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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5920974" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Annual 2000part 2/7Fresh starts: Speaking of being approached by some guy in a pub as they way you start every adventure, screw that noise. This is definitely one area where a little more variety would be great. This is only 3 pages and has 20 hooks, so it's not as able to completely avoid repetition as the previous two articles, but they are fun ones, including multiple ones that take you away from everything you knew, and one dragging the PC's into a harem comedy gone wrong. Blackmail, being swept off course sailing, turned to stone and then back centuries later, or even the really cheesy old one of inheriting a haunted castle. If there is an issue with these, it's how many simply sweep the characters up with no chance to say no, and completely cut them off from their old connections and safety nets. Sure Dorothy and Alice got good stories out of that, but if it happens regularly to players they'll feel railroaded and lose investment. Be sure to break stories like this up with ones where they do get to exercise agency if you want a long healthy campaign. Rays of light: We don't have an Arcane Lore in this annual, but we do have a collection of spells and new metamagic feats anyway. Quite a substantial one too, with 17 spells and 5 feats crammed into 4 pages. The theme is ray spells. They've been around for ages, but they've received a real increase in frequency in the new edition. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that you have to both hit the target with a ranged touch attack, which wizards aren't the best at, and then they get a saving throw, making them more likely to be resisted than the average spell. If you want to be a specialist in using them, multiclassing with something with a high BAB like Eldrich Knight would be a very good idea. But I digress. The new metamagic feats are both the most interesting part of this, and also the smallest. You can turn a ray spell into a cone or a burst, make it shoot three things at once or two in a row. And with the spells here, you can shoot fire, cold, electricity, rust, disease, stupidity, negative energy, or a critically acclaimed madonna album. In addition to the 16 rays, they also include a counterspell that'll reflect ray spells back on anyone trying to shoot you, which makes a lot of sense in the circumstances. He who lives by the ray does not want to die by the ray. This is packed full of just the kind of crunch players'll love to use, and love to hate bad guys who also use it. Even now, you can't always rely on AoE attacks to get the job done without hurting your friends.</blockquote>

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