Dragon Issue 353: March 2007


part 3/6


Demonomicon of Iggwilv: From an ancient demon lord with lots of mythical antecedents, to a brand new one, both in and out of the game. Malcanthet is the queen of Succubi, a far less alien evil than any of the preceding creatures. Course, that seductiveness has only aided her rapid rise to power, and she is quite capable of holding her own in one-on-one combat with most of the other abyssal lords. And when it comes to getting cults, thralls, and all that jazz, she has a huge advantage. Among the usual bits and pieces, we get some more little references that make it very clear just how much research they've done into D&D's history, a new, quite different form of incubi focussed upon rape, (shock, horror! mature themes! ) magic items, and an abyssal layer packed full of many quite different specific locations. The prospect of injecting a little sex into people's games seems to have boosted the writer's enthusiasm, because this is another one that has a strong sense of fun to it. The abyss is a big, complicated place, and deception and seduction definitely has a place there. Another entry I very much approve of.


Multiple Dementia: The big inner and outer planes may have remained fairly fixed since the 1e DMG, but there's always room for more demiplanes and ways to get around. So it's time for another article that collects and expands on some of the most obscure hints in previous books. Even I didn't know about all of these before! Good to see they still have the power to surprise me after all these years.

The Black Abyss (not to be confused with the infinite plane of chaos and evil) is a slowly disintegrating abandoned demiplane of caves surrounding a massive storm which none who enter return from. It's actually surprisingly peaceful in the outer reaches, and you could probably make it home for a few millennia yet before it disintegrates entirely. Plus there's plenty of hints about who used to live there. If you're an enterprising wizard who doesn't quite have the power to create your own demiplane yet, studying this place would help you learn a lot and hopefully avoid making the same mistakes in the long-term.

The demiplane of Imprisonment (not to be confused with Ravenloft, which is also a demiplane that imprisons nasty things with great efficiency) is an enormous crystal floating through the ethereal plane that contains some kind of terrifying unkillable monstrosity. Even trapped, it's dreams suck people in and drive them insane, and you may lose an entire party if they don't have any mental shielding while investigating. Not a good way to go.

Moil, The City that Waits is a relatively new addition to D&D's cosmology, mainly referenced in some necromancy related magics from Complete Arcane. Ripped from it's original world, and it's inhabitants placed into eternal slumber, it's a collection of interconnected towers who's bases simply disappear into rolling mist. Parts of it have been gutted by Acerack, and filled with deathtraps, while others still have their original inhabitants or other mysterious horrors lurking within. At 3 miles across, it's probably just about small enough for a group of epic level adventurers to clear out, especially if they have enough plane-shifting magic to jaunt in and out to heal (for being filled with negative energy impedes resting up inside a fair amount) between excursions. So this makes three cool locations adventurable, and sets a challenge to people to do the same for a bunch more. If the magazine had lasted longer, it's quite possible we would have seen them too. that's one set of sequels they could have kept interesting for a while, like the demonomicons and ecologies.

Dragon Issue 353: March 2007


part 4/6


Princes of elemental good: Well, looks like they're filling up this symmetry at last. 6 months after updating the princes of elemental evil to 3e, they're giving us stats for their long-hinted good counterparts. Well, it's not a perfect symmetry, as there's only the 4 of them. They didn't have to be for the same one, but maybe at least one para or quasielemental extra would be nice. Oh well. Let's see how these compare statistically, and what personality quirks they have.

Ben-Hadar looks like a handsome humanoid male made of water with lobster claws, which means he probably has to deal with disturbing yet comedic advances from Blibdoolpoolp viewing him as the ideal mate. Oddly enough, he does get on with Rennbuu, the slaad lord of colours from issue 221, since he can create all sorts of prismatic prettiness. So this instantly shows that they've seriously done their research, if they're drawing on characters that obscure and thinking about their relationships to one-another. This looks like it might actually be more interesting than just a symmetry filler.

Chan, like Yan-C-Bin, is naturally invisible, as is her home, built out of purest crystal. This naturally pushes people towards meditative thought and careful examination of their environment. She's the only one who's higher CR than her evil counterpart, and has far more allies than enemies, which means she might be able to win with some heroes to make a decisive move. Well, the plane of air always was the most liveable for people, even if you have to become skilled at controlled falling. Let's make this a better universe for you and me.

Sunnis is the most powerful of them, making both the earth archomentals the bosses if they were ever to come to a full-scale straightforward battle royale. She lives in a gigantic endlessly pouring hourglass, and apparently used that time/sleep association to make the tarrasque sleep more than 90% of the time and not devastate the world. (and you don't want to find out what kind of prince is needed to kiss it to break this curse. ) That definitely adds to D&D's mythology, and her long list of allies and enemies gives you plenty of excuses to use her in your games.

