News Archive #10 May 2000 News from May 2000: May 31, 2000 Online D&D with Master Tools? WotC's Jim Bishop stopped by the message boards to clarify that the Master Tools software for D&D will not have an online gaming element to it. He also emphasized that any discussion about this product at this point, while valuable, is speculation: The Master Tools will NOT ship with any kind of online-play capability. That is a feature which Peter A[dkison of WotC] (among others) has put forward as the ultimate goal of a D&D electronic product. Though having just spent 3 hours making a random encounter table for my campaign, I'm not so sure the gritty, rules-n'-tools stuff isn't just as important. The Master Tools will let you construct a D&D adventure in iso view (because it's prettier, natch) and will probably support some level of "playtesting", where you can shuttle a party through an encounter to determine if it's too difficult/easy. That's where the play support ends. We see possibilities for product support down the line, but we're not yet sure which direction to go. Would NWN compete with an online play component? Indirectly or directly, you'd have to say Yes. But there are literally dozens of other directions we could go. Maybe a world creator, or a rules editor so robust you could create your own variant of the D&D or D20 system and publish it online, or the best at-table support to date. We're just not sure yet. A lot of what you'll see from Scott [Mathews of Fluid Entertainment] and me in the coming weeks is speculation. Sometimes we'll toss things out just to see the reaction. If an idea gets really chewed up, you can bet we won't pursue it. After all, you guys are the experts. Anonymous Updates: A couple of clarifications or corrections have been made to some of yesterday's spell-related scoops. They should be easy to spot if you scroll down to yesterday's news. Cordell will Blast Your Mind: Rumor has it that WotC's Bruce Cordell is working on the 3E psionics book. He's an ideal candidate for the project, as he wrote The Illithiad, which dealt with the masters of psionics, the mind flayers. (thanks to Piratecat for the scoop) Gygax Interview #817: If you're like me (and you are, 'cause you're at my site absorbing D&D minutae), you just can't get enough Gary Gygax interviews. Well, today you're in luck -- there's one over at TheOneRing.net, which was spotted by eagle-eyed Claus Olesen. New Concept Art Unveiled: You can see four new 3E concept drawings over at the official Neverwinter Nights site, including a female druid, a female bard and a flesh golem. (thanks to laurent and Daag for the scoop) May 30, 2000 Fluid on the Boards: Fluid Entertainment's Scott Mathews posted some goodies over on the 3E Software message board. Feel free to drop by the message board and share your thoughts or questions. I just thought I would drop a line and say hello and throw out some info about the Char Gen. 1. Currently built for the PC. Mac port is still under consideration by Wizards. No Linux port is expected. 2. Will ship with the August issue of Dragon and the Player's Handbook which of course is due out at this year's Gen Con. Internally here at Fluid, we call this version of the Char Gen the "demo version." It's a term I regret actually, because it is somewhat misleading (see below). 3. In the demo version, you can build and print any class found in the Player's Handbook. Any race, any alignment. That is, it is fully functional. You can not yet build prestige classes or monster classes, or customize your character sheet. These additions are being considered for the "full" version that will ship with Master Tools. That, and the thousand additions we hear through the boards. 4. The Char Gen does keep track of what a legal character consists of. For example, if you spend all the skill points allotted to you, then ramp down your INT (that ramp down is also tracked for the sake of the DM), then the character is thrown into error, (you have spent more skill points than you have allotted to your character). You can save a character in error, but you can not print it. 5. Alternate die rolling methods are not supported in the demo, but will be in the Master Tools. 6. Screenshots are forthcoming, hopefully next week. Eric and I are in communication; when Wizards gives the green light, Eric will have them to post. 7. The Char Gen demo is currently a stand-alone app. About 40 megs uncompressed. The CD will include some extras - the conversion doc, some trailers for NWN, IceWind, and Pool of Radiance - among a few others tidbits. 8. Beta testing: Too early of course for the Master Tools. But the Character Generator will be (of course) at Gen Con, and Wizards is setting up a dedicated room to come by and break…er...play with it. ;) We (Fluid and Wizards) will give a couple of presentations and Q&A sessions about it while we are there. As far real beta testing on the Tools... I think it would be cool to have some real people use the thing during beta. 9. The Fluid web site is down and it's got a crusty placeholder sitting out there. I am really sorry about that. We just got hammered by the tight deadline on the Char Gen, and well...we are working on it. Check back soon. I meet with Jim Bishop (producer over at Wizards) on Thursday this week. After that, I'll make a post about Master Tools core design and functionality. There's many good ideas in the posts here already. I look forward to becoming active in the community here. Spell Details From Anonymous, With Love: Some spell-related 3E bits and pieces for your perusal, care of John Doe (and additional info from Anonymous2): Detect spells are no longer automatic. They require a skill roll of some sort against a difficulty factor. An example is detect magic, which requires a Spellcraft roll against a DC. Update: Anonymous2 adds: Not totally true. You can detect magic without a Spellcraft roll. The roll is to detect the school of magic for what you have dectected. Stoneskin is a very different spell, you don't count how many times you are hit anymore. The material component (diamond dust) costs 250 GP per casting, The spell lasts 10 minutes/level or until it has absorbed 10HP/caster level. The effect is damage reduction, just like gargoyles and elementals have. The spell reduces damage by 10 pts per hit, unless the hit is from the appropriate magic weapon. Update: Anonymous2 adds: The damage reduction is 10/+5 (meaning a +5 weapon is needed to penetrate). Also, the spell is 4th level for Wizards and Sorcerers, but is a 6th level spell in the Strength and Earth cleric domains. There are only 3 spell ranges to memorize now: short, medium and long. Every spell that is a particular range has the same range increment in feet. Lighting bolt now starts at the casters fingers and goes out to the full range of the spell. The 5' wide version goes out to a further range increment than the 10' wide version. The spell can cause damage to doors and objects, ignite combustibles, and melt soft metal coins. Level drains afflict you with a temporary "negative level", you have 24 hours to get this removed via a restoration or similar spell. At the end of the 24 hours you make a Fortitude save to see if the level drain becomes permanent. There are 4th-level spells available that can remove the negative level. Fireball no longer requires that the Dungeon Master have the ability to do cubic geometry and Pi-R-cubed calculations in his head. All areas that are open, directly connected to, and within 20' of, the blast point are affected. The spell can cause damage to doors and objects, ignite combustibles, and melt soft metal coins. The spell shoots a pellet from the casters fingertip to the chosen burst point. If the pellet impacts a surface it explodes early. Difficult or restricted shots (example given is shooting the pellet through a castles arrow slit) require an attack roll to avoid hitting the obstruction. Do NOT die! There is no effect that raises you from the dead (even a full wish) which prevents you from losing a level due to dying. You drop to the midpoint of the previous level. Update: Anonymous2 adds: There is a spell that allows you to come back from the dead without losing a level: true resurrection, a 9th level cleric spell. Update: Playtester John Troy adds: If you only have one level and you are raised, you will lose 1 CON, since you can't lose any more levels. (thanks to PA for the scoop) The spell find traps is no longer automatic. It empowers the cleric to use the trap finding skills as effectivly as a rogue can, but you still have to make a skill roll against a DC to find a trap. The strength spell (called bull's strength) is complemented by similar spells that increase Dex and Con. All classes gain the same increase in ability. Haste has no negative impact on the recipient. It allows an extra "partial action" in a round. A [single] melee attack is a partial action. With haste running you would get to move and take 2 attacks instead of the standard move and attack routine. FR and NDAs: You probably know by now I have few qualms with spilling anonymous 3E scoops that come my way, as the core 3E rules are essentially done, and thus rumormongering about them really doesn't hurt much. The 3E Forgotten Realms setting, however, is still very much in development. Rumors about FR at this stage could potentially sour customers to the product needlessly, as rules or details may change. Because of this, I've decided it would be best for the setting and for the playtesters that the current state of the Realms be kept under wraps, at least until we get closer to release and the details have been solidified. Long story short: no more anonymous FR scoops, please! :) PHB and DMG First Impressions: Anonymous stopped by to provide some overall impressions of the most current versions of the PHB and DMG: The Players Handbook looks WONDERFUL. The art is great, the "spikes suck" crew will be relieved! It comes with a character sheet that looks great, the classes are well defined, and even come with write-ups for having different races as each class, what they would get or lose, and they have pre-made "bundles" of feats, skills, and equipment if you just want to roll your scores, pick out the recommended feats and skills (all maxed out) you are set and ready. A concise spell list, and all the changes that I have read so far have been changed in all the best ways. It also comes with an assortment of monsters, from low power to high, with a variety of special abilities that makes it so you could figure out how to convert 2E monsters based on how they handle things. (Note: WotC's Sean Reynolds says, The first print run of the PH ... contains a short additional section on monsters, treasure, and magic items.) The Dungeon Master's Guide is fully of great stuff, worldbuilding, alternate character issues, a DEFINITIVE definition of each of the special powers (breath weapons, level drain, dark sight, etc.) that leaves no room for misunderstanding, how to give XP, a good explanation of challenge level, charts with how the area of effect of spells/breath weapons would look like on a grid (so no more guessing!), and tables...my god! the number of tables of pre-generated things like monsters, NPC's, treasure (including scrolls! Didn't you hate when rolling for treasure, you get Scroll with 5 spells, and then you have to figure out cleric, mage, what level, which spell...alot of hassle. Not anymore, they have all of that already done for you! May 29, 2000 Cleric Spell Chart Updated: A couple of days ago, Anonymous provided levels 1-10 