Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 9/9


Sage advice: What counts as too crap an ability spread. Do you have to meet both the conditions or just one (Just one. Bow before our mercy, that you should be permitted to abort unviable adventurers before they are even born. We had to face a lot of opposition to get you that right.)

When do devoted defenders get AC bonuses (Whenever actively defending someone. This means they need to stick near them or use a reach weapon to stay in range.)

Page 59 of the ELH includes the bonuses from ability scores, right (yes)

Do specialist wizards with improved spell capacity get the bonus spell at each level (Yes. Nearly double the benefit from each feat, triple if they hyperspecialise. Another way that wizards blow other spellcasters away at epic level. Clerics get domain spells as well. )

Does a tattooed monk have to take the same tattoo more than once to increase the benefits (no. It scales with level, just not directly. )

What's the difference between a knowledge check and a bardic knowledge check (different sources, different DC scale criteria, different applications. They're completely different. How could you confuse them.)

Does a loremaster add their level to all knowledge checks (No. Once again, you completely misunderstand. It's just another bardic lore variant.)

How often can a rogue sneak attack in the dark if the enemies can't see them (Constantly. Very scary indeed. )

Can a barbarian use their dex bonus while climbing or grappling. (no)

How does an arcane trickster's impromptu sneak attack work (Full attack, only one does the extra damage. Best make it the first one)

Can an assassinated character be raised (Their death attack doesn't have the Death descriptor, so no. It just kills you, it doesn't make you harder to bring back.)


Nodwick goes from facing undeath, to just facing death. This is not an improvement. At least if you become undead you get plenty of time to think.


The articles this month are mostly very good, but for some reason, the 3.5 teasers showcase my absolute least favourite parts of the changes they're going to make. This gives me an exaggerated sense of pessimism about the future as we finish this issue, especially as the themed material details a world so very different from their general direction at the moment. Once again I have to press on despite a fair amount of trepidation about the near future. Maybe they've saved the cool teasers for the next issue.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 1/9


91 (116) pages. Even dragons get the annoying fishbowl lens treatment! Sigh. That's definitely a fashion that gets old fast. Let's hope it is a short one, along with not bothering to do decent backdrops. So. Year 27. 3^3. Not nearly as mathematically significant feeling as the hundreds or the powers of 2, but not a prime number either. Let's see if the articles are as relentlessly efficient as their current fashion dictates, or if any small amount of whimsy has survived the tightening of focus.


In this issue


Wyrms turn: The editorial this month covers the not so weighty subject of people being superstitious about their dice. Do you have particular ones that always seem to get good or bad results? Is this just actual luck, confirmation bias making you remember the ones that fit the pattern in your mind, or actual trends due to the little imperfections in the sides and weighting? Could be any of them, really. People are silly, and can take a little thing and make a huge deal out of it. Not that I'm one to talk really. But however far gone I am with my obsessions, I've never lost my cynicism about the whole thing. I suppose some level of quirkiness is essential anyway. Without it, we'd be just pure profit focussed logical machines, and roleplaying wouldn't exist. And then where would we be? Best to just allow them their foibles, and hope they'll be similarly tolerant in return.


Scale Mail: We start off with a request for more epic level material. They give the old excuse that they can't get the submissions. Simple problem, complicated solutions.

Next we have someone pointing out how utterly unrealistic the 3e jumping rules are. You can wind up floating through the air for rounds on end at high levels. This is the problem with overall movement rate increases being so hard to come by in D&D. Physics can go take a back seat.

We have someone who doesn't see what the big deal is if dragon articles are OGL or not. It's not an issue for you, it's one for publishers. The solutions that are shared are the ones that can be reused and built upon. Everything else is off limits. Sharing only works if enough other people share too that everyone winds up with a net positive.

The complete lack of april frivolity is noted with annoyance. They'd better watch themselves if they want to make it to next year without being pied in the face.

And finally, we have a letter from someone who hasn't been paying attention and wonders how you play living greyhawk. If you can learn the rules for D&D, the ones for joining the RPGA and getting accredited should hopefully be fairly simple by comparison.


