News Archive #7 February 2000 News from February 2000: February 29, 2000 Welcome (Again!): Okay, this is more like it. Welcome to the new home for my Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News. As you can see from the address, I am being hosted by RPGPlanet. Some of my "sister sites" include Fantaseum at http://www.rpgplanet.com/fantaseum/, The Scrying Room at http://www.rpgplanet.com/poolofradiance/ and Planet Neverwinter at http://www.rpgplanet.com/planetnw/. Looks like I'm in very good company. I will be sprucing up the place over the next couple of weeks, so don't hesitate to let me know if something's not working. And I have changed to a new home Internet service provider; my current address is ericnoah@home.com, though my old address will still work for a few weeks yet. Disrupting Spellcasting: WotC RPG VP Ryan Dancey cleared the air once and for all on the topic of spell interruption in 3E: "1) You do not have a chance of having a spell disrupted from taking damage any time in a round - only when you try to cast a spell. 2) You have a chance to have a spell disrupted, barring a failed concentration check, under two specific circumstances: a) Someone inflicts damage on the caster simultaneous with the casting via the use of the "Ready Action", or an Attack of Opportunity triggered by the attempt to cast a spell while in the Threatened area of an opponent. b) The spellcaster is taking continuing damage from a source like acid or fire." (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Permanency: Playtester Der Verdammte notes that there is still a Permanency spell in the 3E rules, but it doesn't drain Constitution from the caster, and isn't used to create permanent magic items. (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James "Da Man" Hoover for the scoop) You Must Focus: Der Verdammte revealed some info about the Refocus action, which allows characters to give up an attack in one round in exchange for the ability to act early in subsequent rounds: "When you take the 'Refocus' action, you're treated as though you rolled a natural 20 for every round after your action, until you 'Delay,' or do something else that changes your place in the initiative sequence. This isn't a huge advantage to most wizards, however, because (at least in my games) having a 20 or more (modified) for initiative isn't all that uncommon." Characters who have initiative bonuses based on Dexterity or a feat like Quickness, then, will act before characters who don't in situations where more than one character chooses to Refocus. (on the 3E Message Board) Whither the Realms? With all eyes on the development of the core 3E books, some wonder what's happening with D&D's flagship campaign setting, the Forgotten Realms. WotC game designer (and all-around good guy) James Wyatt gives us the low-down: "...the Realms team has been happily working away on Realms products to be released late this year and next. Since those products have not yet been announced, we can't talk about them, but rest assured that the Realms have not simply been sitting on a back burner during these years of 3E development." (on the 3E Message Board) Monk Junk: On the topic of the Monk's abilities at low character levels, Keith Strohm says: "The monk gets several abilities at low levels.... the class gets a respectable amount of abilities right off the starting block." And as to their unarmed combat skills: "...other heroes using bare-handed attacks against opponents with weapons invoke attacks of opportunity against them, while monks do not invoke the attack of opportunity." (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Keith also added this on DND-L: "...you can be a monk, wear no armor, take the correct skills and feats, and take an all out defense action for an A.C. of about 25. Of course, you can't attack that round. That's that darn stacking thing again :) Seriously, the variety of options and ways to build your character and choose combat tactics is one of the many cool things about 3rd Edition." Defensive Feat: Sean Reynolds indicates that there is a feat that allows a character to improve his armor class with character level. (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) February 28, 2000 Moving Again? I thought I had settled on Stormloader for web hosting. However, I got an interesting offer that I will probably take. So don't get too settled in -- we'll be packing up again shortly and heading to some better digs. I think you'll like them! :) Mystical Monks: Keith Strohm (WotC Tabletop RPG Business Manager to the Stars) spoke up about the elusive Monk on the 3E message board: "I'm currently playing an elven monk in Monte Cook's 3E campaign, and I have to say that the progression of abilities are orderly and they make sense. And the great thing is, the monk's cool abilities, like Missile Deflection and Diamond Soul, aren't the only thing that makes monks cool to play. In 3rd Edition, monks are capable fighters and the right mix of skills really rounds them out. I have to say that the monk I am currently playing is the closest thing to my "dream class" (ie., the monk that I've always wanted to play in D&D but never could). And this is even after an owlbear decided to use my monk as a squeeze toy. :)" (thanks to LtPhoenix and James Hoover and RBB for the scoop)   February 26, 2000 Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3E Site is Moving! Yes, I'm joining the "cable revolution" -- I'll be switching service providers within the next week and moving the web site sometime within the next month. I'll try to give you all plenty of time to adjust your bookmarks. I will also be changing e-mail addresses. Psionics: Ryan Dancey addressed the issue of psionics in 3E on the official message board: "As described in the FAQ, psionics are not in the core books, but there will be a separate volume that reintegrates Psionics with 3e sometime in 2001. Work on that book has not even begun, as far as I know. Also, I do not necessarily think that we will take the 2e version of psionics and try to make it the basis of the 3e version; there are so many problems with the 2e version that in the end it may be best to scrap, and restart with a whole new approach to the problem." Art Gallery Updated ... Sorta: The official 3E art gallery has been split into two seperate galleries -- one with the character concept sketches, and another with the race concept drawings. No new art, but the race drawings are now separated into individual pieces, rather than the old montage that was there before. February 25, 2000 Druid Skills: The Playtesters at Work page has been updated. This time, the playtesters helped define the class skills for the Druid class. Druids originally started out with Animal Empathy, Concentration, Scry, and Wilderness Survival as class skills. The January Playtest Group of the Month was able to convince the designers to expand that list "from a list of four to a list of thirteen. One of the new class skills for the druid is Knowledge (nature), which parallels the Knowledge (religion) class skill of the cleric." (Thanks to Neil Ikerd, Peter Sheehan and Alex Peake for the scoop) Gnomes & Halflings: Another tidbit we can glean from recent changes to the January Playtest Group of the Month page: the small size of gnomes and halflings will make a difference in ways that it never did in 2E: "their ACs and attack bonuses change, their equipment, armor and weapon weights and prices change, and ... their weapons inflict different amounts of damage." Search on the Fritz: BeSeen.com has "updated" their indexing/searching service, and as a result I'm having some problems with my search form. I will try to get the problems straightened out ASAP. February 24, 2000 Dark Sun in the Future: Robert Adducci, webmaster for the Burnt World of Athas (official Dark Sun campaign web site) passed me some info on the future of the setting, straight from the mouth of D&D Worlds Brand Manager Jim Butler: "We do plan to bring Dark Sun back at some point in the future. We haven't decided when that will be, though, and I don't expect that you'll hear anything about it until at LEAST 2002 (and probably later)." Opposed Rolls II: I've been adding to the opposed roll info I posted yesterday, so scroll down and have a look. Wizard Close-up Analysis: I have held back doing a full analysis of the recent Wizard Close-up that showed the character sheets for the elven wizard Mialee because there are a couple of typos or mistakes on her sheets that muddy the waters. I have, however, explored her saving throws, skill points, and hit points: Here's how I break down Mialee's saving throws (based on Zimbel42's saving throw charts; see my Combat Page for details): level one Fortitude +0 (base), = +0 Reflex +0 (base), +3 (DX) = +3 Will +2 (base), +1 (WI) = +3 level four Fortitude +1 (base), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +2 Reflex +1 (base), +3 (DX), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +5 Will +4 (base), +1 (WI), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +6 level seven Fortitude +2 (base), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +3 Reflex +2 (base), +3 (DX), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +6 Will +5 (base), +1 (WI), +1 (cloak of resistance) = +7 "Resistance" is a special term that specifically