Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Let's read the entire run
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5941749" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 280: February 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 5/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Vs Sorcerers: Ooh. This column is getting in on the issue's theme for a change. And is twice as long as usual. This is interesting. Since Sorcerers are new creations as well, they have to figure out the tactics from scratch. And in the process they highlight several ways 3e differs from 2e. The most important one is that you will be more likely to fail when rolling your weaker saves against an opponent of similar level as you advance, whereas before you were always more likely to succeed. This makes save or suck spells a more viable way of taking down enemies than hit point attrition at higher level. Of course, he who lives by the save or suck dies by the save or suck, and with tons of spells but only one good save, sorcerers are both the most able to dish out spells like this repeatedly, and one of the classes most vulnerable to them. Counterspelling is also much easier when the enemy has a limited spell selection that you can learn in advance with a bit of research. The other advice, of closing fast so they can't use AoE attacks to devastate the party, grappling, and using silence to disrupt their spellcasting is really just as applicable to any spellcaster, including ones from previous editions. Really, your big advantage will likely be that you're part of a party, and one person can devote their action to locking them down while the others dish out the serious damage. So this is a definite improvement on previous instalments of this series, while also highlighting system quirks that the current crop of writers thinks are good, and encourage character building exploits and tactical play, but the subsequent ones will dislike and try to stamp out in late 3.5 and 4e. It's quite worthy of note for that. </p><p></p><p></p><p>The adventures of Volo: A third instalment of Cormyran treasures and geneaology here it seems. They'd like to hang on to this stuff, but it keeps on disappearing, with the records and stories becoming decidedly sketchy as well. I guess it's just a smaller scale version of the same process that resulted in the destruction of all those magical empires. And without that kind of stuff, the realms wouldn't be able to support a fraction of the adventuring population it does. So here's some very fallible legendry indeed, involving magical harps who's precise powers have been lost to the mists of time. Once again, this feels like casual musings Ed couldn't find a place for in any of his books, flitting between several, semi-connected subjects. I wonder what his notebooks look like, and if deciphering them gives editors headaches. Trying to find the connections between various articles he's done over the years is certainly starting to give me headaches. Not nearly as enjoyable as most of his output. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Class acts: Another slightly awkward prestige class this month in the Eldrich Master. This seems to be designed for sorcerers and bards who want to know lots more lower level spells at the cost of slowed advancement in higher level ones. A wizard could theoretically take this class as well, but it'd be rather suboptimal. Still, this is a massive improvement on earlier magical prestige classes, with full caster level advancement, and 1/3 spell level advancement meaning they won't fall too far behind. With their various extra abilities factored in, they might be able to just about hold their own against a straight primary caster at upper-mid levels, though it'd be touch and go. However, this prestige class can really be made to shine at epic levels. As so many of it's powers scale regularly, and are stacked on top of your regular spellcasting abilities, it's perfect for a 20th level sorcerer frustrated at their limitations on spells known. You effectively get the equivalent of 2-3 epic feats per level by advancing in this, plus full caster level and better skill points. You might even be able to compete with epic level wizards. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> Of course, Monte wouldn't have known this at the time, but hey, finding and exploiting these tricks is a big part of the fun of playing 3rd ed. So if you want to play one of these guys, have a little patience. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Invaders of the barrier peaks: Oh, S3, you have become infamous over the years. Not quite as much as the GDQ series or tomb of horrors, but if you want the playful, genre bending side of old school D&D, this is one you go to again and again. And it looks like James Jacobs is continuing his policy of tying his new monsters into established places, while also making them alien and scary. Well, since these ones are literally from another world, he has pretty free rein to make them as bizarre as he likes. And as his imagination has proven pretty fertile before, I'm quite keen to see what he does with this theme. </p><p></p><p>Bonetrees destroy and consume your bones while leaving the surrounding tissues unharmed, and then use the bone to create armor and quills to deal with any still mobile companions to their victims. That's a pretty inventive bit of body horror. If D&D was a more realistic system then the harm would be rather more permanently crippling than a bit of Con damage. I can definitely see an awesomely gruesome movie being made out of these. </p><p></p><p>Ragewings are scavengers that drive other creatures into frenzies, and then feed on the losing side, whichever that may be. This means they're one you might not be fighting directly, but will nevertheless want to take out. Still, since they don't have any stealth skills and look pretty bizarre, it shouldn't be too hard to spot them flitting around the edges of the battle. </p><p></p><p>Razortails look like something from the deep sea crossed with a displacer beast, and attack with their multiple barbed tails. They can also shoot beams of radiation, which certainly doesn't sound pretty. Just be thankful it still counts as heat damage for purpose of immunities. </p><p></p><p>Treeleg Stranglers look like mangrove trees, then drop on your head and eat you when you pass underneath. If that's not enough, they release bursts of radiation to weaken everyone else around. They make good use of environmental features, and take a lot of hacking to finish off for good. Nothing good lives in swamps, except maybe flumphs, and they don't have much hope in a fight against any of these guys. They more than fill my sadism count for this issue.