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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5853754" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000part 3/7Countdown to 3rd edition: 5 months to go. Here we get to see rogues, and the new skill system showcased. This is one area I have no hesitation in saying 3e was a substantial improvement on previous editions. Sneak attack is now clearly defined and explained in what it can and can't do, Rogue skills are integrated with the general system so you don't have to buy a particular one if it's not appropriate to your concept, and the DC system scales far better than the old percentile one. Plus taking 10 and 20 are valuable additions to the general rules. It's still not perfect, but you can easily pick a point or two in a skill that only mildly interests you without knocking down the optimisation of your character too much, which is a lot more than you can say for 2e. No complaints here, so I have less to say than the last two. Now, when we get to fighters and the new/revived classes, that should be interesting. Animal henchmen: Looks like we're starting off our articles with another look back at the vast mountain of material 2e accumulated, with an article that doesn't introduce new creatures, but does reference a whole bunch of them, some from fairly obscure supplements. Well, that's another way to help clear out the warehouses. And lets face it, there have been a lot of stories with intelligent animal companions, talking or not. Of course, the big issue with animal companions is that they remain fairly static in power while the PC's change enormously. A problem which we now know 3e will handle considerably better. So it's a bit ironic really to see an article that tries to fix this, but doesn't really go far enough, and spends most of it's time looking backwards. This isn't going to be one I reference again once a few months has passed. PC Portraits does druids and rangers, which is indeed pretty in theme as usual. They do tend towards a certain nobility of features, but I think that's just the artist's style rather than intentional. Hoods, animal features, leaves, feathers and other symbols of the natural cycle are of course popular adornments. Overall, I think this is one of the better composed sets in the series, with relatively detailed shading and no big proportional mishaps. They can use this guy again when they need some more faces. Herbcraft: As is their habit around this time, they dig up at least one topic that hasn't been seen in the magazine for over a decade. Herbalism previously got articles in issues 82 and 119, both of which are for 1e. So this can avoid rehash simply by incorporating 2e rules. Which it does, expanding on what you can treat with a basic roll, and then detailing some specific magical herbs that can provide further effects beyond that. So this doesn't step on the toes of previous articles, and has enough fantastical elements that subsequent articles are unlikely to repeat it directly in turn, and makes fairly pleasant reading. Like the article last issue about what a person can do untrained, it's good for clarifying the rules, which is helpful as you finish an edition, to make things feel nicely resolved. You can't say they haven't gone to quite a bit of effort to tie up all the loose ends, with all these articles and compilation books and CD's. Extra healing: Now, Herbalism and Healing have a lot of synergy, to the point where they're obligatory for some cleric builds. (which eats up all your slots if at least one of them isn't a bonus from the kit) Of course, there's always room for more expensive subdividing of skills, and it looks like that particular annoyance of 2e is about to get another airing before the next edition mostly puts skill bloat to bed, and 4e kills it for good. (so far) So here's 3 new healing sub-proficiencies, and 4 new herbalism ones for you, should you be obsessive enough to want a character devoting their whole life to this field of study. They then detail a whole bunch of natural herbs, most of which don't have any defined mechanical effect. Well, I suppose they want to keep it useful for next edition, because you're unlikely to be seeing something like this there. And I can't particularly say I'll miss this topic. Byebye. Beneath the boughs: In issue 251, we got an interesting little article on Dryads in the Dragonlance 5th age setting. In a fairly obvious symmetry filler, the same writer follows up with one on satyrs. Now, they already have AD&D rules in the Complete book of Humanoids, but they don't have SAGA rules yet. And on top of that, they gain better class options in Krynn than other worlds, as is also the case with ogres, elves, gnomes, and some other races; and some slightly altered ecological information from their previous appearance in issue 155. They also have four new spells detailed for both systems. As with the previous one, this is jaunty, packs it's crunch into small packages, and fits plenty of flavour in there as well. If you want a satyr who's a bit less comic relief (after all, in krynn, they're regularly upstaged by kender and tinker gnomes) and more competent and able to work with a party for a decent length of time, this article provides a nice little upgrade for two systems.</blockquote>

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