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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6158378" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 326: December 2004part 5/8Spellcraft follows immediately after the ecology, as it has every issue since the revamp. Once again with the metronomic nature of the magazine's design. This is another selection of cantrips. Since we last had these exactly 2 years ago in issue 302, I shall glare disapprovingly. Surely you could have at least picked a topic from 2e years to rehash instead. Fleeting Fame is another skill buffer we had a pretty much exact analogue of last time. Meh. Groundsmoke makes smoke from a fire fail to rise normally. The kind of low key comfort and potential lifesaver cantrips should be used for. Necrosurgery isn't the awesome Exalted stuff, but just a roundabout way of helping you resist disease. Once again with the meh. Wizards are supposed to suck at healing. Nosy Neigbour boosts your listen skill a bit. Once again, superceded by issue 302's general skill booster cantrip. Seeker's Chant is yet again superceded and worse than last time. Bonus on search checks? Already covered. Shadowplay lets you do impressive looking but harmless stuff with someone's shadow. Another potential cantrip staple to frighten those with no knowledge of magic. Vengeful Mount makes the victim unnerving to animals. You don't want to turn someone into a vampire just for that, do you. I thought not. No, this collection isn't nearly as big or good as the last cantrip collection. Magic shop is also repeating a very familiar theme, nature based magic items. As long as two core classes key off magical connection to nature, there'll never be a shortage of people inventing variants on this theme. Acorns of Clarity give you an instant connection to nature as long as you're holding them. Better not drop them, because it'll be a bigger finding them again in the woods without that extra skill.Arboreal Armor grows it's own berries, letting you hide out in the wilderness as long at you like in addition to it's actual protective value. Careful how you sleep, as you don't want to wake up in a puddle of wasted jam. Briar Staves control plants, and intriguingly, can be recharged by burying them for a few months, which is definitely a good way to teach PC's about conservation and crop rotation. Cycle your resources, and you won't be so predictable to enemies either, as they can never be sure what tactics you'll be using this time. Deluge Rods summon acidic mist, fiendish sharks, and generally chill the area. They also make the wielder feel perpetually cold and clammy though, so many people will consider them not worth the bother. Even liches have to look after their bodies, for bits dropping off is a pain in the ass. Eagles Cry Bows do indeed make a sound like an eagle when you use them, which makes them pretty obvious to everyone around. If you're not a friend of the elves, you can expect parties of them to come along soon to retrieve it by force. They can be even worse than githyanki at tariffs and protectionism. Rods of the Wild let you pick from a bunch of different animal types and gain themed buffs. Choose wisely, as you can only have one at a time. Sylvan Cloaks are updatings of your basic elven cloak as owned by every LotR reader at some point. No real surprises here, apart from the greater ones that let you teleport through trees or bring them to life to fight for you, which'll put a crimp in any orc's day. Thornblades are another one that you can't really get by killing things and taking their stuff, as they whither away once separated from their bonded owner. So much for the adventurer's circle of life then. Hypocritical elves. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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