Dragon Issue 276: October 2000


part 5/7


Vs Zombies: D&D zombies really aren't scary, especially in 3e, with their fairly unique partial actions only penalty and distinct tactical deficiency. And d12 hit points don't really make undead particularly tough once you consider the lost con bonuses compared to most high level monster types. It merely makes their toughness more swingy. That said, they do have some useful advice here, on what will take them down faster and what will be a waste of time. Hit hard, hit with ranged attacks, and make sure you have a cleric around. But it is pretty obvious stuff. I think this column would be better served looking at slightly more obscure monsters that don't have so much established tactical wisdom about how to deal with them, give the writers more room to stretch their brains to figure out what works and what doesn't themselves.


The Bestiary: Our second 3rd ed bestiary follows the same formula as the first, taking us to a specific greyhawk location to invent some more monsters to fill it. Looks like we have a probable themed series on our hands. What icky stuff lurks within the wormcrawl fissure. I'm betting more kyuss related grodyness.

Avolakia are decidedly cthuloid creatures that can assume a humanoid form, and prefer undead flesh to all other delicacies (which may well involve killing you and animating you. ) Both the description and the artist really go to town, once again showing off their increased art budget

Riftjumpers look like giant fleas, and possess enormous leaping capabilities to match. With a poisonous bite that slows you down and a propensity for knocking you around, you really don't want to meet them mid climb in said rifts.

Nerephytys look like the badass big brothers of earth weirds, and have rather high SR for their CR. You'll have to fight these guys physically then.

Ulgurstasta are yet another of Kyusses foul creations. He is enjoying a resurgence of popularity lately. Giant maggot things that'll consume you whole then animate your skeleton, they seem like a good way to make an army, if they didn't have plans of their own. They get a particularly long and cool description detailing not just their powers, but also their history.

Ciruja plant ages you if it gets it's roots in you. Careful what flowers you sniff. Once again we see that they're not shying away from including permanently crippling effects on monsters in 3.0, just making it a little more likely that you can avoid them. Once again. this makes for pretty fun reading, and the creatures are far less rehashed in terms of builds and ideas than they were in the dying days of 2nd ed. They really have rejuvenated themselves pretty successfully this time.


Dragonmirth gets political. This could be a problem.


Forum: Jeffrey Gerretse has put away his house rules, and been won over by the sleek, highly playtested glory of 3e. It's for the best really. You just can't compete with that kind of resources, and the system is finally good enough to work without houserules. It's all so beautiful :tears in eyes:

Mark Anthony Sims doesn't mind the big changes, but ironically is irritated by all the little terminology shifts. What's the point of those, man? It just throws off your intuition.

Denis Tetreaut approves of trying to expand roleplaying by marketing to Diablo players. That's just the kind of thing WotC should do. And remember, you need to do your bit to make the hobby inviting to newbie too. Now more than ever, since this is a perfect time to get on board.

Joseph Larkin is not amused at the people trying to remove the shortarse races from the game. They weren't a problem in Tolkien, and they shouldn't be in your campaign either. You as a DM can fix this.

Dr Rotwang! Another familiar person known primarily by their online forum pseudonym contributes to the official D&D forums using it. This really is a new era. But saying that plots should be tailored to the players and their characters is nothing new, on the other hand. Still probably the right advice though.

David R. Boruch nitpicks about Tiamat's colour scheme. Did it wind up getting mirrored or something? In any case, gods are well known for their shapeshifting powers. Maybe we ought to add orange, yellow, purple and brown heads as well to reflect advances in dragonkind over the years.

Dragon Issue 276: October 2000


part 6/7


Role models: The writing in this column continues to be pretty short and half-assed. Minis and terrain make it easier for you to determine how much cover bonus your character gets. Gee, you reckon? The previous writers for this column already did that in issue 259. Ok, so the bonuses you get from cover in 3e are better than in 2e, so players might be more inclined to take advantage of it, but still, this is rehashed, shorter, and less helpful. An excellent example of a writer not paying attention to what their predecessors were doing, and wasting our time as a result.


PC Portraits: This month's portraits look like they were done in charcoal. Curious. And fairly suitable for the month, since it's dark, brooding heroes again like last year. Not a smile amongst them. Chin up, it might never happen. Actually, it probably has already, given how much players of characters like these like writing up long, convoluted backstories which are more interesting than the adventures they have in play. That's one stereotype that it would definitely be good to see killed in a gruesome and messy manner. But that can only be done if the DM and players work together to make their adventures interesting and dramatic. There's a good achievable target for you to set for yourselves.


Sage advice: If you overrun and trip someone can you use improved trip to get a free attack (No. Wrong type of attack action)

What does countersong counter (magical sound based attacks of all kinds. If it has no save, it's not applicable though. )

Do you need to hear a countersong to benefit from it (no)

Do you have to roll for each shuriken when throwing them. (Exception based design strikes back! Yes, but not with the standard penalties.)