refers to receiving Saving Throw bonuses (there's a minor spell called Resistance that grants a bonus to saves). Skill Points: I obviously suck at figuring out the skill points. Someone wrote in to point out that Mialee couldn't have spent 5 points on one skill at first level (true). Another point: seems that Elves get a bonus to Search and/or Spot. Arg! Too many variables. It's Jozan all over again! [starts to weep uncontrolably] Ugh. I hereby swear I will never attempt to figure out another character's skill points until the PHB is released. [Signed] Eric Noah. A first level wizard with 7 hp and no Constitution bonus? It works like this: like all characters, Mialee gained maximum hit points at first level; the feat Toughness adds +3 to her hp total. February 23, 2000 Dangerous Dancey IV: The Voyage Home. A fourth installment of "The Most Dangerous Column in Gaming" is up for your reading pleasure. New Art: Thanks to "Maximillian" for alerting us to the fact that there's a new illustration to accompany the recent Beholder writeup on the Monthly Monster Mayhem page. Opposed Rolls: Playtester Der Verdammte has been clarifying issues relating to opposed rolls on the 3E Message Board. For instance, he mentions that there's no set Difficulty Class for a skill like Hide. If a Rogue attempts to Hide, the creature/opponent a Rogue might be Hiding from makes the opposing check (in this case, a Spot skill check). The results of that check are the DC of the Rogue's Hide skill check. As with all DCs, you roll a d20, add all modifiers, and that total must be equal to or greater than the DC in order to succeed. Here's a more concrete example: Linda the Rogue has 4 ranks in Hide, and a DX of 18 (+4 to Dexterity related skills, like Hide). She's escaped from a Beholder, who as we've seen, has total bonuses of +20 to its Spot check. With all of those eyes, Linda's going to have a tough time! The DM rolls for the Beholder first, to set the Difficulty Class: he rolls very poorly -- a 1 -- but with +20 in bonuses, the final DC is 21, still quite a challenge. Linda then attempts her Hide skill check and rolls a 14. With +4 for her ranks and +4 for her Dexterity, her total is 22 -- good enough. The Beholder fails to spot Linda, and floats past her. If she encounters another Beholder on her way to freedom, the whole process starts again, with the Beholder making a fresh Spot roll, and Linda making a fresh Hide roll. Note that if both Linda and the Beholder achieve average results on their d20 rolls (rolling 10s or 11s before modifiers), the Beholder will easily win this kind of contest. Also note that it really doesn't matter if the Beholder "goes first" or Linda "goes first" -- ultimately what matters is that the highest successful roll is the "winner" of the contest. Follow-up: Ties: RBB wrote in with the following observation: "It does matter who goes first, because of ties. For instance I would've thought in this example that Linda was hiding '1st,' and this means she sets the DC. So if she and the beholder both totalled 21, the beholder would win. You assumed that the spot would set the DC, so Linda would win ties. So, it's not clear cut." He's right, of course. Posts from Ryan Dancey and Der Verdammte seem to indicate that the DM adjudicates which skill "happens first"; that skill's roll result becomes the DC for the skill that opposes it. Ryan adds, "In the case of a test like arm wrestling where neither side is rolling 'against' the other, I'd have both sides roll for "initiative" just like a combat round, only I wouldn't allow any modifiers to the roll unless (as DM) I thought those modifiers would apply to the situation. I might allow a DEX modifier (how fast can you react to the "go!" signal) or I might just go with a straight roll. The person with the higher initiative roll would then test against the person with the lower roll - in a sense, gaining a 5% bonus (wins on ties)." Or, might I suggest, just re-roll ties -- they won't happen too often. (Thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Follow-up: Situational Modifiers? Another question, this time about situational modifiers, from "Brian": "About the concrete example on opposed rolls; It seems odd to me that there was no mention on how carefully Linda hid. Did she duck out of the way an instant before the beholder came by, or did she spend hours making the best blind she could? It seem to me that stuff like this is how the DM picks a DC. But with opposed rolls, it apperars the DM has little say." I would say that there would indeed be situational modifiers. If you recall the revealing "Tracking a Pixie Across a Stone Floor" example, there were modifiers for the size of the creature being tracked, the age of the tracks, the type of surface, and so forth. My example above assumes no situational modifiers, but there could easily be some based on the amount of light, the clothing being worn, the time spent setting up the Hide attempt, and so forth. I would be interested to see if there are similar modifiers for Spot and Hide -- if "Bright Light" gives a +4 bonus to Spot, does it give a -4 penalty to Hide, and if so isn't that kind of double jeopardy? Ryan Dancey gave another example about a Cleric trying to Move Silently past an alert Rogue: "If [the sneaking cleric is] wearing noisy armor, or the rogue knows to watch for someone sneaking by, or any number of other potential environmental factors the DM might consider applicable, that chance can drop even lower." (thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Follow-up: Keeping Ranks and Modifiers Separate: Der Verdammte confirms that it is generally a good idea to keep separate tallies of a character's ranks in a skill and any bonuses (from high ability scores, magical items, etc.). While the ranks and bonuses are all added together, a skill's ranks (purchased with skill points) may be a minimal requirement for a feat (for instance -- Bards with a rank of 3 in Perform can use the Inspire Courage feat). (Thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Out with the Old, In with the New: Last month's Dragon Magazine profiled game designer Bruce Cordell. He's working on one of the last of the 2nd edition adventures, and also working on one of the first 3E adventures: "Bruce is currently working on his last AD&D 2nd Edition adventure, which employs another classic character. This time it's the arch-lich Vecna in the adventure 'Die, Vecna, Die', co-written with Steve Miller. The adventure takes place across three different D&D worlds: Oerth (home of the Greyhawk setting), the Ravenloft campaign, and Sigil (the city center of the Planescape setting). The adventure helps set the stage for D&D 3rd Edition cosmology, 'or at least opens the door,' as Bruce puts it, 'loosening up some of the pre-concieved notions of the D&D cosmology, and gives DMs more freedom to tinker with it and come up with their own views of the multiverse.' After he puts the finishing touches on 'Vecna,' Bruce is planning to explore some of those possibilities as he begins working on one of the first adventures planned for 3rd Edition, with the working title 'The Sunless Citadel.'" (thanks to Claus Olesen for the scoop) February 22, 2000 Dungeon Adventures Guidelines Info Removed: I've been asked by WotC management to remove information I recently posted from the Dungeon Adventures Submissions Guidelines (the monster and NPC stat blocks, and so forth). The explanation: "This document was never meant to be posted on the WotC website or anywhere else. It contains confidential 3E information, and it's not current (or correct, for that matter). The document, which was meant to be seen only by in-house designers and editors, was posted by our web team without permission or approval." As I would hate to be the bearer of misinformation or create antagonism between me and WotC, I have complied with this request, deleting the sections in question throughout my News Archives, my Monsters page, etc. You'll note that the Submission Guidelines have been returned to their original state, with 2E formats in place. February 20, 2000 Taking 10 or 20: Playtester Der Verdammte clarifies the situations in which a character can "take 10" or "take 20" to avoid having to risk a failed skill check: "...taking 20 can't be done with [a] feat [that has] a materials cost involved, [because] everytime you try and fail you have to get more materials. The take 10 and take 20 mechanic only works on skills that can easily be tried repeatedly. For instance, you couldn't take 20 on a Bluff skill check." Feats, Skills and Abilities: Over the past six months, several Feats and Skills have been mentioned by name here or in other official sources. Henry Link has put together a master list of those mentioned so far (with additions and corrections by RBB, Der Verdammte, Tenzhi, Randall Shepherd, Zimbel42 and me, with an extra-special appearance by "anonymous"). Also, RBB has compiled a list of known class abilities, with additions and corrections by me. Feats: Alertness Ambidexterity Attack on the Run Brew Potion Cleave Combat Casting (+4 bonus to Concentration checks) Create Magic Item (lots of individual categories) Dodge (+1 AC vs. a single opponent) Empower Spell Flyby Attack (Monsters only?) Improved Critical Improved Initiative (+4 to initiative) Iron Will (+2 to Will saves) Lightning