4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

4.5 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: Daniel Marthaler
• Released: March 10, 2010

Unique among the classes which summon other creatures to their aid, the creatures that a wizard summons are not necessarily willing or friendly.  However, up to now, there hasn’t been any real acknowledgment of that fact except in the flavor for why the summons didn’t do anything when not commanded (a property that all summons, except the druid’s, share).  Presumably this meant that the creatures that wizards were summoning with these powers were so much weaker than the wizard, that he didn’t have to worry about them getting out of control.

That changes with this article. In it you’ll find 14 daily summoning powers (2 at each daily power level) which summon creatures who have an “Intrinsic
Nature.” This functions identiacally to the Instinctive Nature of a druid’s summons, specifying actions that the creature will take if you don’t give it an order on your turn.  However, unlike the Instinctive Nature of a druid’s summons, the Intrinsic Nature of one of these summons won’t necessarily be beneficial.  Indeed, it always includes a backlash effect that specifically targets the summoning wizard and when not commanded, these creatures don’t differentiate between allies and enemies.  This makes them much more dangerous to employ.

So what do you get for this trade-off?  Well, the attacks that the summoned creatures have are slightly more powerful, and we’re talking a reasonable increase: 2d6 (at up to two creatures) or 1d10 (in close burst 1) damage for the two first level summons vs. 1d8 (at one creature) for the old level 1 summons.  In addition there is a power increase comes in the Symbiosis ability of each summons.  So long as the summoned creature remains around, the wizard gets a special benefit which ranges from extra damage, to defense bonuses, to effects which are more traditionally controller in nature.

Sounds like a no-brainah, doesn’t it?  However, these summons also give up the Opportunity Action attack that summoned creatures normally get.  As a result, I think that these summons are pretty well balanced.  Sure, they have a substantial extra kick to them, but the wizard takes a substantial risk in using them.  I like this flavor shift and hope to see the wizard summons continue to develop along this line to really set them apart from the summons that other classes have.

Now if we could just get some differentiation beyond flavor for the Artificier and/or Invoker summons (the other two classes with a significant number of summoning powers).

The only thing that prevents me from giving this article a perfect rating are two editorial mistakes.  First, one of the powers is listed as a Standard Action instead of the normal Minor Action for summoning powers (a mistake, I think).  Second, the Symbiosis ability for each power are needlessly repetitious.

5 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: John Shirley
• Released: February 26, 2010

This is the first of my make up reviews for my week long vacation and actually is of an article that supposedly was published before I left (though I didn’t see it then).  A piece of short fiction, the article is an entertaining read and a decent half-an-hour to an hour’s diversion.  Who knows, it might even inspire an encounter or adventure idea.

Articles remaining in the backlog:

• The Minotaurs of Mistwatch
• The Crossroads
• Beyond Essentials ...
• Elemental Motes
• Ritually Speaking
• The Kalashtar

4 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: Craig Bishell
• Released: March 09, 2010

The Valenar of Eberron are renown horsemen, fighting with speed and agility both with their traditional mounts and without.  However, prior to this article very little has been published in support of this distinctive trait.  Really, other than the Valenar background and the Reborn Champion epic destiny, there’s nothing specific to the Valenar.  This article changes that, providing 7 heroic feats, 2 paragon feats, a weapon style feat set for fighters and rangers (3 feats total), and a paragon path.  None require the Valenar background, a deliberate choice explained in a sidebar to make the more easily portable to non-Eberron settings, but all help an elf character exemplify the mastery of blade, beast, and bow that characterizes the Valenar.

I’m on vacation all this week (March 1-5) and thus won’t be able to write reviews for the articles that come out this week.  Look for me to attempt to get caught up the following week (and probably laugh at the results).

3 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: James Wyatt
• Released: February 24, 2010

James seems to be on something of an adventure down memory lane.  Last month he spent time reviewing the games he’s run over his 10 year tenure at WotC.  This month, he goes back even further and looks at some of the games he ran in what he refers to as his “civilian days.” In particular he focuses on two for which he designed campaign worlds: Aquela and The Imperium Romanum.

The first was a water world that he made while in high school and James spends much of article space about this CS figuring out how he would translate the ideas and tenants of Aquela into a 4e campaign.

The second was a shared campaign world in which he and several friends each staked out a region in the first century Roman Empire in which to run a game.  Characters would move between the regions “somewhat freely.” In this case, much of the article space is devoted to a review of some of the DM advice that James wrote for the other DMs in that campaign.  Most of it is vague hints, but there is some reminiscing on a particular piece of advice: letting characters drive the plot.  It’s the kind of advice that is regularly given to writers and one which is somewhat problematic in any RPG like D&D because there are two different kinds of characters: PCs and NPCs.  The trick is balancing the two correctly.  Unfortunately, James doesn’t spend any time talking about that, but simply uses that bit of advice as a reminder that he needs to spend more time really fleshing out the NPCs in his Greenbrier campaign.

Overall, I find the article an interesting read, but not one that is terribly informative.  It’s not even providing advice by example.  I seriously hope that next month James gets back to work on his Greenbrier campaign or at least offers some concrete advice on DMing.

2.5 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: Matt James
• Released: February 23, 2010

Within the Forgotten Realms, Ikemmu occupies a fairly unique position, having a presence in both the Shadowfell and the Underdark.  This makes it a crossroads for some fairly unique trade and a good place for your paragon tier PCs to visit.  With origins buried in pre-Spellplauge times, the layout of city is largely vertical, not horizontal, another feature that is bound to cause some players no end of frustration or enjoyment depending on their ability to move in three dimensions.

Something about the article, however, doesn’t work for me.  I can’t put my finger on why, but I had trouble following the article and using it to assemble a picture of the city in my mind.  Maybe I was simply distracted as I was reading it, but even with other things going on around me I don’t usually have this much trouble following what I’m reading.  As a result, I’m more inclined to think that there’s something that just isn’t working for me in the article.

In addition to the description of the city, the article also contains a regional background for FR players who want to play characters who hail from Ikemmu a pseudo-encounter in the city (a level 2 skill challenge which seems out of place in a city which should be targeted to paragon tier adventurers) and the stat block for 1 NPC that plays a prominent role in the city’s military.

3.5 out of 5 stars

• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Author: Robert J. Schwalb
• Released: February 23, 2010

While the article title might suggest that this is a whole new build for warlords, it’s really nothing more than a series of new powers: 7 encounter, 7 daily, and 5 utility.  The powers are focused around granting your allies actions, be they attacks, moves, or something a bit more unique.  As a result, they work very well when the warlord has defender or striker allies who need help getting into position or whose attacks would be more potent than the warlord’s own.  If you’re a subscriber to the theory that the best defense is a good offense or have another leader around to share the healing load, then these powers are just up your alley.

What the powers don’t do is make the warlord himself any more subtle or stealthy.  In this sense, then the word “commando” in the title is slightly misleading as it carries connotations of stealth and surprise.  A warlord with these powers would make a good special forces commander, drawing out the best of the specialties of each person under their command, so its not totally unjustified, it’s just that I was picturing something a bit more subtle when I saw the word “commando.”

Add to that some editing errors, and the repetitiveness of some of the powers (Orchestrated Offensive, Call to Action, and Victory By Design all do basically the same thing just at different levels) and the article just doesn’t feel well put together.  It feels to me like a brainstorm for a new warlord build that was pushed out in this format to fill an article slot.