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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6121880" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 315: January 2004part 6/8The return of the Sha'ir: Ah yes, one of THE most inconvenient classes to fit into the 3e mold. Sha'ir in 2e could only cast one spell every few turns, but could go on like that all day, and access a far wider variety of spells on the fly than regular wizards, including cleric ones if they were willing to risk it. In combat they were pretty <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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" />, but in exploration and social situations, they were the wiz with the shiz. And actually, I expected a more severe rewriting than the one we get. Unlike psionicists, they're still very much the same as they were, only with two key differences: their total spells per day is limited in a more conventional manner, and they can "hold" more than one retrieved spell at once, allowing them to be conventionally useful in a fight if they have the chance to prepare. They still have a short list of spells they can get quickly and easily, and can then get their mitts on any other wizard spell they want with slightly more difficulty, and a small number of priest spells if they're willing to wait hours and face a high DC check. The real benefit they have over both standard wizards and sorcerers is still in being able to pull out utility spells and appropriate metamagic with just a few minutes free time. And probably in having a maxed out Diplomacy rating, since their powers key off that, so they'll also be pretty handy as a mundane face for the party. So this is actually usable, yet not completely stripped of it's old flavour. I'm fairly happy with this, even if that skill dependency feels like a bit of a tax. Better not give them an int penalty, otherwise they'll have to choose between Diplomacy or Concentration, and how viable a spellcaster will they be then? Guardians of the Docrae: Like Ghostwalk, Blackmoor has had hardly any mentions, and no actual articles in the magazine before this. Actually, it never got properly detailed as a setting back in the old days full stop, with only 4 adventure modules and no real corebook. The d20 treatment is both bigger and mechanically more different from straight D&D, which is mildly pleasing. Also fairly pleasing is that this article decides to give halflings some love, showing how they're different from regular ones. As they haven't had comfortable lives like Tolkien hobbits, they've spent a fair bit of effort developing a combat style that works well against bigger enemies. It seems to owe a bit of a debt to capoeira, as it's a dance style as well as a martial art, and gives them much needed bonuses with trips, throws and grappling, as well as a nice instadeath strike at 10th level. It seems pretty decent for a monk prestige class, which means it still isn't the most flexible, but gets lots of neat looking tricks, and doesn't make you reliant on equipment. It's also nicely nongeneric, which counts for quite a bit in my book. I think this is another one I can give a positive result too. Return to the lost city: Ah yes, B4. Unlike B2, this didn't get revisited in the silver anniversary nostalgia trip, and still has enough obscurity to seem fresh to me. And interestingly, Mike Mearls tries to expand on it rather than just rehashing it, despite not having much room to work with. He gives us a map of the immediate surroundings of the pyramid, and tries to add a bit more ecology to the melange of competing cults so even though the population may be drugged out and declining, regularly ravaged by sacrificing to a giant monster, there's still some degree of stability there, and it'll last a few generations more if left alone. Zargon itself is thoroughly upgraded, gaining a batch of spell-like abilities that makes it the equal of most powerful Fiends, and making the conditions to kill it permanently considerably stricter. It may be a little too sensible, but at least it gives us new material that's useful for converting back to basic D&D, which you can't say for most of these. Don't just feed off nostalgia, give something back to it as well.</blockquote>

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