Dragon #310 :: Just got it in the mail.

[FCWesel]

(Note, I put this post in the D&D rules and then figured is should have gone here...sorry for the double posting.)

I just opened Dragon 310. The GM screen lloks very cool. Nice cover face. Much better then a lot have been. Simple in its design too.

The interior looks good, well layed out WITH THE EXCPETION OF...that there are pics of the minis at the length of the bottom of the screen. I could care less then less about these stupid minis, or how bad they look...

The thing that saves them that they are in greyscale...so you can't see how badly they are painted.

Sorry, but I just hate this minis and the way I have heard they are going to be marketed/sold.

as for Dragon itself....

Larry Elmore is back on the cover...and a welldone one too...though I am sure someone will complain that we see the two ladies' belly buttons. (sigh)


This is a Fighter's issue...
Article 1: Barbarian article on Multiclassing the Revised Barbarian.
Article 2: Variant Fighters for the game
Article 2: Variant Monks
Article 3: Paladins of other alignments (LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN)
Article 4: Multiclassing the Revised Ranger
Article 5: Options, combinations and prestige classes for the revised rouge

There's a Mike Stackpole short story
There's a article on using "guides in the game", one on Maps (its part 2) and sage advice, as well as the usual previews and ads and comics

The Sage advice is for 3.5 rules.

More as I read it...

 

[Aitch Eye]

I just got it a few minutes ago.

The artwork on the screen is by Wayne Reynolds, the same art as in the three 3.5 ads in the last issue. Gimble, the druid[?] guy, and the elven archer [ranger?] gal on the left, the devil standing on bodies on the right, and the two-page spread of them fighting in the middle.

[edit] Do the other two characters show up in the revised books, and are they named?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Wow, I'm happy to hear what the art is on the screen. That could well make it the best art on any of the DM screens I've seen.

 

[Gregor]

I think the FR one is pretty sweet as well.

Cheers,

 

[JPL]

This is a Fighter's issue...
Article 1: Barbarian article on Multiclassing the Revised Barbarian.
Article 2: Variant Fighters for the game
Article 2: Variant Monks
Article 3: Paladins of other alignments (LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN)
Article 4: Multiclassing the Revised Ranger
Article 5: Options, combinations and prestige classes for the revised rouge

Could you tell me a little about 2, in particular? Having just bought Swashbuckling Adventures, I'm pondering coming up with my own variants of the Pirate and Swashbuckler base classes...

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I think the FR one is pretty sweet as well.

Cheers,

The art on the FR screen is good, I agree. It's just a bit too static for my taste.

 

[Aitch Eye]

I think I prefer static art for a DM's screen, or at least a bigger panorama less focused on a particular combat. Something nice to look at if I focus on it, but not pushing its way into my perceptions when I'm trying to focus on the game.

I like Wayne Reynolds art a lot, and I like these illustrations; but spending an entire session with this screen facing me would start out distracting and end up irritating. That's really just my problem, though.

 

[FCWesel]

To JPL

Could you tell me a little about 2, in particular? Having just bought Swashbuckling Adventures, I'm pondering coming up with my own variants of the Pirate and Swashbuckler base classes...

Sure.

Basically the idea is the creation of several "specialist" fighters. Much like Wizards specialize into Evocationists or Illusionsists.

Each specialist does seem to have a different class skill selection list, though the number of Skill Points remains the same.

Feat progression remains the same, though specialists seem to have a tighter list of feats to choose from.

Each has a special ability that they can choose to select INSTEAD of one of their Bonus Fighter Feats.

HP and Saves and ATTs all remain the same.

Like wizards, once a specialization is chosen, you cannot MC into "fighter" or other specialized fighers.

The Specializations are:
Bodyguard, Commander, Corsair, Exoticist, Fencer, Horseman, Kensai, Knight, Pugilist, Shield Bearer, Targetteer.

Over all I liked the base idea (I have not read the entire article yet) and will likely allow this in my games. This is just the thing I think fighters needed to make them a bit more "standardly unique".

 

[JPL]

That sounds nifty. I think variant base classes are a seriously underexplored option.

I hope my copy is waiting for me when I get home...

 

[Aitch Eye]

Some of the variant fighters also get special abilities or feats for free at early levels, and a few have other benefits or limitations.

The "survivalist" isn't listed as having any special abilities at all. If this is correct, perhaps they should have included some note about it, so people would know it wasn't an inadvertant omission.