Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 324: October 2004


part 7/8


Class acts: Fighters get From battleground to background: 5 new backgrounds, each of which grants a +1 benefit to a specific roll. Power creep, but such a tiny amount that it's not really worth mentioning.

Clerics get Peace Out: Some advice on playing a pacifist cleric. You can still make a valuable support member of the team while eschewing violence. Just don't try to get the rest of the team to do so as well.

Wizards get a new variant class, the Filidh. A tribal wizard variant, they sacrifice a wizard's bonus feats and familiar for slightly better weapons, bardic knowledge, and the ability to cast divination spells at a higher caster level. Once again, they're the ones getting the kickass crunch.

Rogues get A rogue of a different color: Just like last issue, this is advice on the skills and feats to select if you want your rogue to fill a slightly different role. But no actual new stuff.

Barbarians get Barbarian Culture: What kind of tribe does your barbarian come from? Once again, it's pure roleplaying advice for these guys. Meh.

Druids get 9 new Flaws. Another variant on illiteracy. (ahh, for the days of 2nd ed, where illiteracy came as standard) personality traits and origin effects. As with last month, these are useful for other classes as well.

Sorcerers get some advice on picking feats and prestige classes. If you take the right one, you're essentially getting something for nothing. Nothing new, but if you aren't the optimizing kind, it might help.

Rangers get the Wild Defender. They sacrifice favored enemies, stealth, and their weapon feats for rebuking nature, smiting evil, druid's nature travelling powers and slightly increased spell ability. Curious. Not sure if that'll be an overall increase or decrease in power, but it'll definitely be a quite different character. An excellent example of UA style feature switching.

Paladins also get a spread of 8 flaws. Most of them are pretty specific behavioural restrictions that wouldn't make much sense for other classes, and some of them encourage being an irritant to the rest of the party. Definitely ones to consider carefully before taking.

Monks get the Wild monk. They sacrifice a load of the usual monk abilities for druid wild shaping. Unlike the ranger one, I don't need to go over this to know that this is a good deal. Exchanging a load of powers from one of the most underpowered class for the most powerful class feature of the most powerful class? No brainer, really.

Bards get yet another 8 flaws. Now these are tremendously irritating. Coward. Loudmouth. Fool. Just the thing if you want to be rewarded for acting like a jackass. Put the annoying paladin and the annoying bard in the same party and you have a perfect comedy duo.


Player tips: Teamwork, muthaas, do you use it? Yup, it's another one of these, giving you basic advice on how to work together, and beat groups of the same individual power levels that don't have the same co-operative skill. Communicate with one-another, pick classes and character concepts that fit together, rather than making trouble or filling the same niche repeatedly, and know how the mechanics of your own and other people's powers work so you can make valid suggestions on what to do mid-combat. Completely common-sense stuff that ought to be one of the first things taught in the player's handbook. After all, can't have bickering in the middle of deadly dungeons, can we? So from one perspective this is perfectly good, if a little basic advice, from another, it denies a huge chunk of the roleplaying experience, the pleasures of interpersonal machinations and disputes. Either way, it's a bit unsatisfying.


Adventurer tricks: This column continues on from last month, talking about traps, and how best to deal with them without a rogue. First up, detect magic will show up a huge proportion of things you might want to examine closely, particularly at higher level. Then you can figure out if you're going to try a careful disarming, or buffing up and ploughing through the problem. In fact, you can use magic to help with that too. In fact, the whole thing seems designed to show just how quickly and easily spellcasters can take that job and do it better once they've got a few levels under their belt. Oh well, it's their game. If they want to point out the flaws in it, more power to them.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 324: October 2004


part 8/8


Sage advice: If a cleric rolls badly, and only turns 0 HD undead, do you round up to 1. (No. Ssorry, preciouss.)

How do you know when a cleric can prepare spells. (You choosess at character generation, yess. Same time each day. No need to ssleep first.)

How do favored souls regain spells (same way as ssorcerorss, yess.

