Sample Filethose Who Serve the Lady of Fate Are Privy to Mysteries Others View with While Most Genasi Are Touched by One of Five Elements, Some Have a Darker Envy

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Features

5 Player’s Handbook 3 Debut: The Seeker 54 C haracter Concepts: Primal Characters By Robert J. Schwalb By John Zamarra Commentary by Robert J. Schwalb and Stephen Radney-Macfarland Check out builds for levels 1–30 for a powerful shaman healer and a glaive- The next class from Player’s Handbook 3 is here, exclusively on D&D Insider! wielding warden, incorporating material from the Primal Power supplement. Learn about the seeker, an archer who controls the battlefield through the mystical powers granted by her connection to the divine. 65 C hannel Divinity: The Raven Queen’s Champions 8 1 A byssal Genasi By Robert J. Schwalb By Peter Schaefer Sample fileThose who serve the Lady of Fate are privy to mysteries others view with While most genasi are touched by one of five elements, some have a darker envy. Unlock some of the secrets of the Raven Queen for your character! heritage. Learn about those genasi whose bloodline has been tainted by the Abyss. 67 B azaar of the Bizarre: Dragonshard Items By Eric Cagle 42 B arbarian Essentials New magic items using the magic of dragonshards are here. By Rob Heinsoo Learn about the essential character building and play options for your 57 Playing Vistani barbarian character, and get some new powers and mechanical options as By Chris Sims well. Planar wanderers? Thieving gypsies? Kidnappers? The vistani have been given many labels, but few understand this clannish group. Learn their 63 Wizard Essentials secrets, and discover what drives the vistani on their endless quest in the By Eytan Bernstein first of a three-part series. Character building and tactical advice for your wizard character, as well as some new spells and other options. 5 C Olumns

48 Playing Vistani: Secrets of 4 editorial the Caravans 92 design & Development: Classes By Chris Sims By Michele Carter and Bill Slavicsek The Playing Vistani series continues with feats and Michele and Bill reminisce on Planescape as they other options for vistani characters. discuss Sigil’s inclusion in Dungeon Master’s Guide 2.

Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard 98 Playing Vistani: Magic 94 By Shelly Mazzanoble and Mystery D&D’s “Player-in-Chief” shares more of her By Chris Sims wisdom and insight. The Playing Vistani series concludes with rituals and magic items from the vistani caravans. 99 G rP A Report 56 By Chris Tulach The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn more about how to get involved!

Sample file 103 ampersand By Bill Slavicsek Bill discusses more of the changes in store for D&D in 2009.

On the Cover Illustration by Emrah Elmasli

75 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 d i t o r i a l

380 Dr ag on October 2009 Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs What You’re Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette Web Specialist Chris Sims Looking For Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter

Graphic Design Keven Smith

Contributing Authors Eytan Bernstein, Eric Cagle, I t’s another big month here at Wizards of the Coast, The biggest change (other than two extra days Michele Carter, Rob Heinsoo, especially for Dungeons & Dragons. Since we didn’t of new content) is that we’re moving away from Shelly Mazzanoble, Stephen feel we’d shaken things up enough—or given our- extra-long feature articles. We’re still intending to Radney-MacFarland, Peter selves enough to do—we went ahead and launched do several longer features each month, but they’ll Schaefer, Robert J. Schwalb, a new D&D website. We hope you’re as happy with be about half the length of our longest features to Chris Sims, Bill Slavicsek, Chris this new site as we are. It’s been a labor of love for date. The rest of the month, we’re going to bring Tulach, John Zamarra well over a year now, and we think it shows the hard you a series of shorter, 2- or 3-page articles focused Developers Stephen Radney-MacFarland, work of everyone involved. We also think that users, around a single concept, and typically tied together Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, both new and old, will have a better experience on with new mechanics. You’ll see many more Class Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson the site, and that it’s never been easier to find the Acts articles in this new scheme, as well as articles content you’re looking for. focused around races (Winning Races), faiths (Chan- Editors Michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford, But wait, there’s more! nel Divinity articles), roles (Know Your Role), and Miranda Horner As you may have noticed, since we pushed all of power source (Power Play), among others. Cover Artist Emrah Elmasli our DM supportSample into Dungeon magazine, file Wednes- Why these shorter, more frequent articles? We’ve Contributing Artists Drew Baker, Christopher Burdett, days are looking pretty crowded on the content looked at articles our subscribers are download- Emrah Elmasli, Jason A. Engle, calendar. We were pretty sure this would be a side ing the most, and this is the direction the data is William O’Connor, David Rapoza, effect of the change, but building out the October guiding us. The major reason, however, is that we Evan Shipard, Matias Tapia, calendar really cemented this in our minds. know bigger articles often mean that a given issue Eric L. Williams, Kieren Yanner In addition, we’ve come to recognize that player doesn’t have something for every player. We’re content in Dragon magazine has grown, well, plump. aiming to change that. If your class isn’t represented Web Development Mark A. Jindra Our features are routinely hitting ten pages and up, one month, then your race, power source, role, or D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins and this makes for a lengthy online reading experi- another element of your character should be. If it Executive Producer, ence. Plus, it means that we’re spending more words still isn’t, then let us know. D&D Insider Chris Champagne on fewer topics. As a result, we’re making one more Dragon has long attempted to be as inclusive of significant change to how we’re approaching D&D every player as possible in a given month. Now we’re Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek Insider content. taking steps to fully realize that vision, starting in Special Thanks Starting in November, we’re moving to a five-day- November. Stay tuned for next month’s content cal- a-week content schedule. You might have seen this endar, which will be hitting the site later this month. Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, writing on the wall, considering our new content cal- Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Torah Cottrill, Jeremy Crawford, Mike Donais, Rob Heinsoo, Nina Hess, Peter Lee, endar features five days in a week rather than three Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal Moore, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, like the old calendar. Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt Mechanical Design by Robert J. Schwalb

