News Archive #13 August 2000 News from August 2000: August 31, 2000 The Elusive Loremaster: One of the least known prestige classes, the Loremaster, is revealed here in a summary by Spencer Lease. Spencer was one of the lucky few who won a copy of the DMG at GenCon: Loremasters, as their name suggests, are obsessed with information. The requirements for the class include the ability to cast at least seven different divinations (and one of these must be a third-level spell or higher), two Knowledge skills of any type, three metamagic or item creation feats, and the Skill Focus (any individual Knowledge skill) feat. When a character gains a level of loremaster, they also gain new spells as if they had gained a level in their existing spellcasting class. If the character has more than one class capable of spellcasting, his player must choose which class gets the additional spells. No other benefits for that class (such as bonuses to turning attempts, etc.) are gained. At first level and every other level afterward (i.e., 3rd, 5th, and so on), the loremaster may also learn a "secret" from the table of loremaster secrets. A secret is defined here has especially useful knowledge - for example, one of the available secrets is "instant mastery," which grants 4 ranks in a skill in which the character previously had no ranks. Other secrets offer bonuses to saves and attack rolls, bonus spells, and so on. At 2nd level, loremasters gain the ability to recall random facts, a talent similar to bardic knowledge. At 4th and 8th levels, loremasters gain an additional language. At 6th level, loremasters gain the ability to Identify magic items, as per the spell. They may do so once per item. And at 10th level, they can gain the effects of a Legend Lore or Analyze Dweomer spell by utilizing their extensive knowledge. DMG Hazards Revealed: With the DMG to be released in less than two weeks, Anonymous kindly provides a hint of what's to come: Green slime and yellow mold are not treated as monsters any more. They're treated more like hazards and described in the DMG. And sort of like traps, they have DCs to help the DM gauge difficulty and award XP for overcoming. Green Slime (CR4): A patch of green slime deals 1d6 points of temporary CON damage per round while it devours flesh. On the first round of contact, the slime can be scraped off a creature, but after that it must be frozen, burned or cut away (applying damage to the victim as well). Against wood or metal, green slime deals 2d6 points of damage per round, ignoring metal's hardness but not that of wood. It does not harm stone. Extreme cold or heat, sunlight, or a cure disease spell destroys a patch of green slime. Yellow Mold (CR6): If disturbed, a patch of this mold bursts with a cloud of poisonous spores. All within 10' of the mold must make a DC 15 Fort save or take 1d6 points of temp CON damage. A minute later, another DC15 Fort save is required to avoid 2d6 points of temp CON damage. Fire destroys yellow mold, and sunlight makes it dormant. New PHB Review: Zealot.com has posted a very positive review of the Player's Handbook. (thanks to The Artful Dodger for the scoop) PHB Weapon Illustrations to Scale? WotC's Sean Reynolds talks about the grid behind the illustrations in the equipment chapter (on the official message board, thanks to Gerard for the scoop): The artist added the grid for relative size comparison between the weapons. When the sketches were routing, we did get various comments back to the effect of making certain weapons bigger or smaller, but nothing about actually spec'ing out the grid size. The grid was not given a specific scale, and was just used as a reference to keep the things in scale with each other. Given knowledge of the actual length of certain weapons (the halberd is supposed to be 5 feet long, for example), you can retrofit a scale onto it, but it's not likely that scale will be a nice neat number. Community News: New 3E sites... Community 3E: "We want to be your home for 3E on the net." DNDWorld.com: "Your D&D 3E Portal." August 30, 2000 AoO & AC: WotC's Sean Reynolds on Attacks of Opportunity and Armor Class (official 3E message board): Unless specified by a feat available to the attacker or defender, you use your normal AC when suffering an AOO. Turn, Turn, Turn: WotC's Sean Reynolds quotes from the PHB and then talks specifically about what happens to undead creatures that are turned by a cleric (on the official 3E message board): "If *you* approach within 10 feet of them, however, they overcome being turned and act normally." "*You* can attack them with ranged attacks ... and *others* can attack them in any fashion, without breaking the turning effect." The DMG has a list of conditions (stunned, blinded, and so on). and their effects. "Turned" says that undead "flee ... [and] if they cannot flee, they cower." Cowering is also a condition, which is defined as "The character is frozen in fear ... and can take no actions." So yeah, your buddies get to whale on them until they're destroyed, and they don't fight back, because attacking them doesn't break the turning effect (which is causing them to be frozen in fear). Map Added for "Burning Plague": You can now download a map to go along with WotC's free adventure, "The Burning Plague." (thanks to Kristoffer for the scoop) New Conversion: 3E Stats for classic Dragonlance characters, as well as updates to Birthright and Dark Sun conversions, have been added to the Conversion Library. August 29, 2000 Updates at OpenGamingFoundation.org: A bunch of new stuff over at the Open Gaming Foundation website, the home of the Open Gaming License and the D20 System Trademark Agreement. You can see bits of a draft of the D20 System Reference Document, the Open Gaming Registry (for listings and reviews of OGL and D20 products), and a new draft of the OGL. (thanks to Tevyn for the scoop) NWN and 3E Interview: RPG Planet's "Silverdawn" interviews folks responsible for the forthcoming Neverwinter Nights CRPG, with a number of questions focusing on the 3E rules and how they'll be implemented in the game. (thanks to Billy Goat for the scoop) Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has again updated his personal 3E page. He's posted some characters from one of his campaign settings, Imperium Romanum. (thanks to tHeMaDonE for the scoop) D&D R&D Provides Direction for MT: WotC's Jim Bishop discusses some of the tentative thoughts about what things in Master Tools should be customizable (on the Master Tools discussion group, thanks to Pat for the scoop): There's been a lot of discussion of House Rules recently, and rather than dip into the existing debate I'd like to toss out a document R&D prepared for us. I asked Bruce Cordell to define the most-likely house rules, and to parse out the varying orders of change and how we should support them. This is likely to get a lot of people angry ("but I want it to do X!") but please remember that we haven't decided this issue yet at the design level--it's still in discussion, and subject to change. Still, I like Bruce's analysis a lot. 1) What house rules are most likely to be in use. Alignment restrictions/easements Class/race restrictions Spell restrictions (i.e., there is no invisibility spell in my world)/new spells The Variant Rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide! 2) What rules define campaign worlds. Forgotten Realms Max level greater than 20 "Real" Medieval Max level less than 20 Psionics campaign Psionics Handbook is premiere Alchemists/steampunk campaign Exotic Equipment feats new equipment new rules for creating alchemical items "Cthulhu" campaign horror rules insanity rules Planar or extraterrestrial or monsters-only campaign Changing spell levels (i.e., so Ethereal Jaunt becomes a 1st level spell or whatever) 3) What level of choice should we allow the user? Defined Framework: No 1st order changes. 1st order changes include changing the terminology of existing rules, such as renaming ability scores or renaming skill points. 1st order changes include replacing basic game mechanics with new game mechanics, such as "There are no skills, they have been replaced by energon cubes". For the purposes of D&D, a 1st order change probably also includes adding a 7th ability score (debatable). 2nd order changes are OK. 2nd order changes include changing the specific class skills, feat acquisition schedules, ability score increases, spell acquisition schedules and the like. In summary, 2nd order changes are modifications and readjustment to the core rules, not replacements. 3rd order "changes" are what we do all the time, and include adding new skills, new feats, new classes, new prestige classes, new spells, new items, etc. August 28, 2000 Community News: Visit Dungeons & Dragons Files for some homemade D&D stuff. Chat Reminder: Chat with Rich Baker about converting spells on Thurs. 8/31/00 6-7 pm (PDT) at WotC. Cliffhanger Continued: Episode 3 of WotC's Cliffhanger Adventure, "Unearthing the Past," has been posted. August 27, 2000 Dungeon Submission Guidelines: The guidelines for submitting adventures to Dungeon Magazine have been posted at WotC's site. SKURGE!!! (Thanks to Antrion for the scoop) German-Language MM and DMG Delays: From scooper Mark Oliva: "Amigo Spiele in Germany previously had announced the German PHB, DMG and MM all for October 26 release at the Essen Game Fair. Amigo reported this week that *only* the PHB will be released on this date, and firm release dates cannot yet be set for the German DMG and MM. This is due to longer than anticipated quality control from Wizards of the Coast, according to Amigo." Click here for more info (in German). New Conversion: Notes for races and classes of the Dragonlance setting, including prestige classes for Knights of the Rose and Wizards of High Sorcery, have been added to the Conversion Library. August 26, 2000 Char Gen Magic Items List: David Davidson, a fellow who extracted the list of magic items from the Character Generator program, has compiled the list along with prices and brief descriptions. You can view his work here. New Conversion: Notes for magic in the Dragonlance setting and another Wild Mage conversion have been added to the Conversion Library. August 25, 2000 Mac Master Tools Petition: I'm told that there are more than 1,400 signatures on the petition to create a Macintosh version of Master Tools. You can sign the petition here. (thanks to Patrick Scott for the scoop) Monk Gonna Knock You Out: Don't you dare call this a comback, but Sean Reynolds has some good news for you kung-fu-fighting affecionados: Here's some official errata: "39, col 2 middle: Change 2 sentences above table: Usually, a monk's unarmed strikes deal normal damage, but she can choose to deal subdual damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal normal or subdual damage while grappling (see Grapple, page 137)." Official Updates: The WotC D&D site has been updated with some new goodies for you (thanks to Dark Blackshield for the scoop): The Burning Plague, an 11 p. D&D adventure in PDF format. Though it describes some interior locations, it doesn't appear to have a map included. Adventure Hook Random Generator, little online program that will generate random adventure ideas. Monster Mayhem presents the Half-Dragon template, which can be applied to other creatures to make unique monsters or NPCs. Map-A-Week: New week, new map (thanks to Fzoul Chembryl for the scoop) No More Dark Sun: While last year it was sounding like a 3E version of the world of Athas would be a pretty sure thing at some point, looks like that's no longer the case, according to D&D Worlds manager Jim Butler (on the Dark Sun message board): We will not be relaunching the Dark Sun campaign setting as a D&D campaign world. All future development on the world will take place at the official Dark Sun webpage. Message Board Misc: Time to round up the clarifications and corrections posted on various official message boards and discussion groups (thanks to James Hoover and PA for the scoop): What happens if you score a critical hit with a spell like Melf's Acid Arrow -- do you multiply the ongoing damage? Nope, just the initial (assume that the acid has done its damage on the critted place and is now dripping onto normal areas). (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) Must you choose all your mastered spells as soon as you get the Spell Mastery feat, or can you wait? You choose when you take the feat. What happens if your Int. increases, do you get new Mastered Spells? Nope, it's Int bonus at the time the feat is taken. (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) Magic Items That Make You Smart: If you have an item that increases Int and you are using it when you gain a level, you get the extra skill points only as long as you have the item. If you lose the item, those extra skill points go away. If you regain the item, you don't get them back again. (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) New FR Goodie: WotC has posted installment #7 of Realms by Night. (thanks to Rick Porter for the scoop) D&D in the News: Sharp-eyed scooper "sk0766" spotted an article about D&D that seems to seek to portray RPGing as just another hobby. A fun little read. Other Conversions: Kargatane, the official Ravenloft fan site, has posted a 3E version of the Domain of Dread's most famous villain, Strahd von Zarovich. The Mystara fan site has a conversion of King Stefan Karameikos. Both of these conversions are by Stephen Kenson, who also posted a new NPC (a member of the Blackguard prestige class) to the Mystara site. (thanks to Allister Huggins, David Caveney, and Chris Henry for the scoop) New Conversion: Notes for AD&D 1st Edition Oriental Adventures, and Planescape Factions and Races have been added to the Conversion Library. August 23, 2000 New Conversion: A spell point system converted from Spells & Magic has been added to the Conversion Library. Message Board Misc: Lotsa little bits of info from the official message boards and discussion groups (thanks to Ron Lyndon, James Hoover, Erifnogard, and Gerard for the scoops): Tower Shields: How do they work? Work it like the shield spell - you can move it once per round, on your turn, as a free action, defining which half of the battlefield you orient it against. Opponents that are on the "line of defense" that defines the side of the battlefield you're blocking with the shield would have no more than 50% cover against you (and vice versa). Opponents that are on your side of that line would not be blocked by the shield at all. Can you Ready an action that lets you duck completely behind the tower shield, giving you 100% cover? Yes, you can. That of course means you're not doing anything but hiding, though. If flanked, can you pick one opponent to block 100% and one to block 0%? Yup. Would this tactic negate the flanking bonus? Nope. The