GameSpy: Talk a bit about the new monsters, new treasures, and new weapons/spells. What else is new?

Rick Ernst: What's new? Plenty … we've got around 14 new monster types, including medusas, gorgons, and cockatrices to make use of our new petrifaction effect. Some are new versions of existing monsters, but most are entirely new -- like the Formians, for example. The Formians are giant, intelligent ant-people from the dimensions of law. We'll be announcing more details about the new creatures in Shadows of Undrentide as we approach the release date.

For new weapons we've added the old dungeon-crawling standards; grenade-like weapons. One type is our "tanglefoot bags," which immobilize individual opponents. One of my favorite new tactics is to create a sneaky archer character (usually a ranger or rogue) armed with tanglefoot bags … you sneak up on unsuspecting foes and entangle them from hiding, then fill them full of arrows before they can take a step.

I think last time I counted we'd added something like fifty new spells. We tried to make sure all spellcasters got some new toys to play with, across the whole range of levels. That being said, I think the star of our new spell selection is the "Bigby's Hand" line. We've got pretty much all of the Bigby's Hand spells in existence. I must say there is little that can compare with sending a giant green glowing hand out to crush, squeeze, and pummel your enemies into submission.