Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 8/10


Dungeoncraft: This column, like DM Toolbox, returns after a break and changes hands, showing that some of the staff did not go along for the ride when Paizo was formed, and probably won't be appearing in the magazine anymore. And just like the rest of the magazine, they're cutting out the fluff and larger scale setting detail to concentrate on encounters and modular parts that you can quickly slot in any fairly generic D&D world. Once again I have cause to worry about their decline in variety of material. Particularly as this is basically just Monte Cook just repeating and elaborating on his own writing in the DMG, reminding us how the scaling math works in 3e, and what exactly a balanced encounter is for various sized parties. As usual with a lineup change, it feels like a reset to square one, which is always pretty tedious for me, and the best I can hope for is that by heading in a different direction to Ray's material, it will start covering interesting new ground at some point. For now this is just another bit of filler that tells me nothing I don't know already.


What's new mocks the swashbuckling tropes, along with thievery in general.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 9/10


DM's toolbox: The advice here, on the other hand, is some quite handy stuff on pacing. Encounters of exactly your ECL all the time are BORING! You do need to switch things up with harder ones, easier ones, explorey bits, puzzles, interactions, the occasional cut scene. So far, so good. What I do find amusing is the idea that the average DM would find running published adventures goes more smoothly than their own stuff, when i've had so many experiences that are the precise opposite. Be it because they're trying to run the module without reading it first, or simply feel less free to improvise than when they've created their own adventure, I can think of quite a few experiences where the module bits have ground more than the self-created plots. (this applies even more to the WoD, where as much as I love the games, most of the modules suuuuuck.) So while the solution is perfectly decent, they're arriving at it by a road I haven't travelled down, which makes it more interesting by context. And that does raise an important point. Games get changed from edition to edition based on what problems actually get reported. And the ways a system breaks, or not, depends on how a group plays it. As we discovered over it's lifespan, 3e demonstrated problems when released into the wild that the playtesters never would have found no matter how long it was tested, because of the parameters they were set when testing. Which is why testing by people completely unconnected to the designers can be so beneficial. Once again, the lesson both IC and OOC boils down to "It's good to have variety."


Against that bloody misspelling, nodwick fights in vain.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 10/10


Sage advice: Does lightning bolt work underwater. (Does it say it doesn't. Don't you start quoting real world physics at me. Skip has no truck with that crap.)

Can you fly underwater (Generally, no. Some magic may alter this. )

Can you cast spells from inside an apparatus of kwalish (Not without opening the hatch and making yourself vulnerable. This is why mobile fortresses have high up balconies where the wizards can rain death while being out of range of mundane missiles )

Do rings need an action to activate (Standard. S-s-s-s-s-s-s standard action. Jellybean standard. )

Can you become invisible, attack, and become invisible straight away (See the last question. Or, in other words, NO!!!!! )

How many points can monks heal in battle. (As much as they want, up to their limit. Best to wait until you've taken enough damage to use it in one go, or they'll waste their actions.)

Does hide in plain sight require a standard action (Not necessarily.)

How are ability affecting enhancements affected by ability drain. ( They aren't. When your base score goes to 0, you're in the shit, no matter how many add-ons you have)

If a dragon has cleric spells, do they count as arcane spells (yes. They get it from their own power, not any devotion to someone else.)

Can you make a wand of empowered magic missiles that are still cast as if 1st level  (no)

Can you counterspell spellfire (no)

Does negative energy ray allow a save (yes)

Can you make an attack of opportunity with a spell (No. But any spells already cast can still contribute. )

Do summoned red slaad implantations vanish when the spell expires (Yes. Hey, gang rape with no evidence. What a wonderfull..... Er I mean, if Skip catches any muthafucka exploiting that rule, Skip will cap that sonofabitch in the nuts to make sure they never do it again. And lo, it will be righteous! )

Can a summoned monster summon other monsters. (No. We lost several planets to fiends due to summon cascades back in the last edition. No way we're making that mistake again.)

Can I teleport a petrified companion away (Yes, but he's gonna be a lot heavier. This may cause problems.)

