TEXT: A Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game Supplement
  ISSUE 391  |  SEptEmbEr 2010
  
  Features
  Contents
  	 5	
  Dark	sun:	Hunters	in	tHe	WastelanD
  By Chris Sims 
  Ferocious beasts roam the wild places of Athas, making them deadly regions 
  for travelers. But the wastelands are also fertile ground for hunters.
  	 12	
  sHaDar-kai	in	tHe	realms
  By Robert J. Schwalb
  The shadar-kai are new to Faerûn, and they have much to learn as they 
  explore their new home.
  	 18	
  Playtest:	essentials	assassin
  By Rodney Thompson
  The Player’s Essentials assassin makes its entrance in playtest form. We want 
  your feedback!
  	 38	
  Class	aCts:	BattleminDs
  By Scott Fitzgerald Gray
  The Ghosts of Nerath are among the last remnants of that fallen empire. 
  Their quest is to restore the ancient glory that was lost.
  ®
  	 41 	
  Class	aCts:	essentials	PyromanCer
  By Mike Mearls
  The school of pyromantic magic attracts a certain type of mage: the 
  aggressive, the impatient, the angry, and sometimes the doomed.
  	 45	
  Class	aCts:	essentials	staFF	FigHter
  By Rodney Thompson
  The staff is an ancient and simple weapon. Its unpretentious appearance can 
  mask an efficient lethality.
  	 49	
  Winning	raCes:	DWarves	oF	tHe	all-FatHer
  By Matt Sernett
  Dwarves honor Moradin through prayer and tradition. We honor dwarves 
  with a selection of new feats.
  	 52	
  Winning	raCes:	genasi
  By Peter Schaefer
  Too many genasi lead lives of forced servitude in the Elemental Chaos. The 
  Amethyst Sea exists to free them.
  	 55	
  Winning	raCes:	muls
  By Robert J. Schwalb
  Muls are iconic to the harsh world of Athas, but you can still import them to 
  other campaigns.
  
  	 59	
  Bazaar	oF	tHe	Bizarre:	
  	
  	
  griFnar’s	WeaPon	sHoP
  By Mike Mearls
  Grifnar’s Weapon Shop is tiny and uninviting, and Grifnar himself is grumpy 
  and unpleasant, but his weapons are top-notch.
  	 62	
  FiCtion:	tHe	WatCHers	at	tHe	living	gate
  By Paul Park
  A shaman finds himself lured to the Feywild. There he will serve as a tool in 
  an eladrin’s dangerous attempt to seal a living gate.
  Columns
  on	tHe	Cover
  Illustration by Eva Widermann
  	 	4	
  eDitorial
  By Steve Winter
  Introducing Unearthed Arcana, an expedition into 
  the unknown and the unexpected.
  	 75	
  amPersanD
  By Bill Slavicsek
  Bill returns to his usual schedule, but that doesn’t 
  mean he has less to say.
  	 79	
  Design	&	DeveloPment:	
  	
  	 	
  skill	CHeCks
  By Stephen Schubert
  Shoe discusses the adjusted DCs for skill checks, 
  where they came from, and why they’re important.
  	 82	
  ConFessions	oF	a	Full-time	WizarD
  By Shelly Mazzanoble
  D&D’s “Player-in-Chief” shares her experiences 
  at PAX.
  	 85	
  D&D	alumni
  By Bart Carroll
  Bart rides the Wayback Machine to revisit the 
  knight class.
  	 90	
  D&D	Play	rePort
  By Chris Tulach
  Chris offers exciting details on the summer 
  shows gone by and visions of Gamma World 
  events to come.
  Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten realms, Eberron, Dungeon, Dragon, d20, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their 
  respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries.
  this material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is  
  prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. this product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events 
  is purely coincidental. printed in the U.S.A. ©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC.
  No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. For more Dungeons & Dragons articles, adventures, and information, visit www.wizards.
  com/dnd
  
  E D I T o r I A l
  391
  Dr agon
  September 2010
  Unearthing  
  Unearthed Arcana
  our ever-inventive research and Development Team 
  and writers churn out a lot of material, not all of which 
  makes it into a published product. Some gets cut 
  because a manuscript is too long and something’s gotta 
  go; some is rejected for thematic, story, or marketing 
  reasons; some represents speculative forays into terri-
  tory that looks promising, but no one knows for certain 
  how it will pan out until actual prospecting is done; and 
  some is written in spare corners of time for home cam-
  paigns or just for fun.
   
  We don’t think “it wouldn’t fit” is a good enough 
  excuse to deprive our readers of some dynamite ideas. 
  With that in mind, we’re reintroducing Unearthed 
  Arcana, a venue where we can present fascinating, 
  off-beat, envelope-stretching Dungeons & Dragons 
  material that might not be seen any other way.
   
  It kicks off this month; tomorrow, in fact. The first 
  installment, by Peter Schaefer, uses a modified disease 
  format to offer up a menu of curses (as in, when the 
  knob-nosed witch lays a curse on you that gold will 
  bring you nothing but misery). In the future, you might 
  see rules for more detailed critical hits, twisted paragon 
  paths or epic destinies, gunpowder weapons, wizards’ 
  duels, bizarre campaign outlines ... we won’t put limits 
  on the possibilities.
   
  All of this comes with one big caveat: none of what 
  you’ll read in Unearthed Arcana has been through 
  our normal development cycle. It’s all experimental, 
  optional, and unofficial. You won’t find it in the D&D 
  Compendium or Character Builder. Customer Service 
  won’t provide official answers to questions about unof-
  ficial rules.
   
  read it, play with it, stress it, twist it to your heart’s 
  content. If something here goes over especially well, it 
  could even wind up back on the table of contents for a 
  future product.
   
  Most of all, let us know what you think at 
  dndinsider@wizards.com.
  Editor-in-Chief
  Senior Art Director
  Web Production
  Contributing Authors 
   
   
   
   
  Developers
  Editor
  Cover Artist
  Contributing Artists 
   
  Publishing Production 
  Specialists
  Web Development
  Executive Producer, 
  D&D Insider
  Director of RPG R&D
  Steve Winter
  Jon Schindehette
  bart Carroll
  Scott Fitzgerald Gray,  
  Shelly mazzanoble, mike mearls, 
  paul park, peter Schaefer,  
  Stephen Schubert,  
  robert J. Schwalb, matt Sernett, 
  Chris Sims, rodney thompson
  Jeremy Crawford,  
  Stephen Schubert, Greg bilsland
  miranda Horner
  Eva Widermann
  Alexey Aparin, Eric belisle,  
  mathias Kollros, Slawomir maniak, 
  William O’Connor,  
  Craig J. Spearing, Kent Williams
  Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries,  
  Christopher tardiff
  mark A. Jindra
  Christopher perkins
  bill Slavicsek
  Special Thanks
  richard baker, Josh Dillard, Chris Sims, Chris tulach, Chris Youngs
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  5
  By Chris Sims F Illustrations by Alexey Aparin
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  Behold these mighty 
  judagas. They have 
  tamed the forest 
  demons and claimed 
  the head of the beast 
  that troubled us. 
  Let them divide the 
  bones as trophies, 
  bind the monster’s 
  spirit in its skull, and 
  prosper well with 
  their spoils. They 
  make our land safer. 
  Honor them well.
   
  —Lalali-Puy, 
  Oba of Gulg
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  6
  In the bleakness of Athas, opportunity exists only 
  where the bold seek it and take it. Those who wish to 
  remain free avoid political struggles and the risks of 
  crime. They instead sell sword and spell for wealth 
  and glory, and perhaps, the good of those weaker 
  than they are. Countless such mercenaries people the 
  city-states.
   
  A few among these free warriors find their 
  fortunes by facing the horrors of the wastes. Such 
  hunters keep streets safe by flushing unwelcome 
  monsters from hidden dens within settlements. They 
  ply their craft along trade routes to allow softer souls 
  easier passage. Sometimes, monster hunters bring 
  prey back alive for taming or arena spectacles.
   
  Success in the hunt brings myriad rewards. In the 
  wilderness, a defeated creature’s corpse can provide 
  supplies and raw materials for clothing, weapons, 
  and goods that are less mundane. Captured creatures 
  can be sold as exotic pets or fodder for gladiatorial 
  bouts. Hunters, having willingly faced innumerable 
  situations and dangers, become tougher and wilier 
  over time. They hone their skills for the job, and 
  on occasion, their wounds heal with unpredictable 
  effects from the supernaturally twisted ecology. Scars 
  become assets, carrying power within them.
  Hunting for fame 
  and Profit
  life is cheap on Athas; resources are precious. 
  Becoming a monster hunter means living a life of 
  meaning by providing safety and resources for your 
  patrons and others. Hunters live boldly, seeking out 
  danger and traveling far from the oppression of city 
  authorities. 
   
  Some hunters act as tools of the local govern-
  ment by capturing, dispersing, or killing dangerous 
  humanoids. Wise hunters avoid legal or political 
  entanglements by hunting universally hated pests 
  and monsters rather than criminals or dissidents who 
  might have important allies. 
   
