Dragon Issue 336: October 2005


part 5/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Looks like we're getting icky-bad in here as well this month. But not in an undead way, curiously enough. Instead, it's a more fiendish slant again. So look forward to more stuff that the enemies can use with impunity, but PC's may regret.

Blasphemous Figurines of the Void are the eevil variant on the usual ones of wondrous power. Although they're more Ancient spirits of evil, transform this decayed form into Mumm-Ra, the everliving! Braaaaaagh! than genuinely diabolical. Spoiling food? Who bothers with that if you're not in a siege situation?

The Brush of the Fallen Master lets you paint amazing paintings, but gradually kills you in the process. Don't waste it on redecorating the house. Probably the way to profit from this would be to become the agent of the person who owns the brush and profit hugely from them posthumously while passing it onto the next sucker.

The Carnivorous Tome sucks you in and writes out your life. Pretty sure we've had this one before. The visuals are recycled from Dahlver-nar's stuff, for no apparent reason. You don't want to give yourself away if you're an evil book.

Fiendish Elixir gives you the basic benefits of being devilish or demonic, but will of course also make you ping as horribly evil even if not. Watch for awkward misunderstandings.

The Mask of Endless Laughter warps things from happiness into joker-esque horror, and kills you laughing if you take it off. Poor jack. I knew him well. Oh well, on with the show.

A Parasitic Twin helps you get ahead in evil. No thanks. I've seen how this one ends, and it sure aint a happy one. Plus the whole no privacy thing. You really don't want something like that on your neck commenting while you're having sex.

Sacrificial Knives work like a death knell spell, letting you profit even more from slaughter. Not nearly as cool as the one which let you make other people pay your item creation costs though.

A Staff of Nightmares has a whole bunch of terror related spells available for various charge costs. Another one a wizard'll get a lot of fun out of before it runs out.


The demonomicon of Iggwilv diverts itself away from looking at demons, to look at the person behind actually writing the book. Our delightful witch queen is another of the people who goes right back to the early days of the hobby. Mother of Iuz, lover of Grazzt, and quite possibly a number of other powerful demons, she's one of the few people to not only deal with archdemons, but also mix business with pleasure and still come out even or better. Along with the history, we have 7 new spells (well, mostly old spells converted to the new edition, actually ) which you use to summon, bind, manipulate and discipline extraplanar gribleys. Substantially smaller than the last couple, this also feels as though less effort has been put into advancing it forward, merely recounting history rather than advancing it. Still, if you like a bit of vile darkness in your game, there's a fair amount of usable material in here, so it's still a decent entry, if not a great one.

Dragon Issue 336: October 2005


part 6/7


Silicon sorcery: Hmm, Shadow of the Colossus. Another game which does things a little differently to most D&D adventures, as you only face one big monster per adventure, rather than a whole dungeon full of fun. Of course, to make this work in D&D, you need to design monsters differently, with a good set of abilities and weaknesses to discover and work with. How do you climb one? How do you stay upright when they shake the earth with every step? How do you deal with their spectacular collapse when they finally die? It's an interesting set of questions, and one they're obviously thinking about quite a bit, since they did stuff like this in Iron Heroes as well. This is another of those cases where the small size of the column means they don't do an entirely satisfying job, as they provide us with stats for a generic titan rather than several of the more advanced ones in the game. It is a cool idea, but it really needs more expansion, like many high level monsters. (apart from dragons, which are doing quite well for themselves with new stuff every year) This stuff is damn hard to make both balanced and mechanically interesting,  and it's the area we most need more material and advice on.


Sage advice: Hey, Geraldine! Get your lazzzy asss back to work! We've got more quessstions to answer!

Can a monk take improved natural attack for their unarmed strike (yess. Verry brutal, yess.)

Can you combine manyshot with ranged precision (no)

Does quick draw let you sheathe a weapon as a free action. (No. Putting it in needss more precission than taking it out, preciouss.)

If you have quick draw, can you change weapons mid attack. Does that include switching between melee and ranged (yess. Thatss a funny image, collins collins.)

Do you get the benefits of weapon finesse when using multiple weapons (Yess.)

Can you use whirlwind attack in heavy armour (yess)

Which version of innate spell is official (The mosst recent one, yess? Complete arcane, preciouss.)