Reflexes (+2 to Reflex saves) Maximize Spell (achieve max. results from a spell prepared as if 2 levels higher) Power Attack Quicken Spell (cast spell and take another action in the same round) Scribe Scroll Spell Focus (by school) Still Spell (no somatic component) Toughness (+3 to Hit Points) Tracking Two-Weapon Fighting Weapon Focus (+1 to Specific Weapon) Whirlwind Attack (formerly known as "Heroic Fray") Skills: Alchemy Bluff Climb Concentration Craft (Specific) -- example: Cooking Decipher Script Diplomacy Disable Device Escape Artist Gather Information Heal Hide Intuit direction Jump Knowledge (specific) -- example: Arcana Listen Move Silently Open Locks Perform (specific) -- example: Sing Pick Pockets Profession (specific) -- example: Apothecary Scry Search Sense Motive Spellcraft Spot Tumble Use Magical Item Use Rope Wilderness Lore Known Class Abilities: Barbarian Barbarian Rage Uncanny Dodge (?) Bard Inspire Courage Spellcasting Cleric Two Granted Domain Powers Spellcasting Turn Undead Druid Shapechange Stealth in natural environments Immunities (natural poisons, aging) Animal Companion Fighter Some free combat-related feats (?) Monk ?? Paladin Smite Evil Lay Hands Spellcasting Detect Evil Turn Undead (?) Protection from Evil (?) Ranger Species Enemy Spellcasting Two-Weapon and Ambidexterity feats free Rogue Detecting and Disabling Traps Evasion Sneak Attack Uncanny Dodge Sorcerer Spellcasting Wizard Familiars Spellcasting No Fumbles: Playtester Der Verdammte informs us: "There are no fumbles in 'official' D&D, though there are [optional] rules for them in the DMG." So while a "1" might be a miss, it isn't necessarily a "critical miss" or "fumble" unless the DM says so. (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Mark Triant for the scoop) Arcane Schools Tidbits: An anonymous source confirms that there are indeed two "sub-categories" in the Conjuration school (Creation and Summoning), which was hinted at in the description of the Unseen Servant spell. Anonymous says that there are two sub-categories in the Enchantment school and four sub-categories in the school of Illusion. February 19, 2000 Wizard Saving Throw Speculation: The fellow who came up with the Cleric Saving Throw Table after analyzing the scores for Jozan, the cleric Character Close-up, has developed this table for Wizards based on the recent wizard Character Close-up. Again, it's speculative and not official, but looks very good. Thanks to Zimbel42 for the table: Wizard Saving Throw Chart (by Zimbel42) Level Fortitude Reflex Will 1 +0 +0 +2 2 +0 +0 +3 3 +1 +1 +3 4 +1 +1 +4 5 +1 +1 +4 6 +2 +2 +5 7 +2 +2 +5 8 +2 +2 +6 9 +3 +3 +6 10 +3 +3 +7 11 +3 +3 +7 12 +4 +4 +8 13 +4 +4 +8 14 +4 +4 +9 15 +5 +5 +9 16 +5 +5 +10 17 +5 +5 +10 18 +6 +6 +11 19 +6 +6 +11 20 +6 +6 +12 Official Updates: There have been several updates to the official 3E site: the Spell of the Month, Monthly Monster Mayhem (detailing the 3E version of the Beholder), and a new Character Close-up featuring an elven wizard. (thanks to Ulrich Nolte and Greg Vargo for the scoop) Here are the beholder's stats for your viewing pleasure. Below are some observations and comments. Beholder Medium Aberration Hit Dice: 11d8+11 (60 hp) Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative) Movement: 5 ft., Fl 20 ft. (good maneuverability) AC: 20 (+10 natural) Attacks: bite, +8 melee Damage: bite 2d4 Special Attacks: eye rays, +8 ranged touch Special Defenses: all-around vision, antimagic cone, flight, feather fall Saves: Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +11 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 15 Skills: Hide +11, Listen +15, Knowledge (arcana) 12, Spot +20, Search +18 Feats: Alertness, Attack on the Run, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Iron Will The beholder is the stuff of nightmares. This creature, also called the sphere of many eyes or the eye tyrant, appears as a large orb dominated by a central eye and a large toothy maw, and has 10 smaller eyes on stalks sprouting from the top of the orb. Among adventurers, beholders are known as deadly adversaries. Beholders speak their own language and the Common tongue. Notes: This is clearly not the full description. We are not given a description of the magical powers of the beholder's eyes. This would be more like the Monster Manual layout than a "stat block" found in an adventure. I'm surprised that Face and Reach are not part of the stat list, since they appear in the adventure stat blocks. First entry is size ("Medium") and type ("Aberration"). We're given hit dice information as well as typical hit points for this type of creature. Movement: Looks like no more maneuverability classes lettered A-E -- instead, the categories appear to be things like "Good," "Average," "Poor," etc. AC: All of the beholder's AC comes from its natural armor, none from Dexterity. Special Attacks: We know that ray spells will require a successful attack roll, and here we're given the attack bonus for such an attack. "Ranged" is obvious; presumably the ray only needs to "touch" a victim, not penetrate armor, to be effective. Skills: With all those eyes, no wonder it's so good at skills like Search and Spot. Feats: Attack on the Run and Flyby Attack will probably make the Beholder able to attack effectively while moving. Here is the spell Unseen Servant in 3E format, accompanied by my comments: Unseen Servant Conjuration (Creation) Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1 Components: V, S, M Casting Time: One action Range: Close (25 ft.+5 ft./2 levels) Effect: One invisible, mindless, shapeless servant Duration: 1 hour/level Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No The unseen servant is an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that performs simple tasks at your command. It can run and fetch things, open unstuck doors, and hold chairs, as well as clean and mend. The servant can perform only one activity at a time, but it repeats the same action over and over again if told to do so (thus allowing a caster to command the servant to clean the floor and then turn his attention elsewhere as long as he remains within range). It can open only normal doors, drawers, lids, etc. It has an effective Strength of 2 (so it can lift 20 pounds or drag 100 pounds). It can trigger traps and such, but it can only exert 20 pounds of force, and that is not enough to activate certain pressure plates, etc. Its Speed is 15. The servant cannot fight; even a 20-pound item must be dropped from at least 40 feet to deal 1d6 points of damage to whatever it hits, and it’s hard to get the unseen servant 40 feet above an opponent. It cannot be killed, but it dissipates if it takes 6 points of damage from area-effect attacks. (It gets no saving throws vs. attacks.) If you attempt to send it beyond the spell’s range (measured from your current position), the servant immediately ceases to exist. Material components: a piece of string and a bit of wood. Notes: I wonder if the Creation note in parentheses implies that there are multiple varieties of Conjuration (Creation, Summoning, etc.). It's a first-level spell for Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards. I wonder why it's listed as Sor/Wiz 1 rather than Sor 1, Wiz 1? Range has improved over the 2E version of this spell -- a high-level caster could get the unseen servant to move quite a distance from him. Duration has also improved significantly over the 2E version. Interesting hint about the relationship between one's Str score and how much it can lift or drag. Details here suggest that this spell has been examined over the past ten years in forums such as Sage Advice -- players have likely asked questions such as "How fast can it move?" and "Can I use the servant to drop objects on enemies?" February 18, 2000 Fully Equipped for Challenges: We've seen that Challenge Levels will be assigned to encounters and adventures to help the DM decide if some adjusting needs to be done. Playtester Der Verdammte tells us, "Challenge level is the average level of a reasonably well-equipped party of 3-5 characters that could surmount the challenge using about 20-35% of their resources (hp, spells, supplies, etc.). There are guidelines in the DMG for adjusting the CL to accomodate different party compositions." Der also mentions that the new experience point system is "related to both the CL of the encounter and the level of the party." But isn't "well-equipped" a pretty vague generalization? Der Verdammte indicates that "there's an equipment baseline (including magic items) for a given level of PC in the DMG." This kind of detail "comes in especially handy if I want to run a one-shot game with mid- to high-level characters. I can say, 'look it up' when they ask me how to equip their characters." Der provided an example: I created a 5th level fighter a while back, using the equipment baseline, and this is what he had: Longsword +1 Banded mail +1 (spiked... :p ) Ring of jumping Potion of climbing Heward's handy haversack 6 basic (low hp recovery) healing potions A bunch of standard equipment, including clothing He had some spare change left...enough to cover traveling expenses. Note the varied usefulness of the magic items. This character could have ended up with fewer magic items--or a couple more--and still been at the equipment baseline. I don't