  A group of successful hunters returns to civiliza-
  tion with proof of exploits that bring respect from 
  citizens of all types, from templar to slave. That proof 
  is usually in a form that can prove valuable. Hunters 
  who endure the travails of their risky career are sure 
  to become folk heroes and possibly even wealthy.
  Hunter Traditions
  Culture varies among the seven cities. So do the tradi-
  tions that support and define monster hunters in the 
  city-states.
  Balic
  A sense of civil duty and a desire to be remembered 
  in civic mythology—immortalized in play and poem 
  or the Temple of Heroes—motivates Balican hunters. 
  Although the democracy of Balic is a sham, the patri-
  cians’ and templars’ power and desire for reelection 
  makes them ideal patrons for hunters. lesser scions 
  of noble houses have garnered honor for their fami-
  lies by taking on the service role of monster hunter. 
  Given the community spirit of Balican hunters, 
  they are humbler than their Tyrian counterparts, at 
  least in appearance. Balic has a tradition of gladi-
  atorial combat as rich as Tyr’s, and Balic also offers 
  easy access to the Silt Sea and the Southern Wastes. 
  Slaying or capturing giants is considered among the 
  highest of heroics in Balic. 
  Draj
  Through the astrological charts which most Draji 
  have drawn up for newborns, the stars call some to 
  the heroics of monster hunting. other hunters come 
  from among the jasuan knights and lesser warriors 
  sworn to the knights who carry on a family tradition 
  or hope to make a name. Moon priests, those trained 
  in the Way in the House of the Mind, and magically 
  talented calmec scholars might also be part of a hunt-
  ing party. Hunters have the opportunity to provide 
  amusements for the Palace of Gladiatorial Combat as 
  well as for the royal Menagerie. The highest honor 
  a Draji hunter can aspire to is to have Tectuktitlay 
  monster Hunting: a 
  Player-driven CamPaign
  When you take on the role of a monster hunter 
  in Athas, you take some control of the course 
  of your campaign. At the very least, you’re tell-
  ing your Dm that you want to face the worst 
  Athas has to offer. You’re also suggesting that 
  you might want to take on the difficult task 
  of subduing and capturing monsters for vari-
  ous reasons, from supplying the local arena to 
  gathering materials for alchemical items. You 
  might also decide you want to tame, train, 
  and sell creatures. the Dm can then structure 
  encounters, skill challenges, and rewards around 
  your desires. If you’re particularly hands-on and 
  you work it out with your Dm, you might even 
  choose targets and assign yourself quests. Going 
  out and capturing your own crodlus for mounts 
  not only provides a scenario for adventure, it also 
  makes your mounts special to you and allows the 
  Dm to grant your mounts as part of an adven-
  ture’s rewards.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  7
  select one of their subdued beasts for sacrifice upon 
  the Father and Master Temple.
  Gulg
  The jungle and its spirits are enemies in Gulg, as 
  are the terrors that stalk the forests, mountains, 
  and plains near the city. A variety of Gulg’s citizens 
  might join in hunts—judagas, seers, masters of the 
  “evil” primal spirits, and even nganga. Such hunts 
  are primarily for glory and trophies, but they also 
  serve to protect Gulg, gain stock for domestication, 
  and provide combatants for the Field of Spears. The 
  tradition of single combat on the Field of Spears 
  means that few powerful beasts are subdued for 
  return to Gulg. Instead, hunters return with heads 
  and other trophies as proof of their mastery over the 
  forest. Brave hunters venture to the Witchgrove to 
  bring back the heads of fey creatures. The headhunt-
  ing tradition of Gulg is one of the primary sources of 
  magical trophy traditions.
  Nibenay
  Nibenese hunters are calm and practical warriors. 
  Although they respect and display grace, they are 
  given to refined efficiency rather than showmanship. 
  Hunters can provide beasts for Nibenay’s arena, but 
  more money and accolades can come from driving 
  beasts away from Nibenese interests and protecting 
  logging camps against the primal magic of harry-
  ing druids and Gulgan spiritualists. The nobles of 
  Nibenay have an insatiable appetite for the exotic and 
  ample wealth to buy and maintain pets. Merchants of 
  the Sages' District employ hunters for mundane mate-
  rials, while reagents and illicit items such as poisons 
  can find buyers in the Hill District.
  Raam
  The mixing of castes is unusual in raam, yet a group 
  of raamite hunters is likely to contain members of 
  more than one caste. Warriors, priests, and unclean 
  might be found working together in such a party. 
  Without an unclean member, a hunting company is 
  unlikely to deal in anything involving a monster’s car-
  cass. (Some groups are made up entirely of unclean 
  who have unusual skills and talents for their caste.) 
  Hunters might provide arena fodder or find employ-
  ment among merchants, but most work for a nawab 
  to provide battle beasts for the factional warfare 
  common in raam.
  Tyr
  Kalak’s palace in the Golden City is connected 
  directly to the Stadium of Tyr, and that is no result of 
  mere whim. Tyr has a bloody and honor-bound gladi-
  atorial history. While he lived, Kalak rarely missed 
  the games. Those who provide beasts for the arena 
  can become idols as famous as the top gladiators. A 
  hunter does well to cultivate a personality as showy as 
  a gladiator’s battle techniques. Kalak’s death changed 
  nothing about this cult of personality and skill. If any-
  thing, hunters have more opportunity to shine in Tyr 
  now that civil authority is divided among the city’s 
  factions. Patrons abound. A hunter might not even 
  need to leave the city, given the dangers of Under-Tyr. 
  Tyr also rests near diverse terrain types, which means 
  that exotic prey need not be transported long dis-
  tances back to the hunters’ home base.
  Urik
  The meritocracy of Urik’s civic life makes dangerous 
  work attractive. like numerous commoners before 
  them, those who triumph repeatedly in the heroic 
  trade can find themselves not only lauded by the 
  people but also raised in status by influential patrons. 
  The Pit of Black Death has need of monstrous foes 
  for gladiators to face, but the military emphasis of 
  Urik’s culture also places importance on capturing 
  and training beasts for war. leonine beasts are most 
  prized in Urik.
  Other Traditions
   
  Halflings Hunters: Halflings of the Forest 
  ridge are expert trappers and poison users, and 
  they practice strange magic. In a waste-not fashion, 
  they also eat just about anything they kill which 
  is even remotely edible. Hunters among halflings 
  like to take quarry alive to later show off to author-
  ity figures. once a creature’s presentation is done, 
  halflings kill it and strip it of everything useful. 
  Halflings take their traditions with them, so such 
  habits exist even among those who have lived in 
  cities for generations.
   
  Primal Hunters: Hunters who revere primal 
  spirits focus their efforts on creatures destructive 
  to the fragile and waning natural world. Aberrant 
  monsters are common on Athas, as if the warped 
  magic that laid waste to the planet brought the 
  madness of the Far realm close. These enemies 
  are foremost on a primal champion’s hit list, equal 
  only to creatures that use defiling magic. Elemental 
  incursions are also offensive to the worldly order, 
  so primal hunters drive such monsters back to the 
  chaos that spawned them.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  8
   
  Tribal Hunters: Villagers such as Silt Sea archi-
  pelagans, nomads such as the Tamwars, slave tribes, 
  elf tribes, and thri-kreen packs all rely on hunting 
  for survival. Food and supplies might not be the only 
  motivation for such hunting. Small communities 
  count on the strong and bold among the populace to 
  kill or drive out the nightmarish monsters of the wild. 
  Those who practice unusual or forbidden magic are 
  more likely to be found in remote locales, and tribal 
  monster hunters can best provide such practitioners 
  with bizarre reagents.
   
  Veiled alliance Hunters: The Veiled Alliance 
  relies on monster hunters for material components 
  used in rituals, alchemical items, magic items, and 
  reagents. Although the Alliance isn’t necessarily 
  altruistic toward non-arcanists, members act hero-
  ically as hunters to gain popularity among common 
  folk. Public esteem has helped more than one 
  member mask unusual travel and dealings.
  Hunter Teams
  Monster hunting starts with brains. A successful team 
  brings together diverse and useful skills from the 
  planning stage onward. A team should have training 
  in every skill relevant to monster knowledge. Some 
  redundancy is good, especially in Dungeoneering 
  and Nature, because casualties among hunters can be 
  high. If your team has the luxury of choosing a target 
  before the conflict, choose one you know a lot about. 
  Use that foreknowledge to equip yourself properly 
  and plan the confrontation. In this regard, a typi-
  cal monster-hunting team isn’t that different from a 
  normal party of adventurers. 
   
  Also like a normal adventuring party, the group 
  needs to cover all the roles for efficiency, and synergy 
  among the characters is key. A leader in a hunter 
  team needs to focus on powers that boost or grant 
  mobility and allow extra attacks. leader powers such 
  as direct the strike (warlord at-will attack) or ire strike 
  (ardent at-will attack) which allow high-damage party 
  members to attack instead of the leader are also good. 
  Defenders and controllers should focus on powers 
  that take away monster advantages and freedom of 
  action, especially movement. These characters should 
  work to ground creatures that have unusual move-
  ment modes in order to keep such monsters on the 
  group’s level and within attack range. Strikers need 
  to deal lots of damage quickly, but they also must act 
  in a way that aids their teammates. Although a rogue 
  might benefit the most from combat advantage, it’s 
  good for everyone. A timely pressing strike from a bar-
  barian can set up more than one team member for a 
  flank advantage.
   
  As combat unfolds, pay attention to which tactics 
  work and which don’t. learn from your victories but 
  especially from your mistakes. Coordinate powers 
  and other capabilities. retrain when possible to 
  shore up weaknesses in the team’s overall perfor-
  mance rather than your character alone. Working 
  together in this way can be an out-of-game activ-
  ity for players. one or more could even act as DM 
  for single, practice-run encounters to see how your 
  team works as a whole. Warriors don’t just leap into 
  danger; they train for it with rehearsed tactics and 
  adaptable reactions.
  Hunters’ triCks
  A successful hunter uses specialized powers and 
  weapons to surprise foes and keep them off balance. 
  Nets, whips, cahulaks, and similar weapons allow 
  specialists to perform unusual moves and gain con-
  trol over a battlefield.
  Feats
  The feats presented here are available to any charac-
  ter who meets the prerequisites.
  Zadatl Novice
   
  Prerequisite: 4th level, proficiency with the zadatl
   
  Benefit: You can swap one of your 3rd-level or 
  higher encounter attack powers for the zadatl grab 
  power.
  zadatl	grab	
  Attack power
  You lunge forward with your zadatl, twisting it as your strike 
  lands so that your foe is caught in the sharp pincers and held 
  well away from you.
  encounter	F	martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee weapon
  requirement: You must use this power with a zadatl.
  target: One creature of size Large or smaller.
  Primary	attack: Strength or Dexterity vs. reflex
  Hit: 2[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage, and you 
  grab the target with your zadatl. You can end the grab as a 
  free action. If the target escapes the grab, you can make the 
  secondary attack against it as an opportunity action.
  	
  Level	17: 3[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage.
  	
  Level	27: 4[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage
  	 	 secondary	attack
     Attack: Strength or Dexterity vs. Fortitude
  	 	 	 Hit: 1[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage.
   