Zaaman Rul is the weakest of these at only CR 20. Given the number of evil creatures in the plane of fire, he's pretty beleaguered in trying to promote nondestructive government there. Well, at least melting the weapons of anyone who attacks you is a good start in promoting pacifism. For all that fire may not be inherently evil, it still has the biggest alignment skew in it's inhabitants. This will definitely take more work for the PC's to figure out. Well, it's good to have a range of challenges to give the PC's requiring different skills. So this article not only gives you some more good creatures to balance you the monsters, but actually gives you plenty to do with them, which is sometimes a problem with say, celestials and the upper planes. That's handy even if you aren't a D&D lore obsessive like the writers.


The ecology of the keeper: Yay! It's the creepy guys who originated in Planescape, and seem even more appropriate now, post Men in Black and The Matrix. Gotta love that iconic trenchcoats and shades imagery. (Also gotta love the goggles doing nothing, nach) They appear, they ferret out secrets, and kill you for knowing too much. But what's the secret behind them? Where do they come from, what are they, and why do they do what they do? The answer given here isn't too unexpected. A wizard did it, and then they got out of hand and killed him because he was dumb enough to order them to eliminate everyone who knew the secret of their creation. Where have we seen that before? Another fairly standard ecology, although it has to stretch a bit to allow hive mind creatures enough individuality to advance in class levels separately. A bit of a wasted opportunity really, when you consider the cool things that could have been done with them. Ho hum.

Dragon Issue 353: March 2007


part 5/6


Savage tidings: Another change of pace here. Having done quite a bit of exploring, and probably gained quite a few levels, your characters are a good deal more badass than when they set out. However, there is an important bit of your equipment that is if anything, in worse shape than when you started. Your ship. Unless you scale it to match the players and the new challenges they're going to face, it's going to become increasingly vulnerable to being smashed up every time you have an oceanic encounter. So here's a chance to spend that money, use those craft skills and item creation feats, and turn your ship into an adamantine plated fireball firing jet powered boat with a forcefield. Man, the isle of dread sure has a lot of skilled crafts people and ex-pats for a little place in the middle of nowhere. More like Casablanca than an unexplored wilderness. You definitely wouldn't have seen stuff like this in the original module (although it'd fit right in in early 90's, skyship riding, high magic mystara.) This does stretch my suspension of belief a bit, as it is putting 3rd ed progression conventions above coherent economic setup. And I get the impression that as the central plateau is probably their next destination, upgrading the ship might be a waste of money. Still, it is full of more ideas (and pricing rules) that I can steal for my own games, so it's not a loss by any stretch of the imagination. Just the usual problems that come from trying to please multiple masters, and having to compromise to do so. Guess I'll have to see what the second half of this adventure path has to offer, and if it'll bog down just as the game does at high levels.


Volo's guide: Our planar theme continues here, with another bestiary focussed around the Realms new planar structure. Sure, you can still use most of the old monsters with the new cosmology, but then you might as well not have changed anything. (which would make crossovers easier, admittedly) Will Ed's disciples manage to match him in giving these a neat flavour?

Harmonious Choirs of the Worlds are made up of the Words of Creation. Y'know, they've got a lot more common and easier to use than they were in Orcus's day of godslaying. They're insubstantial, but love to talk. Their description is pretty wordy too, with lots of powers that require detailed explanations. Ahh, the joys of recursive emulation.

Silver Celestials are a pretty mid-level promoter of good. Closely associated with Selune, they're independent and have short tempers, quite possibly running on a monthly cycle With reasonable spellcasting capabilities, they seem like a good one to summon if you need a bit of celestial aid.

Death Devils serve Jerul, and have vulture heads, 4 arms, a scythe, and a whip. All familiar demonic elements, given a good REMIX! :turntable scratching: Yawn.

Umbral Glooms are indistinct tentacular monstrosities that like in the plane of shadow. Another uninspired bit of filler it seems. Next!


Dragonmarks: Eberron's planes may be less accessible than those connecting to many worlds, but that doesn't mean they don't play an important part in the setting. If you can't go to the planes, the planes will come to you, courtesy of manifest zones. So here's three more of these interesting little locations to insert into your campaign. Fantaran hot springs. Ivory mountain. The ruins of Pelmarine. They do have specific positions on the map, but you could probably transplant them elsewhere without too much trouble, or nick the mechanical changes for other purposes. Very much of a muchness with their current development policy and writing formula. Meh.

Dragon Issue 353: March 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: Look out, Geraldine! That bookss about to fall on you. Poor preciousss. Nassty heavy booksess. Andy hatses them, collins collins.)

If your astral form enters the prime material, does it make a new body as normal (yess)

Can you choose the location you plane shift too (Vaguely. Lotss of walking at the other end, though.)

Does invisibility purge reveal ethereal creatures (yess)

Can an incorporeal creature enter planes unconnected to the ethereal (yess)

Is movement on the ethereal plane reduced (Dependss what power you're using, yess?)

