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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6200496" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 338: December 2005part 7/7Class acts: Barbarians get the Horselord, a new variant. They've already had a feature on how riding barbarians can be cool. Now they can really back it up.  Of course, this might be a problem in many campaigns. But mounts always are. Curse you, cramped dungeons. Bards get Focussed Performer. More feats that enable them to make even more of their class features. They can be extra awesome, stop for a beat, and just increase the power of their song. Like monk's stunning variants, these give you a lot of extra versatility for a couple of feats, and are really worth considering. Clerics get Religious titles. If you remember old edition, you'll know that every level had it's own title. Here's lots more of them. After all, being called by your class all the time is rather metagame, is it not? Druids get Animal magic. (Monkey magic? Animal magnetism? Monkey Magnetism? Hmm. Evil thoughts.) Two more magic items to make your companions more useful. Just the thing for our barbaric friends from earlier this issue.Fighters get The Pikeman. A fighting style that works great in groups for mowing through enemies, at least until the artillery gets involved. Includes a rather handy feat that helps this. After all, fighting with polearm and shield is so historically common, it shouldn't be forbidden to D&D characters. Monks get another bite at the background apple. Why did YOU become a monk?! Once more, into the backstory, my friends. Mind the purple prose. That stuff can make your eyes water. Paladins get Solstice Knight. A pair of substitution levels with a fluff requirement, this feels like it ought to have been a prestige class, but they couldn't be bothered extending it to 5 levels. More than 1 way to achieve an effect, eh? Rangers get The Elk King! Um, ok then. Of all the animals to choose as your archetype. :shrugs: Really not sure what to make of this one. Rogues get a trio of dwarf rogue substitution levels. Seems they're the new in thing, despite being considerably more awkward mechanically than prestige classes. This set are concentrated on knocking down obstructive crap. Just the thing for a frustrated miner. Sorcerers get another way to increase their spell lists. It all comes down to who you know, dawg. So you'd better get out there, fake it till you make it. Wizards get 4 new magical books. Just the thing for if your player pulls a random one from a wizard's library shelf. A little knowledge never hurts. Nodwick faces the anti-santa. By faces, we mean collects royalties from. Dork tower gets everything they asked for. Some are happier than others. Zogonia faces another horrible death. Order of the stick makes it into Dragon! You'd better get a move on with your story, because you've got less than 2 years left to tell it in. That means learning the rules, instead of wasting a strip on a cheap gag.  Well, after all this, I can definitely say this was the quickest and easiest year to get through in a LONG time. While not quite up to the level of variety and setting stuff they had in the 80's and 90's, it's still much better than it has been since 2001, and Erik has settled in much faster than most new editors do. I look forward to seeing if he'll continue to improve next year.</blockquote>

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