Can you sneak attack as often as you like (if you have the attacks. This is much easier than previous editions. If you can flank 'em, you can shank 'em)

Can you get sneak attack bonuses separately for multiple shuriken in a single blow(No. Insufficient precision)

Can weak characters use a mighty bow ( To their normal extent.)

Are specializations with normal & composite longbows the same (no)

Can you move, turn, take a 5 foot step, and then do a partial charge (No. You fail at understanding the new action system.)

Can you do an unarmed attack to deliver a touch spell (if you're willing to wait a turn. This may not be optimal.)

Do spellcasting levels from different classes stack (no.)

Can you fill spell slots you're not smart enough to learn spells for with metamagic spells (Yes. You can even just use lower level spells. We like flexibility here in 3rd ed land.)

If you're paralyzed do you have the same initiative when it wears off (yes. Saves dice rolls.)

Do you take buffs with you when you swap bodies (Yes. This may make the transfer obvious. )

How many hit points do you have when you bodyswap (As many as that body has. )

Why does bull's grace have a save. (Some people are just ungrateful)

Can you use a gaze attack while shapechanged (usually, no. There are some weird edge cases though. )

Your advice in issue 268 on wall of force contradicts the players handbook (That was last edition. This ......... is now. )

Do you have to decide to use the luck reroll before you know if you succeeded or not (Yes. Lady luck's a bitch. )

Does stoneskin protect you from poison. (If it negates all the damage)
Continual flame is in the wrong School! (Whatdya know. Skip'd better get errataing. )

How does locate object really work (No better than the mind using it in terms of distinguishing classifications. The magic does not have a mind of it's own, and you wouldn't be happy if it did.)

Dragon Issue 276: October 2000


part 7/7


Dungeoncraft: Having finished the quiz, Ray goes back and elaborates on his second lesson, about ensuring there's always a secret or two behind your setting elements. Just be careful with messing with your players. Finding out your entire backstory is a lie, and you're actually a brainwashed assassin put in a sleeper position ready to be triggered when a secret evil organisation needs a fall guy is both overdone and very annoying indeed. I do not recommend using it. Most of the other ideas he presents are pretty sweet though. A country is a big complicated place, and finding out that it's been involved in some weird or morally dubious stuff isn't going to make most players feel betrayed, especially if they watch the news regularly and are in touch with the disappointments of reality. It's reinforcement of an existing lesson rather than a new idea, which does make me wonder if we're running out of ground to break, but it's still got some pretty entertaining tricks to liven up your game with. Give us some more depth. You've got the space and security to experiment for a bit without worrying about immediate cancellation.


Dixie goes evil in what's new. The metaplot ..... has arrived. The snail approves, incidentally.

The insane clown posse advertise on the back page in eye-hurting fashion. Make it go away. I do not want to have a seizure, or become a juggalo.


As usual, the october issue kicks ass, with the exception of several of the columns that don't really seem to be bothering. The punk aspect of the layout is already toned back a little from last issue, with signs that it'll recede further in the future. With any luck they'll be keeping the good aspects, and eliminating the bad after wildly experimenting for a bit. You'll never improve if you don't shake things up every now and then, push your limits. So let's see what's survived and what's on the chopping board next month.

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 1/7


132 pages. Steampunk! This certainly isn't your daddy's D&D. Amusing that this should turn up just as the subgenre really starts to go mainstream, 12 years later, and shows how long it's been gradually gathering fans. Once again they've come up with a topic they didn't cover under the old edition, which almost makes it seem like they were holding back over the last year or so. So I'm definitely excited to see if they've got themselves a decent collection of good articles for this one. Don't let me down now guys.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, some page curvature visible.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: They've already loosened the alignment straitjacket a little recently. Here's another invitation for people to have a good whine about the problems or opportunities alignment affords them. Even in the office, they have their disagreements about it. But these are pretty friendly ones compared to the flamewars that rage on forums. I do hope they know what they're letting themselves in for. Give people an inch and they'll take a mile, and next thing you know, they won't be using alignment at all. And then how will we tell who the good and bad guys are, huh? Still, a vigorous flamewar every now and then does one good. And if they don't get enough then they have to manufacture them to keep from getting bored. Should see what the results of this are fairly soon.


The contributors to this month's issue get mini-profiles. This means they're no longer putting little comments about the writers at the end of each article. Since they were often struggling to come up with new ones for the regular writers, this was probably for the best.


Nodwick has another attack of continuity. At least this time his load is a relatively light one.


Scale Mail: We start off with someone who thinks that the roleplaying advice articles in issue 274 were brilliant. They deserve reprinting to a wider audience. They're not disagreeing. They like Robin so much that they've given him his own regular column! That was quick. But will he be able to continue to come up with mindblowing insights on a production line schedule? Most writers fall into formula pretty soon.

