Dragon #383, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
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ISSUE 383 | JanUary 2010
A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
®
ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT
®
CONTENTS
Features
5
Player’s Handbook 3 debut: tHe Hybrid
By Mike Mearls
Get the scoop on the post-playtest versions of hybrid characters, straight from
PH3
!
52
Class aCts: Wizard
By Peter Lee
Learn the secrets of evokers, wizards who blast their way to success.
54
Class aCts: bard
By Arthur Wright
New options bard can use to harass their foes.
25
invoker essentials
By Robert J. Schwalb
Learn the secrets to building and playing the invoker, divine controller.
57
Class aCts: Warden
By Robert J. Schwalb
Wardens who combat intrusions from the Elemental Chaos, detailed here.
35
devotees oF tHe Gibbous Moon
By Robert J. Schwalb
Learn about these wild shaping druids and the primal spirits they command.
63
Class aCts: sHaMan
By Tavis Allison
New options for shamans and their spirit companions.
40
tHe art oF bindinG
By Russell Jones and Jeramy Pappas
Vestiges are some of the most mysterious entities in the multiverse. Learn
about several new vestiges here!
66
WinninG raCes: HuMans
By Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Humans have a knack for adapting and surviving any conditions. Learn
more about their techniques.
44
Hoard to Get: draGon lair iteMs
By Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
First introduced in
Adventurer’s Vault 2
first introduced lair items. Learn
about these dragon-lair-inspired items that you can add to your own home
base.
70
WinninG raCes: tieFlinGs
By Peter Schaefer
The bloodlines of Bael Turath have spawned many offshoots. Discover
several of these factions.
49
Class aCts: ranGer
Peter Schaefer
New options for your bow ranger.
ColuMns
73
WinninG raCes: dWarves
By Robert. J. Schwalb
Forgeborn dwarves have an affinity for elemental power, thanks to their long
ago f light from their giant masters.
4
editorial
82
desiGn & develoPMent
By R&D Staff
Another behind the scenes look at the creation of
the D&D game.
85
ConFessions oF a Full-tiMe Wizard
By Shelly Mazzanoble
D&D
’s “Player-in-Chief ” shares more of her
wisdom and insight.
88
D&D
aluMni
By Bart Carroll and Steve Winter
A look back at
D&D
through past editions.
91
rPGa rePort
By Chris Tulach
The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn
more about how to get involved!
94
aMPersand
By Bill Slavicsek
Bill discusses more of the changes in store for
D&D
in 2009.
76
CHannel divinity: kord
By Robert J. Schwalb
Weakness is not acceptable in Kord’s eyes. Learn how to better harness the
Storm Father’s strength.
79
WHere do i CoMe FroM?
By Peter Schaefer
New backgrounds for your hero, available in no time!
on tHe Cover
Illustration by Daren Bader
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ungeon
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ragon
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com/dnd
E D i T oR i A L
383
ROLEPLAYING TO THE MAX
Dragon
Janua r y 2010
Editor-in-Chief Chris youngs
SeniorArtDirector
Jon Schindehette
WebSpecialist
Steve Winter
WebProduction Bart Carroll
My grandfather was as stubborn as they come. Mulish
doesn’t even begin to describe how obstinate he could
be. it didn’t matter if you showed him documented evi-
dence that he was wrong. He just wouldn’t change his
mind. That said, he was thoughtful, caring, and played
board games with his grandsons at any hour of the day,
so i’m not complaining. Everyone knows someone like
this, and most gamers know someone who roleplays like
this in their games.
i call this person a Roleplaying Mule. This person
settles on a character in a unique manner. The RM com-
mits to a vision in his head and f lat-out refuses to deviate
from it. The vision must be preserved at all costs … even
if doing so means that the rest of the table suffers.