Commentary by Robert J. Schwalb, The Seeker and Stephen Radney—MacFarland

illustrations by David Rapoza

Sample file

“I am the lightning strike, the earth’s upheaval, the When a seeker looses a missile, the primal spirits Commentary unruly sea. I am the bringer of your destruction.” bound to it through ancient evocations are freed, Robert J. Schwalb: For the Player’s Handbook 3, we sometimes as terrifying beasts and sometimes as wanted to expand the family of primal classes to include ClassR T aits a new controller. I pitched several options, laying out nature’s raw destructive potential. R ole: Controller. You are a primal hunter who forges routes we could go. We ultimately decided the most dis- As a seeker, you are both a hunter and a mystic. bonds with mysterious spirits to gain their aid in bring- tinctive an interesting concept was a weapon-wielding You attune yourself to the wilderness you call your controller, something we hadn’t tried before. The seeker home, but you are equally tied to the spirits that ing down your prey. Depending on your choice of class would imbue his or her ammunition with primal energies features, you lean toward either defender or striker as and then rain them on her foes at a distance. By putting dwell in the world around you. With your people’s a secondary role. a weapon in the seekers hand and focusing on ranged traditions and whispered advice from the spirits, attacks allowed the class to stake out its own territory you navigate the wilds with ease, at home as any Power Source: Primal. Through ancient ceremonies without trampling on the druid. and whispered evocations, you call on primal spirits to beast. If an enemy appears, you have nothing to fear, lend their might to your cause. Stephen Radney-MacFarland: Since the early devel- both because you have mastered your weapons and Key Abilities: Wisdom, Strength, Dexterity opment of 4th edition, some of us in RPG R&D have because the spirits to whom you have bound your- pondered what a weapon-using or even a martial control- self add their savage might to your attacks. Whether ler would look like. While a number of ideas have found Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather voice within and without the development and design you use lightning strikes, grasping vines, or spectral Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged, pits, none gained traction until the seeker. The primal beasts, your enemies cannot stand against your military ranged power source and the mythic hunter theme were the assault. Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Will hooks we needed to make this idea sing.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score SRM: The first time I read this section, I got an image Seeker Class Features of a seeker, barbarian, warden, and shaman—a complete Hit Points per Level Gained: 5 primal party—stumbling out of the wilderness, focused Seekers have the following class features. Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier on the threatSample in the distance: a walled file city. I wanted to run (or play in) a campaign where a city was the dungeon Trained Skills: Nature. From the class skills list below, for a group primal users. Inevitable Shot choose three more trained skills at 1st level. You gain the inevitable shot power. You can use this RJS: Seekers use ranged attacks and burst attacks within Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Endur- power to call on spirits to send your projectile hurling ance (Con), Heal (Wis), Insight (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), their weapon’s range. Bow-wielding seekers can outstrip other controllers in distance while usually focusing their toward another enemy when you miss with a ranged Nature (Wis), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex) attacks against a single opponent at a time. Many powers attack. apply control conditions on enemies adjacent to the Class Features: Inevitable shot, Seeker’s Bond seeker’s targets, thus echoing the more traditional area attack powers possessed by other controllers such as the Seeker’s Bond wizard and invoker. Seekers are primal champions who scour the wilder- Seekers develop special bonds with primal spirits by ness in search of those who would defile it. Versed in offering solemn vows to further the spirits’ purposes. hunting techniques handed down through the gen- In exchange for these vows, the spirits bestow a mea- erations, seekers combine thrown weapon and bow sure of their strength to aid their champions’ cause. techniques with primal evocations. The combination One of the Seeker’s Bond options is presented allows seekers great range in which to deliver deadly here. It provides bonuses to certain seeker powers, as attacks that confound and hamper their enemies. detailed in those powers.