Can you coup de grace trolls (Only with attacks that can do normal damage to them. This doesn't help, does it.)

Can you kill a troll with phantasmal killer. (If it believes it's dead, all the regeneration in the world won't save it)

Does bigby's forceful hand trigger an AoO (No)

Can unseen servants fly, Can they run, Do they take up space (Recycled question, no, no. In a lot of ways they might as well not be there.)


Hmm. A character sheet, and a spell area template in the back. Intriguing.


After the irritating but interestingly bad stuff of last issue, this issue returns to a fairly even split of competent, and competent but dull. The combination of sticking strictly to formula, and the generally low-key nature of the new crunch means it does not evoke the atmosphere the theme demands, and the sloppy looking artwork in the issue exaggerates it further. It feels like the edition is growing staler even as we speak. It feels far less surprising in hindsight that they wound up accelerating the revision cycle. I'd get sick of it too if I was forced to stick that strictly to a formula. :v Let's see if they shake up anything more significant than a snowglobe for christmas.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 1/10


119 (120) pages. Finally, a decent cover for the first time in half a year, even if the colour scheme is a bit XTREEEME!!!!! and pretty much the opposite of christmassey. Like certain previous december issues, they've decided to go with the general theme of magic, which always gives them tons of leeway to pick articles. Hopefully that means they'll give some new freelancers a chance to prove themselves and add new ideas to the pot. The game does need regular stirring up, it seems.


Scan Quality: Colours somewhat oversaturated, indexed.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: To warm up for the issue, we build anticipation. Sometimes, the anticipation turns out more exciting than the main event. Jesse certainly finds that the case with D&D combat. While it can be exciting sometimes, once the battle has got underway, you soon burn through the big trump card abilities and get an idea of how the conflict is going to go. This is one area where system really matters hugely, with the amount of tactical options you have (and are readily usable without causing the user headaches) varies quite a lot. Plus there's the question of overall swinginess, how unpredictable the dice are and how much a single action can change the overall course of a battle. So there is a decent amount to think about here. Does the build-up to a battle being more exciting than the battle itself mean the system is a problem, and in need of overhaul? Or is it an inevitability when you run a game with a fair amount of actual roleplaying between fights? Opinions?


Scale Mail: Issue 300 gets four letters devoted to it, three of them negative. So with votes running a 1 positive, 2 outraged and 1 who simply found it tremendously underwhelming in it's attempts at controversy, they're left a bit unhappy. I do agree with the editors that the material wasn't actually that more gruesome than any other, it was merely hype. THAT WAS THE PROBLEM!!! Really, they deserve all the criticism they get for that issue, even if not all of it is entirely accurate, simply because it was that annoying.

The mummy ecology gets some real world historical elaboration. After all, they were so popular around this time that Mummy: the Resurrection got a players guide covering other cultures after originally being intended as a one book thing. Any mention of them will get the attention of the obsessives, who love to correct you if you get it wrong.

And finally, we have a letter that mirrors one of my observations, that the current format for covers neither looks as good on average, or has as much variety as the stuff from around 83-95. They just take things so much more seriously, and that's not always a good thing. In any case this is another case where they don't plan to change in the near future. They think giving us the hard sell on the covers, and keeping the badass gurning will work better than a larger scale clean image. This makes me a sad kitty. Apple have proved that you can still sell very well with minimalist packaging. Marketing people need to remember that elegance is more important than quantity.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 2/10


Zogonia takes the pragmatic approach to dealing with niche protection.


Up on a soapbox: Gary reminds us why enforcing encumbrance is important. It's so when the players come across hauls of thousands of coins, the adventure doesn't end smoothly there. Instead, they have to figure out how much they can carry, and how much they should leave, for while they're weighed down, they're vulnerable to further attacks and not able to run away as easily. Dragon hoards filled with copper and silver? Often not worth the hassle, especially at higher level. And if they leave them unguarded, chances are someone else'll come along and snag the leftovers. The whole thing was built so there would always be more challenges to throw at the players and make sure they didn't get complacent. And the good thing is that until they get high enough in level to teleport without error and manufacture their own bags of holding, you can always reintroduce problems like this, even if you've glossed over it in the past. They might not be ready for the tomb of horrors to be a fair challenge, but you're never too weak to not be inconvenienced by encumbrance. This is the kind of advice you won't be seeing from Robin or Johnn, and the different perspective remains very valuable.