find this amount of equipment unreasonable for a 5th-level fighter, and those who think it's too much or too little can *easily* alter it. There are very clear guidelines in the DMG for doing so. More Genghis Con Details: An anonymous scooper attended a discussion with 3E designer Jonathan Tweet at Genghis Con, and had the following bits of news: Weapon Damage has been made uniform so that all weapons deal an even die of damage. There will be no weapons that deal d4+1 or d6+1 damage. This way, you can instantly tell in the stat block if there are bonuses (from Strength or magic, etc.) -- any plus is from some sort of bonus. The explanation for spreading the ability score modifiers across a greater range of numbers was explained: "Jonathan said this was part of how the races are now being balanced. The example went something like this: before, your elf could plan the ability scores so that the Consititution reduction for being an elf is essentially meaningless and the Dexterity [bonus] would be beneficial, thus there really was no penalty. The general attitude has been 'Elves are better than humans' [in 2E] and 3E has evened that out. Now each ability score is important and a racial penalty is indeed a penalty." "The [3E] Manual of the Planes is being written by none other than Jeff Grubb, author of the original Manual of the Planes." Skip Williams Chat Cancelled: Tonight's chat on the Wizard class in 3E has been cancelled. (thanks to Jeff Holloway for bearing the bad news) Minor Adjustments: WotC game designer James Wyatt wrote in to let me know that I'd misread and mis-summarized a couple of points from the Rogue article I discussed yesterday. I've fixed the offending mistakes (I think! :), and have underlined the corrections. February 17, 2000 Minor Scoops: James Hoover has dropped off some bits of info from the 3E Message Board: From playtester John Troy: "XP cost [for creating magic items] can't reduce a character below the min XP points for a level, so if you run out of 'spare' XPs, no creating magic items until you get some 'karma'." From playtester Der Verdammte: Weapon proficiencies "still exist. They'd be listed like this: Weapon proficiencies: (CATEGORY) weapons + XXX (individual weapon), YYY, and ZZZ." Rogues in Dragon #269: As promised, the March issue of Dragon focuses its Countdown to 3E article on Rogues. Here are some of the more interesting revelations: Class Abilities available to the Rogue include Sneak Attack, Detecting and Disabling Traps, Evasion, and Uncanny Dodge. Sneak Attack is more versatile than the 2E Backstab: As previously noted, instead of a "multiplier" to damage, sneak attacks deliver an additional d6 of damage for every odd level the Rogue posesses. "Any attack that would deny the target an AC bonus from Dexterity or any flanking attack can be a sneak attack." "Ranged attacks within 30 feet can count as sneak attacks." "With a sap or an unarmed strike, the rogue can deal subdual damage with a sneak attack." Detecting and Disabling Traps: While anyone can have the Search and Disable Device skills, a rogue can use them to detect magical and mechanical traps, and then neutralize them or bypass them. Evasion: Starting at 2nd level, Rogues who successfully make a Reflex save for half damage suffer no damage instead. Since the Reflex save is modified by Dexterity, more agile rogues will have a distinct advantage. Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 3rd level, the Rogue gains "a sort of danger sense that lets the character keep her AC bonus for Dexterity even when caught flat-footed or attacked by an invisible foe." Starting at 6th level, the Rogue cannot normally be flanked; and at 11th level the Rogue gains a bonus to avoid traps. More Abilities: Starting at 10th level, and every 3rd level after that, the Rogue can choose one more special ability from a group of six such abilities unique to the Rogue. Skills Rogues gain flexibility from their large pool of class skills and access to more skill points than any other class. Skill Points: Characters get 2, 4 or 8 skill points, plus their Intelligence bonus, each level (at first level, multiply that by four). Rogues are a class that gains 8 skill points. The maximum number of skill points you can use to buy ranks in any one class skill is equal to the character's level +3. Class skills cost one skill point per rank; cross-class skills cost two points per rank. So, at 1st level, no class skill can be promoted higher than rank 4, and no cross-class skill can be higher than rank 2. The system for using skills (d20 + rank + modifiers) is also described. Opposed Skill Checks: When you use a skill that a character or creature could counter through the successful use of another skill, there will be opposed skill checks. Some examples: Bluff vs. Sense Motive; Use Rope vs. Escape Artist; Move Silently vs. Listen; and Pick Pockets vs. Spot. The mechanic for resolving these checks is described: compare the totals of each roll (and modifiers) -- the highest successful roll wins the contest. Taking 10: If a character attempting a skill isn't under stress or isn't being distracted, then instead of rolling a d20, you simply add all of your modifiers to 10 -- and if that total meets or exceeds the Difficulty Class, the task succeeds. Taking 20: If a character has the luxury of spending 20 times longer than normal for a task, proceed as above but add your bonuses to 20. Success and Failure: For skills, at least, "a roll of '1' is not an automatic failure, and a roll of '20' is not an automatic success." Other 3E Bits from Dragon #269: The Rogue wasn't the only topic of 3E conversation in March's issue: Profile of Rob Lazzaretti: Rob is Art Director of Cartography for WotC. He's currently "working on helping create a cohesive look for the core books and dungeon maps. His tasks include drawing extensive diagrams and charts for the 3rd Edition rulebooks. 'There are a lot of spell charts and diagrams of how spells like fireball work,' he explains. There's also information on using miniatures in the game and designing dungeon maps. 'The new 3rd Edition adventures are fairly map-intensive, and there's a ton of other stuff planned, including plans for a giant Greyhak world map with a lot of detail.'" You may have caught some of Rob's other cartography & design work in products like Dark Matter and Planescape campaign settings. More Whining than Usual: It's not my style to make fun of someone I don't know, but this quote from the letters to the editor caught my eye and made me laugh until I cried: After rattling off a list of completely incorrect information about 3E, the letter writer concludes, "If I have been correctly informed, and the changes I mentioned are indeed taking place, I can assure you that neither myself nor those I game with will ever buy a 3rd Edition product." Goes to show you -- if you don't have the facts, you can't make a valid complaint. : ) Next Month's Countdown to 3E will focus on Fighters. Novels Preview: My issue of Dragon was accompanied by a thin, novel-sized paperback book. In it were previews of forthcoming WotC fiction, including Death of the Dragon, an Ed Greenwood & Troy Denning work that is sure to shake up the Forgotten Realms right around the time 3E hits the stores. Chat Dates: Chat with the following folks, about the following topics, at the following dates and times: Bob Watts, D&D Miniatures Line, 3/12, 6:00 p.m. PST Monte Cook, 3E Rogues, 3/17, 6:00 p.m. PST February 16, 2000 RPGA Character Creation Guidelines: Here's some information about character creation for RPGA Living World of Greyhawk games, which was posted on the Living World discussion group (you can download the original Word document here). Keep in mind that these rules are for creating tournament characters. They still provide some interesting insight. Below are some of the more interesting tidbits (thanks to Sam Spectre for the scoop): STEP 4: Hit Point: Assign maximum hit points for your class at 1st level. As your character gains additional levels, assign hit points as follows (don’t forget to also add your Constitution bonus, if any): Barbarian 7 Fighter 6 Paladin 6 Ranger 6 Cleric 5 Druid 5 Monk 5 Rogue 4 Bard 4 Mage 3 Sorcerer 3 STEP 11: Equipment & Gold: Characters receive maximum starting gold for their class. This means characters starting wealth is: Barbarian - 160 Fighter - 240 Paladin - 240 Ranger - 240 Cleric - 200 Druid - 80 Monk - 20 Rogue - 200 Bard - 160 Mage - 120 Sorcerer - 120 More Genghis Con Details: A kind convention attendee, one Nathan Pfitzer by name, adds the following to our store of 3E knowledge: Focus: "My bard had a weapon skill called focus in the long sword, which granted a +1 bonus to hit (like weapon of choice in Skills & Powers). This might be the first step for a fighter towards getting weapon specialization at 4th level." Summoning:"One of the bad guys was a mage or sorcerer who cast a summoning spell. Apparently, there will be a monster summoning spell for every level and the caster can specifically choose what creature(s) to summon. The DM said that Monster Summoning I spell had four options. If the alignment of the creature matches the alignment of the PC, the caster does not have to concentrate and can continue to do his thing (the creature is willing to help). If the alignments do not match, the caster must