Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Oddly enough, there doesn't seem to be a thread on it already. So, without further ado, here's what's in this month's issue.
Editorial: This month's editorial is by Assistant Editor F. Wesley Schneider. He talks about how he got into D&D by looking into the books and boxed sets he wasn't allowed to see when he was younger.
Not For the Living: By James Jacobs, this article describes six "templates" for a haunted local. The theme of each template is different (Bad Place, Dreamscape, Eidolon, Entity, Planar Canker, and Primeval Scar), and provides general information. The templates aren't monstrous templates, but rather determine the Reach, Structural Effects, Living Effects, Undead Effects, Associated Monsters, and Exorcism for each type of location.
I found this article to be excellent in design. It perfectly bridges the gap between flavor and crunch, providing a great set of mechanics for how to adjudicate a very scary atmosphere to challenge players, without necessarily just throwing monsters at them. It even as a sidebar on movies that were inspirational for each type of location...referene material, of course.
Birth of the Dead: By Ari Marmell (our very own Mouseferatu!), this examines the means of creating various undead. It sas listings for each undead from the generic monster books (the MM, MMII, MMIII, and FF) with each undead, listed alphabetically, getting a short section of flavor text regarding them being created. It then has a short section talking about how they'd be created in game.
This article is as much fun to read as (I presume) it was to write. A large number of the flavor sections deal with killing the Iconics, which make them very amusing to read. One piece of art that I loved (by Jeff Laubenstein) shows Regdar's grave, with a rotted hand reaching up from it.
That said, some people might be a bit disappointed with how much of the crunch sections don't detail hard-and-fast rules for making these undead. While many of the undead have a "cocktail" of spells listed that are necessary to make them, others just have it being described as them needing to feel a certain way when they die. More arcane and divine formulas for making all of the undead listed would have been better, IMHO.
Bandits in the Paths of Fame: by James Lowder. This is a short piece of fiction. Having said that (and despite loving James Lowder's writing), I haven't read it yet, so I can't offer any opinions. Sorry.
The Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss: by James Jacobs. This ecology covers the spawn of the star of the new Age of Worms adventure path. It delves into the history of the creatures, which by extension is the history of Kyuss. It includes a table for what you know about the creatures with various types of fact-finding skills or abilities. It also has a lengthy section discussing the worms themselves, and a sidebar on the demigod Kyuss himself. The obligatory sidebar on the Age of Worms adventure path is there. Finally, it unveils a new template (and example creature) the Favored Spawn of Kyuss.
Wormfood: by Jeremy Walker. This Wormfood article taks about entertainment that the PCs can find in the Free City. It gives an overview of three establishments, mentioning with abbreviated (alignment gender race class) listings the important NPCs there. A sidebar also gives a quick overview of a dice game people in the City play.
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Curios of Corruption: by Greg Marks. This article details eight new evil magic items. Despite the name of the article, not all of these necessarily curse or otherwise harm the user, though some do.
Spellcraft: The Demonomicon of Iggwilv: by Owen K. C. Stephens and Gary Holian. This article details the history of Iggwilv, and then gives us seven new spells from the Demonomicon. Two sidebars are given: one for the powers of the Demonomicon itself (actually, they detail the six copies of it), and another for one of the copies recently found in the town of Krestible. Almost all of the spells are meant to be used to augment a magic circle and/or planar binding.
Greyhawk fans will be interested that this article details new facets of Iggwilv's history that we haven't seen before (or at least, I know I haven't). For example, she studied under Zagyg Yragerne, or when Graz'zt broke free from her summons, she and Graz'zt battled, injuring their handsome son Iuz into two forms...one old and decrepit, the other hideously fiendish.
Silicon Sorcery: Shadow of the Colossus: by Eric Haddock. This article gives us stats for the Primordial Colossus from the Shadow of the Colossus PS2 game. Because the Colossus is formed by nature itself, there are no construction rules, rather, we are given rules on how to awaken one.
Sage Advice: The Sage answers feat-related questions, including a few about some exalted feats (from the Book of Exalted Deeds).
Class Acts:Barbarians (by Greg Marks): New herbs you can take for a variety of minor effects. It lists their effects, as well as Survival DC to locate, their environment, and market price.
Bards (by Joshua Cole): Three evil feats that bards can take to affects others with their bardic music.
