4E Spoilers - Spoilers, Rumours and Teasers for 4th Edition D&D

Shardmind Picture

2010-02-26T12:55:00.001-04:00

Because some people haven't see it, from Dragon #377 page 74:

Indefinite Hiatus

2009-12-30T00:41:00.002-04:00

Obviously this blog hasn't been updating much lately, and I have decided to place the site on indefinite hiatus because of life issues and general lack of time.

If someone else wishes to take over some responsibilities of the site, please contact me and we might be able to come up with some sort of arrangement.

Changes to DDM heroes line? Delays to the 3rd set of Heroes?

2009-11-26T16:56:00.002-04:00

As many have noticed, there is no announced release for a Third round of Player's Handbook Miniatures, and some speculation that the line has been canceled.

Trevor from WotC's community team piped in here about this.

"The D&D minis line is not going away, and while I don't have very specific details about future releases, more information wil [sic] be available in early 2010.

As to PHH3, it is not going to be out first quarter, which is why you're not seeing any information on it. Again, look for more information early next year.

On to the information I do have - In addition to several DDM releases planned for 2010, D&D Minis will be included in the Castle Ravenloft board game, and don't forget to check out the D&D Heroscape Master Set. This latest version of the build-and-battle miniatures game will have some iconic characters and monsters from the worlds of D&D that you might be interested in, and that hits stores on January 4th.

Anyway, I hope to have more information for you soon (ie, early 2010), either here or on the main website. Until then, I hope this clears up some of the confusion. "

... no not really, doesn't clear up the confusion at all.

Dragonborn, and Quests.

2009-11-25T11:53:00.001-04:00

In today's Dungeoncraft (sub required) article, there is a bit of information about the upcoming Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn.

you’ll see what I think is an interesting feature in the Player’s Handbook Races: Dragonborn book coming out in January. This book is a slim 32-pages solidly focused on material for players with dragonborn characters, but it includes two-and-a-half pages of quests you might adopt for your character, broken up by tier

Official previews for 11/23/2009

2009-11-23T11:37:00.002-04:00

... and also 11/20/2009
Excepts on the Plane Below
- on organizations of the Elemental Chaos specifically the elder elemental eye (think Temple of Elemental Evil)
- and the artifact WAVE - a trident for champions of Melora.

Updates and DDI reveals!

2009-11-19T17:08:00.004-04:00

Two big updates came down the pipes this week, one of rules, one of the DDI software.

First of all, a HUGE update to the errata documents - problems it fixed: Problems relating to wizards having access to new implements (orbs), weird kill everything problems or other recursive issues (Rod of reaving, stalker's armour, bloodiron weapon, Brutal Enchantment etc), Power level issues with DMG traps and MM1 monsters, Double Weapons have major changes - only some count as two-handed weapons now (despite being held in two hands to be used) and each side of the weapon is now detailed (and double sword is ONLY a light blade now). Bloodclaw Weapon was nerfed so its not ridiculously better than just about everything else. And many other items from AV1 were changed. Some 1dX vs. [W] problems for the swordmage got ironed out. Small Characters can effectively be Barbarians by changing the At-wills to require wielding a weapon two-handed instead of a two handed weapon.

This is only the tip of the iceburg - I would recommend you double check your character builds. Get the Update Here.

Also Character builder/Compendium/moster builder updated - (with errata I believe) - The update included the final version of the Monk build that was previously available - the contemplative monk. It's undergone a number of changes including aligning its Ki focus with the rules used for the Assassin, no [W] powers and increased damage on many powers. Oh and a change I requested - Religion as a Class Skill. Article is here.
More subtle changes were also made to the Wilden, the race that was playtested a while ago. A number of its power and abilities were re-worded, (including a quizzical "2nd level" on the encounter powers) the most interesting thing was the inclusion of a name of a class which Wilden are supposed to be good: Battlemind.
Clearly a name of a new psionic class, likely a defender.

Official Previews for 11/16/2009

2009-11-16T21:20:00.001-04:00

Reasoning with the Unreasonable is today's topic for the first Plane Below preview - a skill challenge about convincing the alien minded Slaad to do something, or just talking to them. Take a look here.

