Dragon Magazine Annual #5 (continued)

Alright, let's continue with this and finish off the month's stuff with a bang. December will be much lighter than November, so I'll get to that campaign stuff I wanted to work on this month. But first...

The next article in this issue is 'All Over the Map', which is a detailed explanation of how WotC prepares maps for their products (or for the Map-a-Week feature). Their goal for this edition was consistency; 2nd edition did have a lot of different mapping styles depending on the product line, so tightening things up and making a more focused template for mapping was apparently a priority for the design team. I'm fine with that.

Their maps don't just include dungeon layouts and wilderness maps; they also include the various examples, combat diagrams and charts that pepper the rule books to illustrate things like cover, attacks of opportunity, and flanking. The design process is pretty well-described, but it's not going to be all that interesting for non-mappers. Still, it's interesting for people who like that sort of thing.

Next up is an article that discusses the current state of Cormyr in the Forgotten Realms after the events of the novel Death of the Dragon. Ed Greenwood boasts that it would take three Annuals to examine the events of the novel properly, but he's graciously cutting it back to a mere eleven pages. This includes the details of the burial procession and the tomb itself, the regency and steps taken by the Royal Magician, Vangerdahast, to protect the succession. The Purple Dragon Knights are in a bad mood, with itchy fingers waiting to deal with any potential traitors in the wake of what happened. Then we get several writeups of important people (no stats, just race, class, alignment, and ages) including Vangerdahast, Queen Filfaeril (Azoun IV's wife), Princess Alusair (the regent), and a bunch of other people at court including the Wyvernspurs, Giogi and Cat. I noticed that Cat has the Aristocrat class; however, I distinctly remember reading The Wyvern's Spur back in the day, and she was a magic-user. So, I'm not sure why they downgraded her. The rest of the characters here are your typical nobles, loyal followers, exiles, rebels and the like. We also get a new prestige class, the first FR one we've seen: The Purple Dragon Highknight. These guys share some similarities with Dwarven Defenders from the DMG; they're really, really good at defense. They are good fighters, too, but defense is their forte. However, they also serve as investigators when necessary, and they have some class skills that can help with that.

The next article is on Mentors. Give your characters their own Obi-Wan, Gandalf or Merlin, who sits in the background and gives them wise counsel but doesn't do the heavy lifting or fighting. You can and should tailor this mentor to your PCs; some players will want this background figure, others won't be interested. The article gives several adventure hooks as well as seven different types of mentor figures that can be used as templates and/or archetypes. Short and inoffensive.

Ah, here we go, as promised on the cover: 101 Evil Schemes. Tired of trying to figure out your villain's next diabolical plan? Pick one of these. For example, an enemy of the kingdom hires an evil dragon to attack farms, preying on local livestock. Assuming the PCs can defeat it, they will have earned the wrath of the dragon's parent, who is much older and nastier. The land will then be weakened for the enemy's nation to wreak their own havoc in the dragon's wake. That's the sort of thing you can find in this article. E.W. Morton is one devious bastard to come up with all of these. My compliments to him.

Class Acts makes its way into this issue, and we get another demihuman-based prestige class: The Gnome Trickster. This class, obviously, is for gnomes alone, and they have to be able to cast arcane illusions, so they'll obviously have to be bards, wizards or sorcerers to qualify. They also need to be be able to hide, pick pockets, and bluff, so rogue will be an important component as well. They get a rather odd attack bonus progression, slightly better than a cleric but not as good as a fighter. They also get several special abilities to assist in their illusionary abilities, although they do not progress as spellcasters in this class. It's a pretty specific class, which goes against the idea that 'anyone can qualify for a prestige class if they try', but there are precedents with the arcane archer and dwarven defender, so that's not that big a deal. I like this (but then, I like gnomes), so we'll give this one a thumbs up.

Next up is The Royal Heralds, an article about...well, fantasy spies. The herald is a prestige class that pretty much anyone can qualify for; one of the sample characters is an aristocrat/herald. Heralds get rogue-like abilities and good Reflex and Will saving throws. They also get their own spells, including some unique ones for their class. Their spells are mostly focused on information gathering and avoiding danger; no magic missiles or fireballs here, although they do have sleep and suggestion to get them out of tough spots. This isn't world-specific, so it can be placed into any campaign that might have a penchant for intrigue. It's not for everyone, but it looks like it could be fun.

