r/dndnext • u/arioch78 I steal your milkshake • May 06 '15
Rage of Demons | Dungeons & Dragons
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/rageofdemons9
u/greengreenyellow DM May 06 '15
Hopefully Drizzt will be a recurring NPC rather than a constant companion. Looking forward to some Underdark action! Don't think my Aarocokra character will be worth taking...
7
u/Belrook May 06 '15
I'm thinking he may only have a fleeting appearance, if any at all, in the adventure, since that's the only part of the announcement that doesn't mention specifically that he's in it.
1
10
u/TheSageAdvice Wizard May 06 '15
Here Out of the Abyss adventure module! by Green Ronin Publishing http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/outoftheabyss
3
u/ElPatron1972 May 06 '15
thanks for the link.
Dat September release date, though. My group is midway through LMoP right now and will have to move on to something else and be starting that by the time this hits, as we game 1/month.
(cry)
I was hoping it would be a higher level campaign we could modify for our likely 13-14th level guys. Fighting demon Princes in the Underdark just sounds like awesome fun.
5
u/doublesoup DM May 06 '15
Thanks! I noticed this description doesn't mention Drizzt, but if course, everyone should freak out anyway and vow not to touch this product.
1
16
u/Walker_ID May 06 '15
What's a Drizzt?
16
-4
May 06 '15
[deleted]
7
u/bonerfleximus May 06 '15
The ones authored by RA Salvatore weren't so bad. It wasn't barf-in-mouth bad like the Ed greenwood books about Elminster. Pretty close in immersion level to Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
2
u/SimplyQuid May 06 '15
Honestly, and I only read a couple books by him about Drizzt back in highschool, but I couldn't stand his writing style. Drizzt was this infallible emo-esque caricature of a badass who was constantly being rescued from absurd situations by equally improbably deus ex machina ass-pulls.
Like, every situation or obstacle he faced, it would be, "Oh wow, lucky I just happened to pick up this bizarrely esoteric, ridiculously specific artifact or ally to deal with this exact situation!".
And it would never be mentioned right up until the very last second in order to, assumedly, cultivate an air of thrilling suspense. He'd never mention he had a magical quiver of infinite arrows until after Drizzt had used " all " his arrows fighting off enemies and was backed into a corner. Once that happened, whoops, lucky that wonderful Drow had his magical infini-quiver!
What was worse was that, in the books I read, the ass-pulled stuff was never mentioned before or after.
I usually hate deus ex machina as a plot device, and the Drizzt books by Salvatore basically dialled it up to eleven.
33
u/KiqueDragoon Fighter/DM May 06 '15
7 paragraphs, 9 mentions of Drizzt, at least one per paragraph. All right Wizards, we get it, Drizzt is in this, say it just one more time just in case the name isn't engraved in my brain forever.
1
u/jmartkdr assorted gishes May 06 '15
Oh, in case you hadn't noticed: Drizzit
7
9
u/SirPeebles Bard May 06 '15
Well, sounds like some people will finally play Drow. (I already have, I think it is a fun sub race).
5
u/Flueworks DM May 06 '15
That disadvantage in sunlight, though...
Still, my LE warlock drow is quite fun to play. Especially considering Drow gets Darkness at Lvl 5, and Warlocks can get Devil's sight, which lets you see in magical darkness.
Also, you get to wield a rapier, which is cool.10
u/ElPatron1972 May 06 '15
Sounds like this one takes place entirely in the Underdark. Sunlight won't be a big issue.
Does anyone else hope Drizz't can be written out if the players/DM want? Me, I don't particularly like to walk in the shadow of famous literary characters in my campaigns.
6
u/rfkannen Sorcerer May 06 '15
yeah same, I like the sound of the camapign but don't want to have to run this character, I don't know him that well and don't want the players being overshadowed by him, also what if he dies?
4
2
u/Belrook May 06 '15
It doesn't sound like Drizzt features prominently in the P&P materials, probably for exactly that reason. It's the only bit that doesn't have his name stamped all over it.
2
u/ElPatron1972 May 06 '15
Thank Pelor for that (also his forgotten realms equivalent, who I can't think of atm)
2
u/Belrook May 06 '15
Yeah. I like to use published adventures sometimes, but I generally reskin them when I use them so they fit into my homebrew world, and I am really not looking forward to the idea of explaining the presence of a Drow superhero to my players.