second guy is still a threat ... he might break through your shield, or hit you with a touch attack spell, and so on. (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) PHB Binding: In an effort to let consumers know what the binding is supposed to do and look like, I've asked my production manager to query the company that printed and bound the books and give me a write up on the binding process and what consumers can expect from their books. In regards to the glue separating from the spine, here's what Chas (the rpg production manager had to say). Hopefully it will hold y'all over until we can get something more in-depth: This is a characteristic of the binding style we use. It is called "tight back". A pressure sensitive glue is applied to the spine of the text. This adheres the text to the back board. When an individual opens the book it will pull away from the back board. When they close it the pressure sensitive glue pulls the text back to the board. It is just one more bit of extra added strength. (Kieth Strohm, rec.games.frp.dnd) Monsters of Faerun Book: The monsters of Faerun book is a Dungeons & Dragons core monster book. It will be primarily branded as a D&D core product. Each of the entries features monster stats and information completely formatted like the Monster Manual. Faerunian specific information appears in a separate entry under the monster and will assist FR players and DMs in understanding where and how these creatures fit into the Forgotten Realms. The "FR" info can also be used by DMs as inspiration for creating their own campaigns. (Kieth Strohm, 3E board) Spell Errata: Save for Symbol of Discord should be "a Will save." School for both Dancing Lights and Continual Flame is "Evocation (light)." (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) Escape Artist Errata: The first line of the DC chart for Escape Artist (p. 68) should say "Binder's Use Rope check at +10." (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) AoOs Drawing AoOs: There is no rule that says an AOO can't trigger an AOO. You are limited to making one AOO on a creature per round, so if I cast a spell (drawing an AOO from you) and [during your AoO] you try to disarm my dagger from my free hand (drawing an AOO from me) as your AOO and I try to disarm you back as my AOO on you, my disarm attempt doesn't get an AOO from you because we've both had one AOO on each other, which is the limit. (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) Haste: The brief description of haste in the Character Generator incorrectly indicates that the recipient of the spell suffers subdual damage. The PHB is correct (doesn't cause subdual damage). (Sean Reynolds, 3E board) Community News: 3E and D20 sites of note... Cyberpunk D20: Resources and message board for playing a "hacker" game using the D20 rules. The 3rd Edition: Resources and forums for 3E. August 22, 2000 New Conversions: You can download some Wild Magic spells, as well as revisions of some previously submitted work, in the Conversion Library. Character Generator Available for Download at WotC: WotC's Jim Bishop announced on my message board that version 1.2 of the Character Generator is now online as a free 10 MB download. This version apparently not only contains the patch for version 1.0 that shipped with the PHB, but fixes a print bug related to low-level bard character sheets. Grab your copy over at the Master Tools website. (thanks to thallone for the scoop) D&D Toys: Return to the Dungeon has a little news item about D&D toys. Chat Reminder: Chat about D&D 3E. I'll be hanging around answering questions and making a nuisance of myself. :) This takes place tomorrow (Wednesday, August 23rd) at 4pm Pacific, in the RPG Planet chat room in Gamespy Arcade. See yesterday's news for more details. Official Errata: Sean Reynolds with two new rules corrections (on the official message board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): True Strike Duration (Sean added a bit more to yesterday's news; I'll paste both parts together to form one complete piece): 267 col 3, True Strike: change Duration [from 1 round] to See text. Change within the duration of the spell to if it is made before the end of the next round. Encumbrance and Armor-Restricted Abilities: Upcoming errata: having a medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for special abilities dependant upon armor. (So for example, a Ranger can't use his special Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting quasi-feats when in Heavy Armor; he also can't use them when carrying a Heavy Load.) Message Board Bits: Lots of miscellaneous quotes from Sean Reynolds (on the official message boards, thanks to Peter Seebach and James Hoover for the scoop): Taking 10/20: Taking 20 is like taking 20 rounds, and on the first round it's like you roll a 1, the second round you roll a 2, and so on, until the last round when you roll a 20. If something bad happens to you if you rolled a 1, you can't take 20. After successfully feinting (using the Bluff skill), when must I take the attack to get the bonus? ...by your next turn. Do you make an attack roll to perform a Bull Rush? There isn't an attack roll there. It never came up in playtesting that it needed one. And the difference between a grapple and a bull rush is that a grapple requires an extensive contact that goes beyond the normal shoving of a bull rush. How do you keep a wizard from taking a 5' step and casting? ...opponents can ready an action that they'll take _their_ 5' step toward the wizard and attack if the wizard steps away. D&D Legacy: You can read a brief article about the early days of D&D (particularly as it relates to early CRPGs) over at PC Gamer. (thanks to apexcaliber for the scoop) Cliffhanger II: No, it's not a sequel to the Sylvester Stallone rock climbing movie. It's the second part of WotC's online serial module, "Unearthing the Past." (thanks to Tevyn and R. Scott Roberts for the scoop) Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has again updated his personal 3E page. He's posted some notes about his experience at GenCon; updated 3E character information for one of his home-brewed settings, Night; and updated 3E race information for another setting of his, Imperium Romanum. Monsters of Faerun: WotC's Jim Butler has provided a list of critters that will appear in the FR monster book, Monsters of Faerun, to be released in 2001. (on REALMS-L, thanks to Pat for the scoop) Monsters of Faerun Table of Contents Aaracokra Aballin Abishai Alaghi Asabi Banedead Baneguard Banelar Bat, Deep (Bonebat) Bat, Deep (Night Hunter) Bat, Deep (Sinister) Beast of Malar Beast of Xvim Beholder Mage: Prestige Class Beholder-kin, Death Kiss Beholder-kin, Eyeball Beholder-kin, Gouger Bullywug Chitine Choldrith Chosen One Cloaker Lord Crawling Claw Curst Darkenbeast Dark Tree Deepspawn Demon, Ghour Demon, Yochlol Doppelganger, Greater Dragon, Brown Dragon, Deep Dragon, Fang Dragon, Shadow Dragon, Weredragon Dragonkin Dread Warrior Dwarf, Faerûnian Firenewt Ghaunadan Ghost (Doomsphere) Ghost (Ghost Dragon) Ghost (Spectral Harper) Ghost (Watchghost) Ghost (Zhentarim Spirit) Giant, Fog Giant, Phaerlin Gibberling Goblin, Dekanter Golem, Diamond Golem, Emerald Golem, Ruby Golem, Thayan Green Warder Groundling Gulguthydra Half-fiend, Draegloth Helmed Horror Hybsil Ibrandlin Ice Serpent Leucrotta Lich (Alhoon) Lich (Banelich) Lich, Good (Archlich) Lich, Good (Baelnorn) Lycanthrope (Werebat) Lycanthrope (Werecrocodile) Lycanthrope (Wereshark) Meazel Myrlochar Nishruu Nyth Peryton Phaerimm Planetouched, Genasi (Air) Planetouched, Genasi (Earth) Planetouched, Genasi (Fire) Planetouched, Genasi (Water) Planetouched, Tiefling (Fey'ri) Planetouched, Tiefling (Tanarukk) Pterafolk Quaggoth Revenant Shadow Panther Shalarin Sharn Siv Spider, Subterranean (Hairy) Spider, Subterranean (Sword) Stinger Strider, Giant Tall Mouther Tomb Tapper Unicorn, Black Wemic Yuan-ti (Tainted One) Yuan-ti (Tainted One-Broodguard) Zombie, Tyrantfog 3E Character Sheet Central: Hecubus has graciously offered to host a big list of links to various 3E character sheets that are available on the web. If you have posted a character sheet and wish to be on his list (which will be linked from my page), please e-mail him at hecubus@ptialaska.net. As soon as he has a few up, I'll be sure to post the link to his list. August 21, 2000 Chat with Me: Silverdawn of Baldur's Gate Chronicles, Planet Neverwinter, and RPG Planet (the host of this site) has arranged a special chat on Wednesday, August 23, at 4pm Pacific. The topic of the chat is D&D Third Edition, and the special guest will be...me! :) This chat is not only to discuss 3E in general, but to show off Gamespy Arcade, a combination chat program and multiplayer computer game matchmaking tool. I've tried it and it's pretty spiffy. If you're interested in participating you might want to consider downloading it ahead of time at http://www.gamespyarcade.com/download/. The chat itself will take place in the RPG Planet chat room, which is one of the choices under "Network" on the left side of the screen as you start the program. I know it's short notice, but I'd love to see you there! I'm gonna toss an invitation to WotC folks just in case any of them are able or want to show up for it. While the audience for this chat might be more of the computer game crowd or those who don't know much about D&D in general, it would be especially great to see some of the message board regulars there. :) Druid Animal Companions: Is the druid animal companion special ability due to the fact that druids can cast the spell animal friendship? WotC's Sean Reynolds (thanks to Bill Beasley for the scoop): Yes, it's exactly from that spell. Creating a 1st-level druid assumes that you've cast the spell already and can start with an animal friendshipped animal. So this ability overlaps (does not stack with) the animal frienship spell because it _is_ because of the animal friendship spell. Note that your animal companion can gain hit dice as a character gains levels. The Monster Manual has a line for "advancement range" for all creatures, which is by character level or by hit dice. For example, a wolf, which starts with 2 hit dice, can advance up to 5 HD. Note that the druids can also use the awaken spell to give their companions intelligence, which means the animal can advance in a character class. Pretty buff! Rangers and Quarterstaves: Miffed because your ranger can't use his ambidexterity and two-weapon style class abilities with a quarterstaff because it's counted as a "double-weapon"? WotC's Sean Reynolds went all out for you (on the official 3E message boards, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): From [PHB author] Jonathan [Tweet]: feel free to let the ranger use the quarterstaff as a double weapon with virtual feats. New Conversion: Download a conversion for Masque of the Red Death in the Conversion Library. August 20, 2000 New Conversions: You can read notes about the 3E version of the Runecaster class and the Trollborn race, as well as the Shaman and Wild Mage classes over in the Conversion Library. Important Official Correction: WotC's Sean Reynolds posted an important correction on the official 3E message board (thanks to James Hoover and Gerard for keeping me up-to-date on message board postings): On p. 122 of the PHB, the following sentences need a word replaced: "If all you do is move (not run) during your turn, the space that you start out in is not considered threatened, and therefore enemies do not get attacks of opportunity against you when you move from that space. If you move into another threatened space, enemies do get attacks of opportunity for your leaving the first second threatened space." Sean's explanation: In other words, leaving that first threatened space is safe if all you do is move, but it doesn't make any later threatened spaces that round safe that weren't safe already. Sure, I Can: The shuriken is an odd ranged weapon in 3E -- because unlike any other weapon, you can effectively throw three of them per attack. How exactly does it work? WotC's Sean Reynolds explains (on the official 3E message board, thanks to James Hoover and Bill Beasley for the scoop): When you make an attack with shurikens, do you make three separate attack rolls? "Yes, although you're throwing all of them as the same attack (in between the fingers, one arm movement)." If a Rogue sneak attacks with shurkiens, does each one get the sneak attack damage bonus? "No, just the first one. You can't be precise enough with the other 2 attacks to get the sneak attack damage." If you have Weapon Specialization or Point Blank Shot feats, do the damage bonuses from these feats apply to each shuriken? "Yes." PHB Sales Info: WotC's Keith Strohm talks about the success of 3E thus far (on rec.games.frp.dnd, thanks to Piratecat for the scoop): Despite having one of the the largest initial print runs of any RPG aimed at the core hobby industry, the PH has essentially sold though its print run. Copies are still available at the retail level, but the latest shipment of reorders to distributors will tap us out. We are currently setting reprints as we speak, only 1 week after the product's release. It's doing well. Very well indeed. In fact, by September, the 3rd Edition PH will have already outsold the first year sales performance of the 2nd Edition PHB. New/Revised Character Sheets: A couple of 3E fan sites have new or revised character sheets to share with you: Kent's character sheet (273 kb pdf), Mad Irishman (several varieties to choose from here), and Dalenthas's character sheet (96kb jpg). Ryan Dancey on Wheel of Time: A fan site for Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, wotmania, is reporting that WotC VP Ryan Dancey confirmed a deal to produce a WoT RPG product. They link you to a video interview with Dancey in which he reportedly says, "We just finished a licensing agreement with Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series. There will be a Wheel of Time role playing game coming out probably 2001." (thanks to Sonny Mendoza for the scoop) August 19, 2000 Prestige Class Sneak Peek: GenCon attendee "PA" has sent in a teaser photo of a couple of pages of the DMG. Looks like we're seeing illustrations of the Blackguard and the Dwarven Defender. Oh, by the way, PA also snapped a pic of yours truly at a GenCon seminar. :) Conversions: The Berserker class, converted from the Vikings historical reference, has been added to the conversion library. AoO Illustrated Update: I've added two more diagrams to the Movement and Attacks of Opportunity page. What happens when you're flanked and standing in two threatened areas? How can you get out without drawing an AoO? Take a peek... New D&D Minis: You can view pics of the new D&D miniatures line over at WotC. (thanks to Beau Yarbrough and Nick Tompkins for