Do you lose the benefits from exalted feats in an anti-magic field (Mosstly. But you sstill have to follow the nassty rules, collins collins. Sso much for virtue being it's own reward, teeheeheeheehee.)

Where's the ki strike (holy ) ability (Good quesstion. Andy cannot answer it.)

What's a pain effect. (Nassty powers, they hurtsess. Lots of things hurtsess.)

Can a kensai select unarmed strike as their signature weapon (yes)

Are tattoos considered material posessions. (No. You can have as many pretty drawings on you ass you like. Very usefull if you have vow of poverty, and need a holy symbol, yess?)

Dragon Issue 336: October 2005


part 7/7


Class acts: Barbarians get Herbal Remedies. When you don't have a magical healer around, you've gotta learn the basics of medicine yourself. If you want to play Aragorn, this is another part of the picture.

Bards get Blasphemous Utterances. Musicians can get driven mad by the far realm as easily as anyone, and when they still remain functional enough to play music, that music becomes deeply disturbing. Here's three feats that represent that. Muahahahahaha! Ia Ia! fthagn!

Clerics continue the essential spells advice, moving on to levels 4-6. Yawnaroo.

Druids get Dark Side Druids. This edition, druids can go evil too. And given real world druids faced legends of human sacrifice, why shouldn't their fantasy counterparts do so, and get some benefit from it. Mmmm, entrails. I seeeee - A gruesome death in your future! Will it be from bees, or Britt Ekland?

Fighters get The Black Fist. Another organization to put into your games. They get no cool crunch or prestige class to tempt us though. Meh

Monks get Pressure Point Attacks. Take this feat to massively expand the uses you can get from your stunning fist. Like divine channeling feats, this is the kind of thing you can have lots cool of variants for. Since it seems one feat grants all these tricks, taking this is a good way to make your monk more versatile.

Paladins get Why do you Serve. Their turn to get a bunch of backgrounds. Did they choose, were they born to it, or were they chosen? What leads a man to virtue? Is it the shinies? I think not. Still, they don't hurt.

Rangers get the Mystic Ranger. They get better spells, but fewer favored enemies, no animal companion, and combat style takes longer to master. Almost bard level spellcasting and still full BAB? Sign me up! I'm sure this'll also help you cheese your way into some cool prestige class.  

Rogues get Rogue Lore. Another of their attempts to codify just how useful the various knowledge skills are, encourage more people to take them. Tap that underworld info, and use it to your profit.

Sorcerers get Poltergeists. Another experiment in exchanging old class features for new. Good fluff on this one, too. The talk about sorcery being innate magic that wasn't under their control at first could do with a little more backing up.

Wizards get Dark Pacts. Three more thematic feats requiring sacrifices and other such unpleasantness for the powers they grant. Probably more suited to NPC's, really.


Nodwick does some civic service while he's dead. Eh, it's gonna happen, so why not make the most of it. Dork tower filks. Well, they've dropped the april fools articles, someone's got to take up the slack. Zogonia faces the incredulity of the big bad.


Once again, October demonstrates they have more than enough horrific material sent in to put a little fear back into our hearts, no matter how heroic we may think we are. Even if you can face death heroically, can you deal with what you might become after it? Well, it looks like we aren't leaving that topic, as we go fungal next month. Just as illithids take the brain and Grimlocks the rest of the body, there's plenty of body horror to share around here. Let's see just how different this particular gruesome fate is to actually go through.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 1/7


77 (108) pages. After last issue's desiccated cheesecake, we have some full frontal nudity on the cover! Exposure to the internet causes porn to sneak into everything. I have absolutely no desire to see Zuggtmoy's fungal labia, let alone put my penis anywhere near it. (and somehow I don't think she needs to wax to keep it that way) How the devil did they get this one past the censors? I suppose it's the same way we could have giant robots blowing each other to bits in the 80's, but humans couldn't even engage in convincing fisticuffs. Well, at least they've grabbed my attention right from the outset this issue. Now let's see if they can sustain it all the way through.


Scan Quality: Excellent, indexed, ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Editorial: Even the magazine staff can admit after the fact that the first D&D movie blew chunks. However, that does not mean they can't have hope that the sequel will be good, or at the very least better than the first one. So here's their attempt to whip up a little anticipation in the general public and get them buying the DVD's. (for tis only a sci-fi original, not a theatrical film) It's mildly amusing, especially since it involves Erik taking the piss out of the previous editor. But it's still promotional gumph they were probably obligated to include in some form or another. Like the movie itself, I doubt I shall remember this in a few months time.


