Dragon Issue 355: May 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: Can you make an off hand attack with armor spikes while wielding a two-handed weaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghlarkhackhackslump.  

If you're carrying a shield and make an armor spike attack, can you still use the shield (yes)

When do you lose your shield bonus (Climbing and flanking and flat-footedness and touch attacks. Lots of nassty ways.)

Does shield proficiency also automatically make you proficient with shield bashes (yess)

Can you take weapon focus in shields (One type per feat, yess)

Can you make AoO's with a shield (yess)

Are there any mundane ways of damaging your enemies armour (Not really)

Does tiny armor also reduce the enhancement bonus it offers (No, jusst the magical bonus, yess?)

Does fortification protect you from touch attacks (Yess)

Does heavy fortification negate vorpal weapons (no)

Does ghost touch armor protect you against wraithstrike (no)

Can you add more properties to armor that already has an effective bonus of +10 (As long as you don't push the overall price above 200,000)

Does a barbarians DR stack with adamantine armor (no)

Can you stack a buckler with a dastana (no)

Does divine shield protect against touch attacks (no)

Does heavy armor optimisation apply to mithral armor (no)

When a warforged enhances their natural armour, does it count as already having a bonus (no)

Can armour properties be added to robes (no)

Do tieflings and aasimar automatically get armour proficiency (no. Andy just beat sskip's record for conssecutive denialss, teeheeheehee.)

Are a suit of armor's spikes counted as a single weapon (yes)

What's the cost and craft DC for special materials (Around half the sselling price, ass ussual, yess.)


Class acts: Adventurers get Strangulation. Third only to poison and flaming oil as a deadly and unfair method of fighting, if you try it in D&D, you'll frequently find it useless, and have to switch to another weapon. But here's a little stuff to make it a bit less useless. Hopefully it'll get some love in some campaigns.

Arcane gets Arcane Laboratories. Wizards in particular are at their best when they're fully equipped and in a position to spend ages building up cool stuff. Here's some advice on what these places might look like and contain. It's been a while since we had something like this, so I don't object to it.

Divine gets Druid Guide. The rehash moves ever onward. I'll be glad when it's over.

Psionic gets it's own section without displacing anything else this time. How very pleasing. The contents are not so cool, as this is just another list that sorts powers in a way the main books don't, but anyone with a few hours could do by themself, making a master list of what discipline each belongs too. Their writers are not very inspired of late. Also, eeech, those are some seriously grody knees. Someone either likes anorexic models a little too much, or is being ironic. That's just not right.

Warriors get Eldrich Warriors. 9 substitution feats that replace fighter bonus feats for specific magic powers. Supernatural protection, spelllike abilities, evasion, armour bonding. These are definite power-ups. They are trying to make the weaker classes stronger and slip in nerfs to the powerful ones. Definitely interesting to see the agenda behind this stuff.


Nodwick faces an enemy who doesn't play by the adventurers code. Dork tower plays by the action movie code of kill them all and make bad puns while doing so. Order of the stick is reminded that what may be a problem for you is an opportunity for someone else.


As an issue comprised entirely of sequels and regular columns, this feels like they knew what was coming, and have already started rearranging their schedule to complete a bunch of symmetries before it's too late. As such, not all the articles are great, but they're better here than left unpublished. The disconnected stuff can take care of itself. We're got to make the very most of the pages we have left. Let's see what they have left to give us for the birthday issue. 4.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 1/6


82 (100) pages So it's their 31st birthday. And here is where the magazine reports it's imminent demise. Not the kind of thing to put you in a celebratory mood. Since we found out on the forums in april, it once again goes to show. Lead-up times are still an issue in the electronic age, and indeed are one of the big things hurting newspapers and other print media as they struggle to compete. By going online they can sell the same amount of material for less and still make the same amount themselves, and react far faster. But in the process, they cut a load of people out of the distribution chain, leaving them literally redundant. It certainly doesn't feel like a happy ending. Still, it's not over yet. Let's see if they've been given enough time to go out with style.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: Safe to say that Erik was just as surprised, and possibly even more shocked than the average reader to find out about the magazine's demise. After all, they'd gone to great lengths to maintain a positive relationship with WotC, while also trying as hard as possible to make the magazine a success. But then again, perhaps it was that success that made them so eager to take it back. After all, they handled the magazine in house for over 20 years without any problems. Plus the way they'd started bringing back settings they licensed out several years in advance, and dramatically cut down on the amount of new OGL material they released should have been pretty strong hints that things were changing in there, and not all in ways that were friendly to them. So now they have to figure out how to keep the company alive, when their previous attempts at independent material like Amazing Stories and Undefeated tanked. Since one thing they've consistently got more praise than WotC in since splitting is their adventures and setting material, that just might be something to focus on. You never know. So oddly enough, while this looks like bad news, it already shows them preparing for their survival, which we know in hindsight worked pretty well. That is very interesting to note. They aren't stupid. The magazine may end, but life is definitely going to go on. After a pessimistic start, I can already be a little more hopeful after reading this.


Scale Mail: The letters still aren't quite caught up with the news. Our first one is though, and wants to thank them for all the memories, while hoping there'll be plenty more in the electronic age. Since the forum response to the issues hasn't got any less dramatic throughout 4e and Next, I think we'll be able to look back on them with interest as well in the distant future.

