monster manual stats

gotten from en world

someone named DerekSTheRed did a very nice job of compiling useful stats from the monster manual:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/229092-lots-statistics-monster-manual.html

driders revisited

here is a post i made on the wizards d&d forums back in 3e:

"driders are now favored by lolth, not unfavored (don't ask. she IS chaotic.). ;-)

at first, the drow have a hard time adjusting to this. they have always held disdain for the driders. now, lolth has deemed that driders are favored because to be more "spider" is to be better. the pre-existing driders have returned to their houses, to be treated--begrudgingly--with honor and respect, even above priestesses. the pre-existing driders continue to bear much resentment towards the drow. they repeatedly exploit their newfound power and authority to exact various incidences of revenge upon their family members and other drow. however, they know that an excess of this behavior will be disfavored by lolth. now, a new drider is created only as a reward by lolth to an exceptional priestess, who, upon becoming a drider, assumes the role of matron mother of her house. not all houses are blessed with a drider matron mother. it is a cause for political strife and manipulation among the houses. now, new driders are almost exclusively female. the rare creation of a new male drider is a source of confusion and consternation amoung the drow society ("what does lolth mean by this? a male favored?"). driders have spider reproductive organs and have spider offspring (note to self - create a large spider that has an intelligence score of 10 and, perhaps, special abilities). any remnant sexual urges that drider may still feel towards drow are satiated only through violence. this is an aspect of lolth's blessing that is cruel both to the drider (sexual frustration and adjusting to having sex with spiders) and to the drider's "sexual" victim (obviously)."

i am happy to see wotc implement this change from disfavored to favored.
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here is how driders have evolved from 3e to 4e:

3e driders disfavored
driders are created by the drow's dark goddess, lolth. when a dark elf or above average abililty reaches 6th level, the goddess may put him or her through a special test. those who fail the test become driders. because they have failed their goddess's test, driders are outcasts from their own communities. drow and driders hate one another passionately.
3.5 monster manual, page 89
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4e driders favored
driders are servants of lolth gifted with a semblance of their god’s grotesque form.
4e monster manual, page 93

in drow society, the strongest and bravest can take the test of lolth. those who succeed become driders, members of a privileged caste. those who fail usually die.
4e monster manual, page 93

driders are common among drow
4e monster manual, page 93
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4e shunned replace driders as lolth's disfavored (see chwidenchas below)
Lolth is a fickle mistress. Drow who serve her but fail in their efforts sometimes suffer terrible consequences. These unfortunates become creatures known in the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

shunned are creatures spawned by the spider queen whenever she is angered by one of her servants. in all cases, they are grotesque fusions of spiders and drow, mockeries of the perfect union the drider embodies. most candidates for this transformation are those drow who seek to gain the goddess’s favor by testing their devotion in the hopes of being raised up to become a drider themselves. most who fail are killed outright, but a few are cursed to walk the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

drow society doesn’t tolerate shunned in their presence and kill them on sight.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

most [shunned] hunt drow and drider alike, longing to vent their frustration and hate on the ones they blame for the state they have been reduced to.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

chwindenchas--one of the shunned--continue to be lolth's disfavored (from 3e to 4e)
chwidenchas are created when drow fail one of of the many tests set by their deity lolth.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34

chwindenchas particularly despise drow, who have cast them out of society, just as the drow have done with driders.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34
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driders as matron mothers
driders are [. . .] subservient to lolth’s priests
4e monster manual, page 93

perhaps, the test of lolth should be limited to lolth's priests. so, instead of being subservient to priests, they would be the priests. more precisely, they would be the elite among the priests. perhaps, either (i) all matron mothers are required to be driders or (ii) most matron mothers are driders and those few drow houses that do not have a drider for a matron mother face a bias (at best) or an actual power disadvantage of some sort (at worst).
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test of lolth involves a ritual
i envision the test of lolth being conducted by the drow clergy, with a ritual that the testee must submit to; a ritual that would allow the presiding head priest to transform the testee into either a drider or a shunned. this method, as opposed to a divine intervention, would be more consistent with the notion that drow society actually has cast out the testee, notwithstanding the fact that lolth's power and will ultimately is the source of the transformation.
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driders as elite monsters
imo, all driders should be elite monsters.
here are a couple of reasons why:
(1) from a metagaming perspective, incorporating their previous drow priestly powers into their new drider forms likely would involve adding a template, such as cleric or demagogue or some such, to the existing drider stat block, which converts a normal monster into an elite monster; and
(2) as is intended with elite monsters, driders could continue to appear in encounters with drow (who are mostly nonelite monsters), while increasing the drider's power, presence and impact on the encounter.
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driders cannot reproduce
lolth chooses every drider, always.