Before i go any further, let me say for the record
that i’m a big fan of a well-roleplayed character. i enjoy
coming up with my character’s personality even more
than i like picking his feats and powers. And i’m a
power gamer, so picking feats and powers is like picking
which cupcake to have—they’re all so delicious! Find-
ing a hook, a role to play, so to speak, is great, but it’s
important to remember that the game is a cooperative
experience. You have your fellow players to consider.
The RM doesn’t do this. He makes deliberate char-
acter choices that can hamper other characters at the
table. Playing a character to extremes can be fun, and
a little interparty conf lict can provide hours of enter-
tainment. one of my favorite characters frequently
misconstrued nearly everything his allies said, but i
learned to watch that i don’t cross the fine line between
occasionally-irritating-in-an-amusing way to outright
infuriating.
Examples of the RM abound. one version of the
character pursues his goals so single-mindedly that he
ignores everything that anyone else at the table is trying
to accomplish. He always want to turn left, even if the
rest of the party is headed right. Another is the player
who builds a character in direct opposition to another
character. The “i hate elves” RM falls into this camp,
made worse when he does so knowing he’s joining a
party with an elf character in it. Another RM deliber-
ately feigns ignorance to the detriment of his party. “i
don’t think my character will understand the message,
so i’m just not going to relay it.”
But the worst examples of RMs, as far as i’m
concerned, are the adventurers who have no right
adventuring at all (“My character’s an agoraphobe and
never leaves the house”) or who are sociopaths (“i kill
the paladin in his sleep” or “i steal the wizard’s gold
when he’s not looking”). Why are these people adventur-
ers? Who would want to hang out with them? if a player
can’t come up with a healthy reason why her character
is palling around with the party, odds are good he’s in it
for the wrong reason.
All of these players typically fall back on the defense
of, “that’s what my character would do.” There are vari-
ants: “i don’t think my character would know that.” or
“This is the character i made.” They boil down to the
same excuse, and regardless of the rationale, it’s lame.
This is a cooperative game. Neither players nor char-
acters should interact like obnoxious teenagers playing
Halo. The people you’re gaming with are friends, and
basic rules of consideration still apply.
Sometimes, the best thing for the game is to actu-
ally act out of character. Just like in real life, sometimes
we’re faced with a situation that forces us to behave in
an uncharacteristic way. Just as we all have choices to
make, and sometimes we give up our preferences for
another, we should follow the same principles in game.
Stubbornly sticking to your guns when it comes to your
character’s personality can end up robbing another
player—or maybe all of them—of their chance to have a
good time. if you’re an extreme roleplayer, keep that in
mind next time that defensive thought, “Well that’s what
my character would do” springs to your mind. Maybe it
is, but … maybe not this time.
How about your game? Tell us about your favorite
oddball character at
. We’d
love to hear from you!
GraphicDesign Keven Smith, yasuyo Dunnett
ContributingAuthors Tavis allison, Jennifer Clarke
Wilkes, russell Jones, Peter Lee,
Mike Mearls, Jeremy Pappas,
Stephen radney-MacFarland,
Peter Schaefer, robert J. Schwalb,
arthur Wright
Developers Peter Schaefer, Stephen
Schubert, rodney Thompson
Editors Michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford,
Miranda Horner
CoverArtist Daren Bader
ContributingArtists alex aparin, Eric Belisle,
Emrah Elmasli, Jason a. Engle,
William O’Connor, Sarah Stone
WebDevelopment Mark a. Jindra
D&DCreativeManager Christopher Perkins
ExecutiveProducer,
D&DInsider Chris Champagne
DirectorofRPGR&D Bill Slavicsek
SpecialThanks
richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, andy
Collins, Bruce r. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Peter Lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mo-
han, Cal Moore, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett, rodney
Thompson, James Wyatt
HYBRID
CHARACTERS
Commentary
andy Collins:
At the risk of generalization, there are
two kinds of characters who blend aspects of multiple
classes: the dabbler and the fusion. The dabbler is the
character who stays mostly true to his or her primary
class, but grabs a small sample of another class’s talents.
in 3rd Edition, the 6th-level fighter/2nd-level rogue
qualified as a dabbler. He had a little sneak attack, a
bunch of extra skill points, trapfinding, and evasion. (i
actually had to go back to my
Player’s Handbook v.3.5
to
confirm all those, which is a little bit sad.) No one would
doubt that this character is mostly fighter, but at the
same time anyone paying attention would recognize the
rogue elements as well.