  Level	27: 2[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  9
  Zadatl Expert
   
  Prerequisite: 8th level, proficiency with the zadatl
   
  Benefit: You can swap one of your 6th-level or 
  higher utility powers for the zadatl expert stance power.
  zadatl	expert	stance	
  Utility power
  You watch for the perfect opening to strike with your zadatl.
  Daily	F	martial,	stance
  minor	action	
  Personal
  effect: You assume the zadatl expert stance. Until the stance 
  ends, when you hit a creature with an at-will weapon 
  attack power using a zadatl, you can use a free action to 
  grab the target with your zadatl. You can end the grab as a 
  free action.
  Zadatl Specialist
   
  Prerequisite: 10th level, proficiency with the zadatl
   
  Benefit: You can swap one of your 9th-level or 
  higher daily attack powers for the zadatl control power.
  zadatl	Control	
  Attack power
  After snagging your foe with your zadatl, you can push it 
  around and trip it if it tries to escape.
  Daily	F	martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee weapon
  requirement: You must use this power with a zadatl.
  target: One creature
  attack: Strength or Dexterity vs. reflex
  Hit: 3[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage, and you 
  grab the target with your zadatl. While you have the target 
  grabbed in this way, the target takes a –2 penalty to escape 
  the grab. In addition, until the grab ends, whenever you 
  move, you can slide the target with you an equal number of 
  squares but it must remain within the zadatl's reach. If the 
  target escapes the grab, you can make the secondary attack 
  against it as an opportunity action.
  	
  Level	25: 4[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage.
  	 	 secondary	attack
     Attack: Strength or Dexterity vs. Fortitude
  	Hit: 2[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage, and 
  the target falls prone.
  miss: this power is not expended.
  Preparation is important. Equipment can make all 
  the difference in a hunter’s or hunting party’s suc-
  cess. readying for a mission means gearing up with 
  attacks and defenses against the intended quarry, 
  from alchemical items to which a creature is vulner-
  able to potion fruits to protect against known attacks. 
  Slain foes provide trophies that can double as useful 
  tools in coming fights. Facing wasteland monstrosities 
  leaves lasting marks on a hunter, and these scars can 
  also become the means to future victories.
  Weapons
  like gladiators, Athasian hunters often rely on supe-
  rior weapons and focused combat methods with 
  such arms. 
   
  Zadatl: Also known as the pincer staff, this Draji 
  polearm was developed to grab and control targets 
  that might be captured for later sacrifice. It consists 
  of a long haft with a crossbar at the end with two 
  pincerlike tines attached. The pincers are often actual 
  mandible pieces from giant insects.
  Adventuring Gear
  Hunters need special gear to bring some monsters 
  back alive.
   
  Cage: Cages are made of strong material to con-
  fine creatures. A cage has equally spaced bars and 
  a door. Bar spacing can be customized to specific 
  creatures. The typical cage can hold two creatures of 
  its size, a creature one size larger (uncomfortably), or 
  four to six creatures one size smaller. (Creatures more 
  than one size smaller than the cage probably will be 
  able to slip out between the bars.) Cages are normally 
  transported on animals or vehicles. A vehicle such as 
  a wagon can have a cage permanently mounted to it 
  by adding the cage cost to the vehicle cost.
  suPerior	melee	WeaPon
  Weapon	
  Prof.	
  Damage	
  range	
  Price	
  Weight	
  group	
  Properties
  two-Handed
  zadatl	
  +2	
  1d8	
  —	
  30	gp	
  7	lb.	
  Polearm,	spear	
  High	Crit,	reach
  Cages
  	
  —number	of	Creatures	Held—
  size	
  Huge	
  large	
  medium	
  small	
  Break	DC	
  Cost*
  Huge	
  2	
  4	
  8	
  16	
  25	
  100	gp
  large	
  1	
  2	
  4	
  8	
  20	
  80	gp
  medium		
  0	
  1	
  2	
  4	
  20	
  50	gp
  small		
  0	
  0	
  1	
  2	
  16	
  20	gp
  * A cage can be made stronger by doubling the cost for each +5 to the break DC.
  Hunters’ arsenal
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  10
  Magic Rewards
  Parts of warped desert monsters can be used to make 
  items that have resonance with the creatures from 
  which they came. These same fiends leave behind 
  scars on those who battle them. A monster hunter 
  uses any advantage he or she can get.
  Alternative Rewards:  
  Battle Scars
  A hunter’s prey can leave its mark on the hunter. 
  on Athas, these magical boons become part of a 
  hunter’s being and grow in power along with the 
  hunter they mark.
  mark	of	the	tembo	
  Level 7+ rare
  A tembo has had you in its dreadful fangs, and you yet live.
  Lvl 7  
  2,600 gp 
  Lvl 27 
  1,625,000 gp
  Lvl 17 
  65,000 gp
  Battle	scar
  Property: You gain resist 5 necrotic. If an enemy causes you 
  to lose a healing surge or reduces the amount of hit points 
  you regain, you gain temporary hit points equal to 5 + your 
  highest ability score modifier.
  	
  Level	17:	resist 10 necrotic.
  	
  Level	27: resist 15 necrotic.
  reflexive	Psychic	shroud	
  Level 7+ rare
  Through your run-ins with horrors such as cilopses and 
  dagorrans, you have developed an innate psychic shield that 
  masks your presence.
  Lvl 7  
  2,600  gp 
  Lvl 27 
  1,625,000 gp
  Lvl 17 
  65,000 gp
  Battle	scar
  Property:	You gain a +2 item bonus to Stealth checks.
   
  Level	17:	You gain a +4 item bonus to Stealth checks.
  	
  Level	27: You gain a +6 item bonus to Stealth checks.
  Power	(Daily): Free Action. Trigger: You roll initiative. Effect: 
  Until the end of your next turn, you are hidden and cannot 
  be seen by blindsight or tremorsense. 
  scent	of	Weakness	
  Level 5+ rare
  After so many encounters with death, you still have the look of 
  a stranger to battle. You give the false impression that you’re 
  slow, easy prey.
  Lvl 5  
  1,000 gp 
  Lvl 25 
  625,000 gp
  Lvl 15 
  25,000 gp
  Battle	scar
  Property:	You gain a +1 item bonus to bluff checks.
   
  Level	15:	You gain a +2 item bonus to bluff checks.
  	
  Level	25: You gain a +3 item bonus to bluff checks.
  Power	(Daily): Free Action. Trigger: You complete your first 
  move or attack in an encounter. Effect: One enemy of your 
  choice within 5 squares of you is marked by you (save 
  ends).
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Monster Hunters of Athas
  11
  Armor
  Natural materials are the best choice for a second 
  skin in the harshness of Athas. Some of these 
  materials are easier to strengthen with particular 
  enchantments.
  anakore	armor	
  Level 4+ Common
  The hide of burrowing aberrants helps you resist being held in 
  one place and avoid the risks that come with lack of mobility.
  Lvl 4 +1 
  840 gp 
  Lvl 19 
  +4 
  105,000 gp
  Lvl 9 +2 
  4,200 gp 
  Lvl 24 
  +5 
  525,000 gp
  Lvl 14 +3 
  21,000 gp 
  Lvl 29 
  +6 
  2,625,000 gp
  armor: Leather, Hide, Scale
  enhancement: AC
  Property: You gain a +2 item bonus to saving throws against 
  restraining and immobilizing effects. In addition, you gain 
  an item bonus to skill checks to escape attempts. the 
  bonus equals the armor's enhancement bonus.
  Head Slot Item
  The resonance of a creature’s power can live on in any 
  part of it. Binding the spirit of a creature into trophies 
  offers a hunter power.
  gaj	Headdress	
  Level 9+ Uncommon
  A few gaj antennae are included in this luxurious feather 
  headdress. This creates a feedback loop which channels psychic 
  pain into vigor.
  Lvl 9  
  4,200 gp 
  Lvl 29 
  2,625,000 gp
  Lvl 19 
  105,000 gp
  item	slot: Head
  Property: You gain a +2 item bonus to saving throws against 
  ongoing psychic damage and effects that daze, stun, or 
  dominate. When you save against one of these effects, you 
  gain 5 temporary hit points.
  	
  Level	19:	10 temporary hit points.
  	
  Level	29: 15 temporary hit points.
  rewarding  
  your Hunters
  As the Dm of a monster-hunting group, your 
  life is a little easier. the players are invested in 
  their characters’ vocation and the rewards it 
  offers. You have the opportunity to emphasize 
  the unique nature of Athas’s survivalist culture 
  with the treasure you give. take the alternative 
  rewards advice in Dungeon	Masters	Guide	2 and 
  the Dark	Sun	Campaign	Guide	to heart. make 
  most items and boons meaningful to the narra-
  tive of your campaign, and thereby important 
  to the players. 
   
  the story of the hunt and its aftermath 
  becomes more evocative if each important 
  victory adds to the character’s power and repu-
  tation. As long as it makes sense as part of the 
  story, imbue items and characters with magic 
  after a big battle concludes. Look for ways you 
  might repurpose magic items into rewards 
  related to the prey the hunters brought down. 
  Use the items here as examples. parcel out 
  treasure made up of natural materials from your 
  hunters’ quarry. Encourage the players to have 
  their characters learn to make consumables and 
  other monster-related items. 
   
  A party of hunters, each arrayed in his or 
  her trophies, makes a perfect savage Dark Sun 
  image. It’s also likely to help make an unforget-
  table and highly personalized campaign. Every 
  item and boon brings to mind the tale of a suc-
  cessful hunt and a great time at the gaming table.
  Consumables
  Magical creatures provide bizarre possibilities for 
  altering one’s own supernatural powers.
  nightmare	tongue	Dust	 Level 6+ Uncommon
  A tembo’s tongue is required to make the weakest of these 
  antihealing reagents. The tongue of a nightmare beast goes 
  into the stronger forms of the dust.
  Lvl 6  
  1,800 gp 
  Lvl 26 
  1,125,000 gp
  Lvl 16 
  45,000 gp
  reagent
  Power	(Consumable): Free Action. Trigger: You use a 5th-
  level or lower encounter or daily attack power that has a 
  damage keyword. Effect: One target hit by the attack can-
  not regain hit points until it takes an extended rest.
  	 Level	16: 15th-level or lower attack power
  	 Level	26: 25th-level or lower attack power
  Wondrous Items
  Practical magic is needed for a hunter's work.
  Bloodglass	Cage	
  Level 10 Uncommon
  Magic infuses the red obsidian bars of this otherwise standard-
  looking cage.
  Wondrous	item		
  5,000	gp
  Property: the bloodglass	cage is a standard cage of a particular 
  size. When one creature is locked inside, by concentrating 
  for one minute, you seal the cage so that the creature 
  cannot leave or damage the cage, or affect anything outside 
  the cage, for 24 hours. the restraint ends instantly at the 
  end of 24 hours, but it can be renewed before then with 
  another minute of concentration.
  About the Author
  Chris Sims has played roleplaying games for 30 years, and 
  he has helped produce games for nearly 10. Before he laired 
  in the Seattle exurbs, he was an editor/designer at Wizards 
  of the Coast. There, he worked Duel Masters, Dungeons & 
  Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering. Now he blogs about 
  the D&D game for critical-hits.com and is up to no good as a 
  game-industry freelancer.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  12
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By Robert J. Schwalb 
  Illustrations by William O'Connor
  A Legacy in Shadow
  Shadar-Kai in the Forgotten realms®
  I endure, but I carry no easy burden. 
  Darkness assails my heart, and my 
  thoughts drown in the gloom of my 
  inadequacies. If I give in to this 
  bleakness, I find myself adrift in 
  melancholic thoughts so bitter and so 
  forlorn I feel as if I will cease to be.
   
