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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5996639" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 290: December 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 5/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Rogues Gallery: Ahh, now here's some familiar faces. Paul Kidds new Greyhawk novels and short stories have certainly presented us with an unusual selection of PC's, and then put them in interesting situations. Of course, it helps that the source material has some pretty goofy elements, especially White Plume Mountain. So they've made sure that the results are very different from the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels. And now we get to see just how much these characters violate the rules. Some things change, others stay the same. </p><p></p><p>The Justicar is the perfect straight man in a world determined to take the piss. A grim brooding driven nameless hero without family? It's been played straight so many times as to become a joke, and Paul Kidd is very aware of this fact. Yet he remains flexible, and he never lets the piss-taking undermine his competence. He may break the rules a little, but he's just as good as most paladins, and less irritating with it. </p><p></p><p>Cinders is his trusty hellhound skin, a perfect example of how even the oddest of creatures can get a little redemption. Extra set of eyes, flame retardant jacket, and artillery, plus plenty of comic relief. A dog with 3 legs just gets on with life, and it seems like this puppy is commendably angst-free as well as long as it has a caring master. </p><p></p><p>Escalla is an 18 inch tall fairy, and like most fairies, is a whimsical pain in the butt much of the time. Still, this unpredictability works in her favor as often as not, and she has a pretty impressive array of blasty spells. It's a good thing that you're in a system where your allies can take the odd bit of collateral damage. Mind you, I wouldn't want to speculate about the love life of an 18 inch fairy and a 6 foot human, but polymorphing solves all problems, and presents some extra unique opportunities. I'm sure they find a way. </p><p></p><p>Private Henry is the eternal naive youth who hero-worships Jus, who is enough of a stoic that he actually doesn't mind this. He's utterly outclassed by the rest of the team, and he really ought to have leveled up a bit more if their DM was strictly tracking XP. I guess they keep on pulling his ass out of the fire so he doesn't really get to reap the full rewards of learning for himself. </p><p></p><p>Enid is a shy and adorable sphinx. This does not alter the fact that she has superhuman intellect and huge claws, plus a pretty substantial array of knowledge and magic powers. And since she's not spending years guarding a corridor in a dungeon repeating the same riddles, she's probably picking up more than many of her relatives. It's good to have lampshades. </p><p></p><p>Polk is a veritable supply of them, along with 10 foot poles, iron rations, and spikes. He's a grumpy mentor who actually knows far less than his pupils, with the obvious exception of Private Henry. And since he got killed and reincarnated as a badger, his whole existence is one long lampshading of D&Disms. Well, it's certainly vastly superior to Rose Estes take on Greyhawk. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Class acts: Having missed another month, someone in editing decides class acts shouldn't be Monte's private playground, and hands over the job to Edward Bolme. Will he stick at it long, or will there be a revolving door of freelancers submitting their ideas for this column? Anyway, he gives us a variant on the bounty hunter theme, the Justicar. (which they could maybe have used to good effect in the last article <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ) They're designed to be great at tracking people down, and bringing them in alive. With full BAB, good skills, and powers that enhance them, they're great at matching wits with the rogues they are most likely to be sent after. They may be slightly problematic in a regular team, especially ones who don't want to play along with the capture, not kill mentality of the class, or face lots of weird monsters rather than human opponents. But hey, they're considerably more PC friendly than our last offering. And they'd be great as NPC's as well. After all, many groups break the law and need bringing in. These guys give you a good chance of succeeding without throwing a CR inappropriate team against your players. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Faiths of faerun: Finally a prestige class that isn't pretty unambiguously a better thing than sticking with regular cleric. The Dancer of Sharess may keep full spellcasting, but they only get D6 HP and 1/2 progression BAB. So you'll have to actually consider if the granted powers are actually worth the sacrifices in raw power. That's bad new for the munchkins, but good for the rest of us. I quite approve. Still, with a familiar and limited shapeshifting, both powers that are known to have issues, they may well be worth it. They could probably do with better skills though. The cross-class sacrifices do continue to require substantial consideration in planning your advancement path. Are you willing to make them? </p><p></p><p></p><p>Living Greyhawk Journal: Well, this is interesting. To give us more Greyhawk material, they've added on a whole section within the magazine with a separate editor, just as in the days of the Ares section. The main editor gets to do a little less work, and they can ensure they have a well trained successor when it's time for a change. And as with that, I doubt this section will last more than 2-3 years before they get bored and replace it with something else, because Greyhawk's fanbase is still quite a bit smaller than the Realms'. So lets hope they can provide us with lots of interesting little setting details that can also be plundered for other games in the meantime. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Campaign News: And now the news. This is obviously aimed at explaining what the Living Greyhawk Journal is to all the people who didn't read the first 4 standalone issues, while not neglecting experienced readers either. In a living campaign, they have to constantly tweak the rules to keep people from gaming them egregiously. For example, they've just had to start counting any trained animals as part of the party for CR calculations, presumable because someone was buying tons of them and breaking the adventures by using them as cannon fodder. They've also instituted a little help for 1st level parties, to try and keep them alive in their first adventures so they don't scare n00bs away. It's a good reminder that when you're plugged into a wider network, you can't get away with the same kind of things you could in a home game, and you have to pay attention to all the rules tweaks and errata. It's the same kind of thing that you have to deal with in MMO's, only not automatically adjudicated. And it reminds me once again why I want nothing to do with that scene anymore. You never know when your character will be invalidated by the latest directive from on high, no saving throw, no appeal. And that's something I'm not keen on at all. More power to those people who can enjoy themselves in a structure like that, but I'll pass.