Let's start with the good - everybody likes good, and there's a lot of it here.
Editorial: Well Erik, I do believe you've convinced me to take a good look at Wrath of the Dragon God. Matt had me pretty edgy about the whole thing; your comments were echoes of my thoughts.
Letters: I'm looking forward to the new format for Class Acts. It sounds like you're taking a good direction with this.
Monsters of the Mind: The Tentacular Terrors/Illithid Prestige Classes Sideboard was a really good idea, especially for those of us not in possession of Lords of Madness. Have more of these when you do creature features.
DoI - Zuggtmoy: Very nicely done. It has a real good balance of fluff and crunch. I was pleased that Zugg's Transformation ability applied a fluffed fiendish template instead of "another new fungus-fiend-creature" template. The "Thrall of" PrC is decent, not outstanding, but I believe the first to have a Plant apotheosis. The Hallucination sidebar is fun to read and has uses beyond Zuggtmoy... >:-D
Eternal Evil - The Lords of Dust: As an Eberron enthusiast, I can't help but feel biased toward this article. The art was very well done... Very well done. The fluff was beautifully detailed, and the crunch... well let's just say that's not all the players will be hearing when one of these guys starts hammering the party.
Ecology of the Shadar-Kai: I'd actually never heard of these fey before (and lack the book they're in), but their backstory sent ripples of new ideas through my mind. Keep including sample encounters; they're great for introducing the monster to a party.
Wormfood: Despite not being terribly useful to me (buying magic items in Eberron is covered in Sharn, which I do own), this article does have a few interesting NPCs that may see use in other games.
Class Acts - the Monk: The Metered Foot feats are intriguing, and though I'm not a fan of Monks in general, this gives me some ideas for more general feats.
There's other good stuff in there too, but that's what stood out in my mind.
Now then... on to the less positive criticism.
Twenty-four full-page and full-spread ads in this issue, taking up about a quarter of the magazine's pages... I haven't really looked at the other issues, but it just seemed like there were more full-page ads than usual this time. A lot of them were Wizards ads, too. Now, we've already got a section devoted to new stuff coming out for Wizards (First Watch), so why take up more space?
Eternal Evil - Lords of Dust: Just a bit of an odd one here: Kashtarhak is supposedly the Voice of Chaos, yet he's Lawful Evil? Keith, I've caught you on this one before... :-)
Ecology of the Shadar-Kai: I'd never heard of these fey before, so was curious as to their source. It would help a good deal if the book they're out of (unless it's the MM) is listed on the first page, instead of in a sidebar on the 5th. (Fiend Folio page 150, for those who can't find it)
Sage Advice:
Can you use polymorph to turn into a creature with a template?
Again, the rules don't explicitly prevent this...
Actually, they do.
Polymorph ... This spell functions like alter self, except that...
Alter Self ... You cannot take the form of any creature with a template, even if that template doesn't change the creature type or subtype.
So, no abusing polymorph and becoming half-red dragon half-blue dragon celestial half-celestial dire tigers just because they're the same HD as normal dire tigers. Shapechange doesn't change this rule, as far as I can see.
I don't see a problem with allowing some templates, but it's on a case by case basis; if polymorph templating is always allowed, it's open season for munchkins.
There were a few other things I disagreed with in the issue, but these were all the real complaints.
All in all, I was pleased with this issue. I'm planning on running the Temple of Elemental Evil at some point in the future, so information on Zuggtmoy was awesome. And an article on the Lords of Dust by Keith himself... heaven. The man can write beautiful articles (plus the art was eye candy in that one). I'll probably look into the Shadar-Kai more before I start another campaign, and if nothing else, Wormfood is turning out to be a great source for quirky NPCs.
Any other articles I didn't mention I either liked or didn't, but neither to the point of comment.
Monsters of the Mind: The Tentacular Terrors/Illithid Prestige Classes Sideboard was a really good idea, especially for those of us not in possession of Lords of Madness. Have more of these when you do creature features.
i do believe that was Shade's idea... and a good one it was. :) we like to be thorough.
Boz - you were one of the writers of that article? Very nice! :)
I jst want to add WOW!
One of my favorite issues to date.