Second we have praise for the heraldry articles. There's still a fair few people who like this magazine for the historical bits.

Then we have a long letter about the horrible things they did to the english script in issue 275. They've already backed off on the worst of them, and they promise to never ever use Helvetica. But no word on comic sans. They could still do a whole issue in it if they chose.

And one who isn't happy about the change in artwork. It is a good deal less naturalistic than the old style, it has to be said. Whether that's a good thing is very much a matter of opinion.

On a completely different note, we have someone who rather likes the idea of the cardboard markers that come with the new basic boxed set, and wants to see how the idea could be applied to other parts of the game. Until they get lost, these things can speed play along tremendously.

We then get a reminder that Michael Moorcock is not just a novelist who's been influential on roleplaying, he's also produced some very appropriate music with Hawkwind and the Blue Oyster Cult. He is pretty cool, isn't he.

And finally, we have a rather amusing controversy about the presence of the word ass on the cover of issue 275. Well, a few people are outraged, and the rest are nonplussed. I think this would be a case where it's best to ignore the oversensitive vocal minority, and embrace your enthusiasm. You'll get more coverage that way, and anyone who can't take the odd swearword definitely couldn't handle regularly killing things and taking their stuff as a fun pastime.

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 2/7


PROfILES? Ok, Now I know they're messing with us deliberately. The format gets another messing around, appearing on alternate vertical columns on each page. This is not an improvement. Anyway, Kim Mohan is our subject this month. Long-time editor of the magazine, he's now managing editor of the whole goddamn R&D department, getting to look over and help make every book that comes out clear, consistent, and high in quality. A position that suits him well, as he's never been the most exiting writer in his own right (I found the wilderness survival guide a right snoozefest) but he seems good at getting the best out of others. Another case where people feed off each other's talents to create a greater whole. Try and do everything yourself, it won't be as much fun, or as good.


Previews: Having finished rolling the D&D corebooks out, they get busy again, to capitalise on this. Forge of fury is this month's generic adventure. Looks like another back to basics dungeon crawl in an abandoned dwarf fortress full of squatters. A few months in, and the different approaches between editions are becoming very apparent.

The Realms harks back to one of their classic computer games with Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor seems rather more plot heavy. There's room for plenty of variety in the Realms. There's also the novelisation of said game, written by Carrie A. Bebris, and Shadow's Witness by Paul Kemp, another novel.

Greyhawk moves solidly into the clutches of the RPGA. The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer helps you get even more into the setting than last month's offering, and includes lots of stuff that's been added or altered for the new edition. Whether the old fans will approve or not remains to be seen. Still, when you're going massively multiplayer, you need to make compromises for playability's sake.

Dragonlance humanizes the Draconians a little more in Draconian Measures by Margaret Weis & Don Perrin. Before you know it, they'll be no more villains than the Klingons. Oh well, as long as it makes for fun stories.

And it looks like once again, their all D&D, all the time policy gets bent a little for other d20 products. Star wars kicks off with a corebook, character record sheets, and an introductory game. Oh, and a magazine catering to Star wars gaming. I wonder how long that one'll last. In any case, it's nice to see a line start that'll actually stick around for a decent timescale for a change. See, you can have a sci-fi RPG that remains profitable, even if it is a license.


Countdown to the forgotten realms introduces a ticker. This is currently set at 7 months. Guess with the success of the last one, they wanted to get the tension up again. Before you know it, they'll be running this trick into the ground. Anyway, they have a good deal of info to impart in a single page. Once again, quite a bit of emphasis is on slicing through the vast amounts of background detail and making sure this is a good jump on point, but there's also some on how the new rules will let you build characters closer to the ones in the stories. Prestige classes certainly make more sense when they're being designed with an existing setting in mind, and guys like the Harpers and Red Wizards will have more bite now there's a definite mechanical and social path to becoming one. Plus they introduce the idea of Regional Feats here, showing they're thinking about hard-coding the mechanics into the setting on quite a few levels. The Realms has always tended towards the game rules as universe physics school of thinking, and this is plenty of fuel for the simulationists among you. This is fairly informative of where their mindset is at at the moment. Having got a generally good reception for the new system, they're confident they can push it a bit further without losing people.


Dork tower has it's enthusiasm for the game destroyed by other people's overenthusiasm.


The age of steam: We kick off our Steampunk special with a bit of basic explanation, obviously aimed at newcomers to the idea. The hallmark of Steampunk is the combination of retro and futuristic pieces of technology, often including magic, or forms of technological development that never happened in reality (which might be physically impossible, and therefore essentially magic anyway. ) D&D magic applied frequently and in an organised and logical way to a setting can definitely qualify. And indeed, this article is pretty focussed on how you would twist D&D rules and settings to add steampunk elements, rather than general advice that would be useful for any system. (it is noted that Spelljammer is a particularly good fit, since it's physics are based on outdated victorian theories about celestial mechanics) The influences cited are a combination of novels written back then, with Jules Verne being the obvious king of steampunk ideas, and more modern ones by people like Alan Moore and William Gibson. This spends a little too long getting people up to speed to really play around with the idea, plus it has a fairly easy to spot mistake in it's references that the editors should have caught, so while interesting, it doesn't make it into the classic articles list. My best hope now is that the other articles in the section will build off it to make something better.