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5996639, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 290: December 2001[/U][/B] part 5/7 Rogues Gallery: Ahh, now here's some familiar faces. Paul Kidds new Greyhawk novels and short stories have certainly presented us with an unusual selection of PC's, and then put them in interesting situations. Of course, it helps that the source material has some pretty goofy elements, especially White Plume Mountain. So they've made sure that the results are very different from the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels. And now we get to see just how much these characters violate the rules. Some things change, others stay the same. The Justicar is the perfect straight man in a world determined to take the piss. A grim brooding driven nameless hero without family? It's been played straight so many times as to become a joke, and Paul Kidd is very aware of this fact. Yet he remains flexible, and he never lets the piss-taking undermine his competence. He may break the rules a little, but he's just as good as most paladins, and less irritating with it. Cinders is his trusty hellhound skin, a perfect example of how even the oddest of creatures can get a little redemption. Extra set of eyes, flame retardant jacket, and artillery, plus plenty of comic relief. A dog with 3 legs just gets on with life, and it seems like this puppy is commendably angst-free as well as long as it has a caring master. Escalla is an 18 inch tall fairy, and like most fairies, is a whimsical pain in the butt much of the time. Still, this unpredictability works in her favor as often as not, and she has a pretty impressive array of blasty spells. It's a good thing that you're in a system where your allies can take the odd bit of collateral damage. Mind you, I wouldn't want to speculate about the love life of an 18 inch fairy and a 6 foot human, but polymorphing solves all problems, and presents some extra unique opportunities. I'm sure they find a way. Private Henry is the eternal naive youth who hero-worships Jus, who is enough of a stoic that he actually doesn't mind this. He's utterly outclassed by the rest of the team, and he really ought to have leveled up a bit more if their DM was strictly tracking XP. I guess they keep on pulling his ass out of the fire so he doesn't really get to reap the full rewards of learning for himself. Enid is a shy and adorable sphinx. This does not alter the fact that she has superhuman intellect and huge claws, plus a pretty substantial array of knowledge and magic powers. And since she's not spending years guarding a corridor in a dungeon repeating the same riddles, she's probably picking up more than many of her relatives. It's good to have lampshades. Polk is a veritable supply of them, along with 10 foot poles, iron rations, and spikes. He's a grumpy mentor who actually knows far less than his pupils, with the obvious exception of Private Henry. And since he got killed and reincarnated as a badger, his whole existence is one long lampshading of D&Disms. Well, it's certainly vastly superior to Rose Estes take on Greyhawk. Class acts: Having missed another month, someone in editing decides class acts shouldn't be Monte's private playground, and hands over the job to Edward Bolme. Will he stick at it long, or will there be a revolving door of freelancers submitting their ideas for this column? Anyway, he gives us a variant on the bounty hunter theme, the Justicar. (which they could maybe have used to good effect in the last article :) ) They're designed to be great at tracking people down, and bringing them in alive. With full BAB, good skills, and powers that enhance them, they're great at matching wits with the rogues they are most likely to be sent after. They may be slightly problematic in a regular team, especially ones who don't want to play along with the capture, not kill mentality of the class, or face lots of weird monsters rather than human opponents. But hey, they're considerably more PC friendly than our last offering. And they'd be great as NPC's as well. After all, many groups break the law and need bringing in. These guys give you a good chance of succeeding without throwing a CR inappropriate team against your players. Faiths of faerun: Finally a prestige class that isn't pretty unambiguously a better thing than sticking with regular cleric. The Dancer of Sharess may keep full spellcasting, but they only get D6 HP and 1/2 progression BAB. So you'll have to actually consider if the granted powers are actually worth the sacrifices in raw power. That's bad new for the munchkins, but good for the rest of us. I quite approve. Still, with a familiar and limited shapeshifting, both powers that are known to have issues, they may well be worth it. They could probably do with better skills though. The cross-class sacrifices do continue to require substantial consideration in planning your advancement path. Are you willing to make them? Living Greyhawk Journal: Well, this is interesting. To give us more Greyhawk material, they've added on a whole section within the magazine with a separate editor, just as in the days of the Ares section. The main editor gets to do a little less work, and they can ensure they have a well trained successor when it's time for a change. And as with that, I doubt this section will last more than 2-3 years before they get bored and replace it with something else, because Greyhawk's fanbase is still quite a bit smaller than the Realms'. So lets hope they can provide us with lots of interesting little setting details that can also be plundered for other games in the meantime. Campaign News: And now the news. This is obviously aimed at explaining what the Living Greyhawk Journal is to all the people who didn't read the first 4 standalone issues, while not neglecting experienced readers either. In a living campaign, they have to constantly tweak the rules to keep people from gaming them egregiously. For example, they've just had to start counting any trained animals as part of the party for CR calculations, presumable because someone was buying tons of them and breaking the adventures by using them as cannon fodder. They've also instituted a little help for 1st level parties, to try and keep them alive in their first adventures so they don't scare n00bs away. It's a good reminder that when you're plugged into a wider network, you can't get away with the same kind of things you could in a home game, and you have to pay attention to all the rules tweaks and errata. It's the same kind of thing that you have to deal with in MMO's, only not automatically adjudicated. And it reminds me once again why I want nothing to do with that scene anymore. You never know when your character will be invalidated by the latest directive from on high, no saving throw, no appeal. And that's something I'm not keen on at all. More power to those people who can enjoy themselves in a structure like that, but I'll pass. [/QUOTE]
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