Our next letter is a complaint that they've sent in a question to Sage Advice repeatedly and never got an answer. The Sage always got more questions than he could answer, and that's only got worse since they cut his page count. Try not to get too upset about it.

And finally, we have another request for a full 3.5 conversion of the Modron Hierarchs. They probably won't have time now, but they aren't ruling anything out. Still the possibility for a last minute saving throw, as always. We live in hope despite life repeatedly demonstrating no-one gets out alive, and no real story ends cleanly.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 2/6


First watch: Our expedition series takes us back to undermountain. Now this is the first one that might actually be smaller than it's original, given how it sprawled out over several boxed sets and a load more apocrypha in 2nd ed. Still, if they can have more concentrated action, and less empty rooms left for you to fill in, that might not be a bad thing.

Also on the adventure side of things is The Sinister Spire, part two of their new trilogy. See the horrible things that lurk in a drow city, even above and beyond the usual. Maybe you should get help from drizzt to solve this problem.

Eberron gets The Forge of War, which is obviously about the recent big conflict, and the warforged created to fight it. Still plenty of aftermath for you to use as plot hooks here.

On the D20 side we have lots of little modules in the old skool tradition. Paizo release D1: Crown of the Kobold king. Goodman games are up to number 46 in their Dungeon Crawl Classics series. And Expeditious Retreat join the fray with Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom for OSRIC. The nostalgia revolution is really heating up. I suspect these ones sell better than most adventures do at this time. We also have a rather bigger and more modern adventure. Dark wings over Freeport. Green Ronin are still full of support for this setting, and it's still growing and changing.

Our computer assistance is an updated set of character generation software from Hero Labs. Now with more customisability, and support for rulesets other than D20. Hopefully, they day will come when we can use this stuff to speed through the character generation process for most systems.

We've fought the blood war again recently. Now, the minis go back to The Night Below, another classic adventure set. Underdark monstrosities, plus some seeming non-sequiturs like Raistlin and a frost giant. (who really isn't going to fit into many underground places) Looks like this is going to be another one with extended previews. Bring it. Paizo are also contributing another location. We have bar fights often enough, now you can get a map for them.

Our dragonlance comic adaptions are now a third of the way through the final book in the first trilogy. They're also finishing off another drizzt book. No shortage of those to work on, as Salvadore releases a new one shortly as well. The story gets ever longer and more convoluted.

Gaming's strong association with the armed forces continues, to the degree that soldiers in Iraq are setting up Ziggurat Con. Now that is pretty cool, really. I wonder what the locals will make of this.

And finally, they promote Free RPG day, another attempt to make a hobby wide promotional tool. Since I've seen this celebrated in subsequent years, I know this is one that actually works out. Remember, the first hit is free. Then, you have to pay. And keep on paying, until there's nothing left and it has consumed your life. Or is that me and this thread. Moving swiftly onwards.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 3/6


Top 10 most wanted dragons in D&D: Oh joy. Top tens. The perfect way to look back and end a series. :sigh: Yup, looks like we will be having some content low nostalgia-fests to round out these last few issues along with the important stuff. Oh well, it just reminds me that at no point has the magazine ever been perfect, even in it's "classic" era, and it probably never will be, even with the digital issues offering the possibility of making corrections after release. They range from hatchlings to epic levels, and old to recent creations, and include horrors like Borys, Dragotha, Dungeon Magazine's mascot Flame, and scariest of all, Phil & Dixie's Growf. So for those that were there, this'll bring back some serious memories, and for those that weren't, it'll give you a whole new set of things to torrent buy. This is why you keep the old stuff available and remind people of it occasionally. It may not make you immediate money, but the long-term benefits are quite substantial.


Ferrous dragons: Here's another nostalgic callback, but one that actually has a practical use. The ferrous dragons were introduced in issue 170, more than half the lifetime of the magazine ago. They added a somewhat more organised, yet still mostly indifferent to humanity dragon group to the standard chromatic, metallic and gem dragons. Since moral ambiguities like that make things more interesting in a big campaign world, and even the evil ones are generally less destructive than the chromatics, it's good to see them included in 3e before it ended. It does look like there's going to be a fair degree of mechanical reimagining, including making them all lawful when before they covered the whole range of alignments, and adding an additional innate power common to them all. Let's see if this is an improvement that gives them a stronger collective niche or not.

Chromium Dragons are still way too similar to silver dragons in appearance, while being very different indeed in personality, sadistic in a predatory, feline way. They retain their ability to reshape ice, ensuring they have swankier lairs than the average dragon. Looks like these will be retaining most of their signature traits from the past.

Cobalt Dragons may be cruel and bossy, but they do at least have a real sense of responsibility towards their subjects, which also means they make better (if pushy) parents than most dragon types. With their love for traps and reshaping the landscape, they have an even closer bond with kobolds than most dragons. That makes a good deal of sense as an addition to their personalities.

Iron Dragons have their ability to turn you to stone given more flavour by turning you into an iron statue instead. As the bosses, they're confident enough in their strength to not be cruel, but will still take what they need to feed and breed. Talk to them rather than leaping straight into combat and it will almost definitely turn out for the better.