Scale Mail is pretty short this month. However, they do have a little piece on the New Orleans disaster, and their own small part in putting things back together. Because when you've lost your home and stuff, what you really need to pick yourself up is some roleplaying books and dice so you can start a new game while stuck at the shelter. We need escapism when things get bad, and a method that helps you connect with the people around you is better in the long run than going straight for the donated TV.

Our first letter is a second request to do Class Acts on some of the new classes they introduced in the Complete books. Since it would also make things easier for their writers to come up with stuff without getting repetitive, you've got yourself a deal there.

Second is one reminding people even setting specific articles can usually be adapted to other worlds, so they shouldn't worry too much about including them. Have the editors not said as much in the past as well?

And finally, we have an eulogy for a keetom who loved to join in when the family were roleplaying. Even though it might have messed up their minis, they still miss him and quite right too.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 2/7


First watch: The Forgotten Realms continues a longstanding tradition of having it's own specific incarnations of general splatbooks. Champions of Valor is their parallel to the Book of Exalted deeds. I'll bet the Harpers are involved somewhere.

Hellspike prison is another adventure that's also designed to be friendly to the D&D minis game. Gotta keep that cross-promotion going. Small, but full of extras, this looks like it should support a few dramatic fights.

They also release the Dragon Compendium. Well, paizo do, but it's still got the official D&D logo on it. A whole load of well loved stuff from old editions updated to 3rd ed. This should be the very last thing I review in this thread. Look forward to it.

In D20 Green Ronin release the Advanced Race codex. Once again, this looks more interesting than it's official D&D counterparts. There's also a reprint of the Witchfire adventures, and two new books for the Thieves World setting, filling out the main city and the lands surrounding it. And there's also Etherscope, for those of you who want something new to fill your brain with. Another victorian magical Steampunk setting? Seems to be quite the fad around this time.

In videogames, there is the Rifts Nokia N-Gage game. Bwuh? Of all the platforms to choose, you walk into this joint. How did this happen? Will we ever see a Rifts movie? Damned if I know. Two other established franchises get new instalments. Dragon Quest 8 and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. No-one defeats Dracula for long. He just keeps coming back.

Speaking of oh sweet jesus, there's also the second D&D movie - Wrath of the Dragon God. Well, it's probably better than the first one. But no scenery chewing Jeremy Irons to liven things up. In any case, I still have no desire at all to see this.

In minis, they're still promoting the same stuff they were last month, the underdark series of official stuff. Yawn. There's also some M:tG ones as well, and another collection of potential floors for all these guys to fight on. Put together your prefab stuff, and hope it's all the right scale.

Our boardgame this month is Hunting Party, another game where the roleplaying part is mostly removed from your dungeoneering and exploring, and replayability is facilitated by randomness. And you can probably mine some of the bits for your actual roleplaying too.

Finally, they expand their remit again, to promote Edhellen Armory's line of LARP gear. If you want elf (vulcan) ears, harmless but impressive looking swords, and hey nonny nonny gear, you have a place to go now. And that's probably the last we'll hear of that for another year or two.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 3/7


Monsters of the mind: Looks like Mind Flayers have still got a hold on the minds of the writers and editors, because here's another collection of monsters created by or related to them. Watch they don't get a grip on your mind too, for you never know when you'd make a better snack than you do pawn.

Brainstealer Dragons are essentially illithid dragons. They have pretty much the same range of psionic/spell like tricks, but are obviously a much bigger physical threat on top of that. If the PC's can break into an illithid city and wreck an elder brain, this is the logical next choice for the big boss that's lurking behind even their schemes.

Illithocytes are grown up illithid tadpoles who took a different evolutionary path to Neoillithids and learned to survive on psychic residue rather than actually eating brains. This does not mean they won't engulf you and eat you whole if they get the chance. Being able to survive on crap does not mean you don't crave better when offered it on a plate.

Mind Worms scry you through reflective surfaces, and then reach out of them to swallow you whole. Beating the image does not kill the real one back in the underdark, so they can cause your party much paranoia over an extended adventure and lead to them shunning any reflective surfaces they see. That is a cool idea that would have been equally appropriate last month.

