The Countdown Continues...

Hello again, everyone. So today I'm going to cover three issues of Dragon Magazine and their Countdown to 3rd Edition articles. The first one is from Dragon #265, cover-dated November 1999. This one is really just a brief recap of the Gen Con 1999 announcement of the upcoming 3rd Edition. The most significant event of that announcement is the return of both Gary Gygax AND Dave Arneson to the fold, talking about their own gaming experience as well as their enthusiasm for the new edition. Dave also spoke about his visit to the set of the Dungeons & Dragons movie.

The monk, barbarian, and sorcerer classes were introduced, along with some of the new 3e monsters, including something called a 'dropper', which apparently is a replacement for the piercer. Two computer games (Pools of Radiance II: The Ruins of Myth Drannor and Neverwinter Nights) were also previewed, both of which use the new rules.

There are some pictures from the convention which have amusing captions, such as the '2,500 men and 3 women' who went to the announcement, the creators waiting patiently for donuts, and playtester Lou Ferrigno(!) showing off his own custom 20-sided die which is about the size of a Buick.

That's about it for this issue, so we move along...

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Dragon #266

This Countdown article from December 1999 is about the new art style of 3rd edition. It is...well, it's heavily inspired by comic book art of the 1990s, particularly Rob Liefeld's endless pouches and belts (although the characters do in fact have feet). The picture of a monk is clearly not an Asian; she looks more like an African bushwoman than anything else. The artists, Todd Lockwood and Sam Wood, redesigned all the character classes and races to make something that toed the line between traditional art and modern aesthetics. And pouches. Lots and lots of pouches.

We also have the introduction of 'iconic characters', figures who are expected to appear throughout the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide. Basically, example or sample characters that can be used as starting characters for new players.

So far, they are just beginning to work on monster designs, so there's no new creature art as of yet.

And...that's it for this one. Not much at all. Moving on.

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Dragon #267

Alright, we are now into the year 2000 with the January issue. This Countdown is introducing the new version of the cleric. Right up front, they admit the major issue with playing a cleric: Everyone needs one, no one wants to be one. So, their primary goal was to make the class more appealing so players wouldn't be drawing straws to see who has to play the party healbot.

As mentioned in the 'ten new rules' I mentioned last post, clerics now get to swap out regular spells for healing spells. There will be new healing spells, I assume one per level, so that any spell can be swapped out for an emergency heal. And healing power is based on your level: Your cleric level is a bonus to your healing spell roll. And evil clerics can do the reverse, swapping out spells to drop a cause wounds spell on your butt. So watch it.

Spheres, the clerical spell mainstay of 2nd edition, are gone. Or at least, they are being replaced with 'domains'. Each domain consists of nine spells, one per level...oh, yes...clerics now have 9th-level spells just like wizards do. That is a huge change. Of course, wizards are getting spell bonuses now, so it evens out in the end.

Back to domains. To quote the article, "Each domain provides a granted power plus access to a 'domain spell' at each spell level. For each level of spells, a cleric can prepare one additional spell per day, which can come from either of the cleric's two domains." So, clerics get two domains, which means two granted powers on top of the additional spells. That's a sweet bonus. And turning undead is still there.

We also get a brief mention that characters now regain their level in hit points per day or rest, rather than the single point that was the standard before. This means that after the near-death experience of the dragon fight, your 10th-level fighter won't be bedridden for two months while his 1st-level henchman who was at death's door is back to full strength in a week. Add the healing spells to that, and characters will be able to last longer before calling it a day of adventuring.

"Orisons" are introduced; these are 0-level spells, so minor magical effects. Orisons were actually introduced way back in 1st edition in Dragon #108 as an unofficial addition. Now they're official, and all clerics can use them. And turning of undead continues to improve at higher levels rather than topping out at 14th level as in prior editions.

Combat is next. Clerics get different weapons, including edged and pointy weapons which they could never use before. Weapons will be categorized as 'simple' or 'martial', and clerics won't get access to the martial ones unless they take...a feat. This is the first mention of 'heroic feats' that I have seen so far. Clerics can also use their deity's favorite weapon, although not all of them do.

Turning undead is mentioned as well. The biggest change is that clerics are now limited in how many times they can try to turn undead in a day. This was never an issue in earlier editions; if you ran into undead, the cleric could turn them all day long. Now, it's 3 times per day plus their Charisma bonus, with the potential to increase it through 'heroic feats'.

Finally, we have the list of 3e gods. And they are the Greyhawk gods, or at least quite a few of them. There are two or three for almost every alignment (Hextor is the only lawful evil, Olidammara is the only chaotic neutral). The demihumans get their gods as well, albeit one per race. The list includes the deity's name, area of influence (God of the Sun, God of Strength, etc.), their alignment, and the domains their clerics can choose from. There are at least three domains for every god, so no cleric is locked into 'you have to have these domains' and they can all have their own preferences. Obad-Hai, the God of Nature, has six domains: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, and Water. So yeah, this guy is the druid god.

The article assures us that while these are the 'default' gods for the game, the game isn't going to be automatically set in Greyhawk; it's just to give players a base starting point for ease of play. Fair enough.

And that covers the first really significant introduction to 3rd edition D&D, and it's obvious that there are going to be some major and even extreme changes to the rules. I like the improved healing rules and the spontaneous casting; I don't like the limited turning of undead. I'll reserve judgment on the higher-level spell casting for when I actually get to the spell lists.

Next up...three more issues of Countdowns.