Clerics (by Jesse Decker): This is part two of the "Essential Spells" articles (part one was issue #335). This time he discusses spells level 4-6.
Druids (by William L. Christensen): A new vile feat for being able to use a sacrificial victim to peform divinations (by using their entrails, you make a Knowledge check to simulate a divination spell).
Fighters (by Richard Farrese): This article details an organization for hire called The Black Fist.
Monks (by Alejandro Melchor): A new feat is given which allows monks to strike pressure points as a Stunning Fist attack. However, you can give up more than one Strike when you use this feat...different amounts let you strike different points. Almost all of the listed points have a different effect depending you want to use them to help or harm. This is an extremely cool idea, and is executed very well. Kudos to Mr. Melchor for this article!
Paladins (by Chris DeKath): Four possible background motivations are given for why your character became a paladin. Each gives your character a small bonus.
Rangers (by Erik Seligman): This gives us a variant ranger base class, the Mystic Ranger (Go go Mystic Ranger!). It gives greater spellcasting abilities (they get 0- and 5th-level spells, but less martial abilities.
Rogues (by Joshua Cole): This article describes why Rogues would take various Knowledge skills, with a sidebar describing what they know at various DCs for Knowledge (local).
Sorcerers (by Hal Maclean): This article describes "poltergeists," which are supernatural abilities a 1st-level sorcerer can take, in exchange for giving up two of his 0-level spells known.
Wizards (by Hal Maclean): Three feats are given, each of which has the character making a deal with a vile power and making a sacrifice of some kind in exchange for a special power.
The Buyer's Guide had one new product I hadn't seen before, and wanted to mention. In November, WotC is putting out a new, non-collectible, card game called Three-Dragon Ante. Apparently it's supposed to be done in-character; that is, three-dragon ante is what your PCs will play in all those taverns they hang out in...now you can actually play that for real instead of just playing poker.
And, of course, Nodwick (by Aaron Williams), Dork Tower (by John Kovalic), and Zogonia (by Tony Mosley) near the end.
The last page is the full version of the cover art, done by James Ryman, showing off a very sexy female mummy entering through some sort of arch or portal.
All in all, another great issue by the folks at Paizo!
Editorial: This month's editorial is by Assistant Editor F. Wesley Schneider. He talks about how he got into D&D by looking into the books and boxed sets he wasn't allowed to see when he was younger.
Not For the Living: By James Jacobs, this article describes six "templates" for a haunted local. The theme of each template is different (Bad Place, Dreamscape, Eidolon, Entity, Planar Canker, and Primeval Scar), and provides general information. The templates aren't monstrous templates, but rather determine the Reach, Structural Effects, Living Effects, Undead Effects, Associated Monsters, and Exorcism for each type of location.
I found this article to be excellent in design. It perfectly bridges the gap between flavor and crunch, providing a great set of mechanics for how to adjudicate a very scary atmosphere to challenge players, without necessarily just throwing monsters at them. It even as a sidebar on movies that were inspirational for each type of location...referene material, of course.
Birth of the Dead: By Ari Marmell (our very own Mouseferatu!), this examines the means of creating various undead. It sas listings for each undead from the generic monster books (the MM, MMII, MMIII, and FF) with each undead, listed alphabetically, getting a short section of flavor text regarding them being created. It then has a short section talking about how they'd be created in game.
This article is as much fun to read as (I presume) it was to write. A large number of the flavor sections deal with killing the Iconics, which make them very amusing to read. One piece of art that I loved (by Jeff Laubenstein) shows Regdar's grave, with a rotted hand reaching up from it.
That said, some people might be a bit disappointed with how much of the crunch sections don't detail hard-and-fast rules for making these undead. While many of the undead have a "cocktail" of spells listed that are necessary to make them, others just have it being described as them needing to feel a certain way when they die. More arcane and divine formulas for making all of the undead listed would have been better, IMHO.
Bandits in the Paths of Fame: by James Lowder. This is a short piece of fiction. Having said that (and despite loving James Lowder's writing), I haven't read it yet, so I can't offer any opinions. Sorry.
The Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss: by James Jacobs. This ecology covers the spawn of the star of the new Age of Worms adventure path. It delves into the history of the creatures, which by extension is the history of Kyuss. It includes a table for what you know about the creatures with various types of fact-finding skills or abilities. It also has a lengthy section discussing the worms themselves, and a sidebar on the demigod Kyuss himself. The obligatory sidebar on the Age of Worms adventure path is there. Finally, it unveils a new template (and example creature) the Favored Spawn of Kyuss.
Wormfood: by Jeremy Walker. This Wormfood article taks about entertainment that the PCs can find in the Free City. It gives an overview of three establishments, mentioning with abbreviated (alignment gender race class) listings the important NPCs there. A sidebar also gives a quick overview of a dice game people in the City play.
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Curios of Corruption: by Greg Marks. This article details eight new evil magic items. Despite the name of the article, not all of these necessarily curse or otherwise harm the user, though some do.
Spellcraft: The Demonomicon of Iggwilv: by Owen K. C. Stephens and Gary Holian. This article details the history of Iggwilv, and then gives us seven new spells from the Demonomicon. Two sidebars are given: one for the powers of the Demonomicon itself (actually, they detail the six copies of it), and another for one of the copies recently found in the town of Krestible. Almost all of the spells are meant to be used to augment a magic circle and/or planar binding.
Greyhawk fans will be interested that this article details new facets of Iggwilv's history that we haven't seen before (or at least, I know I haven't). For example, she studied under Zagyg Yragerne, or when Graz'zt broke free from her summons, she and Graz'zt battled, injuring their handsome son Iuz into two forms...one old and decrepit, the other hideously fiendish.
Silicon Sorcery: Shadow of the Colossus: by Eric Haddock. This article gives us stats for the Primordial Colossus from the Shadow of the Colossus PS2 game. Because the Colossus is formed by nature itself, there are no construction rules, rather, we are given rules on how to awaken one.
Sage Advice: The Sage answers feat-related questions, including a few about some exalted feats (from the Book of Exalted Deeds).
Class Acts:Barbarians (by Greg Marks): New herbs you can take for a variety of minor effects. It lists their effects, as well as Survival DC to locate, their environment, and market price.
Bards (by Joshua Cole): Three evil feats that bards can take to affects others with their bardic music.
Clerics (by Jesse Decker): This is part two of the "Essential Spells" articles (part one was issue #335). This time he discusses spells level 4-6.
Druids (by William L. Christensen): A new vile feat for being able to use a sacrificial victim to peform divinations (by using their entrails, you make a Knowledge check to simulate a divination spell).
Fighters (by Richard Farrese): This article details an organization for hire called The Black Fist.
Monks (by Alejandro Melchor): A new feat is given which allows monks to strike pressure points as a Stunning Fist attack. However, you can give up more than one Strike when you use this feat...different amounts let you strike different points. Almost all of the listed points have a different effect depending you want to use them to help or harm. This is an extremely cool idea, and is executed very well. Kudos to Mr. Melchor for this article!
Paladins (by Chris DeKath): Four possible background motivations are given for why your character became a paladin. Each gives your character a small bonus.
Rangers (by Erik Seligman): This gives us a variant ranger base class, the Mystic Ranger (Go go Mystic Ranger!). It gives greater spellcasting abilities (they get 0- and 5th-level spells, but less martial abilities.
Rogues (by Joshua Cole): This article describes why Rogues would take various Knowledge skills, with a sidebar describing what they know at various DCs for Knowledge (local).
Sorcerers (by Hal Maclean): This article describes "poltergeists," which are supernatural abilities a 1st-level sorcerer can take, in exchange for giving up two of his 0-level spells known.
Wizards (by Hal Maclean): Three feats are given, each of which has the character making a deal with a vile power and making a sacrifice of some kind in exchange for a special power.
The Buyer's Guide had one new product I hadn't seen before, and wanted to mention. In November, WotC is putting out a new, non-collectible, card game called Three-Dragon Ante. Apparently it's supposed to be done in-character; that is, three-dragon ante is what your PCs will play in all those taverns they hang out in...now you can actually play that for real instead of just playing poker.
And, of course, Nodwick (by Aaron Williams), Dork Tower (by John Kovalic), and Zogonia (by Tony Mosley) near the end.
The last page is the full version of the cover art, done by James Ryman, showing off a very sexy female mummy entering through some sort of arch or portal.
All in all, another great issue by the folks at Paizo!
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
