Dragon #297 Contents questions

[Knight Otu]

As the old thread has become a place to discuss the overall quality of the Dragon Magazine, and despite my gentle reminder that there were a few unanswered questions about the content, I thought it is propably the best if I create a new thread rather than trying to force the old thread into my direction. Here I repeat those questions that were asked, but not answered in the old thread:

Question originally posted by Kobold Avenger:

I have a rough idea of what all the new planetouched races are, but can anyone provide more details? I know there's been some fan versions of para-elemental genasi before, but Axani and Cansin are newer concepts (at least in name). Are they all roughly at the same power levels as other Planetouched?

Question originally posted by Nightfall:

Nether creature eh? Does this mean said creature become etheral or what Jesse? Come a LITTLE hint would be nice.

Questions originally posted by me:

How does the writeup for an epic prestige class differ from the writeup of normal prestige classes? (From the D&Dg sidebar, I would assume that they don't have
columns for Base Attack and Base Save Boni?)

Can you post short descriptions on the prestige classes?

What about the epic spells? Are there any clues about their creation?

If anyone does not like that I reposted his/her question, please say so and I'll remove it.
If I have missed any questions in the old thread either tell me or post them here for yourself.

If you have any other questions about this Dragon issue, just post them (and hope that someone who has the magazine reads them )

 

[eiglos]

A question on Dragon #297

As I live in the UK I won't see this issue for at least a month. I would like to see details of the 6 new epic level prestige classes in this issue.

Some details of the two epic level NPCs would be nice too .

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[faete]

QUOTE]I have a rough idea of what all the new planetouched races are, but can anyone provide more details? I know there's been some fan versions of para-elemental genasi before, but Axani and Cansin are newer concepts (at least in name). Are they all roughly at the same power levels as other Planetouched?[/QUOTE]
anaxi are lawful... cold & sonic resist, good int & wis
cansin are chaotic... acid & fire resist, good int & cha
dust get bonus vs dust effects, +4 dex, +2 Int, -2 Con, -2 Cha
ice get bonus vs cold effects, +4 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Dex, -2 Cha
magma get bonus vs fire effects, +2 Con, +2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Wis
ooze get bonus vs acid effects, +4 Con, -2 Cha
smoke get bonus vs smoke effects, +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha
steam get bonus vs heat (not fire), +2 Dex, -2 Cha

favored classes (in order) are: monk, sorceror, rogue, fighter, fighter, fighter, wizard, rogue

How does the writeup for an epic prestige class differ from the writeup of normal prestige classes? (From the D&Dg sidebar, I would assume that they don't have
columns for Base Attack and Base Save Boni?)

Can you post short descriptions on the prestige classes?

What about the epic spells? Are there any clues about their creation?

there are no colums for base attack or base save. other than that they are more or less the same as normal pretidge classes except for power scale.

arcane lord- "when wizards dream they dream of becoming arcane lords. the arcane lord is a true master of spellcasting, able to shape her arcane magics in ways that lesser beings can only dream of."

master of the order of the bow-"while the order of the bow initiate dabbles in such learning, the master truely dedicates his life to these teachings."

perfected one-"a perfected one transcends what other perceive as the limitations of the physical form. body, mind, and sould become a single unified force, granting the perfected one an unparalled level of grace and clarity in battle."

stalwart warden-"the stalwart warden personifies the mettle and endurance of the dwarven race."

unholy ravager-"the unholy ravager is a walking, personification of evil incarnate. he doesn't merely radiate evil, he is evil."

world guardian-"some might describe the world guardian as an avatar of nature".

 

[LightPhoenix]

Epic Spells -
All of the spells presented in "Sentinels of the Shoal" have mostly a normal spell block except for two things -

1) Spellcraft DC - not sure what this is for, but since there's no level listed for any of the epic spells, I would guess that you cast based on a Spellcraft check. The lowest is 58, the highest is 202.

2) Development -
First off, a number for GP, time, and XP - most of these are pretty large numbers - 522k to 1.81m GP, 11-37 days, and 20k to 73k XP. I guess this is the amount of resources needed to develop the spell.

