Dragon Magazine #385, Dragon
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ISSUE 385 | MARCH 2010
A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
®
ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT
®
CONTENTS
F E AT U R E S
5
POWER OF DRAGONS
By Greg Tito
Learn how some dragonborn, as well as members of other races, have found
immense power by tying themselves to different metallic dragons.
36
CLASS ACTS: SHAMAN
By Russell Jones and Jeramy Pappas
New paragon paths for shaman characters focus their spiritual affinities.
41
CLASS ACTS: FIGHTER
By Daniel Jones
These new powers enhance a fighter’s ability to fight with a shield.
11
POWER OF THE MIND: THE KALASHTAR
By Keith Baker
The Kalashtar are one of the least understood races in Eberron. Discover
more about this unique race, as well as their ties to the psionic power source.
46
CLASS ACTS: SORCERER
By Jeff Morgenroth
The luckbender wagers on the outcome of every event, large or small—and
twists many of them to his own will.
17
THE MINOTAURS OF MIST WATCH
By Steve Townshend
If you’re looking for a place for your minotaur character to call home,
consider Mistwatch, a community of minotaurs that has removed itself to
a corner of the world guarded by immense pillars of stone and concealing
mists.
50
CLASS ACTS: SWORDMAGE
By Matt James
Learn about Spellbinders, a group of swordmages who seek to find the
perfect balance of sword and spell.
23
SPELLSCARRED
By Daniel Jones
The spellscars of the Forgotten Realms continue to manifest in unique ways.
5 3
CLASS ACTS: WIZARD
By Daniel Marthaler
These new summoning powers give wizards powerful new allies—who will
turn on them at the first opportunity.
27
MAGIC ITEM RITUALS
By Peter Schaefer
Each of these unique rituals enhances several of your favorite magic items.
58
WINNING RACES: DEVA
By Rodney Thompson
These two new racial epic destinies allow a deva to realize his or her full
potential.
31
CLASS ACTS: ASSASSIN
By Robert J. Schwalb
Discover the hybrid options for the assassin, as well as several new racial
feats for assassins of several stripes.
62
WINNING RACES: ELVES
By Craig Bishell
The Valenar elves have a combat style all their own. Discover their secrets for
yourself !
CO L U M N S
67
WINNING RACES: HALF-ELVES
By James Auwaerter
These new character options give half-elves, the ultimate dabblers, new ways
to define “dilettante.”
4
EDITORIAL
70
WINNING RACES: WARFORGED
By Logan Bonner
Some warforged have taken the idea of self-improvement to a new level via
these new body modifications.
82
CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD
By Shelley Mazzanoble
D&D
’s “Player-in-Chief ” shares more of her
wisdom and insight.
74
CHANNEL DIVINITY: MORADIN
By Michael Haneline
Three sects of Moradin worshipers, each devoted to a different sacred calling
and dedicated to expanding the inf luence of the Soul Forger.
87
D&D PLAY REPORT
By Chris Tulach
Join Chris Tulach as he talks about what’s going
on with official D&D play, the community, and
upcoming events!
78
CHANNEL DIVINITY: IOUN
By Andrew Schneider
A group known as the Preservers seek to collect and guard knowledge in any
form, all in Ioun’s name.
90
AMPERSAND
By Bill Slavicsek
Bill discusses more of the changes in store for
D&D
in 2009.
ON T H E COV ER
Illustration by Zoltan Boros &
Gabor Szikszai
Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Eberron,
D
ungeon
,
D
ragon
, 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. ©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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
385
WHERE DO THEY COME
D R A G O N
M a r c h 2 010
Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs
Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette
FROM
Web Specialist
Steve Winter
Web Production Bart Carroll
Contributing Authors James Auwaerter, Keith Baker,
Each month,
Dragon’s
digital pages are filled with twelve to
fifteen articles. They range in length from two pages to ten.
They cover as wide a range of topics as we can cram into the
space allotted. (While we don’t worry about page count in
digital space, we do worry about our budget and word count.)
Where do articles come from? How do we decide what
makes an issue? Trevor Kidd, our community manager, has
been poking me for months to write an editorial about these
topics. “Chris, the people want to know our process!” he’ll say.
To which I reply, “Why? It’s kind of boring.”
But he’s insistent and he has posts on the forums to support
him, so I’m caving. If you’re bored, blame Trevor.
It begins with the submissions inbox, submissions@wiz-
ards.com. If you have a great idea, if you spot some D&D topic
that needs elaboration, or if you just want a new toy for your
favorite character, this is where to start. Here are a few more
tips:
F
When you send us an email with your pitch, be interesting!
We all think our ideas are fascinating—I’m no exception.