  The Shadovar name this thing that 
  has been done to me a gift—a blessing 
  from the Dark Lady—but I have known 
  no reward that carries such a price. Am I 
  unworthy? Have I not risen to the power 
  Shar has invested in me? Since I came 
  into this grief, I have known nothing but 
  numbness, as if I was trapped in a prison 
  of meaninglessness and isolation. Each 
  new day brings with it a struggle to stir 
  into life—a battle in which I must fight 
  to not surrender my very essence to the 
  cancerous shadow blossoming inside 
  my breast.
   
  I have overcome my ennui by devoting 
  my attention to perfecting my body 
  and expanding my knowledge, and each 
  accomplishment helps hold back the despair. 
  I often wonder if I merely add more days to 
  the sadness that is my life.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  A Legacy in Shadow
  13
  The bones of lost empires litter the world, their ves-
  tiges found in the shattered ruins and the displaced 
  peoples seeking refuge from the chaos and upheaval 
  shaping the last century. As old civilizations fade 
  into legend, new peoples arise from their ashes, 
  blinking in the uncertain light to find a place and 
  purpose in this changing world. Some people share 
  much with their ancestors, preserving their tradi-
  tions and cultures. others are changed by history, 
  with forces beyond mortal ken shaping and altering 
  their course until they become something more or 
  something less than they once were.
   
  The shadar-kai are new to the Forgotten realms. 
  They are a people shaped by the unpredictable 
  mingling of the Spellplague and the dark magic mas-
  tered by the shades. Created by this union—humans 
  newly returned from exile in Shadow transformed—
  the shadar-kai’s bodies and minds have altered until 
  they have become a race apart. Many do remain in 
  the Empire of Netheril, but since they awoke in the 
  world, they have spread beyond its bounds to found 
  new homes amid the wreckage of fallen civilizations.
   
  In the core D&D world, the shadar-kai have strong 
  connections with the raven Queen, having attained 
  their powers through a desperate bargain to stave off 
  death. Since the raven Queen is not present in the 
  Forgotten realms, the shadar-kai in this setting arose 
  under different circumstances, shaped and molded 
  by clashing forces to become something other than 
  human. over the following pages, you’ll find details 
  on the shadar-kai’s origins, how they fit into the 
  Forgotten realms, and several new feats with which 
  you can customize your shadar-kai adventurers.
  Neither history nor legend recalls the shadar-kai 
  because they are a people born into the world scant 
  generations ago. Although largely unknown, their 
  anonymity in the world’s annals will not last long, 
  because they stir from poisoned homelands to stake 
  their claim on destiny’s spoils. Despite their rela-
  tive youth, the shadar-kai are a people ascendant, 
  spreading out from the Empire of Netheril that sired 
  them to establish new holdings across the world 
  and beyond. They might also come from isolated 
  ruins deep in the Underdark or the twilight lands 
  of Shadow, where they return to the magic partly 
  responsible for their creation. A desperation in these 
  people drives them to grow and prosper to equal 
  their human cousins, but though the shadar-kai are 
  prompted to do so by a shadowed legacy, they must 
  continually guard themselves from its influence 
  and origins.
   
  The shadar-kai’s history includes that of the 
  Netherese peoples. They share common ancestry; 
  both trace their lineage back to antiquity when 
  seven simple fishing villages took the ambitious 
  step toward mastering magic and founded one of 
  the most dangerous and fearsome magical empires 
  the world has known. As any scholar versed in the 
  ancient knowledge is aware, the Netherese awoke in 
  ancient times and rose to greatness through war and 
  conquest. Dissatisfied with their gains, they reached 
  further and dug deeper to raise their mastery over 
  magic until one day, the greatest of their number 
  elevated himself to become as a god. For his hubris, 
  the empire was cast into ruin, its lands scoured, and 
  survivors driven from this world into exile, where 
  they languished in Shadow for countless eons.
   
  Time spent in the Shadowfell did not leave these 
  humans untouched. The plane, although neither 
  good nor evil, can influence visitors who spend time 
  there by darkening their thoughts with despair. More 
  than the plane’s insidious whispers, the corruptions 
  spreading through the exiles' ranks stemmed from 
  the same avarice that led to the downfall of their 
  civilization. Mystra had stripped magic from them, 
  so they turned to the Shadowfell’s power instead. To 
  acquire it, they forfeited their souls and invited the 
  darkness into their hearts. Thus they set in motion 
  their own apotheosis and led themselves to becoming 
  the shadow creatures called shades.
   
  Time saw the Netherese return to Toril. Their one 
  surviving city, called Shade Enclave, emerged from 
  the darkness to hover above the blasted wasteland 
  that was once their verdant and burgeoning empire. 
  sHadar-kai in  
  Dungeons & Dragons 
  settings
  much about the shadar-kai in the Forgotten 
  realms	remains true for the shadar-kai found in 
  core D&D. their origins might be different, but 
  they face similar challenges and benefit from the 
  same talents as do their cousins in other settings. 
  For more information, including additional feats, 
  paragon paths, and an epic destiny, be sure to 
  check out “playing Shadar-Kai” by Chris Sims 
  in Dragon magazine #372. Similarly, the game 
  mechanics presented in this article can benefit 
  shadar-kai regardless of the setting in which 
  you play.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  A Legacy in Shadow
  14
  The Shadovar, as they called themselves, conquered 
  the Anauroch Desert and enslaved its people. Not 
  content with their holdings, they tested their borders 
  to enlarge their restored empire beyond the wastes 
  and scoured the world for lost Netherese artifacts. 
  once they secured their holdings and borders, they 
  also manipulated rival nations to reveal information 
  about the wider world so that they could plan their 
  conquest of it, an aim toward which they still work in 
  the  present day.
  touCHed By darkness
  When the Netherese emerged from the Shadowfell, 
  many retained their humanity, even though all had 
  been born in Shadow and had never known any 
  world aside from the dark reflection’s permanent 
  twilight. The shades were far different from their sub-
  jects, however. The shadow contaminating their souls 
  worked a profound change, and in time their human, 
  albeit gaunt and darkened, appearance gave way to 
  something monstrous. The shades became creatures 
  of living shadows so far removed from their mortal 
  origins that they were a people apart.
   
  As well, the Netherese had bred blasphemous 
  creations in the Shadowfell to form servants and war-
  riors to fight on their behalf. Called the krinth, these 
  gray-skinned humanoids bore little resemblance to 
  their human counterparts, because in them festered 
  the essence of shadow demons. The longer the fiend 
  resided within them, the more wicked and unpredict-
  able they became. So dangerous were the krinth, they 
  were kept as lowly servants and berserker warriors 
  released only to fight.
  Awakening of the 
  Shadar-Kai
  Not even the Netherese and their vaunted shadow 
  magic could protect them from the Spellplague, but 
  the magical catastrophe’s effects were not immedi-
  ately apparent. In fact, the effects revealed themselves 
  only in the months and years that followed, and only 
  in the human populations who were shadowborn, 
  meaning those humans who were conceived and 
  born in the Shadowfell. The first to change were 
  the adolescents. At puberty, they acquired an ashen 
  pallor or mottled appearance. Despair set in, infect-
  ing them like a disease and spreading throughout the 
  Shade Enclave. Gradually joining these afflicted souls 
  were adults and young children, newborn babes, 
  and even grandfathers. While widespread, it did not 
  result in a complete and total transformation, but it 
  did alter a great many citizens—nearly half the popu-
  lation in the capital city.
   
  It did not take long for the seers to discern what had 
  happened. The Spellplague had awakened the latent 
  shadow energy bound inside their bodies until they 
  became something akin to the shades themselves, not 
  fully vested with shadow power but possessing enough 
  talent and raw energy that they could do things no 
  others could do. It was also clear the metamorpho-
  sis was permanent, because the effects did not fade; 
  rather, they intensified. 
   
  Perhaps the greatest and most alarming trend was 
  the sorrow. Many succumbed to the gloom surround-
  ing them and slowly wasted away until only a twisted 
  wraith remained.
   
  Panic spread through the Shade Enclave, but 
  Prince rilaven Tanthul’s quick thinking quashed the 
  growing fears. He went before the assembled host 
  and revealed that he had received a vision from Shar 
  stating she would offer her blessings to her favored 
  children, and the boon she bestowed was in those 
  who bore the mark of her touch. He called the new 
  race the shadar-kai in the high tongue of ancient 
  Netheril, which means Those of Shadow’s Gift.
   
  The Shade Enclave boasted shadar-kai in the 
  greatest numbers, but it was not the only site to be 
  experience such transformations. All across Faerûn, 
  shadowborn humans had felt the Spellplague’s touch 
  and became as those humans in the Netherese 
  Empire. These people fled to the Underdark or 
  returned to the Shadowfell to make new lives for 
  themselves and struggle against the melancholy grip-
  ping their hearts. The shadar-kai are a true race, for 
  they produced a whole new generation from unions of 
  shadar-kai and from shadar-kai/human pairings.
   
