Café de Nuit

I assume that there was no word of Ravenloft anything at Gencon, eh?

Damien Logos wrote:I assume that there was no word of Ravenloft anything at Gencon, eh?

"Ravenloft" was mentioned as frequently as "Planescape," "Birthright," "al-Qadim" "Dark Sun," "Maztica," "Points of Light," "Greyhawk," "Ghostwalk" and "Blackmoor" during GenCon, so it's no biggie.

People with the PHB, can you please verify this:
Do conjurers at 2nd lvl get the ability to use just an action and conjure any kind of nonmagical object they've seen up to 10 lbs for 1 hour? And that they can have just one such object around, but they can use that ability every time they want, even each turn?

As in, "Dropped in a chasm... Rope and grappling hook", "Locked in a cell ... hard iron saw", "down on money ... gem to sell to a gullible person", "Forgot my keys... conjure another set" etc?

Isn't that totally defeating like half the problems of a wizard?
Not to mention the frivolous uses of creating a violin to play at the campfire or a cake just because you felt like it.

alhoon wrote:People with the PHB, can you please verify this:
Do conjurers at 2nd lvl get the ability to use just an action and conjure any kind of nonmagical object they've seen up to 10 lbs for 1 hour? And that they can have just one such object around, but they can use that ability every time they want, even each turn?

As in, "Dropped in a chasm... Rope and grappling hook", "Locked in a cell ... hard iron saw", "down on money ... gem to sell to a gullible person", "Forgot my keys... conjure another set" etc?

Isn't that totally defeating like half the problems of a wizard?
Not to mention the frivolous uses of creating a violin to play at the campfire or a cake just because you felt like it.

Your first and second paragraphs are pretty much so. However, remember that it also says that "the object is visibly magical, radiating dim light up to 5 feet."

Well, at least you can't create silver figurines to sell I guess. That removes one easy abuse.
Of course, you can create magic-looking sticks and sell them as magic wands with a decent deception roll. Or weapons you say they're magical (in a way they are).

There's a new trend according to a blog of someone that saw the monster manual: Legendary monsters don't just change their lair, they affect\change the environment sometimes at miles around them. While this probably goes for dragons and Kraken which aren't too great a problem in Ravenloft, liches affect it too.

I.e. what I believe they mean is that around a green dragon's lair, the forest is warped and desolated and kobolds + other dragon minions abound. Around a lich's castle, the area is gloomy, dead trees, crows and undead roam the land.

I think this is cool for D&D, doing what most of us were doing anyway at least some of the times for "cosmetic" effects. I believe it also pushes for a different kind of "Points of Light" from 4e. I.e. "pockets of darkness". It also helps in giving the idea of cursed forests, haunted mountaintops etc.

alhoon wrote:There's a new trend according to a blog of someone that saw the monster manual: Legendary monsters don't just change their lair, they affect\change the environment sometimes at miles around them. While this probably goes for dragons and Kraken which aren't too great a problem in Ravenloft, liches affect it too.

I.e. what I believe they mean is that around a green dragon's lair, the forest is warped and desolated and kobolds + other dragon minions abound. Around a lich's castle, the area is gloomy, dead trees, crows and undead roam the land.

I think this is cool for D&D, doing what most of us were doing anyway at least some of the times for "cosmetic" effects. I believe it also pushes for a different kind of "Points of Light" from 4e. I.e. "pockets of darkness". It also helps in giving the idea of cursed forests, haunted mountaintops etc.

Kinda sorta like Fiends in Ravenloft having a reality wrinkle eh?

I don't think as dramatic

alhoon wrote:I don't think as dramatic

Twisting and corrupting tree routes? Sounds like it even if it's just cosmetic.

Some... mixed news here about the MManual:
According to this list, monsters by CRating, made by nice people I see that one of my favorite monsters, the lich, has been bumped to CR 21 without including lair powers.

Let's see what CR 21 means (according to the basic rules): It's worth 33000 XP. That means, that for 4 characters to have a fighting chance against a lich, encountered alone they have to be 17th lvl.
Add a few stuff around the lich and it's pushed to 18th lvl.

I have no problem at all with liches being uber-casters, but I would like an array of less difficult options since I love using liches as enemies (or NPCs) for "paragon" (11-15 lvl) characters.
Yes, back in 2nd edition Liches were 18th lvl. That didn't make them impossible to defeat at lvls 12-13, it just made it hard.
While I believe WotC hit and missed with lich's difficulty since epic level characters (16-20th lvl) would have found "counters" for the most powerful spells of the lich hence it's a matter of hp, AC and saves on the lich's part, it would still certainly be too difficult for my tastes.