Do you have to drop your weapons to cast spells (Only has two handsess, collins collins. Needs a hand free for ssomatic componentss. Put it in your pocketsess or use a buckler.)

Can a cleric of pelor use a wand of holy smite without the good domain (No, not on your spell list, collins collins. Sstupid cleric, doesn't kmow how powers work.)

Can a sacred fist wear armor (Yes. Lose monk abilities though. You chossse if it's worth it, yess, collins collins. )

Can a multiclassed cleric/wizard use divine metamagic on their arcane spells (No. Ssorry, precious. Pleasse don't ssmite poor little Andy.)

Can you use divine metamagic to perform effects that would normally be too high level for you. (Yess. Very usefull power.)

What's the ocean domain. (Itsss from the Forgotten Realms. Editors did nassty ssloppy copypasta, didn't put it in complete divine. Andy hatses sloppy copypasta. It always flickses around and stains your shirt, collins collins. )

Does unyielding roots prevent you from turning round as well as moving, making you easy to flank. (No. Not unlesss you're using unearthed arcana, collins collins.)

Does vigor's max duration override extend spell (Yess.)

Can you use persistent spell on mass lesser vigor (Yess.)

What's a Check Toee and why does Tharzidun have it as a favored weapon (Ssilly editors didn't finish the book properly. They didn't even copypasta from the temple of elemental evil like they ssaid they were going to.)

Does exalted strike apply to grapple, sunder disarm and trip attempts (Nassty vow of poverty. We hatses it, collins collins. Mosst of them, yess.)

Are you allowed to keep class-defining stuff like holy symbols, samurai swords, that would be forbidden if you take vow of poverty. (No, teeheeheeheehee. You don't get preciouss power for nothing, collins collins. Got to sacrifice important stuff, yess. )

Can saints deal nonlethal damage with holy touch. No! It always burnses, collins collins. Poor andy. Keep nassty ssaints away from poor little andy, collins collins.)


Coup de grace: Andy Collins takes a second column in a row to elaborate on the WotC R&D process. Once the designers have turned over their first drafts, the developers are set loose on them to give the mechanics a good kicking. Every single bit of mechanics gets individually examined and tweaked for balance. A few broken things may still slip through, especially in smaller products, but even the iffy ones will be less powerful than your basic single class CoDzilla. Which I think says it all. They did introduce a few underpowered core classes in 3.5, with the Tome of Magic ones in particular not quite measuring up, but even the new primary spellcasters like erudites and spirit shamen don't have quite the same flexibility as druids, clerics or wizards. The problem is that they only introduced this process in 2003, midway through the edition, and you can see a noticeable change in flavour around that time. It shows up the problems both in making incremental changes, and throwing the whole ruleset out and starting again. In one, you have to live with all the legacy stuff, while in the other, you won't know how the system really holds up in actual play for a few years. And if you try and get rid of the broken bits without creating a whole new system, the people who rely on those exploits will be pissed off. This is why you can't please everyone. Some people want a system that has loopholes and imbalances, so they can be on top. Question is, are they an important enough part of your market that you can't survive without them? The past year or two says they may have decided that is indeed the case. I really don't know, and it's a frustrating set of questions to end an issue on.


As usual, october is one of the best months of the year, full of interesting material to make your game a little more gruesome. The irritation of the little basic columns is more than made up for by the interesting articles that look at the context of gaming and how it's developing. Let's hope they can push this new direction a little farther with some articles that really take advantage of gaming's history and surroundings.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 1/8


108 pages. An old-school wizard, with the hat and everything, and not a single belt? (although you do wonder how they hold their robes together then. ) No surprise that there's a fair amount of magic to be found in this issue. Will they offer intriguing new tricks, or just more blasty effects in different shapes and energy types? Let's crack open the books and get memorising.


Scan Quality: Moderate, unindexed.