  Just as the Spellplague spawned a new race, it also 
  signaled the end of another bu sending the accursed 
  krinth into a sharp decline. Their numbers dwindled 
  in proportion as the shadar-kai’s increased. Some 
  have even gone so far as to say that the krinth were 
  the shadar-kai’s antecedents, a failed race born from 
  misguided magic that was ultimately corrected in the 
  shadar-kai’s evolution.
  sHadar-kai Homelands
  the shadar-kai are most common in the Empire 
  of Netheril, enclaves in the Shadowfell, and 
  outposts in the Underdark. For a detailed shadar-
  kai settlement, be sure to check out “Explore 
  Ikemmu: the Gloaming City” by matt James in 
  Dungeon magazine #175.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  A Legacy in Shadow
  15
   
  Since emerging into the world, the shadar-kai spread 
  out from the Netherese Empire. Some joined other 
  shadar-kai peoples, forming into enclaves in the 
  Underdark’s shallows or retreating for the Shadowfell 
  to discern some way to mitigate the curse resting so 
  heavily upon them. These fledgling communities are 
  the hope for the shadar-kai peoples, because in them 
  a new civilization might arise to join those others who 
  have come before.
  Shadow’s Curse
  The shadar-kai did not emerge from their transfor-
  mation without a price. All possessed unique talents, 
  strange powers, and a quickness and cleverness 
  that could exceed human limitations, though from 
  the start, the shadar-kai also endured a dangerous 
  sadness, emptiness, and boredom that arose from 
  a dampening of their sensations and emotions. 
  Surrendering to the ennui meant oblivion and the 
  creation of twisted undead horrors, so it is in every 
  shadar-kai’s best interest to fight against the darkness 
  within and triumph over it.
   
  The greatest tool in their arsenal is stimulation. 
  Shadar-kai test themselves in all they do: push-
  ing against their limits to master the complex and 
  arcane arts, to become peerless warriors wielding 
  cumbersome weaponry, or to devour the world’s 
  lore and exceed all others in understanding. These 
  accomplishments work for some, but not all. others 
  must seek out different diversions to chase away 
  their gloom.
   
  Many shadar-kai are dismissed as hedonists—
  slaves to their whims and desires. The assessment 
  might be true for some, but a great many shadar-kai 
  must excite their emotions through pain, anger, 
  frustration, lust, or love. They hold nothing back, and 
  the intensity of their feeling can be off-putting for 
  those unfamiliar with their customs. So a shadar-kai 
  might be the first in battle, using the fight to dem-
  onstrate both battle prowess and also to stir feelings 
  in their hearts and feed the void that threatens to 
  devour them.
   
  The need for physical and mental stimulation is 
  recognizable in the apparel shadar-kair wear and the 
  customs they keep. Shadar-kai use pain to keep their 
  focus. Many decorate their bodies with tattoos, scari-
  fication, and body piercings, from ears to the most 
  surprising and painful locations imagined. Although 
  rare, there are shadar-kai—almost exclusively those 
  who serve darker powers or who experience such des-
  peration that they see no other recourse—cut, whip, 
  beat, or otherwise injure themselves. 
  on religious  
  matters
  the shadar-kai are reluctant patrons of the gods. 
  they view the divine with healthy skepticism. 
  they see value in religious ecstasy, and those 
  who find service with a god favor those who 
  can stave off their melancholy or at least explain 
  their difficult lives. Shadar-kai living in Netheril 
  follow Shar as is customary among those people, 
  while those forging their own paths favor gods 
  who appeal to their training, with tempus 
  being favored by warriors, Kelemvor for those 
  obsessed with death’s threat, and Selûne for 
  those opposed to their people’s dark legacy.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  A Legacy in Shadow
  16
  New Heroic Tier Feats
  The following feats are available to any character who 
  meets their prerequisites.
  Darkening Mind [Augment]
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, any psionic class, 
  shadow jaunt racial power
   
  Benefit: You can spend 1 power point when you 
  use shadow jaunt to add 2 squares to the distance 
  you would teleport. In addition, when you do so, you 
  remain insubstantial until the end of your next turn.
  Dawn the Black Sun [Divinity]
   
  Prerequisite: Channel Divinity class feature, 
  must worship Shar
   
  Benefit: You gain the Channel Divinity power 
  dawn the black sun.
  Dawn	the	Black	sun	
  Feat power
  Shar's vengeance washes through you, exacting a terrible price 
  from those who defy you.
  encounter	F	Channel	Divinity,	Divine,	Fear,	implement
  immediate	reaction	
  Close	burst	2
  trigger: An enemy within 2 squares of you damages you with 
  an attack.
  target: the triggering enemy
  attack: Your highest ability vs. Will
  Hit: the target is blinded until the start of your next turn. If the 
  target takes any damage while blinded by this attack, the 
  blindness ends and you can slide the target up to 3 squares 
  as a free action.
  Doom of Jiksidur
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Stealth 
  checks.
   
  Any enemy hit by your attacks while you are 
  insubstantial due to your shadow jaunt racial power 
  falls prone.
  Dread of Sakkors
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Intimidate 
  checks.
   
  When you hit an enemy with an attack while 
  you are insubstantial due to your shadow jaunt racial 
  power, you can push that enemy up to 2 squares. The 
  enemy then becomes slowed until the end of its next 
  turn.
  Drowning of Nhalloth
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Arcana 
  checks.
   
  When you hit an enemy with an attack while 
  you are insubstantial due to your shadow jaunt racial 
  power, you can slide that enemy 1 square. The enemy 
  then takes a –2penalty to attack rolls until the end of 
  its next turn.
  Ghostly Wind
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: If you spend your second wind while 
  your shadow jaunt power remains unexpended, you 
  gain insubstantial until the start of your next turn.
  Krinth Heritage  
  [Shadar-Kai Bloodline]
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Intimidate 
  checks.
   
  Immediately after an enemy scores a critical hit 
  against you, you become insubstantial until the end of 
  your next turn.
   
  replace your shadow jaunt racial power with the 
  demonic aggression power. 
  Demonic	aggression	
  Shadar-kai  Attack
  Once	your	ire	is	raised,	your	demonic	heritage	rages	out	of	control.
  encounter	F	teleportation
  immediate	reaction	
  Personal
  trigger: An enemy within 3 squares of you damages you with 
  an attack.
  effect: teleport to any unoccupied square adjacent to the 
  triggering enemy. You gain combat advantage against that 
  enemy until the end of your next turn.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  A Legacy in Shadow
  17
  Shade Heritage  
  [Shadar-Kai Bloodline]
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Stealth 
  checks.
   
  You gain darkvision 5. 
   
  replace your shadow jaunt racial power with the 
  shade stride power.
  shade	stride	
  Shadar-kai Utility
  Shadows	swirl	up	around	you	and	speed	you	to	safety.
  encounter	F	teleportation
  move	action	
  	
  Personal
  effect: You teleport up to 5 squares. If you are within 10 
  squares of a square of darkness or that is dimly lit, you can 
  instead teleport to that square.
  Shadow Exile
   
  Prerequisite: Shadar-kai, shadow jaunt racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: When you use your shadow jaunt power, 
  you can choose to remove yourself from play rather 
  than teleporting. If so, you return to the square you 
  last occupied or the nearest unoccupied square to 
  that square at the start of your next turn.
  About the Author
  robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer 
  who has contributed design to or developed over one hun-
  dred roleplaying game titles for Dungeons & Dragons, 
  Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, A Song of Ice and Fire rPG, Star 
  WarS rPG, and the d20 system. Some of his more recent work 
  for Wizards of the Coast can be found in Player’s Handbook 3, 
  Martial Power 2, and Draconomicon 2: Metallic Dragons. In addi-
  tion, he’s a regular contributor to both Dragon and Dungeon 
  magazines. robert lives, works, and will probably die in 
  Tennessee. For a window into robert’s head, be sure to check 
  out www.robertjschwalb.com.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  18
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  Illustration by Eric Belisle
  Assassin, Executioner
  A Player's Essentials Playtest Class
  Executioners are more than just assassins for hire. 
  When someone wants to send a message with an 
  assassination, an executioner arranges the death in 
  such a way that the message is sent with maximum 
  effectiveness. This might mean the quiet poisoning of 
  a merchant in his home to warn other merchants to 
  get out of town, or it could be a very public execution 
  of a local nobleman, meant to frighten the populace 
  into accepting another noble house’s leadership. 
  While many executioners perform these deeds at 
  the request of a third party, other assassins might do 
  what they do in order to accomplish personal goals, 
  such as bringing down a tyrant or stopping an extra-
  planar invasion.
  Martial and Shadow Striker: Your sense of 
  timing, skill with weapons, and ability to use the 
  shadows as a second home allow you to strike 
  with devastating effect against an unsuspecting 
  foe. You even mix in some shadow magic when 
  appropriate.
  Why This Is the Class for You: You want to play 
  a stealthy character that can grievously wound 
  enemies with a single blow and who dabbles in 
  both poison and shadow magic.
  Key abilities: Dexterity, Charisma
  The hired killer is one of the most feared enemies to walk the streets 
  of any society. While any mercenary can perform a paid killing in 
  a dark alley, only the executioner assassin can make it mean some-
  thing. For an executioner, the act of killing isn’t as important as the 
  message it sends, and any assassination is a calculated event meant 
  to accomplish some goal.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  19
   
  Executioners rely on their effectiveness as both 
  infiltrators and assassins to get the job done. They 
  dabble in shadow magic, which lets them walk 
  through walls, create artificial shadows, and craft 
  illusions to hide their intrusion into secure areas. 
  They also master the art of poison use, giving them 
  the ability to strike at enemies both directly and 
   indirectly.
   
  Adventuring executioners tend to perform their 
  assassinations in the pursuit of the goals of their 
  fellow adventurers, using such killings to influence 
  both the party’s allies and enemies. An executioner 
  might break into the keep belonging to an enemy 
  general to assassinate him in his sleep. likewise, an 
  executioner is a capable warrior even when not per-
  forming an assassination, making him an invaluable 
  member of an adventuring party that finds itself fre-
  quently in conflict.
  Creating an 
  exeCutioner assassin
  This section walks you through the steps of creating 
  an executioner assassin: (1) ability scores, (2) race, 
  (3) skills, (4) class features and powers, (5) feats, (6) 
  armor and weapons, and (7) defenses and hit points. 
  As you make choices at each step, consider how those 
  choices relate to your character’s personality, history, 
  and goals.
   
  Consult this chapter’s three executioner assassin 
  tables—one for each tier of play—for a summary of 
  what you gain as you advance in level.
  Hit	Points: 12 + Constitution score + 5 for each 
  level after 1st
  Healing	surges	per	Day: 7 + Constitution 
  modifier
  armor	Proficiencies: Cloth, leather; light shield
  Weapon	Proficiencies: Simple one-handed melee, 
  simple ranged, military one-handed melee, 
  shortbow
  Class	skills:	Acrobatics (Dex), Arcana (Int), 
  Athletics (Str), Bluff (Cha), Endurance (Con), 
  Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), 
  Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex).
  1. Ability Scores
  Determine your ability scores, keeping in mind that 
  an executioner assassin is best served by a superior 
  Dexterity score. You use Dexterity to make your 
  weapon attacks; a steady hand and quick reflexes 
  help you exploit an enemy’s weaknesses. Because you 
  rely on stealth to evade guards and other obstacles, 
  you also need a good Dexterity to boost your AC and 
  skill checks. likewise, Charisma helps you deceive 
  and distract your foes. The Bluff and Streetwise skills 
  in particular can be crucial when you must throw an 
  enemy off your trail.
   