Nerve Swimmers burrow into your flesh and control you by judicious application of telepathy and agonising pain, while not outright controlling your mind. If you've had to deal with Kyuss worms and rot grubs, these will get the players really worried and drag out the body horror a little longer. Muahahaha!  

Ustilagor are the update to an old school monster that seems somewhat incongruous in this company. They aren't too different from what they used to be, although they actually explain their powers in the description instead of just listing them and sending you off to check the psionics book. That's one way they have definitely worked to make 3e and 4e more user-friendly over the years.


Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Zuggtmoy is another of our more alien demon lords.  Queen of fungi, she presides over a very particular kind of horror. The prospect of having strange organic growths sprouting on and inside you, feeding off you and turning you into god knows what may be topical, and is not an appealing one. But Rule 34 trumps sanity and common sense, and so she attracts her own set of decidedly distasteful cultists, eager to receive her caress, and become freaky fungus hybrid creatures. As with most of these, we get stats for her, her cultist prestige class, her realm, lots of historical stuff, and her servants. We get another joyous revival of several old creatures which first appeared in the magazine here, with the Basidrond and Phycomid. Overall, she's probably one of the weaker demon lords, her multiple ugly defeats in modules having weakened her and reduced her abyssal prestige. But she's got lots of flavour, even if they do fall into the irritating trap of sexualising her just because she is sorta female :sigh: Still an entertaining read that manages to mix updated old stuff with a few new bits. Will there be a duff entry in this series? Guess we'll have to keep going and see.


Full frontal nerdity: Looks like Aaron Williams has decided to start a new strip. Does this mean the end of nodwick? We shall see. The annoying occurrences don't stop though, just because we're on this side of the GM's screen. Seems pretty one-joke so far, despite the fact we get six mini-strips.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 4/7


The Lords of Dust: Keith Baker once again shows how to put a very distinctive spin on pre-existing D&D creatures when incorporating them into Eberron. This time, it's Rakshasa's turn. Without the need to eat brains to survive and stay underground, they're capable of even greater subtlety than illithids in messing with your mind and carrying out really long-term, machiavellian plans. And like Sahuguin, Aboleth or real world ants, if you ask why they don't rule the world, the answer is Don't They? :evil grin: They may not have the numbers or raw power to openly command, given the sheer number and variety of other supernatural beasties in eberron, but immortality, wealth and a few identities in the right places gives you a lot of influence. So this is for those of you who want to make your Eberron game into one of intrigue and conspiracy theories. With their exceedingly high spell resistance (albeit not immunity like previous editions), conventional divination magic won't help much in rooting them out, (although keeping up your shields against mind reading is a very good idea in general anyway) and they've developed new tricks to make it even harder still. Nor will brute force suffice to solve the threat permanently, as the more powerful ones reform after being killed unless you use soul-destroying magic on them. (which again, is exceedingly high level stuff) This essentially ensures that there are threats out there big and tricky enough to challenge even epic level characters in Eberron, which becomes increasingly important the longer it's out, while still allowing low level characters to get in on the action. The mechanics are up to Eberron's usual high standard too, with plenty of effort put into making sure the big bads can no-sell your obvious solutions. Good luck, because you are seriously going to need it if your DM incorporates this one.


The ecology of the shadar-kai: Shadow and fae. Two concepts that have got substantial upgrades in 4th edition, getting their own planes in the considerably cut down cosmology. And dumb grimdark names. (wilden? Seriously?!) Here we see one of the bits of foreshadowing for this change. This also, curiously, gives us a good reason for why the plane of shadow went from a demiplane in 2nd ed, to the primary means of getting from one alternate reality to another in 3rd edition. It gives them a curiously White-wolf ish twist, making them evil, but also tragic and filled with Aaaangst. They eternally struggle against their curse, that threatens to draw them away from the material plane and deadens everything they do and feel. And their favoured weapon is the spiked chain. Straddling the boundary between cool and Kewl, this is pretty easy to mock, but does make interesting reading because of that. Maybe we should pair one of them with a Dark Stalker, that'll keep the fangirls happy. So yeah, lots to love, lots to hate, I'm rather amused by this one, and may make use of the ideas within.


