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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6154670" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 325: November 2004 part 4/8Arcane ancestry 2: They're not just doing sequels more frequently, they're actually putting it in the actual title of the article. I'm not sure if I should be amused or exasperated. Well, at least it's honest. As with the previous one from issue 311, they present a whole load of possible ancestries for your sorcerer, each with two feats, plus a few extra ones any of them can take. You could have powers derived from lawful, chaotic or ethereal outsiders, Illithids, Yuan-ti, undead, or plants. People really can have sex with ANYTHING in 3e with interesting consequences. Most of them are pretty standardised, offering an extra spell at each spell level, at the cost of an opposed subtype of spells being restricted. Since specialist wizards can get that for free, while this costs sorcerers a feat, it's still obvious who comes out on top in the long run due to sheer flexibility. Once again, I think covering fewer types of ancestry with more feats for each one would be the better way to go, so you can really develop your character's innate abilities in interesting ways. Trying to think of too many different power sources has just lead to sex with trees, and I don't really think my game is enhanced by including that as part of my character's backstory. War magic: Here's another topic that they talked about just over a year ago, in issue 309. Not surprising, since blowing up large quantities of enemies in one go before they can hurt you is a very tactically sound thing to do. Instead of introducing new spells though, this is all about the parameters of the exiting ones, particularly in a party situation where you can wind up hitting other players if not careful. In that situation, fireball and other burst spells are actually the most hazardous, (although still less than previous editions where fireball distorted it's shape if confined and lightning bolt bounced off walls) while line spells allow you to fire through ranks of enemies at minimal risk to your friends. Call lightning isn't really AoE, but has the chance to catch multiple creatures above you. Meteor Swarm's big advantage is the large amount of aiming options it offers you in one go. So this is the kind of charop stuff that reminds us that they put more emphasis on playing to a grid this edition, partly because of more tightly codified rules, and partly because they want to sell more minis. All the different shapes and energy types ensure that you always have to think tactically about which spell is best for your current fight, and I'm still very aware not everyone can make the best choices on their own. A surge of theurgy: Mystic Theurges were one of the more controversial bits of the 3.5 update, with many people complaining that they were completely broken. However, when the dust settled and the numbers had been crunched, if anything, they were often underpowered, as while they had more staying power and flexibility at high level, they didn't have the raw power a single-classed spellcaster could enjoy, and at low-mid level you had to make real sacrifices to get in. So some feats that make multiclass spellcasters a little less suboptimal isn't a bad idea. Most of them are pretty dull though, simply allowing you to add your levels in the two classes together in certain situations. There's ones for most combinations of two classes, particular types of magic, and some class features like wild empathy and paladin mounts can also benefit from this. Just think, if you were playing an Arcana Evolved character, you'd get most of these benefits automatically. Knowing that, and also the way in which 4e sidestepped this problem, this feels more like highlighting an issue than solving it. I suppose stuff like this in the magazine is a good incentive for their developers to get busy with the next big change. The ecology of Duergar: Ahh, these gloomy buggers. Always nice to spend a little time around people even more miserable than I usually am. Still, gloom is no impediment to egocentricism, and as is often the case, they get given a creation myth that has them a the first and most important race in the world, with nothing at all to do with those other, lesser dwarven deities, or their actual history as shown in the old Monster Mythology. The story parts eat up a relatively large amount of the ecology this month, with less emphasis on the tactical advice. It's still not a patch on the old fiction heavy ecologies, but it does the job, just as it's subjects do. It also emphasizes the sneaky aspects of fighting them. Seems like they've been doing that with every ecology this year. Does nothing engage in a stand-up fight anymore? Another thing that's worth thinking about. Was this kind of tactical advice reflected in your actual plays of the time? Or was it just boring old, I hit, he hits back.  All anecdotes welcome.</blockquote>

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