Ed Healy's page

I lent my last ten DRAGONs to a friend, so I won't be able to give the exact issue I'm referring to, but...

Just read the Submisson Guidelines. It says no advice colums will be accepted. Could anyone give me some clairification on the specifics of that?

...examples would include "First level spells every cleric should memorize"

This restriction may have been relaxed. A short while back there _was_ a Class Act that was all about which spells a low-level cleric could not live without. I believe one of the staff writers did it, though I'm not sure. At any rate, you might want to check with the editorial staff and see if advice columns are still a "no go."

I woke up onec when I was in Iraq with a tickle on my face. When I opened my eyes I was face to face with a huge rat that was sitting on my chest.

You're preaching to the choir on this one. I had a camel spider use my face as a trampoline one morning. Nearly had a heart attack!

There are rules for how many templates a character can use. Shock, right? There is a pyramid of creature types which exists - humanoids and such are on the bottom, while others, such as aberrations, are at the top. You can take a template that changes you from a lower level to a higher, but not in the other direction.

In my game, if someone wants to add a template, I work with them to hammer out the concept they're going for. They are great tools (like PrCs), so I rarely say "No!" However, I prefer to use they to enhance a character concept or roleplaying. Sometimes, when I speak with a player about a template, and they see the ramifications of the choices they are making, they back off. But, it's their character, so unless I want to ban the template outright, I have to let them take it, it they're determined to do so.

I think what might be a good idea is to skip Class Acts on occasion. They don't need to have it in every single issue.

Or... if they put only half of the class acts in eash issue and expanded them to allow more developement of their ideas. <snip> This could also allow room for some of the non-standard classes that people keep requesting.

I like CC's idea. Class Acts could be structured similar to DUNGEON's Campaign Workbook. If you assume there are twelve slots, with one floater devoted to "non-standard classes," then it would be no problem to split the group down the middle. By running only six Class Acts each month, you open up some free pages for the editors to play with. This would be great when longer submissions are made - allowing them to be published as a whole, instead of made into multi-part articles.

I am planning to start a Freeport campaign in the Greyhawk setting. Can anyone advise me of a good location for Freeport in Greyhawk?

The Oljatt Sea might work. If you want it closer to the center of the map, you could also use Densac Gulf, or the Azure Sea.

I like the city of Waterdeep (and Undermountain, Underdark, etc.) and could use advice on how to shoehorn Waterdeep in Greyhawk as well.

If you have the Shackled City AP issues of DUNGEON, you'll notice that they suggest using Waterdeep in leiu of the Free City if you're playing in the Forgotten Realms. The converse might also work for you. Waterdeep could be plopped down where The Free City is.

Could you be thinking of ENP 3008: Steam & Steel? I know there is some crunchy stuff in there on prostheses. You could also adopt some of the info on this WotC download.

...why not submit it?

Touche.

Anyone in Union/N Middlesex/Somerset/Morris looking for players?

I'd suggest using the boards on the Gamer's Realm website. I found a great group in Morris, when I lived in Jersey, that way. (Unfortunately, we've all moved to other places, or I'd give you the info.)

Failing that, go to the store (or one closer to you, if there is one by now).

As a general rule, we want interesting NPCs who aren't horrifically complicated as critical threats. If your NPC takes up more than 1250 words... he should be the star of an adventure instead.

James, I agree with what you've said. It still does not answer my original question, however. Is there any chance of an advanced monster entry making the grade, or do you prefer submissions with class levels?

The longest time i didn't play must've been half a year or something due to leaving my hometown and moving to Hamburg in '95.

I've recently moved out to Washington State from the Northeast. It took me all of a week to find a game (thanks to the local hobby gaming stores), though I must admit I'm still looking for the "right" game. I'm trying to teach some new gamers right now, but to reward myself for this community service, I'd like to play in a group with a bit more experience.

The moral? Moving sucks. Gamers are like mice, they're everywhere. You just have to know where to look.

32. Been at it since Hulk Hogan was still on WWF, since there WAS a WWF, since Black Sabbath was still a group, and since I had fights with my friends over which was better, GI Joe or Star Wars. God, I wish KB Toys still dumped old D&D Modules at $0.49 a piece. That would rock!

You might consider basing it around something like the old Maztica setting. For that matter, Columbus' life would be good inspiration.

Low-level characters going out exploring in order to expand trade routes for their country, running into slavers and local populations (and monsters) in Thrace and Africa. Clues are found leading them to look for great riches somewhere no-one has ever successfully been before. They step through political hoops of intrigue in order to get business partners and sponsors, and then make sail for ancient civilization in the New World.

This could easily, if done well, turn into a springboard for a follow-up campaign starting in the New World, and working backward.

