many coats of paint a figure would get was based on rarity. The most common figures had 2-3 colours applied broadly, making them look sloppy. Are the new miniatures bad too? fake edit: I have a large container of the old minis and I enjoy them unironically. Apple Mummy fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 10:18
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Yeah, I love my old 4e-era minis. Even though they don't stand up to close scrutiny, they're made of reasonably tough and bendy plastic so you can store them without any care at all and not get stuff like swords breaking off, and they have a "good enough" paintjob that they look OK on a battlemat. Also gently caress painting my own minis like so many games seem to think I want to. My only complaint is that they never sold them properly. gently caress booster packs where I might get a goblin. I need "encounter packs". Minions sold in multiples of four, standard monsters sold in multiples of five, elites in pairs, solos on their own. I was able to scour ebay to buy cheap mobs of skeletons, rogues, mace guys, and crossbow guys, though, and I got a ton of use out of those. Gort fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 10:30
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The biggest problem with WotC's miniatures has always been the hoops they make you jump through to get the set you want. They really, really wanted randomized miniatures and low-count themed packs to be a thing when what people really wanted was "kobolds, 25 assorted" or "evil wizard variety pack" or "bag full of zombies and skeletons."
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Aug 15, 2014 10:33
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The current batch are just bad because they partnered with Wizkids, and Wizkids makes bad miniatures.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:39
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Gort posted:I was able to scour ebay to buy cheap mobs of skeletons You know what you have to do now.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:40
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Pogs kinda work though - I quite like "minis for PCs, pogs for NPCs" - makes it super easy to tell goodies and baddies apart. Monster Vault had some pretty cool monster pogs, I particularly liked the rings you could add to medium/large monsters to make them large/huge versions, and the way you could flip a pog to show that it was bloodied. Pogs for medium sized monsters are a bit unclear from a distance though, they seem to work best for large monsters and up.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:41
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Affordable home printed 3d miniatures will fix all of this of course. We just need to wait for printing resolutions to get good enough.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:49
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And cheap enough. And the 3d models.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:51
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Gort posted:Pogs kinda work though A mob of Squiggys From Laverne and Shirley approaches, backed up by Alf, Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quiñones, and The Snorks.
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Aug 15, 2014 10:51
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How many skeletons do you need to defeat one of those big metal slammers in one round
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Aug 15, 2014 10:56
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Ixjuvin posted:How many skeletons do you need to defeat one of those big metal slammers in one round It depends, are the skeletons minis or pogs?
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Aug 15, 2014 10:58
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thespaceinvader posted:And cheap enough. And the 3d models. ABS is already dirt cheap. You could do unique minis for an entire campaign for $50. I'm sure some smart cabal of artists can make a character poser with a nice library of equipment in order to customise to your hearts content.
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Aug 15, 2014 11:27
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But how much does the printer cost...?
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Aug 15, 2014 11:33
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The new makerbot replicator is under $3000, but then that's what I meant about affordable home printing. Resolutions will go up, prices will come down.
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Aug 15, 2014 11:35
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Jack the Lad posted:You know what you have to do now. >Party comes up to the Liches tower >Hear thunderous footsteps >Put down a sheet of A1 >"A dense wall of skeletons approaches you..."
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Aug 15, 2014 12:01
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AlphaDog posted:It's not just your mind, but 25 years of playing D&D has shown me that there are a hell of a lot of RPG players with no imagination whatsoever. It seems like most of them hate actually playing a game and would rather just sit around reading the rule books by themselves. So clogging the books with bloated fluff, passages from godawful fantasy fiction, and tables to roll on for character traits & useless loot is a good business move.
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Aug 15, 2014 12:50
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ritorix posted:I didn't say they don't have beholder liches. That's weird. The petrification rays require a Dex save to avoid. So far so good. But then the secondary save to prevent petrification is also a Dex save? How? Do you leap out of the way of your own body or something? Does the ray keep orbiting you and try to poke you again next round to finish you off? Is it really that complicated to make it a Con save?
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Aug 15, 2014 12:56
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Sage Genesis posted:That's weird. The petrification rays require a Dex save to avoid. So far so good. But then the secondary save to prevent petrification is also a Dex save? How? Do you leap out of the way of your own body or something? Does the ray keep orbiting you and try to poke you again next round to finish you off? Is it really that complicated to make it a Con save? Don't question Dexterity, most powerful of stats. It laughs at Con and Str's puny attempts at greatness.
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Aug 15, 2014 13:10
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jigokuman posted:Plus, with everything so strictly defined, it seems an impediment to imagination, but that's just how my mind works. Making monsters more vague lets you use them in surprising ways.
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Aug 15, 2014 13:14
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Sage Genesis posted:That's weird. The petrification rays require a Dex save to avoid. So far so good. But then the secondary save to prevent petrification is also a Dex save? How? Do you leap out of the way of your own body or something? You wiggle vigorously.
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Aug 15, 2014 13:18
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| # ? May 15, 2024 02:17 |
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I stand corrected. All hail Dexterity, once and future God-Stat!
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Aug 15, 2014 13:20
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