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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5926406" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Annual 2000part 6/7Nodwick is taken over by John Kovalic. Not as convincingly as phil's try, though. Class combo's: We saw the second instalment of this out of order last time round. Now I get a good look at the proper introduction. Now, there are advantages to taking certain classes at 1st level, particularly rogue and barbarian, but even they'll be offset by the fact that you're not completely specialising in whatever you want to do, which is particularly important for spellcasters. Taking a level or two in fighter or ranger later on can also offer advantages to a build, as these classes are particularly front-loaded at the moment. Even splitting, on the other hand, is one of the worst things you can do, despite it being encouraged by the xp penalty system. Despite that, nearly half of these are even splits, as they try to give us the obvious iconic multiclass options first. Champion (1/3 fighter, 2/3 cleric) Nature's Champion (1/4 ranger, 3/4 druid) Scout (1/2 ranger, 1/2 rogue) Skald (1/2 Barbarian, 1/2 Bard, another resurrection of an obvious kit from 2e)  Spellfilcher (1/3 Rogue, 2/3 Wizard) Spellsword (1/3 fighter 2/3 wizard) and Tracker (1/2 Barbarian 1/2 Ranger) Note how it's already the part spellcaster builds that skew unevenly towards them. While I can see the value in trying to get people to fulfil their character concepts by working within the existing class system rather than creating their own, this series seems likely to suffer diminishing returns very quickly, as while you can create near infinite combinations, the obvious ones will disappear quite quickly. I can't see it having that long a lifespan. The ecology of the Feyr: Paranoia. Mistrust of the enemy among us. A theme that would go up in profile quite a bit this decade. They don't know that yet, but that doesn't mean this doesn't work. This is one of those ecologies where the narrator is in cahoots with the monster, and giving out the information to stir up further trouble. Which is, of course, just what the feyr thrives upon. Once again, they also use this magazine as a way to update creatures that didn't make it into the monster manual. Is this going to become a regular thing? In any case, this is a competent but not particularly groundbreaking ecology. Forgotten realms 2000: Here's some mechanical updates for the Realms to complement the setting ones earlier. Can't wait for the corebook to come out? Here's the spheres for the gods, conversions for 13 magical items, a spell, and all the subraces that we've come to know and love. Plus there's the new stuff. Three sample regional feats, including Luck of Heroes, which show that yes, the power creep is small, but has already started. And a relaxing of the multiclassing rules on monks and paladins, as followers of specific gods get special exemptions appropriate to their portfolios. They're not going to stay bound by the standards they established in the corebooks. The realms has always been a high power setting, and they don't see why they should stop now. I mildly disapprove. They should at least stick to their guns long enough to see where the problems are before patching them, otherwise they'll just make new ones. Let the flamewars ……. continue.</blockquote>

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