Does blind-fight help while you're ethereal (A little bit)

Is negative energy inherently evil (no. Itss how you usse it, yess.)

Does exalted turning work on domain granted extra turning effects (no)

What counts as a demon (Mosst creatures native to the abysssss, yess. Nassty nassty place.)

How often can a planeshifter swap planar areas (As often as they like, yess.)

Can a spirit shaman chastise himself if he's the right type. (Yess. )

Can astral constructs attack incorporeal creatures (no)

Can Nightmares communicate. (Yess, but they can't speak. )

Can a half fiend become a lich (No. There are type compatibility conflictsess)

Does a dwarf still get attack bonuses against a half-celestial giant (No, ass they've changed their type, yess)

Do celestial vermin get extra skill points (Yess. Andy thinkss sso)

Do outsiders age (Not ussually. Native outssiders and half-breedss, on the other hand, do. )


Class acts: Spellthieves get this month's adventurer focus, with 5 new substitute levels. There are all sorts of ways they can mess around with the magic of others, and here's a few more. In addition they can choose to considerably increase or decrease their own spell casting power in return for other changes. This definitely widens their range quite a lot. A much needed boost for one of the weaker classes.

Arcane gets Spells without SR. A guide to taking out golems, rakshasas, and other irritants that are immune to most things. Basically another tiresome list that reminds us that the new Orb spells are incredibly annoying.

Divine gets No turning. A whole bunch of alternate class features for those who feel smiting undead isn't appropriate to them or their god. Most of them are probably reductions in power, overall, but it's the thought that counts. Like the druid shapeshifting substitutes, any excuse to surreptitiously nerf CoDzilla, I suppose.

Warriors get this months rehash guide, focussed on Fighters. As ever, yawn.


Nodwick falls victim to the best adventurer scam evar. Dork tower spells out the lake geneva conventions for us. Zogonia face a not very glamorous monster. Order of the stick get the wrong monsters. Not that they're very different from the right ones.


There's some formulaic stuff and sequels here, but it's still a substantial improvement on the last planar themed issue, and manages to cover areas they've barely even hinted at before while connecting them up nicely to the existing ones. By doing so, they remind us that the planes are infinite, so there's always something new to explore, which you definitely couldn't say about last time. Once again, I hope they can keep this performance up for the rest of the year.

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 1/6


79 (100) pages. An amusingly flippant april issue cover that seems particularly appropriate in hindsight, as this is when the news of the magazine's cancellation hit the forums. And are we worried? Life will go on, and the survivors will adapt. That's how it'll be until the sun burns our entire planet to a crisp, and even then, who knows what might hang on in odd corners of the world. Let's see what this issue contains, apart from the obvious modrons.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: Erik's editorial once again indicates he'll be mostly playing it straight throughout this issue, with any humour being of the dry sort that's easily excised from the articles to keep them usable. The fun ought to be something you generate in game, because if you bake the goofy into the setting, you wind up with Dragonlance or Spelljammer, and those didn't end too well. Modrons, on the other hand, might be weird, but the humour in them stems mainly from the fact that they themselves completely lack a sense of humour, and so don't give a shit that their eminently logical designs look silly to illogical humanoids. So simply including them in the game is humour enough for him. Let's see if this is the right balance to keep people from complaining the way they do every year. (Or if they'll be too busy being upset about the magazine's cancellation anyway to talk about this individual issue. )


Scale Mail continues to suck, with the letters just another round of the competing opinions bogaloo. One long letter pissed off at issue 352, and two short ones supporting it. Some people don't want joined-up thinking in their magazine, because it wastes a whole issue if the topic isn't to their taste. This is no fun at all. Did you not get a single silly letter to print this issue? Bring back decent letters and decent fiction, then the magazine would be even better. :sigh:

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 2/6


First watch: Another old module gets converted to 3.5. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Looks like this one got more substantially redesigned than Strahd's pad did. Still, I'm betting that it'll be considerably harder to finish Lolth off for good than in the original.

Our fantastic locations go back to the city, in City of Peril. More maps and encounter ideas for the DM of little time or imagination. Make the city safe for all of us!

Also on the rehash trail is our very own magazine, releasing a compilation of Ecology articles. Well, they are persistently popular, and that shows no signs of fading over the decades, despite several periods where they fell out of fashion with the magazine staff. With extra nostalgia fuel in the form of anecdotes from old writers about the game and the like.

Paizo also go back to a rather annoying idea. A critical hit deck, where you pick a card and enjoy the various gruesome effects that they inflict on your character. Let. It. Die. We do not need to know exactly how they've been chopped up as well.

Plenty more big pretty minis this month. SOTA get in on the rather crowded Cthulhu market, with some very squamous and spiny representations. Dwarven Forge continue to provide us with solid environments for your characters to adventure in. And Wizkids give us a Fin Fang Foom model, complete with scary Heroclix stats. My, that's a big neck he has.