Nickel Dragons have their original editing snafu fixed and are actually the lowest HD this time around as well as in the hierarchy. They retain both their mobility and their amusing power to make you itch, which makes them quite effective at nonlethal fights if they choose to. That's something they never would have added if they were writing them now for the first time.

Tungsten Dragons remain the somewhat snobbish good guys who mostly stay at home and give any suspicious sorts who venture in the spontaneous combustion gaze. They'd make a perfect guardian for an old school hobbit settlement.  

So while they miss out statting the dragon ruler, most of this conversion is pretty faithful, with the new tweaks they've made generally improvements. Pretty pleased with the care they've gone to in updating this particular set of obscure creatures.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 4/6


Core beliefs: Hextor. Since our last deity profiled was Heironious, it's only fair that his villainous half-brother is next on the list. It gives them a good chance to look over the same events, from a different perspective, see how the two different clergies relate and distort the same mythical events. Unsurprisingly, he'd like to present himself as equal, if not superior to his brother, and say that he chose evil from a position of strength. But since much of his power is granted by the mysterious "lords of evil", that claim seems a little specious. And that makes his Might makes Right doctrine seem slightly pathetic, and borne from inner insecurity. It'll be a pleasure to kick his ass. Evil is most competent when it isn't rooted in self-delusion, merely exploiting the delusions and desires of others. If he doesn't watch out, Vecna or Iuz may well take his place as the most proactive threats to good on Oerth. Still, he has managed to replace Erythnul and become lead god of a country, so he's hardly a slouch. But this does feel a little like one done out of obligation, and the most interesting parts have been my own ramblings. Just one more to go then. Let's hope it's a good one.


Fiction: Confession by Paul S Kemp. It's been a full year since the last bit of fiction in the magazine, easily the longest gap in their history. While they have included more setting material in their articles in the past couple of years, it still doesn't make up for actual stories. Well, for the first time in far too long we have one which isn't tied into their existing settings, although the terminology feels very Realmsian. (which makes sense given the number of novels the author's written there. ) The story structure is quite nonstandard though, a collection of somewhat contradictory vignettes that represent the diary entries of someone with distorting memories and a serious case of demonic possession. It's the sheer uncertainty that makes this a better cautionary tale than any obvious PSA, because once they start messing with your mind, you can't trust anything at all. So it's far better not to start, as you never know if you've truly escaped, or hell is watching, whispering and waiting to drag you back in. So as a sendoff to their fiction department, this is actually a pretty decent one, showing the experimentalism of the old days. It's a definite shame that this is another thing that won't survive the transition to the electronic issues. Fare thee well, the many authors of the past. You'll have to get your start somewhere else in the future.


The ecology of the linnorm: Hmm. Looks like dragon variants are just pulling ahead from beholder ones at last, thanks to another birthday appropriate ecology. Introduced in the magazine 15 years ago, our norse engines of destruction make the standard chromatic variants of dragons look decidedly like the lesser evil. Longer lived, poisonous, more randomly destructive, and decidedly less likely to negotiate in good faith for mutual benefit, It's the old conflict between tyranny and annihilation. Fun little business, having to hold your nose and deal with people who you've engaged in repeated life or death struggles with to save an entire world. Course, this is another ecology that tries to tackle a whole range of creatures, including some that haven't been converted to 3rd edition, so again, it splits it's focus a little too much. It does try to make up for that by converting the sea linnorm instead of giving an advanced statblock for a change, but like a few others, it's too busy reiterating the basics to really advance the creature much further. Even as 3rd edition is drawing to a close, there's still big chunks of the last two editions that have never really been converted. Such is the loss from releasing fewer books, and also not running for as long between changeovers.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 5/6


Savage tidings: Welcome. Too. The. Abyss!!!!! I never tire of that. The first plane to get a module set in it, it's got plenty of attention in every edition since, and is one of the few that survived the transition to 4th ed without being too mutilated. With it's infinite layers, different writers have delighted in the chance to turn it to all sorts of different ends without worrying so much about stepping on the toes of existing canon. Anyway, we see the return of advice on how to replace lost characters once down there. Will you form alliances of convenience with demons, run across other adventuring groups and decide to team up for safety's sake, or rescue some poor sod from the horrors of the plane and wind up with them tagging along. Similarly, shopping may initially seem like a problem, but as long as we have those bloody mercanes showing up everywhere, this problem is easily handwaved away. And they have plenty of cool items you can't get on the prime material for love nor money. Finally, they show how to keep affiliations relevant in this stage of the game. They seem to have searched for potential problems, and systematically set out to solve them. As with the ship upgrades, the handling of this does hurt my suspension of belief a little, making the universe seem altogether too much like a theme park focussed around them and their adventures rather than existing as an independent thing in it's own right; but as it makes for much more fun adventures (as long as they stay on the path) I can quite understand why they made that decision, and respect the skill with which they pursue their goal. Guess it's just a symptom of the current trends in game design.


Volo's guide: For a full 3 years, Volo regularly reported upon the various dragons found in the north of faerun, going well past the point of diminishing returns and only stopping when the danger become too great and people grew bored of the tales. But his fanboyism remains undimmed by the passing of time (just how old is he IC now? ) and so they decide to have a one-off special showcasing dragons from other parts of the Realms as his birthday contribution. We only have the standard 4 pages for this column, so they don't get the depth or new spells that they used too, but since I found the old ones a gross overdetailing anyway, I'm not objecting.