Second, a rather convoluted list of "seeds", presumably building blocks that are used to construct spells. I hope that they're a little more organized in the ELH. Most of these seeds add to the Spellcraft DC. Some subtract from it - penalties which exact a cost on the use when cast. One ("factor: permanent duration") multiplies by 5. As far as I can tell, order of operations is add, multiply, subtract.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

There are also the Shadar Sentinel (Variant Loremasters), and Soul Reaver PrCs (Improved Assassins)

 

[tsadkiel]

I'm wondering what the Lawful planetouched guys look like. Are they "perfect examples of humanity" like the Axiomatic template? Machine like (like inevitables and modrons)? Part ant?

 

[LightPhoenix]

Nether Creatures -
It's in one of the last articles ("Silicon Sorcery") and easily overlooked. Nether creatures are based off of the enemies in the PS2 game Ico, they're basically undead ghost-like things.

Own thoughts on epic stuff -
The feats presented in the article I mentioned in my last post actually seem fairly balanced. One is for Druids, one is primarily for Bards, two for Assassins, and two for general sneaky characters. Of the six, the strongest is the Bard one, and I think it may be a little over the top, although the prereqs seems steep (Perform 30+, Cha 21+, Dex 21+).

None of the prestige classes have a BAB progression or Save progressions, so presumably they end once you get to epic levels. So the Wiz/Fig-Fig/Wiz problem probably still exists. Every pclass also gets bonus feats from specific list at a certain rate, so I suspect that might be a standard epic feature as well. To note is that while each class only goes to ten, the descriptions describe how these improve past 10th level, so I guess there's no limits.

Of interest to Assassin fans, one prestige class expands the Assassin spell list to 9th level, though the description mentions "Improved Spellcasting slots" - god knows what that means, but since it's capitalized I think Improved Spellcasting is a feat.

A point to note about stats - max of four attacks. Epic spells are listed seperate from normal spells, again suggesting that the mechanisms for normal and epic spells are different.

A bunch of epic feats are listed in the Sentinels article and Prestige Class one, a couple in the "Relics of Myth" article (which I found completely recoculous). Someone esle can list them.

Overall not as bad as I was expecting. Epic spells seem to be so out of reach that it'd be impossible to cast them (DC of 202, come on), epic feats seem balanced (except possibly the Bard one). Epic prestige classes seem okay up to 10th level, but afterward become (IMO) bland, just more of being able to do certain stuff more often.

In the Prestige Class article something I found amusing is the line "try to avoid giving out ad hoc abilities at each level", and then there are a number of them given out in each prestige class. Way to take your own advice.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I'm wondering what the Lawful planetouched guys look like. Are they "perfect examples of humanity" like the Axiomatic template? Machine like (like inevitables and modrons)? Part ant?

Axani are basically (paraphrasing) very neat and orderly, have well-formed and symmetrical features, and by virtue of that attractive. No facial or body hair, and some have a metallic coloring of their skin and hair. No ant-like stuff.

 

[Aitch Eye]

Edit: I usually check to see whether anyone has beat me before I post...

The axani are "often quite attractive" with symmetrical features, no facial or bodily hair, and "overly neat" appearances. They very occasionally have a metallic glint to their "skin or hair," though it's not clear whether they mean it to be mutually exclusive.

To add a little to the previous answers

All the planetouched in the article have a Level Adjustment of +1.

The Stalwart Warden is portrayed as a defending whatever "his charge" is at the time, though that can vary from an individual to a race.

The spells "Golem Seed" and "Oath of Binding" both have "Ritual" under components.


By the way, sorry I didn't respond in my original thread. I didn't have the materials at hand to answer for a few days.

 

[LightPhoenix]

The spells "Golem Seed" and "Oath of Binding" both have "Ritual" under components.

To expand on the expanding D), both of the spells have a "mitigating factor", which is probably just like a seed, which require additional casters to give up something in order for the spell to be cast.

Golem Seed requires five (the description says seven, but I think it's wrong) casters to contribute a 7th-level spell slot to the casting. This lowers the DC by 65, that's -13 for each (assuming five).

Oath of Binding requires seven casters to contribute an epic-level spell slot. This lowers the DC by 133, that's -19 DC for each one.

From this, you might be able to infer that contributing a 1st level spot is -1 DC, a 2nd is -3 DC, a 3rd is -5 DC, and so on up to epic level slots. 2n-1 baby, 2n-1.