Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6036077" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 296: June 2002part 5/10Guild secrets: (another nearly illegible title): Straight away, we have another thing that they would work on and add too in 3.5. Rules for building organisations, and the mechanical requirements and benefits you get from joining them. Now why couldn't we have had these before they tried to update planescape factions as prestige classes in an ill-fitting way? As is often the case, these are more DM focussed than their next incarnation, with a greater emphasis on specific numbers, such as membership, who the leader is, and exactly what level they are, while the benefits are relatively flat without the codified reputation system. So this is another article that feels kinda superceded, knowing what I do in hindsight. Still, it is good to see them working out ideas and bouncing them around the office. And it helps us pinpoint who to blame as well if you don't like these kind of rules in your D&D (Andy Collins, in this case. ) That's also useful when it comes to internet flame wars as it's more interesting to accuse particular employees of being the problem and "ruining the game!1!!1" than attack the whole company. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Fiction: The tomb by Thomas Harlan. Our second trip to crusades era Jerusalem, filled with knights, saracens, jews, and various others either trying to gain power, or just survive and gain a little profit. Some are virtuous, some are sinister, and often it can be hard to tell which is which. One thing that no side really looks that favourably on, in sharp contrast to D&D, is grave robbing. While you can find people willing to pay for grave goods, often quite highly, you also have to watch out or get arrested and have all your gains confiscated. So in many ways, this story is an inversion of a normal D&D adventure, where the protagonist is sent on a quest by a mysterious employer to protect someone who's already dead and stop people from taking their stuff. It still manages to have a fair amount of drama and action, and a bit of bickering comedy as well, showing you can flip an idea on it's head and still keep things interesting and challenging. And it looks like this series may well build a little further, as we gain a larger cast of recurring characters. I guess time will tell if it ever gets big enough for an overarching plot to form. Nodwick has another attack of continuity. And fails to get the dragon's hoard again. Class acts: Monte returns to give us our first monk related prestige class, the Acolyte of the Fist. They focus on exactly that, sacrificing the more esoteric monk powers and resistances for pure offensive badassery. DR penetration, smashing through walls, even hadoukens at higher level. And the power to heal with a strike as well, curiously enough. As with primary spellcasters, the powers you get from advancing to 10th level in this really don't compete with the ones you would get as a 20th level straight monk, unfortunately. Immunity to aging and a whole bunch of effects vs +1d6 to your attack damage? Somehow, I think not. Avoid the false enlightenment, you must. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Unfortunately, you can't just dip into this one, as it has a unique restriction preventing you from stepping off it until you've finished it. This may frustrate certain players. Another favourful but weak prestige class, as Monte is prone to producing. He really ought to do something about that.</blockquote>

Verification