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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5644156" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997part 6/8Arcane Lore: Ooh, new bard spells. We really ought to have had some of those before. Damn wizards stealing all the publicity, despite not having the charisma. Druids have been pretty neglected in the last few years as well, having to cadge off their irresponsible mates the elementalists for new spells. Still, at least they're not rehashing again. Apparition makes you look insubstantial and ghostly, allowing you to scare or fake-out people. Always a good way of seeming more powerful than you are, and that's something Bards should pay extra attention too. Chromatic Crown gives you hot-swappable resistances that scale in versatility as you level. This is quite useful, because you never know what kind of attacks you're going to face beforehand. This could save your life a few times. Chromatic Rod dazzles everyone it hits, in an interesting variant on color spray. Good thing bards have a lower THAC0 than wizards, for that touch attacky goodness. Size Disguise is another one for when you can't afford the real thing or wish to take advantage of looking big or small and having hands in a different place. Hmm, that'll take a bit of creativity. Captain's Voice gives you the projecting power of BRIAN BLESSED without spending years working on your vocal power and stage presence. It even lets you talk through walls. Combine with a little clairvoyance to keep your subordinates from masturbating. <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" /> Chorus of Valor forces your companions to join in the singing if they want the buff. This is why people prefer clerics to bards. Hostile Images is another illusion one that makes things confusing and scary for the enemy but doesn't actually have real effects. But flinch reflexes being what they are, that may waste a crucial few rounds. Hypnotic Harmonies is a reskinned hypnotic pattern that'll work on grimlocks, but not people wearing earplugs. Like varying energy types, this is useful simply because it keeps enemies from getting smug about their resistances. Mute shuts your enemy up, making sure they can't cast spells. Seen that before very recently. Well, it's such an obvious avenue of screwage. Dirge of Despondency spreads Aaaaangst. Meh. Rumble fakes people out with signs of an earthquake. Seems like that kind of chicanery is going to be a definite theme of this article. Shrieker Wail imitates said wandering monster attractors, with hil-arious results. God, it's been ages since we've heard about them. They really ought to do an ecology. Silent Passage is a slightly more focussed silence spell, designed to make your party stealthy but still able to communicate. It's considerably better than the clerical ones of similar levels we've seen in the past. This technology is coming on quite nicely. Soon it'll be as good as Invisibility. Inspirational Theme is an absolutely hilarious and rather obvious buff spell. Ba baba BA BA Ba bada BA BA Ba baba ba. Arum papa pum papa pum pum pum. Sisters are doing it for themselves! Whatever floats your boat, the mechanical effect'll be the same. Protection from Light makes you and all your posessions completely light-absorbant. It's not quite invisibility, and so it's substantially higher level seems a bit odd, but it certainly has it's uses for stealth and intimidation. Echolocation should be an obvious one. It has it's advantages and disadvantages over regular vision. Seen you before. Infrared Light gives you infravision. Seen that before in this magazine too, possibly twice. Yawn. Otto's Triple Chime gets rid of traps and opens things up, twice. Possibly overkill, but when you've seen the traps some people put on their stuff, who can blame a bard for a little doublechecking. Prismatic Shell gives you a single layer of prismatic goodness to shield yourself with, since bards like their pretty colours, but can't afford the whole thing. Any well prepared wizard will penetrate this with a single thrust. Uh! Watch me now! Aria of Peace keeps people from fighting as long as you keep singing. Keep those vocal chords well exercised and be ready to make a quick exit when you stop. A lot of people get unreasonably pissed off by pacifism.</blockquote>

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