I added Tomb Of Beasts to my shopping cart.

I may not get it next month with the rest of my D&D 5th Edition stuff. But I will get it eventually.

I love collecting monster books.

Tome of Beasts is solid. There are a lot of good boss monsters in there. They also hired a few of the artists who worked on 5e, so it keeps a look consistent with the 1st-party stuff.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;953450I added Tomb Of Beasts to my shopping cart.

I may not get it next month with the rest of my D&D 5th Edition stuff. But I will get it eventually.

I love collecting monster books.

Note that it was originally created for 3e not 5e. They seem to have done at least an ok job of converting. But after getting suckered by their other supposedly 5e book Im really leery of trusting them now. At the very least some of the monsters mat not be balanced for 5e as they appear to all be conversions.

If that isnt a problem then its probably a good book as its got alot of new monsters.

Quote from: Omega;953400Just be prepared for a let down. Or at least finding 75% of the book useless. Most of the maps sure are.

Though it was interesting to learn that elves (just high elves?) at age 150 go blind and instinctively leave the world for some hidden land.

Quote from: Omega;953414Just pulled out the book and re-read the entry.

All elf races. Not sure if all elves have it happen though. When they reach a certain age their eyes change and they can only see Evermeet and are drawn to it.

Quote from: CRKrueger;953421Jesus Wept that's idiotic.

The specific age has changed, and it never said anything about going blind, but that whole drawn to leave [strike]Middle Earth [/strike] Faerûn is not new. It was actually in the non-FR description of elves in 2e AD&D. Elves "lived" 350+4d100 years according to the age chart, but actually could live to 1,200 years or so. However, "Elves often live to be over 1,200 years old, although long before this time they feel compelled to depart the realms of men and mortals. Where they go is uncertain, but it is an undeniable urge of their race." In FR they just decided it was Evermeet. This just seems like another refluffing of the same stuff. It's stupid, but it's not new.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;953450I love collecting . . . .

Obsessively so.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;953455The specific age has changed, and it never said anything about going blind, but that whole drawn to leave [strike]Middle Earth [/strike] Faerûn is not new. It was actually in the non-FR description of elves in 2e AD&D. Elves "lived" 350+4d100 years according to the age chart, but actually could live to 1,200 years or so. However, "Elves often live to be over 1,200 years old, although long before this time they feel compelled to depart the realms of men and mortals. Where they go is uncertain, but it is an undeniable urge of their race." In FR they just decided it was Evermeet. This just seems like another refluffing of the same stuff. It's stupid, but it's not new.

Everyone just completely ignored that horseshit back then in the rulebook.  In FR, there were old elves all over the place though, like Evereska for one example.

The difference between "an urge" to go to Evermeet and "go blind, being capable of seeing only Evermeet" is like the difference between someone having an urge to have children and forming your own cult so you can have 35 wives to knock up.

Different enough to not be the same thing at all.

Quote from: Omega;953452Note that it was originally created for 3e not 5e. They seem to have done at least an ok job of converting. But after getting suckered by their other supposedly 5e book Im really leery of trusting them now. At the very least some of the monsters mat not be balanced for 5e as they appear to all be conversions.

If that isnt a problem then its probably a good book as its got alot of new monsters.

I appreciate the heads up.

My original goal was: To focus on just the D&D stuff initially by Wizards. And only dabble outside of it, if something truly caught my eye.

Monster books are one of the areas that I feel pretty safe being pretty experimental with.

But I have also heard about 5th Edition's pretty simple monster creation system. Which makes me pretty happy.

Everything I have heard about 5th Edition has been positive. i'm really looking forward to getting it.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;953455The specific age has changed, and it never said anything about going blind, but that whole drawn to leave [strike]Middle Earth [/strike] Faerûn is not new.

As noted. I know allmost nothing of FR so its news to me.

But it specifically mentions blindness.

"The arcs can blind the elf to this world and vanish when they enter the next, allowing sight of the elven heaven."
"I felt bad taking advantage of the elfs blindness and forcing him to leave behind some baggage."

Current elf life spans are up to 750. Co clue where I got 150 from. Not in the book.

Quote from: Omega;953502As noted. I know allmost nothing of FR so its news to me.

But it specifically mentions blindness.

