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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5789483" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 262: August 1999part 4/7Fiction: To dam it where it trickles by Pete D Manison. The issue of magic being just another field of science and used accordingly is one of those issues that writers have struggled with quite a bit over the years, with various results. If it has consistent rules, they can be learned and exploited like anything else. If it doesn't, then what keeps it from being pure deus ex machina, robbing a story of tension? Well, here's one of the cleverer solutions to that. The idea of magic as fuelled by belief and force of will, and therefore impervious to scientific exploitation because the more you actually know, and the more rationally and logically you think, the less power you have. Of course, this leads to a situation where the head wizards could easily be outclassed by their pupils, and have to not only keep this a secret, but actively discourage critical thought in their students, and never let them know why, because that in itself will ruin their magical development. It's a setup filled with inherent tragedy, really. Might as well just become a scientist, as science doesn't care what you believe. So this is memorable, and more than a little sad. As speculative fiction, this definitely gets high marks. The ecology of the jermalaine: They've had an osquip around for quite a while, and he's played a big part in some of their stories. So it's not surprise that the association of monster hunters decides to investigate the Jermalaine. So they take the shrinky pills, and it's down into the tunnels. Now, if only wizards got Bluff as a class skill. Unsurprisingly for this lot, they get found out, captured, seriously humiliated, and only get out by sheer luck. That shtick is starting to get a bit tiresome. This is what happens when you play to the crowd. Flanderisation sets in, and before you know it, you're slipping on a banana skin while a clown plays a whistle. And then the series gets cancelled. How much longer can he keep this up? Bazaar of the Bizarre: Gnomes and halflings once again get lumped into the same section, forced to share features. Still, this does look like quite a long article, so I shouldn't complain. Otherwise next time I might have to plough my way through 10 pages of items. And that would be incredibly tedious. Looks like this one'll be long enough as it is. Amulets of the Steinneblin let you speak with badgers and detect details of stonework like Gnomes. One of those honorary member items that also makes them tend to like you, just as elves have got recently.  Armor of melding lets you hide in the rock. In the underdark, this may well be a lifesaver. Who knows when a deep dragon is going to come slithering around the corner. Badges of the Svirfneblin are another honorary member item that grants you a whole bunch of racial abilities. Course, since Svirfneblin have rather more impressive powers than Rock Gnomes, these are correspondingly more awesome to have. Badgervests let you shapeshift into a badger. Gee, what a surprise. How many limited shapeshifting items do we have in the vault now? Boots o' the Giant let a normal gnome imitate a spriggan and suddenly grow to huge size and back. Now all you need is a foul temper and lack of hygiene to match and you're ready to play infiltrator. Have fun. Boots o' the Hills obviously let you go hiking through the roughest terrain without any danger of slipping. I'm pretty sure we've seen something like this before too. Next! Bracers of Striking boost your strength. Unusually for these kinds of items, they're designed so they remain useful no matter how strong you are. Another sign of the edition change, where plusses will become standard, rather than boosts to a certain level. Cloaks o' the hills are the gnomish equivalent of cloaks of elvenkind. Unsurprisingly, they work best in the environments gnomes prefer. Another one you could make variants of for all sorts of races. Cocoon Crystals put you in stasis if there's a rockfall around you. This will save your life, but may involve waking up centuries later in a strange land if there's no-one to free you. Sounds pretty neat to me. Diamond Badgers are Wondrous Figurines designed for digging. With big savage claws, they're not at all bad in combat either. What is it with Gnomes and Badgers? How do such an amiable race have an affinity for what is basically a giant chunky cranky weasel? Gloves of Digging let you bypass the badger bit, and use your bare hands instead. Dig speeds are incredibly handy in giving you tactical options. Let's see what tricks you can come up with. Stone Knives cut through stone like butter. You won't go as fast as the last two, but you get more precision, and can really mess up rock based monsters, as well as becoming a famed sculptor. Retire and become an artist. It's safer than adventuring. A Pick of Piercing halves armor based AC bonuses and has a wide crit range. Another one that seems to have been made by making a sneaky peek at the upcoming system changes. Pit Bags are a really nasty bit of trickery. Bags of holding that conceal their entrances and only allow living material in, leaving you naked and your stuff outside for the looting? Now that'll REALLY piss players off. A trick worthy of Garl Glittergold himself. Barrier Shields provide better cover than normal when used in formation. This obviously means mass production is needed to get full benefits, which is always a bit tricky for permanent magical items. Goblinslayer Swords let you go berserk attacking goblins. Seems more a dwarf idea than a gnome one. Meh. Talismans of the Forstneblin are the third of our racial power granting honorary member items, this time focussed around forest gnomes. One wonder what abilities the tinker gnome version would grant. <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" /> Hopefully speaking and listening at the same time would be among them. Grandfather's Keys are a trio of useful little devices that help keep a halfling's home safe and sound without having to resort to nasty violence that might damage the furniture. Hammock Cloaks are another device that allow you to have both comfortable daywear and a sleeping place. Comfort is a halfling specialty, so no surprise they'd recycle and customise this idea for their needs. Restless Pillows are yet another bit of rehash. You sleep on it, you get prophetic dreams. How very obvious and recycled. Bracers of Honesty are technically cursed, but they're very useful in dealing with criminals, so a halfling community may well have a few of them around for more humane punishment. A Horn of Hiding can only be heard by halflings, while it also makes the blower invisible to a specific race. Interesting combination, but effective in defending the homelands. Probably not quite so useful to an adventuring group though. A Pouch of Forgetfulness makes the original owner forget anything stolen and put in it. This may cause weird memory gaps if it's an important item. Wish Brushes grant you a wish based on whatever you paint. Steer well clear if you're not an artist, for poor composition will produce equally twisted results. I'm sure a sadistic DM can have great fun with this one. Flutes of Transportation take you to wherever the song played was composed. This may get a bit embarrasing, since songs are frequently written indoors. But it does make for exceedingly good plot hooks and fun hunting down of lost lore. Very neat. Hob's Footbath lets you whizz along, but you'll need to soak your feet before and after or suffer horribly. Respect your magical items, don't just treat them like a tool. Oil of Fake Footsteps show that once a problem's been highlighted, variants on the solution'll be along in no time. Again we fix the problem of being tracked, this time via disguise rather than misdirection.  Bully Coins are a more anvilicious variant on an idea explored over a decade ago by Gully Dwarves. Give up your treasure freely to a threatening big person and they'll soon be cut down to size, very literally. Never thought I'd be preferring the Dragonlance version to the generic one. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":o" title="Eek!    :o"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":o" /> Buttons of Climbing are a bit of detachable clothing that are in theory reusable, but retrieving them from a clifface may be a problem. Maybe you can pull them up with your toes, since you are a halfling, and they generally go barefoot even in horrible conditions. A pipe of answers helps you get in some productive serene contemplation time. Wizardly gifts can be nice, sometimes, when they don't backfire by revealing depressing information. Chimes of the Dragon create the illusion that a Dragon is lurking in the room. Hopefully this will scare off timid intruders. Like certain famous halfings, for instance. All this time, and they're still inextricably bound to Tolkien. Daisy Chainmail is one of those ludicrous puns that they just can't resist slipping in. It's rather fragile stuff too, needing constant infusions of fresh daisys to keep full effectiveness. I think I'll skip this one. The Helm of the Halflings is another one that combines uses for great practicality and reduced encumbrance. Take it off, turn it upside down and use it as a bowl. It even cooks the stuff inside it. Very handy.</blockquote>

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