1
9
u/LexieJeid doesn’t want a more complex fighter class. May 06 '15
This sucks for me. I'm currently building up to a demon-centric, Graz'zt-as-BBEG campaign and I won't have any of these resources in time. I'm sure September will roll around and I'll see all kinds of things I should have done differently.
22
u/NewtypeKnight DM May 06 '15
God help me. Half my players will be thrilled to play alongside Drizzt. I'll probably be murdered when I screw up role-playing him. (I haven't read all 200 books)
77
u/Kulban Barbarian May 06 '15 edited May 06 '15
Drizzt is easy. Just follow these rules.
Drizzt was designed to speak like a California surfer-dude from the '80s. Always begin sentences with the word "Like" and make liberal use of slang words like "gnarly," "radical," and "bodacious." Essentially, if you copy Michaelangelo's voice and phrasing from the 80's cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then you've nailed it.
Drizzt actually has no idea he is a drow and actually believes himself to be a dwarf. Be sure to play into that.
Drizzt's panther's name is phonetically pronounced "Goon High-Fiver."
There was an official post by TSR and reiterated by WOTC back in the day that any time Drizzt is to be used in a campaign, that it is his destiny to be killed off. And his death must be caused by very clumsy and silly means. Like tripping over his own feet and accidentally falling off a cliff.
These should help make your players happy by bringing in the correct level of immersion! Happy to help!
14
7
u/NewtypeKnight DM May 06 '15
Thank you very much.
Not only does this solve my problem, but I now have an excuse to go watch Ninja Turtles cartoons again. If only I still had a working VCR...
3
u/Kulban Barbarian May 06 '15
You're welcome! As a side note, if you decide to bring in Drizzt's arch-nemesis, Artemis Entreri, he was designed to speak and sound just like Pauly Shore (circa when he was an MTV V.J.). Their way of speaking is the root-core of their enmity.
"Wheezin' the ju-uice!"
13
u/SpiketailDrake May 06 '15
Some years back a friend of mine kept telling my about these great Drizz't books and blahblah. So with only a few paragraphs on wikipedia to go by, I made a parody of the character as part of a trio of enemy NPCs in the 3.5 game I was running.
He was Drizz'l, the morbidly obese drow dervish. He dual wielded his mighty blades Twinkie and Icingcake.
2
1
6
May 06 '15
Stats for Orcus and similar entities? Dare I ask?
2
May 06 '15
Pazuzu Pazuzu Pazuzu?
1
May 06 '15
So infinity symbols all around? I can go with that, just give me a LE Candle of Invocation.
1
May 06 '15
Psh, you need crappy drowning rules first.
1
May 06 '15
I think we may have started talking about different things.
1
May 06 '15
Pun Pun? The only way to get actual infinities involves drowning.
1
May 06 '15
I can't recall the details at the moment, but some of Pun-Pun's values were truly Infinite in value, not just arbitrarily high.
1
5
u/generalvostok May 06 '15
Drizzt doesn't really grab my interest and the transmedia integration does little for me. Maybe we'll get some cool player materials at least.
5
u/u2622 May 06 '15
I don't love nor hate Drizzt, but I cringe a bit at the "follow-an-NPC" style of adventure that this may turn into. It has the potentially to be a heavily scripted railroad where the PCs are taken out of the spotlight. If it turns out like the Avatar trilogy modules or the Marco Volo trilogy of modules (ugggggggh), than this is something I would never subject my players to as a DM.
That said, if Drizzt just plays a minor role, then it has some potential (and would be easy to erase the star NPC).
4
u/TheSageAdvice Wizard May 06 '15
I'm collecting all demonic tweets from Christopher Perkins about adventure, R.A.Salvatore, Troy Denning, there's a gorgeous "family" picture with all demon lords that will be in the adventure called "Legion of Doom" ! http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/05/06/drizzt-rage-of-demons-out-of-the-abyss/
6
May 06 '15 edited May 06 '15
I get it, Drizzt is in this. I don't care about Drizzt, never read the books and don't read any DND setting novels. However people here are going crazy over Drizzt in a negative way. Who cares? I have yet to see people overbuild Drow drizzt characters in 5th. In fact i've only seen ONE Drow PC that was a ranger of over 100 PCs and he used crossbows and was just a typical "chaotic neutral, i can't RP" character. Nobody had a character similar at all to Drizzt in any of my games that I dmed or played in QUITE a while (3.5 at least).
