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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5711807" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/8</p><p></p><p></p><p>Magic of the seldarine: Oh bloody hell, it's another elven special. They didn't put that very prominently on the cover, because they wanted to promote the fast-play thing more. And if I'd realised that, I might have been a bit grumpier coming in, because I know more than anyone just how many articles they've done on elves already. Oh well, I'm in now. Might as well take a look around. Looks like it's time for a third helping of elven deities. That brings us up to a good two dozen once you count the ones introduced in the magazine previously, the drow ones, the forgotten realms ones, and so forth. That's approaching some real world pantheons in size and diversity. Elven clerics really are spoiled, despite it not being a focus of the race. </p><p></p><p>Mythrien Sarath is the elven protector god. His excessive altruism resulted in his Avatar being trapped, which has put him at rather a disadvantage in keeping up with his clergy, and caused him to gradually lose ground with worshippers. His priests get a wide range of protective spells, including limited access to wizard abjuration ones, and power over Mythals. Seems like he deserves better, but you know what they say about nice guys. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite3" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":(" /> </p><p></p><p>Sarula Iliene is the goddess of nixies, who's trying to ingratiate her way into the elven pantheon. Well, she obviously knows how to pick a winning team. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> This means she's also trying to position herself as a general deity of water and water magic, just as Aedrie Faenya covers wind magic and flying creatures. I think you can guess what kind of extra powers her priests get. Now we just need fire and earth based gods to round out the pantheon. </p><p></p><p>Darahl Firecloak amusingly fills both of these roles, and in the process sponsors another para-elemental wizard variant. He's a lot more lawful than most elven gods, and tries to be on good terms with dwarves and gnomes. His clerics are predictably versatile, with both earth and fire based bonus powers, and the eventual ability to enter those elemental planes like a druid. Once again, elves get all the cool stuff. </p><p></p><p>Alathrien Druanna is the goddess of rune magic, a field which is currently rather out of fashion. Not sure why, as not only do her priests get a wide range of extra spells, but they also get to break the usual class rules and dual class as wizards once they max out their priestly levels. That's a real draw for people annoyed at demihumans becoming redundant at higher levels. So yeah, all 4 of these are definitely well above average in power as speciality priests go, making elven clerics seem a very attractive choice. Still, they're not as cheesy as some previous stuff, for which I shall be grateful, and the writing is quite nice. It seems there is more stuff to get out of this barrel after all. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Knotwards & Woodsongs: Following directly onwards from one take on elven rune magic, here we have something very similar. Two bits of minor magic that are intended to showcase the elven tie with nature, and of course give them cool new powers along the way. Since they're based off proficiency slots, this is far easier to get hold of if you're using Skills & Powers rules. It's all fairly low-key stuff, that seems primarily useful for NPC's, making their daily lives easier. There is a bit of the whole elves are better than you thing in here, which irks a bit, but this is mostly whimsical and dull. A prime example of 2e fluff, of the sort I'd much rather ignore. Next! </p><p></p><p></p><p>Beyond the tree: Our 5th age article this month is a dual stat AD&D one as well, showing again that they're trying to figure out how to bridge the edition war gulf they created without outright retcons. Not that this isn't useful in other worlds, as it's about the idea of Dryads as PC's. It's just that since the latest upheavals in Krynn have involved the large scale reshaping of nature, there's a lot of pissed off dryads with the motivation to venture away from their tree to make a difference in the world. We've had one magical item that lets them do that already, (issue 45) but ironically, they're not in a position to make them on their own. But where there's a will there's a way, and this article shows us two of them, in quite a bit of detail, with stats for both systems, and a selection of new spells and magical items to help them out. They don't have level limits like most races, but there is the definite assumption that their adventuring time is limited, and once they've solved whatever problem made them leave their tree, they'll settle down again to live a normal life. Keeping one around as a long-term PC would require a certain amount of DM effort to make their goals stay in sync with the rest of the party. But hey, they look good, and have a decent class selection. We've encountered more problematic races in the past. And given their mythological popularity, I'm