In this issue:


From the Editor: The editorial involves Matthew talking about how he got this job, and what he did before that. Working a fair share of crappy low-paid things like packing, retail and dishwashing really lets you know just how far you'll go for money, and what level of you simply can't put up with. It also illustrates that the best way to get a good job is to never stop looking, even if you already have one, because that's when you're in a better position to negotiate for a good deal. Talent matters less than persistence and learning from your mistakes. Having got this far through the magazine entirely through persistence, I'm inclined to agree with him. In the real world, waiting for your destiny to reveal itself will leave you alone and eventually dead without accomplishing anything much. You may not power up exponentially in the real world the way you do in D&D, but experience can still make a real difference. Unfortunately, you can certainly wind up not getting a job because they think you're too experienced as well, which maps roughly to not getting XP from a challenge for being too high level. Oh well, I guess that's a learning experience too, even if what you have to learn is when to lie and when to tell the truth.


First watch: A return to more familiar splatbook territory this month. Complete Arcane! For all your wizardly and sorcerous needs! Most notable for introducing warlocks to us, which of course would prove so popular they got to be one of the primary classes next edition. Plenty of more forgettable crunchy bits as well, as is the nature of these things.

Eberron starts filling in it's regions with Sharn: City of towers. This of course means it's set up to be the default homebase for tons of adventures, just like Waterdeep, Greyhawk City, Specularum, Huzuz and Sigil before it. Another thing that seems to work, so we'll consciously make a formula out of it. To top off the sales pitch, they remind us that it's got lots of crunch that can be extracted and used even if you aren't playing in their world. Shill shill shill.

Once again, we see them expanding their remit in odd ways here. This month, it's clothes. Who's idea was this? Anyway, there are now a whole bunch of amusing t-shirts and hats for the geek who isn't afraid spend money on fashion to broadcast their geekiness. Seems slightly contradictory, really. Oh, and it's Erol OTUS, you complete hack. Whoever wrote this was obviously insufficiently geeky.

They also choose to cover a computer game, Baten Kaitos: Eternal wings. A combination of card game and RPG, where you fight battles by choosing which cards in your hand to play, and forming combos for greater power. Interesting mechanic, and one which could work in tabletop as well. Has any game tried that?

And finally, they add Undefeated to the list of magazines that they're doing previews for. My, Paizo are busy bunnies at the moment. Can they break out of their dependency on WotC licenses and the RPG market? No? So much for that plan.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 2/8


Scale Mail: Unsurprisingly, we start off with a letter from someone who's really happy with their new direction. They might even subscribe after more than 20 years as a regular reader. Do you realise how much money you'd have saved over the years if you just did it in the first place?

Another regular subscriber intends to keep it up, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it. You've got to keep reaching out if you want to grow your market.

On the other hand, two people are annoyed by Samurai vs Knight, which had no solid conclusions and no gaming material in it. One person really liked it, but It still means it's touch and go if they'll do any more articles like this soon.

Another point of contention is the new title font for the magazines. Designing it for maximum readability means it loses a little of the atmosphere of previous versions. They make no apologies for that.

Similarly, they make no apologies for trying to get people buying both Dragon and Dungeon, for renaming Bazaar of the Bizarre as Magic Shop, or getting rid of the society of monster hunters. Dry, clear and packed with mechanical info are their targets at all points in the process now. It'll take some pretty serious complaining to get them to shift on that.

On the other hand, when people point out factual errors, they're still willing to take them on board. That's good to see.

In years past, it wasn't easy to get a truly anonymous letter into the magazine, and with the advent of email, it's even harder, since they always have a return address. However, not everyone gives their actual location. This is a bit of a pain for the staff. I'd send in a physical letter anyway. It's more likely to be published because it'll stand out.

And finally, we have two letters from people who are skeptical about D&D changing to modernise itself, but still interested in Eberron. D&D has always followed the fashions in fantasy. If it didn't it wouldn't have hobbits, dwarves and elves in a form that was published less than 2 decades prior. You're just noticing it now because you're not a kid any more, and new stuff is being added that isn't so familiar. This stuff never stops moving forward, even if it claims to be going backwards as part of the marketing.