the scoop) August 18, 2000 Back to School: As many of you know, I'm a teacher. School starts on Monday, August 21, and you know what that means -- less time to devote to this site. I do plan to keep up with news and the conversion library, have no fear about that. But there will be less of me to go around, especially on the e-mail front where I typically get 60+ e-mail messages a day. You would do me a tremendous favor if you could avoid sending me certain things: Rules questions: I am not any better at reading a rulebook than anyone else. If you have rules questions, please post them on my message board or the official message board. Unofficial Errata: I'm not making a laundry list of typos or inconsitencies in the PHB. When official WotC folks make official corrections I'll be sure to post them. Character Generator Bugs: Please make sure you send bug reports to mastertools@wizards.com or post them to the message board. Magazine Article Requests: I won't be typing up articles from Dragon Magazine for you. Not even a little bit. :) Magazine Subscription Rants: I didn't stop your Dragon Magazine from showing up at your house. Your House Rules: As much as it's fun to see new feats, etc., I'm not going to critique your stuff for you. That's what message boards are for. I most certainly want to hear from you if you have comments about the site, news to share, all that good stuff. I think if I can keep some of the stuff on the above list out of my mailbox, I'll be much better able to keep the site running and get it updated every day. Thank you so much! AoO Illustrated: Confused about how movement in combat can draw an attack of opportunity? You may want to read up on the topic on my new Movement & Attacks of Opportunity page. You'll find diagrams of common moves, and an explanation of why a particular move does (or doesn't) draw an attack of opportunity. Arcane Healing and Wizards: Bards can learn to make arcane scrolls. Bards can cast an arcane version of cure light wounds. Wizards can use arcane scrolls to add spells to their spellbooks. Does this mean wizards can be running around with cure light wounds spells? WotC's Sean Reynolds: The "acquire a spell from a scroll or another source" was put there so sorcerers could learn new sor/wiz spells in later books (since by default they can only develop new spells in the PH). It's not intended that they can use it to learn arcane healing spells from bards. Sorry. We already went over this one in-house. Not sure what that means, ultimately? Sounds to me like wizards can only "use" (cast from or scribe from) scroll spells that are on the wizard/sorcerer spell list. Psionic Powers List: Big scoop over at Psi3E, the psionics news and rumors site. An anonymous source has provided the entire list of Psion and Psychic Warrior powers (levels 0-9), as shown on the handout provided at the GenCon Psionics seminar. You can read the list of powers here. New Conversions: Sammy Grimes, Orion Cooper, and Bjørn Arnesen have contributed new conversion documents covering Dark Sun races and classes and a Planescape race. Check them out in the Conversion Library. Community News: Fan sites for 3E... Cyberzombie has posted a whole bunch of new feats. Hecubus has made several updates to his D&D House Material page. Official Updates: Some new stuff on the WotC page, including a new Character Closeup, Weapons Rack, Spellbook entry, Circle of Vehlarr #7 (for Forgotten Realms), and a contest I kept forgetting to mention. (thanks to Raven Moon, Pat, Rick Porter, Tevyn, and Black Moria for the scoop) August 17, 2000 New Combat Example: I'm pleased to unveil a new combat example, complete with map. This time, Ember the Monk is attacked by a gang of rogues in a dark alleyway. You'll see sneak attacks, monk special abilties, and missile fire into melee covered in this example. New Map-a-Week at WotC: There's a new free map for you over at the official D&D site. (thanks to Jenni A. M. Merrifield and Fzoul Chembryl for the scoop) PHB Reviews: You can read new reviews of the PHB at Roleplaynews.com and RPG.net. (thanks to Alexander Tynkov, Anthony Roberson, and Ben Hubbard for the scoop) Conversion Library Open for Business! My ultimate goal with this site was to establish a home for conversion documents. These are notes that you could print out and store with your old 2nd Edition (or even older edition) D&D stuff, so you can use your valuable collection with the new edition of the game. I'm pleased to announce that I've got my first submission, a 20+ page PDF file with notes for converting the Birthright Campaign Setting to 3E. Congratulations and thanks to Travis Doom, the author of the conversion! Head over to the Conversion Library to take a look. Conversion is hard work and takes talent. If you think you've got something to contribute, whether it's a handfull of spells, a character kit, campaign supplement, or some magic items, feel free to read up on my Conversion Guidelines, make your work presentable, and shoot them my way. You will get full credit for your work, and can request to have them removed at any time; you can also feel free to submit them to other sites as you desire. I'm hoping that when people think "D&D Conversions" they'll think of me first, and if you want your work to be read, I hope my site is "place to be." PHB Survey: If you purchased the PHB, WotC wants to hear from you. By participating in their survey you are entered into a drawing for an autographed copy of the Monster Manual. Here's the link. (thanks to Forge for the scoop) FR for Free: You're probably aware that WotC has plans to provide some older Forgotten Realms material as free downloads ("in a few weeks" was the last quote I heard), while other older FR stuff will be available at a cost. Here's WotC's Jim Butler (on REALMS-L, thanks to Black Moria for the scoop and Solarc for later additions announced by Jim): As promised, here's a list of what I'm planning on giving away for free on the website as downloads. All other products will be part of the subscription plan for FR (or available individually). Calimport Castle Spulzeer Cormanthyr Cult of the Dragon Elminster's Ecologies Appendix, Vol. 1 Elminster's Ecologies Appendix, Vol. 2 For Duty & Deity Four from Cormyr FR12: The Horde Campaign Setting FR15: Gold & Glory How the Mighty are Fallen Lands of Intrigue Marco Volo I: Departure Marco Volo II: Journey Marco Volo III: Arrival Netheril: Empire of Magic The City of Ravens Bluff The Fall of Myth Drannor The North (already available) The Ruins of Myth Drannor (to tie into the release of Pool of Radiance; available in December) The Vilhon Reach Undermountain: Maddgoth's Castle Undermountain: The Lost Level Undermountain: Stardock Villain's Lorebook Volo's Guide to All Things Magical Volo's Guide to Cormyr Volo's Guide to the Dalelands Volo's Guide to the North Diagonal Movement: WotC's Sean Reynolds addresses the issue of moving diagonally on a 5' square grid (on the 3E message board): Your first diagonal square counts as 5', your second counts as 10', your third as 5', fourth as 10', and so on. These are normal moves and follow the normal AOO rules (in other words, there's nothing _more_ risky about going diagonally than up/down/left/right). Ambidexterity and Off-Hand Strength Bonus: WotC's Sean Reynolds clears the air about the ambidexterity feat and how it (doesn't) affect the reduced STR bonus to damage for the off-hand attack (on the 3E message board): Off-hand attacks always use 1/2 [of your] Strength [bonus to the damage roll]. See the 2nd bullet under Strength on pg. 8. Also see the second paragraph of page 119. Ambidexterity negates the penalties from using an off-hand weapon. The glossary defines a penalty as a "negative modifier to a die roll." As a reduction in your Str bonus is not a penalty (it's just a less effective bonus), Ambi does not negate it, and so an ambi character still has 1/2 Str bonus on their "off-hand" weapon. The Downside of Being a Monk: WotC's D&D VP Ryan Dancey responds to the notion that monks are too powerful (on the official 3E message board): 1) d8 hit die makes Monk the lowest HP gainer of the "warrior" classes 2) Far fewer weapon proficiencies than other "warrior" classes 3) No armor proficiency at all 4) A 1st level monk with 18 WIS and 18 DEX has a +8 AC adjustment. A 1st level fighter with 18 DEX and Chain shirt has a +8 AC adjustment. When you factor in the effects of magic armor and shields, over a range of levels my experience is that fighters almost always have better AC ratings than monks. Furthermore, my experience is that you rarely see Monks with 18 WIS and 18 DEX, but you >always< see Fighters with armor. 5) Because the Monk's best attacks are with their bare hands, they face problems against monsters with DR up until 10th level; and at 10th level they are only effective against +1 DR. By 10th level, most fighters will have a +2 weapon. A lot of the monk special abilities are either very limited in the number of uses, or they are essentially combat-neutral (immune to disease, for example). The fighter, barbarian, ranger an paladin all have comparable or better abilities when you look at the extra feats of the fighter and the special abilities of the other three classes. D&D in the News: The Kansas City Star is running an article about the surging popularity of D&D now that the new PHB is out. It's kind of cheesy and kind of cute. Take a look. (Thanks to Jon Parton for the scoop.) Oriental Swords: Anonymous tells me that the DMG has stats for two samurai-type weapons. Katana Price: 400gp Damage: 1d10 Critical: 19-20/x2 Weight: 6 lbs. Type: Slashing Wakizashi Price: 300gp Damage: 1d6 Critical: 19-20/x2 Weight: 3 lbs. Type: Slashing Both these weapons are ALWAYS masterwork weapons, and gain the +1 to hit. The Katana is an exotic weapon in the same manner as a bastard sword. You need exotic weapon: katana to use it in one hand. Notes from GenCon Seminar "Deities & Demigods": A fellow named Kevin Hartman took copious notes at a seminar about gods as they relate to the FR and Greyhawk campaigns and the Manual of the Planes (to be released in 2001 sometime). The new Dieties and Demigods is slated for sometime in 2002. But that's not very firm. Jeff Grubb is working on the new Manual of the Planes (no timeline given) and it will describe the planar layout. Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms have a different focus and cosmology, so Greyhawk will use the traditional wheel model, and FR (described by Sean) will, use a tree model where the prime is at the root and there are several main branches off of it that represent 'themes' that several gods might have in common. So, all of the nature gods will live down one branch and all of the gods of death and destruction will live down another. Another difference between Greyhawk and FR is that Greyhawk will focus on using prestige classes to create specialty priests, while FR will utilize multiclassing. So a militant priest in FR will have several levels of fighter, but in Greyhawk they will gain levels in a prestige class to get the fighting skills. They also mentioned templates, a concept that will be used a lot more when the Monster Manual comes out. Along with presently-known monster templates like fiend, vampire, celestial, lycanthrope, and infernal, there will be FR-specific templates like 'Chosen of'. So Elminster and Khelben will be 'Chosen of Mystra' and will have some of their extra powers based off of that template. James Wyatt will be doing the Cleric and Paladin book. The Greyhawk Gazeteer will cover Greyhawk gods on pages 164-190. In FR, you need to have a patron diety. If you don't, you can't be resurrected, and your spirit is squashed into the wall in death's domain. The diety of the cleric that resurrects a character does not have to be the patron of the character to resurrect, they just have to have one for it to work at all. The difference between templates, feats, and prestige classes - prestige classes are often tied to associations, so in the FR we will see a Harper prestige class. These prestige classes have a new set of class skills, may open new feats, etc. Feats give a special advantage or bonus power that requires no skill check to activate (as opposed to skills that require a successful check, of course). Since the Blackguard gives a special advantage of using magic, it is merely a feat rather than a prestige class. Templates are used to give a variety of bonus abilities. Templates are not usually given out, they tend to be afflictions (vampirism or lycanthropy), or they are made that way (celestials and infernals). They can also be specially granted by greater powers (The Chosen). This was pieced together from the discussion, so there may be exceptions to these 'guidelines' in the materials yet to be published. There was a handout detailing some of the gods from the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer, coming in November. ...each god listed has an alignment and 'tendency' alignment, greater/lesser standing, what they preside over, a pronunciation guide (yipee!), a paragraph on the appearance of the god, a paragraph on the mentality of the god and their followers, a paragraph on the typical followers of the god, a list of domains, and a list of proscribed weapons. GenCon Pics: A fellow named Brian Forester was kind enough to share a few pictures he took at GenCon. You can see pictures of Regdar [1] [2] as well as photos of folks in costume [1] [2].

