ISSUE 381 | NovEmbEr 2009 A Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game Supplement ® Contents Features 5 Player’s Handbook 3 debut: The Monk 55 Warrior Forge artiFicer By Rob Heinsoo, Mike Mearls and Robert J. Schwab By Rodney Thompson The monk is complete, and now D&D Insiders can get an exclusive look at A new build for the artificer class is here! This is the first new build for the the results of all the playtest feedback we’ve received since the class was first artificer since the release of the Eberron Player’s Guide. showcased last spring. 65 class acts: Wizard 18 The Foundling By Mike Mearls By Mike Resnick New fey-themed powers for your wizard. Fiction returns to Dragon, with a short story by the Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author! 68 class acts: rogue By Mike Mearls 24 Warlord essentials New powers for your duelist rogue. By Robert J. Schwalb Learn the secrets to building and playing one of the game’s most complex and 71 class acts: Paladins fascinating leader classes. By Arthur Wright New options for paladins of the darker powers. 34 sorcerer essentials By Rob Heinsoo First unleashed in Player’s Handbook 2, get an inside look at building and 75 class acts: invoker playing a sorcerer, along with loads of new game support for the class. By Ari Marmell New options for invokers, focused on tapping the power of a long-dead deity. 45 PerForMing tHe Pact By Jeff Morgenroth and Arnie Frank 78 PoWer Play: Martial PoWer What if your warlock’s pact patron is more than just an afterthought on By Ari Marmell your character sheet? What if your warlock actually knew the name and New powers for all the martial classes focused on the use of skills. goals of the entity who gave him or her this arcane power? Learn about these consequences, and several sample patrons, here! 81 Winning races: HalFlings COLUMNS By Logan Bonner New options for halfling wanderers. 85 Winning races: tieFlings By Mike Mearls Columns The secrets of Bael Turath are revealed, in the form of new feats for tieflings of all kinds. 4 editorial 102 Design & development: classes 89 Channel divinity: Melora By Michele Carter and Bill Slavicsek By Matthew Sernett Michele and Bill reminisce on Planescape as they New magic items for worshipers of Melora. discuss Sigil’s inclusion in Dungeon Master’s Guide 2. 91 Channel divinity: torM 106 ConFessions oF a Full-tiMe Wizard By Erik Scott de Bie and Eytan Bernstein By Shelly Mazzanoble New options for members of the Champions of Order, a society devoted to the The D&D “Player-in-Chief” shares more of her wisdom and insight. Realms god of justice. 110 D&d aluMni 95 knoW your role: deFender By Bart Carroll and Steve Winter By Matthew Sernett A look back at the D&D game through the past New magic items for defenders of all stripes. editions. 112 RPGA rePort 98 guilds & grouPs: The Honest FeW By Chris Tulach By Robert J. Schwalb The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn This thieves’ guild out of Fallcrest is on the upswing, and being a member has more about how to get involved! its perks. 116 Ampersand By Bill Slavicsek Bill discusses more of the changes in store for D&D in 2009. on tHe cover Illustration by McLean Kendree Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten realms, Eberron, Dungeon, Dragon, d20, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. For more Dungeons & Dragons articles, adventures, and information, visit www.wizards. com/dnd e ditorial 381 Dr ag on November 2009 Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs Stepping Out of Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette Web Specialist Chris Sims the Spotlight Web Production bart Carroll, Steve Winter Graphic Design Keven Smith, Yasuyo Dunnett We’ve spent a great deal of time in this space telling Contributing Authors Logon bonner, Arnie Frank, rob the adventures would still continue to be fun and engag- you that the D&D game is, first and foremost, about Heinsoo, Ari marmell, Shelly ing. But I recognized that I was taking a back seat in the fun. It’s a social experience you enjoy with your friends, mazzanoble, mike mearls, Jeff story. And you know what? It was a little tough to adapt. or at the very least with people with whom you share morgenroth, mike resnick, Peter Rather than get on my pity-potty (as my mom would this common interest. You get to use your imagination, Schaefer, robert J. Schwalb, say), I cowboyed up. I remembered that throughout the engage in a shared storytelling experience, eat junk matthew Sernett, bill Slavicsek, previous weeks, Rodney, and by extension, his character food, and tell lots of inappropriate jokes (maybe that last rodney Thompson, Chris Tulach, Vargas, had shown nothing but support as my character one’s more my personal experience, but none of this is Steve Winter, Arthur Wright, took center stage. I wanted to return that favor. I started new to you if you’ve played). Chris Young to think about how Deimos, my PC, would react to his Of course, it’s easy to have fun in a D&D game when buddy being in need—just as I would try to do in the real Developers Stephen radney-macFarland, the attention is on you. Good DMs take opportunities to world. When one of my friends needs a hand, I’m there Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, create adventures around a single character. And this is to schlep a couch or give a ride to the airport. Chris Sims, rodney Thompson awesome. Whenever I’m in a campaign that does this, I So I’ve decided to make Rodney’s quest my own. feel more involved, more interested, and more immersed It’s not that I want to steal his moments; far from it. Editors Michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford, in the game and the action when my character is in But our characters are lifelong friends. It makes sense miranda Horner the spotlight. In addition to your character leveling up that Deimos would be intimately concerned with those through XP, your PC also gets to level up in personality things that his friend would focus on. I’m making his Cover Artist mclean Kendree as his or her personal issues are resolved (or not). villains mine; I’m embracing his goals. And now, I find Contributing Artists Alex Aparin, Eric belisle, Empty But what happens when your storyline concludes myself looking forward to each session as much as I did room Studios, Tyler Jacobson, and the party moves on to pursue the agenda of another a few weeks back. I want to see how Vargas comes out Howard Lyon, William o’Connor, adventurer? After all, we can’t always expect the DM’s of this, how he changes, and how Rodney plays those David rapoza, Amanda Sartor, personal and undivided attention on our character’s life changes at the table. mike Sass, Sarah Stone, story. This is a cooperative experience, and nearly every Things came to a head last night, and Chris left us Tyler Walpole, Eric L. Williams player should receive some of this attention. at a cliffhanger as Vargas must now make an incred- When the focus inevitably shifts, how do you stay ibly difficult choice. (Chris will have more of that in his Web Development mark A. Jindra involved? This came up recently in our game. We’d just Io’mandra blog and wiki, so stay tuned there.) I can’t spent an adventure focusing on my character’s back- wait for next week so I can see where Rodney wants to D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins story and reached a conclusion . of sorts (with Chris put his couch. Perkins’s game, there’s rarely a true and final resolu- Executive Producer, What about you? How do you deal with the spotlight tion to anything . but that’s another editorial). Now D&D Insider Chris Champagne being on individual players? Do you enjoy those oppor- we’re off pursuing an adventure tied directly to Rodney tunities when the light is on you? If you run a game, how Director of RPG R&D bill Slavicsek Thompson’s avenger. do you make sure you split your attention among all the I’ll be the first to confess: I could feel my attention players equally? Or do some of your players prefer to Special Thanks shifting gears as we made this transition. It’s not like I avoid that attention? Send your comments and stories to was losing interest, hooking up my iPod mid-game and [email protected]. richard baker, Greg bilsland, Logan bonner, michele Carter, checking in just long enough to toss the odd d20. I knew Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, bruce r. Cordell, Torah Cottrill, Jeremy Crawford, mike Donais, rob Heinsoo, Nina Hess, Peter Lee, mike mearls, Kim mohan, Cal moore, Stephen radney-macFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, matthew Sernett, rodney Thompson, rob Watkins, James Wyatt The Monk By Rob Heinsoo, Mike Mearls and Robert J.