for the cleric spell progression chart. Today he's back with more numbers, and I've filled in the rest. Take a look. 3E Realms Info: Anonymous dropped off some tantalizing bits from the current draft of the FR playtest info. Note that these items are not carved in stone -- by their very nature, the playtest materials are likely to change. Forgotten Realms introduces a concept called "regional feats". As it implies, some feats can only be accessed if the CHR has come from or spent significant time in that region. The FR supplement provides guidelines for CHR development up to 40th level. It does this by forcing CHRs to multiclass after 20th level. It also states that a CHR will gain feats, ability score points and skill points at levels 21 - 40 but HP accrual stops. FR has prestige classes for Harpers, Arch-Mage, and Red Wizards of Thay among others. A Cleric initiate in FR will gain a feat or ability appropriate to their deity -- some of which are quite potent. Saving Throw Charts: After another anonymous scoop, it appears that all of the saving throw charts for the standard character classes are now available. Rangers, Paladins and Barbarians share the Fighter chart, Druids share the Cleric chart, Sorcerers share the Wizard chart, and Bards and Monks have their own charts. GenCon Pre-Registration Downloads: You can download the pre-registration book, event schedule, and pre-registration form here. (Thanks to Kyle Charron of Fiend Games for the scoop) Wizards and Magic Items: WotC's Sean Reynolds (thanks to PA for the scoop): By level 12, a D&D wizard can have all of the item creation feats. They also don't have to wait until 16th level to get Permanency to make permanent items. D&D wizards have an advantage over 2E wizards. More Anonymous Tidbits: They just keep rolling in! However, I haven't confirmed these, so take with a grain of salt... Monk Abilities: Improved Evasion: Half damage on a failed reflex save, no damage on save (gained at level 9?) Spell Resistance 10+level of the monk (gained at level 13) Perfect Body: Gains Damage Reduction (20/+1) (gained at level 20) Monks gain an AC bonus as they gain levels beginning with +0 and ending with +4 at level 20; this is considered "natural armor." Monks begin with unarmed damage of 1d6 and have 1d20 on level 20. Monk has all saves as GOOD saves (so +2 on all at level 1, +12 on all at level 20). Minimun Level for Some Item Creations Feats: Scribe Scroll -- 1st (Wizard gain for free at first level) Brew Potion -- 3rd Craft Wondrous Item -- 3rd Enchant Weapon and Armor -- 5th Craft Wand -- 5th Craft Rod -- 9th Craft Staff -- 12th Paladin Spell Details: Paladin has a unique first level spell that grants a +1 bonus to hit and makes the weapon the paladin is using able to hit any evil creature, even ethereal ones or creatures with damage reduction. The paladin has a level 4 spell called holy weapon. It makes the caster's weapon into a magical +5 weapon that does double damage to all evil creatures, plus the weapon receives all the benefits of a holy avenger wielded by a paladin (circle of protection, anti magic, etc). May 28, 2000 D&D CRPG Roundup: Joost "Silverdawn" Loijens has penned an article that previews forthcoming D&D-related computer games such as Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights, and Pool of Radiance II. As the latter two are 3E games, you may want to take a look. (The 3E stuff starts here.) May 27, 2000 Jim Bishop on Master Tools: WotC's Jim Bishop was kind enough to answer some of the specific questions that Scott Matthews of Fluid Entertainment was unable to tackle in my recent interview. Q: What are some of the unique features of the Master Tools program? In other words, can you wow us with some features that CR2 doesn't possess? :) Comparing CR2 and Master Tools is like comparing apples and oranges, because the mechanics for each depend on totally different rules sets. The AD&D rules don't allow you to add levels of ranger to a gnoll, for instance, or to easily balance an encounter against a party's level. D&D allows you to do so much more than AD&D ever did, so the Master Tools will take advantage of that flexibility and robustness. At one level, the Master Tools is "just" a rules-and-tools program. You can generate NPCs and encounters, get context-specific rules help, create magic items and maps, and customize the rules to a certain degree to fit your home campaign. What makes it so exciting isn't a specific new tool, but the way all the tools will be integrated. It's still early in the process, but we're envisioning the Master Tools as a program that makes adventures. All the sub-tools will be built around the creation of ready-to-play D&D adventure modules. You'll be able to map an area, embed objects (anything that can be created in the other tools: characters, monsters, encounters, treasure, traps and hazards, etc.) in the area, embed explanatory text (like the "read-aloud" text in published adventures), link it to any other module or mapped area, and print the module in playable form. Or save it out in a single file, which can be easily posted to the web. Q: What kinds of tools will be available for authoring encounters, adventures and campaigns? The DMG is an incredible tool for making and balancing encounters, so our only challenge there besides living up to the written rules is making the process easy and fun. I've already talked a little about building adventures, but it's safe to say that we will add many bells and whistles as development progresses. Campaigns are an interesting problem--at their simplest level a campaign is a series of adventures, each of which is a series of encounters. As we envision the Master Tools, you'll be able to link adventures together into a string to echo this kind of progression. Supporting campaign worlds, with unique rules and settings, is an issue we're still exploring. Q: What kinds of mapping tools will be available? The mapping component will be 2D isometric and tile-based, so the finished product (on the screen) will have the same perspective and level of detail as Baldur's Gate or Torment. It will allow a top-down perspective, and maps can also be built in this simpler, B/W view. Maps will print to scale with 28mm miniatures, and use the map key that will be standard for all 3E adventures. As a side note, Scott is determined to make the mapping tool fun and very easy to use, "like sitting on the floor surrounded by thousands of Legos." Q: To what degree will customization of character classes, races, spells, magic items, treasures, and monsters be possible? How does Master Tools deal with house rules? These are important issues to most DMs, so naturally they are high on our list of priorities. We could support user-modification of the rules on several levels, from releasing portions of the code to building a sort of "instrument panel", like a preferences dialog, that would only allow a certain amount of customization. I have a feeling that 90% of house rules are made to deal with 10% of the rules, so I'd like to get some fan feedback before we begin that design. I can't tell you what solution we'll go with, but we will allow user-modification on some level. Partial Cleric Spell Table: Anonymous has dropped off the first ten levels of cleric spell progression. As you can see, except for the 0-level spells, it's quite similar to the current Wizard Spell Progression we've seen thus far. Also, don't forget that clerics gain one additional domain spell per spell level (that's what the +1 means). There are no domain orisons, however. Update (5/29/00): Anonymous has added a couple more levels to the chart. I have filled in speculative numbers to complete it. Cleric Spells Per Level (confirmed numbers are in gold; +1 means clerics gain a domain spell at each spell level) Caster Level Divine Spell Level Orison 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1 3 1+1                 2 4 2+1                 3 4 2+1 1+1               4 5 3+1 2+1               5 5 3+1 2+1 1+1             6 5 3+1 3+1 2+1             7 6 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1           8 6 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1           9 6 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1         10 6 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1         11 6 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1       12 6 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1       13 6 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1     14 6 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1     15 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1   16 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1   17 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 18 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 19 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 20 6 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 5+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 New 3E Site: A new 3rd Edition site has joined the 3E community. You'll want to pay a visit to RPCore's 3rd Edition D&D Speculation Site. He's even got a speculative 3E Player's Handbook you might want to see. May 26, 2000 Audio Interview: The audio portion of May's official interviews with Todd Lockwood and Jonathan Tweet are up. (thanks to Paul San Clemente for the scoop) May's Monster: The official 3E page now sports May's critter-o-the-month (thanks to Greg Vargo, the first of many scoopers): Ethereal Marauder Medium-Size Magical Beast Hit Dice: 3d10 (16 hp) Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Speed: 40 ft. AC: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 natural) Attacks: Bite +5 Damage: Bite 1d6+3 Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Ethereal Jaunt Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +2 Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 10 Skills: Listen +5, Move Silently +7, Spot +7 Feats: Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative Ethereal marauders are aggressive predators that can move quickly from the Ethereal Plane to attack opponents on the Material Plane. Ryan Dancey Interview: We're 10 months into the year-long stretch between last August's "Big Announcement" and this August's "Big Event," the release of the D&D 3rd Edition Player's Handbook. Ryan Dancey takes questions on 3E, Open Gaming, the Star Wars RPG, the Charcter Generator software, and reflects on the successes of the past year in my latest interview. Correction: Armor Proficiency: Apparently, Armor Proficiency doesn't wipe out the Skill Check Penalty associated with wearing armor. WotC's Sean Reynolds says, "If you're not proficient in armor, there are _additional_ penalties, plus the original penalties." (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to PA for the scoop) Anonymous Tips: An assortment of anonymous scoops: Crossbow Loading Times: Light x-bow: loading is a move equivalent action, Heavy x-bow: full round, Repeating x-bow: full-round, Hand x-bow: mv. equivalent. (Presumably a "move equivalent action" means that you can reload and still get off one attack, just like you can move and still get off one attack in a round.) High-Level Rogue Class Abilities: Rogue special abilities: Crippling Strike, Defensive Roll, Improved Evasion, Opportunist, Skill Mastery, Slippery mind, Bonus Feat. (We were told in Dragon Magazine that Rogues would get to pick and choose from a list of high-level abilities.) Monk Movement: Monk movement progression Levels 1-2 30'; L3-5 40'; L6-8 50', L9-11 60' etc. (This would be presumably for a Medium-sized monk.) Combat Tables: The Paladin, Ranger, Fighter and Barbarian all have the same Base Attack Bonuses. Cleric, Druid, Rogue, Bard and Monk, have the same bonuses. And that leaves the Wizard and Sorcerer. (However, according to scooper PA, monks use the same table as Fighters when fighting unarmed or with "monk weapons.") May 25, 2000 Sorcerer Spells: An anonymous source has provided a couple of partial tables regarding sorcerer spellcasting. As we've long known, sorcerers can cast more spells per day than a wizard, but have access to a smaller repertoire of spells. As you can see below, a 10th level sorcerer can cast three 5th-level spells each day, but only knows one such spell (thus likely casting the same spell three times, or using a 5th level spell slot to improve a lower-level spell with a metamagic feat). Sorcerer Spellcasting (Spells Per Day) Sorcerer Level Spell Level Cantrip 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10 6 6 6 6 5 3         Total Sorcerer Spells Known Per Level Sorcerer Level Spell Level Cantrip 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10 9 5 4 3 2 1         One Last Domain: An anonymous source gives the lowdown on the Evil cleric domain. As suspected, it's basically the opposite of the Good domain: Evil Domain Deities: Hextor, Nerull, Vecna, Erythnul, Gruumsh Granted Power:  Cast evil spells at +1 caster level.  