Acuakvacaesin is a green dragon who's fallen in love with the elves of the moonshaes and now has a peaceful relationship with them. In fact, he secretly wants to be an elf himself. He'll be a laughing stock amongst other green dragons if they ever find out.

Rhyaexthadarsh is a white dragon with a quite distinctive hunting pattern. She's clever enough to keep from overdoing it, disguising many of her attacks as the work of wolves, and so keeping trade through her territory running rather than killing the golden goose and profiting less in the long run. Her combat tactics are described in considerable detail, and should make her quite an interesting assailant.

Svernvignarngix is a brass dragon who's trying to eliminate slavery from Calimshan by long-term political manipulation. Good luck with that one. He's typically talkative for his race, and has quite a few half-dragon kids. People who don't play nice in his oasis get turned into hamsters. How very 2nd edition of him. Quite a good collection, really.


Dragonmarks: This month we get some stuff for Eberron's goblins. While they might mostly be the marauding tribal scavengers you see in other worlds, things weren't always like that. Once they had a proud empire, full of martial discipline, and were true terrors to the lands beyond. And even now, they gather round the remnants of their old glories, such as the Gathering Stone. A neutral ground where they can gather, trade, debate, and settle disputes, this is full of fun little touches that combine to create a picture that is both distinctive, and entirely in keeping with their established racial character. Another one you could extract from their setting and put into your own without too much trouble, this was a pretty enjoyable read, and definitely adds some more depth to their portrayal.

Dragon Issue 356: June 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: Can you choose not to inflict a crit. (no. Sssometimes you don't know your own sstrength and you hurt people, collins collins.)

Do you multiply a paladin's smite damage on a crit ( yes)

Does  bonus damage from an ability score follow the same rule as extra damage from strength (no)

Do multiple bane powers stack if an enemy meets more than one criterea (no)

Does a flaming weapon deal damage on a trip attempt (no)

Can you do a sneak attack with a nonlethal natural weapon (Yess. Andy knows all about that, preciouss.)

Is fire damage dealt by a flaming sap nonlethal (Andy issnt sure. Dependss if you want the extra bookkeeping of tracking them separately, yess?)

Does damage type change when you deal nonlethal damage with a lethal weapon (Common ssense, yess?)

When does weapon focus (grapple) apply it's benefit (when you firsst grab them, preciouss)

When do you get the benefit from specializing in grappling when you actually inflict damage, yess. )

If you drop someone with a sneak attack, do you get the extra damage on cleave as well (only if you would anyway)

Do you need to make a concentration check when damaged for temporary hit points (Yess)

If you have lethal and nonlethal damage and fast healing, which gets healed first (You choose. Or if it's magical, both at once, yess.)

When do fast healing and regeneration take place (start of your turn sseems most convenient.)  

If you have both fast healing and regeneration, which goes first. You decide, yess.)

Does damage reduction reduce falling damage (no)

Is there a cap on damage a falling object does (Andy recommends 20d6. Otherwisse twinky playerss can hurt more than any sspell just by dropping sstuff from on high, collins collins. Nassty nassty trick.)

How much damage do you take if you charge into a wall of force (not much.)


Class acts: Adventurers get the Bard guide. Same old same old. Couldn't they move up the good stuff in their buffer and drop this.

Arcane gets Occult Mutations. 8 new Traits that reflect odd ways you learned magic, some of them rather creepy. Three of them ( Bleached pupils, Midnight pupils, and lidless eyes) affect your eyes, and are particularly disconcerting to me. Ahh, the joys of visceral body horror. I very definitely approve. This brings the price element back into learning magic.

Divine Gets Aztec mythos III. Cihuacoatl and Huitzlopochtli. Again, they may be essential, but are also rather creepy, and like their blood sacrifices. Mmm. Human hearts. Just the thing to keep the world turning.

Warriors get Mercenary companies. Including the German landsknechts. Now there's a blast from the past, covered way back in the early years of the magazine and ignored since then. But they get Affiliation rules, so it's not just rehash. You can get variants for every level and point in your plot development these days.


Nodwick & crew are forced to make way for a younger, more relevant team of adventurers. Dork tower show us the disparity in player ability in the team. Order of the stick show us how true enlightenment and purity may be attained in a universe governed by D&D rules.


Once again, it feels like they're working hard to round off the magazine before it ends, with the result being they're picking articles which have the most legacy value rather than being the best individually. Still, being able to use the ferrous dragons and linorms again in 3e does count for a fair bit, and the adventure path is  doing better than the one last year. It's been better than many of their birthdays as a celebration too. They may well actually go out on a high then if they have some even better articles saved for the last issues. Let's take the next step towards that then. 3.