Wormfood: Another bit of worldbuilding here, as they confront the issue of magic shops. Always a contentious one in D&D, here they decide to bite the bullet and embrace commercialism, ensuring that you can not only make sure you have level appropriate items of your choice, but can do so with style and flavour, making the shopping process interesting in itself. You can go to the big emporium, managed by the smart archmages and their canny salesman who won't fail to get a good price from you. You can go get nature related items direct from a dryad druid living in a ruined manor. And of course, there's all sorts of dubious bargains if you know where to look downtown. They tread a careful path between adding flavour and keeping things generic enough that you can insert them into your own campaign without too much trouble. And the result is indeed pretty well done, if a bit bland. But since that's what they were aiming for, I can't fault it too much on that front. I just wish they were taking a few more risks here.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 5/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Facepainting gets it's own special! Well, it hasn't had one before, has it. Are you sure you couldn't wait till april? Essentially this is like potions, only taking longer to work, and requiring a craft check to apply successfully. Can't see that becoming standard tech, but it might be able to maintain a commercial niche amongst cultists and travelling circuses. As ever, it'll be fun seeing if players can take advantage of this.

Badger Protector gives you a raging dire badger guardian. Don't laugh. Remember, they're gigantic weasels built like trucks. You can ride them through hell and high water.

Black Roses make lord Soth moon over you for eternity. Oh, and hurt anyone who grapples you.

Bulls Might lets you gain bull's strength by snorting like a bull once it's painted on. Tee hee. How very cartoonish

Dashing Cheetah is also inherently amusing. You need to run in place for a few seconds before you can go all speedy gonzales. There may also be sound effects.

Eagles Talons give you claw attacks. They'd have to have something like that at some point, wouldn't they.

Forestfold lets you hide in the wilderness. If you stay still. That's generally the easiest to do anyway. I'm not impressed.

Glow of the Fireflies gives you an array of pretty lights surrounding you. This is less distracting than it sounds. Enjoy the light, because it doesn't have a long duration.

Hawkeye's Sure Sight (please don't sue us Marvel) makes you a better archer, of course. It'll also help you find secret doors, amusingly enough. Gotta love those enhanced senses.

Last Man Standing gives you Bear's Endurance. I'm betting there's going to be equivalents for the other ability scores here.

The Leap of the Wild ones gives you Jump bonuses. Meh. Give me flight any day.

Leave No Sign gives you Pass without Trace. Another low-key one to get from your makeup box when needed.

Mask the Living gives you invisibility against undead. Another short duration one you'll have to know you need beforehand. Watch you don't get mistaken for undead yourself, venturing into a graveyard all made up like a skeleton.

Prowling Tiger is multipurpose. Agility and Jumping. Unfortunately, the duration is even shorter. Your prey may well outlast you and escape.

Ram Bash lets you charge people amusingly. Ba da ba ba baba! Puppy power! A winnar is you.

Shout at the Storm gives you energy resistance. Only 10 points though. A good spellcaster'll blow through that like a camel though a pint. What happened to the good old complete immunities?

Warpaint gives you both barbarian rage and haste for a combat or so. Durations really aint what they used to be either.

Webwalker makes a web instantly when triggered and lets you climb it. A good trap when combined with taunting. Muahahaha.

Whirlwind's Arrow lets you shoot a pair of magic missiles megaman style. This is of course as reliable as ever, so silly activation methods won't leave the enemy much chance to laugh.

Wolf's Wariness helps you detect traps. A low-key ending to a generally pretty low-key entry. Maybe a group of natives can use a whole lot of these. Wouldn't be such a bad idea to scale up say, the natives in the isle of dread.

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 6/7


Sage advice: Can you become an advanced version of a creature with polymorph (Only if the sneaky playerss stats it up ahead of time. We don't wants nassty timewasterss at our table, collins collins. And don't forget the HD limit.)

Can you use polymorph to turn into a creature with a template (Again, as long as you follow all the other rulsess.)

Can powerful polymorph spells make you any size (pretty much)

What happens to your clothes if you morph into another creature that wears them (Dependses. This needs lots of clausesss)

Does your gear change size when you polymorph (no)

If a goliath is polymorphed into a stone giant, can they wield huge weapons (No, you lose your normal racial abilities when you change shape. Ssorry.)

Do you lose your extra skill points and feat if you're a polymorphed human (yess. Better figure out which one it iss, otherwise this could get nassty.)

When you use two polymorphs, can you combine their abilities (no)

If you shapechange into a choker, can you cast extra spells per round with it's quickness powers (Yess. Nassty wizards become even nasstier chokers. Andy sshould try that ssometime.)