Evil Domain Spells Level 1 Protection from Good Level 2 Desecrate Level 3 Magic Circle vs Good Level 4 Unholy Blight  Level 5 Dispel Good Level 6 Create Undead Level 7 Blasphemy Level 8 Unholy Aura Level 9 Summon Monster IX 3E Mini Prices: "Retromancer" has dropped off a list of the first 24 3E miniatures, with WotC item codes and prices. These will apparently start showing up in stores in late August. Tordek (Male Dwarven Fighter) WOC40030 $2.99 Mialee (Female Elven Wizard) WOC40031 $2.99 Lidda (Female Halfling Rogue) WOC40032 $2.49 Jozan (Male Human Cleric Of Pelor) WOC40034 $2.99 Regdar (Male Human Fighter) WOC40035 $2.99 Krusk (Male Half-Orc Barbarian) WOC40036 $3.99 Devis (Male Half-Elven Bard) WOC40037 $2.99 Vadania (Female Half-Elven Druid & Wolf) WOC40038 $4.99 Ember (Female Human Monk) WOC40039 $2.99 Alhandra (Female Human Paladin) WOC40040 $5.99 Soveliss (Male Elven Ranger) WOC40041 $2.99 Hennet (Male Human Sorcerer) WOC40042 $2.99 Nebin (Male Gnome Wizard) WOC40043 $2.49 Dire Rats WOC40044 $2.99 Goblin (2-pack) WOC40045 $3.99 Gnoll WOC40046 $6.99 Skeleton/Grick WOC40047 $2.99 Orc WOC40048 $3.99 Twig Blights (3-pack) WOC40049 $3.99 Displacer Beast WOC40050 $6.99 Umber Hulk WOC40051 $7.99 Troll WOC40052 $6.99 Beholder WOC40053 $4.99 Celestial Eagle WOC40054 $6.99 Intelligent Weapons: James Wyatt on smart swords (and other wise weapons): Intelligent items now have Int, Wis, and Cha scores, and their Ego rating derives from all three (as well as all the other things it's always derived from). When a character comes in conflict with the item, however, you use an existing mechanic that is not an arbitrary "personality rating," but has everything to do with your ability to resist the will of an item in conflict with you. (on James Wyatt's 3E Message Board, thanks to Blackhawk for the scoop) Old Modules to Be Sold Online? WotC's Ryan Dancey describes a plan to sell adventures and source material from older editions of the D&D game (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Gerard, James Hoover, contact, Darrin K. "Hoping to get a scoop" Lyon for the scoop): Our long term objective is to put essentially everything we can clear full rights for on the internet for download. Most of that material will be presented as "pay for download" product; with costs from $1 to ???, but mostly very cheap. We'll probably also do "bundles", like "all the 1st Edition modules for $X". Futurama Images and Sounds: Did you miss seeing Gary Gygax on Futurama? You can find links to pictures and sounds linked from Return to the Dungeon. (thanks to OmegaOdd for the scoop) Anonymous Updates: A couple of mysterious updates... One source indicates that the Arcane Spell Failure percentage for wearing armor only applies when casting arcane spells that have a gesture (i.e. a somatic component) as part of the spellcasting. Another source has helped fill in a few more numbers on the Armor Table. May 24, 2000 Skill System and Determining DCs: Playtester A'koss! talks about skills (on rec.games.frp.dnd): ...anything that involves finding the right DC is clearly laid out in the skill description. The skill system will also handle spectacular successes/failures, taking your time and the benefits of assistance. Message Board Mania: Lots of juicy anonymous rumors being dropped over at my message boards. As with all anonymous rumors, take them with a grain of salt. Here are some of the more interesting ones: Prestige Class Requirements: Dwarven Defender: Alignment: any lawful Race: dwarf Base Attack bonus: +7 Feats: Dodge, Endurance, Toughness Shadowdancer: Move Silently ranks: 8 Hide ranks: 10 Perform ranks: 5 Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Combat Reflexes Assassin: Alignment: any evil Move Silently ranks: 8 Hide ranks: 8 Disguise ranks: 4 Wizards Preparing Spells: First, it only takes an hour to prepare them, half an hour to prepare half and a 15 min to prepare a quarter of them but it will ALWAYS take at least 15 min to prepare a spell, even just one. Second, you must be rested from 8 hours of sleep or meditation (no movement, nothing physically demanding). Third, when you prep a spell you're basically casting 95% of the spell with the most crucial components left for the end (when you whip out you bat guano and rods of amber) and actually let the spell fly. Fourth, you can leave a few slots unfilled and prepare spells later on. It still takes 15 min to do up to a quarter of your spells but that knock spell when you need it is worth waiting for. This is only for the wizard. Sorcerers cast their spells "on the fly." They are just limited to the amount of spells they can cast each day. Double Weapons: A quarterstaff is a double weapon.... You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons: a one handed weapon and a light weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as an ogre using a two bladed sword, can't use it as a double weapon. Paladin Abilities: 1st level: divine grace, detect aura of evil, lay on hands, divine health 2nd level: aura of courage, smite evil 3rd level: remove disease 2x/week, turn undead 4th level: spells 5th level: war horse Armor: Armor Proficiency: Armor proficiency lets you wear armor with out suffering armor check penalties on attack roll and on all skill rolls that involve moving .... so a wizard can get the feat Armor Proficiency (Light) and wear Light armor. Unfortunately, you will always have an arcane spell failure chance with armor on IF you're casting a spell that has a Somatic component. Arcane Spell Failure: chain: 30% splint: 40% half plate: 40% full plate: 35% Elven Chain: This very light +1 armor is made of very fine chain links and glistens like silver. Speed is 30' for medium sized creatures (20' for size S) and it has only 20% spell failure, a max dex bonus of +5 and an armor check penalty of only -2. It is considered light armor. To create it: Caster level 8, prerequisites are the Enchant Arms and Armor feat, creator must be an elf. Market price:13,300 Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his 3E page again. He describes a recent adventure featuring his character, Fik. (Thanks to Neil Ikerd, The Sigil, and Halfling for the scoop) 3E Dragons on Your Desktop: WotC is offering a colorful sneak peek at what the 3E dragons will look like by providing a desktop wallpaper you can download. Here's a snippet (thanks to RBB, Rob Gauthier and Clain for the scoop): May 23, 2000 D20 System Release Timeline: Fiend Games is reporting that Ryan Dancey has set a potential timeline for releasing the D20 system in several sections over the next few months. You can read about it here. (thanks to Kyle Charron for the scoop) 3E Playtesters Wanted: Did you playtest 3E? Do you want to see your writing in the pages of Dragon Magazine? Well, read this letter from Chris Thomasson, Associate Editor of Dragon Magazine (on the Dragon Magazine Message Board, thanks to wsmith for the scoop): Attention: 3E Playtesters We know that a lot of you read these message boards on a regular basis, so we're going to make a shameless attempt to capitalize on your playtester knowledge. As you are aware, the 3rd Edition release is approaching, and we want to give our readers a first-hand account of what playing the new system is like. What we'd like to see, if you're willing, are some letters from you playtesters describing your thoughts and experiences with the new edition of the D&D game. These letters will appear in issue #274 (August, 2000), our first 3rd Edition issue. Here are some things to keep in mind when writing your letters: . Be specific. Choose just a few things and include your thoughts on why you think those features of the game do or don't work. For example, we'd rather see a letter about certain sorts of spells or the monk's special abilities than comments about the 3rd Edition D&D game in general. . Try to keep your letters short. We know you have a lot to say, but we'd like to feature as many comments from as many different people as we can. If your letters are too long, we'll end up giving our readers a more narrow selection of comments and ideas. . Finally, feel free to include your negative comments with the positive. We want to hear it all, so don't be afraid that we'll censor you because you didn't like some aspects of the system. Please send your letters to us via email to dmail@wizards.com or via regular mail to: D-Mail Dragon Magazine 1801 Lind Ave. SW Renton, WA 98055 Thanks for your time, Chris Thomasson Associate Editor Dragon Magazine Housekeeping: I've moved a few things around, so if you're not finding what you seek drop me a line. Specifically, I've split the "Misc" page into separate pages. Now you can find individual pages for Links, Message Boards & Chat Rooms (links to both mine and official ones), and also the Search form is on its own page. May 22, 2000 Try the New Message Boards: You probably know that I have a message board for this site. If you've ever used it, you know it's fairly primitive. Well, here's your chance to test out a new board and give me some feedback. The advantages of the new board are 1) registration (you can edit your own messages after they're posted, and no one can impersonate you), 2) the option of having multiple forums, and 3) better sorting and searching of messages. The new board has two main areas -- a General 3E Discussion forum and a 3E Software forum for discussing the Character Generator and Master Tools software. Share your thoughts. Barbarian Multiclass: Long, long ago, it was rumored that Barbarian characters might have some multiclass restrictions due to the fact that the class is as much heritage as choice. However, WotC's Sean Reynolds informs us, "There are no multiclass issues with the barbarian." (on the 3E message board, thanks to Gerard for the scoop) May 21, 2000 More Official Chat Logs: Eagle-eyed David Caveney spotted more chat transcripts; I've added links to the 3E-related logs in yesterday's news. Neverwinter Nights Gameplay Videos: The All Games Network has two breathtaking Neverwinter Nights videos you should see. Though they're in grainy Realvideo format, they're still stunning. Neverwinter Nights, of course, uses the 3E rules. When you get to the All Games Network page, click Search Network, type in Neverwinter Nights, and look for Bioware Gameplay Footage and Neverwinter Nights Footage. (spotted over at Planet Neverwinter) May 20, 2000 Older 3E Chat Transcripts: I've been rooting around the WotC chat schedule; seems they post chat logs after the chat has been held. The logs are in RTF format. Here are 3E related logs you might have missed: Monte Cook on 3E Rogues, 3/17 Chris Perkins on "Designing Dungeons," 3/5 (info on the direction of Dungeon Adventures) Skip Williams with Sage Advice, 3/26 (takes a lot of 3E product-related questions) Dave Gross and Chris Perkins on "Submitting 3rd Edition D&D Article and Adventures", 2/6 Julia Martin on 3E Priests, 1/21 Todd Lockwood and Sam Wood on 3E Art, 12/22 Rich Baker on "3rd Edition Character Design," 12/8 Jonathan Tweet on "Ten Ways to Play 3E Today," 11/26 Kim Mohan on "How Did We Create 3rd Edition D&D?", 10/29 New Birthright Novel Download: You can download a previously unreleased 320 page Birthright novel over at WotC's Birthright page. Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his personal 3E page again. This time he muses about 3E psionics, the FR playtest, and other assorted odds and ends. As usual, no secrets revealed, but many small hints. 3E Art: New 3E concept art has been posted on the official Neverwinter Nights site. The new pictures are of an Amethyst Dragon, an Androsphinx, Aquatic and Normal Trolls, and a Black Dragon. (thanks to Agamon for the scoop) May 19, 2000 Throwing Star: The shuriken is this month's weapon at the official 3E Weapons Rack. (thanks to Doug Justice for the scoop). An anonymous source confirms that the shuriken is an Exotic weapon; the monk class is allowed free access to it with no penalty. To finish off May, we only need to wait for May's monster, a couple of weeks' worth of Playtester comments, and the new monk artwork. And maybe if we're lucky we'll see corrections to various typos and mistakes on the Character Close-ups and even the Weapons Rack bit just revealed. Anonymous Feats: Anonymous has dropped by to tantalize us with names and descriptions of feats: Spring Attack: We've heard the name before; Anonymous tells me it "allows a character to move before and after an attack." Without this feat, one must choose to move before or after an attack. This feat requires Dodge and Mobility as prerequisites. Improved Bull Rush: We've heard of a basic combat maneuver called Bull Rush. Don't know what it does, but sounds a bit like the ability to push opponents around on the battlefield. Improved Bull Rush is a feat that allows you to "pretty much control where the melee is going to take place." Rangers and Two-Weapon Fighting: A clarification/reminder about Rangers -- they only kinda get the Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting feats for free. Here's what was revealed back in October on the WotC site: A ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields. When wearing light armor, a ranger can fight with two weapons as if he had the feats Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting. WebRPG: Got an interesting note from a reader named Jeff Carnes I thought I'd share regarding playing D&D online: I just read the interview with Scott Matthews on your site and noted the mention of online AD&D'ing... I just thought I'd email you to make you aware of a terrific piece of software called WebRPG (www.webrpg.com) that lets you do this TODAY. It's actually an open system, not geared specifically to D&D, so it works with most all pencil and paper games, and incorporates TONS of features, like character sheets, mapping, all kinds of dice, including the ability to do things like 3d6 rolls or whatever you want (you can type in anything using that formula), an irc-like chat to communicate with the players, sound effects which can be triggered to all players... the GM can open up maps, docs, etc. on all players screens, you can whisper to players or the GM, all kinds of stuff. Not to mention you can setup Adventure Assistants which can make campaigns run much more fluidly. For instance, if the group enters a particular room, you can have it setup so that you can merely click a link which will automatically pop-up a description of the room in the chat window as well as change the map or throw some more things onto the existing map (such as NPC's, creatures, treasures, whatever). Oh yeah, there are TONS of little miniatures available to use on the the maps, and you can make your own. It's really a great app, it's FREE, it has skins, it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux... so you may want to give it a try. May 18, 2000 Chat on Friday: Don't forget the chat with 3rd Edition D&D Monks Todd Lockwood and Jonathan Tweet. Oh, wait, they're not monks. They'll be chatting about monks. Yeah, that's it. On Friday, May 19, from 6-8 pm PST, over at the WotC chat area. (thanks to Andrew for the reminder) Rapid Shot: WotC's Sean Reynolds gives a name to a feat he mentioned recently (on rec.games.frp.dnd): The Rapid Shot feat means you could fire an extra time with your bow on top of your regular attacks. Two-Weapon Fighting Corrections: It's a sort of "good-news, bad-news" situation. I have been informed that the recent anonymous scoops about two-weapon fighting are not 100% correct. That's the bad news. The good news is that I have corrected info to share. So here we go... Weapon Sizes: First off, it's important to know that characters and monsters are rated by size (small = halfling, medium = human, large = ogre, etc.) and that weapons are likewise rated by size (tiny = dagger, small = short sword, medium = long sword, etc.). A character can use a weapon of equivalent size in one hand; a weapon of one size larger must be wielded in two hands. So for example, a halfling (small) can wield a short sword (small) one-handed, but a long sword (medium) must be wielded two-handed. However, the halfling could also choose to wield the short sword two-handed to cause extra damage (see below). A character cannot wield a weapon that is two sizes larger than him. STR Damage Bonuses for One Weapon in Two Hands: A character who wields one weapon two-handed gets 1.5 times the normal STR damage bonus. However, this only works if the weapon is the same size category as the character, or one size larger. So for example, it doesn't help a human (medium) to wield a dagger (tiny) or a short sword (small) two-handed. STR Damage Bonuses for Two-Weapon Fighting: Characters who wield two weapons gain their full STR damage bonus for their primary weapon, and half the bonus for their off-hand weapon. The Ambidexterity feat allows characters the full STR damage bonus with the off-hand weapon. Two-Weapon Attack Penalties: The base penalties for attacking with two weapons are -6/-10 (primary weapon / off-hand weapon). However, after applying these penalties, the following situations can lessen the penalties: +0 primary / +4 off-hand if you have Ambidexterity feat +2 primary / +2 off-hand if you have Two-Weapon Fighting feat +2 primary / +2 off-hand if the off-hand weapon is "smaller than you" (a short sword or dagger for a human; a dagger for a halfling, etc.) Feat Summary: In summary, here is what feats can help with two-weapon fighting: Ambidexterity reduces the off-hand attack penalty by 4 and allows full STR damage bonus for the off-hand weapon. Two-Weapon Fighting reduces the primary and off-hand penalties by 2 each. Improved Two-Weapon Fighting gives the wielder an extra attack with the off-hand weapon at a -5 to hit. Normally, the off-hand weapon can only strike once per round regardless of the level of the character or how many attacks he gets per round with the primary weapon. This feat has a number of requirements. Jim Butler on Alternity: Robert Blezard has posted an interview with WotC's Jim Butler on the topic of the cancellation of the Alternity product line. May 17, 2000 D20 Logo on PHB: WotC's Ryan Dancey confirmed that the D20 System logo will appear on the 3E Player's Handbook. "The logo appears on the back cover, about the size of a postage stamp (it's the same size as the Wizards logo). The D20 logo will appear on all products we publish that use the D20 system; Star Wars, and future licenses, plus all D&D products." (on ogf-d20-l) Fluid Interview: The 3E Player's Handbook will ship with a Character Generator program on CD-ROM. That same program will accompany the August 2000 issue of Dragon Magazine as well. The Character Generator is, in turn, a demo for a much more comprehensive D&D "rules-and-tools" program called Master Tools. I had a chance to ask some questions of Scott Matthews, president of Fluid Entertainment, the makers of the CharGen and the Master Tools. While Scott was unable to answer specific questions about the capabilities of the programs, he does fill in many gaps in our knowledge of the company and the general plan of these products. Step right this way for the interview... Gygax on TV ... Sorta: You'll be able to see an animated version of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax on this Sunday's episode of Futurama. As CNN reports, he'll be joined by Al Gore and a couple of other guest stars. (thanks to Patrick McCormack for the scoop) Missile Rate of Fire: WotC's Sean Reynolds talks about missile fire in a couple of different posts on rec.games.frp.dnd (thanks to Gerard, Maggot, and others for the scoop): Actually, when you get multiple attacks at higher levels, that applies to missile weapons as well. So a warrior that has 3 attacks per round (because he's 10th level) could make 3 melee or 3 missile attacks. There is a feat that allows you to make an additional ranged attack per round. 3E Hydra: As scooper "Dr. Skull" points out, the "Ecology of the Hydra" article in Dragon Magazine (June 2000) has some 3rd Edition stuff buried in there. For instance, here's the description of the DC for avoiding the breath weapon of the pyrohydra: In 3rd Edition, the character would roll a Reflex save. The Difficulty Class of the roll is 10 + half of the pyrohydra's original number of heads (rounded up) + the pyrohydra's Constituion modifier. Thus, to avoid a seven-headed pyrohydra's breath weapon, the dodging character must roll a 10 + 4 + 5, or 19. Sagacious Skills: Sean Reynolds illuminates the masses as to what 3rd Edition skills would be good choices for a sage-like character (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to PA, Anders Berland and James Hoover for the scoop): There are 9 categories of knowledge presented for the Knowledge skill, with the option to create more. Alchemy and Spellcraft are good knowledge-ish skills that a sage might have, and I could see many of the Profession skills and the Wilderness lore skill being suitable as well. May 16, 2000 Reynold's Rap: WotC's Sean Reynolds on a variety of topics (on the 3E Message Board and rec.games.frp.dnd): Where are the Difficulty Class charts? It's in the PH. The DMG has additional things (like info on how to set DCs for harder traps and such)... How detailed will the FR 3E setting get? We're trying to cover every country in some detail, although some places are only going to get a page. What about Sembia? Wasn't it supposed to remain untouched so it could be developed by individual Dungeon Masters? Unfortunately, enough half-statements have been made about Sembia that it has started to form a picture. Since Sembia plays a pretty key role in the current situation in Cormyr, we need to explain what and who they are. How can I play a Paladin/Bard given the alignment conflicts? Remember that even if you have a multiclass restriction, many things can be accomplished just by using skills. If you want to play an "adventuring poet for truth and chivalry," play a paladin and pick up some Perform skills. 