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 1/6


79 (100) pages. With Demogorgon, you get double the raar, double the fun. And they don't zoom in so close on him that you can't appreciate how impressive he is compared to his surroundings. They've been building up to this one for a fair amount of time, and it looks like they've still got the chance to give us all the cool tie-ins to their adventure path. Let's hope they were worth the wait.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: Back in issue 295, they did an editorial on roleplaying in prison, talking about both it's benefits, and the hassles the prisoners often face trying to do it. Many places ban it, or impose arbitrary regulations that make it exceedingly difficult to do, yet there are still a substantial number of inmate gaming groups out there, as after all, what else do they have to do with their vast amounts of free time with virtually no money? Knitting? And once again, this really highlights how much of a blight the american prison system has become on the country, imprisoning a far greater proportion of the population than any other country, particularly ethnic minorities, and using them as cheap labor for profit rather than making proper attempts at rehabilitation. And yet somehow there's still politicians winning votes by using tough on crime rhetoric. (which makes me wonder just how high the percentage could get before the tax base simply can't support keeping that many people imprisoned) Which leaves me once again wondering how this problem could be solved. Killing them and taking their stuff may usually be the optimal solution in D&D, but in the real world, it rarely is. And if someone did manage to figure out how to release the majority of prisoners without them reoffending or being trapped on welfare for the rest of their lives, would we thank them, or vilify them? True heroism sure is a lot more complicated than in books or movies.


Scale Mail: The letters column has now shifted into full-on Thanks for the Memories mode. All is forgiven, because to be honest, even with the complaints, they still loved it and wanted it around. Some have been reading it all it's life, while many others are younger than the magazine, and saw it as something that had always been around and always would. It's the kind of sentimentality that's sweet to see, but doesn't leave me with that much to say. I guess the next two issues will probably be pretty similar as well, so I might have to hit the snooze button on this section.

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 2/6


First watch: Another year, another Monster Manual. The 5th one, to be precise. As with the 4th one, it's not just monsters, but ways to use them, places to use them in, and info on how much you know about them if you roll your knowledge DC's. Yay for progress. Well, sometimes.

Slightly less welcome is Shadowdale: The scouring of the land. Part two of our big changeover adventure trilogy. How the devil did the Zhentarim get control of this in the first place so it needs scouring? Elminster take an extended holiday again, the lazy bugger?

On the computer game side, they announce an expansion for Neverwinter nights II - Mask of the Betrayer. Head into epic level territory with a pretty cool plotline, amusing character banter and definite parallels with Planescape: Torment. Another computer RPG out shortly is Blue Dragon. Cutesy characters, huge swords, and weird monsters mark this out as a typical JRPG. And of course, the back-end shows substantial Tabletop ancestry. Or children will inherit the earth indeed.

Not very surprisingly, we get another bit of promotion for their new minis set. The Night below does seem surprisingly unfocussed for a release so far into the product schedule. Perhaps they're just trying to fill in ones they missed in previous sets. McFarlaine Toys, on the other hand is as focussed as ever. 6 inch dragons. You buy the 6 inch dragons. Not 5 inch, not 7 inch, 6 inch. Just the right size, yes?

Out in D20 land, they promote something else long before it's released. A song of Ice and Fire is getting an RPG. Since GRRM already had Wild Cards converted, this isn't too huge a surprise. Keep those geeky connections open. Even more interesting than that is the birth of Kobold Quarterly, which is probably the spiritual successor to this magazine, and managed a good few years before folding (and passing that mantle to Gygax magazine). As the magazine draws to a close, it's good to see them providing their support to work like this.

Further RPG's this month are a new edition of Faery's Tale, and White Wolf's Scion. Two quite different products, but both allow for pretty fantastical adventures. Will you choose simple and whimsical, or epic, crunchy, and a bit clunky? Interesting choice.

A rather meta product is Green Ronin's Hobby games: the 100 best. A whole bunch of people from not just RPG's, but gaming in general, contribute to this, including Gary Gygax himself. Will model railroad games be involved?

Once again, ENWorld's influence on the hobby is noted, with a callout the the ENnies. Seems like they're expanding their categories for awards again. The rewards of success. Watch out for the corruption allegations.

And finally, we have another bit of promotion, this time for NASCRAG, the national society of crazed gamers. Erm, ok then. Silly tournaments? Anything to remind people that gaming shouldn't be Serious Business all the time. As is often the case, all I have to say to this is buh. The lengths people go too. :shrug:

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 3/6


Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Demogorgon! Since the adventure path we've been reading about this year is based around him, it's no surprise that he shows up here just as we near it's end. And no surprise also that he's our most badass demon lord yet, at CR 33 fully deserving his title of Prince of demons. Normal demons in his presence can't even act without his permission. Course, tanar'ri being what they are, they really rankle at this, and he has many powerful enemies dividing his attention. This includes himself, as his split personalities would both rather be rid of the other one, free to be not just prince, but king of all demons. He gets a particularly epic entry in other ways as well. His history is unusually detailed, both recent and distant, he's tied in in critical fashion to tons of the big events in cosmic history, and has made appearances in lots of D&D products, including of course his cameo terrorising Tasslehoff in the magazine. They devote less space to detailing his realm, but since that's probably dealt with in more detail in Dungeon soon, that's no great loss. And we get yet another obyrith detailed, the ripping and tearing Verakia, who impart the same madness on all who look at them.( They've really racked up quite a few of those in these columns, almost as many as appeared in the actual books. )This is another one that's obviously a labour of love, and this enthusiasm is infectious, even though it does expand his influence into previously unconnected matters in a way that may not be to everyone's liking. Still, I enjoyed it, and that really says something at this point in the game. Will we get to see Orcus, Grazzt or Jubilex before this is over? Only 2 more issues to go, no way they're going to cover all of them.


