Libris Mortis sneak peeks on WoTC site

[User3]

So, while much of the preview gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my innards, I can already see a few problems:

----More swarms. Why do they hate us? Why? Someone thinks that a little nichey subtype needs to be slapped onto 25% of all new monsters. Why would they do that?

----Undead PCs. So, if you plan to be an undead dude, you are actually better off finding a pimp necromancer with all the creation feats so that you don't need to take them. Looks like a good use for Leadership(cack your necromancer after you go all sleepygirl, then get a better cohort).

----Monster classes. How do you feel as an 8th level undead character with 4 HD? Good luck with that enemy Turning/Rebuking.

----Cheesing it out with Animate Dead. More advice like "animate a glabrezu or a multiple templated creature, because for its HD its broken."

----Incorporeal cheese. Nuff said.

----Only four "evil classes," four Undead classes, and four undead killer classes. Since I know that Pale Master and True Necromancer are two of that number, that makes the chances pretty low for other kinds of cool PrCs.

Good points so far:
---Nice art so far. We hopes that vampire chickies abound.

---The Revenancer-ish power to kill stuff with spells so that it comes back as a zombie is still pretty cool.

---True Necro-wafer and Pale Masterbator are redone for 3.5. We have high hopes that we can actually be spellcasters and have these PrCs.

---Some new undead that aren't actually piss-poor versions of iconic crap like ghouls, vamps, skeles, zombies, ghosts, liches, etc.

---Better "I like the undead feats" than Lichloved. For example, Tomb Tainted Soul lets you act as undead for the purposes of positive and negative energy damaging/healing, so a Necromancer with Negative energy-damage spells from Tome and Blood can blast enemies while healing selve and undead minions, which is pretty cool.

[Username17]

Link?

Sigh. Anyone who thought the True Necromancer was a good idea needs to be shot. And the worst part is that with all the Mystic Theurge + True Necromancer = Shitty Spells At High Caster Level!!!! OMFG!!!! threads, I can only imagine that they'll give the True Necromancer the "Epic Mystic Theurge" treatment - which is to say that you don't get shit and die friendless and alone.

-Username17

[fbmf]

The requested link.

Game On,
fbmf

[Catharz_Godsfoot]

1096667077[/unixtime]]Link?

Sigh. Anyone who thought the True Necromancer was a good idea needs to be shot. And the worst part is that with all the Mystic Theurge + True Necromancer = Shitty Spells At High Caster Level!!!! OMFG!!!! threads, I can only imagine that they'll give the True Necromancer the "Epic Mystic Theurge" treatment - which is to say that you don't get shit and die friendless and alone.

-Username17

Master of shrouds treatment is more like it...
They should just stick to new PrCs and say, "Never, under any circumstances, try to play a Holy liberator."

[Wrenfield]

I saw that Wight racial class ... 8 levels long.

Geez. Talk about total idiocy. Your BAB and saves and well, everything else is just totally horrid SUCK. Somebody has to ask the designers what kind of combat tests they ran the Wight up against. I can't see it winning any battle for its appropriate CR level.

[Lago_AM3P]

Wren, that is why a lot of the posters here really, really hate it when they post options that are intentionally underpowered.

Having something published in a book automatically sets it as a standard. The Sacred Fist I put on the board is underpowered compared to another cleric PrC, yet it will always be compared against the crack-ass 3.5E Sacred Fist. Which sucks HORRIBLY, and I have an impossible fight trying to get people to see that the only people who will take that PrC are people who either don't know what they're doing or want to play holy fist-fighters so bad that they're willing to gimp their character.

I really, really feel like spitting in someone's face when they're so lazy that they will willingly ruin other people's gaming experience like that after being aware of the responsibility.

So I'm totally feeling you on the Wight racial class. Word.

[Lago_AM3P]

Yes, I am one bitter, bitter man.

No, I won't get over it anytime soon.

(BTW, the Dead Head Book looks a little silly, but par for the course)

[User3]

Well, at level 8 the Wight gets Spawn cheese and temp HP cheese and if he gets a class with a single spellcasting level and Summoning he basically runs around with hundreds of Wights and infinite HP.

Interestingly enough, he gets a class equal to his CL when he turns human again, and I'm pretty sure that he retains control of all his Spawn when hit with a Ressurrection and returned to the living. So all those budding necromancers might want to "go spawn-monkey" for a while to build a horde of undead, then go back to human for those nice living class levels.

[Username17]

Actually, you can't spawn off of Summonings. Spawn triggers a d4 rounds after death, but Summonings vanish instantly upon death, so there's nothing to respawn off of.

Of course, you can always empty out villages and get a horde of people who suck just as badly as you do. Put enough of them in a pile and it's a farce to be recconed. Of course, an Evil or Neutral Cleric can do that better and is more survivable, and comes with some fvcking armr proficiencies and a BAB of more than 2 by 8th level.

-Username17

[User3]

Right, the summoned monsters are for banking thousands of HP in your off-time.

You'd clear the nearest hundred square miles of life if you tried that crap with villagers, and then have to clear another hunderd square miles before your next battle.

[Username17]

That doesn't work though. In 3.5, the Energy Drain and Attribute Drain abilities define the maximum duration of temporary hit points as 1 hour. So at most you could have 2,995 extra hit points - but only if you happen to have been spending the last 600 rounds draining life out of thirty score of trussed chickens or something.

The only time you get to rack up extra hit points in your off time is with the Vampire Level Progression. That's because it gets to gain lesser amounts of hit points of Con Damage (as opposed to Drain), and since that's not supposed to give you hit points at all, it doesn't have an over-definition of how long it can give them to you for.

So the lesser vampire can get infinite hit points (albeit very slowly), but while the white level progression racks up extra hit points pretty fast, it can't actually hold on to them and the ability is sucktastic rather than abusable.

-Username17

[Catharz_Godsfoot]

1096673029[/unixtime]]
Having something published in a book automatically sets it as a standard. The Sacred Fist I put on the board is underpowered compared to another cleric PrC, yet it will always be compared against the crack-ass 3.5E Sacred Fist. Which sucks HORRIBLY, and I have an impossible fight trying to get people to see that the only people who will take that PrC are people who either don't know what they're doing or want to play holy fist-fighters so bad that they're willing to gimp their character.

Kinda OT, but Dragon 314 has a Cleric/Monk PrC that, while not great, is a lot better then Sacred fist. The only difficulty lies in gaining Ki strike (Magic) with minimum level investment.