Player initiative: We're reminded in here that it's the US elections this month. You may not be able to be a big damn hero and singlehandedly rid the country of tyranny and corruption, but voting is still important, and being politically active in your own community even more so if you want to live in a decent place. Don't get too engrossed in fantasy worlds because it's the easy option and forget to make a difference to reality. Also, don't get too worked up about the RPGA ranking systems. There's always going to be some obsessive who goes to more cons than you, and gets more player and DM points. The important thing is that your recreation remains fun, not beating everyone else, especially since there's no financial reward no matter how good a gamer you are.


Under command: With the power levels doubled in minis land, it's the perfect opportunity to talk again about running a campaign with character development and continuity using the system. This does mean assigning one person as the DM, and letting them dictate the rough course of the campaign, but if you've played regular D&D I'm sure you can make that concession. You also have to accept that even more than 3e, the advancement under this system will be relatively closed-ended, and should plan your campaign around this advancement rate, with the scoring of victory conditions setting the pace. Still, you will probably get to change your warbands more between battles than most PC groups, given the greater numbers of pieces and corresponding attrition rate, which'll give you a chance to experiment with different group compositions and tactics within a single campaign. Just don't expect to get any credit if you come up with a nonviolent solution to the campaigns problems, unlike in D&D.

 

[Hishen]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 2/8


Scale Mail: Unsurprisingly, we start off with a letter from someone who's really happy with their new direction. They might even subscribe after more than 20 years as a regular reader. Do you realise how much money you'd have saved over the years if you just did it in the first place?

Another regular subscriber intends to keep it up, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it. You've got to keep reaching out if you want to grow your market.

On the other hand, two people are annoyed by Samurai vs Knight, which had no solid conclusions and no gaming material in it. One person really liked it, but It still means it's touch and go if they'll do any more articles like this soon.

Another point of contention is the new title font for the magazines. Designing it for maximum readability means it loses a little of the atmosphere of previous versions. They make no apologies for that.

Similarly, they make no apologies for trying to get people buying both Dragon and Dungeon, for renaming Bazaar of the Bizarre as Magic Shop, or getting rid of the society of monster hunters. Dry, clear and packed with mechanical info are their targets at all points in the process now. It'll take some pretty serious complaining to get them to shift on that.

On the other hand, when people point out factual errors, they're still willing to take them on board. That's good to see.

In years past, it wasn't easy to get a truly anonymous letter into the magazine, and with the advent of email, it's even harder, since they always have a return address. However, not everyone gives their actual location. This is a bit of a pain for the staff. I'd send in a physical letter anyway. It's more likely to be published because it'll stand out.

And finally, we have two letters from people who are skeptical about D&D changing to modernise itself, but still interested in Eberron. D&D has always followed the fashions in fantasy. If it didn't it wouldn't have hobbits, dwarves and elves in a form that was published less than 2 decades prior. You're just noticing it now because you're not a kid any more, and new stuff is being added that isn't so familiar. This stuff never stops moving forward, even if it claims to be going backwards as part of the marketing.


Player initiative: We're reminded in here that it's the US elections this month. You may not be able to be a big damn hero and singlehandedly rid the country of tyranny and corruption, but voting is still important, and being politically active in your own community even more so if you want to live in a decent place. Don't get too engrossed in fantasy worlds because it's the easy option and forget to make a difference to reality. Also, don't get too worked up about the RPGA ranking systems. There's always going to be some obsessive who goes to more cons than you, and gets more player and DM points. The important thing is that your recreation remains fun, not beating everyone else, especially since there's no financial reward no matter how good a gamer you are.


Under command: With the power levels doubled in minis land, it's the perfect opportunity to talk again about running a campaign with character development and continuity using the system. This does mean assigning one person as the DM, and letting them dictate the rough course of the campaign, but if you've played regular D&D I'm sure you can make that concession. You also have to accept that even more than 3e, the advancement under this system will be relatively closed-ended, and should plan your campaign around this advancement rate, with the scoring of victory conditions setting the pace. Still, you will probably get to change your warbands more between battles than most PC groups, given the greater numbers of pieces and corresponding attrition rate, which'll give you a chance to experiment with different group compositions and tactics within a single campaign. Just don't expect to get any credit if you come up with a nonviolent solution to the campaigns problems, unlike in D&D.

what is going on?