Feathers & Fur: Although they've kinda scaled down the advertising due to their upcoming demise, it still looks like this is another wilderness themed issue. Well, since it's not one where they have any epic special feature, just a grab bag of stuff, it isn't really worth going all out for. And that's very much what this first article is. 8 new tricks you can train your animal companions with. 13 bits of mundane equipment that are exceedingly handy for animal owners, such as collars, bells, hoods and perches. (those talons are pretty nasty on your unprotected arm or shoulder) 6 bits of handy dandy alchemy that you may want to use on your animals, or in some cases enemy ones. 4 feats that grant you and your animal extra tricks in combat, all of which can be selected as fighter bonus feats. And four new mildly magical dog and falcon variants, three capable of blending in with rocks, plants and darkness respectively, and one mirrored one which doesn't blend in at all, but reflects rays and gaze attacks, making it perfectly suited to dealing with beholders or medusas. Even though 3e might not have run as long as previous editions, there's still more crunch in articles like this than you can ever use. And really, that's a good thing. We should always be able to go back and find some little thing we'd missed before, and is perfect for our current needs, and it's articles like this that we'll find it in.

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 4/6


Defiled monsters: We continue the nature themed section of the magazine with some good old fashioned eco-froofery. The idea that nature has some ideal natural balance that humans are ruining with pollution, and eventually it will strike back may be less fashionable than in the days of captain planet, but people still love a good ironic revenge story. So here we go again with some monsters we created ourselves, and now have to figure out how to deal with in turn. Oh well. From the adventurer's perspective that just means twice the XP. It's the Ciiiiiiircle of life. And it most definitely moves us all.

Beastwraiths are composite ghosts formed when large numbers of animals die traumatically and aren't properly eaten or buried. If the cause of the deaths was MAN, this will probably get hazardous for anyone trying to pass through the area in the future. Not sure what they'll do if it was just natural fire or disease, but it'll probably look pretty spooky too.

Bloodlances are what happens if you saw off a unicorn's horn, but leave it alive. They grow a grotesque imitation out of cartilage and scar tissue, and go quite quite mad. This will probably bite you in the ass later along the line. If you're going to go evil, you can't half-ass it. Don't let them go, Chain them up in the dungeon and keep harvesting the faux horns. I'm sure you can use them to make some spectacularly nasty magical items.

Deadwood Revenants are pissed off undead dryads. They retain the ability to control animals, and can also curse people quite effectively. Stuff like this is why D&D retains so much untouched wilderness, as you have to fight so hard and lose so many people for every acre you clear and build upon, and even the survivors may have problems for the rest of their lives. It's a good thing at least some gods are on our side, eh?


Arcane botanica: We've done animals, now for a bit of plant based material. A dozen more magical plants to add to the D&D ecology may not be a game-changer at this point in time, but it's still not unwelcome either, as there's plenty of ground to cover here with only half a dozen or so articles in the magazine's long history. (82, 108, 137, 167, 211, 292 are the ones that I can find) They're split between extraplanar ones and magically created plants, mostly done by wizards as druids tend to like things just as they are. The more powerful ones are increasingly difficult to keep alive, with the most powerful one (which grants wishes when it flowers at rare, irregular intervals) requiring DC40 gardening checks to care for and harvest properly. All of them have tricks that adventurers could definitely make use of, so this definitely isn't like the old school mundane herbalism articles they've done before. So they're still combining solid, balanced mechanics and decent setting material in their current articles, even as the magazine draws to a close. That's very pleasing to see.


The ecology of the titan: Ahh, Gods vs Titans. Now there's another thing that's definitely been on the up recently. Exalted, Scion, Scarred lands. It proved popular enough that the whole gods vs primordial thing got hard coded into one of the most important cosmological dichotomies in 4e. This is an interesting bit of foreshadowing. Only in this ecology, it's the other way round to usual. The gods created the titans, then successfully smacked them down when they tried to rebel. Not sure what lesson to take from that. Probably that temperamental spoiled brats who get every advantage handed to them on a silver plate really don't deserve to be in charge. Still, despite their defeat, there are still very few creatures that can deal with one on equal terms, so they never really learn restraint. They also tend to be fickle as a way of staving off the boredom of living eternally. Not too surprising on the fluff front then. On the crunch side though, they get some kickass stuff. Two variant titan types. And incredibly badass stats for Cronus, almost as powerful as a hecatoncheires. Now that's an epic opponent. This in itself makes this ecology worth it. We do not see nearly enough creatures on that scale, and it'd definitely be interesting, if probably rather long-winded, testing out how he actually compares to the gods as published in Deities and Demigods.

