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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6064420" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 302: December 2002part 5/10Silicon sorcery: This column is both moved forward, and way bigger than normal, as they do a good round of backconversions from Neverwinter Nights. They have a whole range of interesting new golems for you to fight, which aren't of the "pick a new material" variety either. Let's see if they're as inventive as prime Ed material, or just more enemies for the sake of variety. Glyph Guardians are golems further enhanced with magical runes, so they can zap enemies with energy rays and trap them in stasis for their bosses to deal with later. Their only drawback is that this limits their range of travel, you you know you can definitely run away if you're not strong enough to take them. Old One Guardians are variant iron golems from a vanished civilisation. Instead of breathing poison gas, they produce a firey aura and elemental storms to make your life miserable. Like the regular ones, they're strong and dumb, and immune to nearly all magic, so you're going to have to bring the raw force to beat them. Battle Horrors look like golem genies, top half the usual heavy construct, tapering off into glowing energy. Since that means they can fly with perfect maneuverability, they're a lot harder to get away from than most dumb constructs. Still, at least the glow means you can always see them coming. Minogons are golems powered by bound minotaur spirits. This means they have extra damaging charge attacks, and can rage and stun with their roar. Still, unlike clay golems, they don't actually break free, which is a relief to their creator. All of these have pretty decent visual setups and aren't completely derivative, so I don't object to them.  Bazaar of the Bizarre: Yet more magical armors. These are interesting though, as they're aimed at spellcasters. As our long-term ecologist points out, it would make more sense if they designed stuff for their own benefit, not some annoying trompy fighter. Let's see what the selfish spellcaster can do to save their own life. Armor of Healing doesn't actually provide any AC bonus, but casts healing spells on you in quick succession. This probably won't save your life in a protracted fight against lots of bad guys, but is certainly better than nothing. Just make sure you have a cleric around to recharge it. Flame Armor uses up lots of item slots, which makes it a lightly iffy choice. If you have nothing better to put there, a burning shield is a good deal better than nothing. Grapple the enemy to get the most of it's effects. Fog Armor billows around you, and can grant concealment, or give you gaseous form. Since concealment scales differently from regular armor, this is valuable for both spellcasters and fighters. Liquid Armor takes suntan lotion, adds woad, and makes it a hell of a lot more protective. A bit gross really. As it only lasts an hour too, I don't think this is really worth it. Retractable Armor appears and dissappears with but a word. Exactly what that means ruleswise is not sufficiently specified. Obviously it would be a lot more useful if you can make it disappear and reappear again as free actions in the same round, only making yourself vulnerable while actually casting. Sloppy writing. Retribution Armor splits damage between you and your attacker. Not as good as full on-reflection like we've seen in the past. Another one that works well fighting one-on-one, but swarming enemies'll take you down without too much trouble. Stalagmite Armor lets you turtle, hiding you in caves with rather more safety than a mushroom cap. It'd be more useful if you could actually see out to know when to turn back. Once again the flaws of the items seem rather more significant than most articles of this kind. Here comes the slide towards the more brutal nerfings of 3.5 & 4e.</blockquote>

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