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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6060878" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 301: November 2002part 6/10Elminster's guide to the realms: Sometimes Ed's characters play it smart. Sometimes, though, they're just dumb, and kept alive by fiat. Such as this one. Another character that's given special powers because Ed wants a more literary feeling character than the D&D rules accommodate. Let's face it, D&D diviners are THE most badass speciality of one of the most badass classes, especially at high level, where they're the kings of xanatos gambit long plans and always having the right counter to any challenge. No, it's just a woman who has visions when she touches magical items, and any attempts to majorly inconvenience her have resulted in obnoxious feebleminding direct from Mystra herself. Really, what can you do with a setup like that. It automatically turns the character from an adventure in themselves to a mouthpiece for the DM to give you cryptic plot hooks. So yeah, this is the kind of railroading plot device character I really wish we'd outgrown by now. Sure, the Realms has a whole load of legacy ones baked in, but you don't need to keep adding more! Sigh. Fiction: Cause and Effect by Paul Kemp. Our other bit of Realms material this month, on the other hand, is pretty good. Paul once again brings a darker, more morally ambiguous edge to the Realms. While the high wizards may be pretty much untouchable, the cities are still full of rogues and scoundrels both guild affiliated and independent, and they're constantly engaged in backstabbing power games with permanent gruesome consequences. Still, as with the Erevis Cale stories, he doesn't make the protagonist of this an outright monster. He may be sorely tested, but in the end he takes the merciful path. Of course, that may come back to bite him in the ass later, because no good deed goes unpunished, but that's a story for another time. In the meantime, it sets up another character who has a good deal of potential, and shows you how to create a good story with minimal dialogue. I object to neither of those things. The ad free scan fails to excise everything. The complete guide to dopplegangers by goodman games gets a rather entertaining before and after picture.</blockquote>

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