3E Stuff from Hickman: Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance fame indicates that he's preparing 3E materials for the pages of Dragon and Dungeon magazines (thanks to Claus Olesen for the scoop): The first [article] is for Dragon Magazine and is a greatly expanded piece taken from my seminar, 'It Isn't Whether You Live or Die ... It's How You Play the Game.' The article gives players helpful tips on how to not only drive their game referee crazy but how to have a good time doing it. You can look for it in the October or November Issue. Additionally, I am designing a 3rd Edition game module for Dungeon Magazine. It's called 'The Anvil of Time' and takes place in the Dragonlance setting (I'm sure you are surprised!) Constitution Drain: So you've heard Tiamat's poison causes temporary Constitution damage, eh? And you don't know quite what that means, right? Well, you've come to the right place -- playtester John Troy explains (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Anders Berland and others for the scoop): If you go to Zero CON, you die, regardless of whether its a temporary or permanent drain. So the truely deadly poisons or ability drain are those which drain CON. Other poisons attack STR, DEX, CHA, etc... The rules say that if your CON is reduced, you lose any bonuses and get any penalties that would apply to HP. So, if you have 7 HD, and have a +2 bonus to HP due to high CON, and lose so much CON that your modifier would be at -3, you would lose (5 * 7 = ) 35 hp immediately. This can't kill you since you can't go below having 1 hp per HD. May 15, 2000 Preparing Spells: A scooper named Buck writes, The latest Inquest Gamer magazine (#62, June 2000) has a 4 page article on 3e, it appears the IQ staff have been playtesting for the last couple of months. Under "Spells", it describes some changes to the memorization process: "Though you still need a full night's rest to clear your mind for memorizing spells, you don't have to commit them to memory all at once. You can leave a few spots open and take 10-15 minutes later in the day to fill them in as needed." "By the book, it used to take a 20th-level wizard 27 hours to memorize all his spells; now, you can do it in an hour." Fiend Games: Fiend Games, an RPG publisher looking to create d20 System games, would like to invite you to visit their site and participate in a poll. They also have a preview of a forthcoming product available. Cloak & Dagger: WotC's Dale Donovan made an announcement about the forthcoming Forgotten Realms supplement, Cloak & Dagger (on the 3E Message Board and the FR Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): The major FR game product for the year, Cloak & Dagger, ships in Junes and features information on many of the secret societies of the Realms. Check the extra material, exclusive to the WotC website, at the following URL: http://www.wizards.com/ForgottenRealms/DnD_CnD_Main.asp. C&D is 160 pages, chock full of plots, events, secrets, and NPCs. May 14, 2000 3E Adventure: You can see the first of a five-part fan-created 3E adventure over at Return to the Dungeon. (thanks to OmegaOdd for the scoop) Thanks a (Half a) Million! The counter has rolled over the 500,000 mark, a milestone any way you measure it. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement, suggestions, questions and scoops! Only three more months to go! :) Reynolds' Rap: WotC's Sean Reynolds attempts to clarify a few miscellanous points (on the 3E Message Board): Bard Alignment: "Bards are wanderers, guided by whim and intuition rather than by tradition or law. The spontaneous talent, magic, and lifestyle of the bard are incompatible with a lawful alignment." More Magic Missiles: "You can use higher-level slots to prepare lower-level spells." Critical Range for Natural Attacks: "Most attacks threaten a crit on a 20." Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his 3E page again. This time, he talks about converting characters from 2E to 3E. (thanks to Brian Psi for the scoop) Dragon #272: I got home from traveling this weekend and found the June issue of Dragon sitting at my computer (thanks to Mrs. Noah for the scoop). It's loaded with goodies, so let's begin, shall we? Barbarians: Half of the "Countdown to Third Edition" article focussed on the barbarian class. They start out with Rage and Fast Movement abilities. They later gain Uncanny Dodge and Damage Reduction. Rage (as we've seen) grants a temporary +4 to STR and CON and a +2 to Will saves; at 15th level, the bonuses increase (+6 to STR and CON, +3 to Will saves). Rage does cause an AC penalty, it's only temporary (3 rounds +1 per point of CON bonus -- including the temporary CON bonus), and can only be used once per day per 4 levels (1/day at levels 1-3, 2/day at levels 4-7, and so forth up to 6/day at 20th level). When the Rage ends, the Barbarian suffers penalties for the rest of the encounter. At 20th level, those penalties go away. Fast Movement adds 33% to the speed of medium-sized barbarians and 50% to the speed of small-sized barbarians. Uncanny Dodge (gained at 2nd level) allows the barbarian to keep his DEX bonuses even when surprised or attacked from the rear, and at 5th level the barbarian can't be flanked (which negates the Flanking attack bonus, and helps negate Rogue sneak attacks against them). A Rogue who's 4+ levels higher than the barbarian can still successfully sneak attack a barbarian, however. Damage Resistance allows the barbarian to ignore small amounts of damage per attack against them -- 1 point at 11th level, 2 at 14th, 3 at 17th and 4 at 20th. Rangers: The other half of the "Countdown" article was about Rangers. As we've heard from day one, Rangers no longer have alignment restrictions. Rangers "have only one special class ability aside from spellcasting ability" (divine spells, starts at 4th level) and free feats like Tracking, Two-Weapon Fighting and Ambidexterity. This ability is Favored Enemy. Rangers can choose whole categories of opponents as Favored Enemies: giants, aberrations, animals, beasts, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, giants, magical beasts, oozes, plants, shapechangers, undead, and vermin. Rangers who want "humanoid" or "outsider" (two fairly broad groups) as a Favored Enemy must choose from narrower categories such as outsider (devils) or humanoid (goblinoid). The basic perk of Favored Enemy is +1 damage against them with melee attacks or missile attacks within a 30' range. At levels 5, 10, 15 and 20, this damage bonus increases by +1. In addition, at levels 5, 10, 15 and 20, the ranger can choose another category (with the bonus starting at +1). So by level 10, the ranger could have the following Favored Enemies (and bonuses): Undead +3, Elementals +2, and Dragons +1. The Favored Enemy bonus doesn't just apply to damage though -- it applies when using skills such as Bluff, Sense Motive, Listen, Spot and Wilderness Lore (used with the Tracking feat) against the favored enemy. Alignment Requirements: There are only five classes that have alignment requirements in 3E. Alignment Requirements by Class Class Requirement Barbarian non-Lawful Bard non-Lawful Druid some Neutral required Monk some Lawful required Paladin Lawful Good Bahamut and Tiamat, 3E Style: This article is the biggest chunk of official 3E monster stuff around. Get your hands on it! Lots and lots of good stuff here. In summary, the unique dragons Bahamut the Platinum Dragon and Tiamat the Chromatic Dragon are officially presented in 3E format, complete with stat blocks, descriptions of their powers, and a rundown on what the stat blocks mean. Bahamut Colossal Dragon Hit Dice: 53d12+742 (1086 hp) Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative) Speed: 60 ft., Fly 300 ft. (poor), Sw 60 ft. AC: 54 (-8 size, +52 natural) Attacks: Bite, +66 melee; 2 claws, +61 melee; 2 wings, +61 melee; tail slap, +61 melee Damage: Bite, 4d8+21; claws, 4d6+10; wings, 2d8+10; tail slap, 4d6+10 Face/Reach: 10'x50' / 20' Special Attacks: Breath weapons, frightful presence, spells, spell-like abilities Special Defenses: Scent, spell resistance 30, damage reduction (25/+4), immunities, see invisibility, keen senses, water breathing Saves: Fort +43, Ref +29, Will +42 Abilities: Str 53, Dex 10, Con 39, Int 35, Wis 36, Cha 35 Skills: Alchemy +40, Animal Empathy +40, Bluff +65, Concentration +72, Diplomacy +65, Disguise +34, Escape Artist +56, Gather Information +65, Heal +41, Intimidate +65, Intuit Direction +41, Knowledge (Arcana) +34, Knowledge (Dragonkind) +37, Knowledge (History) +34, Knowledge (Nature) +34, Knowledge (the Planes) +34, Knowledge (Religion) +34, Listen +71, Scry +68, Search +65, Sense Motive +69, Spellcraft +68, Spot +71, Wilderness Lore +41. Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Hover, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Expertise, Fly-By Attack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-like Ability (sunburst), Snatch, Wingover Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground Organization: Solitary (1), Troupe (Bahamut and seven great gold wyrms) Challenge Level: 25 (solitary) Treasure: When traveling, Bahamut carries his magic items and 1d8+4 gems of various sizes. Bahamut's palace contains 2d4 level 20 treasures. Alignment: Always lawful good Advancement Range: N/A Combat: Breath Weapons (Su): Must wait d4 rounds between using breath weapons. Cold: 36d10 damage (DC 50 Reflex save for half) Gaseous Form: stunned and turned gaseous for 32 rounds (DC 50 Fortitude save negates) Disintegration: (DC 50 Fortitude save negates) Frightful Presence (Ex): Can cause "panicked" or "shaken" state in creatures under 53 HD within a 480' range (DC 48 Will save negates for one day). Spells: Bahamut is a 20th-level sorcerer and a 20th-level Cleric with access to the domains of Good and Air. Spell-like Abilities: In addition to his spells, Bahamut can cast each of the following three times per day as a 20th-level caster: control water, control winds, control weather, create food and water, detect thoughts, feather fall, fog cloud, foresight, quest, speak with animals, and sunburst. Can shapechange at will. DCs against these spells are 14 plus the spell level. Immunities (Ex): Immune to acid, cold, electricity, fire, poison, sleep, and paralysis. Immune to spells and spell-like powers of 5th level or less. See Invisible (Ex): Range 1600', always active. Keen Senses (Ex): Excellent vision; has darkvision to range of 1600'. Water Breathing (Ex): At will, always active. Magic Items: Bahamut typically carries these items (not included in stats): amulet of proof against detection and location, bracers of armor +8, cloak of displacement, cubic gate, cube of force, gem of brightness, glove of storing, portable hole, +5 ring of deflection, +5 ring of resistance, rod of alertness, rod of cancellation, rod of enemy detection, staff of power. Tiamat Colossal Dragon Hit Dice: 49d12+588 (906 hp) Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative) Speed: 40 ft., Fly 150 ft. (clumsy), Sw 40 ft. AC: 50 (-8 size, +48 natural) Attacks: 5 Bites, +60 melee; 2 wings, +55 melee; sting, +55 melee Damage: Bite, 4d6+19; wings, 2d8+9; sting, 4d6+9 plus poison Face/Reach: 15'x40' / 15' Special Attacks: Breath weapons, frightful presence, sound imitation, spells, spell-like abilities Special Defenses: Scent, spell resistance 30, damage reduction (25/+4), immunities, see invisibility, keen senses, water breathing Saves: Fort +39, Ref +27, Will +34 Abilities: Str 49, Dex 10, Con 35, Int 28, Wis 25, Cha 28 Skills: Alchemy +35, Bluff +61, Concentration +63, Diplomacy +61, Gather Information +59, Intimidate +61, Knowledge (Arcana) +31, Knowledge (Dragonkind) +34, Knowledge (History) +31, Knowledge (the Planes) +31, Knowledge (Religion) +31, Listen +61, Scry +61, Search +61, Sense Motive +59, Spellcraft +61, Spot +61, Wilderness Lore +33. Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Hover, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Initiative, Expertise, Fly-By Attack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-like Ability (domination), Snatch, Wingover Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground Organization: Solitary (1), Troupe (Tiamat and 1d6 chromatic dragons of age categories d8+4) Challenge Level: 25 (solitary) Treasure: When traveling, Tiamat carries her magic items and 2d12+2 gems of various sizes. Her lair contains 2d4 level 20 treasures. Alignment: Always lawful evil Advancement Range: N/A Combat: Multiple Heads: As shown above, Tiamat gains five bite attacks per round. A head can be severed with a slashing weapon if the weilder inflicts a single blow causing 185 hp damage. Breath Weapons (Su): Must wait d4 rounds between using breath weapons. As she has five heads, each head can deliver a different breath weapon. DC 46 Reflex save for half damage for each type of breath weapon: Cold: 12d6 damage Acid: 24d4 damage Gas: 24d6 damage Lightning: 24d8 damage Fire: 24d10 damage Frightful Presence (Ex): Can cause "panicked" or "shaken" state in creatures under 49 HD within a 480' range (DC 43 Will save negates for one day). Sound Imitation (Ex): Tiamat can mimic any sound or voice. DC 43 Will save to detect. Spells: Tiamat is a 20th-level sorcerer and a 20th-level Cleric with access to the domains of Evil and Law. Spell-like Abilities: In addition to her spells, Tiamat can cast each of the following three times per day as a 20th-level caster: command plants, control weather, darkness, domination, fog cloud, gust of wind, mirage arcana, plant growth, suggestion, summon swarm, veil, ventriloquism. DCs against these spells are 19 plus the spell level. She can corrupt water once per day. She can charm reptiles three times per day (as mass charm spell, DC 27 Will save negates). Poison (Ex): Stung creatures suffer 3d6 temporary Constitution damage (DC 46 Fort save to negate). After 1 minute, make a second save or suffer an additional 3d6 temporary Constitution damage. Water Breathing (Ex): At will, always active. Magic Items: Tiamat typically carries these items (not included in stats): amulet of the planes, +8 bracers of armor, carpet of flying, cloak of displacement, crystal ball with detect thoughts, darkskull, iron bands of Bilarro, iron flask, orb of storms, portable hole, +5 ring of deflection, +5 ring of resistance, rod of rulership, rod of splendor. About Special Attacks: You've seen notes like Ex or Su next to special abilities. Here's what they mean: Extraordinary abilities are nonmagical, don't go away in an antimagic field, and are not subject to anything that disrupts magic; using an extraordinary attack is a free action unless noted otherwise. Supernatural abilities are magical and go away in an antimagic field but are not subject to spell resistance. Templated Abilities: We've been told that certain kinds of attacks, defenses or other special abilities have been templated so they're the same for all monsters ("constriction" will mean the same thing whether it's a yuan-ti or a giant snake, for instance). Here are some templates that apply to Bahamut and Tiamat: Breath Weapon (Su): Usable every d4 rounds. Cone-shaped breath weapons are as high and wide as they are long. Frightful Presence (Ex): Can cause creatures to be shaken or panicked. "Shaken" means victim suffers -2 to attacks, saves, and checks. "Panicked" means running away and possibly dropping held items. Poison (Ex): Victim must make an immediate save or suffer the venom's effects. Usually one minute later, another save is required to avoid a secondary effect. "Most poisons inflict temporary ability score damage ... which returns at a rate of 1 point per day." Scent (Ex): Detect creatures by smell within 30'. Spell Resistance (Ex): Roll a d20, add the caster level, if the total is higher than this number, the spell gets through the Spell Resistance. May 12, 2000 Official Updates: The May Character Close-up, Ember the Monk, has been posted, as well as May's spell, a cleric spell called searing light. The Playtest Group of the Month has been updated as well. My observations about the monk: Interesting new features, as well as the inevitable mistakes on the character sheet... New: Confirmation that Wisdom and Dexterity impact Monk AC; new feats (Skill Focus and Deflect Arrows); new skill (Balance); monk movement rate increases (note that the 100' movement rate at 7th-level is due to her boots). Mistakes: WIS bonus increase between 1st and 3rd (either the WIS didn't increase, or the bonus didn't increase); Skill Focus feat listed so it doesn't appear to be a feat; Ember loses a special monk class ability between 3rd and 7th levels. May 11, 2000 3E Advertisement: Scooper Michael Hennebeck spotted this ad in the June 2000 issue of PC Gamer, and was kind enough to send a copy my way. What do you think -- a bugbear sorcerer? You can view it here. P.S. -- look at the d20 system logo in the lower right corner... White Dragon: As scoopers Contact and Steve Pickios have pointed out, there's a new piece of art on the opening page of the official D&D site (the page I skip over when I link you to the D&D home page). Kinda has a Sam Wood look to it, though the artist is not identified. Bards: WotC's Dale Donovan sets the record straight about 3E Bards (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to David, Michael Thibault, and James Hoover for the scoop): Skill Points: Rogues get the most skill points in the game (plus some nice class abilities too, sneak attack among them). Bards fall in the middle range for skill points. Sure, they also get spells and class abilities, but so do rangers, for example. Bard Spells: It should be noted that the bard's spell list has been tinkered with: no more fireballs from bards in D&D3. This fact is, in my opinion, a very good thing. Their spell selection is now much more appropriate to the concept of the class. May 10, 2000 3E Fan Site Updates: A couple of non-official updates for you... James Wyatt has updated his unofficial 3E page. Here's a quote to lure you over: "ogre magi make pretty frightening monks." (thanks to jbs and Daag for the scoop) John Dell's online 3E 1st-Level Character Maker has been updated to function in Netscape as well as Internet Explorer. Melgin's Keep has posted a new prestige class called the Wyrm Ryder. May 9, 2000 New Art at Pool of Radiance Site: There's a bunch of 3E artwork over at Pool of Radiance. You'll see monster pics you've never seen before -- creatures including Iron Golem, Displacer Beast, Bebelith, and Chimera -- plus a new character portrait (Female Human Ranger with bear companion). Go look now! (thanks to Allister Huggins for the scoop) Online 3E Character Generator: If you're using Internet Explorer, you might want to try out this 3E 1st Level Character Generator. It's a web page that allows you to input stats, race and class and it will calculate some stuff for you. For some reason the page doesn't display properly in Netscape. If you like it, be sure to drop its creator, John Dells, a line. Fall 3E Products Available at Amazon: Alert scooper Jeff Black informs me that Amazon is allowing preorders for the Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and other fall 3E products. As with the PHB initially, Amazon is not yet offering discounted prices on these products. And as with the PBH, I will have links to these products set up on my Buy D&D Stuff page for those of you who care to preorder through my affiliate program. Also of note, the 3E Player's Handbook has reached #14 on Amazon's Not-Yet-Published Bestsellers list. Sure, Robert Jordan's next Wheel of Time novel is ahead of us, but still -- not too shabby! (thanks to Andrew for the scoop). Chat with Tweet and Lockwood: A chat with D&D Lead Designer Jonathan Tweet and artist Todd Lockwood will be held at WotC on Friday, May 19, from 6-7 pm PST. They'll be chatting about monks, but likely will take all sorts of other interesting questions. Be there or be square. (thanks to Andrew for the scoop) D20 Parody: If you've been reading my site for a while, you know I love silliness. (See my April Fool's edition of the 3E News for proof). I found Dave "Fargo" Kosak's "Advanced Dungeons & Fargo: The RPG Renaissance Begins" to be a very funny send-up of the whole 3E and D20 System situation. Be warned that Fargo's column isn't exactly "family friendly," but if you're still interested, please step right this way... May 8, 2000 Half-an-Elf: In 2E, half-elves were the undisputed master of multiclassing. Since any race can be nearly any multiclass combination in 3E, why play a half-elf? WotC's Dale Donovan explains: (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): Half-elves get elements of "the best of both worlds" with regards to their parentage. They receive some benefits of having elven blood, and some for having human blood. They don't get ALL the bennies from either race, but it's a nice mix. Dungeons & Diablo: Barbarians, Amazons and Necromancers rejoice! You can now grab a copy of the Diablo II Fast Play game, read an interview with Diablo II: The Awakening co-author Mike Selinker, and read an example of how Diablo/D&D works. (thanks to Kevin Harrison for the scoop) Der PHB Cover: A German scooper by the name Der Spieleladen has sent along some scans from a comics catalog. While it's pretty grainy, the scan of the PHB cover already shows a more photo-realistic style than the prototype we've seen. Look at the metal of the hinges and the gems, for instance. The other scan is a logo from an ad for Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Adventures. Here's what Der Spieleladen says about the ad: The ad was a full page, in the lower two thirds two colorful magazine covers (by Easley and -probably- Brom) with the new logos in place, emerging from a lava lake before a black background; the upper half a white-on-black slogan: To dominate the Dungeons & Dragons market, you gotta have (logo: Dragon & Dungeon) The magazines have blurbs on the covers: Dragon: Official D&D Game Articles (one line above the logo) Exclusive 3rd Edition D&D Coverage Darker, edgier style 132 pages per issue Dungeon: Now 100+ full color pages! (one line above the logo) All new 3rd edition D&D Adventures New full-color presentation Darker, edgier style Wyatt's Update: WotC's James Wyatt has updated his personal 3E page with amusing and telling anecdotes about playtesting forthcoming Forgotten Realms adventures. Here are some exerpts: Multiclassing is cool. Multiclassing is fun. If everyone in your party is multiclass, you're asking for trouble. If you're all 10th level characters but you've got no spellcaster higher than 5th level, you're missing out on spell power that the adventure might just assume you have. Take this lesson to heart. There's a real tradeoff involved in multiclassing: the choice between broad and specialized abilities. You can be decent at a number