  Two ability scores of your choice increase by 1 
  when you reach certain levels: 4th, 8th, 14th, 18th, 
  24th, and 28th. In addition, all your ability scores 
  increase by 1 at 11th and 21st levels.
   
  Your other ability scores can help shape your char-
  acter’s background and interests. If you have a solid 
  Strength score, you are likely the kind of assassin that 
  leaps from rooftop to rooftop, clambers over walls, 
  and uses your physical ability to get close to your foes. 
  If you have a good Wisdom score, you might instead 
  be a more thoughtful and studious executioner, one 
  who likes to spend hours and days studying a target 
  before striking with lethal precision.
  assassin: Beta
  the Assassin class is exclusive to D&D	Insider. 
  this time around, we bring you the revamped 
  assassin in Dungeons & Dragons® Essentials 
  style. this version doesn’t replace the assassin 
  from Dragon 379; it’s a different take on this 
  iconic class with an Essentials approach.
   
  What we’re offering here is the playtest ver-
  sion of the assassin. You’re looking at something 
  that’s still being worked on by our designers, 
  developers, and editors. this article presents a 
  single build for the assassin—the executioner—
  from 1st to 30th level. 
   
  We’re also asking for your feedback. If you 
  have comments on the assassin, please send 
  them to dndinsider@wizards.com. Include the 
  subject “Assassin Feedback” in the subject line, 
  and be specific! If your comments are along the 
  lines of “I just don’t like it” or “I think it’s great,” 
  that won’t help us make this class the best it can 
  be. the more specific you are in your comments, 
  the better. 
   
  We’ll present the final version of the assassin 
  executioner in November, when we’ve had a 
  chance to analyze all the commentary and feed-
  back. So dig deep, tap that inner game designer, 
  and let us know how the assassin plays out in 
  your campaign!
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  20
  2. Race
  Choose your race; drow and human make good 
  choices for an executioner assassin.
  Drow
  Perhaps no race is more perfectly suited for the 
  role of executioner than the drow. Not only do their 
  racial bonuses to Dexterity and Charisma match the 
  executioner’s ability score preferences, their cloud of 
  darkness racial power is extremely useful in sowing 
  confusion, providing cover for their ill deeds, and 
  warding off interference. Additionally, their racial 
  bonuses to both Intimidate and Stealth can provide 
  the executioner with the ability to bully people out of 
  his or her way or avoid them entirely. 
   
  As a drow assassin, you can let your experience in 
  the Underdark guide the way in which you perform 
  your duties as an executioner. You might prefer to 
  stick to the shadows, leaving public assassinations to 
  others. You might only work at night, giving you an 
  advantage over the surface-dwelling races that are all 
  but blinded by the darkness. Furthermore, you prob-
  ably have some experience in the cutthroat world of 
  drow politics, so you might tend to seek out execution 
  targets with significant political strength or whose 
  death could serve as the trigger for a significant shift 
  in political power.
   
  Drow assassins often worship the raven Queen, 
  the goddess of death. Executioners directly serve the 
  raven Queen every time they perform an assassination 
  by sending more souls into her domain. Many even 
  believe that they are the raven Queen’s weapons in 
  the world and that she moves them around like play-
  ing pieces on a game board. other drow executioners 
  worship Sehanine for her connection to the moon and 
  nighttime, the time when executioners flourish. 
  Human
  Human executioners are among the most common 
  assassins in existence, both because of the sheer 
  number of humans in the world as well as the versa-
  tility which humans display (a trait executioners need 
  to succeed and survive). Use the human ability score 
  bonus to boost Dexterity. The extra skill is useful for 
  expanding the scope of your talents; training in Bluff 
  may get you past the gate guards, or Thievery might 
  disable traps on the magistrate’s windows.
   
  When you play a human executioner, consider 
  how your race’s penchant for versatility and ambition 
  played into your decision to become an assassin. Per-
  haps you were recruited at a young age as an orphan 
  snatched off the street by a guild of assassins and 
  given training in a wide variety of weapons and assas-
  sination techniques. Alternatively, you may have been 
  a simple thug who dabbled in shadow magic or the 
  use of poisons before eventually finding yourself far 
  more dangerous than you imagined and were wooed 
  into an assassins’ guild with promises of wealth and 
  power.  Maybe you simply saw a way to put your 
  talent for killing to good use and began advancing 
  through the ranks of your assassins’ guild with your 
  eyes set on the position of the grandfather assassin. 
   
  Human executioners are usually adherents of the 
  raven Queen, guided to do her bidding through the 
  touch of shadow magic they possess. Some human 
  executioners worship Erathis, particularly her aspect 
  of civilization; these rare executioners turn their 
  weapons on any who threaten the strength of a civili-
  zation, such as insurgents and rebels who try to break 
  the bonds of society.
  3. Skills
  At 1st level, you become trained in Stealth and choose 
  four trained skills from the following list of class 
  skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Arcana (Int), Athletics (Str), 
  Bluff (Cha), Endurance (Con), Insight (Wis), Percep-
  tion (Wis), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex). 
   
  For an executioner, each skill is a tool that can be 
  used when the time is right. Executioners have many 
  different skill needs depending on the situation. 
  Sometimes they need to be secretive and silent, while 
  at other times they need to be cunning and street 
  savvy. It benefits an executioner to have a wide range 
  of skills so that any situation can be dealt with swiftly 
  without disrupting the plan. 
   
  Your skills help describe the kinds of training you 
  received and your preferred assassination methods. 
  An executioner trained in Acrobatics and Athletics 
  might have spent his formative years dashing across 
  rooftops and may now specialize in “second story” 
  intrusions and assassinations in a target’s home or 
  resting place. Alternatively, an executioner trained in 
  Bluff and Streetwise might be a master of blending in. 
  Such assassins spend years learning the mannerisms 
  and habits of a variety of different cultures so that 
  they can range far and wide in the pursuit of a target.
  4. Class Features  
  and Powers
  Note which class features and powers you gain at 1st 
  level, as specified in the “Class Features and Powers” 
  section below. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  21
  5. Feats
  Choose one feat at 1st level (see Heroes of the Fallen 
  Lands chapter 7). You gain an additional feat at every 
  even-numbered level, plus a feat at 11th and 21st 
  levels.
   
  Feats from the quick reaction group are a good 
  choice for reflecting the executioner’s ability to 
  react and move quickly in any unexpected situation. 
  Similarly, feats from the weapon training group can 
  give the assassin an edge in combat. Assassins prefer 
  melee weapons and weapons that can be easily used 
  at close range, where they are most effective. Because 
  executioner assassins can use shields, consider 
  taking the expertise feat that applies to a one-handed 
  weapon, like a dagger (light blades) or the javelin 
  (spears). 
   
  Additionally, many executioners have minds as 
  keen as their blades and spend a great deal of time 
  studying and practicing their abilities. Consider 
  taking feats from the learning and lore group, par-
  ticularly those that enhance Athletics, Bluff, and 
  Stealth, all of which can be extremely useful to execu-
  tioners. 
  6. Armor and Weapons
  You have proficiency with the following types of 
  armor: cloth, leather, and light shields. As for weap-
  ons, you have proficiency with the following types: 
  simple one-handed melee, military one-handed 
  melee, simple ranged, shortbow.
   
  You start with 100 gp to buy your starting equip-
  ment. Begin by purchasing a poisoner’s kit, which 
  you will need to create the poisons you use. Next, 
  buy a suit of leather armor and a light shield, and a 
  one-handed weapon. A dagger is a good choice for 
  a melee weapon because it is small, easy to conceal, 
  and lightweight. A spear is also a good choice for an 
   executioner who does not need to hide his weapon, 
  since its larger damage die will make you a bit more 
  dangerous. likewise, be sure to purchase one of 
  each of your guild weapons associated with the guild 
  weapon techniques you choose. 
  7. Defenses and Hit Points
  Calculate your defenses, accounting for the armor 
  you purchased and the +1 bonus to Fortitude and 
  Will that guild assassins gain.
   
  As for hit points, you start with a number equal 
  to 12 + your Constitution score. You gain 5 more hit 
  points each time you gain a level.
  8. Alignment and  
  Final Details
  At this point, you should have determined all the 
  mechanical details of your character. There are only a 
  few more decisions to make. 
   
  Pick an alignment, which represents a basic 
  outlook on the world that helps shape how your 
  character acts. Do you execute only those who are 
  perpetrating evil on the world? If so, lawful good or 
  good is the best match for your character. If you per-
  form executions only to serve your own needs and 
  wants, then unaligned is a good choice.
   
  Finally, check with your DM to see where you are 
  from in the campaign setting, the people you already 
  know, and what your current situation is. It also helps 
  to spend a few minutes working out how or if you 
  know the other players’ characters.
  ExECUtIONEr ASSASSIN HErOIC tIEr
   xp 
  LVL 
  Feats 
  benefits
  	 0 
  1 
  1 
  +1 Fortitude, +1 Will
    
   
   
  4 trained skills
    
   
   
  Assassin’s guild
    
   
   
  Assassin’s strike
    
   
   
  Attack finesse
    
   
   
  Guild weapon attacks
    
   
   
  poison use
    
   
   
  Quick swap
   1,000 
  2 
  +1 
  Utility power
   2,250 
  3 
  — 
  Death attack (10 hp)
   3,750 
  4 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
    
   
   
  Nimble drop
   5,500 
  5 
  — 
  Effective poisoner
   7,500 
  6 
  +1 
  Utility power
   10,000 
  7 
  — 
  Guild weapon training
   13,000 
  8 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
    
   
   
  Flawless disguise
   16,500 
  9 
  — 
  master poisoner
   20,500 
  10 
  +1 
  Utility power
  Class features 
  and Powers
  The following class features and powers form the 
  backbone of the executioner assassin.
  Level 1: Attack Finesse
  For the executioner, speed, agility, and precision are 
  more important than muscle. An executioner learns 
  how to handle any weapon with a finesse that lends 
  itself to more accurate strikes.
   