August 16, 2000 Two-Weapon Finesse: WotC's Sean Reynolds talks about the Weapon Finesse feat and incidates that there's no problem using two finessed weapons at once (on the official 3E message board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): The Weapon Finesse feat specifically says that if you use a _shield_ in your off-hand, you get a penalty. It does not say you get a penalty if you carry a weapon in that hand. Q1 2001 Product Schedule: Over the past couple of days we've learned a lot about products coming out in early 2001, but we haven't had many specific dates. Here's a list of release dates from a fellow who attended a seminar at GenCon. (thanks to DM Shocker for the scoop) January 2001: Speaker in Dreams (Core Adventure), Sword & Fist (Fighter/Monk book) February 2001: Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun (Forgotten Realms Monster Book) March 2001: Psionics Handbook, Diablo II: To Hell & Back April 2001: Standing Stone (Core Adventure), Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Given this info, I did another Amazon search and came up with this (the others were uncovered and described in the August 12 news): Diablo II: To Hell & Back The legendary Diablo and Diablo II computer games come to life with the release of the tabletop Diablo II: To Hell & Back roleplaying adventure. All a player needs is the Dungeons & Dragons(r) Player's Handbook to accompany the Diablo II game. Every level and all 4 acts of the computer game are represented in the tabletop mega-adventure, which will also include 64 pages of monsters, information for levels 1-30, and over 60 maps! SRP: $29.95. 192 p. Authors: Mike Selinker, Rich Redman.   3E Around the World: I've gotten e-mail today from people in South Korea and Germany who say they have been able to get copies of the English-language PHB. (Scoops from "diskette," "windforce," Great Rhie, and Rainer Winstel.) More About the FR Book: Lotsa quotes from WotC's Jim Butler about the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, a $40 hardcover to be released in April 2001 (on REALMS-L, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): Art: All of the art will be brand new. Those who saw the art clips at the FR preview know that this new look won't allow us to recycle the old art. A New Look: We will be changing the FR art style to more closely match with Third Edition D&D. Those who were at Gen Con got to see a sneak peak at some of the iconic characters we've sketched out, and everyone seemed to like the changes. Why not sell it for $20 like the PHB? If we could sell as many copies of the FR hardcover as we can the Player's Handbook, offering it for $20 would be feasible. Alas, such is not the case. Geographic Expansions: ...the current thought as that we'll do one geographic expansion a year. The first year is the main campaign setting book, so we won't expand beyond that in the first year. Not Just Collecting and Organizing Old Stuff: ...the main reason for relaunching the game was to revitalize it and fix what was broken. It wasn't to condense all the rules down into a few main books again or anything else. Wound Points in D&D: We've seen hints that the d20-based Star Wars RPG will use a slightly different system for keeping track of character health. WotC's Ryan Dancey offers up a look at what a "wound point" system might look like in D&D (on rec.games.frp.moderated, thanks to Baloo for the scoop): If you want to experiment, graft on the rules from Star Wars, which will work basically (I've tinkered for D&D, so this isn't an exact SW clone...) like this: In addition to Hit Points, you get Wound Points. You have a number of WP equal to your character's CON score. Any time you are sneak attacked or take a critical hit, lose a WP. Each and every time you take any damage when you are unconscious, lose a WP. Any time you fail a Fortitude Save, lose a WP. Apply a 1 point Wound Penalty to all D20 die rolls you make per WP lost. (When I use this system, I am not going to use this rule; and it doesn't appear in the last draft of the SW rules I read. Some DM/GMs like to degrade player abilities as they take damage; I find it a vicious circle that tends to make people unhappy so I avoid it.) When you have zero WP, you are dead, regardless of how many HP you have left. Regain 1 WP per week of game time through natural healing when the character engages in no strenous activity (combat, day-long travel, or any activity resulting in an XP loss or gain). Healing magic can restore WP at a rate of 1WP restored per 10HP healed -- spellcaster must specify if the healing attempt should apply to HP or WP before casting, and if the result is less than 10HP, no WP are restored. WARNING! This system makes the game much more dangerous for PCs. You should plan on scaling monsters and traps accordingly. Arcane Archer: Details about one of the prestige classes appearing in the DMG have surfaced over on the official message board (thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): Requirements: Must be Elven or Half-Elven Must be able to cast level 1 arcane spells Must have the following feats: Weapon Focus -bow, Precision Shot, Point Blank Shot Must have a base attack bonus of +6 Gains: HD: d8 +1 to attack/damage for every 2 levels as Arcane Archer. [magical bonus] "Imbue" arrow with spell ability: "Seeker" arrow, "Phase" arrow, "Slaying" arrow Imbue - Essentially any spell the Arcane Archer can cast can be cast on an arrow and activated on whatever it hits Seeker - The arrow will go around people and things to hit your target. Phase - This one will go through people and objects to hit. Not magical stuff, just normal people and objects. Slaying - Upon hit, target must make a Fortitude Save at Difficulty 20 or die Limits - Each of these special powers can be used only a certain number of times. The slayer for example is limited to one. The archer must spend a day preparing the arrow, and until he shoots that one, he cannot prepare another. CC2 and and Master Tools: If you purchased the AD&D Core Rules 2.0, you know that it shipped with a CAD-based mapping program called Campaign Manager, which was a "lite" version of the well-known mapping program, Campaign Cartographer 2 from Profantasy. [The maps for my Combat Examples were made with CC2.] And if you've been following the development of the forthcoming Master Tools program, you know it will use a licensed version of the Arcanum World Editor to create a tile-based mapper. Simon Rogers of Profantasy has some good news for those who want to use both Master Tools and CC2: "We are still maintaining a cordial relationship with WotC, and Jim Bishop of WotC has agreed that we will be able have the file format, so new users should be able to import the maps, at least as 2D images." (on the CC2 mailing list, thanks to Rob McDougall for the scoop) Spanish 3E: The administrator of the D&D 3E in Spanish mailing list informs me that English-language versions of the PHB have arrived in Spain; that the Spanish Company Martinez Roca has lost its license to translate and publish all the Wizards Of The Coast products to spanish; and that Devir (as far as he knows) now has the Spanish license. D20 Publisher News: Fiend Games has made the following updates to their site: The Fiend Game previews are up and visable (no longer hidden). The catalog and flyer we handed out at GenCon is avalible in our download area. Our GenCon Report is up and will continue to be updated throughout the week. PHB Review: Orion Cooper has posted a short review of the D&D Character Sheets at his site. Community News: New 3E websites... The World of D'Hara is a campaign site for a D&D game. Bloodlust's 3rd Edition Page has a link to some new feats, plus links to other pages that will eventually have new races, classes, spells, etc. August 15, 2000 D20 Publisher News: OtherWorld Creations has posted some new free downloads, including desktop wallpaper featuring art from their Diomin product line and a character sheet. Mystical Alchemy Gameworks has posted two free adventures and a character sheet for your downloading pleasure. Look along the right side of the page when you enter (under August 10 news for the adventures; scroll down to "What's Free" for the character sheet). FR Hardback Details: In today's episode of "Justify Your Existence," WotC's Sean Reynolds explains why the $40 pricetag for the forthcoming Forgotten Realms campaign setting isn't unreasonable: 320 pages, full color, dense text (we over-wrote), information on lands that have never been covered before, new PC races, 53 new feats, 15 new prestige classes, 34 new domains, domain info on all of the living deities from the Faiths & Avatars trilogy.... All I can say is, when you get the book in your hands, you'll feel the price is justified. Did I also mention that the word count per page for the 1993 set was only about 650 words per page, where this book is going to run at least 900? So it's more like 440 pages (in page-equivalents of the 1993 set), not 320. Rays: WotC's Sean Reynolds reminds us that "A ray is a ranged weapon" (see p. 149 of the PHB). This means you can apply ranged weapon feats such as Precise Shot and Point Blank shot. He also reminds us that "ray" is one of the possible choices for the Weapon Focus feat (see that feat's description on p. 86 of the PHB). (on the official 3E message board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) FR Notes from GenCon: A fellow named Jason Hatter took notes at the "New Realms" seminar, and shared them on REALMS-L. (thanks to Black Moria for the scoop) Attendees were Jim Butler, Rich Baker, Julia Martin (I think), Ed Greenwood, and Sean Reynolds (who was late. 8) ) These are the answers to the questions that audience members asked. -There will be a new page layout for the new products. -Jim showed off some of the new concept art for the book. Looks very nice. The Simbul is a babe (of course!) Szass Tam looks creepy, Fzoul looks impressive. Artemis was pretty cool. There were a few others I don't recall (Elaith looked damn cool!), but I do remember that Manshoon looked strange, with some sort of face mask on. Other than that, the concept art was impressive. -Zakhara, Kara-Tur, and Maztica are not going to be getting an update. It splits the fan base, and there are other regions that haven't been touched on at all that are closer to the "core" regions of Faerun that should be looked at. -Ed asked if people would like to see information on merchants and trading in the Realms. He said it might be possible to work it into a Volo's article, but it would be a while in the future (about 2 years or so). -Maps for the PDF products on the web will also be in the PDF format. -Timeline will advance, and a rough conversion of Real World-Faerunian time has been worked out. For roughly every 5 years of Real Time, 2 years will pass in Faerun. -The 3E FR team paid attention to some of the special things that characters in novels could do, in order to try and make it possible to create those characters without rule breaking. -The main FR book will cover the "Top 40" deities used in campaigns, compiled from surveys Jim ran here on the list and elsewhere. There will be a section in the book that covers all the domains, favored weapons, portfolios, etc for all the deities, but only 40 will get an in depth treatment. They are probably going to do a deific expansion (Jim says preferably as a single large book), but not soon. -No more 64 or 96 page products. -As we know from elsewhere, the campaign book will be 320 pages, hardbound, with the map included.. -For the Open Gaming License-no Realms modules will be produced via OGL. Smaller adventures will be put in Dungeon magazine, which has been expanded, mini adventures might be included in some products as well. -The D&D Core design team is working on high level characters right now. -There are plans for a supplement specifically dealing with Faerunian Magic, tenatively called MAGIC OF FAERUN. It will be roughly 192 pages or so. Other seminars indicated that it will include lots of information on Gates, and gate networks. -The magic level of the Realms will stay roughly the same level. -The Red Wizards of Thay are going to be turning over a new leaf...kind of. They're going to be following a path similar to the Venitians in the 14th/15th century in our world, setting up enclaves in other cities and countries. There, they will produce some of the cheaper magical items (potions and scrolls), and basically trying to expand their reach through trade and guile rather than the brute force approach that hasn't gotten them anywhere. -Villains are going to stop being stupid. (Big cheers for this one). -Stuff that they're planning on releasing: February should see the Book of Monsters, with the D&D and FR logo's; April will see the HC release; there will be a Pool of Radiance 2 tie in, the Magic of Faerun book; they are also beginning to think about some things for 2002. -Elminsters level being lower than Halasters-El doesn't care -Halaster, and most other powerful mages, are insane in some way or another. They obsess on something, and concentrate on that. They also get used as tools by Elminster, the Chosen, and Mystra. Halaster knows this, and resents it, but also knows that it's only because of the efforts of Elminster and others that he has even his brief moments of lucidity... -Southern magic (ie, Mulhurondi, requiring a specific spell to read) is gone. They thought that the idea of having to have a special version of RM to do it was a little strange. - Will there be more geographic expansions? Eventually. -Wild magic areas are going to be seen less frequently, relegated mostly to dungeons and DM decisions. One of the "in game" rationales that Sean mentioned was the fact that the Tormytes have been doing their best to remove them for the last 12 years or. Same for dead magic areas. Wild mages aren't going to be in the FR HC, but will be discussed, at least briefly, in then Magic of Faerun book. -Will we be seeing more city states expand into kingdoms/empires, ala Silverymoon->Luruar and our own world history? Some changes of that nature will be discussed. It won't be RSE, but there will be some information. -Why did they kill off Azoun? The overall storyline was heading that way, so they took advantage of the situation -This years Dragon Annual will have Ed's commentary and expansion on the DEATH OF A DRAGON storyline. -The FR Encyclopedia Project. The bean counters took a look at the project, calculated the cost, and ended up with a $1 million price tag. They're still collecting and collating the data, but they aren't sure what will happen with it. -There might be more Cormyr novels-the title of the story has gone from the Cormyr Trilogy to the Cormyr Saga -With 3E, some big characters *coughElminstercough* might change some, but not a lot. Some charaacters might change class (ie, some wizards may become sorcerors, some fighters -> barbarians, etc). -Prestige classes mentioned for the FR HC: Archmages, Master Harpers, Purple Dragon officers, Red Wizards -The timeline will jump ahead a few years (roughly, 1372), but not much more than that, as too big a jump creates too many problems with continuity and campaigns -The original Undermountain was 12 levels, with 16 sublevels; there is plenty of room for expansion. -Possibly a super-module aventure for returning to Undermountain. -More history products? Not specifically dedicated to history, as they tend to 1) split the consumers, and 2) take away some of the mysteries. -One of Rich Baker's dream projects: an Ancient Empires sourcebook, covering the Imaksari, the Narfell peoples, and all the rest. -More Arcane Age products? Not as individual products, but some information could appear in other products. -Currently, there are no more Volo's Guides on the schedule. Dragon Magazine may start including more info. -RUINS OF ANAUROCH comic-there are two issues out (or at least Jim has seen the second one). Steven Schend is apparently going through the remaining issues and providing more dialogue. -Possibility of including Volo-style sidebars in future products, discussing inns, taverns, etc. -On the Elven Retreat-all the elves who were going to leave have left...and just because the elves of *Cormanthor* left doesn't