NeoPhalanx's page

I agree with you as well. 8HD/level sounds quite nice. However, once you hit level 8 you'll run into one of several problems.

You decide to stick with the 8HD/level. Your player reaches Level 8 and get to animate a number of zombies/skeletons with a total HD that cannot exceed the characters level. This gimps the Specialist Power granted. At lvl 8, with the specialists power, you can command up to 64HD worth of undead. However, the lvl 8 ability says you cannot control any zombies/skeletons past 8HD (current lvl).

- What to do with the other 56HD worth of undead I can control?

- Are they saying you can only have a fixed number of zombie/skeletons (the weakest in the undead food chain)..but you can have any amount of stronger ones that doesnt exceed the leftover HD?

They need to either fix the granted ability, or fix the ability given at lvl 8. Theres too much room to abuse this, as for one example I gave in my original post.

The specialist bonus states:

You can control up to 8HD of undead per caster level.

And, the 8th level ability states:

Animate: You can animate a number of skeletons and zombies per day with a total number of HD equal to your caster level.

I foresee some gross misuse of these two abilities when combined. Are they mutualy exclusive to each other? Are they separate in their own accord? Can you summon 8HD worth of zombies/skeletons, cast raise dead and control up to another 64HD worth of zombies/skeletons... all at lvl 8?

That would be a total of 72 zombies/skeletons, assuming they were the normal medium size variety. Now what would a Wizard(Necromancy)10/Cleric(Evil Deity)10 be able to conjure, bolster, and throw at someone. Talk about a one man army here.

I hope that maybe Ive just understood something wrong, or missed a vital clue of information, but to me this looks...well, highly exciting as a player...and an utter sense of dread as a DM.

First Impressions, Fan-freaking-tastic!

Then I sat down and read the whole thing. Yes, there are tweaks to be made, and I leave those to the masses already posting.

My question is this:

I leave for Iraq in roughly 3 weeks. I have already gathered my materials and group together to run Rise of the Runelords while we're there. I would love the chance to playtest this, seeing as we will have little else to do in our spare time. Whats the timeline schedule look like for a more complete Alpha version release? I'll have some internet access to hopefully keep up to date with the releases, and hopefully the beta in August. I'd really like to take a crack at the alpha though and run it through my group of creative, and (often to my detriment) innovative players. So, is there any loose "schedule" that will see further tidbits tossed at us prior to the Beta release?

Id also like some of the love. simply_dave2005@yahoo.com

These will be great for when i take this campaign to the big sandbox over the sea.

So, basically all the AP info from Dungeon, with a sprinkle of detail and mechanics from Dragon and a dash of fluff that both issues pump out to make a better game. So, in essence, its both mags mashed together into one meaty book, without the distractions of ads and the ramblings of the staff? heheh j/k you guys rock.

Since, sadly, Dungeon and Dragon is no longer going to be published, I am eagerly looking forward to this subscription as a way to feed my players when we head back over to the big sandbox. Having quick and easily accessible guides and products like this is what made me subscribe to D&D way back when. Im sure that this will have the same great attention to detail and fun-factor as past products were.