New FR Dragon Article: The Wailing Dwarf. Reveals some new crunch.

[mudbunny]

You won't be able to talk your way past the nagas.

Though the guardian nagas in the Wailing Dwarf devote themselves fiercely to their appointed task, they also thirst for new knowledge and are not quick to attack intruders. In fact, they may offer to spare intruders' lives if the intruders can teach them a new ritual or spell, or if they give up a magic item. A naga is compelled by its very nature to guard its appointed secret or object with its life, and thus it never negotiates away access to the windy heart of the abandoned dwarven city. Still, one might be willing to allow intruders to turn back with their lives -- especially if they can offer something worthwhile for its mercy.​

Emphasis mine.

 

[Gort]

You won't be able to talk your way past the nagas.

Though the guardian nagas in the Wailing Dwarf devote themselves fiercely to their appointed task, they also thirst for new knowledge and are not quick to attack intruders. In fact, they may offer to spare intruders' lives if the intruders can teach them a new ritual or spell, or if they give up a magic item. A naga is compelled by its very nature to guard its appointed secret or object with its life, and thus it never negotiates away access to the windy heart of the abandoned dwarven city. Still, one might be willing to allow intruders to turn back with their lives -- especially if they can offer something worthwhile for its mercy.​

Emphasis mine.

If they're willing to talk and consider your words, they can be tricked. For instance, try creating a cursed item and offering it to the naga in exchange for its mercy. Then, depending on the curse, you can either get past or fight a severely weakened opponent.

Of course, you'd have to know the nature of the naga to do this.

 

[tomBitonti]

Bleh

Anyone else out there put off by the mediocre quality of the writing? Much of it is fine, but there are sections that grate on me. I would refrain from being critical, except that this is in Dragon, which is a professional, paid, publication. (Not today, but eventually, and I think that I am reasonable to hold the current publication to that standard.)

I also found irritating the identification of every player with a powerful item. I'm OK with this idea in general, but am irks by having the idea applied to every player.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Anyone else out there put off by the mediocre quality of the writing? Much of it is fine, but there are sections that grate on me.

Yeah a little bit. On the other hand, some of the ideas seem nice. I was also spectacularly unimpressed having a mile-high statue and managing to make it boring by having the dullest subject matter concievable. Okay, it's a statue made by Dwarves, so it's going to be of a Dwarf, sure. But when it looks exactly like perfect (albeit eye-less) replica of a modern-day male dwarf (despite, pre-gunpowder, probably taking literally hundreds of years to make) holding a YAWN giant double-headed axe in modern-style armour YAWN. Why couldn't it have been of something a little more exotic, evocative, or imaginative? Oh well, easiest bit to re-write, I suppose. Just not very impressed by that.

I also found irritating the identification of every player with a powerful item. I'm OK with this idea in general, but am irks by having the idea applied to every player.

Yes and note the perfectly balanced 5-man party, so very 4E. I thought that was pretty horrid, as I noted earlier.

 

[Sitara]

Ah, but imagine it wasn't. Wouldn't it be awesome if rituals had specific requirements and you were only limited by your ability to find someone/something to teach you the ritual and meet its pre-requisites? You could restrict Raise Dead and such to Cleric/Paladin and those devoutly religious, as well as throwing in a monetary cost, time needed, number of people needed and so forth. But something like scrying, perhaps anyone could find out how to do that and with the right time/money/items pull it off. Teleport too, might require a specially prepared area/token item and thus reduce sudden-attack-syndrome, but learnable by anyone with the right abilities/feats - Int for instance so that Wizards find it easy to qualify. Lots of possibilities!

Actually that sprobably how they will work. they will have a minimum spellcraft skill requirement, will require a wizardry feat or something and maybe a minimum 'tier' (heroic/paragon/epic). They may also require additional rituals as pre-requisites.

 

[Chocobo]

Anyone else out there put off by the mediocre quality of the writing? Much of it is fine, but there are sections that grate on me. I would refrain from being critical, except that this is in Dragon, which is a professional, paid, publication. (Not today, but eventually, and I think that I am reasonable to hold the current publication to that standard.)

I also found irritating the identification of every player with a powerful item. I'm OK with this idea in general, but am irks by having the idea applied to every player.

Those aren't players. Those are NPCs. What is being done is those NPCs are being defined mainly as a source of treasure. It's still a bit lame, but it isn't saying anything about PCs.

 

[tomBitonti]

Those aren't players. Those are NPCs. What is being done is those NPCs are being defined mainly as a source of treasure. It's still a bit lame, but it isn't saying anything about PCs.

I took the list of NPCs as being representative of an actual PC party, even though they are being used as a part of the background information.

 

[mudbunny]

If they're willing to talk and consider your words, they can be tricked. For instance, try creating a cursed item and offering it to the naga in exchange for its mercy. Then, depending on the curse, you can either get past or fight a severely weakened opponent.

Of course, you'd have to know the nature of the naga to do this.

I guess it all depends on how the DM interprets "never negotiates away access..."

Never, to me, seems pretty cut and dried.

 

[Jack99]

Yes and note the perfectly balanced 5-man party, so very 4E. I thought that was pretty horrid, as I noted earlier.

When have you ever seen unbalanced parties in WoTC's examples of parties?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

When have you ever seen unbalanced parties in WoTC's examples of parties?

I dunno, were Rath and that lot in 2E a "balanced party"? I never looked into it very closely. I've seen, in previous editions, a lot of "large" NPC parties, like with 6-8 members, which would be "unbalanced" in 3E and 4E rules. I guess a lot of those were TSR, not WotC.

Honestly, I don't know, but have precisely five members of totally appropriate classes? It just seems a bit TOO neat, the sort of thing that breaks suspension of disbelief.