The fusion character mixes roughly equal portions of
two classes, creating a unique combination that often fits
the mold neither of one class nor the other. if you played
a 4th-level fighter/4th-level cleric in 3rd Edition D&D,
you played a fusion character. You certainly weren’t a
true cleric, but you had enough spells to cast that it was
hard to call you a fighter.
aC:
in 4th Edition, we decided to support the dab-
bler archetype first and most strongly. Not only did
we believe that more characters fell into that category
than the fusion category, but we also worried about the
lengths required to twist our brand-new class and role
framework into a fusion-supporting system. We knew
that simple multiclassing couldn’t encompass every com-
bination of character abilities that players had come to
know and love (or hate, in some cases) from previous edi-
tions of the game, but we didn’t want to sacrifice our new
class structure to support fusion multiclassing.
mm:
Back during the 4E design period i fought for a
more robust multiclassing system that would encompass
fusion characters, but ultimately the realities of time
and complexity won the day. Andy promised that we’d
explore a fusion system later on, when everyone became
more comfortable tweaking the familiar character
tropes.
By Mike Mearls
Commentary by Andy Collins
and Mike Mearls
mike mearls:
3rd Edition tried to support both of these
characters with the same system. it worked well for
some builds, but also encouraged some truly bizarre
character constructions (characters with levels in five
or more classes weren’t that unusual).
aC:
Because we all remembered this discussion, when
Mike was tabbed to lead the design on
Player’s Handbook
3
, it came as no surprise to see the hybrid system—then
called “dual-class”—show up in his outline.
You’ve seen playtest versions of the hybrid rules, but
now we can present the final version slated for inclu-
sion in
Player’s Handbook 3
. These rules incorporate
feedback from readers just like you.
This debut content also presents the hybrid arti-
ficer class for the first time ever. You’ll have to wait
for
Player’s Handbook 3
for the hybrid versions of the
classes appearing in that book. We haven’t forgot-
ten about the assassin; that class gets its own special
hybrid treatment right here in the pages of
Dragon
magazine soon enough.
invading horde, she retires from military service to enter an
adventuring career as a warlord/wizard.
in the
Player’s Handbook
, these rules let you ref lect a
more varied array of character abilities than tradi-
tional classes do. Whether you’re doing this to ref lect
your character’s elaborate backstory, to combine dif-
ferent mechanical elements to create a potent new
combination, or to fill out a group that needs just a
little something extra, the end result is the same:
Your hybrid character gives up depth of ability in
exchange for greater f lexibility.
A lone barbarian from the far north travels to the gleaming
cities of the south, where a local thieves’ guild recruits him
as hired muscle. Along the way, he picks up several tricks
of cunning and wit, all the better to defeat those who think
him nothing more than a savage. When he later becomes
an adventurer, this barbarian/rogue relies on both his tal-
ents as a burglar and his ability to unleash the raging beast
that still lurks within his heart.
HYBRIDS AND ROLES
When you combine two classes of the same role (such
as fighter and paladin), you can expect your character
to be about as effective in filling that role as a single-
class character of the same role.
A young apprentice wizard is forced into the military when
her hometown is sacked by orcs. After leading a squadron
in the baron’s army for three months to drive back the
The hybrid character rules allow you to combine
elements of two character classes into a whole. Effec-
tively, you create a brand-new class from portions
of two classes. Like the multiclass feats introduced
TM & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. all rights reserved.
De c emb e r 2009
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Dragon 382
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