I know, and I suppose it could be a big distinction, but I file it under "stupid stuff someone liked that I will promptly ignore" in both instances so for me it is the same. It's not hard to figure out what's going on. The designers want elves to be quasi-ageless or undying-except-through-violence, but not have to deal with scads of 1000+ year old PC or NPC elves running around (except when they choose to ignore their own rules, as CRKrueger pointed out). Thus, they invented a way for the elves not to die, but instead go "off to a farm." At least that's what I'm reading into it.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;953506I know, and I suppose it could be a big distinction, but I file it under "stupid stuff someone liked that I will promptly ignore" in both instances so for me it is the same. It's not hard to figure out what's going on. The designers want elves to be quasi-ageless or undying-except-through-violence, but not have to deal with scads of 1000+ year old PC or NPC elves running around (except when they choose to ignore their own rules, as CRKrueger pointed out). Thus, they invented a way for the elves not to die, but instead go "off to a farm." At least that's what I'm reading into it.

Well evermeet is the bridge to literally elf heaven so going there pretty much means your PC is dead. Or about to start a high level Planescape campaign?

I was a fan of some of the Forgotten Realms novels. Back before they started going crazy with Drizzt.

But eventually it fell to metaplot. And just stopped being what I considered a viable accessible game setting.

Too many NPCs making the big setting decisions. Not enough of: The PCs being center stage.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;953720I was a fan of some of the Forgotten Realms novels. Back before they started going crazy with Drizzt.

But eventually it fell to metaplot. And just stopped being what I considered a viable accessible game setting.

Too many NPCs making the big setting decisions. Not enough of: The PCs being center stage.

That's what they tried to do with D&D 4e.  They changed the setting to make it more dangerous and adventurer friendly and less Elminster's Theme Park.  Unfortunately, they brought back Salvatore and Greenwood, who absolutely HATED that, and they've been trying to reign that back to how it was back in 2-3e.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;953804That's what they tried to do with D&D 4e.  They changed the setting to make it more dangerous and adventurer friendly and less Elminster's Theme Park.  Unfortunately, they brought back Salvatore and Greenwood, who absolutely HATED that, and they've been trying to reign that back to how it was back in 2-3e.

Fiction authors and gamers come at a game setting from different directions. What's good for fiction authors doesn't equate to being good for gamers.

Gamers want their characters to be center stage. And that's pretty much the intent of the D&D experience. The PCs being the protagonists. The focus of what is going on.

Fiction authors come at a setting seeing that: Only their fictional characters matter. So they largely don't take into account the game-ability of the setting they are working on.

We have seen this with the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and just about every other major setting to take off in gaming. The fiction writers disregarding everything outside of their little bubble. And only believing their characters they are choosing to write matter in the setting. And it is that view that has spawned the ugliness of metaplot.

A proper working gaming setting needs to be about the PCs. About their impact on the world about them. About the footprints they leave behind. Because that's really what the players are there for. For their characters to be the heroez, To eventually be the legends.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;954015Fiction authors and gamers come at a game setting from different directions. What's good for fiction authors doesn't equate to being good for gamers.

Gamers want their characters to be center stage. And that's pretty much the intent of the D&D experience. The PCs being the protagonists. The focus of what is going on.

Fiction authors come at a setting seeing that: Only their fictional characters matter. So they largely don't take into account the game-ability of the setting they are working on.

We have seen this with the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and just about every other major setting to take off in gaming. The fiction writers disregarding everything outside of their little bubble. And only believing their characters they are choosing to write matter in the setting. And it is that view that has spawned the ugliness of metaplot.

A proper working gaming setting needs to be about the PCs. About their impact on the world about them. About the footprints they leave behind. Because that's really what the players are there for. For their characters to be the heroez, To eventually be the legends.

The thing is, the stories and the characters, were meant to be non-canon originally, then the game designers started statting them in, or the book writers took the characters in the various adventures.

Here's the thing, the problem I've had with the setting is not that the players want to be the ONLY important people (and I'm talking anecdotally here) they want the CHANCE to be the legends, but also, they don't want to be the ONLY legends.  However, the various FR NPCs are often written as THE ONLY LEGENDS and NO ONE can ever reach their levels (Elminster being Level 45-CR 39- and the various Chosen of Mystara in FR 3.x) that was the biggest complaints were.  And there was an implication that not using them in your game, you're doing it wrong.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;954051Here's the thing, the problem I've had with the setting is not that the players want to be the ONLY important people (and I'm talking anecdotally here) they want the CHANCE to be the legends, but also, they don't want to be the ONLY legends.  However, the various FR NPCs are often written as THE ONLY LEGENDS and NO ONE can ever reach their levels (Elminster being Level 45-CR 39- and the various Chosen of Mystara in FR 3.x) that was the biggest complaints were.  And there was an implication that not using them in your game, you're doing it wrong.

It's the pet NPC thing all over again. Which never ends well for anyone.