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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5523099" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 229: May 1996part 2/8The Rhabdomancer: A new specialist wizard type? Actually, it's more a particularly amusing diviner kit. Using dousing rods to detect various hidden things around you seems incredibly banal in a universe where even starting wizards can control minds and conjure blasts of energy. Whether it's more practically useful I'm not sure, but like other diviners, they only have one forbidden school, so it's not as if they're lacking in other abilities. And they do have enough new spells and alterations to existing ones that they will be interesting to play. Overall, they don't seem to be particularly under or overpowered, so I'd have no objection to using them, and the fact that they're optimised for detecting things underground gives them a perfect reason to team up with adventurers and go dungeoneering. Not bad, not bad at all. Illusions of Grandeur: Oh hee hee hee. Our themed section continues with this highly amusing semi-IC advice on being an illusionist. Or not being an illusionist, for as we already found in issue 202, the best trick a roguish sort can pull is making you think they're completely honest and trustworthy. And let's face it, with access to another 4 wizard schools, they can provide a decent bit of reality to back up their illusions, keep people guessing as to whether a particular feature is a bluff or a real hazard. It's when things seem innocuous that you should be most worried, for when the illusion is hiding a real danger that you're actually going to suffer for your foolishness. With 5 new spells that also facilitate this kind of double-bluff behaviour, and a very quick-paced and self aware writing style, (although I figured out the twist at the end way before it happened) this shows us how to run illusionists far better than the dry old articles nitpicking on the fine points of the disbelief rules. A case where covering the same topic again isn't redundant at all, which is something they ought to pay attention to when picking articles to run. Curses: Let's face it, just inflicting a boring penalty on dice rolls in response to people doing nasty stuff to you isn't really very dramatic. A really good curse doesn't kill it's victim, at least not quickly, it makes them suffer. This is another topic that certainly isn't new. Issues 29, 77 & 167 had articles on the inventive application of curses. And here we go again, with some random tables for you to select a punishment from. In theory, you could roll for it, but the number given doesn't fit any particular dice. Still, they are reasonably varied and amusing, giving you plenty of chances to get your sadist on. Just remember, these are really the starting point, not the end-all. Muahahaha!!!</blockquote>

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