What's new moves even further forward in the magazine. And refuses to acknowledge their past. Well, it wasn't pretty, was it.


The summoners circle: Ah yes, summoning. Now there's one of those powers that's a real headache for those who want a strictly balanced system. If you can summon any creature you like within a certain power level, then the conjurer winds up a ridiculously flexible swiss army knife, even if individual creatures are considerably lower level CR than their summoner. Older editions often balanced that by making maintaining control a risky business, with fatal consequences if disrupted, but that's been made less common in 3e. Here's another variant system that attempts to further increase balance in the summoning system by making individual spellcasters less flexible, but spellcasters as a whole more, by giving them each small customisable selections for their Summon Monster * spells that they can expand a bit with research. So you can give your spellcaster a themed selection, or more likely, a deliberately contrasting selection of monsters for maximum flexibility, with characters in the same party avoiding taking the same options, if I know my charop at all. So like the bard masterworks last issue, this is a system experiment I find interesting, but I'm also ambivalent about, because you can see them trying to gradually reduce the number of options each character has, which is one of my least favourite parts of 4e. Oh well, it's only a magazine article, which means it's easily ignored if you want to stick to the conventional selection of celestial dire badgers and whatnot.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 3/10


Dork tower takes try before you buy to quite disturbing heights.


Class acts: An exceedingly long and in depth class act for a change, as they give us what is not just a single prestige class, but a whole load of customizable ideas and plot hooks. The Tainted, people who for whatever reason, have become bonded with some kind of lower-planar creature, and must deal with their new urges and powers in whatever way they choose. This is a rich ground for roleplaying, and along with the stats, (which eat up a huge amount of space, as they detail the powers you get for bonding with 21 different types of fiends, (plus progressions for both warriors and spellcasters, which is a definite help), and encourage you to detail the effects for other monsters as well) we get plenty of advice on how you can wind up in the class from a setting point of view, especially if you want to play a character unwillingly bonded with a demon and struggling against it. See, this is the kind of thing the book of vile darkness should have had more of, instead of going Look at me! I'm so Eeeevil!!!! I eat human flesh and fuck spider-kittens with my pierced genitals and manipulate people's cancers! :rolleyes: This is definitely the most ambitious class act so far, and one that could accommodate an entire party of people, bonding them with different fiends appropriate to their personalities, (although this could turn into an 80's cartoon if done wrong) and showcasing the different ways they handle their changes. I strongly approve.


Arcane Lore: Ahh yes, cantrips. One of the things originally introduced in the magazine, way back in issue 59. Man, it's been a long time. We've had several experiments with them over the years too, including the rather good one in issue 221. Good to see people still proving that imagination is more important than raw power if you really want to be an effective spellcaster.

Zap Trap'll inflict a single point of static'y nastiness on people touching your stuff. Enough to keep the other students off your stuff, but hopefully not killing them even if they are 1st level wizards. And frankly, if they're dumb enough keep poking where they shouldn't, let cumulative applications wear them down, they don't deserve to gain any more levels.

Deftness is about as useful as aid another. +2 bonus to a skill roll may seem small, but is not to be underestimated in a pinch. You have all these cantrip slots, better to use something like this than waste them.

Perfect Pitch is another example of how a tiny spell can have huge real world benefits. A lot of musicians would kill for this, given how annoying it is training for years and then having some upstart outshine you without even trying.

Thunderhead is another one that inflicts tiny amounts of electricity damage, but in intimidating style. I think using boom boom as the punchline to this joke is actually appropriate for a change.

Coin of the Realm is a cut down fools gold, only disguising a single coin at a time. This may not let you get hold of magic items, but you should be able to manage more than your fair share of rounds at the pub.