Zogonia demonstrates the difference in fighting styles between fighters and rogues. You've gotta play to your strengths.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 2/9


Up on a soapbox: Rob Kuntz takes this column instead of Gary for a month. But the stories of the old days remain pretty similar. In fact, we return to the story of the monk with no name, and the fun he got up too. Bored of the dungeoneering, he turned to extorting an barony ruled by another PC, thus giving Rob an easy ride as two high level characters duked it out with all the magical and temporal resources at their disposal. He got away with it too, thanks to having the forces of nature on his sides, while all the baron had was human armies. Still, as with the last time someone tried to make their fortune outside the dungeon, diminishing returns set in, and the next time they tried it, the target was better equipped. It's the nature of heists. The really hard thing isn't getting away with it once, it's not being hunted down afterwards, and not being dumb enough to try the same trick too soon or too near to the previous attempt. And when you do get the money, spend it slowly, don't blow it on shiny stuff that makes the neighbours suspicious. So this reminds us that political PvP stuff can work in D&D, and how variety is essential to keeping a game interesting. Both PC's and their enemies need to change and grow to keep the campaign from gradually winding down and ending because they're bored. This is why they invented all that high level domain stuff in the first place. Now, if only there'd been some other branching options as well. Then more people might have kept playing once they got there and didn't know what to do with one. :/


House rules: When you're living in a rules as physics game, even a small change to stats can make a big difference to how a race or class interacts with the world. For example, what happens if you change dwarves from having a charisma penalty to a dexterity penalty instead. That ± 1 to a bunch of rolls seems small, but will really add up in terms of building stereotypes. Their primary identifier goes from grumpy to clumsy, (although thankfully that doesn't affect their crafting skills) and they're even more likely to be comic relief for the group. Very interesting. And also a reminder that it's the little details that let you really make a world your own, and can make or break overall game balance. Change the nuances, and see what happens. If it turns out poorly, change it back. No harm, no foul, and hopefully you got a story out of the experiment as well.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 3/9


Dragon magic: Monte Cook hedges his bets by producing the magazine's second OGL article, thus ensuring he can use it's ideas again for Malhavoc publications. Smart move, since the idea of feats that open up particular types of magic to general casters was the big way he kept everyone from having access to everything in Arcana Evolved, after eliminating the distinction between arcane, divine and psionics. It also gives him an excuse to make these normally dragon-exclusive spells more powerful than normal ones of the same level, which might have gone unremarked last edition, but needs justifying now. So this is a 3e version of the Dragon Dweomers spells from issues 218, 230, 248 & 272. Surprisingly few of them are direct updatings of spells from the previous ones as well, which is pleasing for me to see, and speaks well of Monte's current creativity levels. Plus there's a case where an ability that was pure fiat last edition is turned into a properly codified spell. Yup, if you always wanted to teleport your entire mountain or castle home around the planes on a regular basis like Infyrana from Dragon Mountain, now you can at epic levels. (with the help of a few extend spell metamagics) This makes me happy, and the rest of the spells feel pretty dragon appropriate as well, with lots of lair based spells, some elemental blasting and enhancement, and buffs to your wings, scales, claws and general flexibility (and a justification as to how you can find them at the centre of dungeons they couldn't physically get out of ) This is a very strong article, and I'm glad it isn't just squirelled away into WotC's archives, and is free to be reused and expanded upon. Definitely a good way to kick off our features.


Heavy gear: While dragons have got a fair number of magical items aimed specifically for (or at) them in birthday issues, I can't actually find one that talks about mundane gear adapted for the draconic body form. So it looks like they have managed to find something new to talk about this issue. While dragons are generally quite comfortable going naked whatever the climate, they're still smart enough to recognise the value of bags and harnesses to carry stuff, enhancements for their natural weapons and armour, and all sorts of things that they might have trouble making with their huge awkward claws, but can easily pay or threaten humans into doing for them. As with the last article, many of the items are focussed at making their lair safer and better protected against adventurers, but some are handy if they should join an adventuring party and head out to enhance their fortune that way as well. This means that they are primarily DM focussed, but as with Monte's spells, less so than in previous editions. Giving PC's a concrete path to follow to access them, even if it is a challenging one, does seem very much the way to go at the moment.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 4/9