Our D20 products are by the same companies as usual. Once again, they promote Wolfgang Baur's open design project. This time, we're heading off to the plane of shadow. Does that tempt you to participate? Also taking advantage of the opportunities online communication provide is EN Publishing, with their 12 part Burning Sky adventure series. Looks like several people are following Dungeon's adventure model now.

Zorcerer of Zo is our other RPG. Using the same system as Ninja Burger, but taking things into fairy tale land, and setting up the rules to emulate that kind of story, this'll allow for quite different games to D&D. Just the thing to give your gaming a little more variety.

In films, we have The Dead Matter. Mmm, undeadalicious. Another film from a self-confessed geek. Looks promising. Course, a little googling shows that this then spent ages in development hell. Money is such a pain in the ass.

Shadowrun gets another computer game. While they have produced decent licences in the past, a little more googling shows that this is a case of fail, with a distinct lack of actual roleplaying. Keep a close eye on your conversions, for things can go very wrong.

On the weird side, there's some edible dice. Chocolate, lollipops, cheese, they're made of all sorts of stuff. Looks like there's more than one website selling them, too. I guess like dice in soaps, it's fun for the people to make, and the money is secondary.

And finally, they promote the Indie RPG awards. The advancement of computers has made it easier for ordinary people to do a whole bunch of things to professional standard, and that includes creating RPG books. So people definitely deserve kudos for the ridiculous amounts of hard work involved in creating them.

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 3/6


Core beliefs: Heronious. Ah yes, the Archpaladin. Well, you've got to have a god for every alignment. And it does have to be said that he's rather easier to write about interestingly than Pelor. Goodness means more when you've got a slightly embarrassing family, and had to actively choose it rather than just being spawned as an embodiment of it. And he has quite a few interesting traits beyond that, including of course, the battleaxe/longsword favored weapon controversy. They cast old cowboy Murlynd as his particular demigod protegee. (they do seem to be making a habit of that trick) They bring back the Invulnerable coat of Arnd too. The new spells aren't very interesting, but then, you wouldn't expect that in a clergy not encouraged towards academic thought. On the other hand, the NPC's are both good and varied, making a real effort to avoid the cookie cutter paladin mold. And the legends and duties stuff help reinforce the active nature of the faith. Overall, it's pretty decent, but doesn't have the same impact on me as the last couple of these. On with the show. Let's get these last couple of numbers played out.


Return of the Modrons: Poor modrons. They're a perfect example of how perfect symmetry is actually not the best way to adapt and deal with the challenges the universe throws at you. When faced with internal dissent at the top, thanks to Orcus, and giant ants that can not only breed rapidly, but aren't limited to a set number of creatures in their hierarchy, they rapidly got outcompeted, and penned in until they only controlled a small section of Mechanus, at which point the Inevitables started taking their old jobs elsewhere in the plane. The guardianals would never have got into this kind of mess if Talisid was corrupted. So the setting material in this fits in far better with the established facts from other books than the Ecology of the Inevitable in issue 341, which is pleasing to see. It's also far more in depth than an Ecology, with plenty of room for both the description and history, and full stats for all 5 lesser modron ranks, (although I must admit I still miss the lack of hierarchs) plus PC ones for rogue modrons. And the mechanical conversions retain the quirkiness they were famed for and even build upon it. They're continuing this year's far greater awareness of and affection for settings and adventures past, and it's just ironic that they're doing this just as another edition shift approaches that will throw away all of this and relegate modrons to an even tinier place in the new multiverse. Paizo and WotC may have started off as the same company, but after 4 years of independence, their office cultures and tastes have diverged a fair bit. Articles like this really make that crystal clear.

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 4/6


Ancient PC's: Another article that has a bit of very dry humour indeed involved. D&D has had ageing rules for a long time, and yet very few campaigns run long enough to make use of them. (and even if they run for years of real time, it can often be less in game. ) This is a shame, because the longer a character has been around, the more room you have to give them an interesting backstory. Of course, you also have to worry about balancing power levels, but given the speed characters advance in 3e, that's less of a problem than you might think, and there's plenty of reasons you can give why they might have been more powerful in the past, and then lost a big chunk of it. Most of this article is devoted to playing characters that have outlived a natural human lifespan, whether through twist of fate, magical transformation, or merely belonging to a longer-lived race than humans, and there are a bunch of feats and backgrounds that reflect this mechanically in various interesting, and slightly more powerful than normal ways. (several cribbed from Dr Who) So while this still struggles to maintain game balance in the face of accurately representing their abilities, it does do a fair amount to make them interesting and accessible from a story point of view. And it's definitely something you're more likely to return to than a joke article who's mechanical bits aren't usable at all.


