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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6205449" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 340: February 2006part 3/6The master astrologer: We had an astrologer NPC class in issue 45, and a more general oracle in issue 53, but neither really stood up to conventional spellcasters in terms of world-affecting tricks or combat potential. This is definitely not the case for the Master Astrologer prestige class detailed here, which gets 9/10ths spelllcasting, an accelerated bonus feat progression, easy worldwide communication with all other members of their prestige class, and several pretty cool floating bonuses that they can apply to make their spells more powerful. (I'm particularly tickled by the bonuses to spell DC's and penetration if you know the star sign of your target.) Like the Loremaster, they seem entirely worth the sacrifices you'll need to make to get in, particularly for Sorcerers and Wizards. If you want to play the kind of spellcaster who uses divinations, crafting and buffs to plan ahead and completely break any enemy that doesn't have similar tricks up their sleeve, this is pretty darn good at that. The eternal sun: Having done the stars, we continue to gaze into the sky to try and understand the sun, hopefully without being blinded by it. Fittingly, the bright orange backdrop makes this one of their harder articles to read clearly. This is very much a grab-bag of associated stuff. First up, we have a bit of talk about the symbolism of the sun in the real world. Then they talk about how that might well change if you vary the length of the year and number of suns the world has, and the cool possibilities for varying climate and illumination it offers a world. And then we get lots of little bits of crunch that you can pick and mix for your game. A new religion with their own unique domain worshipping the sun directly. Substitution levels for Paladins and Monks, making their abilities more symbolic of sun worship. (the paladin's set being more obvious and literal than the monk's one. ) And finally some feats that reflect a connection with a particular time of day. (with very similar symbolism to the same Exalted castes) Lots of things that would be disconnected single-page articles a year ago, that become slightly more than the sum of their parts when all put together. Introduce in bits and pieces over the course of a campaign to get the best effect. Eye of the night: The sun, the stars, the …… I'll take moon for 5 please bob. And this article follows exactly the same pattern as the last one. It's easier to have multiple moons of different cycle lengths without having to completely rethink your assumptions on day to day life though, and the set of associations are quite different. The substitution levels are for Rangers and Rogues, and the feats representing being born under a particular phase are even more blatantly cribbed from WoD werewolves. So I'm afraid to say this special is falling into formulaicness after a more original start. With so much built up symbolism around something, it's hard to drag it out again and keep it exciting. The ecology of the mooncalf: An amusing name, but a rather scary creature, it's another ecology that is strongly influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. His influence on D&D has definitely increased in the latest edition. Huge flying tentacled masses that can consume anything physical, but their real attraction is to witnessing disasters, which they can predict, and if there's none coming in a reasonable timeframe, they're quite happy to manipulate events to cause them? You don't want to hang around when that darkens the sky. A nicely atmospheric ecology that fills out and adds to them more than enough to make them a primary driver in an entire campaign arc, this is a pretty damn good ecology. The new feats are particularly cool and suitably epic. I think I can use this. Fly! Fly, my pretties! Show them what real woe is!!! Ahahahahaha!!!!!</blockquote>

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