divine homes (not the hgtv kind)

correlon resides in a demesnes in the feywild.

moradin and pelor rule hestavar.

melora resides in the natural world and has achieved compatibility with the primal forces of the natural world.

bahamut resides in celestia. kord calls celestia home, but spends most of his time battling in avernus.

avandra maintains no permanent residence. she delights in travelling throughout the planes. no place can permanently bar her from travelling to it--no plane, no fortress, nothing. whether blatantly or subtly, she has gone and can go anywhere she wishes.

more on evil gods and devils

it is my opinion that wotc does not give asmodeus his due.

consider that asmodeus sent an underling, graz'zt, to invade the abyss. now that underling is one of the most powerful of demon lords, reigning over three layers of the abyss and rivaling demogorgon. so, if an underling can accomplish that much, then of what could his master, asmodeus, be capable? remember, even before he became a god, asmodeus succeeded in stealing a shard of the evil seed embedded in the heart of the abyss.

i envision a merger of several evil gods with certain arch devils. i do this in order to (i) remove perceived redundancies, (ii) elevate the primacy of devils as the principle source of immortal evil, and (iii) more prominantly than has been done, place asmodeus at the top of the heap.

what results from these mergers is an implication that the nonevil gods have done a very good job of containing the physical presence of the evil gods, if not their influence. aspects of these evil gods can appear outside of hell, but if you want to fight the real mccoy, then you must pay a visit to hell (which is a good thing for gaming, right? it means that the high end of epic level play must occur, to some extent, in hell, assuming that archdevils serve as the bbegs in the campaign).

other results of these mergers are that archdevils become more powerful and more important than before and, consequently, asmodeus becomes commensurately more powerful. i mean, come on, he IS the prince of EVIL. all those other guys are just stewards of certain aspects or manifestations of evil (e.g., war, avarice, treachery, etc.)

asmodeus, prince of evil (that says it all, imo)
manual of the planes, page 105
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bane gives up his claim on tyranny:

asmodeus is THE tyrant. bane is not so much a tyrant as the epitome of a general; granted, a very evil general. bane is not so much concerned with tyranny as he is with military success, and everything that goes with the latter-- which is where the confusion with tyranny creeps in. think of conan, who was, for a time, a king. but, he grew bored of being a king and gave up his crown. think of the generals of attila the hun, who conquered may nations. these generals were motivated by conquest. if given the choice between (i) remaining in a conquered land with the responsibilities of monarchy or (ii) the opportunity to conquer more nations, they would choose the latter. attila, on the other hand, was interested in rulership, conquest was merely a means for him to attain rulership.

make no mistake, asmodeus is the tyrant, above all others. this is illustrated by his domination of such powerful beings as bane, tiamat and lolth (note, this is as i envision the d&d universe).

asmodeus is the evil god of tyranny and domination
power, domination, tyranny
dungeon masters guids, page 162

bane, the god of war and tyranny
manual of the planes, page 92

graz’zt is the dark prince, a demonic patron of tyrants and despots (okay, so graz'zt is a demon lord now, but you never know about that guy)
manual of the planes, page 130
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bane and bel merge. bane becomes asmodeus' general, charged with leading the armies of hell in their assault on the divine seals and wards throughout avernus that imprison the devils in hell. kord leads the opposition forces in battles throughout avernus to protect and maintain those divine seals and wards. this makes avernus the largest and most perpetual battlefield in all creation (note, neither the battle between gods and primordials nor the blood war was confined to a single battlefield). it's an ugly job for kord, but somebody's gotta do it ("man, this job is hell"). bahamut sometimes provides support, as needed.

bane is the evil god of war and conquest
dungeon masters guids, page 162

bel, chosen by asmodeus for his loyalty and his military genius
manual of the planes, page 99
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tiamat and mammon merge:

mammon, the king of greed.
given to insatiable lust and avarice,
he seeks to corrupt powerful mortals through avarice and lust
manual of the planes, page 100-101

tiamat is the evil god of wealth, greed, and envy
dungeon masters guids, page 163
Wealth, greed, vengeance
dungeon masters guids, page 162

tiamat is the evil god of wealth, greed, and envy. she is the patron of chromatic dragons and those whose lust for wealth overrides any other goal or concern.
she urges her followers to hoard wealth and to take vengeance for every slight.
draconomicon - chromatic dragons, page 244
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lolth and glasya merge:

