More Counting Down...

Okay, so there are six more issues before the game is released, so I'm going to just cover two per post before getting into the Player's Handbook. But there are other things that get published related to 3e, so I'll cover those as we get to them chronologically.

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Dragon #268

Cover-dated February 2000, this issue introduces us to the 3rd edition wizard. And dear Lord, I don't like the art work on this guy. I get not wanting the typical 'old guy with a robe and a beard', but this is just...no. He looks like a mixture of Harry Potter and the Punisher with more pouches than a pack of kangaroos. I can't take him seriously at all.

Alright, so let's take a look at how the new wizard works mechanically. First, the schools of magic are still there, but there's no 'opposition' schools. So when you become a specialist, you still have to forego learning at least one other school of magic, but you get to pick which one you want so you can customize your spell style. Okay, that works, making it less predictable what spells an enemy wizard may or may not have ("He's throwing magic missiles, so he won't know sleep!" "Oopzzzzzzz.....")

Next up is the new concept of 'counterspelling, which means you can cast one of your spells as a counterspell to another caster's casting of the exact same spell, neutralizing it. Well, that's not exactly useful, since you're giving up one of your (likely) offensive spells. And you have to make a Spellcraft check (one of the new skills in the game) to use it. And if you don't have the spell that the other caster is casting, you're out of luck. It's like a very specific dispel magic spell that is guaranteed to work, but only under the perfect conditions.

Next up we get our introduction to 'Feats'. All we learn about here is "metamagic feats", which enhance spells in various ways. We are teased with Quicken Spell, Still Spell, Silent Spell, and Maximum Spell. Quicken Spell means you can cast a spell and immediately cast a second one in the same round, or take another action instead of the second casting. Very handy ability. The others are self-explanatory. These look to replace a certain class of spells from 1st and 2nd edition, spells that affected other spells (extension, vocalize, etc.)

We also get a list of the familiars available in the 3rd edition, and their abilities. And I have to say, they're much more impressive than they were in 1st and 2nd edition. The lowly toad, once the bane of the find familiar spell with its unimpressive 'wide-angle vision', suddenly gets upgraded to giving the wizard a +2 to his Constitution score. Now that is a big improvement. Bats and hawks don't offer anything except being flying familiars, but the rest have nice bonuses. Oh, and they improve as the caster levels up, so that's nice.

Next is a section on how spellcasting has been clarified and made consistent. The word 'standardized' and its varied endings appears more than once here. Ray attacks are now automatically ranged touch attacks, which hasn't been explained just yet, but it's pretty obvious what they do. And since they are attacks, you can achieve critical hits with ray spells. That could be very interesting, depending on what kind of ray spells are available.

Finally, the question of stacking spells and magic items is tackled. Stacking is based on the effect in question. For example, different armor class bonuses include 'deflection' and 'armor', which would stack with each other (but not two 'deflection' bonuses or two 'armor' bonuses). So that will make it easier to know what effects are useful.

Next issue...the rogue (no longer a thief).

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But first...

We have our first online post about 3e from WotC, specifically an introduction to the cleric. This is a follow-up from the Countdown article in Dragon #267, and it is our first look at an actual cleric in the game with stats and everything. Three versions of Jozan the Cleric are presented, a 1st-level version, 4th, and 7th.

Right off the bat, there's a brief description of the character, and what jumps out is the fact that Jozan is skilled with a crossbow. I don't think any cleric ever used a crossbow in D&D before, unless they were a multiclassed dwarf fighter/cleric.

The first thing to notice about the character sheet is that bonuses happen a lot sooner than they did in 1st and 2nd edition; you needed a 15 or more in a score to get a bonus in the earlier games, but Jozan's Charisma is only 12, and that gets him a +1 bonus. His highest score is a 15 in Wisdom, which gets him a +2. So characteristic point inflation isn't necessarily a thing here, which is good.

Saving throws are completely redone; instead of five categories, there are three. Skills involve positive modifiers, and Jozan has three 0-level and three first-level spells to cast, which is on par with a 1st-edition cleric with a Wisdom of at least 14. He has two feats: Alertness and Scribe Scroll. That last one is interesting, since a cleric in earlier editions couldn't scribe a scroll until much higher level, but Jozan is doing it at 1st level.

His 4th-level sheet has a notable change: His Wisdom score is now 16. So ability scores increase in 3rd edition. He has also added Brew Potion to his feats, so he can make potions of healing and the like. The 7th-level sheet adds another feat and a bunch of spells; I noticed that what used to be spiritual hammer is now spiritual weapon, which adds some nice variety. Oh, and clerics can now summon monsters. And it's a first-level spell instead of 3rd. Interesting.

So, this is a nice tease for what is yet to come. Let's see what we have in the next magazine.