October 2009 | Dragon 380 6 The Seeker

Bloodbond: You gain the encaging spirits power. In of your enemies and avoid their attacks. You lean Commentary addition, while you are not wearing heavy armor, you toward striker as a secondary role. RJS: The Bloodbond class feature establishes the seeker can shift as a minor action. Suggested Class Feature: Bloodbond as a secondary striker. I envisioned this seeker style as mobile artillery, always moving, always adjusting to the Suggested Feat: Improved Initiative battelfield’s developments, and then hitting enemies from Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Nature, Seeker Overview the direction they least expect. Stealth Characteristics: Your arrows or thrown weap- Suggested At-Will Powers: elemental spirits, SRM: The blood bond is tailor made for bow-using seek- ons loose primal power when used. They might ers. Both the encaging spirit power and the shifty part of stinging swarm manifest as primal spirits hungering for revenge the class feature are there to make sure the seeker can Suggested Encounter Power: flickering arrow or as icy winds or crackling lightning. Your keep the arrows flying. It’s also a nod to those players Suggested Daily Power: storm of spirit shards powers control your enemies, interfering with who’ve had kobold envy ever since those first encounter their movement, holding them in place, or injur- in Keep on the Shadowfell ing them for their actions. Also, your attacks Seeker Powers might call forth spirits to worry your enemies RJS: Before the seeker, the longbow was most often found in the archer ranger’s hands. Sure, other classes could Your powers are evocations gained from the bonds and pursue them across the battlefield. use them, but a longbow in a barbarian’s hands is as you forge with primal spirits. Unlike most other con- worthwhile as a wand in a fighter’s. While this feels right trollers, you use weapons to direct your spirit allies for the ranger, the longbow’s absence in the game for and their destructive wrath, launching arrows or other characters as a favored weapon is conspicuous. The Religion: Like other primal characters, seekers seeker expands utility for the longbow (and associated throwing other ranged weapons into your enemies’ view the world’s primal spirits as kindred and part- weapons) without diminishing the ranger as the preemi- midst, only to watch your weapons explode in scorch- ners, and they venerate them more than they worship nent archer. Instead, they can now share this title, each ing lightning or booming thunder. Your attacks can the gods. Seekers who do follow deities commonly putting a different spin on this weapon. also herald the appearance of the spirits themselves, worship Melora for her dominion over the forces of nature, Corellon (who is sometimes depicted as the Bond. The BloodbondSample and Spiritbond file are the most calling them forth to assail your enemies. founder of archery), Kord, or Sehanine. Evil seekers common, and your choice corresponds with one of sometimes follow Gruumsh or Zehir. two seeker builds. Regardless of your particular bond, Class Features Races: Elves and shifters are the most common however, you can choose whatever powers best help E ach seeker has the inevitable shot power. You also seekers, since both their natural inclinations toward you to keep your vow. primal paths and their inherent abilities make them gain a power from Bloodbond, your Seeker’s Bond: well matched with the capabilities of the class. Goli- encaging spirits. aths who favor ranged combat sometimes become Vengeful Seeker seekers (preferring thrown weapons over bows You have witnessed nature’s destruction and its E ncaging Spirits S eeker Feature or crossbows), and wilden seekers are also fairly plunder by cruel and careless mortals. No longer will You call on protecting spirits to harry your foes. common. ✦ you wait; vengeance demands blood. A blood oath Encounter Primal Minor Action Close burst 1 sees you hunting down and destroying the world’s Level 11: Close burst 2 Creating a Seeker enemies, and those who despoil it will find no mercy Level 21: Close burst 3 All seekers depend on Wisdom to commune with the from you. Wisdom is your most important ability, fol- Target: Each enemy in burst Effect: You push each target 1 square, and each target is spirits to guide them and aid in their attacks. Seekers lowed by Dexterity to help keep you one step ahead slowed until the end of your next turn. bind themselves with spirits through their Seeker’s

October 2009 | Dragon 380 7