Ggolems and Oozes Are Among the Most Feared Dungeon
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ISSU E 367 | SEPTEM BER 2008 TM A D ungeons® R oleplaying & D ragons Game Supplement Contents FEATURES 5 EPIC FAERÛN By Richard Baker Heroes of the Realms find new options at epic levels 5 with these new epic destinies. 11 ECOLOGY OF THE GENASI By Rodney Thompson Learn about the history, society, and culture of one of the new races from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. 22 INTELLIGENT ITEMS By Logan Bonner Only in Dragon! New rules for intelligent magic items 22 in your D&D game. 31 CHILDREN OF DARKNESS By Robert J. Schwalb Most drow worship the spider queen Lolth, chafing under her rule, but glorying in destruction in her name. But some rebel drow fight their heritage, and choose a path less traveled. 42 BESTIARY: GOLEMS AND OOZES 31 By Greg Bilsland New dungeon guardians for your latest adventure. 47 PLAYING GNOLLS 47 By Keith Baker COLUMNS If you’ve always wanted to play a gnoll PC, now’s your chance. This article comes with plenty of information on gnoll adventurers, along with racial feats for your gnoll hero. 4 EDITORIAL 55 CLASS ACTS: SWORDMAGE By Greg Bilsland 67 DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT: THE EVOLUTION OF MAGIC ITEMS New powers and options for your first By Andy Collins and Mike Mearls swordmage character, created straight out of the Learn about the design and development teams’ approach Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide. 55 to magic items. 58 REALMSLORE: AURIL’S HALL 69 CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD By Brian James By Shelly Mazzanoble The hall of the Frostmaiden is explored here, Shelly discusses how her experience as a DM has made her a better player. along with the rumors of its many dangerous denizens. 73 RPGA REPORT By Chris Tulach 63 EXPEDITIONARY DISPATCHES: This month, Chris tells us more about the Living JANUS GULL Forgotten Realms campaign, and how you can get By Glenn McDonald involved. 58 This mysterious village vanished into the sea 75 AMPERSAND during a deadly storm, only to return once a year By Bill Slavicsek on the anniversary of its disappearance. Bill talks about more of the big decisions being made concerning D&D. ON THE COVER 63 Illustration by Dan Scott 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 EditoriAL 367 DRAGON September 2008 Sideshow campaign. I like to gain XP, explore new places, learn about new story hooks, and, well, play the game. But I value the social Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs As I mentioned in last month’s editorial, I spent some quality aspect of the game intensely. And humor is probably one of the Senior Art Director Stacy Longstree time sitting on the players’ side of the DM screen in the game I single-biggest bonding elements you could introduce into any normally run. I gave up my DMing duties in lieu of a chance to social experience. I’m pretty lenient as a DM. I enjoy a good Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter roll up a character and ride shotgun with my group. joke as much as anyone, and I’ll frequently engage in humorous Graphic Design Chris Hanis, Bob Jordan, back-and-forth with my players at the table during a session, Breanne Miller, Shauna Well, we had another session, and everyone was a lot more which I know many DMs would poo-poo as a sign of a game out Wolf Narciso bloodthirsty this time out, including the DM. Lots of combat. of control. What I hadn’t considered was taking a humorous, Developers Mike Mearls, Stephen Radney- Lots of hilarity. in-character outburst and spinning it right into the story of the MacFarland, Peter Schaefer adventure to get the group back on track. For example, at one Stephen Schubert To set the stage, this game wasn’t a continuation of our normal point in our game, some read-aloud text described scratches campaign. It was always intended to be a one-off game, so every- along the walls and floor in a room, merely as flavor. One of our Editors Miranda Horner one had new characters. At first glance, it seemed like a more players made a joke about captives being held against their will, Cover Artist Dan Scott viable way to conduct this particular experiment—handing the and our intrepid DM—once the laughter died down—imme- reigns reins of the group off to a new DM, but in the short term. diately jumped on the joke and said that yes, in fact that was Contributing Artists Stephen Crowe, Ryan Barger, But when we all came to the table, the first thing that struck me exactly the source of the markings. One joke, one laugh, one Concept Art House, Wayne was the tone of the game. spin and we were once again back on track. I’m going to keep England, Jason A. Engle, my eye out for instances like this next session. Gonzalo Flores, David Griffith, Everyone knew this was a one-off game, so we all were a little Ron Lemen, William O’Connor, silly when it came to character creation. Characters had ridicu- That said, you need to know your group. If you’re stepping away Ben Wootten lous names and ridiculous personality traits. For example, one from the screen for a session or two, expect that players won’t Contributing Authors Keith Baker, Richard Baker, player’s character had a name composed almost entirely of con- have the same attachment to their fresh characters, so they’ll Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, sonants, and my character, and another, playing a kobold, spoke likely treat the game with more silliness than normal. Most Andy Collins, Brian James, as rapidly and as often as he could. The fun bit was that we all groups, in my experience, will relish the opportunity to crack Shelly Mazzanoble, Glenn created our characters independently, but what we ended up wise a little more often. Just be aware, if you do this, that your McDonald, Mike Mearls, bringing to the table was, well, a sideshow. entire group is on board, and ready to treat the one-off with the Robert J. Schwalb, Bill Slavicsek, same gravity (or lack thereof). Rodney Thompson, Chris Tulach At first, I felt sorry for our interim DM. I thought she’d end up storming out after 15 minutes. But I was wrong. She embraced The other thing I learned? A break is nice. I think that from our zaniness and found ways to work our off-beat humor into here on out, I’ll schedule regular one-off breaks every few Web Development Mark A. Jindra the adventure. In fact, because this was intended to be a one-off months with the group. Sharing the DM experience is always D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins adventure, the adventure had minimal story. This wasn’t The good; it gives me a break from DMing, I get to hone my comedic Executive Producer, Lord of the Rings, by any stretch. Our quirky, over-the-top char- gifts, and maybe best of all, I get a chance to game with some D&D Insider Ken Troop acters really created the story for the game. We took the story players and friends I usually sit on the opposite side of the that was there, and embellished it with our personalities, and screen from. Sounds like a win-win to me. Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek made it our own. Special Thanks Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, Jennifer This got me to thinking about the value of humor in a D&D Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Rob game. Don’t get me wrong—I like to make progress in a Heinsoo, Peter Lee, Julia Martin, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, David Noonan, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt Epic Faerûn by Richard Baker illustrations by Gonzalo Flores HE FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting is famed for the powerful characters who have appeared in Faerûn over the years. Epic characters are a longstanding tradition in Abeir-Toril, ranging from the dreadful lich Larloch— the most powerful of Faerûn’s mighty wizards—to heroic figures such as the Seven Sisters or Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale. With the advent of the Spellplague and the passage of a century, many of Faerûn’s famous residents have since departed to their eternal rewards (or punishments), others still suvive . and the boldest and most successful of player characters can hope to someday join their ranks. Epic characters in the Realms pursue a variety of destinies, including all the destinies described in the Player’s Handbook. Archmages, Demigods, Deadly Ricksters, and Eternal Seekers have all left their mark on the setting. In addition, the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide describes the Chosen epic destiny—a path that transforms a player character into the favored mortal agent of one of Faerûn’s powerful deities.