Alzrius
The EN World kitten
The latest issue finally arrived in my mailbox today! Here's the inside track:
Editorial: The Great Modron Month, by Erik Mona - Erik talks about humor in D&D as being part of the experience of just playing the game with friends and not taking things too seriously (hence the modrons), and not as joke articles.
Scale Mail - Letters this month include complaints about issues whose articles cover only a single subject, praise for issue #352, and thanks for the increased Forgotten Realms coverage.
First Watch - I usually don't cover the First Watch section, but this month's talked about some especially cool stuff, such as Wolfgang Baur's adventure open design, A horror film titled The Dead Matter by Midnight Syndicate, and EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga.
Core Beliefs: Heironeous, by Sean K Reynolds - The newest Core Beliefs article covers the Archpaladin, talking about Heironeous, the role of clerics and paladins in his church, his relationship with other religions, the Knights of the Holy Shielding paladin order, holidays, myths, suggested prestige classes, relics of the faith, three new divine spells (all variants of existing spells), some NPCs in his service, and his planar ally. Sidebars cover the basics about Heironeous, his holy texts, the Shield Lands, the Heironean Code, aphorisms of his religion, and customized summon monster lists.
Return of the Modrons, by Ken Marable - The modrons march again (figuratively speaking)! This article opens by recounting the recent history of the modrons - after what is now called the Rogue March, and Tenebrous vacated the Energy Pool, his lingering taint caused the unthinkable to occur: a secundus objected to the ascension of another besides itself to become the new Primus. It invoked an ancient clause to challenge for the right to ascend. It and another secundus took up a challenge to see who could slay the most chaotic beings in a set period of time. While the uncorrupted secundus cut through slaad on Limbo, the tainted one had his minions go slaughter gnomes on Bytopia. The remaining two secundi found in favor of the one who went to Limbo, as that one had personally undertaken the challenge, and had slain the enemies of Law. Refusing to accept this, since he had (by proxy) slain more chaotic creatures, the tainted secundus left Regulus in a fury, and took nearly a million modrons with him, settling in Acheron to plan to take the Energy Pool by force.
Crippled, the modrons were then subjected to a genocidal attack by formians, who saw this as an opportunity to try and wipe out their competitors. While the modrons were able to repulse the formians, they lost much territory before a truce was called. Moreover, the inevitables, emotionlessly seeking more materials for themselves to be constructed from, found the modrons easy to push back for a time, gaining greater prominence as they did so.
After this spellbinding history, the article then covers the personality and castes of the modrons, paying special attention to not only rogue modrons, but also exiled ones; exiled modrons are those who are declared so, and have their link to the Energy Pool broken before being cast out (becoming living constructs). The five base modrons are then discussed, each as a separate caste. Modron physiology, advancement, and communication is covered (there are a few exceptions to modrons only being able to communicate with their own caste, as well as those of the next higher and lower ones). After this, PC modrons are covered, both as rogues (who use the normal modron statistics, but with a different alignment) and exiles (who have different PC stats due to the exiling process). Stats are given next for the base five types of modrons, along with three modron-based adventure seeds. Finally, a quick modron ecology is given, along with ECL's for the playable modrons types, as well as where they place on summoning spells, and even a note on having a monodrone familiar! Sidebars cover the living construct subtype, Tony DiTerlizzi's modron memories, and results about modrons on a Knowledge (the planes) check.
Ancient PCs, by Hal Maclean - This article covers playing an Elder, a member of a race that has lived far, far longer than his kind normally does (the article uses the default of having lived at least a thousand years). It opens with methods for how a creature could get to be that old, from methods of having accidentally lived that long, to playing a creature that is naturally ageless. A new background feat (Wedded to History) is given in a sidebar for Elder characters, along with seven different Elder backgrounds that colorfully denote your "style" of Elder (last servant of a forgotten god, a prophecied character, a throwback, etc.). Seven new feats that build on those are then given also. Sidebars cover how to play an ancient character with comparatively low class levels (since most PCs gain all of their levels in a short amount of game time), the new Endless special quality, which lets you live until yoru killed, and a new spell kissed by the ages, that lets you bestow that quality on another.
The Ecology of the Kopru, by Tito Leati - The kopru are covered in grim detail, including their history, physiology, psychology and society, ruins, the Cult of Demogorgon, and an advanced kopru is given. Sidebars cover what you know about them on a Knowledge (nature) check, their use of skull deformation on certain newborn kopru to encourage strong physical and mental growth, their use of special clam shells as a material component to augment spells, kopru with the amphibious special quality, their prophecies, and a very interesting table depicting their number system.