of different things, or you can be great at one. Not both. Skip's wizard died a very painful death at the hands... well, in the mouth of a dragon. Did you know that they can hold you in their mouths and use their breath weapon at the same time? It was ugly. Not a good position in which to be a wizard. May 7, 2000 Dragon and Dungeon Chat Notes: I'm fresh from the WotC chat area after attending a chat with Dragon editor Dave Gross and Dungeon editor Chris Perkins -- and boy do I have news for you. Let's get started, shall we? (Just nod in agreement...) August Dragon includes CD-ROM: That's right -- the first 3E issue of Dragon Magazine will include a CD-ROM that will contain... ...the Character Generator program that comes with the 3E PHB. The character generator is amazing. It's just a demo, but you can do an incredible amount of stuff to create a character with it. I was testing it with 10th-level multiclass characters, and it showed me some mistakes I'd made in my own character sheet. ...the D&D Conversion Book in electronic format. (Note: there will be a print version of the Conversion Book, but it won't be bundled with Dragon Magazine.) an exclusive D&D 3E adventure in electronic format; preview trailers for the Pool of Radiance II, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale CRPGs. Other August Dragon Features (Dave Gross quoted below): The issue features four articles that combine to present a Sherwood Forest mini-campaign, along with a poster map of the Sherwood area and Nottingham castle. The poster also appears in that month's Dungeon, which features a big Sherwood adventure. Also, a feature on two of the playtest groups, another on the d20 system and how it works (with some interesting insights into its structure), and an article on how to create prestige classes, along with one already made: the Mystic. There are lots of columns & departments, which we call collectively "Familiars" starting in August. One of them, the Bestiary, just rocks the house. The next four or five monster articles we present will be among the best ever. Sean Reynold's "Power Play" Column: It's not exactly a column, though it'll appear each month in Sage Advice. They're little snippets of advice for maximizing certain elements of your character. Later, it evolves into offering interesting combos of abilities, spells, and actions that might not be obvious. The August issue will also include issue #0 of the Living Greyhawk Journal. Added Charge: The August issue will cost a buck extra, but then the price goes back to normal. The extra dollar is needed to pay for the increased postage. (Note: another good reason to subscribe...) Other Dungeon/Dragon Magazine Business: New Art Director: Peter Whitley, formerly the Art Director of TopDeck magazine, will be taking over in a couple weeks. There'll be a transition period during which a freelance team does the August issue, but he'll be in place for all of the September issue. Dungeon Archive on Hold: The rumor is true. The DUNGEON CD-ROM archive is on hold. 3E Bits: Dave and Chris answered some general 3E questions at the chat as well... Traps: Like monsters, traps in 3E have stat blocks. a trap's stats will tell you what you need to find and disable it. For instance, a pit trap's stat block might look like this: 20-foot-deep pit: Dmg 2d6; Reflex save negates (DC 15); Search (DC 20); Disable Device (DC 20). Traps will be detailed in the DMG. Poisons: Without giving anything away, I can tell you that poisons are handled a little differently. Gone are the A-ZZ designations. Poisons now have names, like "giant centipede venom." The new poisons are much cooler than the old ones. Even aside from the nifty names, the effects are much more interesting than mere hp damage, most of the time. And some of them are far deadlier in unexpected ways. Playing Favorites: Chris and Dave were asked about their favorite aspects of 3E. Chris: I ... like the fact that EVERYTHING is covered in the rules. For instance, in one of my games, Sean Reynolds' dwarf character was swallowed by a behir. The rules actually told me how much damage [the dwarf] needed to inflict to carve his way out of the behir's stomach. Dave adds: THAT was an incredible moment. We were all flabbergasted not by what had happened to Sean's dwarf but because we asked Chris weird questions, he looked them up, and there were ANSWERS for them in the rules. D&D Diablo II Scans: DiabloII.Net is displaying some scanned images from the AD&D adventure Diablo II: The Awakening. You can view the product's front and back covers, part of the Amazon's character sheet, and three pieces of monster artwork. One confusing bit -- The Awakening is a book, not a "box" as indicated at DiabloII.Net. Playtest 3E FR: Interested in playtesting the 3E Forgotten Realms? Here's how (thanks to Lee DeBoer for the scoop): Form a group comprised of RPGA Guild-level members who can play once a week for two to three months. (Not a member? Go to the RPGA site to find out how.) Download and fill out one Non-Disclosure Agreement per playtester. (Download it here.) Fax it to 425-687-8287. The group's leader should e-mail Robert Wiese at robertw@wizards.com. In the e-mail, list the members and state your intention to meet weekly during the playtest session. Also indicate that you've faxed your NDAs. The deadline for all of this is 5 pm PDT on May 11. Wizards' Wyatt on 3E: WotC's James Wyatt has posted a 3E page of his own filled with annecdotes about various playtesting sessions he's been involved with. He insists that he's not revealing any secrets, but it's a darned interesting read nonetheless. Here's an exerpt: Every time we play, I find myself sitting at the table thinking, "I love this game!" It's not second edition; it's smoother, cleaner, and makes a lot more sense. All the rules have been clarified. Everything's consistent. It all works. Combat is better than it's ever been -- it goes quickly, it's exciting and interesting, and I've thoroughly enjoyed sessions where we did nothing but fight goblins all night. Last week all we did was stumble our way through traps, though, and that was great, too. May 6, 2000 Tweet Interviewed at WotC: The Jonathan Tweet interview has also appeared on the official D&D site. Here's an exerpt (thanks to IONDragon for the scoop): Q: Can you describe what ki is and how the monk derives her abilities from it? A: Ki is a subtle energy that monks manipulate to perform extraordinary acts. I see it as a pervasive, invisible force. Ki circulates through the environment and through living things. You don’t, however, need to know anything about ki to play a monk or run Dungeons & Dragons. As far as the rules are concerned, it’s just a word that appears in the title of the monk’s ki strike ability (which lets a monk strike with her bare hands as if they were magic weapons). Q: Is ki a form of magic, and if so does this mean that monks are spellcasters? A: The monk uses ki to perform extraordinary and supernatural abilities, such as running at great speed, healing herself, or stunning an opponent with a barehanded blow. These abilities are magical, but they’re not spells. At 12th level, a monk gains "abundant step," her only spell-like ability (like dimension door). Having a spell-like ability, however, doesn’t really make the monk a spellcaster. Lockwood Interviewed at WotC: The promised Todd Lockwood interview has been posted at the official D&D 3E site. Here's an exerpt: (thanks to Doug Justice for the scoop) Q: Now that we're in the home stretch toward the launch of 3rd Edition D&D, how much would you say the look of the game has changed since the last time we chatted (December 1999)? A: Most of the work, on characters at least, was done then. There have been some modifications made to minor things, like weapons chosen for particular character classes. That sort of thing. Since then, however, we have been working on monsters, giving everybody a makeover where it was needed and designing the dragons. I can tell you, the Monster Manual is going to rock! May Playtest Group of the Month: What a treat -- May's Playtest Group is lead by none other than the inestimable Ian Malcomson! Ian, if you don't know, is a contributor to Dragon Magazine (he wrote a couple of great articles about a Dark Ages campaign setting) and will have an adventure in the first 3E issue of Dungeon Adventures. He was also one of the chief coordinators and mappers for the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas -- he managed dozens of volunteers on the project among other things. Quotes of interest from their playtest experience: A novice to D&D on the ease of learning 3E: 3E D&D is really the first game of this type I’ve ever learned to play....the game itself has been fun and easy to learn. Their thoughts on role-playing elves: Of all the races, elves are the most alien in outlook and demeanour, from a human point of view (you can roughly predict how dwarves, halflings, half-orcs, and even gnomes are going to act and react), so the role-playing challenges found in elves are more emphasised than the other races. What Ian said about Monks and Paladins: I’d like to see something in place that makes these two classes harder pick up than the others. Some restriction on multiclassing with these two may do the trick.... Just something not to take any of their power away (because I don’t think the powers they have are unbalancing—just over and above any gained by other classes, if that makes sense), but just to make people think twice about playing them. Official D&D and 3E Sites Merge: You know we're starting to get close to the release of 3rd Edition when the official 3E site and the official D&D site have become one in the same. The old URLs that once took you to the dark-red-on-black 3E site now redirect you to the main D&D page, which has been redesigned to incorporate aspects of both sites. The address is http://www.wizards.com/dnd/welcomex.asp. (thanks to Joseph Provenzano, Eldoen, Velarim, DCD, and Doug Justice for the scoop) May 5, 2000 Magic Item Limitations: Playtester John Troy (on the 3E Message Board): 3rd Ed limits the amount of misc magic items that can be effective--only one piece of jewelry, whether amulet, talisman, brooch, scarab, phylatery, etc, can be on a person. Any Magic Item like a Tome that can raise an ability score permanently will require a Wish to create ... it'll be more expensive to do the tome than just to cast the wish. Hasbro CRPGs and D&D: You can read a two-page article concerning plans by Hasbro to make computer role-playing games based on D&D. Page one is here, and page two is here. (thanks to Claus Olesen for the scoop) Pyramid Interviews Tweet: D&D 3E Lead Designer Jonathan Tweet is the subject of a new interview at Pyramid magazine. You can find the first couple of questions and answers here, though you need to be a subscriber to read the full interview. Here's an exerpt (thanks to Allan Grohe for the scoop): Pyramid: I have read in Dragon Magazine, as well as a few articles in various magazines that Greyhawk is going to be the base world for all of Dungeons and Dragons. Will this not affect the feel of the game for those who wish to play in other worlds? Tweet: The Greyhawk elements in the core rules are so light that they won't interfere with DMs running their campaigns in other worlds. Rules such as which races are present or what the equipment lists looks like define the world much more strongly than whether we call the setting "Greyhawk" or "Faldoozia," and demographics and equipment have always been part of the game. A-Printing