Official Previews for 11/13/2009

2009-11-13T15:31:00.001-04:00

Last preview day for Draconomicon 2 today, this one offering alternate powers for metallic dragons.

3 alternate powers for the Silver, Cobalt and Mithral Dragons are all detailed.

Draconomicon 2 Art Gallery and Player's Handbook Bundle

2009-11-12T17:20:00.003-04:00

Not that it's really a preview or anything, but Wizards put up the art Gallery a littler earlier than they usually do for this month's book Draconomicon 2: Metallic Dragons.
Check that here

Also look the Player's handbook bundle has a picture in the product catalogue here

Interesting to note that this set comes with $12 off a DDI subscription in addition to the books!

Catch up 2: Electric Boogaloo

2009-11-11T09:07:00.010-04:00

Yeah, I'm find it hard to find time to get updates in time every single day, but I'll make it up to you all right now with a catchup update.

First:
Wizard's Catalogue updated showing simple things like the cover of the new Tomb of Horrors cover. (also Demonomiconm, HS2 Orcs of Stonefang Pass and Vor Rukoth: An Ancient Ruins Adventure Site)
It also showed something nobody was expecting: A different 3rd Dark Sun book, and a renamed Setting Guide. Not the expected Player's Guide, Campaign Guide and an Adventure, but a Dark Sun Campaign Setting (here) (which includes: "exciting character options for D&D players, including new races, new character themes and class builds, new paragon paths and epic destinies, and new equipment. It also provides everything Dungeon Masters need to run 4th Edition Dark Sun campaigns or include Dark Sun elements in their homebrew campaigns. It has rules and advice for handling survival challenges, arena encounters, desert terrain, and adventure creation. It also presents a short, ready-to-play introductory adventure." meaning it is a campaign setting in the vein of the old 3rd edition ones with both player and DM information.) The replacement for the Player's Guide is the Dark Sun Creature Catalog - a book of monsters, hazards and other threats for the world of Athas, and the final book is just what we expect, an adventure. This one is called "Marauders of the Dune Sea" and is for 2nd to 5th levels, and takes place shortly after the fall of Tyr's Sorcerer-King. All three books release in August 2010.

Also notable, but not alarming as of yet, is the lack of D&D Miniatures Heroes sets available in the coming time.

The 2nd of this month's 3.5 Updates released: City of Stormreach

Metallic Dragons previews!: Metallic Dragons: Hall of Fame, Draconians (Baaz and Sivak, as well as a table listing them all)

This months Ampersand (subscriber only) also had some great information on the Castle Ravenloft Boxed set - it will have 40 plastic pieces, including a huge Dracolich! (and kobolds, zombies and skeletons and Count Strahd). Sheet of (interlocking) dungeon Tiles and more. A game takes about an hour and is 1-5 players cooperatively.
Not only this but: "Castle Ravenloft boardgame is the first in a series of themed boardgames using the same basic mechanics. This way, when the second game comes out in November of next year, it will be fully compatible with the first game. Scenarios, monsters, encounter cards, and heroes can easily be interchanged between the two games to create a multitude of new challenges not available using either game separately. Watch for these games late next year."

Previews wise, the article shows some combat style feats, some new and some updated for Martial Power 2 that had once appeared in Dragon #373.
The revealed feats are: Adamant Arrow Student (new), Adamant Arrow Commander (new), Black Hood Student (renamed Black hood Killer) and Black Hood Executioner (renamed from Black Hood Execution). In both Cases the commander level of the feat is open only to Warlords instead of all martial classes, but includes extra effects for a number of Warlord Encounter Powers, and the Student level is open to a number of martial classes (but not all like it was before)
Because the feats list a number of at-will and encounter power we can see a number of new power names too: paint the bull’s eye is a new Warlord at-will attack from the adamant arrow style, which requires longbow or Great proficiency, lending to the idea of a ranged/bow using warlord build, but none of the associated commander powers use a bow, so it may be possible there is a class feature letting the warlord use STR melee attacks with a bow, or something like that.
From the Black hood style we know a new Ranger At-will called marauder’s rush, and as this is for a two handed weapon style, it can be surmised that there is a new two handed weapon build for the ranger.

