Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6199187" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 338: December 2005part 4/7Core beliefs: Boccob. At last, expanded treatments for deities that really give them the respect they deserve. Like the Demonomicon articles, which this article follows exactly the same formula as, this is a 12 page spectacular, going into plenty of detail about said god of magic, his relationships with other gods, his clerics, his rather irritating primary servant Zagyg, their holy days and myths, plus a couple of magical items and spells, and a map of a sample temple. Like the Demononicon, and very much unlike the old Faiths of Faerun stuff, this feels like they knew exactly what they wanted to do, and set out to achieve it in a logical and careful manner. If there is a flaw, it's in that they're both a little too formulaic, and a little too reverential of the original source material, but there's certainly no shortage of added on creative stuff either, most of which would be easily backconvertible to a 1 or 2e game. Its a fairly positive development, and of course, a lot more PC friendly than new crunch for demon lords. It's unlikely that they'll get anywhere near covering all the core gods before the magazine ends, but if they can keep this up, the last couple of years will have more than a few worthwhile articles within their pages. Staffs(sic) of the magi: Like the imps, here's another topic that has parallels in recent products by other RPG companies. The Magister in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Evolved is an alternate wizard class that puts the focus on their staff rather than their spellbook and familiar. And there are near infinite number of different ways to enhance these things if you're willing to do the research and spend large quantities of money. So if you want to give up your familiar and spend a load of feats to give your staff more special powers, and make it tougher and harder to take away from you, here's your article. It's also a good example of them putting more setting detail in again, with talk about mythological spellcasters and the importance of the staff to them. It makes me feel once again that the magazine is connected to the outside world, rather than just being all about D&D feeding on itself, and that not all wizards have updated to wearing fetish gear comprised largely of belts. Plus getting people attached to their signature gear and upgrading it with them rather than constantly looking for new shinies helps keep a character more consistent. Ecology of the spellweaver: Yay!. These freaky <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=":)" />ers appear in the magazine again. Didn't expect them to get an ecology, but glad they have. The fantasy equivalent of grey aliens, able to perform multiple simultaneous feats of magic with their 6 arms in a way humans haven't got a hope of matching, they're pretty inscrutable and impressive to face. This ecology gives them a cause: Recover their lost empire by finding the spell that will load the magical save point that they made just before trying the ritual that destroyed it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> What a very droll twist on an old cliche. Seems very appropriate considering they're a Forgotten Realms creature, and you know how many magical apocalypses that place has had over the years. <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=":)" /> They also get a Dr Who inspired process of rejuvenation and reproduction, which also seems appropriate, especially since said series had just started up again. Seems like the quotient of whimsy is going up again in these articles, which is definitely a good thing. The amount of useful crunch also seems to be increasing, with several advanced monster stat blocks and a new feat, and a relaxation of the strict subdivisions that plagued the last year. Lets hope next year refines things even further.</blockquote>

Verification