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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4557634" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 56: December 1981part 1/2<img src="http://paizo.com/image/product/magazine_issue/dragon/56/cover_500.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />84 pages. Phil and Dixie make it onto the cover this issue, in another amusing christmas themed cover. Growf. Apart from that, it's curiously low on festivity this year, with no page expansion, and only a couple of remotely connected articles. Actually, they've been a bit sloppy about their event celebrations in general this year. I guess they think we'll get bored if they cover the same topics every year. Still, it's not as if they're actually short on stuff. Lets see what we have got instead of griping about what we haven't. In this issue: Out on a limb: A pretty short letters section this issue. We start with two contrasting letters as often, one approving the changes made to the monk in issue 53, and the other disapproving, saying the changes were unneccecary.  A letter saying Dragon is over priced, and they ought to split it into a D&D magazine and a non D&D magazine. Yeah, that'd make them more money <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />A letter engaging in minor quibbles about Lew Pulspher's article on heraldry in issue 53. Singing a new tune: Looks like this month it's bards turn to get a good looking over. This article essentially presents a new bard class, without the weird class switching baggage. The author eschews thieving abilities in exchange for illusionist magic, and adds a whole bunch of other little tweaks that he hopes will make the class a better designed one. I'd be quite interested in testing if he succeeded. It certainly seems pretty well written and thought out. It may well be overpowered, though. Sage advice is also concentrating on bard rules this month, as they seem to like joining in with the issues theme. Can rangers, paladins or assassins become bards (No. When we say fighter then thief, we mean fighter, then thief. No other combinations. Not the other way round, no diversions.) Are fighters who intend to become bards limited in their choice of armour (not yet) Do bards suffer a penalty to thieving abilities when using armour and weapons thieves can't? (Nope. Isn't that cool.) Can bards use weapons they were allowed to by previous classes, but not as bards (No. Druidic <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> forbids it. You wanna keep your spells, stick to your new restrictions. Plan your weapon proficiency selection ahead so you don't waste any. )How can a bard have 8th level fighting skills as it says in page 181 of the DMG. (if they read that magical manual that increases your fighter level after they switched classes, thus getting round the normal limits. That, and NPC's don't have to abide by the rules PC's do. If your DM wants to make a bard who is also a 27th level half dwarf half githyanki fighter, he is entirely within his rights to do so, so ner. ) Do fighters who dual class keep their exceptional strength.(No. They don't have time to work out enough to keep it anymore. Or something. :waves hand: I can't even be bothered to rationalize this one.) What are the maximum fighter and thief levels for bards (this is clearly in the books, you morons) What level do bards cast spells at (= to their level) Do bards get shapeshifting (Why yes! And all the other druidic special powers at the appropriate level too. How many people remember that? Which is odd given how scary druid special powers are. ) Which is right, the bard class in the best of the dragon, or the one from the players handbook, as they're so different. ( The one from TBOTD was originaly from SR6, more than 3 years before AD&D was published. The new one is the right one, although you could use the old version in a BD&D game if you like. )  Songs instead of spells: Another bardic article. This presents the idea that it would be more thematic for bards to create magical effects via playing and singing music, rather than the boring casting methods employed by other spellcasters. What a revolutionary idea <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> This article also gives them a custom spell list with a few new spells to replace the straight druid one. They really could do with a few more sound related spells. I guess they have yet to be invented. A fairly decent article, if still rather hampered by the limitations in scope of the era. It is so hard to really think outside the box. Map hazard, not haphazard: Want more realistic geography in your games? (no thanks) Steal it from the real world! Take proper topographic maps, do a bit of rotating and resizing, and move the buildings around. They'll be more realistic than you could manage without an advanced degree in geophysics. And more detailed than any ordinary map you could create. Yeah, I can see that working. And even great creatives such as tolkien er, borrowed from the real world extensively. The important thing is knowing how to mix and hide your sources. Personally, I'd still prefer to custom create everything myself, but I recognize the practical impossibility of that. From  the sorceror's scroll: Iuz! Hello and welcome back to Dragon. What has that diabolical half-demon been up too? Same thing he's up to every year. Trying to take over Oerth. Ahh, metaplot. Gary fills us in on the geopoltics of years 575-9 of the oerdian calendar.  That's a lot of warring going on. I suppose that's one of the things that makes Greyhawk a more gritty setting than the Forgotten Realms. Once again, Gary introduces a lot of interesting things that will continue to have an impact for the rest of the setting's history. Minarian Legends: Dragons and sea serpents and ogres, oh my! The giant monsters of minaria, and their place in the world. Which side are they on, and what part will they play in your game? With so many different factions, no one side, even ones as individually powerful as this, can win on their own. There certainly must be a LOT of different ways they could be combined.</blockquote>

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