Let's read the entire run

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: If a multiclassed spellcaster takes automatic quicken spell, does it apply to all their classes (yess)

Does the bonus from collector of stories apply to dark knowledge (no)

Can I swap bonus damage from sudden strike to activate an ambush feat (Yess.)

Can a rogue spend extra sneak attack dice from feats on ambush feats (Yess)

Do the bonus tricks from Freerunner count against your limit (yess)

If you take freerunner and don't have enough room for both tricks, what happens (You'll have to wait until you can. Ssuch a sshame.)

Does improved buckler defense also apply to two weapon fighting (no)

Does improved turning affect Divine spell power (no)

Does martial weapon proficiency + Improved familiarity count as exotic weapon proficiency (yes)

Can you use karmic strike more than once per round (yes)

What does mage slayer mean by enemies are automatically aware that they cannot cast defensively. How? (Good Quesstion. Andy issn't much good at metaphyssics. A dissturbance in the forcce, maybe.)

Can you use monkey grip to use a two handed weapon in one hand (no)

Can a lycanthrope use natural spell while shifted (no)

Can someone with oversized two-weapon fighting still use power attack when wielding one-handed weapons in their off-hand (yes)

Can you use Quick reconnoiter to Spot the weak spot (no)

Can a changeling with Racial emulation take dragonmark feats as the emulated race (no)

Can a spirit shaman use Spontaneous Healer (yes)

Can a Stormguard Warrior use combat rhythm on their AoO's (yes)

Can a Stormguard Warrior use combat rhythm with Cornered predator or Talon shield (yess)

Can you sacrifice the dice from telling blow on an ambush feat (no. They're too unreliable, preciouss)


Class acts: Adventurers get Dirty priests, holy thieves. A kickass title and a pretty cool illustration help make the point that there are plenty of deities that don't disapprove of larceny. Have 4 new feats and 5 new skill tricks that make this flavour option a little more enticing in terms of crunch. Druids, scouts, ninjas and bards don't get neglected either. A well rounded bit of cool.

Arcane characters get Transversed arcana. More options for those of you who don't feel like having a familiar for this character. Some of them are quite powerful, and one (Eidetic spellcaster) massively game changing. These are very tempting indeed. DM's should treat players who want them with caution.

Divine characters get Plant Companions. A logical bit of class feature substitution for druids that does exactly what you would expect, only with a bit more customizability. Another cool piece of writing.

Warriors get this month's rehash, with the monk guide. And Ember gets a cup size increase compared with how she's usually drawn. Hmm. These illustrations are definitely drifting. The art directors must not have their eye on the ball now they're seriously working on a new edition.


Nodwick seems to be setting itself up for a big conclusion. Will it be a happy one? Dork tower fails to apply the lessons of adventuring to real life. OotS meets The Dragon. Yes, that one. And he is cranky. Well, we haven't had any dragonmirth for 6 years. He is quite entitled to be grumpy.


This one's for the people who like their disconnected crunch, being absolutely jam-packed with it. In march/april, they had to deal with backlash from people annoyed that too much of the issue was tied into one theme, and this feels like the corresponding attempt to swing back the other way. If the magazine had continued, it would just be another part of the never-ending cycle. Hell, it still might be. All depends on if I do the electronic issues as well and find out. But let's not jump ahead of myself. 2.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 1/6


80 (100) pages. On issue 345, we had a frost giant. Now we have a fire giant so the equal rights people don't get all worked up. They're as bad as elves and dwarves for bickering, just not as common. So yeah, let's see if they've managed to find some new topics to cover even this late in the game, or they'll be caught up in repeats and retrospectives.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, Ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Editorial: Our editorial this month is a paean to the reliability of the magazine. With one particularly nasty exception, it's been delivered to people's doors reliably every single month since 1979. It may not have always been great, but the important thing is that it was there, when so many other things, including their other magazines, fell by the wayside. That really does count for a lot, and is why people both got so attached to it, and maybe sometimes took it for granted. For all that we crave adventure and discovery, if there isn't a consistent world behind us to return too, it ceases to be fun and becomes desperate searching for a new home instead. So it is with roleplaying. If there aren't a consistent set of rules behind your fantastical adventures, it'll soon turn back into freeform let's pretend. So here's to having a structure and rhythm to our lives, however we create it. The rhythm of my life will certainly have to change a fair bit after this is over.


