Dragon Magazine #367, Dragon
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CONTENTS
Features
5
5
epic FaerÛn
By Richard Baker
Heroes of the Realms find new options at epic levels
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
22
intelligent items
By Logan Bonner
Only in
Dragon
! New rules for intelligent magic items
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.
31
42
Bestiary: golems and oozes
By Greg Bilsland
New dungeon guardians for your latest adventure.
47
47
playing gnolls
By Keith Baker
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.
columns
4
editorial
55
cl a ss ac ts: s wor dm age
67
de s ig n & de v elopm en t:
By Greg Bilsland
New powers and options for your first
swordmage character, created straight out of the
Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide.
the evolution oF magic items
By Andy Collins and Mike Mearls
Learn about the design and development teams’ approach
to magic items.
55
58
r e al mslor e: auril’s hall
69
conFessions oF a Full-time wizard
By Shelly Mazzanoble
Shelly discusses how her experience as a DM has made
her a better player.
By Brian James
The hall of the Frostmaiden is explored here,
along with the rumors of its many dangerous
denizens.
73
rpga report
By Chris Tulach
This month, Chris tells us more about the Living
Forgotten Realms campaign, and how you can get
involved.
63
expeditionary dispatches:
By Glenn McDonald
58
This mysterious village vanished into the sea
75
ampersand
By Bill Slavicsek
Bill talks about more of the big decisions being made
concerning D&D.
during a deadly storm, only to return once a year
on the anniversary of its disappearance.
63
on the cover
Illustration by Dan Scott
Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Eberron,
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com/dnd
Janus gull
eDITORIaL
367
SIDESHOW
Dragon
September 2008
campaign. I like to gain XP, explore new places, learn about
new story hooks, and, well, play the game. But I value the social
aspect of the game intensely. and humor is probably one of the
single-biggest bonding elements you could introduce into any
social experience. I’m pretty lenient as a DM. I enjoy a good
joke as much as anyone, and I’ll frequently engage in humorous
back-and-forth with my players at the table during a session,
which I know many DMs would poo-poo as a sign of a game out
of control. What I hadn’t considered was taking a humorous,
in-character outburst and spinning it right into the story of the
adventure to get the group back on track. For example, at one
point in our game, some read-aloud text described scratches
along the walls and f loor in a room, merely as f lavor. One of our
players made a joke about captives being held against their will,
and our intrepid DM—once the laughter died down—imme-
diately jumped on the joke and said that yes, in fact that was
exactly the source of the markings. One joke, one laugh, one
spin and we were once again back on track. I’m going to keep
my eye out for instances like this next session.
Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs
as I mentioned in last month’s editorial, I spent some quality
time sitting on the players’ side of the DM screen in the game I
normally run. I gave up my DMing duties in lieu of a chance to
roll up a character and ride shotgun with my group.
Senior Art Director Stacy Longstree
Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter
Graphic Design Chris Hanis, Bob Jordan,
Breanne Miller, Shauna
Well, we had another session, and everyone was a lot more
bloodthirsty this time out, including the DM. Lots of combat.
Lots of hilarity.
Wolf Narciso
Developers
Mike Mearls, Stephen Radney-
MacFarland, Peter Schaefer
Stephen Schubert
To set the stage, this game wasn’t a continuation of our normal
campaign. It was always intended to be a one-off game, so every-
one had new characters. at first glance, it seemed like a more
viable way to conduct this particular experiment—handing the
reigns reins of the group off to a new DM, but in the short term.
But when we all came to the table, the first thing that struck me
was the tone of the game.
Editors Miranda Horner
Cover Artist Dan Scott
Contributing Artists Stephen Crowe, Ryan Barger,
Concept Art House, Wayne
England, Jason A. Engle,
Gonzalo Flores, David Griffith,
everyone knew this was a one-off game, so we all were a little
silly when it came to character creation. Characters had ridicu-
lous names and ridiculous personality traits. For example, one
player’s character had a name composed almost entirely of con-
sonants, and my character, and another, playing a kobold, spoke
as rapidly and as often as he could. The fun bit was that we all
created our characters independently, but what we ended up
bringing to the table was, well, a sideshow.
Ron Lemen, William O’Connor,
That said, you need to know your group. If you’re stepping away
from the screen for a session or two, expect that players won’t
have the same attachment to their fresh characters, so they’ll
likely treat the game with more silliness than normal. Most
groups, in my experience, will relish the opportunity to crack
wise a little more often. Just be aware, if you do this, that your
entire group is on board, and ready to treat the one-off with the
same gravity (or lack thereof ).
Ben Wootten
Contributing Authors Keith Baker, Richard Baker,
Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner,
Andy Collins, Brian James,
Shelly Mazzanoble, Glenn
McDonald, Mike Mearls,
Robert J. Schwalb, Bill Slavicsek,
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
our zaniness and found ways to work our off-beat humor into
the adventure. In fact, because this was intended to be a one-off
adventure, the adventure had minimal story. This wasn’t The
Lord of the Rings, by any stretch. Our quirky, over-the-top char-
acters really created the story for the game. We took the story
that was there, and embellished it with our personalities, and
made it our own.
Web Development
Mark A. Jindra
The other thing I learned? a break is nice. I think that from
here on out, I’ll schedule regular one-off breaks every few
months with the group. Sharing the DM experience is always
good; it gives me a break from DMing, I get to hone my comedic
gifts, and maybe best of all, I get a chance to game with some
players and friends I usually sit on the opposite side of the
screen from. Sounds like a win-win to me.
D&D Creative Manager
Christopher Perkins
Executive Producer,
D&D Insider
Ken Troop
Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek
Special Thanks
Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, Jennifer
Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Rob
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
This got me to thinking about the value of humor in a D&D
game. Don’t get me wrong—I like to make progress in a
F
AERÛN
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. three new epic destinies
followed by faerûn’s mightiest heroes are
described here: the elf high mage, the harper
of legend, and the mythic sovereign.
TM & © 2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
September 2008
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Dragon 367
E
PIC
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