Amal Ulric's page

Alright, so I got my Gargantuan Black Dragon (henceforth referred to as GBD), now what? I'd really like to see some genuine suggestions for a 500-point dragonslayer warband. I'm leaning a bit toward an Aspect of Moradin all-dwarf team, but they might be too slow to engage. If you're so inspired, post your warband from whatever faction and include a battle report. I'd like to sample everyone's tactics and hear how they worked. Don't feel that you have to be a tactical genius to post, just tell us what you used, what happened, and how it went. Thanks!

So the other day I bought a Wardrums starter set and 2 boosters. I got:
2 Axe Soldiers
1 Combat Medic
2 Sacred Watchers
1 Sand Giant
2 Shieldwall Soldiers
1 Warforged Bodyguard
1 Warforged Scout (or as I call it, the 'Bionic Halfling)
1 Warpriest of Moradin
2 Hunting Cougars
1 Lion of Talisid
2 Wood Elf Rangers
1 Hobgoblin Archer
1 Blood Ghost Berserker
1 Chimera
1 Derro
2 Howling Orcs
2 Orc Maulers
2 Quaggoth Slaves
1 Tiefling Blademaster
1 Warduke
All-in-all, a decent haul. 3 commanders, 1 epic mini, the best LG haul I've ever gotten from a random assortment, and 4 orcs. Now lets discuss the nuts and bolts. Most of the minis' stats seem straighforward enough, though the Axe Soldier's Squad Activation seems a little strange to me. I really like the Shieldwall Soldier, and I look forward to fielding a lot of them. I wish they were a little more expensive, and hence more useful in an 8-creature warband, but 'oh well.' I thought that the sculpt for the Hunting Cougar is a little strange. I think the body is too short, so it looks 'kittenish.' I'm pretty disappointed with the Lion of Talisid. The artwork from Book of Exalted Deeds is great. The mini is uninspiring. The weapon is malformed, his head is thrust forward in a strange position, and cloak (which should have been incredible) has the same paint treatment as the armor. The Hobgoblin Archer is decent overall, but the arrow he's clutching in his left hand is only the size of a dart. The chimera is great! Great sculpt, nice paintjob, excellent figure. The Howling Orc is a good mini; it has a LotR feel to it, but one of mine does have some molding issues around the head of the weapon. The Orc Mauler looks a little like a werewolf to me, but I like his stance and the sculpt is good.
Finally, I'd like to talk about Warduke. The stats for both versions are intimidating, the artwork on the card is excellent, and the miniature sucks. The paint is not up to the level I expect from a Rare miniature, and the sculpt is... just odd. His sword looks like a toy/letter opener that he's using to clean his right boot. He apparently has no head, only a teeny-tiny helmet stuck over the stump of his neck, and the eyes glaring out of that helmet are so close together that he can't have any meaningful depth perception. For such a hyped figure, I'm quite disappointed.
Please feel free to add your thoughts on these and other minis.

So, I was reviewing an NPC prior to adding it to Lilith's online stat block bank (plug, plug), and I realized that there are 1 or 2 major differences in the two versions of the bladesinger prestige class. The older (3.0) version appears in FR: Races of Faerun. The newer (3.5) appears in Complete Warrior. The requirements for entry are basically identical (a few skill ranks difference here or there), the skills, base attack bonus, and saving throws are all the same, but the class features and spellcasting have been substantially reworked. It would seem that the older version is substantially more powerful, and I like it better. I think the spellcasting of the newer version is much too weak to be very useful, and I don't really see any reason to use the newer one. Does anyone have anything to add?

Hey, y'all...

I just bought the Waterdeep: City of Splendors supplement, and I've been flipping through it. It makes several references to something called "Halaster's Higharvestide." Now, I'm fairly new to the Realms (though I *do* know who Halaster is), so could someone fill me in? What is/was Higharvestide, and where can I find more info? And when did WotC decide to stop indexing their products?

Thanks.