Catching up: Dark Sun, DDM, Previews and more

2009-11-03T17:09:00.009-04:00

Sorry I've missed a number of stories lately, so here they are in no particular order:

Rich Baker on Dark Sun Dragonborn: Rodney [ ... ] challenged me to think hard about the dragonborn and what sort of Dark Sun "spin" we'd put on the[m ... to] make them distinctly Athasian. [ ... ] Maybe [ ... they] are a race that emphasizes [ ... their] Charisma boost [ ... ] suggest[ing] a much stronger emphasis on their natural talent for sorcery instead of swordplay. And maybe they are essentially dishonorable rather than honorable- [ ... ] the dragonish impulses of avarice and pride are very, very strong in Athasian dragonborn. [ ... But] maybe in Athas they're more social than you might expect[, ... ] and if you mess with one dragonborn in the clan, you mess with them all. They're big into vendettas and punishing people who offend or injure one of their own.

Take that all together, and you've got something interesting with these guys: The dragonborn (or dray) are a race of sorcerous merchants, hired spellcasters, pragmatic mercenaries, and maybe even slavers. They're not especially numerous [ ... t]heir clans are like small, insular merchant houses, and they might serve as deal-brokers and moneylenders [ ... and] maybe some clans bribe the sorcerer-kings and templars for dispensation to practice magic or sell their services as assassins. That's a pretty different slant on the dragonborn, one that will let you play an Athasian dragonborn as a much different type of person than you might have thought to try with the core story.

(original text edited for length - see original here)

Matthew Sernett is working on some material for Warlocks (if for a Dragon Article, or something like Arcane Power 2 is not clear.) - look at his tweet here:
Monsters on the back burner, it's time to cook up some warlock stuff. #dnd

Previews for Savage Encounters are ongoing - In preview 3 we see two Slaad, a Living Vine and some bullywugs - HERE
- In preview 4 we see two elementals, a human riding a horse, a goblin riding a wolf and a Norker! HERE
- In November and Beyond there is a Drider Fanglord, an Adult Purple Dragon, an Angel of Valor Legionnaire and a Legion Devil Legionnaire. Then there is an aspect of Grazzt (or actually him...) HERE
-And finally It seems Greyhaze has pictures and a complete spoiler of the set including: Bloodspike Behemoth, Death Knight (a Dragonborn), Deathrattle (a snake), Fallen Villager (a laying on ground/dying human), Githyanki Gish, Githyanki Mindslicer, A Marilith, a Nightwalker (large sized), Rat Swarm, Rockfire Dreadnought (an earth/fire elemental), Savage Minotaur (LARGE sized), Skeletal Cyclops, Specter and Vampire Guildmaster.

Check it all out here

Three major previews for Draconomicon II - Orium Dragons (here) a new reddish coloured metallic which spawns serpent minions, and a lair for them here
And finally some traps and hazards you might find in a dragons lair in the November (and beyond)

The last preview in this month's November and Beyond is for the upcoming The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos - showing a hazard of Steel Rain, and a new type of Slaad

Finally the DDI Content Calender updated for November, showing the new everyday update schedule, and bringing the Dragon/Player, Dungeon/DM divide to clear focus - lots of short class and race articles this month, and moved columns.

More interestingly two new 3.5 Updates for Eberron Fans: Dragons of Eberron for 3 November 2009 and City of Stormreach on 11 November.

And Finally finally finally, despite updateding onto the schedule late, this month's Player's Handbook 3 prerelease material is the unexciting Monk!

Ok super long post, but we're all up to date again!

Official Previews for 10/26/2009

2009-10-26T11:40:00.004-03:00

Two previews today, one for Draconomicon 2, one for Savage Encounters - the next D&D Miniatures set.

5 New miniatiures are in the Minis preview, pictured is the Sorrowsworn Reaper. Check the whole article out here - Including a very nice looking hobgoblin and a Salamander Archer that will be a visible.