What spells work on polymorphed creatures (Ones affecting their new type, yess.)

If you change type once a spell is on you, does it stay on you (yess. Verry abussable, collins collins.)

What clauses of polymorph still apply to polymorph any object. (two of them, yess. )

Does Wild armor still work if you shapechange through another means (no)

Dragon Issue 337: November 2005


part 7/7


Class acts: Barbarians get The Free People. Halfling barbarians finally get a little love. Kick the ass of those big lumbering oafs with great prejudice!

Bards get Harbinger. Instead of inspiring their buds, they creep the hell out of their enemies. Just the thing when you're outnumbered. Another neat class variant.

Clerics finish off their essential spells guide. Since most people don't get this far, essential takes on a different meaning. More dullness.

Druids get druid organizations. We already have one. Here's three more for you to join or be rivals too, with the standard Background benefits and penalties. Just how wild are you really?

Fighters get Viking Raider. Mmmm. Rape, loot and pillage. And Sail. Tricky to be a fighter and a sailor. Fortunately, we have a feat that'll fix that without multiclassing. Another one that's useful to lots of classes, especially if trying to get to a wilderness based prestige class efficiently.

Monks get The Metered Style. Basing your fighting off poetic forms? Seems like a liability to me, especially if the enemy knows you're doing it and acts to break your rhythm. Still, the new crunch based on this idea is quite neat. Another one that's both flavourful and useful.

Paladins get Purification feats. Seems like these days, every class ability has feats that let you use it's uses for other purposes. Here's 5 of them for Paladin's remove disease power. If you find you're running out too often, you can also take a feat boosting the number of times you can use it. You can specialize in anything these days.

Rangers get Standing Orders. An army-esque organization based on the real world. Includes lots of sound tactical advice for any adventuring team.

Rogues get Honor among Thieves. More jobs that their diverse skillsets allow them to turn too with ease. You can't master them all, even with 18 int. The underworld needs specialists.

Sorcerors get Spell Grafts. More ways to get permanent spell-like abilities. I thought that was the warlock's schtick. Where is the non-core class love?

Wizards get a trio of halfling wizard substitute levels. These are really rather useful. You could even get healing spells if you chose right. Way to break the game, dude


Nodwick is still here after all. And serving up the best in monstrous cuisine. Dork tower is mostly satisfied by the 40 year old virgin. Zogonia gets the wrong kind of worms for their new bird.


The regular features remain pretty formulaic here, but since they take up less of the magazine, I once again found it quite fun reading overall, with a nice mix of mechanical and setting related stuff. Erik's run remains far easier to get through than the last few years, so it looks like I might get to accelerate again soon. The end draws nigh, and we might get to go out on a high. But first, it's time for another christmas. Let's see if they have any extra special presents prepared for us this year.

Dragon Issue 338: December 2005


part 1/7


72 (108) pages. Our cover star this month has been taking fashion tips from Venger, which is mildly amusing. Still, at least he's brought along some help, which are also appropriate to the contents inside. But there's no theme this issue. Guess it's another christmas grab-bag. Well, at least they aren't calling it a magic themed one, which was so broad as to be meaningless anyway. Shall we see what they've stacked in our stockings.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: Whatever happened to the best ofs of yesterday? Demand for them never really went away, but when Lorraine took over, they refused to do any more, drawing as much of a line in the sand as possible to put forward their new stuff. Erik, on the other hand, loves settings from all eras, and has no problem with mining them and bringing stuff back, then adding to it, as we've seen in their Adventure Paths. So when given the chance to reprint the best material not only from recent issues, but also older articles updated to 3e rules, he leapt at it. ( And then got bogged down in endless debate with the other members of staff over what to put in and leave out. ) Given how much work good conversions are, I don't have the same cynicism about this being just money for old rope that I did in the old days, and I am vaguely irritated that they didn't get to do another one in the series with so many more good articles they could have updated. And of course, they never do something similar for 4e, since it's even more work to move stuff into that from previous editions. So basically, this editorial reinforces my frustration with rapid edition and staff turnovers. You really ought to explore ideas to their fullest before moving on, because it's much harder to go back and then recapture the same feel if everything else has changed in the meantime. And a corporate structure where everyone is disposable will not result in innovative creative leaps, as people wind up repeating the basics year in year out. You may have more ideas than you can ever use, but it's more valuable to finish one than start 100.


