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At the conclusion of The Bullywug Gambit, the PCs should be 5th level. If you want to give them a little something extra, and keep their characters from just sitting around while preparations are made for the next chapter of the Savage Tide campaign, issue #149 has just the thing.

The War of the Wielded is a 5th-level adventure set in Sasserine, and would make a perfect side-quest before the group leaves for their three-hour... um, three-month tour.

I'm going to use this in an online campaign I'm running, even though it might be a very long time before they get to that point. Whatcha think?

There has been some discussion about making Zosiel's circlet a legacy item (per the rules in Weapons of Legacy), partly to encourage PCs to retain it long enough to go through the sixth chapter with it. I've put together a list of abilities and costs, but I need some details for a good history and rituals.

Here's the abilities and costs:
5th — Comprehend languages (always on)
6th — nil (cost: 2 hp, 1st-level spell slot)
7th — Persuasion (as the item) (cost: 2 hp)
8th — nil (cost: –1 attack penalty, 2nd-level spell slot)
9th — nil (cost: 2 hp)
10th — Levitate (always on) (cost: 3rd-level spell slot)
11th — Protection from arrows (always on)
12th — nil (cost: 4th-level spell slot)
13th — Wisdom +4 (cost: 2 hp)
14th — nil (cost: 5th-level spell slot)
15th — nil (cost: 2 hp)
16th — True seeing 1/day (cost: 6th-level spell slot)
17th — Wisdom +6
18th — nil (cost: 7th-level spell slot)
19th — Summon greater air elemental 1/day (cost: 2 hp)
20th — Wall of force 2/day (cost: 8th-level spell slot)

End costs: –1 attack penalty, 12 hp, 1 slot of each level from 1st to 8th.

I've been using an online gaming site -- rpol.net -- to run the Age of Worms campaign, and would like to know this:

Is it permissible for the staff there to use clips of the artwork in the supplemental PDFs, to provide avatars for players and NPCs? The site doesn't charge for access, and the pictures wouldn't be put to any commercial use (as far as I know).

Mainly, I'd like to get the okay on this so that, when I use the NPCs pictured in the PDFs (such as Allustan in the first adventure), I can give those characters the right picture, instead of having to try to find a 'decent match'. Nothing helps the players' imagination than a visual prop.

I need pictures for my game.

I create cardstock figures in lieu of miniatures; this is a lot cheaper than pewter minis, and allows me to have one-shot creatures represented visually. I'm going to be starting the Champion's Belt stage of the Age of Worms campaign, and need illustrations for all the other gladiators the party will be facing.

I can extract the pictures for Auric and Khellek from the illustration in the Diamond Lake backdrop, but I need pictures for the other groups -- Arcane Auriga, Pitch Blade, etc.

Can any of you help me out? Does anyone in the staff have pictures that didn't make it into print?

Not everyone can afford using miniatures in their games. The things tend to run in the $4-6 range for one or two minis -- unpainted. Paint isn't exactly free, and some people just don't have the patience or dexterity to do even a passable job at painting them.

I'm a prime example of this. My gaming budget limits me to getting only one or two books per year. Most of my current gaming library is actually on loan from one of my players; I think I actually own four books of the set. My hands tend to get the shakes when I'm trying anything that requires precision, so the idea of holding a wire-thin paintbrush steady is laughable.

For the longest time, I was using a pile of cardboard squares, marked with numbers, to represent everything in combat situations. My players were constantly having to ask what a particular chit represented, and representing large creatures was difficult at best. So, I've come up with a better way.

Here's what you need:
• A computer with a color printer, and a decent word-processing program (one that can handle shapes). MS Word does fine on this, and I believe the equivalent in Open Office can handle it too.
• Sheets of light cardstock. Most hobby stores can provide this cheaply, as well as stores that cater to schools and teachers.
• A set of printable stickers. These are essentially 8½" × 11" stickers, suitable for computer-printing. Check the school- and office-supply stores; a set of 12-20 would probably run you about $5.
• Scissors. A hole-puncher capable of making one-inch circles helps as well; hobby stores sell them for making buttons, and the 1-inch variety sells for about $3.
• Pictures. Grab all of the pictures from the Art Gallery at wizards.com, and use Google's image search for more.