the archdevil glasya, daughter of asmodeus, rules malbolge. she is brilliant, seductive, manipulative, and thoroughly wicked. she delights in playing with those who fall into her power by mixing subtle mockery and cruel teasing with queenly hauteur.
manual of the planes, page 103

lolth is the chaotic evil god of shadow, lies, and spiders.
scheming and treachery are her commands
dungeon masters guids, page 163

lolth is a capricious goddess who revels in betrayal and blood. (note, i recognize that forgotten realms tends to put its own spin on deities, but this description seems consistent with that of the default setting)
forgotten realms player's guide, page 152
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torog acquires, to some extent, the far realm and insanity as parts of his portfolio:

torog is the evil god of the underdark, patron of jailers and torturers (meh)
dungeon masters guids, page 163

rats are sacred to torog, the king that crawls.
their presence signifies plague, decay, and collapse in decadent cities.
monster manual, page 219

similar to graz'zt, torog was sent by asmodeus to explore and conquer the far realm, perhaps seeking a way to escape the divine confinement of hell.. unlike graz'zt, torog did return to hell and his foray was not so successful (granted, graazt did not actually succeed in his original pursuit, but he did conquer three layers of the abyss). [insert language from prior post] suffice it to say, that
asmodeus has since seemed to have backed away from his initial interest in the far realms.
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bye bye vecna:

orcus is known as the demon lord of undeath, the demon prince of the undead, and the blood lord. he is worshiped by undead and living creatures that do not fear undeath. (one lord of undeath is enough; as one lord of death is enough. bye bye vecna. that sacred cow has been slaughtered.)
monster manual, page 206

it's all fun and games, until someone loses an eye

when gruumsh and correlon fought, it was not a sword that plucked out gruumsh's eye, but an arrow. both gods knew that correlon could not defeat gruumsh in melee combat, so correlon instead used his intelligence to fight gruumsh. during their historic battle, correlon kept, and fought from, a distance. it was gruumsh's arrogance regarding combat that was his flaw. when faced with a mere bow, gruumsh stood dismissively in the face of correlon's bowshot. he underestimated the power of correlon's bow and his accompanying magic. thusly, did gruumsh lose his eye.

gruumsh's ensuing rage was, in truth, directed more toward's himself than toward's the puny correlon: that he allowed such a combatively inferior foe to harm his person was a greater blow to his ego than to his eye.

although gruumsh, as a god (or, imho, a primordial), was fully capable of replacing or restoring his eye, he refuses to do so. instead, he chooses to remain one-eyed, as a sort of badge of honor--or, perhaps, a badge of dishonor--until such time as he annihilates the very existence of that cowardly creature, correlon.

evil gods, as revised by me

key to revisions:
added
removed

Asmodeus (evil) power, domination, tyranny

Bane = Bel (evil) war, conquest

Gruumsh = primordial (chaotic evil) turmoil, destruction

Lolth = Glasya (chaotic evil) spiders, poison, darkness, shadows, lies, secrets

Tiamat= Mammon (evil) wealth, greed, envy, vengeance, dragons, serpents

Torog (evil) underdark, imprisonment, insanity, aberration

Vecna (evil) undeath, secrets

Zehir (evil) darkness, poison, serpents

Drizzt Do'Urden novels

gotten from forgottenrealms.wikia.com
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Listed in the chronological order of the events in the books:

Dark Elf trilogy
Homeland (1990)
Exile (1990)
Sojourn (1991)

Icewind Dale trilogy
The Crystal Shard (1988)
Streams of Silver (1989)
The Halfling's Gem (1990)

Legacy of the Drow
The Legacy (1992)
Starless Night (1993)
Siege of Darkness (1994)
Passage to Dawn (1996)

Paths of Darkness
The Silent Blade (1998)
The Spine of the World (1999)
Servant of the Shard (2000)*
Sea of Swords (novel) (2001)
*Servant of the Shard (2000) has been removed from this series and placed within the Sellswords series, which follows Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

Hunter's Blades trilogy
The Thousand Orcs (2002)
The Lone Drow (2003)
The Two Swords (2004)

Transitions
The Orc King (2007)
The Pirate King (2008)
The Ghost King (2009)

elsir vale

replacing prestige multiclass (PMC) powers

gotten from wizards forum:

"It's the difference between an 11th paragon path (PP) encounter power and a 13th level class encounter Power; or more accurately, a 7th level and a 13th level, at level 27. And this doesn't kick in until level 27 anyway, so it's only for the last 4 levels of the game.

