I have combined the DNA of the worlds most evil animals...

Humans have been in the Monster Manual in every version of Dungeons & Dragons.  The problem is that the entry was pretty useless.  It was basically a reprint of the information you already had from the Player's Handbook.  But it really didn't add any value.  I cannot recall a single case of a DM saying, "So, you are going to attack the city guards unprovoked?  Let me look them up in the Monster Manual!"

Rather, when the characters unexpectedly found themselves in conflict with other humans the DM tended to use one of a few, limited options:

• Grab one of the NPC's by level and class in the DMG.  This rarely worked very well, but at least you had some basic stat blocks to throw at the characters.
• Pick some stat block from an issue of Dungeon, an old module, or a sample character from another source like a complete book.  This tended to work a little better, but was clunky.
• Wing it!

The funny thing is that most of the time you were better off winging it!  If you did plan an encounter that included a bunch of human opponents you had to go through the trouble of, basically, rolling up a bunch of characters and leveling them as you saw fit.  If you were a conscientious DM, you would remember that there were "non-heroic" NPC classes in the DMG that were supposed to represent 95% of the human population, but really, how many DM's used them?  Heck, how many official WOTC modules did?

One of the best non-WOTC d20 supplements I ever bought addressed this very issue.  It was published by Ambient Publications and was called "Everyone Else".  It was filled with quick, ready to use stat blocks for Bartenders, Dockworkers, and the like.  Made things easy for those unexpected brawls.  Still, there had to be a better way than to have a whole supplement devoted to Art Dealers and Courtesans, right?

This is why I greet the fact that the D&D 4th Ed Monster Manual has embraced the concept that most humans are treated as monsters (i.e., without fully fleshed out character write ups) with unabashed pleasure.  I had the pleasure of using some of the new "monster" humans when I was running H1.  The group had to fight several "Human Rabble".  Because they were just intended to harass the group rather than be a credible threat they were written as Minions (a class of monster) who got some bonuses when adjacent to other "Human Rabble".

While they really didn't get too much of a chance to show off their powers at the session, I could see how great they would work as a standard "angry mob" of villagers.  Individually weak, but powerful as a group, they would get the concept of "mob" across more effectively than 20 3rd Ed D&D "commoners" ever would... and were a whole lot less complex to put together.

Similarly, "monster" berserkers, wizards, and the like should make fine opponents when you have to throw some disposable bodies at the party.  Sure they may lack some of the depth of fully written up NPC's, but you can still do that when you need to.  And to be honest, half the time DM's (like me) would be doing something like this anyway when we needed a quick NPC opponent for the party.

Plus, it is great to finally have the greatest monster get the write-up in the Monster Manual it deserves!

Betcha didn't see that one coming, did ya?

The high cost of living (and rituals) in 4th Edition D&D

Ever since they were first announced, I have been curious about rituals in Dungeons & Dragons 4^th Edition. There are a couple of reasons why rituals interested me. One reason is that I have always been a big fan of the feel of ritual magic in other role-playing games. Perhaps most importantly though is that rituals were setup to fix some of the most pernicious problems in D&D, namely ridiculously powerful or long duration magic, the creation of magic items, and the raising of the dead.

So it shouldn't be surprising that when they first announced that the May 28^th "Excerpt" would be devoted to rituals that I was excited.

Having read the excerpt I have mixed feelings. I do feel that rituals will help balance the use of powerful magic in the game. That being said, in many ways rituals seem more derivative than innovative.