mean elves everywhere left... -There will be more information on Gates in the Realms in the future, in an effort to increase connectivity in the Realms, and to provide more use from the various geographical supplements. -A game product on Sembia? It's a major focus in the HC. -Realms Outer Planes-the Realms will have their own Planes setup, to reflect the natures and connections of the Realms deities. Official Errata: When I get official corrections to the D&D rules, I'll post them here. When they scroll off the bottom of the page, I will move them to the Core Rulebooks page, under the appropriate heading (PHB, DMG or MM). That way, all errata will be kept together for reference purposes. Master Tools/Arcanum World Editor Press Release: I announced a few days ago that Fluid Entertainment had licensed the map-making tools from the Arcanum CRPG. Here's the official press release, just in case you need more proof than my infallible word. ;) (thanks to S for the scoop) English Language 3E Products in Germany: "Amigo Spiele in Dietzenbach, Germany, announced Monday that the following English language products now are on the shelves in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and the German-speaking areas of Switzreland: D&D Player's Handbook 3e, D&D Character Sheets 3e, D&D Adventure Game 3e. The first German translations continue to be slated for October." (thanks to Mark Oliva for the scoop) UK Has PHB: Or at least one UK resident does -- his Player's Handbook arrived from Amazon.co.uk today by Royal Mail. (thanks to Liam McCauley for the scoop) Min/Max Notes from GenCon: If you missed the "How to Min/Max Your Character" seminar at GenCon, you can download the handout from Dungeon Masters Haven. Just look at the bottom of the page for a link to a zipped PDF file. It's got good advice about placing ability scores depending on class, what classes go well together for multiclass combinations, and hints on selecting feats. PHB 40% Off at Amazon: Okay, first they jack the price up to 10% off, and now they lower it to even lower than the pre-order price? Whatever the reason, the Player's Handbook is now selling for $11.97 at Amazon.com. Who knows how long it will last... (thanks to Donovan and Weldon Dodd for the scoop) August 14, 2000 Community News: Website updates... WotC's James Wyatt has updated his personal RPG page with the 3E character creation guidelines for his D&D campaign setting, Aquela. Included are notes on races, feats, classes, and so forth. RP Core's page is now RP Core Productions. "Free material for D&D, as well as free (or very very cheap) original d20 RPGs!" Amazon's D&D Store: I've gotten 10 e-mails in the past 10 minutes from folks informing me that Amazon.com has opened a special section of their website just for D&D stuff. Here's the link, and as a reminder, when you enter Amazon.com from a link on my site I receive a small commission on the items purchased. Amazon's D&D Store More News from GenCon: Joel Flank, a GenCon attendee, kindly shared some of the notes he took at 3E seminars (he even caught some stuff I forgot about at one of the seminars :). Next D&D Campaign World: While they won't be doing a full campaign world that's new for a few years, they will continue to do stand alone products such as the Diablo II, and D&D movie supplements. Right after that someone from WOTC mentioned that in the next year (or in 2001, I don't recall the wording) there would be one MAJOR fantasy liscense that will get the D&D treatment. At another seminar, someone asked about this and asked if it was Lord of the Rings....the reaction of the designers indicated no, that's not it. The only guesses I personally have are either Wheel of Time or Shannara, but these are just 100% guesses of mine with no basis in fact. [Well, WotC did ask about Wheel of Time in a survey a while back... -- Eric] Update: Two scoopers indicate that Wheel of Time is in fact what was being talked about. As one scooper put it, "It will be a two book deal, with the first book will be the setting for playing a campaign in the story world and the second book will be for playing as the characters in the story. Based on research WotC found 50% the people want to play the story line and 50% of the people want to play a campaign in the story world." (thaniks to Mike Coleman and Jamie for the scoop) Prestige Classes: A lot was talked about the theory of Prestige Classes in general, and how to make your own. Some of this stuff was in the Aug Dragon article, some was new. (The handout was 100% the Dragon article, minus the mystic.) They also talked about the forthcomming Fighter's and Monk's book. Some of the prestige classes mentioned that will be in that book are: cavalier, greater samurai, drunken master, some sort of halfling outrider. There were probably a few more mentioned, but I can only recall those. Update: Just remembered something else about the fighter/monk book. It will have rules for damage and speed of larger than M sized monks. One more prestige class from the fighter/monk book: the Gladiator. What's Next after the PH: A lot was about the rest of the 2000 product line that we know about already. The interesting stuff was for after 1Q 2000. Some of the obvious stuff was a continuation of the class building books, ala the figher/monk book. There will be 5 total, four with 2 classes that are themed, and the last one will be the "nature boy" one on druids, rangers, and barbarians. That one should be out jan/feb 2002, with the others between the fighter/monk one and it. Also mentioned were 2 FR products I hadn't heard about, scheduled for after the monsters and the campaign book. One is Magic of Faerun, and the other is Lords of Darkness. The magic book is pretty self-explanitory from the title. The other one is a book about villains. Not only will it have established FR baddies, but some new ones, and possibly guidelines for making good villians on your own. In addition to just telling about the bad guys, each entry will have some suggested evil plots for each villain. Official PHB Erratum: On PHB Table 7-4 (Weapons), there should be no asterisk (*) next to Pick, Light or Pick, Heavy, as there are no special rules for these weapons. Source: Adam at Wizards of the Coast Game Support. (thanks to Gerard and James Hoover for the scoop) Unofficial High-Level Character System: Itching to run a 35th level sorcerer already? At the High Level Campaigns seminar at GenCon, Jonathan Tweet provided a handout that described an unofficial system for dealing with level 21+ characters until the high-level book comes out sometime in 2001. Scooper "Gargoyle" re-typed the handout and posted it on my message board in this message, if you care to take a look. The gist of this unofficial system is that each time you go up a level after level 20, you can a) increase one of your ability scores by 1 point; or b) increase all of your attacks by 1 point; or c) increase your spellcasting ability by taking level 10+ spell slots (which could be used to hold metamagicked spells that exceeded 9 levels -- "example 15th level spell: Empowered [+2], Maximized [+3], Heightened [+1] meteor swarm"); or d) if multiclassed, add the class abilities, spell progression, and skill points for one of your multiple classes that's under 20th level (but not the feats, base attack bonuses, or saving throw bonuses). It's worth emphasizing that this is an unofficial system: "These rules, while unofficial, are compatible with the rules we intend eventually to publish.... The design team isn't finalizing other benefits yet, but we intend that the high-level handbook will include lots of other benefits. Other benefits could include: +1 to all saves; +20 hit points; +10 skill points (spent as any class you have); gain 2 feats (replacing the automatic 1 feat per 3 levels); 10 levels of new spells known (great for sorcerers); create or enhance an artifact or signature magic item. The high level handbook will also probably include powerful feats (including new metamagic feats) to give high-level characters more options." (thanks to Gargoyle for the scoop) Amazon.co.uk Begins Shipping PHB: One UK resident indicates that the UK branch of Amazon.com has started shipping the Player's Handbook. (thanks to Liam McCauley for the scoop) More GenCon Photos: Need more GenCon pictures? Fiery Dragon, a d20 publisher, has some for you right here. FR Tidbits: WotC's Jim Butler had a few comments about the forthcoming new Forgotten Realms book (on REALMS-L, thanks to Alan DeHaan and James Hoover for the scoop) About specialty priests: Each of the gods will have their own class for cleric, but this isn't a prestige class (just a cleric done for FR like those portrayed in the PH are done for Greyhawk). Harpers, Zhents, Red Wizards, and others make good candidates for prestige classes. About coverage of Maztica, Zakhara, Kara-Tur, and other areas of the world: We'll be giving a brief (paragraph or so) coverage of these areas, but we won't be devoting a great deal of space to them. There's so much core information we have to cover in this product, that there just isn't room for us to give extensive coverage to these fringe areas. About the cover seen at Amazon.com: I'd like everyone to keep in mind that this is just prototype art used for the catalog. We're still lookng at options for changing the cover treatment, internal layout, and a logo change. ...We're currently looking at the logos to see if we can come up with something better than we have now. If we can't, then we'll stick with the current logo. But there are some very good reasons to change the logo: 1.) It establishes a new look for an old brand that hasn't been significantly updated in years. 2.) It lets people immediately identify a new Third Edition Realms product. 3.) It gives us a chance to bring the cover treatment up to current standards and set a benchmark for other campaign worlds to follow. Description: 320 pages; full color; fold-out map included. PHB Review: You can read a new review of the Player's Handbook at Frank's Digital Domain. August 13, 2000 Psionics Info: If you're a fan of mind-benders, you'll want to start regularly checking out Psi3E, a news-and-rumors site for the forthcoming psionics book. Today, Anonymous reveals the list of disciplines along with which ability score is keyed to which discipline. For example, CHA is the ability that goes with Telepathy, while STR is the ability for Psychometabolism. In addition, another Anonymous source provides the list of 0-level psionic "talents" for both psionic classes. Dragon #275: I was so excited about the Amazon.com discoveries in yesterday's news that I didn't even check the mail. Today when I walked past the mailbox, a familiar shape was sticking out of it -- a copy of Dragon Magazine! This is the September 2000 issue (already!), and it's chock full of goodies. This month's theme is Warriors. The cover depicts a half-orc paladin -- he could almost pass for human if it weren't for his small fangs. Editorial: Dragon's new Art Director, Peter Whitley, talks about breaking cliches both in art and in the game. Profiles: Monte Cook, DMG author, is in the spotlight. The article mentions that Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil is scheduled for a mid-2001 release. September Chats: 9/1: Mapmaking 101 with Dave Gross and Chris Perkins 9/8: Welcome to Star Wars 9/15: DMG and Sunless Citadel with Monte Cook Unusual Suspects: James Wyatt explores unusual race/class combinations for Barbarians, Paladins and Rangers. Included are new light armors for Barbarians (bone, cord and wood), lists of alternative paladin mounts for demihumans, and suggested two-weapon combos for demihuman rangers. How to Design a Feat: Jonathan Tweet and Sean Reynolds provide dos and don'ts for creating new feats. They then go through and create two sample feats for you: Improved Rapid Shot and Delay Spell. The Right Tool for the Job: New exotic weapons, from sai to lajatang, from elven thinblade to gythka, from mancatcher to bolas. Miscellaneous Mishaps: Roads & Rivers: Random road and river encounters, not monsters but events or features. Includes subtables for determining contents of wagons and crates that might be part of caravans. Instant Heraldry: Almost fifty color symbols arranged into themes, plus random tables for generating other kinds of signs and symbols for businesses, alignments, and so forth. Historical Heraldry: A beautifully illustrated article about European heraldry. Hooked: How to create a character with a "hook" that allows the players to steer the story. The Definitive D&D Soundtrack: Suggestions for music during gameplay. Fiction: "Songbirds," by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Arcane Lore: Spells for buffing up fighter-types, including Mass Strength, Rapid Strike, Heroics, Indomitabilty, and my favorite, Hurl. ;) Bazaar of the Bizarre: Special armor for paladins. Spellcease, for example, is +1 full plate with the ability to absorb harmful magic cast by evil spellcasters. The Adventures of Volo: Volo discusses a ruin called "The Crumbling Stair." Class Acts: The Duelist: A new prestige class from Monte Cook, a swashbuckler type who can gain class abilities such as Canny Defense (use INT bonus to modify AC when unarmored), Precise Strike (added damage from a light piercing weapon, rather like a Rogue's sneak attack, can't attack with second weapon when using this), and Acrobatic Attack (attack bonus when leaping at, down upon, or swinging toward on a rope). Creature Codex: Ecology of the Darkmantle: One of the new D&D monsters is examined in detail. (The raw stats for the Darkmantle are on p. 16 of "The Dead of Winter," an adventure appearing on the CD-ROM that came with the PHB). Vs.: Bruce Cordel examines ways to defeat goblins through preparation and tactics. "Vs." is a new regular column (James Wyatt will provide strategies for zombies next month). Role Models: Chris Pramas talks about using miniatures to represent different classes than originally intended, and provides stats for a gnoll fighter. Power Play: Just a couple of suggestions from Sean Reynolds: gnomes as trap-dodgers, and a combination of feats, including Weapon Focus (Ray), to make ranged attack spells more likely to hit. Sage Advice: Questions answered about Attacks of Opportunity, Readying an action, Craft vs. Profession vs. Knowledge, and other topics. An official piece of errata is also provided about the spell Sepia Snake Sigil: This piece of PHB errata is official (Dragon #275): When you cast sepia snake sigil, a small symbol appears in the text of one written work such as a book, scroll, or map. The text containing the symbol must be at least 25 words long. When anyone reads the text containing the symbol, the sepia snake springs into being and strikes the reader, provided there is line of effect between the symbol and the reader. Simply seeing the enspelled text is not sufficient to trigger the spell. The subject must deliberately read the text. PHB Review: Orion Cooper has posted a short review of the Player's Handbook at his site. D&D 20 Years Ago: Want to take a trip back in time? Visit Squirrel Nutkin's D&D Page to view scans from a TSR Hobbies product catalog from 1981. The choices, the choices! Buy the D&D basic set, or one of the hardcover books for AD&D, or the Awful Green Things From Outer Space boardgame? August 12, 2000 Forgotten Realms 3E at Amazon: Though this is really just an update to the following story, this is big enough to warrant its own special announcement. I'm sure your first reaction is, "Oh my gosh, the price!" But then your second reaction should be, "Oh my gosh, 320 pages!" Again, as with all of the products discovered today, Amazon is just plain incorrect when they say "ships in 4-6 weeks" -- in this case, the FR setting won't be out until April 2001. (Thanks to Chris Henry for the scoop) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting The complete campaign guide to the Forgotten Realms universe. The Forgotten Realms campaign is the largest and most popular setting in the D&D(r) game. Everything a player needs to adventure in the Forgotten Realms can be found right here: history, maps, non-player characters, geography, economics, societies, organizations, religions, politics, monsters, magic items, spells . . . even a start-up adventure in the Realms! This book also re-integrates the Realms with the core rules of the Dungeons & Dragons game and uses the Third Edition rules to expand the Realms. SRP: $39.95. 