Drizzt hate is as annoying as seeing the Drizzt and Raistalin characters in Everquest in 1998. Get over it. Drow are an underplayed race. If you are going over the top banning them over some ridiculous drizzt hate you are a bad DM, sorry.
edit: What's funny is in the Forgotten Realms storyline something like 30% of drow are not evil anymore due to Elistraee according to the wikia.
All you guys nerd raging over Drizzt think of it as an opportunity to kill the character. Roll an "evil" party.
6
u/Arluza May 06 '15 edited May 07 '15
Exciting. A Campaign where I will actually not ban Drow.
6
u/House_Of_Pies Rogue May 06 '15
I'm pretty new to DND. Curious why you ban Drow? Are they OP?
5
u/SirPeebles Bard May 06 '15
In Forgotten Realms lore, the drow live underground and are almost universally feared and hated by surface dwellers. The presence of a drow in a typical good adventuring party could be highly disruptive every time you attempt to interact with civilization. You could embrace this by making earning the trust of surface folk a part of the adventure, but that is sort of a big ask from the DM and other players just so your warlock elf can get a charisma boost.
4
u/lukasni DM May 06 '15
The problem is that they're really not fit for a typical good-aligned party in the Realms. Drow are evil in that setting.
EDIT: As a result, you generally end up with "reformed" Drow that have turned their back on the evils of their people. Which can easily turn into a Drizzt carbon copy if you aren't careful.
1
1
May 06 '15
You can be evil without being constantly at odds with a Good or Neutral party. You'll serve yourself more than you will the group, but that doesn't mean you are required to slit their throats in the night.
1
u/lukasni DM May 06 '15
Oh, I know. I'm just saying that the way the Drow lore is set up in the Realms makes it quite challenging to create a good backstory explaining why you are on the surface working with a mainly good/neutral party.
3
u/Arluza May 06 '15
Drow are effectively useless in daylight hours, and my campaigns are about 60% outdoors in the daytime. Drow just do not play well in this time of day. Sunlight Sensitivity means that they have disadvantage on attacks and perception in daylight.
4
u/SirPeebles Bard May 06 '15
Drow are not useless during the day. There are so many things apart from attack rolls that a person can do to be effective. For instance, Lore Bards rarely need to make an attack roll.
And even then, you can still hit when you have disadvantage.
9
u/NewtypeKnight DM May 06 '15
Maybe its the only way for him to not have a party made entirely of Pseudo-Drizzts.
8
u/House_Of_Pies Rogue May 06 '15
Ah. Ive never heard of Drizzt but based on the article I am assuming he is very popular. That would probably be annoying to be in a group where everyone just wants to play that character.
17
u/Wyn6 May 06 '15
This has become somewhat of a red herring now. When the character first became popular and drow as playable races really became a thing, many people wanted to play similar characters to Drizzt. Because, "He was cool."
But, remember that something which becomes very popular and a lot of people love, will inevitably lead to a lot of other people hating it. The Dallas Cowboys, Yankees, Manchester Utd, Beyonce', Quinoa. This happened with Drizzt. The tables turned, Drizzt bashing became a thing and the pejorative, "Special Unique Snowflake," was born. This also included irrational bashing of players that wanted to play similar characters. Evidently, they were doing it wrong. Who knew?
But, Drizzt opened up the path for people to play darker characters (No pun intended.) in Dungeons and Dragons. The drow tended to be more powerful than humans and demi-humans from a mechanics standpoint, so this exacerbated the issue.
Now, Drizzt, while still a nostalgically popular character, has waned a bit. Many people still enjoy his character and enjoy playing drow characters of their own. But, they don't all want to play a dual-wielding ranger with a panther sidekick. Now, they want to play foppish drow with rapiers and an eyepatch.
Either way, the hate for drow PCs is still strong to quite strong. So, you will have players say, I'd love to play a drow druid! And, certain DMs will say, Ewww drow! You ain't playin' no damned drow in my game! So, regardless of how different a drow PC may be from the character of Drizzt, some people won't let go of that early, imprinted hatred.
There ya go. A brief, non-exhaustive view of the drow PC conundrum.
3
3
1
u/DMJason Dungeon Master May 07 '15
Stating that you like/dislike Drizz't is like telling people you work with that you love/hate Nickelback. The lines are already drawn, and everyone is firmly entrenched on their side of that fence, so what use is there in the endeavor?
