(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Issue 301: November 2002
part 5/10
From Field to Cauldron: Another article of the uses of mundane alchemy? You surprise me. Yup folks, herbalism is actually getting a decent amount of attention this edition, so someone who maxes out their alchemy skill can feel like it's a valuable contribution to the party arsenal. It's certainly a lot cheaper than the stuff in the previous article, although since you'll be paying each time, it might add up over the course of an adventuring career. While more limited than actual spells, this stuff is actually pretty cool, with tricks like ice adhesive, waterproof ink, and several different types of specialised injury relief that make hunting down these herbs very worthwhile for tactically astute adventurers. They may not ever become as ubiquitous as flaming oil and 10 foot poles, but these are another solid bit of stuff to fill up your backpack with.
The ecology of the troll: The new fashion for dry, encounter-focussed ecologies continues in this issue. While there is some info on their lifecycle and mating habits, the majority of the article is once again about fighting them, just like the vs articles. Might as well not use the old name for this one. This one doesn't provide a lair, but puts quite a bit of attention on their potential class capabilities. Yes, we get it now. Nearly anything can become anything in 3e, but some things are better suited to some classes. Ho hum.
Guild secrets: Another thieves guild for this column, this time focussing on long-term scheming. This is helped by the fact that the leader is an elf with dragon blood, which gives him a pretty extended lifespan in which to gradually develop ideas, pick the right people, and groom them for greatness. Course, this kind of long term planning means they're actually pretty vulnerable to a direct application of force, and a high level party with decent divination spells might be able to get the resources together to do it. Since a group can go from 1st to 20th level in a matter of months if they're lucky in 3e, blindsiding them and leading to a dramatic ending where the villain goes "NOOOOO!!!! This can't be happening!!!" definitely sounds like fun to me. Plus since they're good investors, I'm sure the haul you can get from this adventure'll be huge. So this column is short, but pretty usable.
Dork tower fails to realise why it's contributing to the problem.
part 5/10
From Field to Cauldron: Another article of the uses of mundane alchemy? You surprise me. Yup folks, herbalism is actually getting a decent amount of attention this edition, so someone who maxes out their alchemy skill can feel like it's a valuable contribution to the party arsenal. It's certainly a lot cheaper than the stuff in the previous article, although since you'll be paying each time, it might add up over the course of an adventuring career. While more limited than actual spells, this stuff is actually pretty cool, with tricks like ice adhesive, waterproof ink, and several different types of specialised injury relief that make hunting down these herbs very worthwhile for tactically astute adventurers. They may not ever become as ubiquitous as flaming oil and 10 foot poles, but these are another solid bit of stuff to fill up your backpack with.
The ecology of the troll: The new fashion for dry, encounter-focussed ecologies continues in this issue. While there is some info on their lifecycle and mating habits, the majority of the article is once again about fighting them, just like the vs articles. Might as well not use the old name for this one. This one doesn't provide a lair, but puts quite a bit of attention on their potential class capabilities. Yes, we get it now. Nearly anything can become anything in 3e, but some things are better suited to some classes. Ho hum.
Guild secrets: Another thieves guild for this column, this time focussing on long-term scheming. This is helped by the fact that the leader is an elf with dragon blood, which gives him a pretty extended lifespan in which to gradually develop ideas, pick the right people, and groom them for greatness. Course, this kind of long term planning means they're actually pretty vulnerable to a direct application of force, and a high level party with decent divination spells might be able to get the resources together to do it. Since a group can go from 1st to 20th level in a matter of months if they're lucky in 3e, blindsiding them and leading to a dramatic ending where the villain goes "NOOOOO!!!! This can't be happening!!!" definitely sounds like fun to me. Plus since they're good investors, I'm sure the haul you can get from this adventure'll be huge. So this column is short, but pretty usable.
Dork tower fails to realise why it's contributing to the problem.