320 p. Authors: Ed Greenwood, Skip Williams, Sean Reynolds, Rob Heinsoo.   Psionics Handbook at Amazon? Amazon.com is selling the Psionics Handbook ... which is weird because it doesn't come out until March 2001, none of the 2001 product lineup have really been officially announced by WotC, and it's saying "ships in 4-6 weeks." Clearly some sort of mistake. However, they provide cover images (click thumbnail for larger view) and a description of the book, both of which I have saved in case this book suddenly disappears from Amazon's site (thanks to Temprus for the scoop): Psionics Handbook The complete guide to psionics in the Third Edition D&D game. Psionics is the ability to harness, shape, and control natural forces that are contained within the Psionicist. Dungeon Masters who wish to add psionics to a D&D campaign need look no further than the 160-page Psionics Handbook. It includes valuable information about all things psionic: character classes/prestige classes, feats, related skills, monsters, powers, and much more. SRP: $26.95. 160 p. Author: Bruce Cordell.   Update: On a whim I looked up Sword and Fist, the book about fighters and monks. Lo and behold... Sword and Fist: A Builder's Guide for Fighters and Monks The ultimate guide to customizing fighters and monks in the Third Edition D&D game. Sword and Fist is required reading for any player with a desire to create a specific type of fighter or monk. The book contains paths of skills, feats, and equipment characters need to master in order to possess desired abilities-it starts with the end result and then offers a step-by-step guide to achieve that character type. Dungeon Masters and players alike can also see how these types of characters would impact a campaign world. SRP: $19.95. 90 p. Author: Jason Carl.   Another Update: Okay, slowly finding more stuff. This next one isn't quite as exciting because it uses the Monster Manual cover as a mock-up/placeholder, but it's more exciting because it's by my pal James Wyatt (well most of it is): Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun Approximately 100 monsters, ready to use in the Third Edition D&D game. Players love monsters. And perhaps that means no book will be more popular with players than the Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun. Each monster in the book-about 100 monsters in total-is presented with a quarter-page, full-color illustration, a stat block, and both a D&D and a Forgotten Realms(r) write-up. Every monster in the Compendium also comes with statistics for use as player characters. SRP: $21.95. 96 p. Authors: James Wyatt, Robert Heinsoo. And Another Update: More from James Wyatt -- the third of the core adventure modules. The Speaker in Dreams This is the 3rd adventure in a series of 8, strategically designed to hit the "highlights" of the D&D rules and move characters from the 1st to the 20th level. Characters will travel to a large town to visit a fair . . . and find serious trouble. Rival gangs appear to be fighting for dominance in the town, and while the ruling Baron's forces are strong enough to deal with most crime or insurrection, he has had no luck curtailing the activities of the gangs, many of whom employ magic or strange creatures. SRP: $9.95. 32 p. Author: James Wyatt.   Need I say it? Here's the fourth core adventure module. The Standing Stone This is the 4th adventure in a series of 8-strategically designed to hit the "highlights" of the D&D rules and move characters from the 1st to the 20th level. Deep in the forest, evil awaits. A ghostly horseman is terrorizing a small hamlet, and the player characters must stop him before he kills everyone. Players deal with supernatural horror as well as traditional monsters in this powerful adventure. SRP: $9.95. 32 p. Author: John R. Rateliff.   GenCon Article at Gamespy: Gamespy has posted a report on the unveiling of D&D Third Edition at GenCon. The author, as a member of the "press," got to attend the press conference that took place shortly before the exhibit hall opening ceremony I mentioned in my GenCon Report. Out with the Old: As early as Monday I will be culling the site of PHB-related "news" that is no longer news. This includes the removal of most kinds of "spoiler" charts, tables, and lists. Basically any rules-related stuff you can find in the PHB will disappear from the site. If you want it, print it or save it now! It's time to make room for new rumors and scoops! Eric's GenCon Pictures: Got my first roll developed today and thought I'd share some of the sights of GenCon. The pictures are scattered through the first couple of days of reports on my GenCon 2000 page. New Downloads at Official D&D Site: This wasn't announced on the main D&D page, but the D&D Downloads page has gotten some new material (and anything that's not 3E has been moved to a different page). You can download a PDF page with some new magic items, the demo adventure that's been run at stores and at Gen Con for a while ("Into the Dark"), and some NPCs complete with stats and background. (thus scooped Zarathustra) August 11, 2000 Community News: OmegaOdd's Return to the Dungeon site, one of the original Third Edition sites that sprang up just about a year ago about the same time as mine, has returned to the scene. When you get to his site make a note of the new address and change bookmarks accordingly. DNDHelp.com is open for business. The webmasters were playtesters and can finally share their insights with you about combat, classes, and so forth. D20 Publisher News: Necromancer Games has released a free d20 System adventure in PDF format. You can download it at their site. New d20 System publisher Fiery Dragon Productions has a site up. Green Ronin is publishing a d20 adventure by WotC's Chris "Dragonfist" Pramas called "Death in Freeport." I got a brief chance to look it over at GenCon and it looks pretty slick. Even features a cover by fantasy artist Brom. (thanks to Daniel Thingvold for the link) Virtual GenCon: Say you want more GenCon coverage? What, my site's not enough for you? Well, okay, if that's your attitude, head over to WotC's Virtual GenCon for lots of pretty pictures. Here's a particularly pretty picture where you can see the back of my head (far right, very short hair, light blue shirt). :) And here's another, and a third, just for good measure. Master Tools to Use Arcanum Mapper: The D&D Master Tools program, slated for next year, will incorporate version of the map editor that will ship with the Arcanum CRPG. Here's a longer article on the announcement (thanks to Trooper for the scoop). If you'd like to see the mapper in action, Vault Network recently posted screenshots and info about the map editor that you can read right here. Back from GenCon: You can read the last part of my GenCon 2000 report. Lots of goodies from the Psionics seminar... :) I'll get some photos up tomorrow. Official Updates: You might be interested in checking out some new stuff at the official WotC D&D site: D&D E-Postcards, Fight Club (three unique monstrous NPCs), the first part of a serialized Cliffhangers Adventure called "Unearthing the Past," and a couple of maps in Map-a-Week. (haven't even checked my e-mail but I'm sure there were scads of scoopers on this :) August 9, 2000 I'm Off to GenCon! The main page won't be updated probably until Saturday at the earliest, but you can follow my GenCon antics, which I hope to be updating several times a day. August 8, 2000 More 3E Coverage at Gaming Outpost: As part of an on-going countdown to 3E, Clinton Nixon of Gaming Outpost presents a summary of D&D Releases for 2000 (nothing there you don't already know), and an article called The d20 License: An Explanation. BG2 Beastie: Baldur's Gate II is an AD&D 2nd Edition CRPG due this fall. It does have elements of 3E in it, however, including the half-orc race and sorcerer and monk classes, so it counts. Anyway, there's a really cool picture at BG Chronicles you should see... (thanks to Silverdawn for the scoop) Skill Points and Intelligence Changes: Can you get extra skill points from a temporary boost to your Intelligence score granted by short-term use of magical items? Do you lose skill points if you are temporarily feebleminded? Anonymous says no to both: Skill Points: Your character's Intelligence modifier affects the number of skill points he or she gets at each level. This rule represents an intelligent character's ability to learn faster over time (and the slower rate for dim-witted charaters), so use the Intelligence score that your character had during his or her previous level. If he or she was feebleminded for a short time during the previous level, that doesn't reduce the number of skill points he or she acquires. Likewise, wearing a Headband of Intellect for a short time doesn't grant him or her extra skill points. Only a change in Intelligence that was constant (or very nearly constant) over the previous level affects how many skill points were aquired during that level. Official Chat Transcripts: WotC has posted an updated list of chat transcripts available. Here's a list of 3E related chats from recent months. (thanks to Lance R. Goetz and psionotic for the scoop) Date Show Guest Topic 7/21/00 RPG Hour Skip Williams 3rd Edition D&D Sorcerers 7/2/00 From the Dragon's Mouth Dave Gross and Chris Perkins Favorite Settings 6/15/00 RPG Hour Monte Cook 3rd Edition D&D Barbarians 6/3/00 From the Dragon's Mouth Dave Gross and Chris Perkins Building a Better Dragon Cleric Spell Swapping and Metamagic Feats: WotC's Sean Reynolds on the limits to the cleric ability to swap prepared spells for healing, and the stackability of metamagic feats (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Gerard for the scoop): Note that you don't exchange the spell for [healing], you exchange it for a cure spell of the same or lower level. Since the highest-level cure spell is cure critical wounds (Clr4), anything higher than a level 4 spell is still going to convert to 4d8 +1 per level. However, you can use those "extra" levels to do a metamagic feat, (1) if you have the feat and (2) there's enough of a "level gap." So you could convert a maximized flame strike (level 5 + 3 for the maximize = 8) into a maximized cure critical wounds (level 4 + 3 for the maximize = 7, sort of wasting a level) ***or*** into an empowered empowered [yes, that's two "empowereds"] cure critical wounds (level 4 + 2 for the empower + 2 for the empower = 8) for 4d8+ 1 per level, all multiplied by 1.5 and again multiplied by 1.5. (Yes, you can stack the same metamagic feat on a spell more than once ...as long as it makes sense. A maximized maximized spell is exactly the same as a once-maximized spell, but obviously you can keep adding empowereds for cumulative effect). Note that sticking a metamagic feat on a spontaneously-cast cure in this fashion makes it a full-round casting time. PHB Delay from Amazon.co.uk: A number of folks who ordered the Player's Handbook from Amazon.co.uk (the UK arm of Amazon.com) have received an e-mail informing them that they won't be receiving their order until September. Their exact words: "We have contacted the publishers, and they have informed us that the publication date of this title has been delayed." This is despite the fact that the PHB entry at Amazon.co.uk still says August 12th. WotC's Sean Reynolds (on the 3E Message Board), however, says, "We haven't changed our ship dates at all. Must be something on their end ... possibly they underestimated the number of books to order and are saying this to mollify their customers." If you live in the UK and you get a copy of the PHB sometime soon, drop me a line so I can share where/how you got yours in a timely fashion. (Thanks to the several scoopers who let me know about the delay.) August 7, 2000 Monster Compilation Available: Need some monsters to tide you over until the Monster Manual is available in October? An industrious soul has compiled monster stats from Dungeon Magazine issue #82 and "The Dead of Winter" adventure appearing on the Character Generator CD-ROM. Note that these are bare-bones stats -- no descriptions of the critters are provided. In addition, I have gone through and removed three "uniques" (monstrous NPCs with character classes) so as to avoid spoiling some of the best surprises for players and DMs alike. An extra-special thanks to Bradley Bugbear for the compilation. Sean Reynolds at GenCon: WotC's Sean Reynolds is one of the most frequent "official" posters on the official D&D 3E message board. He's posted the schedule of events he's planning on being involved with at this year's GenCon and says, "Feel free to stop by and say hi!" Ryan Dancey Interview: You can read the latest from WotC's man with the master plan, Ryan Dancey, over at Wounds Unlimited. (thanks to apexcaliber for the scoop) GenCon in the News: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has posted an article about GenCon 2000. I spotted this while perusing John Setzer's GenCon Guide, an unofficial guide to Milwaukee and attending the convention. April 2001 Release Date for Realms 3E: In the Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine chat this evening, Dragon editor Dave Gross revealed some plans for the revision of the Forgotten Realms setting: ...we're going to be emphasizing the Realms more in the coming months, especially after the new setting comes out next April. Look for our "Countdown to the Realms" to start in the October issue. August 6, 2000 Community News: 3E and D20 system website news: You can download a character sheet from MEDFARO. Looks like there's another D20 system company in the pool: according to this press release, Emperor's Choice Games & Miniatures will be publishing their Arduin game world materials using the D20 system. (thanks to Jeff Basham for the scoop) Message Board Tidbits: Miscellaneous nuggets of 3E goodness: Ability Score Changes: Over the past couple of weeks it has been confirmed that an increase to your Constitution score does retroactively increase your hit points; however, an increase to your Intelligence does not retroactively increase your number of skill points. (mostly from Sean Reynolds) Spell Mastery for Wizards: Another way to think of it is this: every wizard can prepare the Read Magic spell without having a spellbook - it's in a "virtual spellbook" inside your head. Spell Mastery just adds spells to that "virtual spellbook." The spells work otherwise like non-mastered spells, they're just in a spellbook that can never be stolen from you. (Sean Reynolds) Update: A wizard starts with Read Magic in that "virtual spellbook" and that's it. You can take the Spell Mastery feat to put more into your "virtual spellbook." Wizards are the only class that needs this (as they're the only class that uses a spellbook of any sort). And Spell Mastery isn't a class ability, in truth ... it's a wizard-only feat, like how Weapon Specialization is a fighter-only feat and how Extra Turning is a cleric- or paladin-only feat). Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his personal 3E page. Today, he gives us his GenCon schedule and invites one and all to stop by and say howdy to him if you can find him. He and I will be at the Dungeon Delve on Thursday morning so if you're around you can kill two birds with one stone. :) See my GenCon schedule for more info. Here's an especially tantalizing quote from Mr. Wyatt's schedule: "I don't think I can talk about what I'm doing on Sunday." Hope he's not going to announce D&D 4th Edition! ;) New 3E Material at Gaming Outpost: As part of their "10 Days of 3E" series, Gaming Outpost has posted a couple of new D&D articles of interest: Converting Your AD&D Campaign to 3rd Edition: Author Clinton Nixon offers up advice for those contemplating switching boats midstream. 3rd Edition Adventure -- "Darkest Hearts:" Clinton Nixon provides a short 3rd Edition scenario complete with NPC/monster stats and plot but minus a map. Some interesting opponents in there. Atlas to Preview D20 Adventure at GenCon: Atlas Games, producer of Ars Magica, Over the Edge, and the forthcoming Rune RPG (to go along with HumanHead's Rune CRPG [Hi Tim!]), will be previewing "Three Days to Kill," a new d20 System adventure at GenCon. (thanks to Clinton Nixon for the scoop) August 5, 2000 Official 3E Chats in August: There will be a heapin' helpin' of opportunities for you to chat with WotC folk about various Third Edition topics in August: From the Dragon's Mouth - Sun. 8/6/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - Dragon's New 3rd Edition Focus - Dave Gross and Chris Perkins: "This month's issue of Dragon Magazine is bigger and better with more of what you asked for! Dragon Magazine #274 features articles about the creation of 3rd Edition, fiction by Ben Bova, and an entire Robin Hood mini-campaign. Dave and Chris tell all." Special: 3rd Edition Thursday! - Thurs. 8/10/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - Virtual Gen Con Report: "We snag a Virtual Gen Con reporter to make their report live from our chat rooms--giving you the scoop in real time on all the important announcements and events of GC2K." Designers' Guild - Sun. 8/13/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - 3rd Edition Designer's Roundtable - Monte Cook, Skip Williams and others: "We cut in on the revelry of the last night of Gen Con to ask Monte Cook, Skip Williams, and any other D&D designer we can snag to answer a 3rd Edition D&D free-for-all where the topic is not restricted to one particular class, as it has been in previous months, but is open to all comers. Designers can finally spill on any detail you want to know! " Special: 3rd Edition Thursday! - Thurs. 8/17/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - 3rd Edition Combat - Dave Noonan: "3rd Edition D&D is here and we're eager to interact with the fans on first impressions! Starting the night of Third Edition Thursday at Gen Con, we'll be hosting a special series of Thursday night "How-To" chats that will focus on one game mechanic of the just-released Player's Handbook." RPG Hour - Fri. 8/18/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - The D&D Adventure Game - Jonathan Tweet and Jason Carl: "Third Edition D&D is going to be the biggest thing to ever hit the roleplaying game market, and the D&D Adventure Game is the best way to enter the limitless realms of imagination. Designers Jonathan Tweet and Jason Carl explain what this first adventure in 3rd edition has to offer you." Industry Edge - Sun. 8/20/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - D&D 3rd Edition Editing Insiders - Miranda Horner: "After the designers finished their work on the latest D&D projects, the editors took charge! Julia Martin and Miranda Horner will tell you how they shaped the raw material of 3rd Edition into what you see today." Special: 3rd Edition Thursday! - Thurs. 8/24/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - Min/Maxing Your PC - Sean Reynolds: "3rd Edition D&D is here and we're eager to interact with the fans on first impressions! Starting the night of Third Edition Thursday at Gen Con, we'll be hosting a special series of Thursday night 'How-To' chats that will focus on one game mechanic of the just-released Player's Handbook." Sage Advice Live! -Sun. 8/27/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - Special Conversion Issues Focus - Skip Williams: "No doubt the release of Third Edition has you looking over your adventures and evaluating how your play is impacted. If you've got questions The Sage has answers. Skip will be giving special attention to conversion issues during this Sage Advice Live!" Special: 3rd Edition Thursday! - Thurs. 8/31/00 6-7 pm (PDT) - Converting Magic Spells - Rich Baker: "3rd Edition D&D is here and we're eager to interact with the fans on first impressions! Starting the night of Third Edition Thursday at Gen Con, we'll be hosting a special series of Thursday night "How-To" chats that will focus on one game mechanic of the just-released Player's Handbook." Living Greyhawk Character Sheet: If you download this .zip file, not only will you find the Living Greyhawk character creation rules in PDF format, but also a two-page LG character sheet that is almost identical to that found in the back of the Player's Handbook. Also, if you want to read the LG character creation guidelines on a web page, visit the official LG site. (thanks to Marco Saoner for the scoop) New Product Covers: While I was adjusting the prices on my Buy D&D Stuff page (all upward -- apparently the days of the $13.56 PHB are over at Amazon), I found several products that have new cover illustrations that differ from the original prototype or placeholder art previously shown. Click the thumbnail to view a larger version: Eric at GenCon 2000: I am pleased to announce that Wizards of the Coast has invited me to be a guest at GenCon next week. Not only will I be attending on Thursday, August 10th, and Friday, August 11th, but they've arranged for me to be available to "meet-and-greet" anyone who would be so inclined. If you've visited my message boards at all, you know that I am eager to shake hands with and say "thanks" to the many D&D fans who have made this year so much fun. If you do stop by to meet me, make sure you're ready to write something clever in my PHB! :) In addition, arrangements have been made for me to be able to update my site live from the convention as often as needed! So even if you're not going, you'll get to read some of my seminar notes and general impressions "hot off the press." Then when I get back I'll post some photos and additional reports from others who may be attending. I've set up a GenCon 2000 page that contains my schedule for the dates I'll be attending. This will be the page I'll update from the convention as well. I look forward to seeing many of you there! New Official Message Boards: You can find two new message boards that are tangentially related to 3E over at the WotC site: RPG.Dune and RPG.Star_Trek. Dune and Star Trek RPGs were developed by Last Unicorn Games, which was recently acquired by WotC, and word on the net is that Dune is a likely candidate for becoming a D20 system game, and Star Trek could be as well. Arneson Interview: You can read an interview with original D&D co-creator Dave Arneson right here. (thanks to Maurizio Vaggi for the scoop) Community News: New D&D related websites: Cale Nadere, a website by Dalenthas, has a message board where he encourages users to submit new D&D materials (classes, feats, etc.). Frank's Digital Domain has an Excel character sheet that does some calculations for you. August 4, 2000 Scribing Spells: Anonymous stopped by to fill us in on how magical writings are deciphered, and how a wizard transfers spells from other spellbooks or scrolls into her own spellbook: To decipher arcane magical writing (such as a single spell in written form in another's spellbook or on a scroll), a character must make a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the spell's level). If the skill check fails, the character cannot attempt to read that particular spell again until the next day. A read magic spell automatically deciphers a magical writing without a skill check. If the person who created the magical writing is on hand to help the reader, success is also automatic. Once a character deciphers a particular magical writing, she does not need to decipher it again. Deciphering a magical writing allows the reader to identify the spell and gives some idea of its effects (as explained in the spell description). If the magical writing was a scroll and the reader can cast arcane spells, she can attempt to use the scroll. When a wizard encounters a new spell on a scroll or in another wizard's spellbook, she can add it to her spellbook as follows: (1) Decipher it as described above. (2) Spend a day studying it, and at the end of the day make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). If the check succeeds, (3) spend one day plus one additional day per spell level writing it into her spellbook (just one day for a 0-level spell). Materials for writing cost 100 gp per page, and each spell takes up two pages per level (one page for 0-level spells). These costs/time do not apply to the two free spells gained with each new character level. A spellbook that is copied from is unharmed, but a spell that is successfully copied from a scroll disappears from the scroll. If the check at (2) fails, the wizard cannot understand the spell and cannot attempt to learn it again even if she studies it from another source until she gains another rank in Spellcraft. A blank wizard's spellbook costs 15 gp, weighs 3 lbs and has 100 pages of parchment. Community News: Websites of interest... 3E Character Sheet from Mad Irishman, in PDF format. Interactive Dungeon is a free map-making utility that allows you to display the dungeon rooms as they're entered, and include things like sound effects along the way. A note from Kyle Charron of Fiend Games: From August 7th until the end of Gen Con, there will be no updates. This is because many of the Fiend Games staff are going to GenCon to attend the d20 seminar. However with next Thursday being 3rd Edition Thursday we couldn't leave without a gift. So as of Monday there will be three tidbits hidden somewhere in the Fiend Games site. A new monster, a Pre-War of Thorns Timeline, 2 new feats and a new deity (oh and maybe a new domain). They will be hidden on my site before I leave on Monday for GenCon. Happy Hunting! Message Board Misc: Official tidbits from folks who should know (thanks to James Hoover for the scoops): What happens if you already have a certain feat, and then multiclass into a class that gets that feat for free? Do you get to pick a different feat instead? Sean Reynolds: Nope, you have to suck it up, just as you would if you picked Improved Unarmed Strike and then became a monk, or (like Drizzt) started out as a fighter with Ambidexterity and later became a ranger. You don't retroactively change feats. Bards can cast a lot of wizard-type spells, but they can also cast cure light wounds. Is it the spell or the caster who is defined as "arcane" or "divine?" Sean Reynolds: A class either has arcane or divine magic. Bards, sorcerers, and wizards use arcane magic, and all other classes use divine magic. The confusion may be that bards and rangers both have spells that most would consider to be on the "traditional" cleric and wizard lists. Regardless, bards are arcane spellcasters (even when casting cure light wounds) and rangers are divine spellcasters (even when casting alarm). If Adamantite armor provides an additional +2 bonus to AC, why doesn't magical Adamantite armor +2 provide a +4 bonus? Ryan Dancey: In 3E, every bonus is "typed". And "types" don't stack. What that means is that if you get a +2 AC "Enhancement" bonus, the only way to get a +3 Enhancement bonus is to get something that gives you a +3 AC Enhancement bonus. You don't get +2 AC Enhancement from the adamantite, and a +x AC Enhancement bonus from the magic dweomer in the armor; the higher of the bonuses is all you get. That's why it matters that some classes get "Dodge" bonuses to AC, and some magic items give "Deflection" bonuses, and some give "Enhancement" bonuses, etc. It means you can quickly and easily figure out how all that stuff works together and what the correct AC adjustment should be. Official Updates: A number of new goodies over on the official D&D website (thanks to Dalenthas, Balsamic Dragon, Rick Smith, Dave Blewer, Orion Cooper, and Beau Yarbrough, the first of many scoopers): PHB Art Gallery: View a bunch of da Vinci-style illustrations from the Player's Handbook. These illustrations are at the start of each chapter, and from them we can gather a basic PHB Table of Content: Abilities Races [Yes, I know, there's a little labeling problem in this illustration. Fortunately, as is pointed out on the main D&D page, the lower half of the illustration will be obscured by text.] Classes Skills Feats Description (that's what the file name says; illustration depicts a bunch of holy symbols) Equipment Combat Adventuring Magic Spells Remembering the Big Announcement: It may not seem like it, but it's been about a year since 3E was announced at GenCon '99. You can take a trip (not very far) back in time, including a look at the Big Announcement T-shirt. New D&D Desktop: You can download a bunch of different desktop wallpapers featuring different character classes, an unidentified monster that might be an orc or might be a hobgoblin or something like that, and a cute one of Lidda the Halfling with a very surprised look on her face after failing her Use Magic Item skill check. Win a British Vacation: It's a sweepstakes. 