Tuesday, July 6, 2010

DDI Tool Update

The latest version of the Character Builder tool is available for download. There are couple of new things added this month and hopefully some bug fixes so Mark's on again/off again bonus is back on this month. I downloaded it and made sure it started up properly, but haven't really run any real testing on it yet.

The update to the Adventure Tools, specifically the Monster Tools, has been pushed back two weeks to 07/20 though. I had looked at the calendar several weeks ago and was sure it was originally scheduled for today, but no longer. There is a significant amount of change in the July update to the Monster Tool (and it had no updates in June), including the 300+ new monsters from Monster Manual 3 and the change to the way the monster stat blocks are displayed. I had printed out all of the monsters for KotS before we started playing, but haven't done so for TL because I was aware this was coming, so I guess I'll wait a little longer.

Wizards will soon be releasing a series of books called "DnD Eessentials" (more here). They are insisting this is not a major 4.5 release upgrade, but I think of it as at least a 4.1 point release. There have been a lot of rules tweaks and clarifications and while it is good to have the computer tool component available with the latest and most up-to-date rules, at some point the rules needs to be documented in a book somewhere. I think the new Rules Compendium is an idea whose time has come, while the rest of it seems geared towards identifying and introducing new players, This may not particularly affect us of course, but it is part of the continuing crusade to (hopefully) expand the game to new players.

No comments:

Post a Comment