Dragon 105 (january 1986).pdf

D RAGON 1

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

BETRAYED! — Designed by Jim Bengtson

A new challenge for AD&D® game player characters

Publisher

Mike Cook

Editor-in-Chief

Kim Mohan

Editorial staff

Patrick Lucien Price

Roger Moore

Art director and graphics

Roger Raupp

Subscriptions

Georgia Moore

Advertising

Mary Parkinson

Contributing editors

Ed Greenwood

Katherine Kerr

This issue's contributing artists

Robin Wood

Roger Raupp

Marvel Bullpen

David Trampier

Ted Goff

A.J. Toos

Joseph Pillsbury

Richard Tomasic

E.B. Wagner

Stephen Hearon

Larry Elmore

OTHER FEATURES

Leomunds Tiny Hut Lenard Lakofka

Toning down the new demi-human PC races

Travel works both ways Paul Vernon

PCs arent the only characters on the road

Seeing is believing Geoffrey Meissner

It isnt easy, but heres a look at invisibility

The rest of the Papers

Odds and ends to add to our centaur coverage

The well-equipped victim Ed Greenwood

Detailed treasure types for O-level encounters

A world of difference Fraser Sherman

Use parallel worlds to open up new gaming vistas

Spys advice Merle M. Rasmussen

Answers and suggestions for the TOP SECRET® game

On the Rocks at Slabs -John Gregory Betancourt

Tavern patrons protect their happy haunting grounds

DEPARTMENTS

3 Letters

4 World Gamers Guide

6 The forum

6 0 TSR Previews

62 TSR Profiles

69 The ARES Section

86 Convention calendar

90 Wormy

92 Dragonmirth

94 Snarfquest

COVER

People are still writing in to say how much they liked Robin Woods first cover paint-

ing, back on issue #97. This piece depicts an entirely different scene, but we expect the

painting to be just as popular as its predecessor. Through the aid of a ring of flying,

this magic-user is able to do battle with these giant bats on her own terms. That big

bat in the foreground is about to find out the hard way what a lightning bolt spell is

like and its not even grounded.

2 J ANUARY 1986

For Paul

Here we go again

bling the amount. Determine raw double dam-

age first; e.g., an arrow +1 does 2-7 points of

damage, so raw double damage would be 4-

14 (2d6 + 2). A 14th-level archer also gets +7 on

damage and an extra +1 for using a magic

arrow, for a total of 12-22. Thats enough dam-

age, isnt it? Id make the archer live with his

generally lower number of attacks per round (he

never gets better than 3/1), as some compensation

for his greater ability to hit and damage.

You'll need to solve other problems to make the

two systems mesh smoothly; for instance, they

differ in the definition of point-blank and short

range. Maybe youll want to rule that an archer

who benefits from some of the aspects of weapon

specialization can never have proficiency with

anything but a bow. You can use the two systems

side-by-side, or you can mesh one into the other

without making the archer too powerful.

Its easy to lose track of whats really

important in life when you spend day after

day doing the same things. Anyone who

has a job, goes to school, or runs a house-

hold knows what I mean.

Once in a while, though, something

happens during one of those monotonous

days something that almost seems

designed to shake us out of our ruts and

get us thinking about what counts. I had

one of those experiences on the day before

Thanksgiving, when I received a letter

from a familiar address in San Diego.

It was Paul Crabaughs address, but it

was his mother who wrote the letter. She

wanted me to know, by means of what she

called the letter a mother should never

have to write, that Paul died of cancer on

Nov. 17, at the age of 29.

The news hit me right between the eyes

and sunk into the part of my brain thats

In Charge of Priorities. Paul had been a

regular contributor to DRAGON® Maga-

zine longer than I had been on the staff.

Over the years he had become one of my

many long-distance friends. He sent in

lots of articles, practically all of which

were accepted and printed. He always

wrote in a casual style that I enjoyed and

envied a style that made it seem as

though he didnt have a care in the world.

And maybe he didnt. He knew he was

sick, of course, and he did what he could

to fight the disease. But he never once

gave in, or even admitted his pain and

discomfort, said his mother. Right up to

his last hours he was looking ahead to

various articles and projects. In fact, he

enjoyed a gaming session with some of his

friends the day before he died.