Open up a new document on your computer, and make a 1-inch circle. Change the circle's background color to an image, and select the picture you want to use. Make the circle's border nice and thick, so you can see where to cut. Copy this circle as many times as you can fit on the page, and change each copy's picture as needed.

Print the page onto one of the sticker-sheets, and attach it to a sheet of cardstock. Make sure you don't have any bubbles under the sticker. Then use the scissors or the hole-puncher to cut the circles out.

If you're going to be using larger creatures, simply make the circle larger -- or smaller, in the case of familiars. I have a half-inch circle with the cleric's holy symbol, used to represent a spiritual weapon effect.

If you're interested in seeing the end results, I can e-mail you a copy of the document.

Technically, this isn't an errata list yet; I'm going to point out all the errors in the NPCs listed in the Wormfood article in Dragon #355, some of which need some answers from the designers, Mr. Mona, or the characters' players. See, one of my PCs just made 6th level and took the Leadership feat, and chose DaeJin for his cohort. I started to transfer the stat-block into a character sheet, and noticed a LOT of things that didn't add up. So, I looked over all three characters and found a lot of errors. Here goes.

GAR BLITZHAME, dwarf Ftr2/Wiz2
• His AC is 17, but +1 scale armor only gives +5 to AC. He has no Dexterity bonus, and no shield, so where's the extra +2 coming from?
• He has 23 hit points -- 10 from his first fighter level, and 8 from his Constitution bonus. So he only rolled a [u]FIVE[/u] on 1d10+2d4? Either the math is wrong, or Erik is a serious dice-lawyer.
• It appears that he's lacking four skill points as a fighter. No matter how I divided up his ranks, he came up short.

DAEJIN MOON, half-elf Rgr4
• Due to her Intelligence bonus, she should know a third language.
• Her AC is 16; with studded leather and an 18 Dexterity, it should be a 17.
• She has 26 hit points: 8 for 1st level, +8 for her Constitution bonus, so she rolled a 10 on 3d8 -- somewhat below average. Again, this might just be Erik being strict on dice.
• Her Reflex save should be +8, not +7.
• Her Will save should note the +2 she gets against Enchantment effects.
• She has a +4 base attack bonus, and a 16 Strength, but only a +5 to hit with a longsword, and only 1d8+1 damage? It should be +8 to hit, and 1d8+3 damage (1d8+4 if two-handed). Likewise, her attack bonus with a +1 composite shortbow is only +6, when it should be +9. Her shortbow damage is listed as 1d6+2, when it should be 1d6+3.
• The bonus feat from her combat style (gained at 2nd level) isn't listed. I'm assuming she took the archery style, so she gets Rapid Shot for free.
• What is her favored enemy? Just as a guess, I selected magical beasts.
• What's her wolf's name?
• She should have 49 skill points ((6+1)×7), but has spent only 32.
• Her gear list didn't list her longsword.

TASSILO VINIESE, human Clr4
• Due to his Intelligence bonus, he should know a third language.
• His AC is 14, but with a chain shirt and an amulet of natural armor +1, it should be 15.
• He has 22 hit points: 8 for 1st level, +4 from his Constitution bonus, so he rolled 10 on 3d8. Pretty low. See above.
• His Will save should be +8, not +7.
• His ranged attack bonus with a masterwork light hammer should be +4, not +3.
• Because he has more than 4 ranks in Knowledge (religion), his turning check should be +3.
• He should have 35 skill points ((2+2+1)×7), but has spent only 33.
• His longsword isn't on his gear list. And why did he get a masterwork hammer, when he obviously favors his longsword?

I've recently started an Age of Worms campaign at home -- the players had just finished the first chapter when one of the players up 'n moved to Maine. There's also a possibility that I might lose a second player to domestic issues (she doesn't seem to want him to game)... so I really need one, maybe two players in the Tulsa area. The game is every Friday around 5:30 pm, lasting until 11 or 12.

E-mail me at AgeofWorms@yahoo.com, PLEASE!