Flag lets you send out a signal without all the bother of drawing on and stringing up your hanky. Again, the little things make life run much smoother.

Mirror similarly allows you to attend to your vanity at a whim. What use is poor faithful Jerome now? Make him do The Walk of shame.

Stench is obviously for comedy purposes. Student wizards are still students, and that means twattery. He who smelt it dealt it.

Footpad's grace means 1st level wizards may be able to beat similar level thieves. The usual problem there then.

Glittering Razors is another very weak combat spell. An extra point of damage? Well, that may be all you can afford sometimes. Direct damage really isn't the most efficient use of these slots.

Heat Water, on the other hand is both invaluable on an everyday basis, and may be a lifesaver. We can all do with a good cuppa now and then.

Resize is handy for any wizard of size or shape that makes buying clothes tricky and expensive. Now you can stuff your face with even greater impunity. The ankh-morpork guys'll be all over this.

Yell is another no brainer for a wizard who wants to get stuff done. We can't all have the natural projection of BRIAN BLESSED! I think this has been a pretty likable collection. Once again, the reasons why wizards beat sorcerers in the long run is made very clear.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 4/10


60 Magical side-effects: Ah yes, adding quirks to magical items to make them more memorable. We've seen articles on you in issues 34, 163, and probably one or two more I can't find at the moment. Roll on the table for instant fun, which may be beneficial, but more likely will simply be a minor pain in the ass, particularly since this one is focussed on potions, which are generally one-shot items, so you don't have a chance to get used to them. Overall, this one is better than the one from issue 34, with better formatting and more solid mechanics, but not as good as the ones from issue 163, which are longer, more comprehensive and broader in targeting. But still, all have plenty of fun in them, and aren't too hard to convert back and forth. This is one case where more options are still a good thing, as the topic hasn't been done to death yet.


Bestiary loses it's The again, this time for good. Darn kids these days, no respect. :shakes stick: This time we go back to golems. Last given a special in issue 209, (and the 96 april fool one as well, but we shall not speak of that. ) And hey ho, they walk straight into the trap that last time so effectively averted, that of just picking a bunch of materials, and making a golem based on them. Not every lesson of the past has been taken to heart.

Web golems pretty much force you to learn the grappling rules. That in itself'll probably dissuade many DM's from using them. Still, at least they're vulnerable to fire.

Alchemical golems are made from the runoff of your magical experiments over the years, making them ecologically sound to make, and rather unpleasant to hit. Waste not, want not, so collect the corpses of things they kill and use them for making undead in turn.

Mud Golems are like incredibly souped up mudmen. They make you slip, they make you drown, they're completely immune to piercing & slashing weapons. That is indeed going to be a pain to beat.

Rope golems also grapple you, and cut off your air supply. This is going to be an issue in actual play. You really aren't selling me on these things.

Puzzle Golems are one big man that can split into lots of little interlocking stone men, like a particularly elaborate transformers team. That's actually a pretty cool idea, and makes them very versatile at dealing with teams of adventurers. So this certainly hasn't been a complete waste of time. Just the usual filtering process as we deal with Sturgeon's law.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 5/10


Silicon sorcery: This column is both moved forward, and way bigger than normal, as they do a good round of backconversions from Neverwinter Nights. They have a whole range of interesting new golems for you to fight, which aren't of the "pick a new material" variety either. Let's see if they're as inventive as prime Ed material, or just more enemies for the sake of variety.

Glyph Guardians are golems further enhanced with magical runes, so they can zap enemies with energy rays and trap them in stasis for their bosses to deal with later. Their only drawback is that this limits their range of travel, you you know you can definitely run away if you're not strong enough to take them.

Old One Guardians are variant iron golems from a vanished civilisation. Instead of breathing poison gas, they produce a firey aura and elemental storms to make your life miserable. Like the regular ones, they're strong and dumb, and immune to nearly all magic, so you're going to have to bring the raw force to beat them.

Battle Horrors look like golem genies, top half the usual heavy construct, tapering off into glowing energy. Since that means they can fly with perfect maneuverability, they're a lot harder to get away from than most dumb constructs. Still, at least the glow means you can always see them coming.