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 3/7


Greyhawk 2000: So what lies in the steampunk future of good ol' Greyhawk? Iuz finally got beaten, but at the cost of using weapons of mass destruction that left huge chunks of land poisoned and uninhabitable. Elves have retreated from the developed world, while Dwarves have become increasingly dominant with their mastery of industrial technology. Teleporting trains are the primary method of long distant travel, while military jets are quite capable of dogfighting with dragons. This doesn't just plop real world technology into a fantasy world, or steal all it's ideas from Shadowrun, it actually goes to some effort to sketch out a setting that's both familiar and different in it's own ways. It definitely does the job, because this is one of those articles that feels way too short, and could easily be extended out to full book form covering how the whole Flanaess went through several centuries of industrial development, with adventure hooks on how to play in any of the stages of development along the way. It's a pretty cool article that could do with a follow-up or two, and I hope it gets a good enough response to get them.


Fantasy futures: Stephen Kenson rounds out the steampunk stuff with a second article. Actually, it feels rather like this and the first one were one big article split up by the editors, given that they're written and structured almost identically. This is more general than the previous one, touching on levels of technology from renaissance to postapocalyptic and giving lots of examples of books that cover each of them. Between the two of them, I can see the seeds of a great article, if they'd been edited differently, had the pacing kicked up a notch, and some decent illustrations were there to break up the text. As it is, this is just frustrating. So much wasted potential of such an awesome concept.


Elements of a hero: Now for a complete change of gears. This is essentially a Giants in the Earth article, with a novelist coming in to write a bit about their books, and then the regular staff doing D&D conversions of some of the characters. T. A. Barron has spent the past 5 years writing a series of books about the adventures of young merlin, as he grew from a boy with unexplained but powerful magic abilities to a proper hero. This very much follows the traditional hero's journey, where they have to not only overcome external obstacles, but their own limitations and personality quirks if they are to truly become legendary. As he's developing powers without tuition, they choose to represent Merlin as a Sorcerer in this incarnation, with an increased chance of random stuff happening that would probably indicate a Wild Mage if they'd bothered to put them in the new edition. So this shows that they still need to break a few rules to fit many literary characters into D&D's rules, but not quite as much as they used to, and has some useful storytelling advice mixed with the self promotion. So overall, this one's ok, and makes sure the issue isn't useless to people who want some more conventional fantasy from the magazine.  


Unusual suspects: After the high requirement subclasses, Arcane spellcasters are the ones that were formerly the most restricted by race. Here's another stereotype busting article to get people trying out those halfling wizards (which rock) and half-orc bards. (which suck) Even the races that could be spellcasters anyway, like elves, now have a vastly expanded selection of specialist options, which can also be used to break stereotypes you never even realised you were bound by. You could have Urdlen worshipping gnome necromancers, elf racial isolationist abjurers, or dwarven item making specialist enchanters, all concepts that make sense in light of setting, that weren't legal before. This is pretty cool, made cooler by the fact that it includes bits and pieces of new crunch to go with the ideas, including substitute racial abilities and stats for groundhog familiars. That also keeps it from being useless on rereading, so it's another pretty well handled bit of agenda pushing. They want people to push the game as far as it'll go, because their playtesters didn't really, and they still think it can take anything you can throw at it. Have fun getting your wish granted. :devil:


How you play the game: Oh, Tracy Hickman. You have produced quite a few things that get on our nerves over the years. This is not a fluke at all, as he describes some of the irritating things he's done in actual play, and gives us advice on how to play like him. Leap into action, don't let the other players bog down play with lengthy preparation and paranoia. If a problem stumps you, metagame the DM into providing more clues by pretending to give up. Make sure you always have your fair share of the spotlight or more. Be dramatic, push the DM for more details on creatures and the environment, and then use those cleverly. It's a good reminder that he was one of the first people pushing us to get out of the dungeon, and into storygaming mode. On the other hand, he was also partially responsible for Kender, Tinker gnomes and Gully Dwarves. And these aspects of his personality are not in conflict, but two sides of the same coin. So if you follow this advice, you can certainly expect your game to be interesting. On the other hand, if your DM isn't the grand narrative type, you may well die as a result of it, or at the hands of the other players if that's not the case. Oh well, it's easy enough to roll up a new, even more "interesting" character, and make them wish they'd stuck with the old one, isn't it.