The ecology of the Kopru: Now this is a monster that richly deserves some more attention, as well as being linked strongly to their current adventure path. The Kopru are decidedly strange creatures that dwelled in the central caverns below the isle of dread in the original module. Merely a brief encounter at the end of the original, the hints of a fallen civilization finally get expanded out into an extensive bit of writing on their culture, religion, class and gender divides, and the decidedly unpleasant things they got up too. They'd fit right in during an ancient era when aboleths, illithids, beholders and other aberrations had massive empires and competed for dominance of the world. We finally get some decent illustrations, allowing me to get a better idea of just how different they really look from humans, and the usual advanced NPC to give us an idea of how we could customize them for our own adventures. About the only sour note is their turning the black pearl from a singular treasure to a regular class of item that's an integral part of both their food chain and magical rituals. Really, that's as dumb as some of the extrapolations of throwaway lines from the movies in the star wars expanded universe. Such is the danger of decompressing a short story to an epic series without adding enough new material. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and may transplant the setting stuff backwards as well. They are supporting their adventure path well this time around.

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 5/6


Savage tidings: Ha. Given the last article, it's no surprise at all to discover the PC's are now up in the central plateau of the isle of dread, trying to figure out what darkness lurks there. Listen to the natives, because they've been fighting this crap for generations, and have developed a prestige class to counter these incursions. The Totemic Demonslayer. Essentially a prestige ranger focussed on fighting fiendish creatures, they get full BAB, 6+int skills, assassin/blackguard equivalent spellcasting, and a whole suite of powers, many of which they can select themselves. They do seem pretty badass. Like much of the pathfinder stuff, you could definitely level accusations of power creep at them. Still, given what I've heard of the difficulty level of the adventure, you may well need that extra power to avoid regular TPK's. Interestingly though, this is the first time they don't mention advice on incorporating new characters. They do manage to squeeze in a few more rumours however, which should spice up your game in an old skool stylee. I'd be wary about introducing the prestige class into other adventures, but this is still another solid bit of backup. Where will they go next, because they seem to be coming to the end of the isle of dread material. I'll take a wild stab and say it has something to do with the Abyss, since that's where all the trouble is coming from.


Volo's guide: Back to Myth Drannor again? Iiiinteresting. Looks like after being one of the primary adventuring locales for a while, filled with enough high level monsters to keep you busy for a campaign, it's finally been tapped out by a concerted elven attempt to retake the place. Well, sort of. They've learned from past metaplot mess-ups, and the new status quo looks pretty unstable and adventure hook friendly as well. The elven armies are hard-stretched, and there's at least 3 factions of evildoers (which don't get on with each other very well either) trying to make their lives difficult. They can't afford to be poncy stuck-up isolationists if they want to tun this place into a great city again. This does indeed look like a fun, nicely explained setup that makes you want to buy the books that lead up to this situation. The Realms is still a vibrant advancing world, even after all this time.


Dragonmarks: Halfling thief guilds. Not a laughing matter, as anyone who's been around since the days of Fineous Fingers should know. And poor Sharn is one of the cities they've got their pudgy little fingers on all the pies in, extorting, robbing, and peddling contraband, and ensuring others that try without their nod get kneecapped with great prejudice. If you plan to practice within there, you may want to sign up. So here's the rules for the affiliation, which help make it absolutely clear what behaviours they approve and disapprove of, and the mechanical and social benefits of sticking to them. That should lure in those who need a solid carrot to encourage their roleplaying. If alignment had been handled like affiliations, with a clear list of what is good, evil, lawful and chaotic, and how much specific example acts move you up and down the scale, there wouldn't be half the flamewars about it there have been. Or maybe there would, if you look at the example of WoD morality, but I can dream, can't I. Anyway, this is another pretty well handled article in this series.

Dragon Issue 354: April 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: Do multiclassed martial adepts have to track maneuvers for each class separately (Yess, Jusst like spellses, preciouss)

How does a character with more than one martial adept class calculate initiator level (Add half of all their other levelses to each class. Not too hard, iss it.)
 
Can you save a maneuver slot for later (no. Jusst like any other classs feature.)

If you replace a maneuver that's a prerequisite for another one, what happens (You lose acesss to the other ones. Not very clever. )

Does the swordsage's AC bonus stack with the monk's (No. Itss the ssame type of effect.)

Does the swordsage's discipline focus count as a weapon focus (yes)

Can you apply insightful strike and defensive stance to powers from other classes (yess)

Can a martial adept combine a strike with a full attack (No. We iss tired of boring iterative attackses. We wantss to make you move around and do interesting sstuff in your fightses.)

Can you learn the same maneuver more than once (no)

Can you learn stances in your maneuver slots (no)

Can you ready the same maneuver twice simultaneously (no)

Can you use more than one maneuver in a turn (If you have enough actionses)

Can you use maneuvers out of combat. How often? (Yess. Ass often ass you can recharge them, yess.)

What qualifies as a special attack (Anything that does ssomething different from a normal attack )

Is a maneuvers damage multiplied on a crit (if it addss extra dice to an exissting attack, no. If it adds points or makes an attack in itself, yess.)