Great Demonomicon article. Even if some are opposed to Zug's new looks, I think that it was a great choice. The sheer amount of info on each demon is great. At that rate though, there won't be many covered in the upcoming codex, but they'll be covered thoroughly at least. About time that plant (fungus) are getting their due!
Lords of Dust. Enough said. One of THE reasons I like Eberron so much. This article was fantastic. We are finally given some detail of the organization. More than that though, the article places certain fiends in the whole of Eberron and their inter-relationships. Anyone catch the bit at the end regarding the Age of Worms? Very cool.
Shadar-kai have been one of my favorite new monsters. The environment desperately need some more fey (especially nongood) and the FF and MM3 have been wonderful for that. I only wish that there could have been more info on these dark fey. Great job, but too short.
The "Monsters of the Mind" was really nice too. Haven't scoured this one yet, but both the artwork and monsters themselves are very cool. "You got your mindflayer on my dragon. You got your dragon in my mindflayer. Two great tastes... Ia Ia!" I think there is definately room IMC for some of these monsters.
The only depressing side of the issue was that the articles included 1 Jacobs, 1 Baker, 2 Decker (class act even!), and 1 Mona. The pros are taking over the business! :) I did say it was one of my favorite issues though.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the write up for Zuggtmouy and plan on using the Thrall of Zuggtmouy PrC, I was a little dissappointed at the haphazard approach to explaining the relationship with the Elder Elemental Eye, Tharizdun and the Eye of Fire symbolism from the original ToEE module. There's still some rather large holes in the connection between Monte's RttToEE and the original ToEE adventures. No one has really explained how Zuggtmoy got duped into creating a cult based on Elemental Evil and how it was really a worshipping of the Elder Elemental Eye/God or the reasons for the different symbols (triangle with inverted Y and actualy "eye of fire"). I know the real world reasons, but I still have no in-game explanations concrete enough to really make it beleivable.
I've created my own relationship but it involves the use of Ghaunadar, which is FR, as the third part of a triad that includes the Elder Elemental God/Eye and Tharizdun and Zuggtmoy being to Ghaunadar as Orcus is to Nerull. I've been tempted to use The Patient One (BoVD and LoM), too, but it seems extraneous. Sometimes I toy with having the Patient One as a psuedonym for Tharizdun.
Still, it'd be nice to see something official.
Boz - you were one of the writers of that article? Very nice! :)
yep! and we've got more in the works, too... tons of ideas have we, have we.
Creative Director
|
Zuggtmoy never got duped into forming an elemental cult; it was her idea. She formed the elemental cults as a cover for her own cult, and used the four elemental cults as her "public face" since it's hard to get a large group of fungus worshipers in most humanoid lands. The cultists of Tharizdun have little to no presence in this adventure. This takes care of the 1st Edition ToEE.
By the time RttToEE comes around in 3rd edition, Zuggtmoy's already escaped back to the Abyss and doesn't play a big part in the adventure at all, with the exception of area 9 in the Black Spire (page 135 of RttToEE). The Grand Altar contains a large amount of her essence, captured by the cultists of Tharizdun. These cultists constitute a much older cult than the cults of Elemental Evil. They had secret agents inside of Zuggtmoy's cult and likely had a hand in choosing the site they did back in the 1E days to build the Temple of Elemental Evil.
So basically, if you're running RttToEE, Zuggtmoy isn't really a factor at all. If you want to make her a factor, I suggest reworking the adventure entirely to replace Tharizdun entirely with her. If you want to use her AND Tharizdun, you'll need to do some work on building up reasons why they're all working together. Which, it appears, is what you've done.
In closing... since Zuggtmoy doesn't play much of a role at all in the 3rd Edition version of the adventure, I didn't really spend much time in the article talking about this version of the adventure, and instead focused on the 1st edition version.
James, I have to say that Zuggtmoy article was very good. The thought of the "Cradle of Zuggtmoy" really creeped me out. I'm going to spring that on my players soon; they'll freak! Thanks!!
James, a few notes from RttToEE.