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 4/7


Fiction: Another name for dawn by Paul Kemp: Time for another prequel to their novels to appear in the magazine. How did Erevis Cale get his name? He made it up as a portmanteau of someone who's life he spared, and his new status after being exiled, translated into an obscure language. Makes sense to me. As this is both self-contained and full of interesting and subtle little details, it's one of the more pleasant examples of this behaviour, but it is still a reflection of an aspect of company policy I find a bit irritating. The Forgotten Realms already has enough fans that it doesn't need constant promotion, nor does it need more origin stories when the established heroes are pretty interesting. I feel oversaturated and want to go on a purge.


Dragonmirth brings back some familiar faces, and misses the point again.


VS Orcs: Orcs are another well known monster that you don't need particularly complex tactics to beat. They aren't great at anything other than frontal assaults, so you can mow through them if you have a decent amount of artillery. They might be a challenge at 1st level, but even that can be fixed if you exploit flaming oil, taunting and traps. Really, they're another monster that doesn't need an article like this on them. Stop picking the easy targets! You're wasting your page count and our time by doing so. I know we're still new to the edition, but we learn fast. Some people are already quite a few levels up and don't need hand-holding. Give us a more interesting monster. Kthnxbye.


Bazaar of the Bizarre: An old but still cool subject gets a third airing for the new edition. Named magical swords of the Forgotten Realms have been responsible for two pretty kickass articles in the past. Hopefully they'll be able to make it a hat trick, even if they're not giving a full 7 this time.

Ashram is inhabited by a spirit, which gives it a whole bunch of useful powers. Initiative bonus, extra fire damage, stunning, energy resistance, it's nicely set up to be in the hands of some bad guy you might meet.

Ellenderin is known as the weeping blade because it constantly drips holy water. This obviously makes it unpleasant to undead, but could also save your life by giving you something to drink in a pinch. And it makes for interesting visuals. I think this one counts as a success.

Galathos has a royal history, and is able to reflect spells on their casters. If you find this one, you'll have plenty of competition for it.

Malagar transforms your blood to flame on a crit. This obviously inflicts lots of extra damage. It too has an interesting history, being turned against the country of it's creation.

Sarghathuld kicks the butts of orcs, hurting and blinding them. Meh. Not too impressive. So one really cool idea and 4 so-so ones. This isn't quite up to issue 74's standards.


The adventures of Volo: Food! Given the number of jokes Elminster has made about Ed's weight over the years, and his love of worldbuilding, it's no surprise that he's thought about what kind of stuff people in the Realms eat. We've seen quite a few examples of that in books, some amusingly close attention to the specifics of snacks in The Wizards Three, and here's another 3 pages of nomables from all over the Realms. As with his work on plants, animals, musical instruments, languages, et al, there's a good mix of real world stuff, real stuff with funny names, and invented dishes using ingredients not found on earth. (which crosses over nicely with said imaginary ecosystem info. ) Elminster takes plenty of interest in this subject as well, with his usual clarifications and corrections. And we get to find out what dragon meat tastes like in the Realms, which I find very amusing. It's all a bit excessive, but since I know this kind of info is about to take a sharp nosedive in the magazine, I'm enjoying it for all it's worth. And the ornate spork just tops the whole thing off.


PC Portraits: This column helps out with the steampunk stuff as usual. The artist uses an unusually light touch with their pencil work and shading, giving everything a semitransparent feel. Most of the characters are pretty well dressed and refined looking, and slightly over half of them have some obvious technological gadget that they're wearing or doing something with. I definitely like this one, as it has plenty of room for you to take the pictures, colour them in, and scribble over them to make them your own. Plus there's a half orc with muttonchops and dwarf cabbie. How can you not love that? Dress with style. It marks you as a cut above the norm, even if you don't have much money.

Mr/Ms. Unreason please marry me, or at least have an affair with me.

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 5/7


Class acts: The rage mage. :giggles: Legendary. Now there's a good example of a prestige class made to make a suboptimal character build more viable. As with the undead hunter, this works best if your original class is a fighty one, particularly a barbarian, as it has it's own spell list rather than adding to your existing class. This is also a good example of how certain prestige classes can become massively more twinked when playing well selected unorthodox races, as they can bypass the usual dipping needed to meet all the criteria for the class. Also notable is that it has a skill list of 4, which can be a definite problem. I guess they don't expect a rage mage to be smart as well. Still, it's an interesting idea, and a reasonable implementation. If you're playing for flavour rather than optimisation, this could be a pretty fun one to try.


Rogues Gallery is still heavily forgotten realms focussed, despite the edition change. The character illustrations go back to being in black and white, and now we have the full rules out, the statblocks are larger than in issue 273, fully detailing all their skills, feats and spells. As with last time though, they're giving lots of attention to Sembia, showing that their light touch policy with this nation is well and truly ended. So it's time for them to face world-threatening troubles and play host to heroes that foil them in the novels.