Dweomered dragon scales: The onslaught of dragon based crunchy stuff comes to an end with one that is primarily focussed at players. Dragon scales are one of the few magic item components you can extract from them while leaving them alive, so you can possibly get one by making a deal with them, or even sneaking into their lair and looking for any sheddings. Unsurprisingly, the powers they grant are heavily based on the type of dragon they come from, with one from each chromatic, metallic and lung species, plus 5 miscellaneous ones like shadow, deep and brown. I'm a bit irked by the lack of gem dragons, but the items are decent enough, if very formulaic, granting some of the resistances and spell-like abilities that the various dragons possessed. At least the various ways they're mounted for wearing shows some inventiveness. allowing you to have them in rings, shields, collars, hats, amulets, cufflinks, basically, at least one for each body slot if you were so inclined to buff yourself that way. And let's face it, there are far worse themes to pick for your character's powers, as this'll net you a broad range of resistances and not many weaknesses. So it looks like this year's presents have all fell into the high crunch, efficient, player-friendly and formulaic mould they're keen on at the moment. One or two like that is cool, but when it's every article, it gets very tedious indeed. Let's hope there's at least some variety in approach in the rest of the issue.


The ecology of the ironmaw: Skip contributes an ecology for the first time in well over a decade. Nice to see he's not completely consumed by fulfilling his regular duties. This is a fairly good example of the current ecological trends, although rather longer in it's descriptive section than the previous two, it's still entirely OOC, and focussed upon combat over the uses of the creature in general campaignery and interactions with other creatures. There's quite a bit of story potential in a plant from the abyss gradually taking over a prime material world through being nastier than the local fauna, and that could be better put across. Still, it is probably an improvement on last year's crop. Now, if they could get the frequency back as well. Are they not getting the submissions, or is this a deliberate decision to cut this kind of stuff out? Either way, this is one area 3rd ed is quite a bit worse than 2nd.


Tactical Terrors: Skip contributes a second article in quick succession, a direct sequel to one from issue 288. Yup, here's 14 more encounter ideas wherin you combine multiple monsters that complement each other in interesting ways. Be it one riding the other, a group of minions and a leader, open attack and a stealthy counterpart, or just equal partners, there's a huge number of combinations you can try, see if the challenge level is more or less than the sum of it's parts. So like transformational prestige classes and transforming existing monsters into templates, this is an idea that shows a little bit of diminishing returns in it's return, but still has plenty of room for further expansions. The main way it's inferior to the previous one is the quantity, only 14 ideas compared to the original's 20, and the formatting, which has white writing on a bright red background, not the most legible combo. Still, the content is decent enough, it's just not surprising anymore. Now they've taken the idea and made it standard in ecology articles, it's no longer new and cool.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 5/9


Armed to the tentacle: Neither is this one by Skip's wife. Lest we forget, Illithids have got multiple specials in the magazine giving them more stuff, plus a full book last edition. They're literally THE oldest creation of the magazine that still gets regular screentime. As with the draconic equipment, there's quite a mix of stuff here. New magic items, and new creatures (which are also items, since illithids are quite into their symbiotic biotech. ) The symbionts make up the majority of this article, and are the most interesting part, attaching themselves to you in somewhat gross manner, and providing various benefits in exchange for ability damage as they live off your vital energies. Most are also intelligent, many far more so than humans, so they can provide you with an extra set of eyes and opinions if you're willing to put up with the loss of privacy as well as their stated benefits. It puts an interesting alternative spin to finding intelligent magical items. Plus the Guyver fans'll love it. So while not totally original, this is also a solid bit of crunchy material with some entertaining ideas contained within. I'm not sure why Skip & Penny have suddenly stepped up their rate of submissions, but I don't object to it at all.


Psions of the orient: The connection between psionics and martial arts of the more high-flying kind is pretty well established. So it makes perfect sense that someone would combine the two, creating psionic styles that grant you an extra ability if you take the right feats and powers. However, unlike mundane MA styles, they set things up so you can only pick one, and then you're stuck with it, even if you could theoretically buy all the feats for two or three by 20th level. So in practice they work more like wizard school specialisations, particularly the psionic warrior ones. That means you won't get to see many of these in your game unless you use them for the NPC's. So while this is a neat idea, it's fairly limited in it's application in most campaigns. Maybe if it was included in the 3.5 psionics revision it'd gain a little traction, but no suck luck. Guess it's another throwaway then.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 6/9