Savage Tidings: Heart of Darkness, by Greg Vaughan - The latest Savage Tidings presents the Totemic Demonslayer prestige class, who arose from the Olmans of the Isle of Dread who needed to push back against the corruption on their Isle. The prestige class itself is covered, along with playing one, their combat roles, lore about totemic demonslayers, an example NPC (Jakara, from the Savage Tide), and what totemic demonslayers know about the Isle of Dread's central plateau.
Volo's Guide: Cormanthor: War Amidst the Trees, by Eric Boyd, with special introduction by Ed Greenwood - This installment of Volo's Guide gives a timeline of Cormanthor over the last two-and-a-half years, and notes that it has spoilers on a fairly diverse range of novels and game products because of that. It then briefly covers some of the factions fighting in and around Cormanthor.
Dragonmarks: Boromar Clan, by Nicolas Logue - The newest Eberron article covers the organized crime family of Sharn that is the Boromar clan. A notation of various family members is given, along with how the family operates, before covering one of their best-kept secret bodyguards. Their affiliation information is then given.
Sage Advice, by Andy Collins - This month, the Sage covers questions about the Tome of Battle.
Class Acts
Adventurer: Elements of Surprise, by Jasin Zujovi - Three replacement class features are given for ninjas, based around the elements of fire, water, an earth (as standard ninjas are like elemental air).
Arcane: Power Word, Spell, by Eric Jansing - Class spell lists are given for the sorcerer/wizard and wu jen of all the spells in the PHB and Spell Compendium that require no somatic components.
Divine: Aztec Mythos II, The second installment of this series covers the gods Chalchihuitlicue and Tlaloc, noting their portfolio, domains, favored weapon, cleric training, quests, prayers, temples, rites, and herald and allies. Sidebars also note the previous article in the series, and alterations to clerical alignment restrictions that should be made when they're clerics of the Aztec gods.
Warrior: Barbarian Guide, by Amber E. Scott - This article summarizes the basic powers and class features of barbarians, with tables for various skill uses and increasing class features. A sidebar covers sundering magic items.
Comics - Nodwick, by Aaron Williams; Dork Tower, by John Kovalic; and The Order of the Stick, by Rich Burlew.
Editorial: The Great Modron Month, by Erik Mona - Erik talks about humor in D&D as being part of the experience of just playing the game with friends and not taking things too seriously (hence the modrons), and not as joke articles.
Scale Mail - Letters this month include complaints about issues whose articles cover only a single subject, praise for issue #352, and thanks for the increased Forgotten Realms coverage.
First Watch - I usually don't cover the First Watch section, but this month's talked about some especially cool stuff, such as Wolfgang Baur's adventure open design, A horror film titled The Dead Matter by Midnight Syndicate, and EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga.
Core Beliefs: Heironeous, by Sean K Reynolds - The newest Core Beliefs article covers the Archpaladin, talking about Heironeous, the role of clerics and paladins in his church, his relationship with other religions, the Knights of the Holy Shielding paladin order, holidays, myths, suggested prestige classes, relics of the faith, three new divine spells (all variants of existing spells), some NPCs in his service, and his planar ally. Sidebars cover the basics about Heironeous, his holy texts, the Shield Lands, the Heironean Code, aphorisms of his religion, and customized summon monster lists.
Return of the Modrons, by Ken Marable - The modrons march again (figuratively speaking)! This article opens by recounting the recent history of the modrons - after what is now called the Rogue March, and Tenebrous vacated the Energy Pool, his lingering taint caused the unthinkable to occur: a secundus objected to the ascension of another besides itself to become the new Primus. It invoked an ancient clause to challenge for the right to ascend. It and another secundus took up a challenge to see who could slay the most chaotic beings in a set period of time. While the uncorrupted secundus cut through slaad on Limbo, the tainted one had his minions go slaughter gnomes on Bytopia. The remaining two secundi found in favor of the one who went to Limbo, as that one had personally undertaken the challenge, and had slain the enemies of Law. Refusing to accept this, since he had (by proxy) slain more chaotic creatures, the tainted secundus left Regulus in a fury, and took nearly a million modrons with him, settling in Acheron to plan to take the Energy Pool by force.
Crippled, the modrons were then subjected to a genocidal attack by formians, who saw this as an opportunity to try and wipe out their competitors. While the modrons were able to repulse the formians, they lost much territory before a truce was called. Moreover, the inevitables, emotionlessly seeking more materials for themselves to be constructed from, found the modrons easy to push back for a time, gaining greater prominence as they did so.