Go a step further, and ask yourself whether your idea will
be interesting to gamerdom at large. If you’re playing a
dhampyr shadar-kai hybrid rogue/cleric who specializes
in using the khopesh, that’s awesome. If you pitch us new
khopesh feats for dhampyr shadar-kai hybrid rogue/clerics,
you’ll have a hard time making the case. That article might
be super great for your character, but you might be the only
one playing that combo. (Scratch that—that sounds cool
enough to be my next character. The point still stands.) It’s
also always a good idea to hone your ideas with friends or
the regulars at the local game store.
F
Once you have a solid idea, work up that email. Put the mag-
azine you’re targeting in the subject line (
Dragon
runs player
content,
Dungeon
runs DM content). Include the name of the
article series that your pitch is intended for, if any. For exam-
ple, if you’re writing a Class Acts: Fighter article for
Dragon
,
the subject line should convey that information. It’s okay to
send multiple proposals in a single email; note the number
of pitches in the subject line as well. A strong subject line
helps us pluck your email from the swarm.
F
Describe your article as concisely and clearly as possible. A
pitch is not a full article or even an outline. A few hundred
words (300 or fewer) should suffice. If it doesn’t, you’re
explaining too much or your idea is too complicated.
F
Have a friend proofread your email before hitting send.
You’re sending a resume to a potential employer who’s hiring
writers; typos and unclear language hurt your chances.
Once your pitch hits our inbox, we’ll read it and decide
yes, no . . . or maybe. If we’re not interested, you won’t hear
from us. Like most large publishers, we get too many propos-
als to send even form rejections. If we’re interested, you’ll
get an email asking for an outline, along with requests for
changes, within sixty days. In the case of a maybe, you might
not hear from us for longer than our normal sixty-day wait-
ing period, but then you’ll get an email out of the blue. This
is because we f lagged your pitch as interesting but not some-
thing we can use in the next several months (usually because
it’s related to an unreleased or even unannounced product).
Once we contact you, we’ll go back and forth over several
drafts of the outline, hammering out the minutiae. There will
be some paperwork at this stage, including a confidentiality
agreement and a contract. The contract will include a dead-
line, and we expect you to hit it. As with the outline, expect
to be asked for several revisions on your article. Once it gets
the green light, you’ll get paid and the article will see the light
of day, to be thoughtfully and considerately critiqued by your
fellow members of the online community. Ahem.
All in all, it’s a simple process. I hope you’re all inspired to
send us some fresh pitches. Our content is for you, by you—fan
contributions are what make these magazines so fantastic. Stay
tuned to the
D&D Insider
and Dungeons & Dragons com-
munity pages, because we’re going to post requests for specific
topics there. But if you have a great idea that’s all yours, don’t be
shy about suggesting it. We can’t print what we don’t receive.
Above all, if we don’t reply to your submission, don’t get
discouraged. Keep sending, keep writing, and keep playing!
Craig Bishell, Logan Bonner,
Michael Haneline, Matt James,
Daniel Jones, Russell Jones, Daniel
Marthaler, Shelly Mazzanoble, Jeff
Morgenroth, Jeramy Pappas, Peter
Schaefer, Andrew Schneider,
Robert J. Schwalb, Bill Slavicsek,
Rodney Thompson, Greg Tito,
Steve Townshend, Chris Tulach,
Developers Peter Schaefer, Stephen
Schubert, Rodney Thompson
Editors Miranda Horner
Cover Artist Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
Contributing Artists
Alexey Aparin, Zoltan Boros,
Vincent Dutrait, Mike Faille, Tyler
Jacobson, William O’Connor, John
Stanko, Sarah Stone, Gabor
Szikszai, Peter Tikos, Tyler
Walpole, Eva Widermann
Publishing Production Specialists Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries,
Christopher Tardiff
Web Development Mark A. Jindra
D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins
Executive Producer,
D&D Insider Chris Champagne
Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek
Special Thanks
Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy
Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Peter Lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mo-
han, Cal Moore, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Rodney
Thompson, James Wyatt
POWER OF
By Greg Tito
Illustration by William O'Connor
power of their larger cousins. Some have
learned to access the power that resides
in their draconic blood more completely than
others. They devote themselves to a cause or join
organizations that teach the secrets of unlocking a
draconic ancestry. These groups sometimes align
themselves with any variety of dragons, but metallic
dragons in particular are more interested in the
afairs of their more humanoid brethren. Copper
or silver, mercury or adamantine, all empowered
like-minded dragonborn. Rumors hint that the
mithral dragons of the Astral Sea grant dragonborn
and other mortal races alike the ability to commune
with them to do their will. The following ive
paragon paths let your character tap into the power
of dragons.
TM & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
M a r c h 2 010
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D R A G O N 3 8 5
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DRAGONS
T
hey say all dragonborn carry the innate
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