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 5/6


Savage tidings: Gazing into the abyss. What a wonderful title. Unfortunately, we're still not quite there yet. Well, planar travel is a tricky thing to do, and not something to be taken lightly. You've got to research and prepare, find out what you're getting into if you want to have a decent chance of getting out alive. You also might want to bring them to you instead, as while that also has it's risks, they're more manageable  than the ones down there, where everything, even the laws of physics are malevolent and treacherous. Indeed, most of this article is devoted to summoning and dealing with abyssal creatures. We get three new vestiges for binders, Ansitif, Astaroth (a second, different one, obviously not a lucky name for planar monstrosities to take. ) and Cabiri. And four other demons who have made their names widely available and encourage their being summoned. Really, this is a bit of a filler article, composed of a grab-bag of things only peripherally related to the actual adventure at hand. While not dull, and it's nice to see binders get some supplemental material, this certainly isn't world changing stuff, especially compared to the earlier article on demogorgon, and some of the more in depth attempts this subject has previously seen. Overall, a slightly subpar entry. Lets hope they have something bigger and better planned for the climactic final episodes, because their focus seems to be slipping a bit here.


Volo's guide: Volo makes yet another pair of powerful enemies by running an expose on them. Selemmon and Ashemi are an interesting duo who used to be part of the Zhentarim. They fell in love, and then got caught for treachery. Mindfucking and enslavement followed, but they managed to escape, and travel from place to place, trying to avoid vengeance while exacting some of their own. Course, now they'll be moved up in priority by Manshoon and co, because high profile humiliations are not to be tolerated. (If only they didn't have so many of them.  ) Both are pretty powerful wizards with their fair share of magical items, but they're still not powerful enough to take down the inner circle. Good luck trying to find them, be it to make allies of them or hunt them down. A fairly amusing entry. This kind of stuff is why the bad guys just can't win in the Realms. Just so many people ready to stop them.


Dragonmarks: Living spells are one of eberron's quirkier features. While magic distilled into a solid form isn't too rare a concept, making it into oozing creatures that take on a life of their own is rather less common. And as they're interesting, but tricky to control, a prestige class devoted to them seems a pretty good idea. And that's exactly what you're getting this month. The spell sovereign gets to keep one as a familiar, rebuke and control them cleric stylee, and generally create, control and enhance them, while still getting 3/4 spellcasting progression. Not a terrible choice for an enterprising wizard in the mournlands. Another nice but unexceptional bit of crunch, well tied into the setting, as prestige classes should be.  They are sticking close to their formulae these days.

Dragon Issue 357: July 2007


part 6/6


Sage advice: If a multiclassed spellcaster takes automatic quicken spell, does it apply to all their classes (yess)

Does the bonus from collector of stories apply to dark knowledge (no)

Can I swap bonus damage from sudden strike to activate an ambush feat (Yess.)

Can a rogue spend extra sneak attack dice from feats on ambush feats (Yess)

Do the bonus tricks from Freerunner count against your limit (yess)

If you take freerunner and don't have enough room for both tricks, what happens (You'll have to wait until you can. Ssuch a sshame.)

Does improved buckler defense also apply to two weapon fighting (no)

Does improved turning affect Divine spell power (no)

Does martial weapon proficiency + Improved familiarity count as exotic weapon proficiency (yes)

Can you use karmic strike more than once per round (yes)

What does mage slayer mean by enemies are automatically aware that they cannot cast defensively. How? (Good Quesstion. Andy issn't much good at metaphyssics. A dissturbance in the forcce, maybe.)

Can you use monkey grip to use a two handed weapon in one hand (no)

Can a lycanthrope use natural spell while shifted (no)

Can someone with oversized two-weapon fighting still use power attack when wielding one-handed weapons in their off-hand (yes)

Can you use Quick reconnoiter to Spot the weak spot (no)

Can a changeling with Racial emulation take dragonmark feats as the emulated race (no)

Can a spirit shaman use Spontaneous Healer (yes)

Can a Stormguard Warrior use combat rhythm on their AoO's (yes)

Can a Stormguard Warrior use combat rhythm with Cornered predator or Talon shield (yess)

Can you sacrifice the dice from telling blow on an ambush feat (no. They're too unreliable, preciouss)  


Class acts: Adventurers get Dirty priests, holy thieves. A kickass title and a pretty cool illustration help make the point that there are plenty of deities that don't disapprove of larceny. Have 4 new feats and 5 new skill tricks that make this flavour option a little more enticing in terms of crunch. Druids, scouts, ninjas and bards don't get neglected either. A well rounded bit of cool.

Arcane characters get Transversed arcana. More options for those of you who don't feel like having a familiar for this character. Some of them are quite powerful, and one (Eidetic spellcaster) massively game changing. These are very tempting indeed. DM's should treat players who want them with caution.

Divine characters get Plant Companions. A logical bit of class feature substitution for druids that does exactly what you would expect, only with a bit more customizability. Another cool piece of writing.  

Warriors get this month's rehash, with the monk guide. And Ember gets a cup size increase compared with how she's usually drawn. Hmm. These illustrations are definitely drifting. The art directors must not have their eye on the ball now they're seriously working on a new edition.


Nodwick seems to be setting itself up for a big conclusion. Will it be a happy one? Dork tower fails to apply the lessons of adventuring to real life. OotS meets The Dragon. Yes, that one. And he is cranky. Well, we haven't had any dragonmirth for 6 years. He is quite entitled to be grumpy.