Jak Fleet is a halfling rogue/cleric harper. He started off more roguish, but has gradually acquired responsibility as he levelled up. He still sometimes bucks the rules, as a charming rogue should, and gets in trouble with his superiors, but they've forgiven him so far. Very Captain Kirk, really.

Drasek Riven is a hard man who's had a hard life. Born into slavery, he was left for dead, lost an eye, rescued by a slaver, and eventually found a place in the Zhentarim. He's a nasty piece of work who goes out of his way to look for a fight, and has rather a deficiency of subtlety. I can't really pity him that much, given the number of abused orphans that do grow up to be heroes. He'd probably have been just as nasty a a spoiled noble child.

The Righteous Man is the lead cleric of Mask in the area. He hates the Zhentarim, and is trying to take them down, in a typical case of evil being it's own worst enemy. He's a big fan of using summoned monsters to do his bidding, and has suffered quite a bit of premature ageing as a result of this. Whether he can avoid dying and make the leap into the real big leagues of villainy will have to be seen, but I somehow doubt it.

Yrsillar is a mid-upper level demon of a new race called greater dreads (they were obviously running short on imagination in the name department. ) He's perpetually hungry, eats souls, can unleash blasts of negative energy, and rules over a blasted wasteland in The Abyss. Cliche city, in other words. The only interesting touch is that if you kill him quick, all the wounds he inflicted on you heal up, which I'm sure will be a plot point in the book. Kinda the opposite of a loadbearing boss. Seems like the kind of reward you get in a video game, especially if you have yet to face the real final boss after you beat them.


Nodwick goes mac. Very cool of him.


Forum: Daniel Gosz reminds us that all the old books are still here, and you can still play 1e or 2e if you like. As ever, the canon police are purely a joke, and will not break down your door and confiscate your books now a new edition is out. And let's face it, it's a lot easier to convert 2e stuff to 3e, with it's greater flexibility, than the other way round.

Lance R. Goetz is annoyed that PC's aren't given any advice on how to use, or not use poison. It's like they want to whitewash it out. He's also bemused that paladins are a full class, while blackguards are a prestige class. The new edition is supposed to be more consistent. What gives?

Bryan Penney isn't pleased that the new clerics get such a wide range of spells, although domains are pretty cool. No pleasing some people.

Nicholas Gregorio rubbishes the idea that the ancients were inherently more awesome or honourable than us. Look what we can do, and look what they did. Look at the modern treaties between governments and codes of war. (Ok, so we honour them in the breach as much as ancient knights did their codes. ) Why do people romanticise the past?

Philip Mitchell prefers playing evil characters, and wants some modules catering to people who do. Sorry, we're still a family friendly company.

David Jenkins tells the complainers that if they think they're so great, why aren't they working for the company? Thee could be millions of reasons for that. It does not mean they're not talented people.

John Cunningham is pleased that the new edition has really brought back the sense of wonder it used to have. It's like a whole new world. How long before the shine starts wearing off though? You know people can get used to anything.

Bryan Cooper praises prestige classes and their creator Monte. They look like a great way to liven up a party, especially if not everyone has one. Let the games begin!

Quote from: Marleycat;538999Mr/Ms. Unreason please marry me, or at least have an affair with me.

Watch the Issue 200 videos and call me again in the morning if you don't feel better afterwards.

Will do. (I felt I had to post just to let you know your work is appreciated and fascinating also.).

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 6/7


Role models: This column switches writers and formats again, getting a fairly substantial repurposing. Jonathan Tweet boots out Chris Pramas, and turns this into an extended Sage Advice supplement on Attacks of Opportunity. They're not wrong in thinking that quite a few people won't get the rules, and need a good set of examples clearly listing what does and doesn't provoke AoO's. Which means we scrap the photographed minis for isometric line drawings (which I think are computer generated, given how identical the pieces look. ) and the central block of writing with pictures around the edge for paragraph/visual example pairs. It's still pretty light on content, and very much self promotion, but there's a new purposefulness to this column that makes it both better to read and more useful than the last few months. It gives me hope that there is more that can be done with it after all.


Sage advice: Do you need to attack to get the benefit from expertise (no, but it'd be a waste not too, cause you still need to make an attack action. Making an attack action without attacking? That's just silly. )

Does Expertise apply the whole round, or just while you're attacking. (until your next action. You obviously have not grasped the concept of cyclical initiative yet. )

Do you have to wield a weapon of defending to get it's effects (yes)

Can you use weapon finesse while fighting two-weapon (Oh yes)

Can multiclass sorcerer/wizards trade spells between their classes (No. Each has to be tracked separately.)

Do rings of wizardry double all your arcane classes spells (Only the base, not any bonus ones for specialization and high stats. )

Why can't the ring of regeneration bring you back from the dead (Because it only works on living creatures. Once again, basic failure of logic here.)

When you're raised, can you choose which class you lose your level from. (No. Highest one. Tree too high, attract axe, ha ha.)