Do you have to activate a boost before resolving the attack (Yess)

Do you need to use a disciplines favored weapon to use it's maneuvers (Not ussually)

What happens when creatures with different body shapes use maneuvers (usse you common ssesnse)

Can you use time stands still to activate more maneuvers in turn (no)

If a maneuver has no prerequisites, can you learn it at 1st level (only if itss a first level maneuver)


Class acts: Adventurers get Elements of Surprise. More Ninja love, with three new substitution levels. Fire, earth and water, all can be turned to the arts of stealth and misdirection. Not every ninja will use ghost step. A nicely themed set of new options.

Arcane gets Power Word, Spell. A list of all the spells without somatic components, for the wizard who wants to get out of being tied down. Meh.

Divine gets Aztec Mythos II. Chalchihuitlicue and Tlaloc get writeups, along with a sidebar about playing in worlds where the gods have a complex and sometimes contradictory morality. Some things, D&D doesn't do too well, and this may be one. Oh well, as 7 years of D20 have shown, you can kitbash it to do all sorts of things.

Warriors are still on the rehash kick, with barbarians getting the focus this time. These are definitely starting to go downhill. Methinks the format may need shaking up again.


Nodwick wonders what's up with all the ancient relics being sealed away. Perhaps there is a good reason they were. Dork tower tells a joke that's not so funny when you're the butt of it. Order of the stick suffers another instance of temporarily ignored rules.


Well, this issue continues the strong showing of the past few months, but it does still remind me both of the things that they've lost and never got back, and the things they still have to lose in the near future. As such, it's a decidedly bittersweet experience, and not really funny at all. Usability is not everything. Let the countdown continue. 5.

Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 1/6


81 (100) pages. A good old Drow cover. Haven't had one of those in a few years. Still greywashing them for ease of artistically representing the facial features, but at least it's a colour that's good for blending in with cave walls, unlike the heavily made-up ones of issue 298. After several really cool themed issues, it's time for another random grab-bag. Well, we have been having a few letters where people complain they can't get any use out of an issue. Hopefully this'll calm them down for a bit.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: The editorial this month is another bit of self promotion, for their compilation of monster ecologies. Gotta sell sell sell before the WotC licence goes for good, and you have to rely entirely on your own stuff and whatever's in the OGL. So they get three members of staff to talk about their personal tastes in monsters and why they like them. Not too surprisingly, they go for powerful and interesting monsters that you can write a lot about, even if you don't get to include that many of them in your campaigns. Fewer, scarier monsters which take study before you fight them to have a decent chance, and are climactic every time you have to deal with them make for a more mythological feeling campaign than 13.3333333 encounters per level that are only a mild to moderate challenge each. The whole point of the ecology series was to make you think more about what monsters can do, can't do and what they DO do when you're not killing them. And even after they cut down on the lifecycle stuff with the 3e revamp, it was still about giving them greater depth. So here's to depth. It's what keeps things from getting too repetitive throughout eternity.


Scale Mail: We start off with the completely unsurprising request for the rest of the modrons. Fortunately, there are already fairly serviceable 3.0 versions out there to direct them too.

Also missing from previous editions is the Alu-fiend. This is dealt with via a quick and dirty tweak to the half-fiend template, replacing the more violent spell-like abilities with mindfucking. And now you could combine them with anything. A seductive green slime? Not impossible. Muahaha.

And finally, we have praise for the article on Wee Jas. It's all about opening people's minds to overlooked possibilities. That's what they're here for. Whenever you're short of new ideas, go back and do an old one better.

Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 2/6


First watch: More very familiar topics from the home team this month. Complete Champion retreads the ground already covered in complete divine. They take advantage of the new association rules, plus there's the usual array of spells, feats and prestige classes. Do you feel the desire for ever more stuff? I really can't say I do. Course, stopping here means it's warriors who get the shaft again in terms of overall spotlight.

Another familiar name rereleased for the new edition is Drow of the Underdark. 16 years ago, this was one of Ed Greenwood's cool bits of worldbuilding. Now it's generic, and drawing on ever more history, in and out of character. Looks like their popularity shows no signs of fading.

Another thing who's popularity seems near unkillable, despite having it's share of crappy spin-off products is Star Wars. Star Wars Saga is the latest edition of the long-running RPG. Faster and more streamlined than the last one, this was taken by many people on forums as a testing ground for the mechanics for 4e. That turned out to be not particularly true, but it's still a pretty decent game.

Another D20 product feeding heavily on nostalgia is the Castles & Crusades basic set. And it does look a little more inviting than WotC's similar recent product. Plus, you know, boxed set. Always a challenge to produce for a small company, and deserving of a little kudos.

Also coming in boxes, of course, are this month's boardgames. Stonehenge is a whole bunch of games using the same pieces and rough themes, which seems interesting. And Exalted gets it's own boardgame, War for the Throne. They may not be advancing the metaplot, but this'll let you get a quick conclusion to this business if you want one.