One way to make sure politics and intrigue are a part of the PC makeup is to make them all nobles of some sort - or at least children of powerful merchants (ie... de facto nobles in some areas). Regardless of the game you play, I've always found this to be a good tool - and a nice change from the normal PC background of "I was an orphan b/c dad ran off and mom died in childbirth, so I went out into the world to make a name for myself."

Ideas? I gots plenty. Need more? Just say the word.

My 3 year-old daughter was looking at my issue and started laughing uproariously. When I asked her what she was laughing at, she pointed to Tony's Rust Monster and said "He's eating forks! That's SOOO silly!"

My 2 year-old just likes eating my magazines, so I have to keep them under a proverbial lock and key. DUNGEON 113 got a nice bite out of it just this week :(

When I was reading about the Icegaunt in Frostburn, all I could think about was GRRM. If they did do another such issue of DRAGON, I wouldn't mind seeing one on Deverry and the Westlands, by Katharine Kerr. The Silver Daggers would make a great organization for PCs, and the Dweomer system for magic wouldn't be too hard to do. I'm sure they could get her cooperation, as she used to write for TSR and Chaosium, back in the day.

Oncology, lol! I was at the seminar and Wes definitely said Ecology.

Too bad. You don't have a paper on Lizardfolk Oncology? What about Proctocology? That would be a page-turner!

, what a bore.

Is anyone else interested in an Adventure Path that takes place in Eberron?

I've not been lucky enough to play in an Eberron game... yet. However, I'd be interested in seeing some Eberron arcs. Whether or not DUNGEON decides to go with a full AP, they'd be interesting to me. As for an Eberron AP, "Sure, why not?" Heh, I can see the editors at DUNGEON trying to fit ideas for Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Eberron APs into their production schedule. That, and wondering how they'd do so and still have room for other stuff.

Just because I said "points" doesn't mean I'm talking about the DMG's point buy system... You could have figured that out if you had read the rest of that paragraph.

I must not have caught that one. Ah well, it was a pleasant fantasy, trying to picture players tooling around, trying to figure out how to spend 66 points on a standard point-buy system :)

While it's not the most comfortable table to sit at, my 2 year old can't reach the miniatures or dice

Your 2-year-old isn't a monkey, like a child I know it... You're lucky!

Actually, just out of curiosity, who else on here publishes outside of the gaming genre? Fiction? Newspapers? Music stuff? I'm always interested in seeing what kind of crossover we get with any given field.

I've only just (read, "two days ago") started sending querries to DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines, but have been writing for Action Pursuit Games for a couple years.

I would also appreciate a copy

ditto. ephealy(AT)ephealy(DOT)com

66 points to spread among ability scores.

@#$%&!!!

Are you serious? Doesn't that give your PCs an average score of 16 for each ability? Are you planning to increase the difficulty of some of the encounters to compensate for this?

I use a straight 30 point buy system.

If I was a player... Hey, you don't happen to live in Washington State, do you? I might be interested in seeing what a game like yours would be like. :)

Seems like an interesting Q: to but to The Sage. Mr. Williams?

According to the MM it reads as such:

Undead type:
- Immunity to all mind-effecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects.)

So it would mean that the mind-effecting (divination) would work on an intelligent undead.

Ehhhh... I don't know. When WotC designed 3E, they were very particular about saying what they meant, and meaning what they said. Sure, some things slipped through, but when I read that "immunity to all mind-affecting effects," I tend to think they meant all. Recall how particular they've been about using the term "enchantment?" I have a feeling they're just as particular about such things. Mind-affecting is mind-affecting, no matter the source. If they're immune, they're immune.

However... The reason I said you might have some wiggle room in the case of detect thoughts is that, until the third round, the spell does not actually "affect" any minds. It's a pure Divination spell for the first two rounds ("Is there anybody out there? How many?"). The third round effect is almost like an attack, thus the Will save, and thus why I'd say it's mind-affecting... which is why a vampire would be immune to it.

Skip Williams did a four part series of articles on wizards.com called "All About Sneak Attacks." Those articles will likely answer any and all questions you may have about them.

I have a question about Dungeon 126's Vampires in Waterdeep adventure (not sure if that was the correct title, I don't have it in front of me).

Not to spoil anything, I'll summarize thus:

Does the Detect Thoughts spell work on intelligent undead, like a Vampire?

The adventure seems to indicate that it can, but I thought undead were immune to mind-affecting spells. Detect Thoughts is listed as "mind-affecting, divination".

From the SRD3.5 there appears to be an opening for it to work: Divination isn't one of the types listed in the Undead entry.

Just curious how other people handle this. Thanks.

I haven't read through the whole adventure yet, so I'm not sure what text you're referencing, but... I looked up the detect thoughts spell and it appears that there is an opening for the spell to be at least partially effective.

