Myrkul's page

On the note of not promoting something they're not sure will be in next issue... a lot can happen in 30 days. Writers cancel, long-awaited articles come in, schedules shift... I get just as miffed as the next guy when a promised article doesn't show... but I know there's a reason for it. As much as they seem to be God-like, we have to remember they're just human, and so are the people writing the articles. If they only promoted the things they had already in thier hands, the "coming next month" section would be a little barren.

Of course, they could always change it to "what we think should probably be coming in next month's issue"... but that's a little long-winded. ;)

Now, remember that wildshape gives you the feats as well: Alertness, Awesome Blow, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack

Briefly stated, you are a pounding machine. Awesome blow is a bull rush that does damage. And being that you are Huge, most things are going to be smaller than you. Cleave and great cleave are wonderful for wading through, say, an opposing army.

Let's not forget Summon Nature's Ally. Combined with wildshape and natural spell, You can summon several elementals (of whichever type is most advantageous against this particular foe), Become one yourself, and co-ordinate your attacks.

To sum things up: Wildshape is your friend. It lets you take whatever form would be best against your opponent. Natural spell is absolutely vital. Keep those spells coming when you're wildshaped.

It's been said here... But it deserves being said again: Wildshape. With nothing but Druid levels, Wildshape's your best bet for dealing out combat damage. at 20th level, a druid gains the ability to transform into a huge elemental. So at 21st level, you can turn into a 21hd Earth Elemental... let's see what that can do: Spcl attacks: Earth mastery, push. Earth Mastery gives you a bonus to your attack rolls against anything standing on the ground, assuming you are too. Push makes it much easier to bull rush your opponent. Doesn't seem like a very useful ability... unless your opponent's in water. You need to get it out of the water and back onto dry land. So, what do you do? Push it out. Spcl qualtities: Damage reduction 10/-, earth glide, darkvision 60 ft. Damage reduction 10. Always nice. Darkvision may not be that handy... but its good to be able to see in the dark. Earthglide. Earthglide is your friend. Melt into the ground and pop back up where you're least expected. To be continued...

I cut my teeth on 2nd Ed... And watched the rules pile up and pile up and pile up... until, as almost an inevitability, 3.0 hit critical mass. It was a needed thing... The system got stream-lined and got an updating to a more current feel. I was incensed when they put out 3.5... as were most of my friends. Looking over the rules, though, I see it, too was a needed thing. Some bumpy spots got hammered out, and some things that were just plain broken got fixed. All that said, It's not really my favorite system.

That honor goes to GURPS. Haven't gotten much chance to investigate the new version, but if it's just an update of the old one, then it's all good. Smoother learning curve, and more realistic combat... you catch an arrow with your face, and you are likely dead, or very close to it.

Not that that'll stop me from playing d20 games or buying the supplements... I do like the system, seen up here from the top of the learning curve. Especially since GURPS lost it's major advantage over D&D when d20 came out: adaptability. Now, if you want to bring your contemporary characters into a classic roman setting, you can do it roughly as easily either way.

Well... Lesse... Gnomes can speak with burrowing animals once a day, and A rabbit is a burrowing animal...So: High-level Gnome druid lives in the cave, and the rabbit's his guardian/animal companion. The druid has developed an advanced version of greater magic fang which also makes the teeth keen. He casts this spell on the little beastie each morning, and needn't worry all day about being bothered by pesky adventurers looking for some silly cup. As for how he GOT a high-level fighter as an animal companion... Perhaps it went like this:

Fighter comes looking for silly cup. Gnome gets annoyed. With a wave of his hand, he tells the fighter to be quiet, and polymorphs him into a rabbit. Then, while he's still confused from suddenly becoming a lop-eared rodent, the druid through judicial applications of diplomacy and bluff checks, uses gnomish trickery to fool the fighter into thinking he's just been saved by the druid from a Fate Worse Than Death(r). Undyingly loyal from that point on, the fighter serves the druid as his animal companion.

I figured out what the killer rabbit is....

It's a very high-level fighter baleful polymorphed into a cute little bunny...

From the SRD: "It still retains its class and level (or HD), as well as all benefits deriving therefrom (such as base attack bonus, base save bonuses, and hit points)."

I pity the poor Transmuter who discovered that particular fighter had 20 ranks in Jump, and Weapon finesse.

Just thought I'd share.

Details on the creepy goth cleric? Let's see... she worships Wee Jas, carries a big sack of something, wears studded leather armer and wields a morning star and a shield. And that's all I'm ready to reveal at this time, cause her other secrets have yet to be revealed to the other players in the group, and I have a feeling some of them read these boards...

And if she ends up looking exactly the same as a cleric that may or may not end up being illustrated on the cover of Dungeon #124, I assure you it's completely cooincidental.

And my creepy goth cleric managed already to save someone from bleeding to death and creeped out the party paladin at least once. Haven't managed to brain anything yet with my morningstar, alas, but I'm sure I'll get the chance again next Thursday.

The original "Tokens of the Faith" appeared in #327. TotF II appears in #329 (as you know). TotF III, the final installment, will appear in #331.

What is everyone's opinion on running little series of Class Acts like that? If an article concept is cool enough, do you mind seeing it appear in a serial form?

As for a series of articles, I think if a concept is cool enough, it deserves to be spread out into a series. cramming or chopping an article that really should be three pages into one does disservice to both the author and the reader. By splitting it up, you're allowing the author to be as creative as needed, without putting too much emphasis on the one subject by splitting it off into an article of it's own (if, say, the TotF had been given space outside of Class Acts) or taking up too much space with something not every reader will enjoy, thus risking turning Dragon into a sourcebook instead of a magazine (if, say, you did a Faiths of Faerun issue, to the exclusion of any other topics or gameworlds).

The Class acts are one of my favorite things about the new layout. To support the reviews on this month's, I once heard a quote - I think it was one of the "archetype" wizards in one of the settings, possibly Elminster - which went something like: "The best defense a wizard can get is a suit of armor. Enchant that armor to the limits of your abilities, and stick a fighter in it. Keep that suit of armor inbetween you and your enemies, and you'll be fine"

This is the gist of the "support your local barbarian" article. I liked it.

But my favorite was by far the new holy symbols. I'm a cleric guy myself - almost all of my characters have been holy in some manner - and the image of my cleric turning up his palm to present his holy symbol brought a grin to my face. It got me wondering which issue the first Tokens of Faith showed up in, and whether there's going to be more. And cutting out the game effects would only have made room for maybe one more, and it's worth the extra space.

I'd also like to add that I LOVED the swarm familiars... again, My fertile imagination conjured up an image... this time of a mage with his familar swarming all over him, covering him in spiders. Perfect for Drow.

I personally find nothing wrong with showing a little skin, particularly since it's been a gaming staple since the hobby began, and nearly every piece of classic fantasy art has some cleavage or rippling muscles in it. You need look no farther than the Conan covers to see the evidence of a long-standing tradition of impractical armor.

"So cleavage is off limits, now?"

Yes. And no more objectifying barbarians with those sleazy loincloths. This isn't some kind of lighthearted sword-and-sorcery fantasy game we're talking about. ;)