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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6101802" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 311: September 2003part 4/9Arcane alterations: Surprisingly, Wizards get the smallest article this month. Also surprisingly, it's an OGL one drawing upon a 3rd party product. Monte Cook's distinctive system of ceremonial feats and spell templates from Arcana Unearthed gets converted back to regular D&D. Triply surprisingly, it's not just a straight conversion, but also adds some more variant spell template ideas that you could easily use in both d20 variants, such as adding knockdown to your spells, or making them able to reliably affect incorporeal creatures. Useful stuff that probably doesn't merit adding a whole level onto your spells like normal metamagic feats. Most of them do have a gp cost though, so you won't be able to use them non-stop. So while you'll be able to get a decent amount of use out of them, this thankfully isn't power creep. It's just a shame that unlike the previous article, this one won't be appearing in official books. They might be doing a bit of borrowing, but WotC are still surprisingly loath to use the OGL to pillage the ideas of others for their own profit. Strange, really. Faces of faith: Like Paladins last issue, Clerics get the most dramatic variants this issue, with a whole bunch of alternative/specialist classes. Ancestral Speakers get to draw on skills from their ancestors in the same way as WoD werewolves, and are really good at actually communicating with undead instead of driving them off, which seems a more productive solution. Arcane Disciples gain wizard bonus feats and spell selections, making them possibly even twinkier than druids. Aspirants try to become gods rather than serve them, and get fewer but more flexible spontaneous spell conversions. They make perfect Athar. Benevolents lose turning for even better healing and buffing powers. Crusaders get Fighter bonus feats and Paladin smiting, making both of them redundant really. Evangelists cast spells spontaneously, getting a fairly limited selection of spells known, but tons of domains. Most of these do look better, and certainly more flexible than the undead turning you sacrifice, (presuming you don't plan to take divine channeling feats) making this further power creep for people who think clerics still aren't cool or game-dominating enough. Like specialist wizards, taking them seems a very good idea indeed if optimisation is your thang.</blockquote>

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