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 3/8


Silicon sorcery: Dungeon Siege introduces an interesting idea that upsets the usual D&D game assumptions. Spellbooks that you can actually share, instead of each wizard writing their own idiosyncratic variant of magical notation that takes a fair bit of effort to decode? Unheard of! Sky falling, cats and dogs living together, etc etc. Course, they only manage that by being minor artifacts in their own right, that give you additional powers if you use them heavily, which means if people know you have one, you can expect a lot of people trying to be your friend and/or kill you and take your stuff. In addition, the powers key off the number of spell levels you have memorised, which creates the same kind of dynamic as reserve feats, making you think carefully about whether to keep using your low level but consistent powers, or burn your big guns and face the next challenge weaker. This is very interesting, but does also take a fair bit of bookkeeping, which means it's for people who really like to consider their tactical and strategic options, and plan their spell selections and character build carefully. Anyone who prefers sorcerers should steer well clear.


A novel approach: This column takes on an old favourite instead of a new release for a change. The Dune series has been going for a good while, but the original book is still the best selling and most critically praised. So they convert the obvious hallmarks of the series, Spice, and Sandworms. If you want to transform into a gigantic bloated psychic monstrosity, it'll be pretty expensive, and since it's addictive, remaining an adventurer yourself doesn't seem very viable afterwards. Best to keep that for the NPC villains, really. Statistically, sandworms are simply reskinned Purple Worms with a more interesting treasure type, and the caveat that you might want to avoid killing them and just follow them around so as to get more long-term profit selling their byproducts. Which I have to say will definitely be a different challenge for most D&D adventurers, so this is another conversion that more than justifies it's appearance here, even if the spice won't be quite as invaluable (and therefore expensive) in a world where most high level spellcasters can teleport and plane shift anyway. On the other hand, putting this in d20 modern/future would probably work very well indeed. Just because they don't mention that option in the magazine, doesn't mean you can't use it.


Zogonia meets that dungeon staple, an orc in a 10x10 room with a pie. Nodwick keeps his party from making over their wizard. Beard and hat combos never go out of fashion. Dork tower tries to sell loaded dice. That's a bit worrying.


Hometown heroes: The Play's the Thing may be gone, but it's legacy remains in this article, another one that aims to get you building interesting characters more quickly and effectively by directing your thought processes and asking relevant questions. In this case it's where they came from that's the area of focus. What it was like, who lived there, Parents, siblings, teachers, local pub, first crush, local bully that they fully intend to teach a lesson once they've gained a few levels, it's these everyday things that shape a young person's character, before they're old enough to venture into the world and try to be something they chose for themselves. Not every character can be an orphan who's survived on their own wits and skill ever since they can remember, and the game is probably far more interesting for it. Plus if you say all the characters are approximately the same age and from the same place, you can do collaborative character creation and make everything more fleshed out while also providing good reasons why the characters are adventuring together. Since this isn't crammed into the 2 page regular column format, it makes for better reading than those, even if the bright yellow formatting is a bit garish. We can all do with being reminded where we came from, and that other people came from very different places all around the world.

 

[(un)reason]

what is going on?

Same thing that's been going on every day for the past 5 years, Pinky.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 4/8


Arcane ancestry 2: They're not just doing sequels more frequently, they're actually putting it in the actual title of the article. I'm not sure if I should be amused or exasperated. Well, at least it's honest. As with the previous one from issue 311, they present a whole load of possible ancestries for your sorcerer, each with two feats, plus a few extra ones any of them can take. You could have powers derived from lawful, chaotic or ethereal outsiders, Illithids, Yuan-ti, undead, or plants. People really can have sex with ANYTHING in 3e with interesting consequences. Most of them are pretty standardised, offering an extra spell at each spell level, at the cost of an opposed subtype of spells being restricted. Since specialist wizards can get that for free, while this costs sorcerers a feat, it's still obvious who comes out on top in the long run due to sheer flexibility. Once again, I think covering fewer types of ancestry with more feats for each one would be the better way to go, so you can really develop your character's innate abilities in interesting ways. Trying to think of too many different power sources has just lead to sex with trees, and I don't really think my game is enhanced by including that as part of my character's backstory.