The Draconomicon: Metalic Dragons preview is about Draconic Organizations, specifically the Guardians of the Gate, a group that seeks portals to other worlds!

Check that one out here

2009-10-25T11:35:00.003-03:00

Rodney Thompson is getting back into the Dark Sun blogging game, and wrote a lot - mostly on tone of the the book, as seen by a original (1991) box-set purist.
Here are the most important quotes:

Athas is a desolate place where survival is not assured, where the very land can kill you, and where even the points of light (to use a 4E-favorite term) are ruled by darkness. It's a world of sword-and-sandal adventuring, of low tech and dangerous magic. It's a world where psionics is common, and where there are no gods to pray to or receive power from. It's a world where the land is struggling to stay alive, and its defenders face a near-hopeless task to keep it that way. Dark Sun is a dangerous world, a world of survival of the fittest, but...it's also a world for heroes. They might not think of themselves as such, but Athas is a place where evil rules so long as the common man does nothing.

Dark Sun is a setting that is zoomed in on a relatively small geographical area. There's a lot of diversity in that small area, but it's not hard to imagine world-spanning plots when the known world isn't much bigger than the American southwest. I also love the fact that the story of Dark Sun is about Athas, and that the focus remains on the world and not plane-hopping, god-fighting, or wars between extraplanar beings. It's about the here and now, the fact that death and extinction are very real things and that there's no such thing as divine intervention to save you at the last minute. Your fate on Athas is in your own hands, and while life may be nasty, brutish, and short...you also are the only one who can change that.

It's not a kitchen sink setting by any means; there are things that are part of other settings which simply won't be seen in the Dark Sun setting. There are also a few new things which fit the setting really well. Rich has already talked about the dragonborn a little bit (though he left out that we're also keeping the original backstory of the dray, that they were exiled from Giustenal and have a racial pathos about being scorned by their creator), so you know that some things won't be exactly the same. (emphasis added)

The sorcerer-kings rule over the city-states, using their templars as their agents throughout their domains. Savage raiders make the desert wastes even more unsafe than it already is. Giants wade across the Sea of Silt, staging raids on shoreline settlements and attacking passing silt craft. The Dragon still demands tribute from each city-state, and looms over the land like a force of pure destruction. Defilers destroy life to fuel their own arcane ambitions. Merchant houses still squabble amongs [sic] themselves, and wield a great deal of power outside of the sorcerer-kings' control. Mul gladiators still fight in the slave pits, and thri-kreen scouts lurk at the edge of rarely-traveled caravan paths, waiting to strike. Halfling cannibals still stalk the night like ghosts, and untrustworthy elves still lie, cheat, and steal from their victims in the Elven Market. The Veiled Alliance provides shelter from the authorities (and from the mobs of common folk who fear and hate them) for preservers, and they still fight defilers at every step. Ancient ruins filled with undead still lie in the deep desert, holding both danger and treasures of the ancient world.

The Full original Article is here

Official Previews for 10/23/2009 - Bonus

2009-10-24T11:27:00.002-03:00

Hey looks a Mini's preview went up in the middle of the day yesterday so I missed it!

What do we got... 5 Really cool looking minis from Savage Encounters!

Go take a look here

Official Previews for 10/23/2009

2009-10-23T11:06:00.002-03:00

Today's preview is all about Dragon Encounters, talking about fights not to kill, but to subdue, or duel with a dragon. Its here

And I missed monday's preview about the role of good an evil with metallic dragons, that's here

More Primal Power spoilers.

2009-10-18T22:16:00.002-03:00

Bartoneus posted his review of Primal Power (out on tuesday the 20th of October) as well as some spoilers, most of which already appeared on his twitter - but there are a number of new ones. Check out the post on critical-hits.com

Deserts of Athas - Dungeon Tiles set for June 2010

2009-10-17T00:11:00.001-03:00

Looks like Dark Sun is getting its own set of Dungeon Tiles - coming out on June 15 2010. Take a look on Amazon

Errata coming soon?