concentrate on directing the summoned creature." From Anonymous, with Love: Two different anonymous scoopers have written to clarify or edify, so let the good times roll... No Limit to Sneak Attacks: A well-connected anonymous source indicates that there is no limit to the number of times per day a Rogue can use his Sneak Attack ability. Furthermore, "...sneak attack ROCKS, by the way. It is SO much more useful than backstab ever was, and the situations where you can use it are defined with perfect clarity." I have adjusted yesterday's scoop to reflect this info. Update: Ryan Dancey confirms: "There's no limit." Mighty Magic:Another anonymous morsel: "magical weapons and armor can go above and beyond +5." Flaming halberd +15, anyone? February 15, 2000 Dangerous Dancey: Ryan Dancey's series of articles on the business side of the RPG business, formerly called "Dance of the Dancey," is now called "The Most Dangerous Column in Gaming." His third installment is out; in it, he describes how a bill becomes a law ... oops, I mean, he describes how an idea turns into an RPG product. Read it -- but only if you're ready for danger! Genghis Con 3E Details: Through posts on my message board and via e-mail, a kind fellow named Brian Goff has volunteered some details of 3E from his experiences at a recent convention: Skill Points: Brian played a Rogue, and as such started off with (8 + INT bonus) x 4 Skill Points to spend. He could initially spend up to 4 points per skill (to increase their ranks) right off the bat, and then could only increase existing skills by one rank per character level by spending newly acquired Skill Points (at a rate of 8 + INT bonus per level). Racial Bonuses: Elves received bonuses to skills like Spot, Search and Move Silently. Halflings gain bonuses to AC, thrown weapons and the Hide skill. Sneak Attack: Rather than backstab multipliers (x2, x3, etc.), thieves gain additional d6 points of damage at every odd level (+d6 at 1st, +2d6 at 3rd, etc.). Apparently the restrictions on when or how a Sneak Attack must be set up have been loosened somewhat. Paladin Warhorse: Brian informs us that the Paladin's bonded mount will gain levels, improve AC, and generally "grow" with the Paladin as he progresses in character level. The bonded mount can gain special abilities, such as the ability to deliver the Paladin's touch spells for him. Anonymous Character: Here's another cleric to study, from an anonymous scooper. Please note that while he's a cleric of a Forgotten Realms god, this in no way indicates what FR specialty priests might look like in 3E. Liam Sunmist, male human Cleric of Lathander 10: SZ M (5’10" humanoid); HD 10d8+20; hp 82; Init +2 (dex); Spd 30, AC 19 (chainmail +2, dex); Atks +7/+2 melee (1-8+4/crit 20 x3, warhammer +3 , Holy vs. Undead) SA Spells, SD Spells, SV Fort +9, Reflex +5, Will +12 , Al LG. Stats: Str 12/+1, Dex 14/+2, Con 14/+2, Int 16/+3, Wis 20/+5, Ch 17/+3 Equipment: chainmail armor +2, warhammer +3 / Holy vs. Undead, holy vestments of Lathander, access to numerous potions of healing and scrolls. Skills: rank and modifiers (total in parentheses) Heal: 13 +5 (+18) Knowledge (Arcana):13 +3 (+16) Knowledge (Religion) :13+3 (+16) Profession (apothecary): 10 +3 (+13) Concentration: 10 +2 (+12) Scry: 4 +3 (+7) Spellcraft: 10+3 (+13) Alchemy 6+3 (+9) Feats: Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell Spells: Orisons: (8) Create Water x2, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Poisonx2, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Mending Level One: (6) Bless Water, Command, Detect Evil, Guiding Hand, Obscuring Mist, Shield of Faith; Endure Elements (Sun domain) Level Two: (4) Augury, Shield Other, Strength, Hold Person; Shield Other (Protection domain) Level Three: (4) Dispel Magic, Searing Light, Daylight, Magical Vestment; Protection from Elements (Protection domain) Level Four: (4) Divine Power, Restoration, Repel Vermin, Imbue with Spell Ability; Spell Resistance (Protection domain) Level Five: (3) Break Enchantment, Raise Dead, Greater Command; Flame Strike (Sun domain) Monster and Encounter Follow-up: [this scoop has been deleted per a request from WotC -- it contained incorrect and confidential information that was later retracted from the WotC site.] Better Late Than Never: A couple of weeks ago, Sean Reynolds mentioned on the official 3E Message Board that the PHB was ready (or nearly ready) to be typeset. That means there's not much more we can do to influence its contents. The DMG and MM are still in the works, though, so never fear! : ) New Gaming Mag from WotC? Attendees of a recent Dragon Magazine chat indicate that there will be no more Alternity articles appearing in Dragon Magazine when 3E is released; and they indicate that there will be a new periodical produced by WotC. Could it be a magazine for WotC's other games (sci-fi games like Alternity and the forthcoming Star Wars RPG products, as well as SAGA)?

Forgotten Realms Continuity: D&D Worlds Brand Manager Jim Butler posed a question on the FR Message Boards that will help determine whether all FR products (FR game products, FR computer games, and FR novels, to name a few) will have a unified continuity, or whether different product lines can have their own continuity that only relies on the basic FR core continuity that will be presented in the 3E FR book. Clear as mud? Here's how he puts it: Which method would you prefer to see followed for continuity? A.) Full: All products produced bearing the Forgotten Realms logo follow a united continuity. The actions in one product (whether it be game product, novel, computer game, or comic book) have a direct impact on all other products. Example: FR is one large world where all products co-exist. b.) Sphere: All products bearing the Forgotten Realms logo follow a core continuity as detailed in the Forgotten Realms hardcover. The actions of one product must conform to the core continuity, but its actions do not impact other products (since they also start from the core continuity of the FR hardcover). Example: Each product line is its own sphere within FR, totally self-comtained from other FR spheres. February 14, 2000 Monsters & Encounters: [this scoop has been deleted per a request from WotC -- it contained incorrect and confidential information that was later retracted from the WotC site.] February 12, 2000 3E Minis:  WotC released some photos of its new miniatures line-up a while back, but they didn't show a great variety of figures, and some you could only see from the back.  You can see more pictures at the WotC D&D Miniatures page. Harry Potter and the Wizard of the Coast: If nothing else, the Wotc/Hasbro partnership means opportunities to work with great intellectual properties. For instance, consider this press release, which announces that Hasbro has won the rights to produce a number of products based on the hugely popular Harry Potter books. Some Hasbro divisions will produce electronic gaming products, while "Wizards of the Coast will introduce a highly creative range of trading card and role-playing products" based on the series. Since the Hasbro acquisition, this marks the second high-profile licensing arrangement, the first being the license for WotC to produce Star Wars RPG materials. (scoop sent in by James Wyatt)   February 11, 2000 Are You Threatening Me? The January Playtest Group of the Month section has received another update. This time, we learn that they helped clarify the rules for Threatening and Attacks of Opportunity as they pertain to character movement. From the quote below, it is quite clear that a lot of the optional Combat & Tactics lingo and rules are now an official part of the 3E combat rules. (Thanks to strawberryJAMM and Pierre-Paul Durastanti for the scoop) Threatened Area: You threaten the area into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your action. Generally, that's everything within 5 feet of you. An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened area provokes an attack of opportunity from you. February 10, 2000 Quizlet Results: With 1043 votes counted, here are the results of the last quizlet: Q: So far, my favorite 3E feature pertains to ... 