It _is_ mind-affecting, but not in as direct a way as other spells, such as illusion. I'd think that detect thoughts would work normally vs. a vampire for at least the first two rounds. In round one, you would detect the "presence or absence of thoughts (from conscious creatures with Intelligence scores of 1 or higher)." That isn't directly targeting a single creature, so you could argue that a vampire's immunity would not apply. Likewise, in round two, you would be able to determine the "number of thinking minds and the Intelligence score of each." Again, it doesn't directly target a single creature, so you could argue for it to be effective.

However, in round three, when the spell allows you to detect the "surface thoughts of any mind in the area," the "target’s Will save prevents you from reading its thoughts." I would rule that, even if a vampire's immunities did not apply for the first two rounds, it would here. The fact that the target gets a Will save is what leads me to that conclusion.

Tim, have you tried stopping by the House of Wee Jas group on Yahoo! and asking if anyone there had some ideas? Try giving it a try, and see what you get. I was doing some research on Wee Jas for an adventure a few weeks back and those guys were a great help.

One of the members in particular (ravennst on Yahoo! Messenger) was a great help. You could always IM him directly...

We also don't use spell components(whith a few exceptions).

By no spell components, I assume you mean material ones. I tried this once, but said that all spell casters gained Eschew Materials as a bonus feat at first level. It worked rather well.

I've also tried playing an alternate magic system that worked like "The Will and the Word" from David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series. I wasn't as happy with that system as I was with the Eschew Materials one, though.

Wow! I logged on to the message boards just now and... FAST! Compared to how laggy they usually are, I thought I'd ask whether Paizo got a server upgrade. Of course, it could be that I'm the only one that's up at this hour...

I think the one that best fits my needs is the Sword Slayer, from DRAGON Magazine #324. I'm still not sold on using it, but at least it's very very close to what I needed.

The “Abuse Your Illusions” article in issue #292 is an excellent resource to learn how to design illusion spells.

Shouldn't that be issue #291?

This is a killer for me. I can't even draw a decent map of a warehouse, let alone for some of the ideas I have. You folks have tips for the artistically challenged?

Sure. I find it helpful to go online and search some of the city plans / maps for actual cities. For instance, let's say you wanted a mountain town filled with temples - check out some of the maps of old Delphi, Greece. Alternatively, check out your local library for books on local history. Many of them have maps of what a town looked like "way back when."

If (I know this is a big if) you have Photoshop, you can then go in an edit the maps you've found. Delete stuff here, move stuff there. It doesn't have to be perfect (Paizo is going to pay someone to do a professional job on the finished project), but it will be good enough to give the editorial staff an idea of what you envision. BTW, if you don't have Photoshop, use MS Paint. It's klunky, but it works.

3. We still need Eberron and FR adventures. <snip> 4. We need low-level adventures.

Given that you have submissions meetings every few weeks, and the needs of the magazine change some over time, would you consider giving us something like this on a semi-regular basis?

...Mr. Simcoe's "Thone of Iuz" proposal, where he stated that he actually had King Bog One-Eye's stats in his proposal (or something similar). That NPC/monster was too cool, and I can understand how it was helpful for the staff's decision.

Where is it? Published yet, or on the boards here somewhere?

I'll see if I can dig up the Emissary of Death, if you are interested.

Very.

edit: I found it. If you're talking about the one I found browsing the 'net, it's a bit overpowered. Or was the one you're speaking about in a WotC release somewhere?

I really need the article on the Sha'ir prestige class from Dragon issue 315 any help someone could give would be great. thanks so much.

I don't know if there is a 3/.5 port yet, but I found a home-brew one at http://www.geocities.com/power_rpg/3EShair.html. Don't know if it's any good, but take a look.

Erik et al,

When submitting ideas for the CT, I know the real determining factor is "How compelling / cool is this adversary? How useful to a DM would it be?" (At least I hope it is.) The question I have is whether one should stick to NPCs with class levels (whether they are core races or monstrous ones)? Would an "Advanced" version of a creature have a prayer of making the cut? In your editorial opinion(s), would you be less inclined (even marginally) to use an advanced submission over one that has class levels?

Someone refresh my memory, but in the DMG 2, isn't there a sample bounty hunter?

The Bounty Hunter in DMG2 was nice, but I'm using a creature that uses bites and claws for it's attacks - ie. can't use weapons, etc. I'd love to be able to use it as an exaple, but the fit just wasn't there.

The Book of Exalted Deeds have a monster that has the purpose you describe: hunting down and killing those that anger a god. They are basically a clone of a specific character with some additional powers, and can only be hurt by the character they copy.

I could not find what you were talking about. If you remember the specific name, please let me know. I'm dubious that BoED would be helpful, as the creatures I'm working with are decidedly CE, serving a CE demigod. I may be (and hope I am) wrong, though.