There's also a cardgame. Torches & Pitchforks from Green Ronin. Play a mutinous pirate crew maneuvering to overthrow the captain and get in charge. Sounds like it could be a lot of backstabbing fun.

Our minis this month are from Gale Force nine, providing extra bits of terrain for your enjoyment; Reaper, who are still going strong, with minis both blank and pre-painted, and Privateer Press, who are actually releasing rather a lot, including actual pirates. Since several recent adventures have a nautical theme, these could well come in handy.

The computer games they select this time are Mass Effect and Odin Sphere. A dark future RPG in which the galaxy is threatened, and a cutesy RPG where you have to avert armaggedon for fairyland. So both similarities and contrasts here. Quite a decent choice to make.

Paizo release another comic compilation. This time, it's the Dark Elf, Downer, and his grim yet ridiculous adventures from Dungeon Magazine that you can get to read uninterrupted. Drizzt has yet more competition to deal with.

And finally, there's another True Dungeon event, this time with official WotC sponsorship. Race beneath Greyhawk will give you another chance to dress up and delve dungeons full of dodgy props. Should be a pretty cool show.

Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 3/6


iDragon: Back in issue 275, while they were still low on crunchy 3e articles due to the changeover, they did a piece on music and D&D. The process of the internet undercutting the music industry had already started back then, but the intervening 7 years have really seen it go mainstream. Now anyone who's remotely computer literate can find nearly any song for free with a little searching, including many that are long out of print or never even officially released. Which means this time, they can be far more eclectic with their recommendations, knowing they're only a google away. (although they do take pains to point out there there are online stores that let you download music legally, even if that will involve annoying DRM a lot of the time. ) So instead of one master list of recommended songs, they give us four playlists for different occasions, including one designed specifically for their Savage Tide adventure path, with more emphasis on individual tracks than albums.The layout isn't as pretty as last time, and the fact that everything comes so much easier makes this feel like it has less depth and effort put into it. Oh well, that's what the internet does. Everything moves so much faster. Just got to adapt to it. We can still get comprehensive depth in other ways, if we're willing to stick at it.


Seven saintly domains: Back in issue 323, they did a piece on vice themed domains. Guess it's time to fill in another symmetry before they say goodbye, just as with the princes of elemental good. Of course, what exactly those virtues are is more argued about than the vices, so they're not exactly the same as the NWoD virtues this time. They pick Charity, Chastity, Generosity, Humility, Patience, Temperance and Zeal. Unlike the vices, which were deliberately made accessible to PC's by highlighting good god's personal failings, there's very few evil deities which can grant you access to even one of these. I suppose it's the same  asymmetry that makes paladins common, and the other alignment exemplars relegated to magazine articles. Also unlike the vices, there's no new exclusive spells, which makes this article less interesting than it's precursor. So like the celestials compared with the fiends, this probably won't get as much use, simply because it doesn't have as much cool stuff in it. Oh well. That's how sequels go all too often.

Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 4/6


Creature catalog VI: And so we come to the final big collection of monsters new and old. Many have come, and a surprising amount are still gone from 3e. The magazine has done their fair share to keep old settings alive in our hearts and update old statistics. It's not over till the last page turns. Can they pull something awesome out of the reserves and back into play? We may be reaching the last few minutes of play, but they might still make a difference to my overall assessment. There's certainly a few familiar faces on the contents page. Let's see if they're handled properly.

Black Beasts of Bedlam are basically chaos beasts with a better name and different colour palette, plus extra malevolence and brains. Spreading insanity and chaos throughout the multiverse, one stupid adventuring party at a time. What a job to have.

Cave Fishers are one of the many weird old monsters that have fallen to the new edition's increased focus on humanoids and eldritch horrors from beyond the stars. They got an ecology in issue 135, which makes their dropping seem particularly egregious. Some writers have no respect for history. What other awesome monsters never got updated. Haven't seen Slithering Trackers around in a while.

Giant Dragonflys are a fairly natural creature that also got displaced by the trend for faster, grimmer, LOUDER! They're exceedingly manoeuvrable flyers, and can be made into mounts, so in situations requiring precision flying like giant caverns filled with poisonous spikes or lava, they might well be a better choice than most of the trainable horse size dragon types they've done over the years. Good to see them again.

Dungeon Phantoms are an amusing trope lampshader. They explain how dungeons can be delved repeatedly, and still have lots of unsprung traps, as they reset them, while rarely fighting adventurers directly. Tee hee. Good luck catching them without a good bit of divination to reveal their weakness.

Rot Giants are one I'm not particularly bothered about being brought back. They look like undead, but they're not! You really don't want to hit them close up, for infection sucks.

Cannon Golems are pretty awesome looking, and not only have missile attacks, but also selfdestruct if things are going poorly. It's good to have minions without a sense of self-preservation.