sure there's no shortage of people who'd like to play one. So this was definitely an article worth doing, handled in a pretty interesting way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5711807, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998[/U][/B] part 3/8 Magic of the seldarine: Oh bloody hell, it's another elven special. They didn't put that very prominently on the cover, because they wanted to promote the fast-play thing more. And if I'd realised that, I might have been a bit grumpier coming in, because I know more than anyone just how many articles they've done on elves already. Oh well, I'm in now. Might as well take a look around. Looks like it's time for a third helping of elven deities. That brings us up to a good two dozen once you count the ones introduced in the magazine previously, the drow ones, the forgotten realms ones, and so forth. That's approaching some real world pantheons in size and diversity. Elven clerics really are spoiled, despite it not being a focus of the race. Mythrien Sarath is the elven protector god. His excessive altruism resulted in his Avatar being trapped, which has put him at rather a disadvantage in keeping up with his clergy, and caused him to gradually lose ground with worshippers. His priests get a wide range of protective spells, including limited access to wizard abjuration ones, and power over Mythals. Seems like he deserves better, but you know what they say about nice guys. :( Sarula Iliene is the goddess of nixies, who's trying to ingratiate her way into the elven pantheon. Well, she obviously knows how to pick a winning team. :p This means she's also trying to position herself as a general deity of water and water magic, just as Aedrie Faenya covers wind magic and flying creatures. I think you can guess what kind of extra powers her priests get. Now we just need fire and earth based gods to round out the pantheon. Darahl Firecloak amusingly fills both of these roles, and in the process sponsors another para-elemental wizard variant. He's a lot more lawful than most elven gods, and tries to be on good terms with dwarves and gnomes. His clerics are predictably versatile, with both earth and fire based bonus powers, and the eventual ability to enter those elemental planes like a druid. Once again, elves get all the cool stuff. Alathrien Druanna is the goddess of rune magic, a field which is currently rather out of fashion. Not sure why, as not only do her priests get a wide range of extra spells, but they also get to break the usual class rules and dual class as wizards once they max out their priestly levels. That's a real draw for people annoyed at demihumans becoming redundant at higher levels. So yeah, all 4 of these are definitely well above average in power as speciality priests go, making elven clerics seem a very attractive choice. Still, they're not as cheesy as some previous stuff, for which I shall be grateful, and the writing is quite nice. It seems there is more stuff to get out of this barrel after all. Knotwards & Woodsongs: Following directly onwards from one take on elven rune magic, here we have something very similar. Two bits of minor magic that are intended to showcase the elven tie with nature, and of course give them cool new powers along the way. Since they're based off proficiency slots, this is far easier to get hold of if you're using Skills & Powers rules. It's all fairly low-key stuff, that seems primarily useful for NPC's, making their daily lives easier. There is a bit of the whole elves are better than you thing in here, which irks a bit, but this is mostly whimsical and dull. A prime example of 2e fluff, of the sort I'd much rather ignore. Next! Beyond the tree: Our 5th age article this month is a dual stat AD&D one as well, showing again that they're trying to figure out how to bridge the edition war gulf they created without outright retcons. Not that this isn't useful in other worlds, as it's about the idea of Dryads as PC's. It's just that since the latest upheavals in Krynn have involved the large scale reshaping of nature, there's a lot of pissed off dryads with the motivation to venture away from their tree to make a difference in the world. We've had one magical item that lets them do that already, (issue 45) but ironically, they're not in a position to make them on their own. But where there's a will there's a way, and this article shows us two of them, in quite a bit of detail, with stats for both systems, and a selection of new spells and magical items to help them out. They don't have level limits like most races, but there is the definite assumption that their adventuring time is limited, and once they've solved whatever problem made them leave their tree, they'll settle down again to live a normal life. Keeping one around as a long-term PC would require a certain amount of DM effort to make their goals stay in sync with the rest of the party. But hey, they look good, and have a decent class selection. We've encountered more problematic races in the past. And given their mythological popularity, I'm sure there's no shortage of people who'd like to play one. So this was definitely an article worth doing, handled in a pretty interesting way. [/QUOTE]
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