What happens when you lose levels in an abandoned class (You ain't getting them back, sonny jim. This may actually be an advantage, for ex paladins. )

What are the modifiers for scores above 18 (+1 per 2. This scales indefinitely, unlike AD&D's rubbish caps)

Surely if continual flame is an evocation, dancing lights should be as well (You may be right, but who's the private sage around here? Remember to show Skip a little deference. )

Isn't taking undead as your favored enemy suboptimal (yes, along with oozes, constructs and elementals. Feature, not bug. Rangers should stick to fighting natural creatures like god intended. )

When a spell gives you +X per Y levels, do you round up or down. (Down down deeper and down)

Do two weapon fighting & ambidexterity apply to fighting with double weapons (Yes)

Does combining a draw with a move let you attack after this (Yes.)

How do you make a partial charge (Look in the footnotes)

Does stacking metamagic feats increase the delay (No, thankfully.)

Do whips provoke attacks of opportunity (Yes. That's why you use them at range.)

Do characters with strength penalties only suffer half the penalty attacking off-hand (No. That's not how it works. A bonus is a bonus and a penalty is a penalty, and the two are governed by different rules. )

Can a paladin without a charisma bonus lay on hands (No. Like any spellcaster, if they don't have the stats, they can't do the magic.)

Why don't you plummet when fly is dispelled (Because we're really nice people)
Is dropping your magic resistance a free action (No. A standard one. This may cause problems in a pitched battle. Still, since it's mostly monsters that get magic resistance, see this as an opportunity.)

How do rays interact with critical hits (The damage is doubled. Nothing else. Bit of a token gesture, really. At least until you start adding feats, at least. )

What happens if you cast identify more than once ( Same result. You can't beat a good look at the books. )

Do you have to save against poison again if you succeeded first time (yes. You can never tell if it's going to bite you in the ass later.)

Are all cones as wide as they are long (They are now. Simplification for convenience strikes again! )

Can you stack cleave and whirlwind attack (Yes. It doesn't get really scary until you have great cleave though. )

Dragon Issue 277: November 2000


part 7/7


Silicon sorcery: Warlords: Battlecry is this month's game, finally getting us away from the D&D conversions. In it, they tackle the amusing topic of using livestock as siege weapons. A manky sheep corpse can do wonders to reduce an enemy's health and morale.  A bag full of dire rats is even worse. Stats for using these in game are very welcome indeed. In addition, they introduce the idea of turning what would be a save or die effect into a progressive degeneration requiring multiple saves long before it would appear in 4e. That's very fascinating indeed to see. Guess you can level a few accusations of ZOMG they're turning it into a video game and not have it be completely inacurate after all. So this is one of those articles that's brief, but does have some very good ideas indeed in it, which might even be influential as well. Funny how those can slip through when you're not expecting them.


Dungeoncraft: More interesting secrets from Ray this month, with an emphasis on bigger, campaign shaking ones. From gods seriously considering scrapping the world and starting again, to a secret dream world that provides an alternate, but interlinked campaign, which will have interesting ramifications along the line, this is all about the big picture, and ideas that'll suborn the campaign to a single epic story for a substantial period of time. If that's the kind of game you want, just one or two of them will keep your campaign buzzing for quite a while. If you don't want that kind of playstyle, you'll want to skip this. So as usual, he's running this very much from 2e assumptions about story and worldbuilding, including big metaplot events that reshape the world every now and then. Let's hope he isn't too quick to jump on the next bandwagon to come along.


What's new features more outfit and hairstyle changes for evil dixie. It's progress of a sort.


The themed section is disappointing this issue, with one hit and two misses, but the regular columns are mostly pretty good. They're rapidly building up a new load of crunchy bits and pieces to insert into your campaign in a modular fashion, and these are rather more interesting on average than the often rehashed columns of the last few years. It does mean the magazine is quite handy, because there aren't enough supplements for things to become obscure yet. Give it a year or two. Anyway, let's see what we're getting for christmas this time.

Dragon Issue 278: December 2000


part 1/7


116 pages. Dwarves get their first themed issue this edition. And they're already doing something they wouldn't have last time. A topless Dwarf on the cover! I'm betting he has more than a few levels of barbarian. And I'm also hoping that they'll continue their current attempts to show how you can break out of the old stereotypes with the new, more permissive ruleset. Plus they got there's before elves did, so until that happens, we can say they're better covered in this edition. That's a fairly decent present in itself.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, Some page edge curvature visible.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: As I expected, the editorial this month is once again about either going against cliche, or adding additional layers to your character's personality that are orthogonal to their racial tendencies. Does your dwarf have a few ranks in Perform (ballet dancing) from their childhood? Maybe your halfling overcompensates for their size by collecting siege weapons. Or do all your gnomes have lisps, like one of the staff campaigns. The things that make both characters and worlds unique are the finer details. Painting in broad strokes all the time will leave your creations unfinished looking. No disagreement there, and the specific details they give are quite amusing. Good to see they're still having fun playing the game as well as writing it. We didn't see enough of that in the 2e days.