Basically, many of the old long term or powerful utility spells have been moved off the spell list and on to the ritual list. Becoming a ritual means a few things for these spells:

• They have much longer casting times. The main byproduct of this is that they can no longer be cast in combat. While this might cut off some uses of these powers, like the ability to teleport the party out of a tense situation, for the vast majority of spells it will not be a substantive change. Characters are rarely scrying, curing disease, or raising the dead in the middle of combat anyway.
• They all must be cast out of a ritual book or off of a ritual scroll. Functionally, this does limit the caster, sort of like a cross between a Wizard's Spell Book and the 3^rd Edition Spell Component Pouch.
• They all will have a material component cost. Once again, this will have the effect of limiting how often you can cast these powerful spells. This isn't that big of a change because many of these spells already had material components. Still, the concept of standardizing out these components is probably a good thing.
• There is a skill roll involved in many rituals. This is actually pretty new, if somewhat similar to the way that epic spells were handled. Still, it will give casters a reason to have high levels in certain skills, namely Arcana, Religion, or Nature and add an element of suspense.

Rituals are also how you create magic items in 4^th Edition. We still don't know much about how this works, but the list of the first ten levels of rituals provides a couple of clues. Namely the two rituals called "Enchant Magic Item" and "Brew Potion" on the list. In another case of "Reversing Innovation", this sounds an awful lot like earlier editions of the game which had an "Enchant Item" spell.

The main thing this tells me is that the main inhibitor on assembly line magic item creation is going to return to being monetary limitations rather than XP cost or some other factor. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I was hoping to see a new approach.

Finally, while it was touched on under powerful spells, rituals are how you bring back the dead. In this case we got to see the Raise Dead ritual in its entirety, so I can comment on it pretty fully.

I was surprised to find out that Raise Dead is only an 8^th level ritual, which in the new edition means it can be cast by an 8^th level caster. They upped the casting time to 8 hours, which seems reasonable to me. In fact, I have been a proponent of that since I first saw that modification in Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved Campaign Setting.

The penalty for coming back from the dead is pretty mild: a -1 to all attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws, and ability checks until the character reaches three milestones (usually 6 encounters). Humorously, this resembles a house rule that I (and some other DM's in my regular gaming group) experimented with.

Perhaps most interesting is that it costs more to raise higher level characters than lower level characters due to death being unwilling to "release its hold". Bringing back a heroic tier character can be done for the bargain price of 500 GP! Paragon tier characters are a bit pricier at 5,000 GP. Epic tier characters cost a whopping 50,000 GP to bring back. Basically it's a case where the more you have, the more death takes.

I guess death is a little like the IRS.  Except without tax shelters.

Official Game Recap for the May 24th session up at Lords of Tyr

This is just a quick post to let everyone know the game recap for the May 24th D&D session is up at Lords of Tyr, along with the uStream Video (as always). 

The recap summarizes last session's run through the first part of module H1: Keep on the Shadowfell.  So if you are planning on attending the special D&D Worldwide Gameday session and missed the last session, it might be a good idea to read up on it.

On the other hand, if you are not part of our gaming group and want to avoid spoilers about H1: Keep on the Shadowfell, maybe you should avoid it!

Random Review: H1 - Keep on the Shadowfell

Module H1: Keep on the Shadowfell is the first 4th Edition D&D product to hit the stands, coming out two weeks before the core rulebooks do.  As a result, it has the burden of not only being a good module, but to be an ambassador of 4th Edition to the gaming world.  This module is the first experience most people will have with 4th Edition.  If it's a bad experience, 4th Edition will be a tough sell.  Thankfully, H1 is (mostly) successful on all of these fronts.

Physically, the product design is interesting.  Rather than a book proper, it is more of a Trapper Keeper style design.  Inside the folder is a 16-page "Quick-Start Rules" booklet,  an 80-page "Adventure Book", and 3 double-sided poster maps.  At first I wasn't so sure about the format, but I have become a convert since learning how easy it was to keep the module, maps, and my own adventure notes together.  Now I am hoping this will be the new module format for 4th Edition!