Scale Mail: The article on types of alcohol gets an amused reply, wondering if they're going to expand on this even further. Probably not, since they still (mostly) try to be a family friendly magazine. They have other ideas that excessive drinking would only get in the way of.

Second, we have a request for more dark sun monsters. Again, nothing planned for a while, but if people keep sending stuff in, who knows what next year will bring.

Also a repeat request is one trying to figure out exactly what stuff from the magazine is OGL. Nothing in the past year, and nothing in the near future either, for WotC want to keep as many goodies to themselves as possible from now on. Tightwads.

Yet another very familiar one is for more setting specific material. Erik is obviously trying to build up a portfolio of evidence that he can use to convince his superiors that it will be good for sales to do a little more of this.

And finally, we have a request for a serious updating of Yugoloths. They've been neglected since the 3e switch, and could definitely benefit from an epic article giving them some new coolness. Where's Shemeshka the Marauder when you need her?

Dragon Issue 338: December 2005


part 2/7


Full frontal nerdity plays with their dice the wrong way. Consign them to the earth! They then cheat at computer games, and admit they've never read LotR. None of these are greeted with good humour.
 

First watch: Another edition's been around for a while, and it's getting hard to keep track of things. Let's Compile! The spell compendium does exactly what you would expect. Once again, though, I am reminded how small 3rd ed actually is compared to 2nd ed. In that wizards took 4 volumes and priests 3. Here, one is enough for everyone. And it's not even pretty faux leatherbound or anything.

That's the only official D&D product next month, but as usual, there's more than a few D20 ones out there. Green Ronin do very well for themselves, with Damnation Decade, the skewed 70's roleplaying game, and the generic True20 corebook. Both can be used alone, or combined with the vast amounts of other D20 products out there in odd combinations. Although it's a bit trickier for True20 than it is for most variants.

Our big game aid this month is Paizo's Game Mastery Item Packs. Like spell cards, this lets you add and remove stuff without endless scribblings on your character sheet.

Card games hit hard, but to limited effect this month. WotC release Three-Dragon Ante, another fun little way of using their IP for other purposes. White Wolf release Racer Knights of Falconius, a CCG that disappeared with even less fanfare than Pimp: the Backhanding. I wonder if it was any good.

Some rather interesting non gamebooks this month. Order of the stick: On the Origin of PC's cements Rich Burlew's place in gaming culture. While Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide has tons of art from Tony DiTerlizzi, someone who's managed to escape and go mainstream, but is still wearing his geeky influences on his sleeve. And producing tremendously pretty stuff along the way.

Quite a few interesting bits on the computer gaming front. Most notable is the release of the X-box 360. Technology trundles onwards, bringing us into the realms of HD games. Look at those millions of pixels and marvel at the results. Enjoy the online features. And wish you had a bigger hard drive. Oh well, maybe in a few years. Watch out for the red ring of death. They also promote D&D online, even though it isn't actually out yet, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Even with all that flexibility in customisation, they still can't match actual roleplaying in terms of choices.

Our boardgames this month are more FFG ones. They do seem to have this market sown up. Brittania, Fury of Dracula, World of Warcraft again, and Lord of the Rings: Confrontation. Yet more expensive deluxe sets for you to drool over and only get to play once or twice.  

Our minis are the Crystal caste Inn, and some dragons designed by Todd McFarlaine. The story practically writes itself. Smash, burn, DESTROY!!!! Hee.

And finally, we have an adorable little dice bag, that looks like a goblin. Well, actually it looks more like a gremlin to me, but hey. D&D does not control all mythology. I might buy this sort of thing on an impulse if I saw it in a shop.

Dragon Issue 338: December 2005


part 3/7


Schools of magic: In Unearthed Arcana wizards had the option to specialise in domains, gaining a single extra spell of each spell level rather than the choice of an entire School. However, since there were no drawbacks for doing this, it made them strictly better than generalists to do so, which is poor design when you consider that wizards are probably the third best class in the game already. This article attempts to deal with that by creating an intermediate degree of specialisation, particular curricula of magic with 2-3 spells to choose from per level for your bonus slot,  and only one forbidden school, with again, a limited choice of 2 to represent the weaknesses of these particular academies' teaching methods. Since these are specific organisations rather than natural divisions of magical physics, they are free to make the lists idiosyncratic, which also means it's really easy to invent your own infinite number of variations on this idea. They list 8, giving each half a page, with one column devoted to the mechanics, and two to the setting details and important NPC's of each one. So this article could be a lot bigger, but it's already better implemented than the domain wizards in UA, and more interesting to incorporate into your campaign because the little bits of setting detail give you easy hooks on which to hang further adventures. I could definitely stand to see a sequel to this one.