At level 27+ a PP has : 11 PP, 17 Class, 23 Class, 27 Class
At level 27+ PMC has: 13 Class, 17 Class, 23 Class, 27 Class

Before level 27 it's just extra flexibility on which level 7 enounter power you replace at level 23, the Class power or the Multiclass power."

power swapping

from wizards forum:

"Assume you are a strength based paladin... compare the cleric daily 9 - Divine Power to any paladin encounter from that level.
Assume you are in a party with dragonborn paladin, dwarf warlock, dwarf staff bloodmage and dwarf beast ranger. Now imagine what someone with Cleric Utility 6 - Divine Vigor will do in this party.
Imagine you are swordmage with lasting frost and winter touched. Compare the warlock daily 1 - Armor of Agatheus with any swordmage daily of that level.
Imagine you are a bow ranger with Cleric Daily 5 - Weapon of the Gods. Splintering shot kind of compares in fight vs. solo, but in any other situation - WofG reigns supreme.

Power Swaps are not 100% benefit, in fact they can hurt your character if not done with planing, but they can be very useful.

Healing power - made for healing character is much stronger in the hands of a character without access to healing.
Point blank sustainable power - made for squishy ranged character who has other uses for his minor actions and can't last long at the front lines is much more useful for a fighter who is always there and is never using his minors."
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"If you don't have a concept in mind, you won't have much use for the power swap feats. I believe they are more for experienced players (=have actually played a lot), who have a better overview of the classes and their powers, and who also know from experience what they would like to change on their class.

Unless you are masochistic and really want to pick weaker powers than those from your own class, these hold true:
- you want better damage than your powers give you at a given level (e.g. you are a warlord and load up some ranger, rodue or warlock powers to add a little more DPR to your character)
- you want to have an effect your powers just don't provide (e.g. you are a fighter, but you want some wizard utility powers like Fly, Expeditious Retreat or Arcane Gate - in which case INT doesn't come into play)
- you need to make up for a deficiency of the party (e.g. no healer is present, but people can MC into cleric or warlord to make up for it)."
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"Multiclassing used to be a really easy way to make broken characters. You can still do some powerful things, but multiclassing is no longer the raison-detre of lazy optmizers.

Now the main advantage of multiclassing is for players who actually want to play multiple classes. There are some powerful things that keep the optmizers happy though:

1) Utilizing class specialities. Some classes have a unique collection of powers that no other class has access too. For example, warlocks have several teleport powers that other classes can never get. Grabbing Otherwind Stride, Ethereal Stride, or Infuriating Elusiveness can give a rogue, or even a fighter, something they would never otherwise have.

2) Filling build deficiencies. A strength paladin does not have a lot of options at level 9. Multiclassing fixes that problem.

3) Overcoming build weaknesses. A warlock or bow ranger may want to grab a few paladin or rogue powers in case they get stuck in melee."
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"Eyebite w/ Divine Challenge"
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"Or if you really feel silly and or confident charisma based paladin who multi-classes into a star pact warlock for dire radiance + divine challenge. If the target moves closer to you it takes radiant damage from dire radiance, and if it doesn't try to close with you it takes damage from divine challenge. All the while you keep blasting with dire radiance thus fulfilling the requirement of divine challenge of you having to make an attempt at attacking the target."
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"FIGHTER/Cleric: Healing Strike (2W+Str, Spend Surge)
ROGUE/Ranger: Cobra-Spitting Stance"

downloading DDI content

from wizards forum:

"There's also the issue that some of us have had with being able to actually download and view Insider content. This is briefly acknowledged in Digital Insider #12, as a problem that WotC is aware of and being looked into. WotC no longer employs the fellow who wrote this however, so that particular issue may have fallen by the wayside; I don't know. In any case, fixing the problem does not appear to be a priority, it's on the backburner for now.

The work-around I use is pretty straight-forward once you know about it: Right-click on "See It Now!", right-click on "Save Target As". This brings up an option to save a html page, so I close the menu. Then, I right-click on "See it Now" (yes, again ), right-click on "Save Target As" (again). This time, an option comes up to save an actual PDF file. Good to go. In brief: Open, click, then close, then open (again), and save. This gets me past the "asp" page (whatever that is).

If I don't use the work-around, all I see is a page of gibberish. Insider PDFs are the only ones I've ever had trouble with. It's not just me, several others have posted similar problems. As already mentioned, it is acknowledged as a genuine problem in Digital Insider #12.

So, for those who don't know about this work-around then, it's possible for them to subscribe to Insider. Then, they find out that they're one of the unlucky ones, who can't actually see the stuff they've paid for."