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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5574106" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 235: November 1996part 2/8Mage on deck!: Oh dear. Sea mages & magic again. Considering that was given a quite solid treatment in issue 220, hardly any time ago really, my rehash alarm is being sent into high alert. The result is a bit iffy, but is aware of the previous entry and tries to take a different approach. Where that made them into a specialist wizard type, this does them as a kit, which allows them to make their benefits and penalties a little more subtle and idiosyncratic. (and also make them more fragile, because they lose their extra powers if they ever settle down and become a landlubber. ) It does raise serious questions about concept implementation and niche protection, which again shows up the problem with AD&D's current ruleset, gradually accreting extra bits and pieces ad hoc from different writers. However despite the larger editorial issues the appearance of this article indicates, taken individually, it's actually a slight improvement on the previous one, with more amusing little flavour bits, and a much larger selection of new spells. So this is one case where they manage to justify the repeated topic, but doesn't leave me totally satisfied. Now let's look at the spells, see how many of them are variants of already existing ones and how they compare mechanically. Absolute Location is a fairly basic homing pigeon thing. Seen that before. Cast-iron Stomach lets you consume manky rations & weird foreign stuff without fear. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of these basic practical spells over the course of this. Cure Lumber is also self-explanatory. It may save time, but only once your wizard has a decent few levels up. Remember, rememorisation is a bitch, especially at the 1 spell a day level. Depthsounder means you don't have to carefully measure out rope to see how many fathoms the sea bed is. It's duration is fairly short, so it may run out before you get through big reefs. Better get sailing then. Detect Structural Flaw is another one that lets you condense hours of careful examination into 10 minutes chanting. Now you just have to schedule regular maintenance time to actually apply that knowledge. Don't get complacent. Desalinate is for those who don't have the levels to make water from nothing. And since a ship's crew can get through a LOT of water, this'll help you stave off pissdrinking for quite a while longer, hopefully. Then you just have to deal with weeks of getting weaker & starving. Predict Tide is only really useful if you've been knocked out & imprisoned for ages, or live on a world with multiple moons which make the tides more complicated. Otherwise, you really ought to be able to remember this stuff yourself. Preserve keeps yer perishables intact for a year. Make sure you write down somewhere what's expiring when. Logistics is a crucial part of long journeys. Protection from Rust is another one that's long term, but certainly not permanent. After all, the shipmages want to stay in regular employment, not get hired once during construction then ignored. Tactics as well as logistics, y'see. <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=";)" /> Strip continues the basic function accelerators. This is going on for ages. Just how much more can we take? I suppose you'd need a specialist to get near to having all these spells memorised. Vermin-ward lets you keep rats off the ship. But then how will the sailors know if it's sinking?! I suppose that's another reason to keep the wizard around. <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=";)" /> Anchor starts us off on the 2nd level spells. Not only able to do it faster than a manual drop, but also able to halt enemy ships if you can get onboard. This one seems ideal for extending the range with spectral hand.Collision Alarm is your basic awooga. It won't spot people swimming up to the boat though. Watch out for ninja pirates pulling their appearing tricks. Diskboat is a hybrid between a rowboat and Tenser's floating disk. Interesting. I suppose there are some definite benefits to floating just above the surface of the water. Just don't expect to avoid seasickness. Fog Light actually works better in mist or fog than in open air. Well, magic doesn't have to be logical. And that does have a definite use, so you could see why someone'd develop it. Eagle Vision basically does what the old magical item does. Always amusing to see that kind of retro-fitting added onto the game. Fisheye lets you see better underwater. Also fairly obvious. Flamedouse lets you get rid of fire more cleanly. After all, this is one thing you really want to get done in an emergency. Don't be afraid to wake your wizard in the middle of the night. Gripdeck keeps people from slipping off in stormy weather. Also a perfect counter for Grease, which has long needed a better opposite than dispel magic. Helmsman creates an unseen servant with specialised knowledge to pilot your ship. This seems like the kind of thing you could create a whole bunch of variants for. Selective intelligence! It's so much less likely to turn on you and try to take over the world than full sentience. Intruder Alert is another expanded version of an existing spell, upgrading Alarm to cover an entire ship. That'll show those ninjas. <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" /> Seal says we're never gonna survive, unless we go a little crazy. And indeed, the sheer length of this article is starting to wear upon me. Too much filler! Stormsail is another bit of basic reinforcement so when the weather gets tough, the tough keep going. Turn an obstacle into an opportunity and get there ahead of time. Swim also adds basic skills to the unskilled. Swim swim swim like a fishie. Don't go sleepin' with the fishes though, as that's just gross. Turn increases the maneuverability of your vessel. You'd better learn learn learn, learn to react appropriately if you don't want to overshoot. Crew of Phantoms finally gets us to 3rd level spells, and further expands on the unseen servant idea. It's a good thing the numbers decrease as you go up in levels, or this'd take up half the issue. Doublespace lets you fit twice as much in the hold. Make damn sure you've removed the excess before it wears off, for trying to fit a quart into a pint pot is very messy indeed. Fast Travel Doesn't work as well as Haste does on individuals. Maybe if it were a few levels higher. Locate Person is one I'm sure I've seen before. Well, it's such an obvious variant on an existing spell that multiple people would develop it independently, wouldn't they. Phantom Sail is another way of keeping on going even when things are a complete mess. Mind you, it has a duration of concentration, so you'd better have that anti-slippage spell already cast if you're in the middle of a storm. Robust Construction is another example of impermanent protections that'll last quite a while, but keep the sailors coming back for more. Fantasy economics at it's finest. <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" />Sail in Irons lets you stall an enemy ship. This seriously pisses off anyone on the locked ship, probably more than just grappling and robbing them. Really, it's just embarrassing, like a spell to make your trousers fall down. You know, they really ought to add that in one of their april issues. <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=":)" /> Shield Vessel is yet anther large-scale variant of a lower level spell. Oh why couldn't stuff like that be a template. Then we wouldn't have to endure endless variants like this. Hurricane Anchor will keep you safe from all but the strongest winds. Watch out for farmhouses from kansas though. If it's strong enough to pick one of those up, you're still screwed. Smooth Sailing is pretty similar, only it keeps you moving as though the weather was mild and balmy. A better researcher could probably have condensed these into a single spell. Wind of the Zephyrs lets a ship move faster in a more stable fashion than the lower level spell. It's reversible too, letting you slow down enemies and maybe even capsize them. It really ought to say how far you can target them at though. Blinkship continues the larger scale spell adaptions with a particularly impressive trick. Even blink elephants'll look awkward next to this bit of teleporting confusion. Wild Jibe sends a blast of wind to knock over an enemy ship. They really are obsessed with wind here. I would make a fart joke, but I'm feeling pretty deflated by now. Dimensional Fog lets a nasty wizard pull the Ravenloft trick, sending you to another world via fogbank. This works on a ship or landbound group of people, so it's not just for sea mages. And that's the end of that article.</blockquote>

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