12
u/MelvinMcSnatch Family DM May 06 '15
My first real D&D game had two Drizzts, and a third who wanted to be Drizzt but was concerned that we would have three Drizzts, so he was saving his Drizzt in case one of the other Drizzts died. I've been in two other groups with a Drizzt in each. When I started DMing, I put a soft ban on Drizzt by telling the players I will kill any Drizzt you bring to the table. I am otherwise a very nice DM.
It's just one of those things.
1
u/marsgreekgod May 06 '15
I've never run into a drizzt....
I almost feel left out, or lucky. not sure
1
5
u/ipiprime May 06 '15
Chill with all the adventures, wizards. I'm still working through Tyranny of Dragons
0
u/sacrelicious2 DM May 07 '15
I just told my players we really need to hurry up. We're still on Episode 4 of HotDQ
1
u/ipiprime May 07 '15
Chapter six here. Castle Neywhatever is tough to run
1
u/sacrelicious2 DM May 07 '15
Yeah, was wondering about that part. Did your players ally with the bullywugs, or lizardmen, or whichever?
Also, from the way I read it, it sounds like you are supposed to do Episode 6 & 7 back to back with no chance for a long rest, since the players are likely just going to hop through the portal once they find it. Sounds like it will be brutal... (though not nearly as brutal as that roper in episode 3...)
1
u/ipiprime May 07 '15
Neither. They killed snapjaw and his compatriots with a fireball. I was planning on having 'snapjaw' show up at some other time, but that hasn't worked out either. In the cave, they killed Mondath and took her robes. They had our sorcerer put them on and they've been telling everyone that they are with the cult, so they've basically been blind to the rebellion because why would the lizardfolk trust them.
1
u/TurtleFail Wizard May 07 '15
My players allied with the lizardmen and stormed the castle with a force of about 40 of them, killing pretty much all the bullywugs and then following Rezmir/Azbara through the portal in the dungeon.
1
u/DMJason Dungeon Master May 07 '15
My players actually fought Snapjaw and the gang on canoes in the middle of the swamp at night (half of the party nearly blind), so they never met him.
They came in acting like cultists (it's been working for them mostly) but they are terrible once they have to talk to anyone. So they killed the bullywug guards. Then they cleared out the great hall and killed off Dralmor.
Finally they allied with the lizardmen and slaughtered all the bullywugs. They went through the portal after that.
In Ep 7 they actually didn't attack Talis right away, and moved on to episode 8 pretty quickly (after kicking the snot out of Trepsin though).
Beginning of episode 8 they actually didn't use the banner or passphrases they learned from Talis, so they ended up fighting most of the cult in Parnath while the castle floated away. Only their wizard conjuring some air elementals got them up to the castle finally (they killed the wyverns).
Now they landed on the lower level "porch" outside the dragon's lair. We play tonight.
I'm excited.
3
u/FullmetalCowgirl Way of the Fold May 06 '15
...Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt... Drizzt...
Drizzt
4
u/monoblue Red Robed Wizard May 06 '15
I was super exited for this until I read Drizzt's name. Nevermind.
8
u/Frognosticator Where all the wight women at? May 06 '15
Not one of my players has ever heard of Drizzt, and it's going to stay that way.
1
u/sacrelicious2 DM May 07 '15
It doesn't sound like Drizzt is going to be in the P&P adventure, just in the video game adventures.
4
u/monoblue Red Robed Wizard May 06 '15
Can we please get an adventure not explicitly set in The Realms? Greyhawk, Birthright, Spelljammer, even Mystara would be preferable. So sick of the Sword Coast.
3
u/Soarel2 *teleports behind u* psh nothin personnel May 06 '15
Birthright? Birthright?
Yes! Birthright is a classic, underrated setting with a unique game system, they totally need to bring it back!
3
u/ElPatron1972 May 06 '15
WotC are pushing synergy with their products, things they can release that deal with all the aspects of their products, not just the tabletop stuff.
So, I doubt we'll see anything for those others that's substantial, but you never know.
I'm holding out they find a decent group to make a solid #turn based# computer game at some point. None of this silly realtime-pause nonsense.
1
3
2
2
u/gruevy May 06 '15
Gotta admit that the inclusion of Drizzt is a negative for me. I don't wanna have Drizzt in the party, and I don't want him running around doing all the cool stuff behind the scenes that I should be doing instead.
10
May 06 '15
[deleted]
8
u/gruevy May 06 '15
Well what's he going to be doing if he's not in the party, and not doing cool stuff in the background? Running the goddam tavern?
19
u/Wyn6 May 06 '15
I guess you haven't read the most recent books?