Minogons are golems powered by bound minotaur spirits. This means they have extra damaging charge attacks, and can rage and stun with their roar. Still, unlike clay golems, they don't actually break free, which is a relief to their creator. All of these have pretty decent visual setups and aren't completely derivative, so I don't object to them.  


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Yet more magical armors. These are interesting though, as they're aimed at spellcasters. As our long-term ecologist points out, it would make more sense if they designed stuff for their own benefit, not some annoying trompy fighter. Let's see what the selfish spellcaster can do to save their own life.

Armor of Healing doesn't actually provide any AC bonus, but casts healing spells on you in quick succession. This probably won't save your life in a protracted fight against lots of bad guys, but is certainly better than nothing. Just make sure you have a cleric around to recharge it.

Flame Armor uses up lots of item slots, which makes it a lightly iffy choice. If you have nothing better to put there, a burning shield is a good deal better than nothing. Grapple the enemy to get the most of it's effects.

Fog Armor billows around you, and can grant concealment, or give you gaseous form. Since concealment scales differently from regular armor, this is valuable for both spellcasters and fighters.

Liquid Armor takes suntan lotion, adds woad, and makes it a hell of a lot more protective. A bit gross really. As it only lasts an hour too, I don't think this is really worth it.

Retractable Armor appears and dissappears with but a word. Exactly what that means ruleswise is not sufficiently specified. Obviously it would be a lot more useful if you can make it disappear and reappear again as free actions in the same round, only making yourself vulnerable while actually casting. Sloppy writing.

Retribution Armor splits damage between you and your attacker. Not as good as full on-reflection like we've seen in the past. Another one that works well fighting one-on-one, but swarming enemies'll take you down without too much trouble.

Stalagmite Armor lets you turtle, hiding you in caves with rather more safety than a mushroom cap. It'd be more useful if you could actually see out to know when to turn back. Once again the flaws of the items seem rather more significant than most articles of this kind. Here comes the slide towards the more brutal nerfings of 3.5 & 4e.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 6/10


Elminster's guide to the Realms: This month's bit of Realms trivia is a trio of card games, giving it somewhat more universal applicability than just giving us yet another location would. Guess the place got a little more able to cater to people who want something on every detail of their imaginary world, because I don't remember them doing this before, despite Ravenloft getting a fair bit of card stuff back in the 90's. All these variants can be played with a regular deck, and are simple enough to fit into a column of text, so this is very usable indeed. Like info on food, musical instruments, or wedding arrangements, you never know when it'll come up, and you'll be glad to have this to reference.


Rogues gallery: Another column that's taken a break over the past year, the Gallery looks quite different this time around. But it's still completely Realms centric. And surprise surprise, they're busy with metaplot events. Involving Drow. Not content with two successful series featuring exiled drow, they're now producing one centered on Menzoberranzan itself. Milk that cash cow! Still, this means the guys statted up are suitably chaotic evil and unburdened by angst. You can extract them to use in your games and have your players kill them guilt free.

Pharaun Mizzrym is one of the head wizards of the Sorcere academy. This of course means he has tons of enemies, and no respect from the priestesses, despite being an absolute badass. Mind you, if Drow respect you, that probably doesn't bode well in the long run either. I suspect he won't die peacefully in bed.

Jeggred is a half demon, (Glabrezu to be precise, if his characteristics are anything to go by ) borne by one of Lolth's priestesses and raised to be her personal attack dog. He's not exactly stupid, but his physical attributes are his strong point, and he knows which side his bread's buttered on. As long as he gets plenty of opportunities to shred and slaughter, he's unlikely to turn on his mum. The family that slays together stays together.

Quenthel Baenre is the second in command priestess, with only her sister standing in the way of supreme rulership. She did get killed by Drizzt once, but this hasn't stopped her. Someone powerful must be genuinely loyal to her, which is a bit unusual around here. Of course, you can only fail so many times. Whether she'll get to the top or not will probably be answered over the course of the novels.