From the publisher: As the announcement of the magazine's demise was fairly sudden, they have to deal with some serious loose ends with regards to subscriptions. To minimise rants about being cheated out of their money, they're offering three different ways you can exchange your remaining issues for other books of equivalent value, or a full refund if none of those suit you. Which is definitely a lot more consideration than WotC showed to their customers and other companies with informing them what was going on with the GSL terms beforehand and pulling people's .pdfs. They also show they have a clear idea what they're going to do next, putting their primary focus into monthly adventure path material that's not too dissimilar to what they were doing anyway, which also contrasts with WotC's frequent changes of direction over the past few years. Having a plan, any plan and sticking to it works better than no plan at all, or constantly changing plans due to executive meddling. Looking at this, it's not hard to see why Paizo has maintained a greater degree of public goodwill than WotC in the intervening years.


Scale Mail: Nothing surprising here. Readers old and young, long-term and recent all mourn the passing of the magazine, some despairing, some hopeful that the electronic issues will carry on it's legacy just as well as ever. If you don't have all the back issues, snap them up now, because once they go out of print, that's it. So long, and thanks for all the [strike]fish[/strike] Dragons. What more is there to say? Since it wasn't a sales thing, public protest won't do anything to stop it. Just got to look to the future, while not forgetting the past.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 2/6


First watch is a full 8 pages long this time. Half of this is a special feature devoted to the cartoon adaption of the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles. Big names, CGI monsters, fairly faithful to the original plot. And it still wound up a flop. D&D really does not have much luck on the silver screen. Solid products just can't match our own imaginations for sheer coolness. Which is pretty annoying really. Will they ever get it right and manage something both commercially and critically acclaimed? Here's hoping.

D&D strips down another big, formerly healthy campaign to it's bare essentials, in Expedition to the ruins of Greyhawk. The castle gets a massive dungeon complex, albeit not totally detailed, plus info on Greyhawk city as well. Exactly how faithful this one is to Gygax's original vision is I'm not sure, but it does seem to contain some of the silly elements of older versions, which is vaguely inducing. What are we to do with these writers?

On the D20 side, the biggest news is of course Paizo's own announcement of Pathfinder. They don't give us all the details, mainly because they don't know what WotC has planned for the next edition yet, but they do make it clear that they'll keep on producing kickass adventure paths for the D20 system. They're also releasing D2: Seven Swords of Sin. Another little 32 page adventure for those who like the old format. Still, good luck spotting it on bookshelves. Sometimes I wonder if that isn't half the reason those little adventures don't sell well. Somewhat more impressive is Monte Cook's World of Darkness. People have been making jokes about D20 WoD since the OGL was first released and now they get it. To curiously muted reception, oddly, especially since the actual book is pretty good. Guess the moment is over, people have moved on.

Our other RPG this month is Changeling: the Lost. A much darker take on the fae mythology than Changeling: the Dreaming, this proved quite the success, getting quite a few books beyond it's limited run, where the original got cancelled due to poor sales. There are still some successes, even in this period of declining overall sales.

Paizo are also exploring several other markets as they try and ensure their survival in the face of losing their big cash cow. Elements of power is a series of magical item cards, for your PC's to make use of. And they're also trying to get back into the fiction market, despite the way Amazing Stories died, with the Planet Stories imprint. Reprints of out of print stories by big authors. That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Supply and demand is a funny thing. I wonder if they'll make them available as .pdfs, which would help with the problem of them going out of print.

On the minis side, there's Helldorado. The forces of evil, conquistadores and the church fight for control of the lost city of gold. Sounds quite fun, and possibly a bit tongue in cheek. Maybe Hellboy should make a cameo.

And finally, they promote Gen Con Indiana. As usual, there's tons of fun stuff planned, including more than a bit of nongaming stuff. Gary Gygax will make one final appearance (not that they know that yet) and the whole thing will be bigger and better than ever. Or so they hope. It could all go horribly wrong.

(un)reason said:

First watch is a full 8 pages long this time. Half of this is a special feature devoted to the cartoon adaption of the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles.

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Which sounded quite cool at first glance...

Big names, CGI monsters, fairly faithful to the original plot.

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All good...

Unfortunately, it then emerged that they were doing some sort of wierd thing where the 'PCs' were in glorious 3D while the monsters were in 2D. Which is the sort of absurd decision that meant that...

And it still wound up a flop.

