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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6170061" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 330: April 2005part 4/7The ecology of the Chuul: Mike Mearls takes the reins here, providing us with some fiction in the ecologies for the first time in 4 years. Nice to see them allowing a bit of that again. This is mildly in theme, tackling one of the more recent aberrations in the monster books. As with the choker, the fiction portrays it as new in the world IC as well as OOC. Sure, the explanation is basically a wizard did it, but it's done with style and finesse, putting his own distinctive spin on the idea. And now they've escaped into the wider world, and spread their depredations ever further. Strong heroes are needed to stop this, with muscles of steel, and wills of iron <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=";)" /> With several bits of fun such as the random trophies table, this is a considerable improvement on most of the recent ecologies. Makes me wonder if Ed is ever going to come back to doing these articles. In any case, this demonstrates that a good writer can take this format and make it shine, which is pleasing to see. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Assassins get their turn this month. Easily the most popular prestige class, they might not get regular monthly attention like the core classes, but they still get plenty in all sorts of supplements. Once again, you can have a little more here. Bolts of Arcane Penetration go through any cover the victim has. This is useful for nearly anyone. Unless you're trying to kill normal people, in which case you really won't need this. The Mask of the Reaper is a big help in becoming a scary legendary killer like Jason or Leatherface, while not being recognised in everyday life. The illustration provides a pretty good example of the kind of thing it looks like. Quiet Daggers not only grant the expected stealth bonuses, the more powerful ones give you free silent spell metamagic. Since D&D assassins are spellcasters, but not brilliant ones, this'll be a lot more worthwhile than burning a feat on this. Requiem Jars are an easy way of disposing of a victims remains permanently, while ensuring you still have proof you killed them. Very neat and well-tailored. I like this. The Ring of Stalking lets you track people anywhere. It isn't totally unobtrusive though. But all sorts of things glow in D&D land. How are you supposed to figure out they're a stalking assassin just from that?  The Rod of Deadly Function is a cool multipurpose device that'll be useful both for getting into places and killing things there. Like any swiss army knife, this'll save you quite a bit of space on your belt, which is important for stealth guy. Goggles of Scrutiny reduce the time needed for you to make a death attack. Not that much though. Since this is almost purely a mechanical conceit, I can't get too worked up about it. Wraithblades turn your soul into the eternal slave of the dagger's owner. This is subject to usual undead control limitations, preventing you from amassing an army. Still, you can kill first and ask questions later, as well as using them to scare their relatives. Perfect for the more sadistic assassin.</blockquote>

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