Arcane weather: Magical weather is probably one area that's underrepresented in D&D compared to real world superstition. Part of that is because like shapeshifting, you have a few high level spells that basically let you do everything, which gives spellcasters either no power over it at all, or ridiculous flexibility and huge amounts of tactical and strategic control over an area. There really should be more intermediate steps between alter the temperature a few degrees and snap your fingers for instant village destroying hurricane. Still, it seems Mike Mearls isn't in a flexibility cutting mood today, just an adding new whimsical stuff one, and applying the lessons we learned out in the planes to the prime material. In an area of high magic, all sorts of weird and wonderful weather can happen, from raining frogs, to mixing raw alignment energy with the weather. And while some may be beneficial to the PC's, it's more likely that they'll be a challenge to overcome, and figure out how to make them hurt any enemies more than you. Most of this is for DM's to play around with, but as with the dragon articles, there's feats and a prestige class that lets players counteract and play around with magical weather, which will be suitably game-changing at high level. As both an unfamiliar topic, and quite a fun implementation, this is a pretty cool article. A bit of overt fantastically like this reminds players that magic is an integral part of a fantasy world, not something slapped on top of real world physics.


Dork tower substitutes science for magic. Once again, nothing changes. Arthur C Clarke would be proud.


Fiction: Theadora's ladder by Thomas Harlan. Our third trip back to the time of the crusades, and we up the magic level quite substantially, introducing vampires, and an old woman who has enough blatant magical power to stand up to them in a direct battle. (complete with a bit of wire-fu) So this isn't so much power creep as a sudden leap in stakes ( in both senses ) and change in tone. It also ceases to be standalone, leaving a huge plot hook open for a follow-up story. It looks like this series is going to do what Fool Wolf and Orion have done and build up to something. Presuming it gets those future instalments anyway, which is always a gamble in this magazine. So I have very mixed feelings about this. It's nice to see stories with continuity again, but the sudden change in tone is a bit annoying, and the power escalation definitely so, since gritty low-magic stuff has been getting increasingly scarce around here. I hope he isn't going to wind up on the chopping block or finish with yet another save the world story which leaves nowhere to go but down afterwards.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 7/9


3.5 Update: The fighting classes didn't change hugely from 3.0 to 3.5. What changes they did make were pretty consistently done to deal with the problem of front-loading. Fighters are pretty much the same, but for expanded feat options, which still don't change the fact that the first 4-6 levels are the only ones you really want. Barbarians get better Rage that advances faster, once again offsetting but not removing the issue that many people were just taking one level and then going Ranger instead. And speaking of Rangers, they get expanded in nearly every way. Their HP is down a little. but they get more spells, more skills, more efficient skills, more combat styles, and those styles advance more gradually. Each is a small change, but put together they represent a pretty substantial upgrade. So pretty much all the changes are ones that grant greater power, at least on the surface. Of course, that won't stop complaints that they're still miles behind spellcasters in flexibility from piling up over the next 5 years, but what can you do? Completely changing the powers rules to fix it lost more people than it gained, and caused pathfinder to sometimes outsell 4e. In a .5 revision, they had even less leeway to change things. As with the spell nerfs, these little tweaks aren't exciting to read about, just irritating. The vast majority of people won't notice (apart from that fighters suck, which was obvious to nearly everyone. ) and those that were won't stop complaining because you've slapped a band-aid on it. I hate these no-win situations.


Silicon Sorcery: As they hinted in the letters page, they've finally got a little more epic material for us, a year on. Two prestige classes based on Morrowind: Tribunal. Both are about transcending your limitations and becoming a divine badass capable of nearly anything. But one tries to get there by sucking up to the gods, while the other believes that you make your own fate. Of course, in D&D, the one that fully progresses your clerical spellcasting as well as granting a load of extra abilities is probably going to win against the one that doesn't, at least until they gain the power to completely no-sell all connections to another plane or higher power. So essentially, it looks like the conflict here is proxies vs super-athar, and in the game you can choose to help either side. That's definitely a conflict that works well in D&D, where even if everyone accepts the gods exist, they don't always like them or want them watching and meddling with the world, and they aren't so omnipotent that you can't make a difference. I can definitely see players wanting to take either of these if they get to epic level, so this article is quite welcome, as with most of their current computer game choices.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 8/9


Dungeoncraft: Monte tackles the obvious topic in a column called Dungeoncraft. Building a dungeon! While the formatting is different, the advice here isn't too different to Ray's advice on this three years ago. The dungeon needs a reason to exist, both in and out of game, and it's design should stem logically from it's surrounding area, the creatures that live there, and the tools they had to build it with. The main difference is that while Ray was always working on a specific example while giving his advice, Monte isn't, which also means his advice is less decompressed, as he isn't looking to stretch a topic out over an entire year. Which will turn out to be more useful overall still remains up in the air, but we should get to the point faster this time, which means it'll also be more friendly to newcomers. Hopefully he'll still hit some points Ray didn't despite that, keeping this useful to me.