War magic: Here's another topic that they talked about just over a year ago, in issue 309. Not surprising, since blowing up large quantities of enemies in one go before they can hurt you is a very tactically sound thing to do. Instead of introducing new spells though, this is all about the parameters of the exiting ones, particularly in a party situation where you can wind up hitting other players if not careful. In that situation, fireball and other burst spells are actually the most hazardous, (although still less than previous editions where fireball distorted it's shape if confined and lightning bolt bounced off walls) while line spells allow you to fire through ranks of enemies at minimal risk to your friends. Call lightning isn't really AoE, but has the chance to catch multiple creatures above you. Meteor Swarm's big advantage is the large amount of aiming options it offers you in one go. So this is the kind of charop stuff that reminds us that they put more emphasis on playing to a grid this edition, partly because of more tightly codified rules, and partly because they want to sell more minis. All the different shapes and energy types ensure that you always have to think tactically about which spell is best for your current fight, and I'm still very aware not everyone can make the best choices on their own.


A surge of theurgy: Mystic Theurges were one of the more controversial bits of the 3.5 update, with many people complaining that they were completely broken. However, when the dust settled and the numbers had been crunched, if anything, they were often underpowered, as while they had more staying power and flexibility at high level, they didn't have the raw power a single-classed spellcaster could enjoy, and at low-mid level you had to make real sacrifices to get in. So some feats that make multiclass spellcasters a little less suboptimal isn't a bad idea. Most of them are pretty dull though, simply allowing you to add your levels in the two classes together in certain situations. There's ones for most combinations of two classes, particular types of magic, and some class features like wild empathy and paladin mounts can also benefit from this. Just think, if you were playing an Arcana Evolved character, you'd get most of these benefits automatically. Knowing that, and also the way in which 4e sidestepped this problem, this feels more like highlighting an issue than solving it. I suppose stuff like this in the magazine is a good incentive for their developers to get busy with the next big change.


The ecology of Duergar: Ahh, these gloomy buggers. Always nice to spend a little time around people even more miserable than I usually am. Still, gloom is no impediment to egocentricism, and as is often the case, they get given a creation myth that has them a the first and most important race in the world, with nothing at all to do with those other, lesser dwarven deities, or their actual history as shown in the old Monster Mythology. The story parts eat up a relatively large amount of the ecology this month, with less emphasis on the tactical advice. It's still not a patch on the old fiction heavy ecologies, but it does the job, just as it's subjects do. It also emphasizes the sneaky aspects of fighting them. Seems like they've been doing that with every ecology this year. Does nothing engage in a stand-up fight anymore? Another thing that's worth thinking about. Was this kind of tactical advice reflected in your actual plays of the time? Or was it just boring old, I hit, he hits back. All anecdotes welcome.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 5/8


Spellcraft: This month's spell selection is for the roguish sorts, with most of these available to Assassins and Bards. There is the usual attempt at setting detail, but it feels rather perfunctory these days. Ominous looming thieves guild, yadda yadda yadda. Let's get to the spells, shall we.

Appraising Touch boosts your appraise skill substantially. Well, it's less of a toe stepper than the old spells which just worked.

Dead End is essentially an urban variant of pass without trace. Yawn.

Marked Man lets you track things via sympathetic link. Seen you before too.

Serene Visage boosts your Bluff score equally substantially. This is one that ought to be a general formula.

Shock and Awe causes substantial initiative penalties for the enemy if cast just before combat. This'll hopefully let you get off two full rounds of sneak attacking before the enemy ceases to be flat-footed, which'll put a serious dent in their HP. Quite nice, really.

Spontaneous Search lets you instantly take 10 without spending the whole turn actually rooting around. Once again with the very specific, integrated mechanics. This change really is becoming standard making everything seem very pinned down and codified, not like the old days.