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Oh well. I'm sure whichever of the two projects currently in development wins the court case will entirely turn around that record.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 3/6


Core beliefs: Saint Cuthbert. Aka Vampire Hunter D in brown, which to be frank I never envisioned him as resembling. Truth comes in many forms, and it surprises me not that in the process of trying to get down wid da kidz, he would pick a fashion source that's well over a decade out of date even at the time of writing. But enough of the fashion snark, which is easily the funniest part of this article. (despite his origin as an excuse for Gary to use literal hit you over the head jokes on players when they were acting dumb. ) As another ascended mortal, like Iuz, he doesn't have a protege, and instead, his rival in intolerant lawful goodness, Pholtus, takes the B-role this time, with Iuz also getting a substantial sidebar. Still, for all that he gets a bad rep for being dumb and boring, he's smart enough to know when you're taking the piss out of him and hit back. You don't get to be a god by being incompetent. (at least, I know of no god of incompetence) and his no-nonsense common sense methods may be more suited to everyday life, but I know plenty of adventurers, even ones with supposedly superhuman Wisdom, that could benefit from a bit more common sense in their lives. So this has to balance the everyday stuff with the crunchy details PC's crave, and does a competent, rather than exceptional job. This feels more like burning through their already written articles than really bringing their A game to the final issues. It does change a few details beyond fashion choices, interestingly, switching him from LN with good tendencies to LG with LN tendencies. Another sign that with the edition drawing to a close, they feel more comfortable about altering details to their new tastes rather than sticking to tradition. Well, what have they go to lose? Nothing but their fanbases! And they'll slowly drift away anyway if you don't change anything anyway. Just gotta make them the right changes.


Master's forge: At the end of the 2e era of the magazine, they had a surprising number of Bazaars containing purely mundane items to round things off. They haven't got the time or space to do that this time around, but here's at least one article of that sort. It's a list of various Masterwork properties you can apply to your items as long as you're willing to pay a little extra, and raise the Craft DC when trying to make it. As with the article full of plants last issue, this definitely shows the effects of greater mechanical experience, with the effects seeming entirely worthwhile for their price, and not completely overshadowed by full-on enchanted items. Plus it gives PC's incentive to actually buy a Craft or Profession skill other than just background flavour. So once again, this gives us something to come back too and use repeatedly even after the edition is over, as craft stuff is something you can explore endlessly. And since 3e still has more customisability than any other D&D edition, those are the kinds of players most likely to have stuck with it, which makes it good targeting.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 4/6


Checkmate!: Huh. We've had a fair few updates from Dragon's previous edition articles lately, but this is the first definite Polyhedron one I've spotted (although you never know, since I've only really skimmed them so far.) Using chess pieces to create a themed set of monsters/magical items was done in issues 82 and 90 of Polyhedron, with different stats in each. Course, it could be independent generation, but it is very interesting that they did it twice, while Dragon never did, despite having four cool chess themed covers back in the day. Very worth noting, especially since Erik edited Polyhedron for a bit before being promoted here. Let's see how this interpretation differs from previous ones.

Pawns are of course individually weak, and can only move directly towards an enemy, which makes maintaining a tactical formation difficult. however, if they can stick together, they become quite effective, gaining more bonuses the more of them adjacent to each other there are. 8 in a row can stand fast against any mook level army all damn day, and will likely level up after such a feat of heroism.

Knights get to make odd angled moves through occupied spaces without provoking attacks of opportunity, which is very fitting. They also get the power to protect allies from harm, which seems appropriate for their name. Once again, the tactical applications of their tricks once translated to D&D play seems quite interesting, and very worth thinking about.

Bishops move diagonally as if it was straight, and straight as if it were diagonal, which only really makes sense if you're playing with minis on a grid. Lure them into a place with narrow corridors to slow them down quite a lot. They also buff all their allies automatically, and have cleric spells to do so more, so you might want to try and take them out first.

Rooks get to charge in a straight line attacking multiple opponents along the way, and fall on people to do more damage when finally defeated, leaving a permanent zone effect there until the rubble is cleared. Once again, that's an interesting mechanical development that shows attention paid to recent supplements.

Queens have immense speed and mobility, plus the ability to inflict extra damage when moving, plus 9th level sorcerer spellcasting. Sounds like they do indeed enjoy the flexibility their chess namesake has and then some. Better hope you have a high level team with plenty of diversity if you're up against this one.

