D&D Insider Review: Dragon Magazine #380
By Nick - November 12, 2009
I’ve compiled a bunch of mini-reviews together for each article detailed in this issue of Dragon magazine.
The Seeker
Abyssal Genasi
The equivalent to deformed in the Genasi community, their abyssal counterparts are shunned for their bizarre manifestations. Genasi are closely connected to the elemental planes of existance and in the cosmology of their world, a great infernal abyss sits next to it. These genasi aren’t not evil by nature, but their neglect and isolation could push them towards such things.
I thought these guys were very cool. I bet there are plenty of players out there that would like to be a poison or psychic Genasi but haven’t really gotten the chance until now. This also opens the door for more Genasi types, maybe even ones that are pure and are based on radiant energy.
There are just a few feats and a paragon paths for each corrupt Genasi type. This puts them pretty much exactly on par with their non-corrupt counterparts in terms of options. They avoided the mistake of making these guys fit too much into their own category.
Barbarian Essentials: The Way of Rage
The Class Essentials series of articles gives a bunch of advice on how to make an effective character while introducing some new feats, powers, and some other options as well.
The focus of the new Barbarian options really focus on their Rage feature instead of on their Feral Might options.
There’s an array of advice here for what kind of characters you should make if you plan on being a Barbarian. This advice is probably the most useful to those who aren’t extremely knowledgeable on the class, the rules, or the races they have to choose from.
The options here don’t compare to Primal Power, but the new items introduced are very specific to Barbarian utility. It’s refreshing to see this much equipment that is specifically tailored for an individual class.
Wizard Essentials: Secrets of the Spiral Tower
A little more inspired than some of the other Class Essentials articles because of a little side note on Themed Spellcasters. You of course have the options of picking up feats for your Implement specialization, but you can also pick up feats to focus on illusions or a specific kind of energy. This fits an idea that I’ve noticed they’re playing with a little more lately in more recent Dragon articles; the idea of picking up new features that make your character resemble a prestige class at Heroic tier levels.
Though plenty of the powers and feats here focus on energy based spells, the focus seems to lie on illusions. Illusionary Stealth is worth noting for its adventuring utility. There are quite a few powers here that also require a specific kind of implement to be wielded in order to cast it. The Tome Adept Paragon Path finally gives those players that want their Wizard to be a true bookworm something to aim for.
Character Concepts: Kiel and Rasa
The two characters are not only pretty cool, but the details on them are incredibly in depth. This is the first time I’ve seen an NPC have every little detail of their progress mapped out so you can drop them into the middle of any tier of adventure and have them progress with the characters simultaneously.
Compared to the NPCs i’ve seen detailed in adventure modules and the DMGs, these guys are hands down the most detailed on a technical stand point.
Channel Divinity: The Raven Queen’s Champions
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Dragonshard Items
These are items made from Dragonshards, not more Dragonshards like those that have already been featured in the Eberron Player’s Guide. I’m glad actually because that wouldn’t have been quite as original.
Each item here features a hefty amount of lore, far more than I’m used to see for most magic items. Usually these kind of entries are reserved for Artifacts. This makes the plot surrounding a lot of the items from the Adventurer’s Vault look pretty thin.
The item I like the most is probably the Tempest Fan. It’s such an odd visual for a Wizard to be wielding a fan instead of a staff or wand. The power that it gets is quite hefty as well; a teleport that explodes into lightning when you arrive at your new location. The only problem with it is that it doesn’t specify what kind of implement it counts as, so it makes it hard to determine what kind of Wizard implement options should benefit from using it.
Playing Vistani
Big Things in Small Packages
Ninefold Master: This is one of the, if not best, Paragon Paths a Dragonborn could choose. The simple bonus of their racial power becoming an Arcane power makes it eligible for a ridiculous number of feats and Epic Destiny features.
Martial Practices: Seems obvious but I guess it took some time to development the concept solidly. These are odd little skill-check based exploits that require some specific supplies. I’m very happy to see this integrated because it helps a party get through an adventure without needing a ritual caster. I’m incredibly excited to see what other Martial Practices they’re going to introduce.
Overall
This was definitely one of the more robust issues they’ve had. For the Seeker alone I would have felt very good about this issue, but the Vistani and a wonderful start to the new Character Concepts series of articles really pushed it over the top. If they use this issue as a model for how to do Dragon magazine in the future, I think that would be a very good thing.
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