Magic Shop goes egyptian. We've had several articles on their gods before, but not one on their magical items. Given how long they lasted, I'm sure there's something worth plundering in those pyramids if you avoid the cursed bits.

The Belt of the Camel lets you survive without water and resist the desert heat. You might still starve to death, but pulling a 40 days and 40 nights jobbie seems quite possible if you have a high con score.

Canopic Jars of the Guardians let you turn a dead priest into an undying guardian and servant. The reward for a lifetime of loyal service? You get to carry on doing it FOREVER.

Carrion Gauntlets let you drain lifeforce by touch at will. Prey on the weak and dying and you can go a long way with all those temporary hit points. Just watch you don't drain your friends by accident.

Cartouches of Imhotep let you imitate their namesake by buffing your Craft skills. Fair enough.

A Cloak of the Desert lets you blend into sandy environments easily. Combine with the camel belt and you can really hide out from everyone for an extended period.

The Eye of Horus lets you both hunt down and hide from evil creatures. Horus is obviously smart enough not to sacrifice his followers in futile battles, which is nice to see.

The Keepers Guide helps you spot and disarm traps. whether this is put to legitimate uses by priests adding to tombs, or not so legitimate ones by grave robbers is all up to you.

River Sandals let you walk on water, and leave no tracks on land. Jesus might have turned this trick to good, but it has plenty of sneaky applications too, and you can bet followers of Set will use it to full advantage.

Robes of the Burning Serpent let bad guys turn into giant snakes, and kill horribly any good person who puts them on. You may kill Amon-Thoth, but taking his stuff remains a problem.

Sand of Set turns into snakes when sprinkled on the ground. Should put a scare into most low level adventurers.

Scarab Charms turn into a swarm of beetles that'll strip the flesh from your bones. Better make sure you have a good throwing arm to make sure it takes out an enemy and not you or your friends.

Scorpion Bracers help you resist poisons. Somehow, that doesn't seem as impressive as it did last edition.

Tiaras of Bast let you speak with cats, and maybe even get them to like you enough to herd them. Even the most arrogant feline is susceptible to bribes and flattery.

Vestments of Judgement let you bring people back from the dead … if you're worthy, and in very limited amounts. You can't save everyone, so exercise your mercy carefully where it'll be most effective.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 325: November 2004


part 6/8


Heroic feats: Not surprising that this column is in theme, with 9 feats that enhance various magic specialities. Make your shadow magic more real, your charms more charming, your protective spells tougher, and your buffs more buffy. Each of them requires that you be a specialist in the appropriate school, with enchanters getting one for each subschool, and the others getting one each. They aren't that impressive numerically, but if you've already taken spell focus, and want to squeeze a little more of an edge out of your area of concentration, they're a logical next choice.


Gaining prestige: Mounted Archery is one of those styles of combat that's particularly tricky to master, requiring you to combine two disciplines that are hard enough in their own right. A prestige class that specialises in it makes perfect sense. As mounts tend to become fragile at higher levels, they gain the ability to substitute their own saves for their mount's one, making it a little harder to ruin their day with a quick charm. They also get dodge bonuses, improved crit ranges, and the ability to ride-by attack everyone in their movement path with ease, plus their own barbarian horde at 10th level. Seems legit, and very reskinable to different races and cultures. It's just a matter of seeking out adventures that don't take you into cramped spaces too much.


Winning races: Even more than Grippli, Lupins are incredibly PC friendly, with their abilities remaining LA+0 without any effort at all. A load of smell related bonuses to things, a bit of a bonus to listen checks, and the ability to root out and savage werewolves with great brutality. As good team players with a strong sense of right and wrong, an adventuring band is a perfect environment for them. This is a pretty straight conversion, although it skips all the nuances in issue 237's larger article with tons of different breeds. It does focus on the more savage lupins rather than the civilised, french-accented ones, but I suppose that just fits their current policy of making things as generic as possible. The old mystara whimsy really isn't their style, which makes this far less exciting than it could have been. Workmanlike, not thrilling.