Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5257792" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 193: May 1993part 4/6The druid gets a life: Oh, not again. Are people still perpetuating stupid put-downs against druids. Quite possibly the most awesome class in the game, with full spellcasting, decent weapons and easy shapeshifting on top. And, in these editions, a fairly strict charisma minimum. If they're social outcasts, it's because they choose to be, not due to necessity. And let's face it, they can achieve balance between man and nature much more effectively if they involve themselves in the affairs of both. There's also the interesting fact that they're one of the few classes that has an overarching organisation that they have to be a part of, and this makes them very able to co-ordinate their actions should it become necessary. By providing magical assistance to the common man, as long as they're acting in a nature-friendly way, with the threat of taking it away present in the background, they can subtly become a fantasy mafia that surpasses even the thieves guilds. This is the kind of thing that makes a political campaign seem rather more appealing than Bruce's contribution this month. Politics means little without agendas and means, and the fun is in just how subtly and obliquely you can fulfil your objectives, preferably via masterstrokes that accomplish several things at once while also turning your enemies against one-another. This is a very pleasing article. Plus on top of being likeable, this has a nice array of spells which serve to expand their everyday usefulness. Keep fighting the stupidity. Fertility is one that'll let even a single 1st level druid make a real difference to a whole community over the course of the year. Once they have a few more levels under their belt, they can wander across a whole country. It really will take surprisingly few druids to make a huge impact on a society with tools like this. Heal Plants is a lot more effective than the human cure wounds spell of the same level. At higher levels, it'll fix an entire blighted field. It's reversible too, which'll let you ruin a recalcitrant farmer's life as quickly as you saved it. Ripen lets you cheat the seasons, presumably in case of emergency. Because regular use would probably result in disapproval from the hierarchy and possible power loss. Firebreak stops nasty creatures from setting fire to the forest. Watch them look thoroughly bemused as it just doesn't work. Whether you choose to reveal your presence will obviously depend on what they do next. Spring lets you conjure water from the ground, presuming there's any to conjure. Probably wouldn't work too well in athas. Still, you can get more than you would conjuring it wholecloth if you choose your location well. Both approaches have their place in a well rounded repertoire. Heal Trees is a higher level variant of heal plants, able to affect the largest of plant-organisms, including intelligent ones. Meh. Insect Ward is handy on several levels, as it can <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=":)" /> up an ecosystem as well as make life more pleasant. With a duration of months, this is another one that can change the life of a community for better or worse. And isn't that a lot more interesting than another combat spell that's over in a flash. The game wizards: Time for the collector's cards to get their now regular promoting in here. And oh god, the statistics are more complicated than ever. They now have both the regular gold bordered cards, and considerably rarer red bordered cards, explicitly made just for the purpose of giving people who really want to collect them all a real challenge. They've started hand-sorting the packs to make sure the distribution across the country is truly random. And there's several visual gimmicks like prismatic cards, stickers, and exclusive stuff. Amusingly, they point out their own errata here as well. Sure they've made a few mistakes. But that just makes those runs even more collectible, honest! As one of those articles that started off as an interesting diversion, but is now becoming routine, this is rather less interesting than last year. Statistics can only sustain my interest if I have some attachment to the underlying topic. And that's not really the case here. Forum: Karen Remick is yet another person organizing their thoughts on an issue into numbered points. Seems to be becoming quite the trend. She's another person trying to address the twinkery problem, often by oblique methods. Remember, the less they know about the rules and their character's statistics, the less they can twink them. If you have to change system to regain that air of mystery, so be it. Warren Tilson is even more keen on removing the statistics from the player's annoying grasps, having them define their characters narratively and just build from that. It forces them to roleplay, and speeds up character generation considerably too. Get back to roleplaying's let's pretend roots, not it's wargaming ones. Randy Hunt yet again says the DM should be the one keeping the character sheets between sessions. I'm starting to think that should be standard. After all, if a player doesn't turn up, you can still run that character accurately as an NPC. If the DM flakes, everyone's screwed regardless. In addition, make sure you present options other than combat to your players.Bill Heron also encourages number-pointing your ideas. Oh, and actually communicating with them, and establishing what people want out of a game. Passive-aggressive nerfing mid game is no fun for anyone. Matt Martin advises you not to follow the treasure tables to the letter, or allow every optional rule into the game. These are sure paths to overpowered characters. The imbalance is inherent to the system, and you must actively work to prevent it. Jorge Hernandez once again brings the mean solutions to the table to make sure no overpowered character escapes. As with the jedi stuff, at this point you really have no excuses but your own incompetence and cowardice for letting payers get away with this <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=":)" />. Ed Pflager tries to be reasonable about age restrictions on gaming conventions. Yes, a flat limit is a bit unfair. But in a public convention, how are they to know if you're mature enough or not. Best to be on the safe side. Thomas M. Heckmann (is that bowdlerised? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> ) explains exactly why SARPA have an age restriction on many games. As usual, its the parents that are the problem, not the kids. You have to take precautions in these litigious times. Yes, it is a bit of a tiresome business. The alternative is worse.</blockquote>

Verification