Gromph Baenre is her brother, and right at the top of the wizardly heirarchy. Nepotism is alive and well down in Menzoberranzan. With 22 spellcaster levels, he's comfortably brushing epic capabilities, and relatively content with his lot. After all, he trained most of the people beneath him, and knows where all the bodies are buried. You'll have to work pretty hard to get one up on him. I think getting in outsiders, like say PC's would be a scheming drow's best shot.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 7/10


Fiction: The hostile dark by Robert E Vardeman. Our first bit of fiction in quite a while that isn't part of a series or set in a D&D campaign world. It's a bit of a throwback, as two rogues are sent on a mission by a mysterious wizard to the end of the earth, and definitely owes a lot to Lankhmar in particular in the interplay of the characters. They call the big city their home, but venture out of it regularly in search of adventure. They even lost their first loves in very similar fashion. And they wind up facing an interesting monster, winning by wits, coming back, and getting a reward that really isn't worth it, leaving them pretty much in the same position for the next adventure in the same way as them too. So yeah, this is derivative to the point that it could be Fafhrd & Mouser fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off for publication. If you're hungry that kind of S&S story, it'll satisfy your appetite for a bit, but it's not as good as the originals.


Campaign news: Yet more changes for the next year, as they try to juggle the conflicting mandates of making the rules fun, balanced, and simple enough to be easily followed. Most of these are to the magic item purchasing system, which they're making quite a bit more restrictive if you ain't got the feats to build your own. People were apparently twinking out quite egregiously, and that had to stop. Can't say I'm too surprised. Magic Marts get pretty frequent complaints on forums from people who don't want them in their game. Of course they'd cause problems when put into large scale organised play. Course, this will result in a lot of complaints, but that's just something they'll have to deal with. This is why starting restrictive and then gradually loosening up with more options is easier to implement than adding more restrictions onto a game once it's already going.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 8/10


Masks of iron: Another organisation and associated prestige class here this month. Johydee is one of Oerth's more obscure gods, apart from one fairly famous artifact, she hasn't done much over the years. OR HAS SHE? Yup, these guys are another group of harper wannabees, secret do-gooders working behind various aliases and making the world a better place with trickery and careful information gathering. Perfect PC material, really. The prestige class is an all-rounder with a mix of roguish skills and clerical magic, going up to 5th level spells (with a fairly limited selection) at 10th level. Since they gain both magical and mundane information gathering and deception techniques, they should actually be pretty good at that, not foiled by the first high level diviner who takes an interest, and since they're pretty versatile, they seem a good choice for a solo adventure. Plus they make great mysterious mission giving mentors at lower level. I think they definitely have their uses. To make sure the truth gets out (without dying in the process), you have to know how the liars hide it.


Dungeoncraft: Monte gets into the swing of Encounter centric advice with some on the right way to run large combats. The important thing here is not to let things turn into a grind. Make sure you have the basic details down nice and tight, so you don't get bogged down by looking up rules, and then get a rollin. Don't sweat the small stuff, don't let anyone spend too much time obsessing over tactics, as after all, in a real pitched battle you don't get much time to think, and adrenalin does make people do silly things, and don't fudge rolls, because fights are more dramatic and tense when the players know they're both in real danger, and can win quickly if they pull off a clever masterstroke against the enemies. And when it becomes obvious who's winning, don't let it degenerate into a grind to the death, let people surrender, run away, or other such ideas that are more likely to result in interesting plots further along the line. Since Monte is one of those writers who still finds time to play regularly as well, I think we can be pretty sure that this approach works for him. Previous editions worked best with playing a little fast and loose with the rules because you'd find contradictory bits that locked up the game if you tried to apply everything literally, while 3e works better with a little looseness because otherwise it slows to a crawl at higher levels. Both are results you need to avoid if you want a long-running campaign. So we're starting to get some useful specific advice here, and a decent new perspective. Looks like there may be life in the old column yet.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 9/10


