Okay, yes, I’ve been away. So what happened to me? Basically I realised I was spending too much time on the website here and not enough working on the Vampire Bestiary book itself, sort of panicked and went too far in the opposite direction, abandoning the website for a bit over two months. I’ll try to have a better balance in future, but its clear three updates a week isn’t going to work.
Anyway, so what about the Vampire Bestiary? Well, its nearly done, but not quite. I think we are talking mere weeks from completion though, as opposed to months.
Today’s preview is for the Vampire. Which may sound a bit weird since its a Vampire Bestiary, you would expect loads of vampires within and indeed there are. However, I’m talking about the basic ‘vanilla’ (if you’ll pardon the expression) vampire. Its notable that the core rulebooks (until Essentials anyway) didn’t have an actual Vampire therein. Sure they had Vampire Lords and Vampire Spawn, with different vampires in other books. But never a basic vampire.
To keep the Vampire company, I have also included the Vampire Wretch and Vampire Courtesan entries.
NB. You may note that there are no page numbers yet (though the preview represents pages #50 and #51 in the book itself). However, various elements are ever in flow with this undertaking (for instance I’m not happy with the current positioning of the Vampire Courtesan art) and subject to change. As regards the rather spartan text on the Vampire I should point out at this jucture that there are pages devoted to customizing vampire powers, vampire society, vampire religion and lots more elements that go under ‘vampire’ without being an immediate part of the stat block.
…anyway without further ado (by the way just click on the below pages for a larger version)…
beej!
January 7, 2011
Hey there, U_K!
These are cool vampire stats. My party’s at level 13 right now, so maybe I’ll find a way to put in a courtesan or two into the game. Come to think of it, they’re in Athas and are about to witness Draj’s Blood Sacrifice Ritual, which might attract some vampires… >=)
The courtesan’s move actions are a bit confusing, however. I think the statblock implies that these powers can be done as part of moving her speed, and I think that should be noted in the power descriptions themselves.
Oh, and you’re publishing this under the GSL eventually, yes? I think they have a “no-boobies” clause… (Which is a shame, as it’s a cool pic that isn’t offensive at all!)
Anyways, an excellent preview, Krusty! ^__^ I have to start saving up some PayPal funds for this.
Upper_Krust
January 8, 2011
Howdy beej mate!
The first Vampire Bestiary installment is for levels 1-15 (as you probably know). The second 16-30 (with things like the Varcolacs, Nosferatu and Strigoi, among others, as major entries). The (classic) vampires in the first volume are from Levels 11-15.
Thanks for the feedback. I wasn’t sure about the no-boobs thing, I can easily have her hair cascade over her chest to cover any rudeness. I wasn’t going for an overtly adult theme with the book, thats not something that interests me. The illustration just turned out ‘harpy-ish’.
As regards her move actions, I’ll see about tweaking her movement powers. Yes they are meant to be achievable on the move, so she can move and still get a regular attack. Meaning she could swoop down and pick up a target (who is grabbed and thus grants combat advantage), bite them and then drop them from height. Or she could swoop past a target and barrel into them, then claw a separate target.
I’ll see about another preview (which should be the last before release fingers crossed) by next weekend (15-17th January). Though hopefully I’ll have another new web update here in a day or so. I have an article in mind.
Upper_Krust
January 10, 2011
(Hey beej) I actually meant to say that the Vampire Bestiary also has four adventures inside it: Mountain of the Cannibal God; Night of the Thuggee; Castle Dracula and Temple of Death. I am still tweaking one or two encounters but the adventures are currently pegged for Levels 4, 7, 10 and 13 (although I may move the suggested Level up one if I feel things look too tough…that said, you should Level -Up before you reach the climax, so maybe that won’t be necessary.
The idea for the adventures sort of stemmed from the old Adventure Ideas sections I had in the Epic Bestiary, whereby each monster had a bunch of suggested hooks. But I have replaced that in the Vampire Bestiary by detailing a full (10 encounter) adventure for each of the major entries. Its not as in depth as say an official WotC Adventure where you have two pages per encounter (which is the format I’ll be adopting for the Serpent Riders). Here its just a list of encounters with setup information for the DM and notes for how to run it. So its as much information as I can cram into 2 pages without derailing the fact that the book is primarily a Bestiary.
Not sure how much use you’ll get out of that personally Beej since your group are already 13th, but 4E is so modular that these things are always easily modified, so who knows.
beej!
January 21, 2011
Well, I like reading monster tomes in general. So even if it releases before we get to 14th (chances are good, as I think it’ll happen by this Sunday), I’ll be happy to read through the “adventure digests.”
Although for the record, I do wish your epic level monsters and above will be published sooner rather than later. I just got the Monster Vault from the mail (yeah, shipping to 3rd world countries like the Philippines takes AWHILE >.>); and while it’s probably the best-written official monster tome so far, it’s lack of enough epic threats leave much to be desired.
Hopefully, when I get to epic level there’ll be enough monsters in 3PPs like us that are more interesting than, say, the swordwing.
Upper_Krust
January 21, 2011
No chance it will be released before Sunday, but I did hire the artist Peter Szmer, so I think it’ll be sooner rather than later.
Well, after the Vampire Bestiary: Volume One, I’ll have the Serpent Riders, which will have about 30 new epic monsters.
Also the Vampire Bestiary: Volume 2 will have loads of epic stuff in it. Plus its about a third finished as it is.
Glad to hear that Monster Vault is good, although I did read there were very few epic critters in it, which is a pity. I’m confident when you see the Vampire Bestiary: Volume One you will think it is the best monster tome so far.
Swordwings could become an interesting idea in the right hands, trust me.
beej!
February 11, 2011
So I got to try the courtesan on my party a few weeks back. Used two of them, and then backed them up with a few gargoyle artilleries.
Unfortunately my players have powers that are decidedly anti-skirmisher (can’t shift, immobilized et al). And on the few turns where I could move, I rolled low on snatch and grab. It did scare the heck out of them, though, especially when they realized that it regenerated and healed. Once they figured that out, they were pretty intense on the focus fire to the point of ignoring the gargoyles.
The courtesans were creamed, but that’s mostly because a) the party was optimized against creatures that want movement and b) they had the right tactics. After running it, I think it’s a solid monster.
I have one question, though; I noticed that the courtesan’s stats are too standardized (Abi scores at either 23 or 17, and all NADs at 27). Normally there are discrepancies here and there. Was that intentional, or is it a “beta-phase” feature of the monster?
PS. I agree with you on the swordwing… It could be interesting in the right hands. I just don’t think those hands belong to WotC. >.>
beej!
February 11, 2011
By the way, you said something about a “last preview” a few weeks back.
Upper_Krust
February 12, 2011
Howdy beej mate!
Thanks for the feedback on the Vampire Courtesan. I am sorry it didn’t kill any of your players.
Although as I recall, your party were Level 14 as it is, and a standard monster probably won’t cause too many problems, plus as you say, you low-rolled.
The ability scores are on purpose – as I see classic Vampires, they are strong, fast and charismatic.
I may tweak a few things as regards the Vampire Courtesan stat block. One or two of the Vampire stat-blocks are in a state of flux at the moment, I may be adding one or two new vampires (male version of the courtesan for instance)
I’ll get to that preview some time this week, although I may have one this week, one the last week of February and then the release in March (almost guaranteed). So this week’s may not be the last. Maybe something cannibalistic this week and one of the most powerful vampires in the last preview…maybe the Psoglav…Level 15 Elite Brute; lets just say I have unfinished business with your party.