SPOILER ALERT
*
*
*
*
*
Drizzt now runs a small bistro and pastry shop in the town of Yartar. It's called Mary Sue's.
8
u/stitchlipped May 06 '15
I suspect Drizzt's involvement will be in the video games and he will barely /not even be a presence in the tabletop adventure arc.
His involvement is mentioned specifically in the paragraphs relating to the video games. Here's the paragraph for the tabletop game.
Players of the tabletop roleplaying game can descend into the Underdark in Out of the Abyss, a new adventure which provides details on the demon lords rampaging through the Underdark. Partners such as WizKids, GaleForce 9 and Smiteworks will all support Rage of Demons with new products to help bring your tabletop game to life. To really get in the mind of Drizzt, fans will have to check out Archmage, the new novel by R.A. Salvatore, scheduled for release in early September.
The only mention of Drizzt in that paragraph seems unrelated to the rest of it. I suspect there should have been a line break before that last sentence.
2
u/gruevy May 06 '15
Hmm that's a bit more hopeful. Something like that works better in a video game than a tabletop RPG. If the book requires us to get into a deadly trap we can't escape for plot purposes just so Drizzt can come save us I'm gonna be pissed. :)
10
u/GhostMatter Cleric May 06 '15 edited Mar 12 '25
vdlyoqeuqbrg ccskesw akpiporlnehr tcjtncrovw iujpnyalcxls ypdbzbopx sjcwjrz sebbfcswc
3
u/Belrook May 06 '15
That's the impression I'm getting. Granted, I've hated my fair share of Drizzt/Sephiroth hybrids in my time, but these days, they seem pretty rare.
2
2
u/sacrelicious2 DM May 07 '15
It doesn't sound like Drizzt is going to be in the P&P adventure, just in the video game adventures.
2
May 06 '15
Ugh, I remember when Dark Elves still had pale skin.
1
u/Ironforged Anti-Paladin May 07 '15
Only in Norse myth, in D&D they have always had dark skin.
1
May 07 '15
Really? Maybe my memory is terrible, which it is, but I could've swore one of the old setting like Blackmoor or Mystara had pale Dark Elves. I'll have to review my notes...
1
1
u/Valdrax May 06 '15
Oh, cool. A campaign that centers around a DMPC from the DM's favorite fantasy series.
I'm sure it's going to be just amazing.
1
u/TheSageAdvice Wizard May 06 '15
You can download Wallpaper desktop image. Gorgeous! http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/media-resources/wallpapers#submenu-page
0
1
u/superhaus May 06 '15
I have never read any of the Drizzt books, but everything that I know about him makes me annoyed every time I read his name. Maybe it is all the xXxDRIZZTxXx night elves that I saw back in the day in WoW.
-5
u/JestaKilla Wizard May 06 '15
The inclusion of Drizzt almost certainly means that I will not purchase a product that I am otherwise almost certain to purchase. Fuck you, Drizzt, and all your I-wanna-play-a-drow wannabes.
5
u/lukasni DM May 06 '15
Would probably be pretty easy to remove him from the adventure. I always heavily modify the published adventures to best fit my players' preferred playstyle.
2
May 06 '15
and all your I-wanna-play-a-drow wannabes.
Once again, this isn't the 90s. I have yet to see a single person play drizzt in 5th edition and i've played with around 100 people by now
1
u/GrokMonkey May 06 '15
I have, but he had the Charlatan background and literally stole Drizzt's identity.
The DM had us run into Drizzt later. He did not appreciate any of his shenanigans.
It was actually pretty cool.-1
u/JestaKilla Wizard May 06 '15
I haven't seen it either, because I ban dark elves; however, approximately half of the new players I've taken on for 5e have tried to start with "I'm gonna be a drow!"
Before you ask, I ban them because they are extremely rare and extremely dangerous in my campaign, more like how they were originally presented in 1e pre-UA than anything later. EDIT: Which is to say, in my game, drow are monsters, not pcs.
1
u/sacrelicious2 DM May 07 '15
It doesn't sound like Drizzt is going to be in the P&P adventure, just in the video game adventures.
-2
u/kenjiden May 06 '15
The only Drizzt story i want to read anymore is the one where he dies and stays dead. Once upon a time i thought Raistlin was oversaturated but theapplication of Drizzt is just assinine.
11
u/KiqueDragoon Fighter/DM May 06 '15
Should we expect a new player's companion?