Kings are powerful, but not nearly as fast or flexible, and bear the weight of knowing that if they get defeated, the whole set goes down, so they retreat rather than fight wherever possible. So this set manage to both capture the feel of a chess set individually, and have quite interesting tactical tricks that mean they're much more than the sum of their parts if played smart. They also feel very 4e in terms of overall design, making this a very forward thinking article, in contrast to the ones looking back or filling regular series surrounding it. Since it presents a different type of combat encounter to most sets of new monsters, this definitely merits it's place even this late in the game, showing some thing are timeless and can be used for inspiration any time.


The ecology of the Kaorti: Ahh, the bloody far realm. Essentially 3e's designer's way of one-upping the pretty 1-2e cosmology, and putting more Lovecraft in the game at the same time, saying there's another place out there that's bigger than everything you've seen so far put together, and there's nothing you can do about it but go mad. Still rather ambivalent about that particular add-on. Here we have another variant on the "You will be assimilated, and your whole world too" business. Still, at least this world is just as nasty and maddening to them as they are to us. The attempts at being evocative may work this time, but they come at the expense of both settling rules issues and expanding on their stats, and providing inventive tactical ideas, which used to be a real strength of the last few years' format. What crunch there is is pretty cool as well, but there isn't nearly enough of it. I really am not that keen on the directions this column has taken in recent years. Lets hope they don't stick too closely to the current formula for the final instalment, and get some big name or other in to go out with a bang.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 5/6


Savage tidings: We've made it into the abyss, and now the savage tide sweeps us along the river styx, trying desperately to find people willing to help you foil demogorgon's insane plans. Not an easy task, as while they may hate him, why should they listen to some ragtag bunch of primes who were novice adventurers less than a year ago? They're probably pawns of some other outer-planar schemer. And even if they're telling the truth, demon lords trying to take over or destroy the universe is pretty much par for the course. They rarely actually get anywhere serious. This is basically a quick tour of the lower planes, focussing on the things and people you might run across as you sail the styx. Most of them will be pretty familiar if you remember your planescape, and even the cartography is very much in the style of the old gameline. Again, this seems more focussed on people who've never bought a planar product, and need a quick primer just for this adventure rather than old hands like me who've seen the whole thing evolve through years of real time and get added to by many writers along the way. Still, it's another good example of the strong respect the paizo writers have for the old stuff, bringing it out again and developing it using modern tools and rules tricks, while trying to maintain the spirit of what made it cool in the first place. It's certainly a far more respectful treatment than they got by the official development team. Another solid entry here that I'd probably appreciate even more if I weren't so jaded by this point.


Volo's guide: Another bit of metaplot follow-up here. The Realms keeps changing, and Volo keeps following interesting stories, wherever it may take him. (preferably far away from the last people he reported on. ) Unther has been an unstable place for the last couple of decades, and Gilgeam has finally got his comeuppance for his millennia long tyranny. Course, since the new god in charge is Tiamat, this seems like a case of out the frying pan, into the fire for ordinary people. To make things even more interesting, and ensure adventurers have plenty of options, they're also having to deal with Mulhorand trying to conquer them while they're weak, Hoar and his priests being an , Thay trying to make the conflict as lossy for both sides so they profit in the long term, bandits and thieves flourishing, and all the other neighbouring countries casting uneasy eyes at the whole thing. Like Myth Drannor, this feels like a conscious attempt to make sure things stay interesting for adventurers, packing in a few pages what could easily be expanded out into an entire book. Still, don't forget you can ignore this stuff too. Your players could have done the killing instead and be in the middle of this mess. Still, it's better than the way they handled this stuff in the 90's. There are definitely showing the benefit of experience here.


Dragonmarks: The Draconic prophesy gets some attention this month. It's fragments are everywhere, taking the strangest of forms, and conferring strange effects as well. Here's 5 more examples of this.

The Eldeen sections are cross-sections of a darkwood tree that have rings in the shape of a mark of warding. The poachers who discovered this must be punished and the pieces retrieved!

The marks of the obsidian flow are runes on a frozen waterfall that only appear when another fragment of the prophecy approaches, and give clues on where to find yet more fragments and tie the whole thing together.

The ant runes are formed by giant ants leaving the remains of their prey in the shape of runes. This has not been realized, as it's such an obscure method of communication, and people are trying to clear them out, thinking they're a message from the evil ones instead.