  Benefit: You can use Dexterity instead of Strength 
  for melee basic attacks. Additionally, you deal 1d6 
  extra damage with weapon attacks.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  22
  Level 1: Quick Swap
  Your weapons are extensions of your body. When 
  changing your focus from nearby foes to distant ene-
  mies, you can switch between your melee and ranged 
  weapons with ease.
   
  Benefit: once during each of your turns, you can 
  draw or stow a weapon and draw another weapon as 
  a free action instead of a minor action.
  Level 1: Assassin’s Guild
  When you create your assassin, you must choose 
  which guild you belong to. The executioner assassin 
  has a choice between the red Scales and the league 
  of Whispers, though your Dungeon Master may sub-
  stitute his or her own guild names and descriptions for 
  these. Your choice of guild determines some of your 
  weapon proficiencies and the kinds of special attack 
  techniques you will learn throughout your career.
  The Red Scales
  The red Scales are an order of assassins who work 
  to keep society in balance. If any organization grows 
  too powerful, too corrupt, too wealthy, or too vile, the 
  red Scales weigh and measure the members of that 
  organization and then collect a payment that they 
  are owed in blood. Though one might be tempted to 
  call the red Scales idealists, none can say what truly 
  drives them. rumors abound that this guild’s Grand-
  father of Assassins is touched by some planar entity. 
  They say that his eyes are orbs of golden fire, a feature 
  he gained, along with his new policies, only after he 
  returned from a journey to the distant East.
   
  Benefit: Your assassin’s guild weapons are the 
  dagger, garrote, javelin, kukri, and unarmed attacks. 
  You gain proficiency in all of these weapons. 
  League of Whispers
  The league of Whispers is a guild of executioners for 
  hire whose very existence is often dismissed as myth 
  or urban legend. The league of Whispers keeps its 
  membership a secret. While individual members 
  might be known as assassins, their association with 
  the guild is rarely more than a matter of speculation 
  for nonmembers. The league keeps its existence 
  a mystery by executing anyone who discovers the 
  truth. The order holds secret meetings once every full 
  moon, where the members converge to discuss jobs, 
  trade secrets and tricks, and receive orders from their 
  Grandfather of Assassins.
   
  Benefit: Your assassin’s guild weapons are the 
  blowgun, bolas, hand crossbow, and shuriken. You 
  gain proficiency in all of these weapons. 
  assassin tools
  All assassins have certain tools of their trade that they specialize in. below are several weapons and a new trade 
  kit for use with the executioner assassin.
   
  Blowgun: this long, tubular weapon is used by blowing on one end. It can launch darts and other agents.
   
  Bolas: Consisting of two or three weighted spheres connected by cord, bolas tangle up opponents, but the 
  spheres are also strong enough to inflict injuries.
   
  garrote: this strangling tool is a length of wire or knotted rope with handles at either end. Someone proficient 
  with the garrote can use it to deal damage as part of a grab attack.
   
  kukri: the blade of this heavy knife curves forward for greater potency. A rogue proficient with the kukri can 
  treat it as a dagger for the purpose of the rogue Weapon talent class feature.
   
  shuriken: this small blade resembles either a multi-pointed star or a long, slender blade. It is designed specifi-
  cally to be thrown.
   
  Poisoner’s	kit: the poisoner’s kit is an essential part of the assassin’s repertoire. It contains the base compo-
  nents and tools needed to craft poisons. Cost: 10 gp. Weight: 1 lb.
  suPerior	melee	WeaPons
  Weapon	
  Prof.		
  Damage	
  range	
  Price	
  Weight	
  Prop.	
  group
  one-Handed	kukri	
  +2	
  1d6	
  –	
  10	gp	
  2	lb	
  B1,	o	
  light	blade
  two-Handed	garrote	
  +3	
  1d4	
  –	
  1	gp	
  1	lb	
  HC,	s	
  garrote
  suPerior	rangeD	WeaPons
  Weapon	
  Prof.		
  Damage	
  range	
  Price	
  Weight	
  Prop.	
  group
  one-Handed	Bola	
  +3	
  1d4	
  4/8	
  5	gp	
  2	lb	
  lt	
  Flail
  shuriken	
  +3	
  1d4	
  6/12	
  2	sp	
  .1	lb	
  lt	
  light	blade
  two-Handed	Blowgun	
  +3	
  1d4	
  5/10	
  5	gp	
  2	lb	
  lm,	s	
  Blowgun
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  23
  Level 1: Assassin’s Strike
  The heart of the executioner’s ability to take down 
  a foe is the powerful assassin’s strike technique. The 
  executioner often has only one chance to eliminate 
  an enemy. once the element of surprise is lost, body-
  guards (or even the targets themselves, if capable) 
  can interfere with the mission, leaving the target 
  regretfully alive. This powerful technique represents 
  the intersection of the assassin’s knowledge of vital 
  areas of the body, the assassin’s extreme mastery of 
  weapons, and their ability to throw everything they 
  have into a single, devastating attack. The executioner 
  must wait for the exact right moment to strike, but 
  when he does, the attack is so devastating that it can 
  slay a target instantly.
   
  Benefit: You gain the assassin’s strike power.
  assassin’s	strike	
  assassin	attack
  You strike with precision at the exact right moment, landing 
  an attack against a vital area which can be instantly fatal.
  encounter F martial,	Weapon
  special: Any time an effect would allow you to regain the 
  use of an encounter attack power, you cannot choose this 
  power to regain.
  Free	action	
  	
  Personal
  trigger: You hit an enemy within 5 squares of you with an 
  attack using a weapon.
  target: the enemy you hit.
  effect: the target takes 1d10 extra damage from the triggering 
  attack.
   
  Level	3: 2d10 extra damage.
   
  Level	7: 3d10 extra damage.
   
  Level	13: 4d10 extra damage.
   
  Level	17: 5d10 extra damage.
   
  Level	23: 6d10 extra damage.
   
  Level	27: 7d10 extra damage.
  special: If the target is helpless, this power inflicts maximum 
  damage.
  Level 1: Ki Focus
  Assassins focus their shadow energy through a ki 
  focus, which is not an object they wield but a reser-
  voir of magical power within themselves. When using 
  a ki focus, an assassin taps into the power of shadow 
  magic and channels it into both implement and 
  weapon attacks.
   
  You can imbue your ki focus with magic as if it 
  were a physical weapon. When you have a magic 
  ki focus, you can add its enhancement bonus to the 
  attack rolls and the damage rolls of any weapon 
  attack you make using a weapon with which you’re 
  proficient.
   
  If you have a magic ki focus and wield a magic 
  weapon, you choose before you use an attack power 
  whether to draw on the magic of your ki focus or to 
  employ the magic of your weapon. Your choice deter-
  mines which enhancement bonus, critical hit effects, 
  and magic item properties and powers you can apply 
  to attacks with that power. You can’t, for example, 
  use the enhancement bonus of your ki focus and the 
  property of your magic weapon with the same attack 
  power.
  Level 1: Guild Weapon 
  Attacks (The Red Scales)
  The red Scales are considered by many to be the 
  masters of close-quarters combat. The techniques that 
  their guild members learn combine decades of study 
  of both martial arts and common assassination tech-
  niques, giving them an edge both when unarmed and 
  when using a garrote, kukri, or javelin.
   
  Benefit: You gain two of the following weapon 
  attacks. 
  Garrote Strangle
  The garrote is a favorite weapon for silent executions. 
  It gives the assassin a silent and efficient weapon for 
  use on the unsuspecting. Though it is difficult to use 
  a garrote on someone that is aware of its presence, 
  assassins have been known to lie in wait for just the 
  right moment when their target wanders too close, 
  then reach out to strangle the target with the garrote 
  before he or she can react.
  garrote	strangle	
  assassin	attack
  You wait for the perfect moment when your foe is within 
  reach, then strangle the foe with your garrote.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a garrote and make the 
  following attack with it. 
  effect: Shift 2 squares.
  target: One creature you are hidden from.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and you grab the 
  target. the target takes a –4 penalty to escape checks to 
  escape this grab, and the target cannot speak, shout, or 
  make other vocalizations as long as it is grabbed. 
   
  Level	21: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
  sustain	standard: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and 
  you sustain the grab. You can only sustain this power if the 
  target is still grabbed by you.
   
  Level	21: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  24
  Kukri Lunge
  The kukri is a weighted blade that is heavier near 
  its tip than near the handle. Assassins often use the 
  kukri to deliver a powerful attack by swinging the 
  blade and snapping the wrist at the last second so that 
  the kukri’s unique balance adds speed to the blade 
  as it strikes. When combined with the momentum of 
  a charge, the kukri can be as devastating as a great-
  sword, yet it is small enough to slip up a sleeve or 
  down into a boot, out of sight.
  kukri	lunge	
  assassin	attack
  You charge toward your foe, using your momentum and the 
  weight of the kukri’s blade to deliver a powerful blow.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a kukri and make the 
  following attack with it instead of a melee basic attack 
  when you charge.
  target: One creature
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage. 
   
  Level	21: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
  Unarmed Throw
  The principles of unarmed combat can serve an 
  assassin well when he or she is disarmed or cornered. 
  This particular throwing technique allows the execu-
  tioner to leverage an opponent’s size and strength 
  against them, creating momentum with a gentle tug 
  and then hurling the target several feet, using their 
  own body as the axis around which their enemy’s 
  body flies.
  unarmed	throw	
  assassin	attack
  You grab your foe, and only moments later, their body flies 
  through the air to land where you threw them.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee	weapon
  requirement:	You must be unarmed.
  target: One creature.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: You push the target 1 square and knock it prone. 
  Unseen Spearhead
  The javelin is an often-overlooked weapon that can 
  be hidden along the back in the folds of an assassin’s 
  clothes, yet it has a long, sturdy shaft which can be 
  used to restrain an enemy. This particular technique 
  allows the executioner to sneak up on an enemy and 
  use the shaft of the javelin to grab and strangle their 
  foe. once the target is secured, the javelin is pulled 
  away and then driven through the target’s back.
  unseen	spearhead	
  assassin	attack
  You use the shaft of your javelin to restrain your enemy and 
  set them up for a subsequent attack against a vital area.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a spear or javelin and 
  make the following attack with it.
  effect: Shift 2 squares to a square adjacent to the target.
  target: One creature you are hidden from.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: You grab the target. If you are still grabbing the target at 
  the start of your next turn, you treat the target as helpless 
  for as long as you continue to grab the target. 
  Level 1:  
  Guild Weapon Attacks 
  (League of Whispers)
  Members of the league of Whispers specialize in the 
  use of a variety of ranged weapons which allow them 
  to perform special tricks that can help them execute 
  a target or escape the local authorities. All members 
  of the league undergo training with bolas, hand 
  crossbows, blowguns, and shuriken to give them an 
  edge against enemies both near and far. like other 
  executioners, members of the league of Whispers are 
  trained in the use of multiple weapons and usually 
  carry a variety of weapons with which they are skilled.
   