25% Skills and Feats 20% Multiclassing 17% Class: new ones, removal of race limits 16% Monsters: can take classes, have PC stats 13% Combat: new initiative, AC system 8% Magic: item creation, domains, spell format Correction: RPGA Promotion. Yesterday I reported on a WotC promotion that involved receiving a free year of RPGA membership. I have been subsequently informed by David Wise (Worldwide RPGA Manager) that this promotion has not been finalized; you'll see that the GenCon online registration form has also been changed back to the way it was prior to the announcement. If anything changes (either way), I'll make sure I let you know. More Magic Item Tidbits: Cisco Lopez-Fresquet, one of the Circle of Six (Co6) for the RPGA Living World of Greyhawk, mentioned that a "3rd level caster making a potion of invisibility needs 150gp in raw materials, and it costs him 12 (yes, twelve) XP. Near as I can tell, it takes him around an hour." (on the LivingWorld discussion group; thanks to George Harris for the scoop) 3E Release Date: You don't have to attend GenCon to get the 3E PHB on August 10th, according to Keith Strohm (WotC Tabletop RPG Business Manager): "The PHB will be available in all channels on the release date of August 10th. You should be able to get it at your local hobby store at that time." (on the 3E Message Board) TSR Brand: Ryan Dancey had a lot to say on the subject of D&D, WotC, and how the old TSR brand / division fits into the whole scheme of things (thanks to Sammy Grimes for the scoop): 1. There really is no "TSR" company left. The executive managers of the old company are gone - they didn't come with the business to WotC. The creative people (the writers, editors and artists) are a part of the overall Wizards R&D and Art teams - segregating them into "just" TSR would be a disservice to them both personally and professionally. The various non-game related parts of TSR (GenCon, the book department, licensing) have been either established as new businesses within Wizards (like the book department) or have been integrated into an existing line of business (GenCon and Licensing). Nobody at the company "works" for TSR at this point. Nobody has a "TSR" business card. Nobody receives a "TSR" paycheck. There is, in fact, no "TSR" company to work >for<, nor has there been since the acquisition was complete and the staff moved here to Seattle from Wisconsin. 2. There is a tremendous amount of negative brand perception attached to the TSR logo. TSR acted in ways that could be charitably described as "autocratic" and it persistently failed to have a customer-centric approach to its actions. The continuing prevalence of terms like "T$R" on the 'net is just a symptom of a much deeper problem. In the mass market, for example, the legacy of TSR's mismanagement of inventory and misdeeds with regards to marketing promises broken and strategies abandoned poisons the well to some degree towards D&D products - the TSR name is a hindrance, rather than a benefit. That problem is endemic in many other markets as well. TSR was not a very popular company to its channel partners when it self-destructed. But then, healthy, popular companies rarely self-destruct. 3. I don't believe in the concept of intermediate logos. Wizards is the company that makes the goods, and Wizards is the company that should represent them and stand behind them. Putting the TSR logo on the goods tends to create the artificial and false impression that there is some mythical "TSR" group who are the good guys and some faceless bunch of suits at "Wizards" oppress them and thwart the plans of the "TSR" people. Furthermore, having an intermediate logo detracts from the growth of the overall Wizards brand equity. When Wizards is successful, the D&D brand should benefit. When D&D is successful, the Wizards brand should benefit. TSR just "gets in the way" in both directions. 4. The Wizards brand is going to be the pre-eminent brand in hobby gaming in just a few short years, if it is not already. Between the massive success of Magic and Pokemon, and the rapidly expanding Wizards branded retail stores, more people will be exposed to hobby gaming via Wizards products than the entire rest of the hobby game companies combined. There is a tremendous value to the company in having products with Wizards logos being sold at Wizards stores. Furthermore, there's a tremendous value in having Wizards logoed products being sold outside our stores, because that expands the number of people familiar with the company thus increasing the likelihood that the Wizards stores will be successful in new geographical areas. "Wizards stores" mean more than just opportunistic retail outlets. It also implies a level of organized play, introduction and acquisition activity, and direct company-consumer communication that we believe is vital to growing a successful hobby game business in today's hypercompetitive market. 5. Wizards has an incredibly positive brand image. Not only is it one of the fastest growing companies in the world, but it has recently been acquired by a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Connecting our products to both the Wizards brand and the Hasbro brand will enhance the value of those products in the minds of the consumers we're selling products to today. Consumers are more likely to "trust" a product from a company like Wizards than they are from a company like TSR. TSR is associated in the minds of some people with dangerous behavior, occult activities, and the various negative stereotypes of the 70's era of hobby gaming. Wizards on the other hand, is relatively free of these issues. 6. The individual game brand of Dungeons & Dragons is far more important to the success of that line than the company name attached to it. We are not selling "TSR's D&D 3rd Edition" - we're just selling "D&D 3rd Edition" (and once the initial "upgrade" hoopla has passed, we'll just be selling "D&D".) The decision to buy or not buy a hobby product by our existing consumer base will be made on the basis of familiarity and perceived quality - not on the basis of the company logo on the spine. 7. Yesterday's customers don't factor into tomorrow's plans. In other words, the vast majority of the people who are familiar with the "TSR" brand don't (and won't) be buying products from the company in the future. Most of the sales of 3rd Edition (and our other RPG products) will be to consumers who are either new to the market, or are currently making gaming purchases in the market and are thus familiar with the Wizards brand as well. Retaining brand equity among a population of lapsed consumers would be worthwhile only if we thought that doing so was a key factor in getting those lapsed consumers to begin a new purchasing pattern. Our data indicates that it is the D&D brand, not the TSR brand, that is likely to accomplish that objective. Additional Points I'd like to address: 1) It was my idea, and my decision, to drop the TSR brand. Peter concurs with that choice, but nobody put pressure on us to make the decision. In fact, when I suggested it to him, his first reaction was shock, and an emphatic "no way". Only after thinking about the options for some time and listening to our rationale for the change did he decide to support the idea. Allowing the TSR brand to fade is an internal decision of my team, not some master plan by Hasbro, or even anyone else at Wizards. That said, we have reached consensus with the other parts of the company who are connected to the TSR logo, and we're all in agreement that this is the right thing to do. I believe you will see the same effect happen to our other "intermediate" brands over time, for the same reasons I've enumerated above. 2) There are lots of case studies of companies abandoning well known brands in favor of other brand identities. An example happening right now is AT&T subsuming and abandoning TCI. If Wizards was a conglomerate (like Hasbro, for example) that was comprised of a collection of companies servicing different market segments and selling different types of products, it might make sense to keep the TSR identity. However, TSR and Wizards sell to essentially the same types of products, to essentially the same markets, and to essentially the same consumers in those markets. There is therefore little positive value to the company in having two (or more) competing brand identities in those markets. The larger point is: Company logos and brand identities are abandoned all the time. There is no business case that can be made to say "all brand and company logos with value should always be preserved". While there is often value in doing so, there are just as many cases where it makes no sense to follow that path. 3) We have advocated the idea of "one Hasbro", and have suggested that the Wizards logo be allowed to fade to be replaced by the Hasbro logo. It is certainly possible that at some time in the future, "Hasbro" will appear on our products rather than Wizards, and that "Hasbro Stores" may appear in your local malls. We would >welcome< that change, rather than fear it, because the reasons we're allowing the TSR logo fade in favor of the Wizards logo are even more powerful in the case of the Hasbro brand. However, at this time, Hasbro does not intend to replace the Wizards logo, and the policy of the company is to leave most acquired business logos intact as long as those businesses sell to clearly differentiated markets. The most notable exception to this policy is Kenner. The Kenner logo has been replaced by the Hasbro logo because Kenner was so successful in the action figure business that it became pointless for Hasbro to continue it's separate Hasbro action figure division. The responsibility for action figures was shifted to Kenner, and Kenner abandoned their imprint in favor of the overall Hasbro logo due to that success. In any case, nobody at Wizards would consider it a "loss" to switch logos to Hasbro. We're very proud to be a part of the Hasbro family, and are not concerned about attaching that name to our work. Ryan February 9, 2000 Preview of 3E Rogues in Dragon Magazine: Dale Donovan provided the 3E Message Board with a preview of what is to come in the March issue of Dragon Magazine (#269) (thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): "Why Rogues Rock in 3rd Edition". 