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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5240263" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 191: March 1993part 2/6Rifts England! Druids and new camelot bring hope in a dangerous world <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:" />The elven pantheon - Completed!: A little bit of cut material here. For various reasons, Rillifane Rallathil fell through the cracks in the editing of monster mythology, and so there were still mentions of him, but we never got his actual stats and specialty priest details. Since we already got alternate updated stats for him in issue 176, this isn't such a big deal for regular collectors of the magazine, but here we go anyway. And as before, there are some pretty substantial differences between the two interpretations, in requirements, restrictions and granted powers. Curiously, I think I actually prefer this one this time around. While both versions have substantial similarities with druids, the granted powers are more distinctive in this one, and set them apart better. Plus of course, there's the Avatar stats. So this is a fairly handy little bit o' filler from the official writers.  Different totes for different folks: A second load of lists and tables this month, courtesy of Vince Garcia. This initially seems like just a reprint of the PHB equipment tables with a few additions, but it's actually a lot cleverer than that. It then provides you with sample standard equipment lists for each of the major classes. This is very handy, both for getting your character up and running initially without all that faffing around shopping, and in allowing us to analyze the differences in needs of the classes. Elves come off worse by a long shot, with their multiclassed natures conspiring against them to really eat up their funds, and their spellbooks being shockingly big and heavy. Nature oriented types like druids also require a surprisingly bulky and complex set of equipment, at least until they're powerful enough to live off the land comfortably via magic. In most cases, a week's rations is one of the bulkiest parts of your gear, showing up just how inconvenient being an adventurer can be. A timely reminder that 50 pound loads are actually a pretty big hassle to carry, let alone fight in. It's also significant in that this kind of list became standard in 3e, with one for each class along with the default skill and feat picks. So this is one of those articles that is a lot more impressive than first glance would indicate. Very much one for the historical notes. An African Genesis: Our african renaissance this year continues with an article on their gods, complete with full speciality priest stats. Like Kits, this is a rich ground for new crunch that they're only now starting to exploit to it's full potential. Since I seem to get more written when I break these things up, I think I'll do do here as well. Let's see how well designed these godly renditions are. Olurun is one of your creator/sky deities, who has since become distant from humanity. This makes his clerics quite rare, and with restrictions that keep them from being adventurers. With flight powers, they'll have little difficulty maintaining their distance from humanity as well. Otabala is Olurun's earthly counterpart, who's priests are a lot more involved in the community, and frequently rather wealthy, thanks to the smithing/creativity sides of his portfolio. With the ability to cast all earth related spells at double size and duration, his clerics can be pretty badass battlefield controllers. It'd be a pleasure to have one onboard. Orunmilla presides over the spirit world. With nearly free mindreading, and a hugely expanded range of other divination spells, plus 4 free nonweapon proficiencies, her clerics are another group with abilities that are quite powerful, but'll still give them a distinctive approach. Olokun is a rather unpleasant goddess of the sea. Like so many of them, she seems likely to send storms and sink ships if not properly appeased. Unsurprisingly, her clerics are highly focussed on water spells, and also have a strong piratical bent, raiding and slaving. They sound like a good choice for adversaries. Ala is the goddess of the circle of life, giving her clerics enhanced powers over both sex and death. Man, regular necromancers attract enough fangirl goths. Just HOW much action will these clerics get if they use their position properly? And on top of that, they get druidlike shapechanging too at higher level. Yeah, these'll be a wet dream to certain players. Eshu is our travelling taleteller and trickster, well known to Changeling players. His clerics have the interesting distinction of being forbidden to do anything for someone else for free. With minor roguish abilities, luck manipulation, and telepathic emergency messages, they aren't as powerful as many of the preceding priests, but are still eminently PCable. Shango is the god of storms, and like the goddess of the sea, is violent and unpredictable. His clerics also have quite nasty necromantic abilities along with the expected electrical attacks. You can expect them to terrorise places with dramatic thunderclouds behind and maniacal laughs. A very playable collection, if a touch more powerful than most of the ones from Legends & Lore and the Complete Priests Handbook. They might even be competitive with ordinary clerics and druids <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> The lack of access to Tome of Magic spheres is a bit on an oversight, and of course, this barely scratches the surface of the deities of Africa, but it's more than good enough for now. Like the psionicist kits, I hope we have a few more instalments in this vein to come.</blockquote>

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