Dragon #312

[thalmin]

The new Dragon #312 is in, and this month's theme is Evil Classes.
The theme articles are:

Blackguards - three unholy warriors, written as core classes. The Anti-paladin (chaotic evil), the Despot (lawful evil), and the Corruptor (neutral evil. New spells.

Necromancers - dark magi that work with undead, also written as core classes. The Deathwalker is a mage who slowly becomes undead, the Fleshcrafter harvests the living for parts to create undead, and the Soul Reaper turns the living into undead servants. New spells.

Assassins - several assassin prestige classes. The Oppressor kills to send a message or to make an example, the Poisoner specializes in poisons (expanded poison rules), and the Replacement Killer assumes the identity of his victims.

Thieves of Will - an article about evil enchanters and mind control.

Other articles include:
Hollier Than Thou - part 1 of Celestial Monster Classes for Book of Exalted Deeds. Six new classes; the Asura, the Bariaur, the Hollyphant, the Leskylor, the Moondog, the Quesar, and the Rhek.

Faiths of Faerun - Prayers of the Frostmaiden, the spells of Auril. A dozen new cold-related spells.

The Ebon Maw - the Demon Lord of Hunger. Introduces a new cult and a new domain, Hunger. New spells, magic items and creatures.

The Ecology of the Drider.

The Heroes of the War of the Spider Queen, Part 2. Stats for Dyrrr the Lichdrow, Ryld Argith master of Melee-Magthere, Valas Hune of the Bregan D'Aerthe, and Halisstra Melarn first daughter of House Melern.

Wizards Workshop - The Plays the Thing, Online Gaming; Dungeoncraft, Dungeon Adventures, Part 4, The Weird Stuff; Sage Advice.

This issue includes a fold-out color poster of all the new D&D miniatures, as well.

 

[Olive]

Looks like a goodie!!!

 

[d4]

sounds cool, but geez, those class names are a bit, well, boring. Despot? Corruptor? Oppressor? they need to invest in a better thesaurus.

anyone remember that old, old Dragon article with the alternate alignment paladins? i'll be calling my LE pallys illriggers.

 

[Norfleet]

I personally think a better name for an evil-type assassin class is "AIIIEEeee-*urk*-*wheeze*".

 

[Nightfall]

Mmm...hunger domain. Sounds like something I can use for Gaurak cultists!

 

[Pseudonym]

What goodies are in the preview for 313?

 

[ES2]

Thanks for the info, this is another must buy.

 

[reapersaurus]

I dunno.
I've just been very unimpressed with almost every bit of crunch they put in Dragon.

Whenever they add more spells, most of them are terribly underpowered AND uninteresting.
Whenever they add PrC's or alternate classes, most of them are underpowered and uninteresting (other than some, like the alternate cleric classes, that are way better than even the cleric class).

I would think that just by sheer chance, more of them would appeal to me. I mean, when they struggle to come up with content each week, just throwing darts on a wall blindfolded would have more of a success rate IMO.

 

[Particle_Man]

Do any/all of the assassin prestige classes retain the advancement of the death attack ability?

(And isn't it a bit odd to have a prestige class built specifically onto another prestige class?)

 

[Morrus]

I don't suppose our letter made it in? I never did get a reply confirming they'd received it or anything.