2009-10-16T20:47:00.002-03:00

There hasn't been any updates since July, so another round seems to be coming soon - this statement: @gregbisland Is whipping up a tasty new batch of #dnd errata. Yum yum. (here) is a good indication also.

Official Previews for 10/16/2009

2009-10-16T08:54:00.001-03:00

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20091016

There's an epic destiny to look at!

Whirling Barbarian Text from Trevor Kidd

2009-10-15T22:51:00.005-03:00

From http://community.wizards.com/dungeonsanddragons/blog/2009/10/14/whirling_barbarian

Rich Baker on 'Crunchy bits' in Dark Sun

2009-10-15T21:17:00.003-03:00

Hey look Rich Baker has another blog post!

"We're working hard to finish up the design and development stages of the two Dark Sun books, and get them over to editing. It's a bit of a scramble, because we've got a lot of crunchy bits by a number of different contributors scattered across the books, including Rob Schwalb, Ari Marmell, Bruce Cordell, Chris Sims, Logan Bonner, and Travis Stout. As you might imagine, Dark Sun demands more crunchy bits than our previous two campaign settings: muls, thri-kreen, gladiators, templars, defiling, world-suitable paragon paths and epic destinies, weapons, items, and of course, buckets full of freakish desert monsters."
and
"...but just about any "core" character you build should still find plenty of Athasian trappings. Sure, you might be a dragonborn fighter, but we've got ways to make that guy feel like he's just as appropriate in the setting as your thri-kreen ranger or mul gladiator."

So Muls and Thi-Kreen are confirmed as races (and conversely there is no mention of half-giants, perhaps Goliaths will take their place)
As we no there are no new classes in the book, we have to assume mechanics for Gladiators, Templars and Defiling are new mechanics - or reworkings of mechanics like spellscarred.
Also we get confirmation that the new 4E races are being fitted into Dark Sun for sure - at least Dragonborn anyway.

check out the blog post here

Primal Power previews on twitter

2009-10-15T20:25:00.000-03:00

@bartoneus is tweeting about Primal Power Based on questions tagged with #primalpower.

What we have so far:

Spirits Channeled in rages for Barbarian: Tiger, Serpent, Primal Banshee, Scytheclaw, Elder Tuskbrother, Raptor, Thundering Rhino - lots of elements too (here)

Shaman Builds/Class Features: Eagle Shaman - enemies can't gain cover & count as nearest, World Speaker Shaman -allies gain bonus vs OA near Spirit (here)

Druid Builds: Swarm Druid turns into swarms of small animals/insects, Summoner Druid has no new feature but lots of daily summons (here)

Re Thunderborn Barbarians, and at wills for Druid: Thunderborn gives you a nice Warcry, closeblast 3 and pushes 1 sq - Druid at-will = Firehawk, ranged 10 fire attack! (here)

here's a LOT of great fluff, several pages on the Great Elder spirits including the great bear and soul serpent (here)

Animals Summoned by Summoner druid: very nifty! Boar, Giant Toad, Fire Beetle, Ape, Panther, Crocodile, Bear, Eagle, Bat, Tiger, Wolves, & Behemoths (here)

Healing and Buffs for Druids?: the #primalpower Druid has some minor buffs/heals at low level, some utilities that help allies, but not a ton though! (here)

Coiled Serpent paragon path adds 2d6 poison to melee beast attacks at level 16, it's stealthy and quick too! (here)

Official Previews for 10/14/2009

2009-10-15T09:13:00.001-03:00

ORCUS
or how I learned to stop worrying and E3 the Prince of Undeath Excerpts

Lots of stuff in today's preview, overviews, items and 3 encounters! http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20091014

Official Previews for 10/12/2009

2009-10-13T09:48:00.002-03:00

Big excerpt for the Warden:
whats in it:
name of builds: Life Warden (healing), Storm Warden (moving opponents)
Class features: there are two, one is called Stormheart
and a number of powers.

check it out http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20091012

Official Previews for 10/09/2009

2009-10-09T19:51:00.002-03:00

Feats!

Thats right, FEATS!

from primal power in today's excerpt.

hey look, still barely any racial feats for the eberron races!