We Will Go: WotC's Ryan Dancey indicates that the 3E Player's Handbook went to the printers this week, and that the Dungeon Master's Guide will follow in about a month. (On ogf-d20-l , thanks to Jason Klank for the scoop) Day-to-Day Skills: Playtester A'koss (on rec.games.frp.dnd) talks about basic life skills: Cooking, which falls under a broader skill in 3e, is about being good enough to *earn a living* at it. It is assumed you have good enough basic life skills to get by the day to day stuff. May 4, 2000 Unarmed Attacks: WotC's Sean Reynolds talks about weapon-related feats and how they can be used to augment unarmed melee attacks (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop): You can choose "fists" as your finessed when you acquire the feat. You can take improved critical and choose "fists" when you acquire that feat. Character Sheet: WotC's Sean Reynolds says, "...the first print run of the PH will have a photocopyable character sheet in it. It won't have customized sheets for each class and such like the charsheet pack will." (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Cost of Magic: A couple of quotes about experience point costs for creating magic items and for casting certain spells: Anonymous: Haste doesn't cost experience points. It's the only exception to [yesterday's news about certain spells costing XP rather than causing aging or ability drain effects] that I know of. Haste is very different from in second edition, and it has a very light, very easily ignored penalty. Playtester John Troy: First of all, the effects are pretty much balanced. Without telling you just how much XP it takes to cast a wish, let's just say it would cost about 30% of the XP needed to move from 18th to 19th level (and don't use 1st or 2nd edition charts please). So, each wish takes about a 3rd of your XP to move to the next level, or more. Are you really going to cast it that often? Same thing with magic items. The Wand of Fireballs would be less costly than a wish, but its power is based on your casting level, and it's still a significant chunk of your XP. As far as "buying" them, the cost for an item would be about 25 x the XP value in GPs, so you won't easilly be able to afford them or create them. In these cases, there's a lot of sacrifice involved. Also, when creating them, you still need to provide materials cost (about 1/2 the selling price). So, it's going to be a bit expensive unless you stick to potions and scrolls. The sword Ryan and I mentioned a while back--it would likely take cost almost all of the Archwizard's XPs that he saved adventuring from 18th to 19th level and cost him the GNP of a small kingdom. There's a cap on how much both Wishes and Tomes can raise an ability score. So there's no worry there. (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) May 3, 2000 Futuristic Weapons: Playtester John Troy indicates that there is information about "guns and futuristic weapons" presented in the 3E DMG. John figures, "If the DMG deals with fire, drowning, starvation, falling, falling into lava, ice, poison, etc., you gotta know that they'll also need to provide a baseline for anything else the players might encounter. Which may include a space-ship, a time travel adventure, ancient artifacts, etc." (thanks to Eldoen for the scoop) Permanency and Spell Effects: A couple of quotes from the message boards (thanks to Randolpho the Great for the scoop): WotC's Sean Reynolds: In 3rd edition D&D, you don't use permanency to create magic items. Permanency is used to make spells permanent. There is some overlap (you can enchant an item to give you a certain spell effect _or_ you can permanency certain effects upon yourself), but there are advantages and disadvantages to each (you can lose an item, but a permanenced spell can be dispelled). Playtester John Troy: If the spell used to cause aging, like Wish or Resurection, or permanently drained an attribute like Permanancy used to [in 2nd Edition], it costs XP instead. Monster Template: If you bop over to Return to the Dungeon, you can download a nifty Monster Template created by Robert Blezard. (thanks to OmegaOdd for the scoop) Another Birthright Goodie: You probably know that WotC is releasing a bunch of never-printed Birthright accessories as free PDF downloads. You can grab the first of May's three promised BR downloads, Player's Secrets of Hogunmark, right now. Wizards of the Pool: WotC has posted another section of their Jonathan Kromrey interview. This month, he talks about the monk class in the forthcoming Pool of Radiance II: Ruins of Myth Drannor CRPG. Here's an exerpt: (thanks to Eldoen for the scoop) Several of us have played monks in our playtesting of both Pool and the tabletop game, and monks are often seen as the troubleshooters who can provide a variety of tasks.... I guess the "Swiss army knife" of character classes. 3E Product Details: WotC's Dale Donovan provides some more detail about forthcoming products (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Gerard for the scoop): DM's Screen package (w/8-page booklet of more charts, info, etc.; art on players' side of screen, 4 panels of charts on the DM's side) Hero Builder's Guide, a 64-page (not 96) character-background accessory May 2, 2000 Ninety-Nine Days: As you can see over on the official 3E site, there are fewer than 100 days left before the release of the Player's Handbook. (thanks to OmegaOdd for the scoop) Material Components: Playtester John Troy answers the burning question, "Do cleric spells require material components other than a divine focus?" (on the 3E Message Board): Not for most that need any M [material] or F [focus] components--a few biggies may need more than the divine focus. But in 3rd Edition, there's no need to really keep track of individual components. They assume you always have access to the bat guano for fireball and have as much as you need. Arcane spellcasters purchase a "spell component pouch", which, for all intents and purposes, is the equivalent to the cleric's holy symbol (now called a divine focus). Only components that have a gold cost value are kept track of separately. If you steal a Cleric's holy symbol or a Sorcerer's spell pouch, it pretty much has the same effect. Free Wizard Feats: WotC's Sean Reynolds talks about the list of feats wizards draw from when selecting their bonus feats (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Gerard and James Hoover for the scoop): [Wizards'] free feats come from a list of 8 metamagic feats and 8 item creation feats (one of which they actually already have), and they don't get anywhere near that many free feats (in fact, there's no way even a human wizard can get them all by level 20). Update: Sean adds that even though Wizards get bonus feats in the same manner as Fighters, they don't gain them at the same rate. Says Sean, "The fighter gets a bonus feat every other level, but there are _37_ feats the fighter can choose from using these bonus feats (and that's not counting ones that you have to choose on a per-weapon basis, like weapon focus). By comparison, there are only 16 feats that a wizard can use her bonus feats on (and she already starts with one of them, Scribe Scroll), so she can't have as many bonus feats as a fighter does. D&D is about hard choices, and it's not really a hard choice if you could get _all_ of them by 20th level, is it? :)" (thanks to James Hoover for the scoop) Monstrous PCs Will Require DM Input: Playtester John Troy talks about monsters as player characters (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Kevin Harrison and John Ughrin for the scoop): The DMG has some guidelines for allowing PCs to play other races. They have some suggestions, but this doesn't mean it's been designed to handle any type of monster you want. The DMG has a handful of "level equivalents"...Kobold = 1, Sprite = 3, Troll = 8, Wrymling Gold Dragon = 11. But you're still going to need to do some creative thinking to allow what you want. 3E Character Generator and "D&D Master Tools": WotC's Jim Bishop dishes up more details about the forthcoming electronic tools for D&D 3E (on rec.games.frp.dnd, thanks to Mark Brehob for the scoop): [The free Character Generator is] actually a lot more powerful than you'd expect from a free utility. A company called Fluid Entertainment (no website yet) is doing the development for us, and we're currently in final Beta. I'm flying down to their offices to finish up development at the end of this week. We're looking at the character generator as a demo for a product which we will release early next year (Q1) called the D&D Master Tools. Fluid's background is in entertainment software (read: games) so the presentation is much more polished than your typical TSR software. From a feature standpoint, it's pretty much what you'd expect: you can build a character from level 1-20, any multiclass combo, any race, etc. We're only supporting options and items from the PH, so cool stuff like prestige classes and magic items (and other DMG goodies) won't be available, at least in this version of the demo. There has been some discussion about making product upgrades available during the development cycle, and we'd certainly think about adding those things, as well as monster PCs and magic item creation, in a future upgrade. Our plans for the Master Tools are pretty exciting; besides more standard utility functions (one-click encounter generation, custom user classes/races, adventure authoring, etc.) we're looking at offering users the ability to build adventures in an isometric (a la Baldur's Gate) view, plug in dungeon dressing, monsters, buildings, etc. and play a party through the encounter. This will be cool enough, but the real reason we want to have a functional dungeon-builder that runs under 3E rules is to support true online multiplayer D&D. We'll be designing the Master Tools with one eye on that goal, to minimize our total development time. It's a good time to be a D&D fan . . . May 1, 2000 Clerics or Specialty Priests in PHB? WotC's Sean Reynolds clarifies a few matters surrounding 3E clerics (on the 3E Message Board, thanks to Gerard for the scoop): The PH details clerics. All clerics choose domains from a god, and those domains grant extra spells and powers. Essentially, all PH clerics are a form of what you'd call (in 2E) a "specialty priest." But they're called clerics, and they're all of equal power. There is also the possibility of prestige classes suited for clerics (such as "holy scholar of Mystra," or "holy champion of Heironeous") which you could consider "true" specialty priest (a la 2E terms), but those should be customized for particular gods. The Merry, Merry Monk of May: The official 3E site is gearing up for May's theme, "Monk Mania." We'll see interviews with D&D Lead Designer Jonathan Tweet and artist Todd Lockwood, the monk Ember in Character Closeup, new monk portraits, and as usual a new monster, spell, weapon and playtest group. None of these things are ready to go yet, but as soon as they are I'll let you know. (thanks to Velarim for the scoop) New Features: As you may have noticed in the new navigation panel above, there are two new pages here at Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3E News. Visit the Core Rulebooks page to get the low-down on the PHB, DMG and MM as products. Stop by Electronic Aids to read news and rumors about the Character Generator CD-ROM and the forthcoming Core Rules replacement. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D 3E and AD&D are all property of Wizards of the Coast.