Lhesh firegems explode when you try and divine their purpose, revealing clues to the prophecy, but also presenting a serious health hazard.

The Sulerred calling tree forms runes by the twisting of it's roots, and reincarnates people placed underneath it. Very strange. But really, were the makers trying actively to be obscure? If you don't make a prophecy solvable, then you are, quite frankly, not going to get much benefit from making it. Definitely an entertaining bit of reading this month, with the join between fluff and crunch feeling more naturalistic than is sometimes the case with these. Definitely a shame that this series never really had the chance to hit it's stride.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: Can you take a 5 foot step when surprised or slowed (yes. It's one of the great rights you have.)

Do you have to hold your divine focus when casting spells (Sskip thought not. Andy, on the otherr hand, thinkses yess, collins collins. No cheaty tattoo's for you. )

If your initiative mod changes mid combat, does this change your place (no)

Does falling through a square provoke an AoO (Yess. Perfect for all those soldiers defending the casstle to chop you up with.)

Does a character know why their spell fails (If they have enough information)

If you have a readied action and cast as spell when someone else does, who goes first (You get to interrupt them. Verry usefull, yess?)

Can you do a swift action and a free action in the same round (yes)

Can you be two different types of psion or specialist wizard (no)

If you have two different types of DR, do they stack (no)

Can you use ranged attacks with a phantom threat (no)

Can you choose who your allies are when casting spells (yess. But you can't change your mind mid-spell.)

What does a dragon shaman's totem have to with draconic heritage feats (determining which ones are appropriate for them to take)

If you have two different breath weapons, do they stack (No. You track their uses and effects separately, yess.)

Do familiars gain feats and ability score increases when their master levels (no. They have sspecial advancement that replaces that. )

Does uncanny blow allow you to count a one-handed weapon as two-handed (no)

Can an Invisible blade use uncanny bluff to make sneak attacks with every attack (no, only once per round. )


Class acts: Adventurers get Beyond Kung-fu. Another set of alternate fighting styles for monks, based on real world traditions. Many of them would be better represented by clerics than monks, but names are important to some people. And in attempting to twist them to a class they're not suited to, it still produces cool suites of powers. And if someone makes cool characters with them, it has not been in vain, even if they wind up not being very historical.

Arcane gets Arcane Feats. Not a very imaginative name. 8 new feats intended for spellcasters of various stripes. A bit of a grab-bag really, as they raid their slush pile for the best bits (A whole bunch of writers are credited) before they get shut down.

Divine tries to finish off it's aztec series with the fourth installment. Tonatiuk and Xipetoltec, plus some more blathering about how crucial sacrifice is for them and how we shouldn't judge them too harshly for it. Sorry, you don't get moral exemptions for citing cultural reasons. There are much better ways to do things. If you must sacrifice, you should sacrifice of yourself, not of others. That's much better for karma, and also ensures only the essential sacrifices get made, not wasteful ones.

Psionics turns up again, getting Psionic Alchemy. More cool little near magical items for you to buy and use. Probably should only be available in big cities from specialist vendors.

Warriors are once again smoking the rehash, with the paladin guide. Is that all of them? Don't say the last issue will waste it's page count on stuff like this.


Nodwick meets the dread Ginger dragon Montekooque. He's getting the hell out of dodge before 4th edition hits. Maybe they should do the same. Dork tower makes one last monty python reference for luck. OotS tells an allegory of the ancient history of the magazine. It all seems rather ridiculous, when you phrase it like that.


This issue does feel a bit rushed, as once again, they make hard choices which articles are going to get in the final issues. And it's interesting that I disagree with a fair number of them this time. So despite the year starting well, I'm still left wondering if I'll enjoy what they put in the final issue. So I guess we've reached that time. Time to finish this forever, for better or for worse, after nearly 6 years. Here we go. :deep breath: 1.

(un)reason - I don't know about anyone else, but, I have really, really enjoyed what you've done here. You've driven me down memory lane and it was a great ride with the top down and the music loud.

Well done you sir. Thanks for this.

Hussar said:

(un)reason - I don't know about anyone else, but, I have really, really enjoyed what you've done here. You've driven me down memory lane and it was a great ride with the top down and the music loud.

Well done you sir. Thanks for this.

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Here here! After years of this thread, I have no idea what I'll be doing with my mornings. So do you have anything special planned this issue? Another set of video posts?