1) Sneak Attack is better than backstab 2) The most skill points of any class 3) The widest skill selection of any class 4) More class skills than any other class 5) Choose special abilities at 10th level 6) No alignment restrictions 7) Uncanny Dodge ability This issue's article also has info on the skill system, skill checks, difficulty classes & opposed checks, some class skills for the rogue, details on sneak attacks, and the very cool "Taking 10" and "Taking 20" rules, which are, IMHO, two of the best small-scale changes that make the D&D3 game so much more playable and enjoyable. FR Cleric Domains: If you like the speculative, unofficial rules of the 3E Forgotten Realms Supplement, you might want to download Air Garcia's treatment of FR specialty priests. He's listed what domains he thinks go with which FR deity, and has created a few more domains to help fill out the various portfolios they represent. You can download the zipped Word file here. (Look for D&D 3E Domains and choose the English version.) 3E Chat (Friday, February 18th, 6-7 pm PST): "3rd Edition D&D designer and Sage, Skip Williams, gives the lowdown on the revamped wizard class. Find out how it might affect your PC or who you might encounter down that next corridor." New and Interesting 2E Stuff on WotC Web Site: If you haven't poked around the official D&D site (not the 3E site) recently, you should stop by. While not a model of organization by any means, the site is frequently updated with new materials. A couple of recent additions include: New D&D Fast Play Game: Crypt of the Smoke Dragon, by Jeff Grubb, is available for download. Monster Tactics: The first in a promised series of articles that set up interesting combat scenarios to highlight the tactics various monsters would use. This one's about bugbears. Dungeon Maps: The DUNGEON Adventures page has downloadable maps that go along with their current issue. February 8, 2000 Dance of the Dancey: Ryan Dancey, "Vice President in charge of everything that is related to Dungeons & Dragons," has been a vocal 3E spokesperson for lo these many months. Wanna know more about his job and his role in shaping the D&D game? Check out a new feature called Dance of the Dancey. Okay, not a great title, but an interesting read. Each week, Ryan will address a different topic. This week's topic is an introduction to the different Brand Managers for the various WotC RPG product lines. Update: There's a second installment of "Dance of the Dancey" that continues the description of the way WotC's RPG division is organized. Read it here. Wisdom is Better than Silver and Gold: Ryan Dancey passed along the 3E definition of Wisdom (on the 3E Message Board): "Wisdom describes a character's willpower, common sense, perception and intuition. Compared to Intelligence, Wisdom is more related to being in tune with and aware of one's surroundings, while Intelligence represents one's ability to analyze information." Wisdom is one of the Cleric's most important attributes and plays a big role in defending against mental attacks and charms; it also looks like it will have an impact on perception skills such as Spot, Listen and Awareness. (thanks to James Hoover and Franzel for the scoop) Silver and Gold: Neil Maruca, an attendee of the Winter Fantasy convention, had this to say about the value of money in 3E: "Money has definitely been revalued in 3e. We weren't given a conversion factor, but by mid game my table had determined that gold was at least 5 times more valuable than we were used to, and maybe as much as 10-20 times. All coins are worth more. You can actually buy a decent meal in a pub for a copper. Gold was rarely seen by shopkeepers. A full day's wage for a fighter acting as a bouncer was 5 cp. Ordinary families had life savings of 50-300gp. Wealthy nobles had 1000-3000 gp net worth. Characters starting money was between 8 and 40 gold." This helps us make sense of the XP and Gold Cost for Magic Items table posted yesterday. 3E Setting Info: D&D Worlds Brand Manager Jim Butler described the format of forthcoming 3E campaign settings, and dropped some hints about Dragonlance (on DND-L; thanks to Randolpho the Great for the scoop): We're currently planning for the campaign worlds to be presented in hardcover format instead of the boxed set. Take a look at the recent Dark Matter release for the kind of quality we're shooting for... only better. We will be able to include full-color maps in the hardcovers. Forgotten Realms will be the first campaign setting detailed like this, with Dragonlance being produced later. We'll release more information as we get closer to a release date. Monster Armor Class: Sure, a wyvern has an AC of 3 (or 17 in 3rd Ed terms), but how much of that is the creature's hide, and how much comes from agility or other factors? A playtester named Piratecat says "that info is in [the 3E Monster Manual], broken down by dex, natural armor, etc. Makes it much easier to see the true AC when you've got that dragon held, and you STILL can't penetrate its hide!" (on rec.games.frp.dnd; thanks to Michael Schloss for the scoop) February 7, 2000 Death: A solid rumor is flying that when a character is brought back from the dead by means of a Raise Dead spell, she loses a character level rather than a point of Constitution. (thanks to Allister Huggins for the scoop; on the 3E Message Board) Update: Ryan Dancey responds: "Returning from the dead state can impose all sorts of penalties, depending on how it's accomplished." (thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) GenCon Pre-Registration: You can pre-register for GenCon 2000 (August 10-13 in Milwaukee) at the WotC site. Click here for info, and here for the on-line registration form. Note that you can sign up for any combination of days, as a visitor or a participant, and you can opt to add $19.95 to your total and receive a copy of the 3E PHB, which you can pick up at the Wizards Booth starting on Thursday. (Keith Strohm adds: "PHBs will not be given out before Thursday when the hall opens.") The Cost of Magic: Cisco Lopez-Fresquet, one of the Circle of Six (Co6) for the RPGA Living World of Greyhawk, feels that the XP and monetary costs for creating magic items in 3E are too light. He provided a list of examples (thanks to George Harris for the scoop); bear in mind that the creator in question would also have to have the appropriate skills (such as Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Create Wand, and whatever other categories there might be). Also, it's not known if there is a "skill check" involved -- perhaps the spellcaster in question could fail at his check -- ruining his creation and still losing the XP and gold in the process. Finally, the "Gold Cost" is the cost of making the item -- presumably the selling price would be as high as the market could bear. Just because a wand of magic missiles costs a wizard 1875 gp doesn't mean your average PC will be able to get one at that price from his local magic shop. Experience and Gold Costs for Creating Magic Items Item Minimum Level to Create Gold Cost XP Cost Wand of magic missiles (50 charges, cast at 5th level) 5th 1875gp 150xp Wand of fireballs (50 charges, cast at 5th level) 5th 5625gp 450xp Wand of hold person (50 charges, cast at 3rd level) 5th 1250gp 100xp Wand of cure light wounds (50 charges, cast at 1st level) 5th 375gp 30xp Amulet of Proof against Detection & Location 8th 7500gp 600xp Boots of Striding & Springing 3rd 1250gp 100xp Cloak of Elvenkind 3rd 1000gp 80xp Deck of Illusions 6th 4600gp 368xp Eyes of the Eagle 3rd 500gp 40xp Lyre of Building 6th 6500gp 520xp Slippers of Spider Climbing 4th 1000gp 80xp Luckstone 5th 5000gp 400xp New Art: A new piece of art has been spotted on the official 3E site -- an illustration by Sam Wood of the cleric Jozan, who was introduced to us recently in the Character Close-up feature. February 6, 2000 Der Update: Playtester Der Verdammte has updated his page, including splitting up his growing collection of opinions and observations onto several pages instead of one long page. There are a number of new bits there, such as the following, so have a look, won't you? Human vs. Demi-Human: I'd rather play a human in almost every case. They get extra feats and skill points, and they have some distinct advantages when it comes to racking up XP as well. Not to mention they have no ability modifiers (positive OR negative), which can be really good, depending on what you've rolled. Skill Ranks: 3e measures your skill in Ranks--kind of like your "level" in the skill. These ranks can be modified by several different things, including your rank in related skills, your ability scores, or feats. To make a skill check, you roll a d20 and add your total skill modifier (your ranks + any other modifiers you have), trying to get a number equal to or greater than the DC, or Difficulty Class, of whatever it is you're attempting to do. Experience: The experience system has been completely changed. Without a complete picture of how it works (which I will not give you), it is impossible to judge it fairly. Advancement occurs at a steady rate in a properly run game, and awards are given according to the difficulty of challenges overcome by the party. If a challenge is too easy, no experience is gained (for example, if a 15th level fighter runs into 4 normal (1 HD) orcs and slaughters them, he gets NO experience, rather than getting 60 xp, as it works in 2nd edition). Likewise, if a challenge is difficult but possible to overcome, the party gets