ettins speak common, not giant

as i have mentioned before, ettins are naturally born from and are related to ogres. they appear with about the same frequency as twins.

also as i have mentioned, there is no such thing as giant language. giants are elemental creatures and speak primordial. ogres are natural creatures. they do not speak primordial. they speak common, as do ettins.

REQUEST: compendium, rituals, filters, category

please add an additional filter to ritual searches entitled categories.

there are enough occasions when a dm or player need to search for rituals of a particular category. for example, the dragonmark feats grant the ability to master and perform rituals of certain categories. in addition, several magic items and even a few backgrounds, paragon paths and epic destinies offer characters similar abilities. the compendium is the only reasonable method available for researching this information.

lycanthropes have me confused

i have always known all lycanthropes to have 3 forms:

(i) humanoid (as in, resembling a standard humanoid race);
(ii) animal; and
(iii) hybrid (typically a humanoid body with animal head and/or other parts).

however, in 4e:

(a) every lycanthrope has a change shape ability that references only two forms: humanoid and animal--no mention of a hybrid form;
(b) every image of a lycanthrope is in hybrid form; and
(c) most of their attacks can be used in only humanoid or animal form--no mention of which can be used in hybrid form, if any.

now, i can draw my own conclusion of how this all works together, but it just seems poorly presented to me. every other shapechanger in 4e (except the jackalwere, which suffers the same issues as the lycanthropes) makes reference to every form of the creature in its stat block (e.g., lolth, yochlol, lamia, hag, etc.).

perhaps, this needs correcting.

EDIT:

lo and behold, the new encounter, "kill the messengers", has a wererat with the following information in its stat block:
__________

Change Shape (polymorph) ✦ At-Will
Effect: The wererat alters its physical form to appear as a rat, a unique human, or a hybrid creature. The form lasts until it uses change shape again or until it drops to 0 hit points (whereupon it assumes human form). The creature retains its statistics in its new form. Its clothing, armor, and possessions do not change.

Short Sword (weapon) ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in human or hybrid form.

Bite ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in rat or hybrid form.

Rat Scurry ✦ At-Will
Requirement: The wererat must be in rat form.

Speed 6, climb 4 (rat or hybrid form only).
__________

now, this is much better. nothing is implied. everything is quite clear. thank you, wotc.

well, it does leave me with one question still unanswered: does the creature's armor, and it's possessions, fall off when the creature assumes animal form? also consider that a werewolf lord is size medium in human form and size large in hybrid form. does its armor strangulate it when it increases in size or fall off when it decreases in size? if not, why not?

the mimic is fatally flawed

i think i might have identified a fatal flaw in the design of the mimic.

traditional, a mimic's tactic is to

i) assume the form of an object,
ii) wait for an enemy to draw near, and then
iii) surprise that enemy with an attack.

the mimic has a power called shapeshift, which allows the mimic to assume the form of an object (step i above). while in object form, a mimic is immobilized and cannot attack. the problem is that shapeshifting into or out of object form is a minor action.

the rules for a surprise round read, in part, as follows:

Limited Action: If you get to act in the surprise round, you can take a standard action, a move action, or a minor action. You can also take free actions, but you can’t spend action points. After every nonsurprised combatant has acted, the surprise round ends, and you can act normally in subsequent rounds.

so, how does the mimic surprise its enemy with an attack (step iii above)? technically, it cannot. according to the rules as written, the mimic burns through its surprise round with the minor action of shapeshifting to its natural form (a standard action, a move action, or a minor action). it would not get to attack its enemy until after the surprise round. i do not think that this is what the designers intended.

how can this mistake be corrected? well, in a surprise round, the mimic can also take free actions. if shapeshift were changed to a free action or, more limited, if the mimic shapeshifting back to its natural form were a free action, then the mimic could both shift and attack during the surprise round.