While Tharizdun was imprisoned far away, he used powerful demon lords such as Zuggtmoy, Lolth, and Demogorgon as conduits to transfer power to his clerics. In some instances, the demon did not even know what was happening, while in others it believed itself to be the object of reverence by the worshiper in question. In days past, when Lareth the Beautiful commanded the moathouse (the outpost for the Temple of Elemental Evil), both Zuggtmoy and Lolth believed him to be their priest — when really he served none other than the Elder Elemental Eye (and Tharizdun).
...the clerics of Tharizdun were having much more success among the ranks of those serving Zuggtmoy (ironically, an enemy and competitor of Lolth). Not surprisingly, being the patron of fungi and mold, this demon had few worshipers among the surface-dwelling peoples. Tharizdun’s infiltrators among her clerical servants convinced her that a religion based on Elemental Evil would have more appeal than one dealing with her own mush-rooms and slime. Zuggtmoy appreciated the wisdom of this advice — each of the four elements would draw a different group of worshipers, and the elements’ competitive nature would hone the skills and power of the cult quickly.
So successful were these efforts that the infiltrators decided the Zuggtmoy-backed religion of Elemental Evil could also help recover some of the ancient shrines to Tharizdun, created by time-lost followers of the Dark God when it was still possible for them to operate in the open. The greatest of these places of power was located in the Kron Hills, buried deep under the earth for centuries. A few whispered suggestions later, the forces of Elemental Evil began erecting a grand temple directly over this ancient location of dark power. Zuggtmoy could sense the power in the area, but instead of being suspicious, she believed she could tap into and exploit it. She did not realize its real nature, nor that she in fact would be the conduit through which that power would once again be unleashed upon the world.
However, this isn't so much an issue for me anymore. I've been able to adapt the history to meet my needs.
As a sort of side encounter, I'm turning Tarren, the druid found in the fungi grove (Area 102 in the Crater Ridge Mines) into a Thrall of Zuggtmoy. I'm creating his background story to include him as a one-time member of the Elemental Cult. Basically, his true allegiance lies with Zuggtmoy, and as such, he has taken residence within the mines and hopes to supplant this newer incarnation of the cult of Elemental Evil and eventually free Zuggtmoy's trapped essence.
Thanks for all of the ideas presented in your article. It's really helped to round off the module and bring things back to a more complete full circle.
|
Well, I've finally read issue #337. I've been busy, so I had been letting it sit. Generally, I think it was a pretty solid issue. Still, I can't go long without working in a complaint.
First of all, I was happy to read in the letters that Class Acts will be getting an overhaul in January. I hope that the planned changes make an improvement to the feature. I will say that some class acts should still feature a single class. Warlocks need some new invocations, for example. While some class acts might work for multiple classes (druids, rangers barbarians, for instance) some are best when they're tightly focused. So, I think this will be better, but I'm sure it will only be better if the articles are specific.
Regarding the class acts in #337 particularly, I was very disappointed in the cleric spell list. I wasn't particularly fond of the first two installments. Obviously the first one might have been useful to new players (low level spells), but this last one just didn't offer enough advice. The best advice I think they offered was Spell Immunity, Greater versus sorcerers instead of wizards. Still, the cleric's divination abilities can make so much of their spell selection work. There is also a distinct difference between a "combat-heavy" cleric and one that fills a primarily healing role.
I personally found the article on mindflayer monsters to be good, but it seemed to drag. It was a lot of monsters. The same was true of the Zuggtmoy. By the end of the issue I felt like I had just seen too many creatures.
Otherwise, the magazine was solid. Good job.
I personally found the article on mindflayer monsters to be good, but it seemed to drag. It was a lot of monsters.
if you think that was long, about 1/3 of the monsters we submitted got cut from the article. ;)
Leave it to the Creature Crew to up the average monster count per issue. :p
i can't and won't apologize for that, and you know this. ;)
not including Zuggtmoy, her article included 3 monsters (2 fungi, one demon). including Zuggtmoy, between her article and MotM, you have 9 monsters.
this was an editorial decision, of course, and doesn't bother me in the least. :)
You monster haters are going to love #339, which features 14 monsters from "classic" campaign settings.
Heh.
--Erik
woohoo! :)
hmm, that may invalidate some queries i've submitted in recent months and some i had not yet submitted (depending on what's slated for the Camapaign Classics issue). :D
not that this is a problem - anyone else publishing conversions i would have done is fine by me. less work for me that way. ;)
You monster haters are going to love #339, which features 14 monsters from "classic" campaign settings.