The play's the thing: Penny gives her perspective on a proper player-DM relationship, which unsurprisingly differs from Robin's one. Wheras he wants a negotiated social contract where everyone gets a say in how the game turns out, Penny wants you to suck up to the DM (for they have the power of life and death over you), buy snacks to reward them for their effort, and don't backtalk their rulings. I think this may be wishful thinking on her part, since she was an RPGA coordinator for years, and therefore had to put up with all the worst rules disputes and player-DM conflicts with added bureaucracy for dessert. I can see why that would lead to a degree of cynicism about player's ability to decide things sensibly for themselves and a wish that they'd just learn and follow the rules, listen to the DM and do what they say. So this article feels decidedly regressive in contrast with the advice from last year, and behind the humour is a genuine belief that the DM should be the boss of the group socially, not just in game. Which again, is a necessary attitude when involved in organised play, but not so much when you're just a group of friends meeting up at someone's house. Can't say I'm very keen on this one then, especially when contrasted with some other advice we've got over the years. It's very much the worst kind of old school.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 9/9


Sage advice: Do you need two hands to reload a hand crossbow (Yes. Common sense, folks. The only way you could reload a crossbow one-handed is if you had something else to hold it still.)

Can sonic attacks hurt deaf people (Yes. You get vibbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrated to death. )

Can you hold throwing weapons in your off hand to reduce reloading times (yes)

Can you scoop up several weapons as a free action. (no. That'll take you a full round, even with quick draw.)

Can you flank someone with a reach weapon. How about a ranged weapon (Yes, no. )

Can you flank someone while invisible. (No. You may get sneak attack bonuses, but you're not splitting their attention, so you don't help anyone else get them. How selfish of you. )

Can a member of the order of the bow provide flanking bonuses with their shots (no, nor can they make attacks of opportunity with them.)

Can you regain concentration on a spell after it's broken (no)

If someone has spell resistance, spell turning, and a rod of absorption, what order do you check them in (SR first, then you choose. If one takes effect, you can't use the others.)

Can you use a Karma bead and a periapt of wisdom (No. Same item slot. Magical interference go fzzzzzt.)

Can heightened spells overcome globes of invulnerability and rakshasa SR (yes. That'll teach 'em, the smug backward-handed tosspots.)

Can you use heighten spell with improved counterspell (Yes indeed. )

Can you still get your full dex modifier against touch attacks when wearing heavy armor (No. Take the blows like a man. )

What protects you from touch attacks (Recycled question. You come to The Sage with stupid questions like this? Begone!)

What type of AC bonus do bracers of armor give you (Armor, like they say. Another person for the basic remedial reading classes.)

What's the difference between a touch attack and an incorporeal touch attack. (One lands on you, the other goes right through you. If it's incorporeal, it ignores cover, but is specially affected by force effects.)

Does concealment prevent you from using sneak attack (Yes. Even 25% will throw you off your stroke. )

What happens if you attack two grappling creatures (By RAW, you hit the one you wanted. You are free to houserule this. )

What happens if the attacker fails his grapple check mid grapple (Nothing, not applicable)

Can a sun blade inflict critical hits on undead. Does this mean you can sneak attack them using it. (No. You misunderstand the nature of it's extra damage. )

Can you sneak attack while charging. Does this double the sneak attack damage as well (yes, no. Twinkery only goes so far. )


Nodwick uses the dread art of powerpoint to explain dragons to us. If ever there was a medium that will ensure you don't remember it, this is it. What's new decides the evil thing has gotten old, and pushes the reset button. But they still have a lot of explaining to do.


And so we come to the end of the 3.0 era. It definitely went by way faster than 2e, and while it started off with a little more freedom and variety than the years preceding it, it fell into a tightly bounded pattern faster, and became more formulaic and serious by the end than the late 90's ever was. Still, at least it maintained tighter quality control through the whole thing than previous editions ever managed. But even if they are high quality, too many things that are too similar will just get boring, and that was definitely a problem this issue. With any luck the edition shift'll result in at least a brief loosening of the submission guidelines while they figure the new rules out. But I strongly suspect any window of opportunity will be even briefer than last time, since it's only a small revision. Let's see if they can learn how to manage both quality and variety at any point.