I checked into the "Mortal Hunter" from BoVD. Unfortunately, you have to be an outsider (outsider, undead, construct or fey) to use it. I'm dealing with an extraplanar magical beast as my hunter. They are native to the Abyss, but since they don't meet the strict definition of outsider... I think I'm screwed. Any chance an extraplanar magical beast would qualify for this?

Assassin? There's the justicar guy. Just tweak the non lethal damage ability a bit on those bounty hunter guys.

I'd prefer to keep this as canon as possible.

Justicular was exactly not what I wanted. It's too focused on non-lethal attacks. These bounty hunter guys are all about killing and destroying.

Of course, I don't NEED a PrC for them. I was just hoping there was one out there.

Here's the issue. The PCs have angered an evil demigod, and I have a creature that I want to send out after them. The concept is that these "Bounty Hunters" are often used by evil dieties / powers to run down those that flee their wrath. Problem is, I can't for the life of me think of what classes to put on these things.

Ranger seems an obvious choice, but then what? Most of the PrCs I've seen just don't hack it, and I don't want to create one of my own (though I may have to). Are there any "Bounty Hunter" type PrCs out there that don't focus on "Bringing 'em Back Alive" and other, nonlethal aspects?

Dragon has been skimping on prestige classes, what's up with this? I kinda was expecting to see at least one or two each month, but sometimes there's none at all.

I don't miss them at all. PrC's are great, when you have a compelling story device, like an organization or group, to back them up. However, just having a PrC, for the sake of having them doesn't make any sense. They really aren't kits like in 2E, but are meant to help the DM help add flavor to his campaign. A few examples now and then are helpful, and inspiring, but the guys are DRAGON would be hard pressed to anticipate the worlds we all play in to the extent that they would be able to consistently make quality PrCs for us to use. IMHO, they do a great job with the core fantasy structure D&D is based around, but after the core is complete, it gets harder and harder to expand outward.

Orson Scott Card also has writers groups coordinated out of his site. I think they're quite small - only a handful of authors helping eachother out. Check it out, if you like. His website is at http://www.hatrack.com/

NOTE: I solved my own issue. Feel free to delete this post.

Directly to Erik & company: Will the later plot require that the PCs be good or neutral? Will evil characters have any interest in preventing the Age of Worms or be more likely to want to bring it on? The first adventure is quite open--the PCs are tomb-robbing so anyone could conceivably be a part of it. But I'm wondering if later on the alignment will become a problem as far as adventure hooks go.

Not sure about later on, but I can see a very good reason why evil PCs would be interested in thwarting the Edon Triad. It is stated that the three churches whose members make up the Ebon Triad do not look favorably upon their teachings. Evil followers of these gods would find a ready-made hook - stamping out a renegade sect.

There is no way to avoid combat with the Stone Spike in the Malachite Fortress and still finish the adventure properly...

If you run into this in the future, you could always find another creature / obstacle of a similar EL for the party to overcome. Feel free to substitute anything you like - it's pluck and chuck (or plug and play) DMing...

There IS some info about them in issue #112 of Dungeon; the Order of the Silver Dream had a cult cell in Maure Castle once upon a time. The short version of this cult is that they were a group who learned how to enter the Astral Plane in their dreams. They wern't good guys... the ones in Maure Castle transformed into devourers.

I skimmed Dungeon 112, but missed the reference. Anyone able to give me the page number?

I'm getting ready to run the Shackled City adventure path for my group and was wondering how everyone introduced their PCs to Cauldron...

All of the PCs I'm running through SCAP are locals. During character creation, I had them all decide how they knew eachother, and give suggestions as to their connection to the town of Cauldron. The cleric is one of the four 1st-level priests working for the Church of Saint Cuthbert, the fighter used to be an orphan at the Lantern Street Orphanage, the rogue is a "rich kid" who may end up in the Striders, and the wizard is the rogue's best friend.

As a tie in to the campaign, it's all working out rather well. With the connections to the Church of Saint Cuthbert and the Orphanage, getting the PCs involved was not hard at all. Of course, I had the advantage of being able to see more than the first installment before the campaign kicked off, so I knew what was coming down the pike and was able to use that knowledge to my advantage.

As an aside, I have always found it easier to involve the players' in the creative process as far as linking their PCs together BEFORE play starts. Taking time to make sure the players integrate their PCs with eachother during character creation should be the rule - it makes things SO much easier. If you've taken a look at the newest Age of Worms AP, you'll note that DUNGEON made some great suggestions as far as this is concerned. I hope (for those of you fixing to start the SCAP after the hardcover is released) that they added similar suggestions to the compiled product.

Oh, and I would REALLY love to see something similar to the Diamond Lake article which ties into the Age of Worms AP - but for Cauldron. That article was just awesome!