Heh.
--Erik
It is amazing how much joy one sentence can bring. :)
You monster haters are going to love #339, which features 14 monsters from "classic" campaign settings.
Heh.
--Erik
"Classic" monsters.
::Drool::
GGG
You monster haters are going to love #339, which features 14 monsters from "classic" campaign settings.
Heh.
--Erik
Is the campestri among them? I want my singing 'shrooms!
you've been around at least as long as either of us has, IIRC. :)
Is the campestri among them? I want my singing 'shrooms!
it would have been funnier if they were in the zuggtmoy article. ;)
Wormfood: Despite not being terribly useful to me (buying magic items in Eberron is covered in Sharn, which I do own), this article does have a few interesting NPCs that may see use in other games.
If anyone is interested in an expansion of my shop, Maldin and Elenderi's shop of the arcane, first described in the Living Greyhawk Journal #2 and re-appearing in Dragon 337, I've put up on my website some additional information and a map you can show to players at http://melkot.com/locations/cogh/maldins.html
Keep an eye out for more City of Greyhawk information in the future.Denis, aka "Maldin"
==============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Eternal Evil - Lords of Dust: Just a bit of an odd one here: Kashtarhak is supposedly the Voice of Chaos, yet he's Lawful Evil? Keith, I've caught you on this one before...
You're being too literal, TK! Kashtarhak is called the Voice of Chaos because of what he does: he shatters empires and brings down kingdoms. He spreads chaos. But he himself has remained dedicated to his overlord for over a hundred thousand years, and his plans are careful and calculating, leaving as little as possible to chance. He may want to bring chaos to mortals, but it's not the force that drives his behavior.
|
Eternal Evil - Lords of Dust: Just a bit of an odd one here: Kashtarhak is supposedly the Voice of Chaos, yet he's Lawful Evil? Keith, I've caught you on this one before...You're being too literal, TK! Kashtarhak is called the Voice of Chaos because of what he does: he shatters empires and brings down kingdoms. He spreads chaos. But he himself has remained dedicated to his overlord for over a hundred thousand years, and his plans are careful and calculating, leaving as little as possible to chance. He may want to bring chaos to mortals, but it's not the force that drives his behavior.
And you make an excellent point Mr. Baker. One that, in my opinion, too often gets lost amid the more general arguments of good versus evil. Just because a character has a certain alignment descriptor applied to them (be it Good, Evil, Law, or Chaos) doesn't lock them into a certain way of behaving. A Chaotic Evil villain can be just as much of a rule-enforcing tyrant as one that is Lawful Evil. He can have a hierarchy of servants and henchmen, and well-planned, long-range schemes. Not every bit of evil he performs has to be spur of the moment and chaos inducing. On the flip side, as you show, a Lawful Evil badguy can be a force for Chaos in the world. He can destroy thousands of people, cause untold pain and suffering, and commit random acts of senseless violence.
You're being too literal, TK!
Yeah, I know... I was just ribbin' ya. It did make me do a double-take when I first looked at the stat block, but Voice of Chaos makes an awesome title for any character, regardless of alignment, and definitely makes sense for Kashtarhak.
On a mildly related note, wouldn't a rajah psion/thrallherd just rock?
Any more hints on what monsters those will be other than animus and xvart? (iirc animus was already in an LGJ right?)You monster haters are going to love #339, which features 14 monsters from "classic" campaign settings.
Heh.
--Erik
i don't know about the animus, but the xvart sure was.
well, hang tight... some subscribers should be getting issue #339 in about three weeks, so they can inform the rest of us. ;)
Ecology of the Shadar-Kai: I'd actually never heard of these fey before (and lack the book they're in), but their backstory sent ripples of new ideas through my mind. Keep including sample encounters; they're great for introducing the monster to a party.
Was there a sample encounter with Shadar-Kai in the Ecology article? Did I miss it somewhere, or are you referring to the explanation of their ambush tactics?
I just got around to reading the Ecology of the Shadar-kai now, and WOW! So great! Props to Jesse Decker, and to Peter Bergting (the art was awesometastic).
-Amber S.