Imps of ill-humor: A somewhat more whimsical article than we've seen for a while, this could easily have fit into the april articles of old. It's also an interesting White Wolf parallel, since the four bodily humours are going to play a substantial part in their next gameline as well. I wonder what inspired them both when it's such an old and underused bit of pseudoscience. So yeah, four imps, each with personality types and powers based on the stereotypes of what people are like when they have an excess of a particular bodily humour. They're all approximately the same power level as Mephits, and would fit right in amongst that grumbling lazy gaggle of extraplanar dogsbodies. I'm sure you can have a great deal of fun playing them, since they're all such blatant stereotypes.

Choleric Imps are always angry, and will pick a fight for no reason. This rage is contagious, so the party may well turn on each other after killing them, which will just be a pain in the butt. Good thing they're not smart enough to strike from concealment and then just sit back to enjoy the show.

Melancholic Imps are inherently depressed all the time, which is an even worse fate than being designed to be inherently evil. Course, they can also be vicious little backstabbers, especially if you refuse to listen to their endless whining. Steer clear, or they'll drag you down to their level.

Phlegmatic Imps are less miserable, but they're even lazier and more likely to come up with ways to skive off their job rather than just complaining. Oh well, that just gives the evil overlord an excuse to do some serious torturing. Who cares if you succeed as long as you have fun being evil.

Sanguine Imps are perpetually cheery and hyper, which makes them the odd one out here. This does not mean they don't love a good laugh at everyone else's expense, so expect some decidedly nasty trickery if you hang around them. At least you can be sure the other imps will ostracise them. No-one likes an optimist in hell.

Dragon Issue 338: December 2005


part 4/7


Core 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 fuckers 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. 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. 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.

Dragon Issue 338: December 2005


part 5/7


Wormfood eases up to third gear at last, as we reach the middle of the adventure path. While previous instalments have been deliberately generic, this is very specific to their current adventure indeed. Say hello to the Wormhunter prestige class. Any normal sane person would avoid letting a Kyuss worm get anywhere near them. But there's always a few insane cultists who figure out how to draw power from them. And unlike many vile prestige classes, this is one the good guys can theoretically learn as well, dabbling in the dark side for greater power to fight their foes with. That's the idea anyway. In practice it all falls down a bit because the powers gained are no better than a normal class, and quite a bit worse for spellcasters, plus you have the various prices to health and sanity to contend with subtracting from your overall competence. Once you crunch the math, adopting this will make you suboptimal from nearly any entry point. A fun read, and I'd have no objection to giving it to NPC's as a DM, but there's no way I'd choose this for my primary character as a player. Just not practical at all.


Spellcraft: Having just had a spell weaver ecology, we also get to see some of their unique spells, along with the incomprehensible methods used to record them. 3 books of 4 pentagonal pages, that only make sense when assembled into a d12 in the right configuration? Not sure if that's brilliant, or just weirdness for weirdnesses sake. Either way, it works quite effectively in making this seem alien, and ties in nicely with the previous article, despite them being by different writers. Kudos to the editors too for catching this one.

Anamensis is another means of tapping into unknown lore, this time with sanity threatening alien undertones. The usual disclaimers apply.

Cynosure makes your dimension hopping way more accurate. Since some of them have substantial percentages of killing you underground and the like, this will help the paranoid spellcaster stay alive through the centuries.

Modulate allows you to do amazing things with wands, tapping their energy to cast completely different spells. That's spellweavers all over for you. Who else would be able to pull off tricks that radical. Maybe a few elder dragons, but they wouldn't share this stuff.

Siphon is another metamagic one, stealing energy to kick butt in unexpected ways. Exactly the kind of thing wizards fight over, since they aren't coming up with stuff this radical.

Spell Star is a somewhat wonky bit of counterspelling that does seem appropriate, but isn't nearly as useful. Unlike earlier spells, this is a bit of a white elephant, given it's specificity and prep time. Even spell weavers are hardly perfect. They have issues too.