The play's the thing is taken over by Mike Mearls, and does the usual thing after a changeover where they deliver some blates obv's bit o' info like it's the coolest new idea EVARS! This time it's our good old friends reskinning and tweaking the descriptions of spells, to keep players from becoming too jaded and taking them for granted. Seen that before with spells, seen that before with monsters, both done larger, more playfully, and with better artwork. While not a bad idea, this is definitely a case where since I'm a long-term reader, the article is simply redundant, because it doesn't bring anything new to the table, and by reminding me of past glories like issue 200's article on exactly the same topic, also shows how much more rigid they've become, with the ideas here hewing more closely to the RAW descriptions of the spells than the old ones. Wake me up when you've burnt through the basic stuff and have some more idiosyncratic advice to offer us like Robin sometimes did.


This years statement of ownership shows that they've leveled off after the sharp rise of the last couple of years, and may be starting to decline again. With an average of just below 73k and a last month just below 74, they've obviously been having some   interesting month to month fluctuations we don't get to see. Will they stay steady for the next few years, or will the transfer to paizo hurt consumer confidence and result in another sudden drop? At least the number of freebies has been cut in half, anyway.


DM's toolbox: Johnn returns, with another piece on using prefab adventures in your game. Guess they're having another push on that idea in the hope it'll boost supplement sales. Still, the worst thing you can do is just start running them blind and hope it'll all work out as they go from one room to the next. Instead, you should at least read it through beforehand and figure out how to fit it into your campaign world, and doing stuff like adjusting the stats and printing out loose-leaf handouts for the players'll help even more. I think this falls into the category of completely common sense advice that everyone ought to know, but we all sometimes forget, (presuming you use modules in the first place) because life is busy, and sometimes  you don't have time to properly prepare. Efficient and clean, but not particularly interesting yet again.


Nodwick discovers the first magic ever used. The conjurers guild are going to be smug about this for years.

Dragon Issue 302: December 2002


part 10/10


Sage advice goes Epic. Does this mean it'll take ages? Certainly no shortage of problems to address with that book.

Do you improve your BAB or not after level 20 (Yes, but you don't get any more iterative attacks. )

Can you apply more than 20 points to power attack at epic levels (Yes. This can get pretty heavy.)

Does epic prowess increase your BAB. (No.)

Do epic weapon focus and specialization stack with the regular one (Yes)

Do epic save bonuses stack with regular ones (They're untyped, so yeah. )
If a bonus is untyped, does it have a type ( Divide by zero error. Please reboot skipbot 2000)

What bonuses do the great (ability) feats grant (They don't. They increase your actual rating. So confusing.)

Can a non epic character use epic skill effects (If they're munchikined enough to make the DC's. In many cases this isn't that hard. )

What's defensive roll (You have played a rogue, haven't you. )

Can you counter having your illusions detected by a DC 80 spot check (no. At this kind of level, lots of powers are useless against equal opponents )

Can epic level characters end up with different BAB's despite having the same classes and levels (Yes. Skill points too. Be a rogue first, then a ranger, then a spellcaster if you want to really make the most of your levels at epic superhigh. )

Do you get any benefits for increasing your spellcaster level above 20 (yes. Some classes get more benefit than others though.)

How do you choose feats for multiclass epic characters (MADly. )

How do you get 11+th level spells (Take improved spell capacity lots of times. It goes up and up and up.)

Do you need to be a divine spellcaster to cast epic healing spells (Skip's afraid so. At least, for the positive uses. You're free to screw things up. The gods won't get upset about that.)

What does a druid need to do to get epic spells (Same as anyone else. )

Can a bard with 9th level spells through improved spell capacity get epic spells (Yes. Even paladins and rangers can do this, if they're mad enough to burn 6 feats.)

Can you count your item bonuses to ability scores to get epic feats.(Yes, but if you lose the bonus, you lose access to the feat. Epic level characters without their loot can wind up unable to get any XP, because they can't fight things with CR's well below their level without losing. How humiliating.)