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5941749, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 280: February 2001[/U][/B] part 5/7 Vs Sorcerers: Ooh. This column is getting in on the issue's theme for a change. And is twice as long as usual. This is interesting. Since Sorcerers are new creations as well, they have to figure out the tactics from scratch. And in the process they highlight several ways 3e differs from 2e. The most important one is that you will be more likely to fail when rolling your weaker saves against an opponent of similar level as you advance, whereas before you were always more likely to succeed. This makes save or suck spells a more viable way of taking down enemies than hit point attrition at higher level. Of course, he who lives by the save or suck dies by the save or suck, and with tons of spells but only one good save, sorcerers are both the most able to dish out spells like this repeatedly, and one of the classes most vulnerable to them. Counterspelling is also much easier when the enemy has a limited spell selection that you can learn in advance with a bit of research. The other advice, of closing fast so they can't use AoE attacks to devastate the party, grappling, and using silence to disrupt their spellcasting is really just as applicable to any spellcaster, including ones from previous editions. Really, your big advantage will likely be that you're part of a party, and one person can devote their action to locking them down while the others dish out the serious damage. So this is a definite improvement on previous instalments of this series, while also highlighting system quirks that the current crop of writers thinks are good, and encourage character building exploits and tactical play, but the subsequent ones will dislike and try to stamp out in late 3.5 and 4e. It's quite worthy of note for that. The adventures of Volo: A third instalment of Cormyran treasures and geneaology here it seems. They'd like to hang on to this stuff, but it keeps on disappearing, with the records and stories becoming decidedly sketchy as well. I guess it's just a smaller scale version of the same process that resulted in the destruction of all those magical empires. And without that kind of stuff, the realms wouldn't be able to support a fraction of the adventuring population it does. So here's some very fallible legendry indeed, involving magical harps who's precise powers have been lost to the mists of time. Once again, this feels like casual musings Ed couldn't find a place for in any of his books, flitting between several, semi-connected subjects. I wonder what his notebooks look like, and if deciphering them gives editors headaches. Trying to find the connections between various articles he's done over the years is certainly starting to give me headaches. Not nearly as enjoyable as most of his output. Class acts: Another slightly awkward prestige class this month in the Eldrich Master. This seems to be designed for sorcerers and bards who want to know lots more lower level spells at the cost of slowed advancement in higher level ones. A wizard could theoretically take this class as well, but it'd be rather suboptimal. Still, this is a massive improvement on earlier magical prestige classes, with full caster level advancement, and 1/3 spell level advancement meaning they won't fall too far behind. With their various extra abilities factored in, they might be able to just about hold their own against a straight primary caster at upper-mid levels, though it'd be touch and go. However, this prestige class can really be made to shine at epic levels. As so many of it's powers scale regularly, and are stacked on top of your regular spellcasting abilities, it's perfect for a 20th level sorcerer frustrated at their limitations on spells known. You effectively get the equivalent of 2-3 epic feats per level by advancing in this, plus full caster level and better skill points. You might even be able to compete with epic level wizards. ;) Of course, Monte wouldn't have known this at the time, but hey, finding and exploiting these tricks is a big part of the fun of playing 3rd ed. So if you want to play one of these guys, have a little patience. Invaders of the barrier peaks: Oh, S3, you have become infamous over the years. Not quite as much as the GDQ series or tomb of horrors, but if you want the playful, genre bending side of old school D&D, this is one you go to again and again. And it looks like James Jacobs is continuing his policy of tying his new monsters into established places, while also making them alien and scary. Well, since these ones are literally from another world, he has pretty free rein to make them as bizarre as he likes. And as his imagination has proven pretty fertile before, I'm quite keen to see what he does with this theme. Bonetrees destroy and consume your bones while leaving the surrounding tissues unharmed, and then use the bone to create armor and quills to deal with any still mobile companions to their victims. That's a pretty inventive bit of body horror. If D&D was a more realistic system then the harm would be rather more permanently crippling than a bit of Con damage. I can definitely see an awesomely gruesome movie being made out of these. Ragewings are scavengers that drive other creatures into frenzies, and then feed on the losing side, whichever that may be. This means they're one you might not be fighting directly, but will nevertheless want to take out. Still, since they don't have any stealth skills and look pretty bizarre, it shouldn't be too hard to spot them flitting around the edges of the battle. Razortails look like something from the deep sea crossed with a displacer beast, and attack with their multiple barbed tails. They can also shoot beams of radiation, which certainly doesn't sound pretty. Just be thankful it still counts as heat damage for purpose of immunities. Treeleg Stranglers look like mangrove trees, then drop on your head and eat you when you pass underneath. If that's not enough, they release bursts of radiation to weaken everyone else around. They make good use of environmental features, and take a lot of hacking to finish off for good. Nothing good lives in swamps, except maybe flumphs, and they don't have much hope in a fight against any of these guys. They more than fill my sadism count for this issue. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Let's read the entire run
Top