Dragon Magazine #381, Dragon
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ISSUE 381 | NovEmbEr 2009
A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
®
ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT
®
CONTENTS
Features
5
Player’s Handbook 3 debut: tHe Monk
By Rob Heinsoo, Mike Mearls and Robert J. Schwab
The monk is complete, and now D&D Insiders can get an exclusive look at
the results of all the playtest feedback we’ve received since the class was first
showcased last spring.
55
Warrior Forge artiFicer
By Rodney Thompson
A new build for the artificer class is here! This is the first new build for the
artificer since the release of the
Eberron Player’s Guide
.
65
class acts: Wizard
By Mike Mearls
New fey-themed powers for your wizard.
18
tHe Foundling
By Mike Resnick
Fiction returns to Dragon, with a short story by the Hugo- and Nebula-award
winning author!
68
class acts: rogue
By Mike Mearls
New powers for your duelist rogue.
24
Warlord essentials
By Robert J. Schwalb
Learn the secrets to building and playing one of the game’s most complex and
fascinating leader classes.
71
class acts: Paladins
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
playing a sorcerer, along with loads of new game support for the class.
75
class acts: invoker
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
What if your warlock’s pact patron is more than just an afterthought on
your character sheet? What if your warlock actually knew the name and
goals of the entity who gave him or her this arcane power? Learn about these
consequences, and several sample patrons, here!
78
PoWer Play: Martial PoWer
By Ari Marmell
New powers for all the martial classes focused on the use of skills.
81
Winning races: HalFlings
By Logan Bonner
New options for half ling wanderers.
coluMns
85
Winning races: tieFlings
By Mike Mearls
The secrets of Bael Turath are revealed, in the form of new feats for tief lings of
all kinds.
102
design & develoPMent: classes
By Michele Carter and Bill Slavicsek
Michele and Bill reminisce on Planescape as they
discuss Sigil’s inclusion in
Dungeon Master’s Guide 2
.
106
conFessions oF a Full-tiMe Wizard
By Shelly Mazzanoble
The D&D
“Player-in-Chief ” shares more of her
wisdom and insight.
110
d&d aluMni
By Bart Carroll and Steve Winter
A look back at the D&D game through the past
editions.
112
rPga rePort
By Chris Tulach
The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn
more about how to get involved!
116
aMPersand
By Bill Slavicsek
Bill discusses more of the changes in store for
D&D
in 2009.
89
cHannel divinity: Melora
By Matthew Sernett
New magic items for worshipers of Melora.
91
cHannel divinity: torM
By Erik Scott de Bie and Eytan Bernstein
New options for members of the Champions of Order, a society devoted to the
Realms god of justice.
95
knoW your role: deFender
By Matthew Sernett
New magic items for defenders of all stripes.
98
guilds & grouPs: tHe Honest FeW
By Robert J. Schwalb
This thieves’ guild out of Fallcrest is on the upswing, and being a member has
its perks.
on tHe cover
Illustration by McLean Kendree
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ungeon
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com/dnd
Columns
4
editorial
e D I T OR I A L
381
STEPPING OUT OF
Dragon
No vemb e r 2009
Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs
SeniorArtDirector
Jon Schindehette
THE SPOTLIGHT
WebSpecialist Chris Sims
WebProduction bart Carroll, Steve Winter
GraphicDesign Keven Smith, Yasuyo Dunnett
ContributingAuthors Logon bonner, Arnie Frank, rob
We’ve spent a great deal of time in this space telling
you that the D&D game is, first and foremost, about
fun. It’s a social experience you enjoy with your friends,
or at the very least with people with whom you share
this common interest. You get to use your imagination,
engage in a shared storytelling experience, eat junk
food, and tell lots of inappropriate jokes (maybe that last
one’s more my personal experience, but none of this is
new to you if you’ve played).
Of course, it’s easy to have fun in a D&D game when
the attention is on you. Good DMs take opportunities to
create adventures around a single character. And this is
awesome. Whenever I’m in a campaign that does this, I
feel more involved, more interested, and more immersed
in the game and the action when my character is in
the spotlight. In addition to your character leveling up
through XP, your PC also gets to level up in personality
as his or her personal issues are resolved (or not).