As for the content, the "Quick-Start Rules" contains some rules explaining the basics of the new edition and five playable characters.  The rules section is pretty sparse; with only six pages, it really doesn't contain any more than you need to run the module.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting peek into the new rules.  The five pre-generated characters round out the remaining ten pages.  They include a dwarf fighter, a halfling rogue, a human wizard, a half-elf cleric and a dragonborn paladin.  All of them include level up information up to third level.  The individual powers are described in full detail on the sheets, making them pretty easy to just grab them and run with minimal instruction on the new rules.  Seeing them in action they seem to be a pretty well-rounded bunch, and everyone got a chance to shine at the game table.

The "Adventure Book" devotes the first 15 pages to a (slightly) more comprehensive set of quick-start rules intended for the Dungeon Master.  The remainder of the book is devoted to the module itself.  The adventure itself has a serviceable if slightly stereotypical plot.  However the main point of it seems to be to show off the new combat system.  The designers obviously tried hard to grab a pretty diverse group of monsters to throw at the party.  Since a large part of this module is to "show off" some of the new features of 4th Edition D&D, I think this was probably a wise choice.  My only complaint is that it did not include a little more in the way of skill challenges and the new social encounter rules for the players to deal with.  That would probably of pushed the page count over the edge though.

As for how it acts as an "ambassador" to the new rules... I can only say that for my group it did great!  Everyone seemed to have a good time at the table, even some of the players who were not looking forward to 4th Edition.  After running the module, everyone in my group seems willing to give 4th Edition a chance.  Which is really all you can ask for.

Coming soon, either here or on Lords of Tyr, will be the recap of what happen when I ran H1 for my regular gaming group.

Its been awhile since I posted...

and I want to apologize.  My inattentiveness to my blogging responsibilities is due to three unrelated causes:

My unexplainable addiction to GTA IV.  I have never actually played any of the previous installments, but this one has really grabbed me.  The storyline is very interesting and the open ended gaming is fantastic.

It amazes me that you can watch (fake) TV or surf the (fake) Internet in this game.  Personally, I enjoy playing pool in the game.  Using Grand Theft Auto IV as a pool simulation game seem like a bit of a waste, but hey what can I say.

Luckily my wife is around to go on all the crazy shoot 'em  up missions, visit strip clubs, and run over hookers to get her money back after utilizing their services.

 

Another time-sucker has been the new Age of Conan Hyborean: Adventures MMORPG.  My wife was a long time City of Heroes player, but recently the game has lost some of its appeal to her.  So she made the jump to this new game, taking me along with her.

I can't say that I am sorry to make the switch.  The graphics are beautiful and the game play is quick.  It is obviously in the early stages as the interface can be a bit quirky, and you can run into problems like ending up in a different instance from the rest of your group pretty easily.

Of course, Conan is differentiating itself from Everquest, World of Warcraft, and the like by its Mature rating.  This basically means more spraying blood and the occasional naked breast in the game.  None of this matters to me, but by the same token none of it offends me either.  At least I no longer worry about my wife's foul mouth corrupting some twelve year-old kid when she is playing this game.

Perhaps the biggest reason I haven't posted as much recently is that my work schedule has changed to second shift for a couple of weeks.  Which has really thrown my available free time into chaos while I adjust. 

(On the plus side, the ability to sleep in has really helped me catch up on my sleep, even if I am getting to bed later than ever).

Well, enough excuses!  I promise to be back on track shortly, so expect more updates soon!

Abstracting Loot

Wizards of the Coast posted a very interesting excerpt today on the new Economy & Reward system in 4th Edition D&D.  It is a change that will infuriate certain players and delight certain Dungeon Masters (and visa-versa).

Basically, D&D has given up even attempting to simulate a realistic economy.  This probably makes a lot of sense.  After all, there are a million different expenses that PC's should have that they don't have to worry about.  Unless it's a plot point for a specific adventure, they never have to buy new clothes, repair their weapons and armor, worry about most meals, pay taxes, etc.  This is for the best, after all what DM has time to keep track of all of this?