After this spellbinding history, the article then covers the personality and castes of the modrons, paying special attention to not only rogue modrons, but also exiled ones; exiled modrons are those who are declared so, and have their link to the Energy Pool broken before being cast out (becoming living constructs). The five base modrons are then discussed, each as a separate caste. Modron physiology, advancement, and communication is covered (there are a few exceptions to modrons only being able to communicate with their own caste, as well as those of the next higher and lower ones). After this, PC modrons are covered, both as rogues (who use the normal modron statistics, but with a different alignment) and exiles (who have different PC stats due to the exiling process). Stats are given next for the base five types of modrons, along with three modron-based adventure seeds. Finally, a quick modron ecology is given, along with ECL's for the playable modrons types, as well as where they place on summoning spells, and even a note on having a monodrone familiar! Sidebars cover the living construct subtype, Tony DiTerlizzi's modron memories, and results about modrons on a Knowledge (the planes) check.
Ancient PCs, by Hal Maclean - This article covers playing an Elder, a member of a race that has lived far, far longer than his kind normally does (the article uses the default of having lived at least a thousand years). It opens with methods for how a creature could get to be that old, from methods of having accidentally lived that long, to playing a creature that is naturally ageless. A new background feat (Wedded to History) is given in a sidebar for Elder characters, along with seven different Elder backgrounds that colorfully denote your "style" of Elder (last servant of a forgotten god, a prophecied character, a throwback, etc.). Seven new feats that build on those are then given also. Sidebars cover how to play an ancient character with comparatively low class levels (since most PCs gain all of their levels in a short amount of game time), the new Endless special quality, which lets you live until yoru killed, and a new spell kissed by the ages, that lets you bestow that quality on another.
The Ecology of the Kopru, by Tito Leati - The kopru are covered in grim detail, including their history, physiology, psychology and society, ruins, the Cult of Demogorgon, and an advanced kopru is given. Sidebars cover what you know about them on a Knowledge (nature) check, their use of skull deformation on certain newborn kopru to encourage strong physical and mental growth, their use of special clam shells as a material component to augment spells, kopru with the amphibious special quality, their prophecies, and a very interesting table depicting their number system.
Savage Tidings: Heart of Darkness, by Greg Vaughan - The latest Savage Tidings presents the Totemic Demonslayer prestige class, who arose from the Olmans of the Isle of Dread who needed to push back against the corruption on their Isle. The prestige class itself is covered, along with playing one, their combat roles, lore about totemic demonslayers, an example NPC (Jakara, from the Savage Tide), and what totemic demonslayers know about the Isle of Dread's central plateau.
Volo's Guide: Cormanthor: War Amidst the Trees, by Eric Boyd, with special introduction by Ed Greenwood - This installment of Volo's Guide gives a timeline of Cormanthor over the last two-and-a-half years, and notes that it has spoilers on a fairly diverse range of novels and game products because of that. It then briefly covers some of the factions fighting in and around Cormanthor.
Dragonmarks: Boromar Clan, by Nicolas Logue - The newest Eberron article covers the organized crime family of Sharn that is the Boromar clan. A notation of various family members is given, along with how the family operates, before covering one of their best-kept secret bodyguards. Their affiliation information is then given.
Sage Advice, by Andy Collins - This month, the Sage covers questions about the Tome of Battle.
Class Acts
Adventurer: Elements of Surprise, by Jasin Zujovi - Three replacement class features are given for ninjas, based around the elements of fire, water, an earth (as standard ninjas are like elemental air).
Arcane: Power Word, Spell, by Eric Jansing - Class spell lists are given for the sorcerer/wizard and wu jen of all the spells in the PHB and Spell Compendium that require no somatic components.
Divine: Aztec Mythos II, The second installment of this series covers the gods Chalchihuitlicue and Tlaloc, noting their portfolio, domains, favored weapon, cleric training, quests, prayers, temples, rites, and herald and allies. Sidebars also note the previous article in the series, and alterations to clerical alignment restrictions that should be made when they're clerics of the Aztec gods.
Warrior: Barbarian Guide, by Amber E. Scott - This article summarizes the basic powers and class features of barbarians, with tables for various skill uses and increasing class features. A sidebar covers sundering magic items.
Comics - Nodwick, by Aaron Williams; Dork Tower, by John Kovalic; and The Order of the Stick, by Rich Burlew.
Last edited:
Time to go bug Paizo.
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