But what happens when your storyline concludes
and the party moves on to pursue the agenda of another
adventurer? After all, we can’t always expect the DM’s
personal and undivided attention on our character’s life
story. This is a cooperative experience, and nearly every
player should receive some of this attention.
When the focus inevitably shifts, how do you stay
involved? This came up recently in our game. We’d just
spent an adventure focusing on my character’s back-
story and reached a conclusion . . . of sorts (with Chris
Perkins’s game, there’s rarely a true and final resolu-
tion to anything . . . but that’s another editorial). Now
we’re off pursuing an adventure tied directly to Rodney
Thompson’s avenger.
I’ ll be the first to confess: I could feel my attention
shifting gears as we made this transition. It’s not like I
was losing interest, hooking up my iPod mid-game and
checking in just long enough to toss the odd d20. I knew
the adventures would still continue to be fun and engag-
ing. But I recognized that I was taking a back seat in the
story. And you know what? It was a little tough to adapt.
Rather than get on my pity-potty (as my mom would
say), I cowboyed up. I remembered that throughout the
previous weeks, Rodney, and by extension, his character
Vargas, had shown nothing but support as my character
took center stage. I wanted to return that favor. I started
to think about how Deimos, my PC, would react to his
buddy being in need—just as I would try to do in the real
world. When one of my friends needs a hand, I’m there
to schlep a couch or give a ride to the airport.
So I’ve decided to make Rodney’s quest my own.
It’s not that I want to steal his moments; far from it.
But our characters are lifelong friends. It makes sense
that Deimos would be intimately concerned with those
things that his friend would focus on. I’m making his
villains mine; I’m embracing his goals. And now, I find
myself looking forward to each session as much as I did
a few weeks back. I want to see how Vargas comes out
of this, how he changes, and how Rodney plays those
changes at the table.
Things came to a head last night, and Chris left us
at a cliffhanger as Vargas must now make an incred-
ibly difficult choice. (Chris will have more of that in his
Io’mandra blog and wiki, so stay tuned there.) I can’t
wait for next week so I can see where Rodney wants to
put his couch.
What about you? How do you deal with the spotlight
being on individual players? Do you enjoy those oppor-
tunities when the light is on you? If you run a game, how
do you make sure you split your attention among all the
players equally? Or do some of your players prefer to
avoid that attention? Send your comments and stories to
dndinsider@wizards.com.
Heinsoo, Ari marmell, Shelly
mazzanoble, mike mearls, Jeff
morgenroth, mike resnick, Peter
Schaefer, robert J. Schwalb,
matthew Sernett, bill Slavicsek,
rodney Thompson, Chris Tulach,
Steve Winter, Arthur Wright,
Chris Young
Developers Stephen radney-macFarland,
Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert,
Chris Sims, rodney Thompson
Editors michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford,
miranda Horner
CoverArtist mclean Kendree
ContributingArtists Alex Aparin, Eric belisle, Empty
room Studios, Tyler Jacobson,
Howard Lyon, William o’Connor,
David rapoza, Amanda Sartor,
mike Sass, Sarah Stone,
Tyler Walpole, Eric L. Williams
WebDevelopment mark A. Jindra
D&DCreativeManager Christopher Perkins
ExecutiveProducer,
D&DInsider Chris Champagne
DirectorofRPGR&D bill Slavicsek
SpecialThanks
richard baker, Greg bilsland, Logan bonner, michele Carter,
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. Schwab
Commentary by Stephen Schubert
illustrations by Amanda Sartor
We covered many of our thoughts about the design
and development of the monk in
Dragon
#375’s
. In that article, we
discuss why the monk uses the psionic power source,
the concept and implementation of the full disci-
pline power structure, and our thoughts at the time
of the weapon-using monk and the f lurry of blows
mechanic.
With this debut content, these elements of the
monk have been finalized. We incorporated playtest
feedback, and continued to work on the monk inter-
nally to reach our final product. This debut article
refreshes the playtest content, giving you the final,
Player’s Handbook 3
version of the centered breath
build of the monk class, with updated powers and
paths.
Tm & © 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
No vemb e r 2009
|
Dragon 381
5
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