Sacrifice takes out 6 bloody pages of advertising again. Truly excessive. Do they really think they'll get returns on that expenditure?


Scale Mail: Surprisingly, the issue our first letter praises is issue 273. It kinda got lost in the changeover kerfuffle, but it too deserves it's due.

Secondly, we have someone who's not happy about the increased level of gore in the new issues. They give a flippant response to this that makes me unsure if they're going to take it on board. It would be a shame to go back to censoring everything so soon.

On the positive side again, we have someone who's taken eagerly to the idea of power plays, and sends in a whole bunch of them. The charop boards are limbering up, and soon the game will be put through it's paces far more rigorously than the playtesters ever managed.

We then see Robin Laws generating controversy, as one person finds his ideas full of insight, while another thinks they're useless, and should be cut entirely. Isn't that just a convenient microcosm of a decade of flamewars.

A more involved suggestion follows, that their heraldry article would be better served by putting it on a CD, and allowing you to custom build your own coats of arms quickly by selecting colours, divisions and creatures. There's a niche in the market there that could well be filled by a proper computer programming company.

Even more extreme, we have someone who thinks they should do far more, much smaller articles, with a greater emphasis on reader submitted material. You know, even in the strategic review days they broke up the tiny pieces with multi-page ones. On the other hand, they could do with tighter, more concise editing these days. Some ideas need elaboration, but others really don't, and they could be doing more to work out which is which.

And finally, we have more musical suggestions, thus putting the lie to the previous letter's statement that a smaller article would have been just as good in this case. An article on music could have been a lot bigger and more comprehensive with some more research.

Dragon Issue 278: December 2000


part 2/7


PROfILES: Julia Martin is another of the editors for the new edition, coming in to replace Kim when he was promoted to managing. She was an integral part of making the new edition a munchkin's paradise, full of tightly interlocking rules, keywords, synergies and similar kewlness. Consistency, good organization, economical use of space, all the corebooks would be rather less so without her contributions. She's happy to give out tips on how to twink your own character, and hopes that she can integrate the new rules well with the forgotten realms setting, which she's currently working on. Another profile that was fun to read, but is probably a bit too keen on promoting the new edition for it's own good.


Nodwick gets in trouble on his own steam this time.


Previews: Not a very busy month this time. The Hero Builder's Guide is probably the biggest one. More stuff to help you build characters who are both solid mechanically (or at least, as close as possible given their lack of skill at optimization at this point. ) and in terms of background. They also continue their close association with Diablo. Diablerie converts things to 3rd edition, while once again stealing V:tM buzzwords. How's that going to work out for them?  

In the novels, we have a FR one and a Dragonlance one, as seems standard. The City of Ravens Bluff finally gets to have novels set in it, as it's freed up from constant RPGA metaplotting. Jack Ravenwild :rolleyes: has amusing adventures to tell, with Rich Baker the humble scribe transcribing them. Dragonlance is also in a city based roguish mood. The Thieves Guild by Jeff Crook is set in Palanthas, and shows their attempts to reestablish larceny around these parts, which isn't easy with both the good and dark knights working together. How's a working man supposed to get ahead in a mad situation like that?


This year's statement of ownership shows that the magazine has finally got it's groove back with the public. With an average of 58k and a last month run of 63, they've been gaining readers at over a thousand a month. All those teasers for the new edition have got people exited about the magazine and D&D in general. They're still probably sending out too many free copies, but that's forgivable as long as things are going well. Gotta get the reviews in other magazines for more publicity.


Countdown to the forgotten realms: 6 months to go. This is once again about selling the Realms corebook to non fans. In addition to the realms specific crunch, this is where you're going to get your first info about characters above 20th level. Plus the new items, monsters, spells, etc are eminently purloinable. Of course, for all they say that the new stuff will be balanced with core material, I'm pretty sure it wasn't, with the more restricted availability of certain feats an excuse to make them more powerful. And the rules for high level characters will differ quite a bit from their final incarnations. They might pretend they have a master plan, but really, they're still making a lot of it up as they go along. Don't forget the playtesters just because the corebooks are out.


Dork tower misses the point so badly it's painful. I LOLed.


PC Portraits: We had a set of dwarf portraits fairly recently, in issue 261, and this is one column that's pretty edition neutral, so I'm not that enthusiastic about this. Comparing the two, the new one is noticeably more simplistic looking, with broader, more exaggerated features. It's another good example of how they're stepping away from naturalism in their artwork for a bolder and more stylised look. I wonder how much of that is the magazine's own initiative, and how much comes from the rest of the company, as they try to establish an overall look and feel for 3e to set it apart from what came before. In any case, it's very worthy of noting, as a point where I can compare like for like precisely.