Now, let's move to vampires. The default vampire is CR 13.
That means that for PCs to have a fighting chance against a lone vampire they should be at least 10th lvl. Now, That's too much. Add 3 vampire spawns in the same encounter and it's pushed to min lvl 13, for a fighting chance and lvl 15 to be just a "tough" encounter.
OK, liches can and IMO should work as high lvl (perhaps campaign) uber-villains, I didn't like them starting at just 11th lvl back in 3rd. But the generic default vamps should IMO be mid-lvl threats.
Oh, and unlike "CR 21" which is subjective because of high lvl spells, CR 13 is easier to assess correctly.

I believe the "default" lich presented should be an 18th lvl spellcaster, yes, but with CR of like 15. Which means that the "default" vampire should drop from CR 13 to CR 8 or something. And the vampire spawn should drop to CR 3-4.
I'll make a try to "tone them down" once I have the monster manual but to know for sure how to change what, I'll need to wait for the DMG.

Well, you can always just catch a traditional vampire when it's sleeping or hold it at bay with a holy symbol or mirror until dawn and then stake it. I can see why they'd make an awake-and-active vampire a much more challenging encounter than it was in 3.5 or 4e.

You have a point.

alhoon wrote:Well, at least you can't create silver figurines to sell I guess. That removes one easy abuse.
Of course, you can create magic-looking sticks and sell them as magic wands with a decent deception roll. Or weapons you say they're magical (in a way they are).

It also says the items cannot be more than 3' on a side or weigh more than 10 lbs. The items disappear when you use the power again or if it takes any damage.

In a world where wizards can do this, I would imagine that people take measures to ferret out frauds. Much like how people in old times used to bite coins to test the metal. Doing even 1 point of damage to the item would destroy it. And the Wizard also has to have seen the item before to conjure it, so you can't conjure keys to a lock you've never seen before, for example.

As much of 5E goes with the less defined structure of rules, I'm sure DMs will arbitrate this in their games differently. I'm tempted to rule that the wizard cannot create specific examples of things, only general ones. So he could make a key, but it wouldn't fit in ANY lock, because it's completely generic.

Mortavius wrote: It also says the items cannot be more than 3' on a side or weigh more than 10 lbs. The items disappear when you use the power again or if it takes any damage.

In a world where wizards can do this, I would imagine that people take measures to ferret out frauds. Much like how people in old times used to bite coins to test the metal. Doing even 1 point of damage to the item would destroy it. And the Wizard also has to have seen the item before to conjure it, so you can't conjure keys to a lock you've never seen before, for example.

That means that magic is common enough for people to know wizards can do this though. When there's one wizard with this power for every 15K-20K people, and they're usually not cheats (because the mage guilds IMC police such things) would people know how to protect themselves?
And how about the delicate magical potion? You can't damage a liquid.
Of course in the example you gave for the middle ages... charlatans selling potions to reverse baldness, increase fertility, stave off old age etc were common. And society didn't collapse. So perhaps it's not that bad. I'll have to see it in game.

Mortavius wrote: And the Wizard also has to have seen the item before to conjure it, so you can't conjure keys to a lock you've never seen before, for example.

Sure, but what if you've seen it on the guard?

Mortavius wrote: As much of 5E goes with the less defined structure of rules, I'm sure DMs will arbitrate this in their games differently. I'm tempted to rule that the wizard cannot create specific examples of things, only general ones. So he could make a key, but it wouldn't fit in ANY lock, because it's completely generic.

Good enough. Personally, I would make it that in order to make a key to fit the clock, he should have examined the key carefully first, and then succeed on a "crafts-equivalent" roll to make it.

Oh, and while the average peasant may not know that a few wizards do this stuff, someone that keeps wizards under lock and key would know it at take measures.

Mortavius wrote:

alhoon wrote:Well, at least you can't create silver figurines to sell I guess. That removes one easy abuse.
Of course, you can create magic-looking sticks and sell them as magic wands with a decent deception roll. Or weapons you say they're magical (in a way they are).

It also says the items cannot be more than 3' on a side or weigh more than 10 lbs. The items disappear when you use the power again or if it takes any damage.

In a world where wizards can do this, I would imagine that people take measures to ferret out frauds. Much like how people in old times used to bite coins to test the metal. Doing even 1 point of damage to the item would destroy it. And the Wizard also has to have seen the item before to conjure it, so you can't conjure keys to a lock you've never seen before, for example.

As much of 5E goes with the less defined structure of rules, I'm sure DMs will arbitrate this in their games differently. I'm tempted to rule that the wizard cannot create specific examples of things, only general ones. So he could make a key, but it wouldn't fit in ANY lock, because it's completely generic.

Ever heard of a skeleton key?