Produktbeschreibung
Mercenaries for Hire: The Nameless Legion
by Mike Mearls · illustrated by Matt Cavatta and Karl Kerschl
What do a vampire rogue, a harpy sorcerer, and a goblin fighter have in common? They are mercenaries for the Nameless Legion. Wiped of their memory and tattooed as a demonstration of their subservience, these once-savage mercenaries can be hired for protection, reconnaissance, or more sinister reasons. Learn how your PC can become a powerful and sought-after mercenary, take the feats, and use their unique weapons and magic items. Or, if you’re a DM, drop the Legion into your campaign with ease.
3.5 Revision Update
by Ed Stark
Over the next few months, this column will focus on specific changes we’re making to the game you love--all based on comments and critiques you’ve given us. We’re making a lot of improvements to the game but make no mistake: This is a revision, not a wholesale change of editions. Think of it as a “3.5” edition of the game, much like a software upgrade. Your current “software” (books like the Epic Level Handbook, Deities and Demigods, Monster Manual II, and others) will still work-and if there are “compatibility problems,” we’ll help you through them with rules patches and advice.
We play the game too, and we want all our toys to keep working.
Every month, I’ll give you some samples of the sorts of revisions and updates we’re going to be making to the three core books. I’ll discuss the hows and whys of these changes, and I’ll be interested in receiving your feedback. I’ll always try to give you something from each of the three books on a related theme so you can see what our designers are thinking.
This month, I want to keep things pretty simple, so the theme is Character Generation. You probably won’t be too surprised to read that creating characters hasn’t changed in the revisions-but we have tweaked some of the races and classes a little bit in response to your feedback. We’ve also learned a few things about creating characters since the release of third edition.
Monstrous Magic
by James Wyatt · illustrated by Chuck Lukacs
The new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game opens up vast ranges of new options for player characters of all races and kinds. But what does your minotaur wizard do when he wants to cast mount? How does your lich PC heal a number of undead allies at once? How does your awakened dire bear make his claws flaming and holy? And just how do you awaken an ooze to make a playable PC, anyway?
The answers are here, in this selection of 46 new spells designed with monstrous casters in mind. Remember, though: They’re not just for PCs!
Saddle Up
Mounted Combat Rules for Intelligent Characters
by Rich Redman · illustrated by David Wahlstrom
Jozan, Tordek, Mialee, and Lidda were in the foothills, investigating a recent series of assaults on local villages. Terrified survivors could only babble something about goblins. The four adventurers felt sure this would be a simple matter of scaring off the little humanoids. As the sun set, Lidda heard something moving just beyond the ridge. Moments later, their goblin opponents charged over the ridge and down the hill. “Sweet Pelor,” Jozan shouted. “They’re riding ogres!”
Between awakened animals and characters created using the Savage Species book, it’s possible that your character’s mount is smarter than your character. For that matter, your mount might be another player character! With all the new options for mounts, a number of rules issues arise that you and your DM must consider. This article provides ways to resolve those issues.
Prestige Races
Changing Your Character for the Better
by Greg Dent and Brannon Hollingsworth · illustrated by Chris Appel
For the first time ever, your character can become a new race! With special training, your PC can learn how to evolve into a new race, slowly gaining new special abilities and traits. Evolve into an inferno creature and watch the ground blister with your every footstep, and blast your enemies with heat when they come within reach of your flame aura. Sacrifice your paladin to the cause of good and become a divine creature, gaining a bonus to Constitution and the ability to fly. This article tells you everything you need to know to evolve your character into a unique race, offering you interesting new roleplaying abilities.
Guardians of the Wild
by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel · illustrated by Tom Gianni
Creatures of grace and beauty, deadly poison hidden in pretty forms, twisted shapes out of nightmare, fey are all this and more. Fey epitomize life in all its varied shapes, sizes, and materials. They usually inhabit clean, natural places, full of living things such as plants and animals, and good fey have a strong racial hatred of undead, viewing the unliving as abominations. This article has some new fey to add to your campaign, including a PC race, four fey or fey-related creatures, and two templates.
Silicon Sorcery: Asheron’s Call 2: Fallen Kings
by Clifford Horowitz · illustrations provided by Turbine Games
Asheron’s Call 2 takes place in the world of Dereth where, some 300 years ago, the wizard Asheron created vaults to protect the major races from the horrid force responsible for wreaking the Devastation on the surface. You play one of the first heroes called forth from these underground shelters to reclaim the planet from the evil that has taken root there. Like many other games, this one offers monsters to slay, ruins to clear, and quests to fulfill. However, Turbine Entertainment promises both an interactive storyline built on the actions of players and a dynamic quest system to ensure that your special objectives will be more than droll handouts from automated vendors.
In line with its unusual degree of dynamism, Asheron’s Call 2 has a new skill system that allows you to customize your character on an ongoing basis. As your character advances, you can purchase new abilities for her from skill trees, so long as she meets the prerequisites. These abilities allow your character to gain all sorts of advantages, such as the ability to strike harder in combat, a better chance for critical hits, or a greater range with a bow. These abilities bear a striking resemblance to feats in the D&D game, and provide ideas for many new feats. In fact, there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the abilities offered in the two games, regardless of what they might be called. This article contains 16 of the special abilities available to characters in the world of Dereth as feats for any D&D game. |