'nuf said. Ryan Dancey Spotlight: The man with the master plan speaks about the game's development and future. August 3, 2000 Char Gen and Master Tools FAQs: You can find a few FAQs for electronic D&D products, as listed below. Supposedly these are all linked from the Master Tools website, though a number of people (myself included) are being directed to a version of the page that does not have the links: FAQ for the Character Generator -- Sample Question: Why can't I equip magic items? FAQ for the Character Generator Patch -- This is a list of bugs fixed and new features. FAQ for Master Tools -- Sample Questions: Will the Master Tools include files of the core D&D books? Will it look like the Character Generator? Will it be able to read Character Generator files? A Fair Warning to All: Shortly after August 10th, when the Player's Handbook is on the shelf (at least here in North America), I will begin culling the PHB-related "news" from the various pages on this site. After all, it's not really "news" if you can find it right in the book. The Characters and Magic pages will be most affected -- I will be deleting a lot of that stuff, perhaps leaving only one example of a class ability list, a racial stat block, and a handful of feats and skills described. The rest you'll have to find for yourself in the Player's Handbook. So, if you've been using various charts and lists on this site as a pre-PHB reference guide, I just wanted to make it clear that it's not going to last forever. Hopefully clearing away the PHB stuff will make room for a month's worth of DMG rumors, two months' worth of MM rumors, and several months' worth of Psionics, Manual of the Planes, Forgotten Realms 3E, and other rumors. There will be other changes in store for the site as well. I will move the "news archive" from August 1999 - July 2000 to a separate section so as not to confuse people, and also cut it off from the search engine for the site. I want to keep it available for "historical purposes" but don't want people thinking it contains current or correct information. In addition, I will begin promoting the Conversions Library (requesting submissions, beefing up the conversions guidelines and templates, that sort of thing) quite heavily once the three core books are out. Conversions, along with continuing news coverage, will be the focus of this site. As much as I'd like to be "3E Central" for all things 3E, this site is only an after-work hobby, not a full-time job. I don't have the resources or time to devote to archiving new feats, skills, classes, races, prestige classes, campaign worlds, or adventures. I will leave it to others to create wonderful 3E resources that we can all share. Aldor Timeline at MAG: Mystical Alchemy Gameworks has posted a PDF file containing a timeline and a few other tidbits for Ian Malcomson's forthcoming D20 System campaign setting, the world of Aldor. You can download it here. PHB Reveiw: Gaming Outpost has posted a review of the Player's Handbook. Here's a quote from this very favorable reveiw: The system is what shines in this game, though. Long-time players of Dungeons and Dragons will find a lot of familiar terms here, but it's not the same game. While 2nd Edition was a revision and clarification (and in many cases, a hack-job) of 1st Edition AD&D, 3rd Edition is a complete rewrite; it would probably be better titled "the new Dungeons and Dragons" or something awkward like that. It's much to the credit of the designers (Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams) that it still feels like D&D, but better. Games in 3rd Edition will be, for the most part, more fantastic, yet seem to run much smoother. Gaming Outpost also has a D&D Third Edition contest (just a drawing, no skill involved! :) that you might want to check out if you want some free 3E books. August 2, 2000 Magic Item Info: LightPhoenix (webmaster of the Star Wars Rumor Mill) has used the patched version of the Character Generator to uncover some of the prefixes and suffixes that can be combined with magical weapons and armor to make them extra-special. Here's a selection: Weapons: Holy - Weapon does +2d6 to damage all of Evil alignment Flaming - On command, the weapon is sheathed in fire that does +1d6 bonus damage Icy Burst - Frost weapon that also does +1d10 damage on a critical Thundering - This weapon does +1d8 sonic damage on a critical Bane - Weapon has a +2 higher bonus and does +2d6 damage against a specific type of creature Ghost Touch - Weapon deals damage normally against incorporeal creatures Adamantine - Weapon has a natural +2 enhancement bonus from material Vorpal - On a successful critical, the weapon severs the opponent's head Disruption - Destroys undead unless they make a Fortitude save of DC 14 Armor: Fortified Light - Magically protects vital areas, negating critcals 25% of the time Spell Resistance (13) - Grants the wearer a spell resistance of SR 13 Silent - This armor grants a +10 circumstance bonus to Move Silently checks Glamered - On command, this armor assumes the appearance of normal clothing DMG Impressions: Ambiguously gendered scooper Charwoman Gene got to look at fairly current draft of the Dungeon Master's Guide, and kindly shared some impressions: General Impressions: I LOVE THE NEW DMG. This thing is just brimming. They list all the old subraces in the DMG. The talk about adding/creating nonstandard races in solid, but generic terms. They mention Aasimar and Tieflings. They discuss the reasons why a Bonus to strength requires two negative ability scores, while a penalty does not require two bonuses. Some notes on creating classes and prestige classes. Prestige classes look cool. A big helping of campaign and world design advice. GOOD advice. A discussion of the "thorny issues" like taking prisoners, releasing evil prisoners, torture, justice. Alternate rolling systems: This is the only place I got good detail. Not including the official system (4d6, drop lowest, arrange), we have: Point Buy: Just like on your site, except it recommends 25 points for a typical campaign. It also has a table for various "power levels" with differing point costs. 15-Low Powered, 22-Challenging, 28-Tough(?), 32-High Powered. "Organic" Normal Characters: Roll 4d6, drop lowest, keep in order. You can choose to reroll one ability score. You can then swap any two scores. Customized average characters: Roll 3d6 6 times, arrange to suit. Reroll character if total ability modifier is -3 or less, or you have no score >12. Random Average Characters: Roll 3d6 6 times, keep in order. Reroll character if total ability modifier is -3 or less, or you have no score >12. High Powered Characters: Roll 5d6, drop lowest two, Reroll character if total ability modifier is +2 or less, or you have no score >15. "Floating Reroll": 4d6, drop lowest, One time, you can reroll the lowest die, instead of dropping it, then drop the new lowest die, arrange. Blackguard Prestige Class: Blackguards are not "fallen" Paladins as some have speculated. Or at least, not necessarily. They are basically a prestige anti-paladin. Cool abilites and all. The best thing is that if they are an Ex-Paladin, the evil Gods they serve are so glad to have corrupted them, they gain even more abilities than they do as a standard Blackguard. If they are over 10th level, they can convert level of paladin into levels of blackguard. 3E Demo with Jonathan Tweet: Want to read an article by a couple of guys who got to play D&D with designer Jonathan Tweet at Origins? Click here. (thanks to DMCoik for the scoop) Elminster Speaks #10: The tenth installment of Elminster Speaks (at the WotC Forgotten Realms page) includes 3E stats for monsters called "Mad Black Hounds," viscious dogs who guard a certain temple of Cyric in Voonlar. (thanks to Allister Huggins for the scoop) SAGA to 3E Conversion Notes: You can find some guidelines for converting Dragonlance: Fifth Age characters to D&D Third Edition at the WotC Dragonlance site. (thanks to Allister Huggins for the scoop) Living Greyhawk Character Creation: You can download a PDF file containing the Living Greyhawk Character Generation Rules over at the Highfolk (Wisconsin Triad) page. It's a 3-page document weighing in at about 230 KB. (thanks to P. Fuge for the scoop) August 1, 2000 WotC Says Converting Old Stuff is A-OK: WotC's Jim Butler gave his blessing to the notion of converting old AD&D materials to 3E (on DND-L): We wholeheartedly encourage anyone to go through and make whatever conversion notes for various products they'd like. Just don't OCR the entire product in with those conversions and make the entire product available. Make them notes that can be used with the product, not a complete reprint. We'll be releasing all of the older, out-of-print game materials over the website at some point in the near future. Some of these products will be available for free, while others will be pay-for downloads or subscription-based (your choice). You're free to make the conversions and include the entire text of the free products available. For the pay-for products, we ask that you stick with the conversions. The Other Official D&D Site: You surely know that you can get to the official D&D site at http://www.wizards.com/dnd. Well, there's now another "official" D&D site at http://www.playdnd.com/. This one is more geared toward introducing the basics of the game and steering newcomers to the D&D Adventure Game. So, what can you find at the other official site? (thanks to Dark Blackshield, among others, for the scoop) Shockwave Demo of D&D: If you have a current version of Shockwave installed and you don't mind a couple of long downloads (a couple of MB), you can click your way through an introduction to the D&D Adventure game, complete with an example of play. Two players and a DM play through a couple of rounds of combat, with closeups of the maps, dice, and so forth along the way. Pre-Order the D&D Adventure Game from WotC: You can pre-order the Adventure Game direct from WotC; they'll ship it out on August 8th as long as you order it before that date. Of course, it ain't no Amazon.com in terms of a discount or anything. ;) Slimmed-Down Gateway to other WotC D&D Resources: This page is like an executive summary of what you can find at www.wizards.com/dnd -- it provides links to resources such as Dragon Magazine, Dungeon Adventures, D&D Electronic Products (which is kind of confusing as they're still hawking the Core Rules 2.0 Expansion for AD&D 2nd Edition...), Minatures, RPGA, and many other old favorites. Community News: News on fan-created D&D websites and D20 system publisher websites: OmegaOdd of Return to the Dungeon wishes to remind you that his site will be returning on August 10th. A new D&D 3E fan site, The Third Tome, is open for your perusal. Alex White's FRPG page has some 3E house rules regarding Rangers, races, feats, skills, and more. Seven Avengers is a new D20 System publisher. They have a Quicktime video you can download. Fiend Games has posted more information on their forthcoming War of the Thorns products for the D20 System. Character Generator Patch: You can download the 6.7 MB patch for the free D&D Character Generator program from the Master Tools page. As WotC's Jim Bishop notes, "this is it for the Character Generator. Barring a truly damaging bug, we're ready to dig into the Master Tools and leave this demo behind us." See the news of July 28 for more information about the new features included with the patch. (Scoopers: Pat and Mondo, among others) Dungeon Adventures #82: The first all-3E issue of Dungeon Adventures magazine arrived in my mail today. It contains 112 full-color pages of adventures, including work from Ed "Creative Director for Dungeons & Dragons" Stark, Jeff "Manual of the Planes" Grubb, and Ian "Robin Hood" Malcomson. I'll post more information and impressions shortly. This issue also provides the revised Dungeon Adventures Submission Guidelines -- including the stats of the legendary Skurge Dwarfbane. Lo, his triumphant return! :) Skurge Dwarfbane, male troll Bbn3: CR 7; Large Giant (8 ft. tall); HD 6d6+36 (troll) + 3d12+18 (Bbn); hp 101; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 40 ft.; AC 18 (+7 natural, +2 Dex, -1 size); Atk +12/+12/+9 melee (1d6+6 [x2], 2 claws; 1d6+3, 1 bite); or +9 melee (1d12+9/crit x3, greataxe); or +9 melee (1d10+9 subdual, large sap); Reach 10'; SA rage, rend; SQ uncanny dodge, regeneration (5 hp/round), scent (detects living creatures within 30 ft.); AL CN; SV Fort +14, Ref +3, Will +5; Str 23, Dex 14, Con 23, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6. Skills: Jump +8, Listen +5, Spot +5. Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative, Iron Will. SA -- Rage (Ex): During his rage, Skurge is +18 hp, AC 16, Atk +14/+14/+9 melee (1d6+8 [x2], 2 claws; 1d6+4, 1 bite); or +11 melee (1d12+12/crit x3, greataxe); or +11 melee (1d10+12 subdual, large sap); SV Fort +16, Will +7; Str 27, Con 27. Skills: Jump +10. The rage lasts 11 rounds, after which time the troll is fatigued. Skurge can rage 1/day. SA -- Rend (Ex): If Skurge hits with both claw attacks, he latches onto his foe's body and tears the flesh, automatically dealing an additionald 2d6+9 points of damage. SQ -- Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Skurge retains his Dexterity bonus to AC if caught flat-footed or if attacked by an invisible being. SQ -- Regeneration (Ex): Fire and acid deal normal damage to Skurge. If he loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. Skurge can reattach a severed member instantly by holding it to the stump. Equipment: Great-ax with three gems embedded in the handle (500 gp, 100 gp, and 50 gp respectively), large leather sack containing six severed dwarf heads (can be used as a large sap in a pinch, inflicting 1d10+9 points of subdual damage). I'm Back! But not necessarily "back in the swing" of updating the site. Please be patient with me as I wade through over 100 pieces of e-mail and try to prioritize news postings over the next couple of days. News Archive: Any news before August 2000 is archived in a separate area, as it contains information that could be innaccurate. If you wish to visit the archive, step right this way. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.