NOTE:  This post is out of date.  These cards have been updated and the template is now for sale!

http://educatedgamer.net/blog/4e-power-cards

I used the Magic Set Editor program with a modified Full Text Template (copy to the Data folder) to create these power cards for the 1st level sample characters from the D&D Experience. They are just preliminary cards, but show some potential…

Here is my system – your mileage may vary!

• The card color represents the class (paladin, warlock, etc). For the Warlock, multiple colors represent the class (black) and focus (green = fey).
• Powers based on Races use the Land texture, and Items will use the Artifact texture.
• I took advantage of the Power/Toughness section to re-state the type of ability (Standard, Move, Minor, Free, or Immediate), since in play this is a common point where my players have slowed down in trying to pick their actions.
• I am using the official 4E logo as the set logo – just for fun. Black = At Will, Silver = Encounter, and Gold = Daily.
• At Will, Encounter, and Daily are also represented by the card border. I chose darker variations of the colors to help they eyes. I almost made everything with black borders for aesthetic reasons, since I will be using colored sleeves for my coding, but figured others might not, so I left them. Feel free to change if you don’t like.
• The mana symbol represents the level of the power. In the case of Class features, I used 0, since you get those independent of level. Also, X is used for racial powers – though I might just pull that.

Click the thumbnail to visit the full gallery

WotC had lots of fun yesterday with their April Fools edition. Check the links below.

We hope you enjoyed our special April Fool’s Day coverage on the website, an annual tradition for us here on the D&D Team. In case you missed any of our stories, feel free to share the links below:

• Our redesigned homepage
• Name Change Promotion
• 4E Character Sheet Preview
• PHB and Monster Manual Errata
• DDM Looking Forward
• Sage Advice Stumpers
• The Mind Flayer’s Interview

A fan-made character sheet is up! Neceros has created a tentative sheet based on what is know about 4E already.  Grab a copy!

I am hosting the PDF (updated 3-22-08) here in case some of my peeps can’t get to that site due to filtering.

4e-charsheet.pdf

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In this episode, your hosts – Dave Noonan and Mike Mearls – field many of your questions regarding 4th Edition, following the Gen Con announcement. Our thanks to everyone who submitted questions to askdnd@wizards.com, with the following appearing this podcast:

Questions

09:30: Corey asks, How are you going to decide who playtests 4th Edition?

11:00: David asks, What are the conversion plans between 3rd and 4th Editions?

14:45: Jean asks, What is the goal of 4th Edition?

19:00: Neil asks, Internally what was the most unanimously supported change in 4th Edition?

20:20: Mike asks, Has any thought been given to revamping the monetary system?

• Centimal currency: where parts are divided by 100s (such as 100 pennies to a dollar), as opposed to decimal currency (such as 10 silver pieces to a gold).

24:00: Estabo asks, Will action points be core?

25:00: Jonathan asks, What’s being done with encumbrance?

• Riddle of Steel, by Driftwood Publishing
• And, as mentioned earlier, Fantasy Flight’s Tannhauser

26:30: Cody asks, What classes and races can you confirm will be in 4th Edition?

28:30: Eve asks, What will the non-combat 4th Edition mechanics be like?

33:00: Akoss asks, will there be mechanical changes moving from the Heroic to the Paragon to the Epic tiers of play?

34:10: Jeremy asks, What kind of support will psionics receive in 4th Edition?

35:20: Celine asks, What prompted the interest in assigning roles to classes and monsters?

Lightening Round Questions

• Do you need online content to play 4th Edition?
• Can you explain how roles affect the design process?
• Was there a list of sacred cows?
• Will Ravenloft (or other worlds) return?
• What will happen to iconic but non-combat abilities for monsters?
• What were your 4th Edition secrets you had to give at Gen Con?
• How will 4th Edition speed up gameplay and prep time?
• What have considered off-limits during the design process?
• What’s happening with critical hits?
• How will monster advancement take place?
• Have you come up with a better mechanic for turning undead?
• Will iconic monsters remain at their current power levels?

In this episode, your hosts – Dave Noonan and Mike Mearls – discuss the major announcement made at Gen Con: 4th Edition! Recorded before the convention, Dave and Mike take a look at the process leading up to the 4e announcement, and what information can be expected in the days ahead (hint: lots).

I’ve put together this SketchUp model of the Temple of Elemental Evil (from the module of the same name). I used a model of the cathedral at Koln, Germany as my base, but made several modifications. Oh, the little dots on the grounds? Those are people, to scale. That place is huge! Grab the SketchUp file from Google’s 3D Warehouse.

Or, get the video below.

A player in my campaign, Tommy Johnson, had a “sand mage” sorcerer named Ahmad, who specialized in fire spells. His father, Haddim, was also a fire specialist, and even pursued Elemental Savant. Little did Ahmad know that his father was also a bard…

After some frantic work, I finished the dungeon level late last night / early this morning. This one involves a lot more shading work, with lighting effects from torches and such. It is also much bigger, spanning 6000 x 6400 pixels! This used mostly Dundjinni, with Photoshop for lighting.

Ruins of the Moathouse: Dungeon Level (6,173 Kb, .jpg, 100 dpi)

A lower resolution jpg (25 dpi) is below. (272 Kb)

The original map:

Last week, I posted my first Dundjinni map of the Ruins of the Moathouse from the 1985 AD&D module: The Temple of Elemental Evil. I got to run that map with my group today. It looked pretty sweet, if I say so myself. Here are a couple of screenshots. The tabletop application is d20pro.

Ok, I am officially a crazy artist. I need to chop a bit off my ear or something. I spent waaaaay too long on this, but I like it. This was created initially with Dundjinni, a mapping program, and some Photoshop touch-ups. The map is really just art for my enjoyment, although we will be using it for an adventure I am running. I used Photoshop only on the interior of the moathouse because that’s the only area that the adventure will occur in. I will be using d20Pro to run the actual adventure, with this map pasted into the adventure.

Again, I spent way too long on this. This was my first map created with Dundjinni, and only my second with Photoshop. As you can see from the post time (3:08 AM on a work night) – I am hooked.

The original map from the 1985 AD&D module, The Temple of Elemental Evil. Click on the thumbnail for a better view.

For the final work, I used the original floor map with details added from the room descriptions. I tried to keep it as true to the feel of the module as possible. Be warned! This is a 6 MB file in JPG format, at 100 dpi resolution! (4000 x 3800 pixels). Click on the thumbnail to see the monster file

Oh, this is what it looked like before Photoshop

For a smaller (25 dpi) version, click here.

Note to my players: I am NOT crazy! The other maps for this campaign will not be this detailed! LOL!