Maedar are another fallen ecology subject. So who have the medusa been mating with for the past 7 years? Given the number that have templates in supplements, some of them have obviously been settling for whatever they can get. The impossible statistics of their 2nd ed entry are sorted out, although they're still ridiculously rare. They also include the glyptar in their description, making it a two for the price of one. Nice.

Obliviax are another awesome one that really should have appeared in an official MM. The number of wonky exploits you used to be able to pull have been toned down a bit, but they're still highly amusing little things. Being a dwarven spellcaster looks increasingly appealing in this context.

Scarecrows are still another obvious one if you're at all interested in horror. But we've been through the struggles to integrate horror into D&D in great detail over the years, and it's only got trickier with the edition advances. Amusingly, they give it a mechanical benefit for being able to rotate it's head 360 degrees. Pretty cute, really. They can fill a whole bunch of roles in your adventure.

Seedroaches, like cannon golems, take an existing thing and add cannons to them. It's a winning formula, like adding marmite or ninjas. (mmm, ninjas covered in marmite. :drools: ) They ought to make it into a template. The illustration is quite amusing too.

Giant slugs are still another neglected old eco-friendly monster. Ok, so their acidic slime probably leaves trails of dead plants wherever they go, but it'll grow back. Its all part of the cycle of life in a world where apex predators are more common than plants.

Springheels are obviously a riff on jack the ripper. As befits their name, they like urban environments, and leaping out, using spring attack, then running away giggling annoyingly. What video game boss am I thinking of as well when I say that? If I can't place it, can't be too overdone. So it proves another useful little updating where most of the tweaks are for the better in my opinion.

Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 5/6


The ecology of the devourer: Another undead monstrosity gets it's turn in the spotlight this issue. A soulless abomination that wants to consume yours to fuel it's existence. Perfectly standard trope really. How can we make it distinctive? Tie it into D&D's planar cosmology, and have it eternally seeking it's original soul to gain some peace. That adds aaaaaaangst and pretty backdrops to the recipe. Then we give them cool visuals where the soul they're currently digesting is trapped in their chest and visible. As with wights, this makes quite a bit of an effort to differentiate these creatures from other undead in terms of behaviour patterns and personal advancement preferences, as well as talking about the creatures they're likely to associate with. Seems fairly decent, and well tied into the D&D setting and history as well. Another one I have no objection too.


Savage tidings: A bit of a side-track in this month, as we leave the central depths of the isle of dread, and head for Scuttlecove, the city of pirates. Another chance for your players to go shopping, and load up on all the gear they need to be level appropriate for the next adventure. No walk in the park though, because most of this stuff was pirated in the first place, and this town is a hive of depravity and lawlessness, where you'll get backstabbed and robbed if you don't watch out. And you'll need to get an ear to the street and cultivate some contacts if you want good gear at a reasonable price. Here's some of the stuff you can find here, and the people who sell it. Poisons, magic items, even flesh golems made from yuan-ti parts can be had if you're willing to pay the price (or kill them and take their stuff. ) This is pleasantly fucked up stuff, which makes sure that even this section remains an adventure, while having plenty of crunch you could extract and use elsewhere. This is much more interesting than simply making the pirate base another site based dungeon to attack and clear out. I quite approve.


Volo's guide: Another extraplanar entry here this month, albeit a rather short one. The abyss is one plane that connects here pretty much unchanged, with the same demon lords that plague the rest of the multiverse engaging in their usual attempts to corrupt and destroy as much as they can. They tend to be found out and destroyed eventually due to their own innate chaoticness, but as long as they survive in at home, they just take out their temper on underlings and start over again. Baphomet, Dagon and Graz'zt are given as specific examples, making people (and gods) lives a misery, often over surprisingly long timescales. Plenty of examples for maniacal laughter invoking xanatos gambits here. A nice example of just how elaborate you can make your plans in your own campaign. Not bad at all.


Dragonmarks: I totally called it! I knew shifters would be one of the things they'd want to cover in this series. But I didn't particularly expect the specifics. The way of the shackled beast is a fighting style and set of philosophical teachings aimed at them, saying that you have to chain your beast and gain control of it to become truly free. (and the video game I'm having flashbacks too this month iiiiiis - Cornell's quest in Castlevania 64! ) Mechanically, this is represented by a bunch of feats any class can gain, although fighters can get them as bonus feats; a monk fighting style,   a new magical item, and shiftsilver weapons, which are so blatantly an rip-off of Exalted's moonsilver weapons it hurts. So yeah, they sure do know how to pick and mix their influences. I am amused, but do not entirely approve. This does have the air of being written by someone who has to come up with several things a day like this to make paycheck. And if there's one thing that we've learned over these past few years, it's that even doing what you love gets exhausting and sanity destroying when you do it to a production line schedule. So yeah, this is the kind of article that wouldn't get published if they didn't have a regular 4 pages a month slot devoted specifically to Eberron that they had to fill. Add up all the ups and downs, and it comes out pretty average.