But that's changed recently. You see, a friend of mine runs a web-show, and has a hotline to one of the WotC R&D guys- he DMs for our group, and occasionally phones this guy who to ask rules related questions, like 'How do I know what colour the sun is?' and 'Is the PHB legal material?' but it was quite a shock at our game the other night for him to relay his discovery about the 2010 D&D setting. Apparently he, and his heretofor unnamed source had been out drinking, and the name had been let slip. After a bit of digging- well, okay, a lot of digging, a bit of beer, and convincing the entire party to sing bohemian rhapsody- I managed to needle out some details.
It seems WotC is really making this setting their next big thing- they certainly want to please everyone, and it shows with the material I've found- forgotten classes, races, and the like making a reapperance, and the setting wholly meshing with the new edition. There's still a lot of rumours and hearsay- up until recently a lot of people thought the new setting would be Dragonlance, but that rumour's been put to rest. Still, there's a few things I can confirm- things you'll either be happy to hear about or disappointed, but whatever the outcome, this new setting is sure to please everyone.
So without further adieu, the name:
Darkhollow Hawkkalimar Birthrightscape Gammerjammerloft
Uh yeah, it sounds ridiculous- but I assure you it's all quite accurate, if filtered through a slightly drunk DM. It seems they've taken a page from the MTG R&D department, and gone for the multi-planar overlay approach. What this means is that all the formerly 'prime' planes are valid parts of the cosmology, but depending on the new 'era' mechanic, you might only have to deal with one or two at a time, at least until you hit epic tier which is when I hear everything comes together.
One rumour I can put to rest is that, yes, it will include the much requested racial hybriding- the templates of 3E are gone, but that doesn't mean that the myriad races of the multiverse have lost their idea to stick their junk in strange and unusual holes, and this option seems to reflect that. The resulting race functions much like the half-elf, or half-orc, taking advantages of both of the parent races, but forging new synergies and the likes. Racial hybrids- and Paragon Racial Hybriding are expected to factor into the main story line too, which will deal with the PCs, of whom which are already established heroes in the 4E tradition, having to deal with the events leading up to and cumulating in the crossplanar overlay. With cyborg knights, evil defilers, mighty airships, eldritch magics, and even a reintroduction of the 3E leadership mechanic- albiet suitable updated, players can expect to lead mighty armies against even the gods themselves, all while fighting not just for one plane or nation, but for all planes, for all nations.
Moreover, I've seen a screenshot from a test print of one of the pages of the setting Player's guide, introducing a new race. While its exact features were too blurry to make out, the artsy image showed what I can only conceive of to be a cat of some sort- be it a mibbet, or maybe even the venerable housecat. Back in 3E I did a lot of work on the housecat, and I can only hope it will make a return as a player race, once more joining the ranks of available and supported sources.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg, one which will certainly be one of the most epic undertakings in the history of the D&D- I've recently managed to get a look at an early pre-alpha concept notice, which confirms a new psionic class, the Ectomancer. Fans of classic D&D might recall the presence of such a class in 3rd- though 3rd covered nearly everything there is. This Ectomancer though, is new and inproved- a psionic leader that molds the spirits of the dead to his whim, whether to shield or rejuvinate an ally in battle, or to cast terror into the hearts of his enemies. There's even a note of a possible paragon path- something along the lines of a ghost buster- yes, laugh if you want, but it's looking to be quite the find.
Personally, with the dissatisfying monk article, and the cheesyness of the Psion, I've been waiting for a Psionic leader, and the Ectomancer looks like it will fit that slot marvelously- I just hope WotC can fit it into the setting with the same standard of quality as they've maintained thusfar- conceptually it could easily be abused, and I don't want to see an awesome concept fall to bad design.
In any case, I'll keep you updated as more information (and beer money) becomes available.
Kerrus out.
I don't know who that other guy is, but it's quite peculiar that he has similar info- I didn't even see his post until this morning.
How many of these threads to we really need.
50
50
51!
I WILL DEFEND MY POSITION STUBBORNLY TO MY DEATH!
Githyanki confirmed for PH3 - shot down by the Githzerai preview
Dragonlance confirmed for 2010 - no it hasn't
....
So on and so on.
Speculation is speculation, no matter how little or much information it has to back it up.
I still prefer the other thread like this though since it would allow me to make my house-cat juggler Nautilus pilot, mutant hunter.
I still prefer the other thread like this though since it would allow me to make my house-cat juggler Nautilus pilot, mutant hunter.
Puss-in-jester-suit-nemo-rogers in the 21st century?
Puss-in-jester-suit-nemo-rogers in the 21st century?
Something like that, wearing a necklace made of mind flayer tentacles from the mind flayers he killed to take control of the Nautilus ship.
Hey it's no 'worse' than some of my existing chars for 4e:
A halfling rogue in multicolored leather armor, focused with thrown weapons called Remy LeBeau
A deva bard called Ch'Airre of B'Onno
The soon to be made Warforged Paladin called Pewter Rasp-puting