The name's Wand...James Wand.

Nodwick is taken over by John Kovalic (Dork Tower) where Igor plays Nodwick in a scenario...with predictably unpredictable results.

Class Combos is an article that talks about multiclassing and how to mix certain classes for interesting combinations. We also get suggestions for what would become known as 'level dipping' where you take just a single level in a class to get its particular benefits. The multiclass combos are called 'iconic multiclasses', representing distinct archetypes that differ from the standard classes. Each of these is treated almost like it's own class, with full 20-level writeups that give the multiclass level breakdowns, attack bonuses, saving throws, and abilities gained at each level. They are the champion (cleric/fighter), nature's champion (druid/ranger), scout (ranger/rogue), skald (barbarian/bard), spellfilcher (rogue/wizard or sorcerer), spellsword (fighter/wizard or sorcerer), and tracker (barbarian/ranger). The advantages and disadvantages of each iconic multiclass are spelled out; the champion gets more hit points, combat ability, and bonus feats thanks to his fighter levels, but doesn't get the maximum spell capability at higher levels. The scout gets ranger benefits like higher hit points, better base attack, two-weapon fighting, and overlapping class skills, but gets fewer rogue abilities at higher levels. So, there are tradeoffs. Still, it does expand the possibilities for archetypal characters and does a good job of showing the benefits and possibilities of the new multiclassing rules. Good stuff here.

Our Creature Codex introduces us to the Feyr, which was a core monster in the 2nd edition Monstrous Manual, although I'm not familiar with it. Turns out it was originally a Forgotten Realms monster that appeared in MC11, the second Forgotten Realms Monstrous Compendium product. So, this is a chaotic creature that is formed from the nightmares of ordinary denizens, and dormant magical energy. We get a nice story about this creature and how it operates. and we get stats for three versions of it: the Greater, Lesser, and Larval Feyr. The Larval Feyr is a Diminutive Aberration with ½ a hit die and a CR of ¼. It avoids unlight and causes fear to those it attacks. It can get up to 2 HD and Tiny size before growing into a Lesser Feyr (Small, 3 HD, CR 2). Its fear effect is more potent, though it shares the sensitivity to sunlight of the larva. It can get up to 10 HD and Medium size before becoming a Greater Feyr (Large, 16 HD, CR 14). This is the big one; it can manipulate emotions other than fear, had six attacks and an AC of 22, and also has spell resistance 20 and can terrorize a creature into becoming the feyr's familiar. Yikes. These are definitely in the horror category of monsters, so use with caution.

Remember when I went over the Forgotten Realms 2000 Survival Guide in my review of Polyhedron #144? Well, it's copied over here for those who weren't RPGA members and thus didn't have access to Polyhedron at the time. As far as I can tell, it's identical to the Polyhedron one, so I won't repeat what I said in that review.

The Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor adventure had a companion novel: Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. This article gives us the character writeups of the protagonists of that novel. There's Kestrel, the 14th-level female human rogue; Corran D'Arcey, the 13th-level male human Paladin of Tyr; Ghleanna Stormlake, the female half-elf 12th-level sorcerer, and Durwyn, the male human 11th-level fighter. They get full-writeups including stats, skills, feats, equipment, and descriptive text. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the writeups, but I'll assume they're faithful. And unlike the PCs in the adventure book, these guys actually get to fight the dracolich at the end. I'll assume it more or less worked out for them.

And finally, we get Aaron Williams (Nodwick) presenting us with What's New with Yeagar and Artax (and Piffany, and Nodwick). In typical What's New fashion, they try to demonstrate the new 3rd edition rules before they get eaten by a dragon and have to use the new rules to figure a way out of it. Piffany's discovery of the new clerical spell miracle proves to be the solution to their predicament, and duct tape abounds while Phil and Dixie watch from the control room. Surprisingly, Nodwick doesn't get eaten or even injured in this one.

And that will do it! This Annual is chock-full of great stuff to expand the game and inspire lots of adventures. The Dragon Annuals were all like this, I think. Except the 2001 (and final) annual, which actually sucked, as I recall. Anyway, that's our last product review for November 2000, so we've got four more days until we start December. In the meantime, I'll check for any more online stuff and start filling out some campaign info. Until next time!