Previous editions would use the concept of "upkeep" to account for these miscellaneous expenses.  Upkeep was a monthly amount of gold that was automatically deducted from the characters to represent these expenses.  The problem is, this rule was a pain to keep track of and was almost never used.  I used it in some of my 1st & 2nd Edition games, but once it became (officially) optional in 3rd Edition, I dropped it and never looked back.

4th Edition D&D has dropped the idea of attempting to simulate an economy entirely.  They recognize that gold and magic items in D&D are a reward system for heroic adventuring, and not intended to turn the PC's into penny pinchers who haggle with merchants over the price of every chain shirt found in the dungeon.

Under the new paradigm, the DM is encouraged to divide the gold and magic items the PC's will acquire during the course of a level into "bundles".  These bundles are then divvied up among the various monsters, hazards, etc that the PC's encounter during the course of adventuring.

The bundles are considered the "notable" treasure recovered after the encounter.  In other words, if you defeat a group of orcs and gather the loot, the DM is not going to list every axe, spear, suit of leather armor, pouch, and pair of boots among the treasure.  Instead, he will only list the notable items: perhaps a masterwork sword, 20 gold pieces, and a potion.  The rest will be assumed to be generally unusable, beneath the notice of the characters, or not worth anything in resale.

This is designed to allow the DM a lot tighter control over the loot entering the campaign.  The DM doesn't have to figure in the value of every +1 rapier he gives to drow elf raiding party any more than he needs to determine the "value" of an owlbear's beak and claws.  If the +1 rapiers would just be carted off and sold anyway, they can just fade into the background.  It can be assumed that the PC's either ignore them, realize they would have too much trouble selling them, or even just assumed to be sold in the background and subsumed into the gold awarded for the encounter (i.e., the PC's didn't actually find 500 GP on the drow, that's just what they were later able to sell some of the rapiers for).

This is bound to drive some people crazy.  If diagonal movement can whip gamers into a frenzy, I hesitate to think what this will do to them!

As to my opinion, well I think I like it, but I also think it will be a hard sell.  Frankly, being a treasure pack rat is pretty ingrained in D&D players.  I am pretty sure that many players will see this abstraction as an attempt by the DM to keep them from getting "what they having coming to them".

In reality though, I think it may actually increase the quality, if not the quantity, of magical treasure that DM's give out.  One reason is that if is done correctly, it will help DM's keep better track of what is out there.  Since many DM's lose track of exactly what magic items the party has, they tend to be conservative with what treasure they put out there.  This should help alleviate the anxiety that they are giving too much.

Another advantage is that it should actually help offset the inadvertent loss of treasure.  To many times, I have seen cases where players will notate a list of items like "ten +1 rapiers, 4 suits of masterwork chain, one fine cloak", only to completely forget about them next session once the action starts.  This is natural.  After all, we are playing Dungeons & Dragon's, not Merchants and Misanthropes!  We aren't turning up at gaming sessions saying "Man, I really hope I get a chance to haggle with that merchant in town tonight!"

Still, everyone wants to get that cool magic item.  They can recount when their paladin got his first Holy Avenger +5 or when their wizard crafted his first Staff of the Power.  Hopefully the new system will encourage these moments without the needless book keeping.

The 4th Edition Player's Handbook?

I thought I was impatient for the 4th Edition Player's Handbook to arrive. 

While looking for D&D 4th Edition artwork, I stumbled across a website where they have cobbled together a 4th Edition Player's Handbook from all the rumors and previews about the D&D 4th Edition.  While I have seen most of it before, seeing it all compiled does give a much more complete picture of what the game will probably be like.

Obviously everything is not going to be the same as the final product.  I also wonder about the accuracy of some of the information, especially the Leveling Up chart.  It seems to have a lot of dead levels (i.e., levels where you only advance in BAB/HP/Saves), which is something the designer's have repeatedly stated they were trying to avoid in the new edition.

Nevertheless, if you don't mind spoilers, check out the Player's Pre-4th Edition Player's Handbook.