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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5859702" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 270: April 2000part 2/7Forum: Mark Anthony Sims thinks thieves need much better kits to make them as cool as the other classes. Their complete handbook was one of the dullest in that respect. Correct, but leaving it a bit late. Josef McCoy thinks having something to fight against is more important than having something to fight for. Once again we see that people work together better if there's a clear and defined opposition. Jason Bartlett thinks high level begins in the low teens, and characters ought to be able to increase proficiency scores as well as abilities through practice. Give them more room for independent change. Matthew Avery talks about having an evil character in a mixed party. It can work, providing they have other aspects to their personality as well, and don't act like stereotypes. As ever, family can bind together bickering and disparate individuals into a common cause. Bryan A. Morgan-Armstrong points out just how much MA sucks at the moment in D&D. Unarmed combat doesn't really work on creatures that have negative effects purely by touching you. This is why the ability to attack unarmed as if you are armed is well worth spending a feat slot.  Victor P. Archer Jr hopes that speciality priests and standard clerics are better balanced next edition. Man, the complete cleric's handbook ones sucked compared to the others. Thankfully, that will not be a concern, as they've already said a few pages ago.ProFiles: Sean K Reynolds may look sinister, but he's a nice guy in real life. He still loves creating cool bad guys in the game, though, thinking carefully about their capabilities and psychologies, plans and methods, which make them adversaries that really challenge the players, and make them properly hate them and want to kick their ass. What better kind of person than that to handle the 3e Monster Manual. He's another of our profilees who's best work is yet to come, and even this profile seems to recognize this, talking a lot about his upcoming projects. But he has produced some cool stuff already, such as The Green Goblin's guide to Crime for the Marvel superheroes game. And since he becomes one of the driving forces behind Paizo and eventually Pathfinder, we'll be seeing lots more of him over the next decade of reviews. Another enjoyable read, that still has quite a bit missing in hindsight. Up on a soapbox: Gary's latest target is those who decry Hack-and-Slash gaming. Fighting in your RPG's is nothing to feel ashamed of. D&D's whole experience system revolves around killing things and taking their stuff, so it's not as if you can avoid it if you want to advance your character. Plus the way levels, damage and hit points escalate, it makes it quite possible to have a nice extended fight where you mow down lots of lesser enemies. Now, if you were talking about a White Wolf game, where damage advancement generally grows faster than your ability to absorb it, death can come very quickly if you get into a serious fight, and the experience system rewards showing up and playing your character well, not fighting, then getting into a holding patten where the same guys manoeuvre socially around each other for years, politicking and pushing for an advantage makes a lot more sense. So this is really a continuation of his opinion back in 1985, where he already though the pendulum had swung too far towards roleplaying, and away from the game part of the equation. Really, both are valid choices, as long as the group is having fun, and you shouldn't look down on the other side. After all, you might want to play differently at some point if you get bored, and burning your bridges with tribal rivalries will hurt you in the long run. And as for criticising the intelligence of people who like fighting - hey, they're the ones doing more math and rules manipulation aren't they. So valid points, made in an amusing fashion, that go against current opinion and make you think. Absolutely perfect material for an april article. The kingless land: Ed Greenwood's new novel series gets a bit more promotion, with this excerpt from the first book. And like the reviews said, this is almost pure action, which doesn't really let us get to know our protagonists well. Wait a minute, this isn't an article, this is a fricken 6 page long advert. Tor books obviously thinks Dragon readers are a prime ground for buyers. Which is probably right. Still, 6 pages! That must have been quite expensive. Still, someone's got to pay for these expanded issues, and they haven't raised prices for a few years. If they're shelling out, we might as well put up with them. I know a few pages I'll be skipping over if I read this again. PC Portraits: Tony Diterlizzi takes on the challenge of high level characters. Now while there is a lot of positive things you can say about his artwork, they don't quite capture the gravity that you think of when someone says cosmic reality bending power. They do do otherworldly well, though, as you should know by now. Needs moar glowy things and other obvious magical adornments to signify that they're decked out to the gills and not to be messed with. Colour would definitely help too. Or maybe they've moved beyond that, and would rather avoid the attentions of every young punk looking to prove themselves. You never can tell with these really high level characters.</blockquote>

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