This one's for the people who like their disconnected crunch, being absolutely jam-packed with it. In march/april, they had to deal with backlash from people annoyed that too much of the issue was tied into one theme, and this feels like the corresponding attempt to swing back the other way. If the magazine had continued, it would just be another part of the never-ending cycle. Hell, it still might be. All depends on if I do the electronic issues as well and find out. But let's not jump ahead of myself. 2.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 1/6


80 (100) pages. On issue 345, we had a frost giant. Now we have a fire giant so the equal rights people don't get all worked up. They're as bad as elves and dwarves for bickering, just not as common. So yeah, let's see if they've managed to find some new topics to cover even this late in the game, or they'll be caught up in repeats and retrospectives.


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


In this issue:


Editorial: Our editorial this month is a paean to the reliability of the magazine. With one particularly nasty exception, it's been delivered to people's doors reliably every single month since 1979. It may not have always been great, but the important thing is that it was there, when so many other things, including their other magazines, fell by the wayside. That really does count for a lot, and is why people both got so attached to it, and maybe sometimes took it for granted. For all that we crave adventure and discovery, if there isn't a consistent world behind us to return too, it ceases to be fun and becomes desperate searching for a new home instead. So it is with roleplaying. If there aren't a consistent set of rules behind your fantastical adventures, it'll soon turn back into freeform let's pretend. So here's to having a structure and rhythm to our lives, however we create it. The rhythm of my life will certainly have to change a fair bit after this is over.


From the publisher: As the announcement of the magazine's demise was fairly sudden, they have to deal with some serious loose ends with regards to subscriptions. To minimise rants about being cheated out of their money, they're offering three different ways you can exchange your remaining issues for other books of equivalent value, or a full refund if none of those suit you. Which is definitely a lot more consideration than WotC showed to their customers and other companies with informing them what was going on with the GSL terms beforehand and pulling people's .pdfs. They also show they have a clear idea what they're going to do next, putting their primary focus into monthly adventure path material that's not too dissimilar to what they were doing anyway, which also contrasts with WotC's frequent changes of direction over the past few years. Having a plan, any plan and sticking to it works better than no plan at all, or constantly changing plans due to executive meddling. Looking at this, it's not hard to see why Paizo has maintained a greater degree of public goodwill than WotC in the intervening years.


Scale Mail: Nothing surprising here. Readers old and young, long-term and recent all mourn the passing of the magazine, some despairing, some hopeful that the electronic issues will carry on it's legacy just as well as ever. If you don't have all the back issues, snap them up now, because once they go out of print, that's it. So long, and thanks for all the [strike]fish[/strike] Dragons. What more is there to say? Since it wasn't a sales thing, public protest won't do anything to stop it. Just got to look to the future, while not forgetting the past.

Dragon Issue 358: August 2007


part 2/6


First watch is a full 8 pages long this time. Half of this is a special feature devoted to the cartoon adaption of the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles. Big names, CGI monsters, fairly faithful to the original plot. And it still wound up a flop. D&D really does not have much luck on the silver screen. Solid products just can't match our own imaginations for sheer coolness. Which is pretty annoying really. Will they ever get it right and manage something both commercially and critically acclaimed? Here's hoping.

D&D strips down another big, formerly healthy campaign to it's bare essentials, in Expedition to the ruins of Greyhawk. The castle gets a massive dungeon complex, albeit not totally detailed, plus info on Greyhawk city as well. Exactly how faithful this one is to Gygax's original vision is I'm not sure, but it does seem to contain some of the silly elements of older versions, which is vaguely :rolleyes: inducing. What are we to do with these writers?

On the D20 side, the biggest news is of course Paizo's own announcement of Pathfinder. They don't give us all the details, mainly because they don't know what WotC has planned for the next edition yet, but they do make it clear that they'll keep on producing kickass adventure paths for the D20 system. They're also releasing D2: Seven Swords of Sin. Another little 32 page adventure for those who like the old format. Still, good luck spotting it on bookshelves. Sometimes I wonder if that isn't half the reason those little adventures don't sell well. Somewhat more impressive is Monte Cook's World of Darkness. People have been making jokes about D20 WoD since the OGL was first released and now they get it. To curiously muted reception, oddly, especially since the actual book is pretty good. Guess the moment is over, people have moved on.

Our other RPG this month is Changeling: the Lost. A much darker take on the fae mythology than Changeling: the Dreaming, this proved quite the success, getting quite a few books beyond it's limited run, where the original got cancelled due to poor sales. There are still some successes, even in this period of declining overall sales.

Paizo are also exploring several other markets as they try and ensure their survival in the face of losing their big cash cow. Elements of power is a series of magical item cards, for your PC's to make use of. And they're also trying to get back into the fiction market, despite the way Amazing Stories died, with the Planet Stories imprint. Reprints of out of print stories by big authors. That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Supply and demand is a funny thing. I wonder if they'll make them available as .pdfs, which would help with the problem of them going out of print.

On the minis side, there's Helldorado. The forces of evil, conquistadores and the church fight for control of the lost city of gold. Sounds quite fun, and possibly a bit tongue in cheek. Maybe Hellboy should make a cameo.

And finally, they promote Gen Con Indiana. As usual, there's tons of fun stuff planned, including more than a bit of nongaming stuff. Gary Gygax will make one final appearance (not that they know that yet) and the whole thing will be bigger and better than ever. Or so they hope. It could all go horribly wrong.