Can you use automatic quicken spell with other metamagic. (Not much. It's added after all the other calculations. )

What's the default area for epic spells ( There is none. It's all up to you. )
Isn't it too easy to make epic spells by adding tons of mitigating factors (Maybe. Worth considering. )

Can you make an epic spell as a trap (Probably. This can get pretty evil. )

Do epic psions get more PP's after 20th level or not (No. They're still way better than epic sorcerers though.)

Can you use spell stowaway with spell-like abilities (yes)

What happens if a demilich enters an antimagic field (Magic still doesn't work on them. Like Russian, two no's don't make a yes in D&D logic. )

What is greater than regular flying. ( Faster regular flying! What are you on?!)

What can an unseen servant do. (Anything it's smart and strong enough to do. Not very much, especially if you don't keep track of it and update it's orders. Remember the cautionary tale of mickey mouse. That should put a chill in any wizards apprentice round a blazing campfire. )


Another themed character sheet lurks near the back, while the dork tower crew prepare for Origins very early on the back page. They bumped What's new forward for this?  


Well, it looks like this round of company shakeups is starting to settle down again, which hopefully means they can get back to producing work that's a little less derivative. Or maybe it means they'll be relying even more heavily on rehashed topics, it's still not entirely certain. Guess I'll just have to keep reading and see. Oh well. Less than 10 years to the present now. No matter how slowly I go, it can't take THAT long. Can it? .......

Dragon Issue 303: January 2003


part 1/9


88 pages (108) Well, as they've been hinting for a couple of issues,. it's gladiator time. And while they don't have a full backdrop for this one, it's not just one character and a load of tedious whitespace. You could almost call it ...... romantic. The roar of the crowd, victory or death, glory and fortune. You can see why some people would choose that life over months of wilderness trekking to find an adventure. But can it make a whole campaign? I guess we'd better see what hidden depths lie beneath the arena, and if they can change the scenery quick enough for lots of different rounds in a day.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: The good thing about the gladiatorial format is that you don't need a fixed party to show up for each session, and can run short sessions consisting of just a single combat on a regular basis while maintaining some degree of continuity and internal consistency. So it's perfect for say, a lunchtime game in the WotC offices. Which is exactly how they gave the material here a good old playtesting. And even more than a regular 3e campaign, they delighted in generating really exotic characters, for the arena thrives on novelty. Since it's obvious they actually had fun in the making of the issue, and got some playtesting in as well, that makes me more optimistic about the contents. If they had fun playing it, instead of just shovelling stuff out to meet the monthly deadlines, chances are we can have fun with it too.

Dragon Issue 303: January 2003


part 2/9


Scale Mail: They manage to find a letter that's unreservedly positive about issue 300, with their only little niggle that the forum is long-gone. Unsurprisingly, they blame the internet for that. You've got to move with the times, and enough people have that it no longer got a decent number of letters. So they definitely aren't going back on that decision.

We get a request for more tie-in adventures, so the themes in Dragon and Dungeon are even more closely co-ordinated. Be careful what you wish for. Before you know it there'll be even more pressure to catch 'em all around here.

A letter that points out that in some ways, issue 273's swashbuckling stuff was better than 301's. It was certainly better referenced. See, this is the problem with covering the same topic again too soon. You need to give it at least 5 years or so for there to be a decent amount of audience churn, otherwise everyone'll remember and compare them.

The character sheet from issue 301 gets a surprising amount of commentary. It's pretty, but maybe not the most practical design. Character sheets always wind up a mess after a year or two of weekly use, adding experience, equipment, and regularly taking damage. A pristine character sheet is like a perfectly made bed. Going to that much effort every day is a waste, but you should do it sometimes, really.

Another letter about issue 300 points out that it's actually less scary than most Stephen King novels, and those are considered entirely suitable for kids these days, despite there being a fair amount of sex and gruesome death in them. It's amazing what a difference marketing and familiarity makes.

And finally, we have an amusingly dogmatic letter from an old-school reader who isn't entirely happy with the way the magazine has gone in recent years. Gygax is the only really good thing left in it. Looking at his writing style, I can see why he thinks that.


Zogonia meets a foe who forgoes the usual minion system. This is actually more scary.

Dork tower suffers from selective memory loss, just like everyone else.