extra experience (for instance, a 2nd level party who kills 4 normal ogres--incurring some casualties--would gain more experience than a fourth-level party that did the same thing). February 4, 2000 Local Support: Okay, what's the good of having a popular web site if I can't abuse its power now and then, right? In that spirit, I want to give a shout out to a couple of local businesses here in Madison, Wisconsin. Don't worry -- they're at least tangentially related to role-playing... Pegasus Games: a local hobby shop with good selection and good service. Don't settle for Waldenbooks -- buy from some real RPG experts. Pegasus has two locations -- one in Market Square Mall, and one off of State Street inside Canterbury Books. Human Head Studios: a local computer-game developing company. One of the guys who works for Human Head is in one of my gaming groups, and frequently mentions their current project, a game called Rune, which is due out this summer. Sorcerer Class Skills: We know that each class will have certain skills they excell at. The January Playtest Group of the Month helped refine the Sorcerer's class skills (thanks to Neil Maruca for the scoop): "The class skills (formerly known as favored skills) for the sorcerer now include Alchemy, Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (arcana), Profession, Scry, and Spellcraft." How much Greyhawk? You probably know that the world of Oerth will be the "default setting" that appears in 3E core products. But what does that mean? Ryan Dancey explains (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): "The word 'Greyhawk' does not appear in the PHB. There are no references to Greyhawk geography, history, races, politics, transnational groups, etc. There are some spell names that have Greyhawk NPC names attached to them, but there is no description of those NPCs. ...instead of using Merlin and Robin Hood as examples, it uses characters that we have created from whole cloth. The idea of using Greyhawk as the core world is to have consistent examples.... Greyhawk material, focusing on the Greyhawk world, is going to come from the RPGA, where the players will take the role of content creators. Other than that, you're going to get about as much Greyhawk content in 3e products as you did in 1e adventures." Official Update: The official 3E site has received a few minor updates (thanks to Ralph and RBB for the scoop). We're informed that February will bring us a new official feature called The Menagerie, a showcase for 3rd Edition D&D monsters, as well as information and artwork relating to this month's theme, "Wizards Workup." Finally, there's a short interview with the Sage of D&D, Skip Williams, who had a few interesting things to say about wizards and arcane magic: Free Magick: "Wizards can leave some of their spell potential untapped so they can prepare a spell on the fly if they need to; that's pretty handy when you suddenly discover the need for an obscure spell." Schools of Spells: "The exact spells in each school has changed a little bit. There are no longer spells that belong to more than one school. There's also a Universal school that contains a few spells that all wizards need." Counterspell: "If you decide to attempt a counterspell, you can watch a foe and try to determine what spell he or she is casting (using your spellcraft skill). If you successfully identify the spell and you happen to have that spell prepared, you can use the prepared spell to counter – completely negate – the opponent's spell." February 3, 2000 FR Adventures & Novels: Dale Donovan notes that there will be some adventure material tying in with some novel material for the Forgotten Realms setting (on the FR Message Board): "I'm just starting the editing on an FR adventure (the first to use D&D3 mechanics) that ties to this year's BIG novel event. It's an 'aftermath' type of scenario, but that's all I can say now as the catalog which describes the product isn't out yet." Presumably the forthcoming novel Death of the Dragon (by Troy Denning and Ed Greenwood) would be the "big novel event." Creating Magical Items: A solid rumor is flying that it costs experience points to create magical items in 3E -- the exact opposite of the case in 2nd Ed. Playtester Der Verdammte notes that it's all part of the new XP system: "Thanks to the experience system in 3e, it does make sense...for 3e.... The experience system in Third Edition is totally different from what you've seen in 2E.... In third edition, you can get experience for a wide variety of things, though it mostly boils down to this: overcoming challenges of varying difficulty. There are clear guidelines for awarding experience for anything from killing monsters to successfully using a skill in a tough situation, to just about anything else. Roleplaying awards are covered, as well as story awards.... In order to form an informed opinion on the [magic item creation] system, you need to see the whole XP system and the entire magic item creation system." Playtester John Troy confirms: "I think many people are going to be pleased with the new magic item rules. They've done a lot to enhance and explain things, and assist with game balance. This chapter is one of my favorite areas of the rules right now." (on the 3E Message Board) February 2, 2000 DUNGEON Archive: Editor Chris Perkins verified that there are indeed plans for a CD-ROM archive of DUNGEON Adventures magazine (on the Dungeon Message Board, thanks to Sean Curtain for the scoop): "Yes, there are plans underway to produce and release a DUNGEON® Adventures CD-Rom archive. That's over 400 adventures, folks! I don't know the specifics yet (how many issues, when the product will be released, how much it will cost, and so forth), but it'll be cool." Paladins and Gods: On the 3E Message Board, Ryan Dancey dropped a couple of Paladin-related tidbits (thanks to Pierre-Paul Durastanti and James Hoover for the scoop): "The Paladin needs to be lawful good. The Paladin's god needs to have an alignment within one 'step' of LG." So it looks like paladins can worship gods of LG, LN or NG alignments. Paladins don't necessarily have to worship a god or be tied to a church, however. They may venerate an ethos, or they can choose to serve a pantheon rather than a single god. February 1, 2000 3E Tidbits in NWN Interview: GA-RPG has posted a mini-interview with Neverwinter Nights producer Trent Oster. He had this to say about 3E's role in the development of the game: A lot of our game balancing work has been done for us with the 3rd Edition rules. I really must congratulate Wizards of the Coast's 3rd Edition designers on an exceptionally designed system. As part of the new D&D rules, we will be implementing a number of special abilities for the melee classes, such as called shots, overbearing, parries, and the ability to disarm an opponent. Final Cleric Domains: "Anonymous" from Winter Fantasy has sent along the final three domains he had access to. He notes that since Living World Greyhawk characters are forbidden to use the Evil domain, he didn't have any info on that one. Thanks again, "Anonymous." Yet Even Still More Cleric Domains from Winter Fantasy Destruction Domain Deities: St. Cuthbert, Hextor Granted Power: Smite: make a single melee attack with a +4 attack bonus and a damage bonus equal to your cleric level (if you hit). You must declare the smite before making the attack. Usable once/day. Destruction Domain Spells Inflict Light Wounds - Touch attack, 1d8+1/level damage (max +5) Shatter Contagion Inflict Critical Wounds - 4d8+1/level (max +20) Circle of Doom Harm Disintegrate Earthquake Implosion Earth Domain Deities: Moradin, Obad-Hai Granted Power: Turn air creatures as a good cleric turns undead. Command earth creatures as an evil cleric commands undead. Use these abilities a total number of times per day equal to 3 plus your Charisma modifier. Earth Domain Spells Magical Stone Soften Earth or Stone Stone Shape Spike Stones Wall of Stone Stoneskin Earthquake Iron Body Elemental Swarm Fire Domain Deities: Obad Hai Granted Power: Turn water creatures as a good cleric turns undead. Command fire creatures as an evil cleric commands undead. Use these abilities a total number of times per day equal to 3 plus your Charisma modifier. Fire Domain Spells Burning Hands Produce Flame Resist Elements - (fire only) Wall of Fire Fire Shield Fire Seeds Fire Storm Incendiary Cloud Elemental Swarm Gender Equity in 3E: Ryan Dancey addressed the issue of whether females are fairly represented in 3E materials (on the 3E Message Board): "Support for female archetypes is laced throughout the entire 3e product line. Females are used in examples, appear as half the archtypical characters, the female pronoun is used extensively in the mansucript, etc." Greyhawk Map for Campaign Cartographer: If you own Campaign Cartographer 2 (v.6), you really should download Linda Kekumu's beautiful CC2 map of Greyhawk. Even if you don't have CC2, you can download a CC2 map viewer; alternately, if you have the Forgotten Realms Atlas, you can open it with that. Click here for more info. Another new Fan Site: You should stop by Bryan's 3rd Edition Info page -- he's re-arranged the known Cleric domain spells by level, and best of all he has a nifty HTML character sheet. Take a look. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.