Paul Montgomery Crabaughs name

will appear on only one more article in

this magazine a piece we accepted a

few months ago, and which will be printed

within another issue or two. But his con-

tribution to the magazine will go on for as

long as people keep buying back issues

and taking advantage of the knowledge

and insight in the pieces he wrote. And his

contribution to me will last even longer

than that. Whenever I get bummed out

about the problems I have to solve in my

life, Im going to try to remember Paul

and what he had to tackle. From now on,

Im going to see problems such as making

a deadline and balancing my budget for

what they are small obstacles, easily

overcome.

I realize now that my problems are not

big ones, and Im grateful for that. But if

I ever have to deal with a real problem, I

hope Ill be as strong and courageous

about it as Paul was.

Ill miss him.

Dear Editor,

Page 11 of Unearthed Arcana says that no

instances are known of half-elves descended from

grugach stock. However, in the article Arcana

update in issue #103, it says on page 12 that A

half-elf of wild descent cannot become a cleric, a

ranger, or a magic-user.

Based on this evidence, either (a) The rule on

half-elves of wild descent from Unearthed Arcana

is removed; (b) An error was made in issue #103;

or (c) Wild elves can toss humans a long way.

Which is it?

Nicholas Leahy

Boise, Idaho

Thanks, Nicholas. I love multiple-choice tests,

and I love making corrections to an article about

corrections. . . . The answer, of course, is (b). I

used the offending sentence in issue #103 as an

example to illustrate how certain classes were

prohibited to certain half-elves, and I didn't stop

to think that no half-elves can be of wild elf

descent in the first place.

Technically, the statement is accurate — there

is no such thing as a half-grugach cleric, or

ranger, or magic-user. What it doesn't say is that

there is also no such thing as a half-grugach

fighter, or thief, or illusionist, or . . . .

—

Back to the dogs

—

Dear Dragon,

Thanks for another great article by Stephen

Inniss (A dozen domestic dogs, issue #103).

One additional fact on water dogs is that the

webbing between their toes extends much farther

toward their nails than that of non-water dogs.

This increases their swimming efficiency and

speed, and the length of time they can spend in

the water over what their brethren can do.

Also, in the Costs table on page 28, an entry

for food dog is listed. Is this the kind of dog

used to hunt rabbits, or is it the kind that would

be served on a plate in Oriental Adventures?

Steve Null

Palm Bay, Fla.

A special archer?

Dear Dragon,

Should the archer NPC class (Best of

DRAGON Vol. III) be allowed to have the ability

of weapon specialization as described in Un-

earthed Arcana?

The description of very small normal dogs

mentions that some of the canines in this category

are raised for the cooking pot. This is what the

entry on the costs table refers to. A dog for hunt-

ing rabbits will probably be a small fighter or a

medium runner (in Stephens system) and will

cost 17 gp, as per the Players Handbook. KM

Adam Lidz

Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

If youre using the unofficial archer NPC

hit and damage given in that article should be

retained, not replaced by the combat bonuses

given in Arcana for specialization with a bow.

Those original bonuses are part of what makes an

archer an archer; besides, from 4th level on,

theyre better than the bonuses given to a bow

specialist. On top of that, the archer gets an extra

+1 when using any magical bow or arrow. If you

find these advantages too powerful, you can treat

the archer more like a regular bow specialist. But

if these advantages haven't caused any game-

balance problems in your campaign, then theres

no reason to replace them with the lower bonuses.

I can't think of a logical reason why archers

should be denied the benefit of the other aspects

of weapon specialization. If a bow specialist who

begins the round with arrow nocked, shaft

drawn, and target in sight is entitled to loose that

arrow prior to any initiative check, then an

archer should be able to do this, too. An archer

should be able to do increased damage at point-

blank range just as a bow specialist can, but dont

add in the archers damage bonus before dou-

A jump too far

Dear Dragon,

I found the article Short hops and big drops

(#93) very useful. However, it does not mix with

the Unearthed Arcana version of jumping. The

book says a thief-acrobat with 15 strength and 16

dexterity can make a running broad jump of 9

feet at sixth level, and any other character can

broad jump 8 feet. But in the article, a character

with combined strength and dexterity of 31 would

have a basic jump number of 9, which would be

doubled to 18 feet for a running broad jump.

Could you clarify this?

Peter Colucci

Alta Loma, Calif.

Youve clarified it very well, Peter. The two

systems are drastically different in most respects

D RAGON 3

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