  Benefit: You gain two of the following weapon 
  attacks. 
  Bolas Takedown
  The proper application of bolas can bring down even 
  the most nimble of enemies. Executioners frequently 
  use bolas to keep their targets from escaping, as most 
  creatures tend to flee from their killers on sight. 
  However, this particular technique, which uses a 
  specialized throwing motion to ensure maximized 
  extension of the weapon, is also sometimes used to 
  trip up pursuit when fleeing from the scene of an 
  execution. 
  Bolas	takedown	
  assassin	attack
  You whirl your bolas over your head and take careful aim 
  before hurling them at a foe’s legs.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  ranged	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding bolas and make the 
  following attack with it.
  target: One creature.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: the target is knocked prone and immobilized until the end 
  of your next turn.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  25
  Close-Quarters Shot
  The hand crossbow is one of the great equalizers 
  when it comes to lethal ranged combat. Execution-
  ers often prefer to do most of their assassinations up 
  close, which can sometimes bring the assassin too 
  close to other enemies. This particular quick-fire 
  technique uses the hand crossbow to surprise and 
  stagger nearby enemies long enough for the execu-
  tioner to escape.
  Close-Quarters	shot	
  assassin	attack
  You loose a quick bolt from your crossbow, thereby creating a 
  momentary opening for your escape.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  ranged	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a hand crossbow and 
  make the following attack with it.
  special:	this attack does not provoke opportunity attacks.
  target: One adjacent creature.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage. 
   
  Level	21: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
  effect: You shift 2 squares.
  Precision Dart
  Though one of the weaker weapons in the execu-
  tioner’s repertoire, the blowgun is an excellent tool 
  for ensuring that a poison is delivered directly to an 
  opponent and not turned aside by armor which can 
  deflect a dagger. This technique gives you pinpoint 
  accuracy with the blowgun. A well-placed dart can 
  even be lethal to weaker foes if it punctures a vital 
  area.
  Precision	Dart	
  assassin	attack
  The poisoned dart flies from your blowgun with  
  unerring accuracy.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  ranged	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a blowgun and make the 
  following attack with it.
  target: One creature.
  attack: Dexterity + 4 vs. reflex
  Hit: Dexterity modifier damage. If you deliver a poison with 
  this attack, the target automatically fails its first saving 
  throw against its effect, if any.
  Unerring Shuriken
  one of the great advantages of the shuriken is that it 
  can be drawn and thrown very quickly, allowing an 
  assassin to strike with surprising speed. This tech-
  nique allows you to launch a shuriken at a foe before 
  moving into attack position or slipping away into the 
  shadows.
  unerring	shuriken	
  assassin	attack
  With a flick of the wrist, you hurl a shuriken at an enemy who 
  thinks your attacks have abated, catching them by surprise.
  at-Will F martial,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  ranged	weapon
  requirement:	You must be wielding a shuriken and make the 
  following attack with it.
  target: One creature.
  attack: Dexterity vs. AC
  Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage. 
   
  Level	21: 4[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
  effect: You can move up to your speed. 
  Level 1: Poison Use
  one of the most powerful tools used by  executioners 
  is poison. Executioners have a long history with 
  poison. All become masters at mixing their own 
   poisons. For most assassins, poison is only one of 
  many weapons. Most of the poisons used by execu-
  tioners are merely the set-up for a later attack, a 
  precursor to ensure that the target won’t be able to 
  stop the executioner once the assassination attempt 
  begins in earnest.
   
  Many poisons are outlawed in civilized realms, so 
  executioners learn to craft simple, unstable venoms 
  that quickly break down into inert components. In 
  this manner, an assassin can travel with a seemingly 
  innocent array of materials. When it is time to strike, 
  the executioner quickly crafts a poison as needed. 
  Because the poison is unstable, it will decay rapidly 
  and leave no incriminating evidence if unused. A 
  canny executioner can maintain an innocent façade 
  even in the face of a thorough search of his person 
  and quarters. When an executioner needs a truly 
  deadly poison, such as one that causes instant death, 
  he is best off purchasing it from a trusted source.
   
  Benefit: During an extended rest, you can create 
  one vial of a 1st-level assassin poison. You must know 
  the poison’s recipe and possess an assassin’s kit in 
  order to create it. This vial contains a single use of 
  the poison and lasts until you take another extended 
  rest. You must have a poisoner’s kit to produce a vial 
  of poison. A single weapon or piece of ammunition 
  can benefit from the effects of only one assassin 
  poison at a time. You are immune to the effects of 
  poisons you create.
   
  Additionally, you learn two of the 1st-level assassin 
  poison recipes from the list below. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  26
  Bloodroot Poison
  The poison created from the oils of the bloodroot 
  plant causes a temporary fever and weakening of the 
  body. Bloodroot (named for the deep crimson color 
  of the root) is a relatively common plant which is 
  often mistaken for other, harmless plants which grow 
  nearby. The poison is favored by assassins who seek to 
  knock an enemy off-balance and disorient the target 
  before the lethal strike.
  bloodroot poison 
  Level 1
  This crimson liquid causes fever and disorientation.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply 
  the bloodroot poison to your weapon or one piece of 
  ammunition. the first creature you hit with a weapon 
  attack using that weapon or ammunition before you take 
  a short rest takes an extra 5 poison damage and is dazed 
  (save ends).
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. pour the 
  bloodroot poison into a drink or onto a plate of food. the 
  first creature to consume the food or drink is dazed until it 
  takes an extended rest.
  Carrion Crawler Brain Juice
  Carrion crawler brain juice is exactly what its name 
  claims it is: a poison derived from the brains of 
  vicious carrion crawlers, which makes it a difficult 
  poison to harvest. Carrion crawler brain juice makes 
  the body of the target sluggish as the poison attacks 
  muscles and essential tissues which help the body 
  move. longer exposure to the brain juice causes a 
  form of paralysis that makes it impossible for the 
  victim to move a significant distance.
  Carrion Crawler brain Juice poison 
  Level 1
  Purple, oily carrion crawler brain juice can cause sluggishness 
  and paralysis.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  carrion crawler brain juice poison to your weapon or one 
  piece of ammunition. Until the end of the encounter, 
  whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack using 
  that weapon or ammunition, the target takes an extra 2 
  poison damage and is slowed until the end of your next 
  turn.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  carrion crawler brain juice to a single handheld object. the 
  first creature other than you to hold or wear the object 
  for more than 1 minute is immobilized until it takes an 
  extended rest.
  Greenblood Oil
  Named for its color and thickness, greenblood oil is 
  a viscous poison derived from poisonous plants that 
  grow deep in primeval forests. This combination of 
  oils from several different plants has medicinal uses: 
  it breaks up dangerous blood clots and can be used 
  to help drain infections from the body. Assassins, 
  however, use greenblood oil to make it more difficult 
  for the body to heal. Greenblood oil is often used to 
  make a target more vulnerable to harm rather than 
  by harming directly. For example, an assassin might 
  pour greenblood oil over an enemy’s food early in the 
  day before a very public assassination, to ensure that 
  the target cannot be magically healed once the attack 
  takes place.
  Greenblood Oil poison 
  Level 1
  This thick, green oil has the consistency of blood and makes 
  enemies more susceptible to grievous injuries.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  greenblood oil to your weapon or one piece of ammunition. 
  the first enemy you hit with a weapon attack using that 
  weapon or ammunition before you take a short rest takes 
  an extra 10 poison damage and cannot regain hit points or 
  gain temporary hit points (save ends).
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. pour the 
  greenblood oil into a drink or onto a plate of food. the first 
  creature to consume the food or drink takes a –4 penalty 
  to saving throws and cannot regain hit points or gain 
  temporary hit points until it takes an extended rest.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  27
  Id Moss Powder 
  Id moss primarily grows in caves and crevasses in 
  the earth, particularly in places where the sun never 
  reaches. Most forest-dwelling people know to avoid 
  consuming id moss even in desperate situations, 
  because the moss causes mental trauma and eventu-
  ally insanity. When crushed into a fine powder, the 
  id moss can be inhaled, allowing it to attack the mind 
  more quickly.
  Id moss powder 
  Level 1
  This green powder causes mental anguish and eventually 
  insanity.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison,	Psychic): Standard Action. 
  Effect: make the following attack:
  	
  ranged	5
  	
  target:	One creature
  	
  attack:	Dexterity vs. reflex
  	
  special: You can add your enhancement bonus from your 
  ki focus to the following attack and damage rolls.
  	
  Hit: 2d10 + Dexterity modifier poison damage and 
  ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).  
  Each	Failed	Saving	Throw: the target makes a basic attack 
  against its nearest ally.
  	
  miss: Half damage and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save 
  ends).
  	
  special: A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this poison 
  does not die, but instead is driven permanently insane.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): Standard Action. place the 
  id moss powder in a closed container, such as a chest or a 
  jewelry box. the first creature to open the container takes 
  2d10 + Dexterity modifier poison damage and ongoing 
  10 psychic damage (save ends). A creature reduced to 0 
  hit points by this poison does not die, but instead is driven 
  permanently insane.
  Nitharit Poison
  one of the few slow-acting poisons in the assassin’s 
  repertoire, nitharit poison gradually breaks down a 
  creature’s natural defenses against toxins and even-
  tually turns those defenses against the poisoned 
  creature. Nitharit poison is often used as a precursor 
  poison to weaken a target before a second poisoned 
  assault. For example, an assassin might put nitharit 
  poison in a magistrate’s wine, then later in the eve-
  ning return to finish the job with a stronger poison 
  once the magistrate’s body is in no shape to fight it off.
  Nitharit poison 
  Level 1
  This	clear,	odorless,	tasteless	liquid	slowly	turns	a	creature’s	natural	
  defenses	against	poison	into	a	harmful	weapon.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply 
  the nitharit poison to your weapon or one piece of 
  ammunition. Until the end of the encounter, whenever you 
  hit a creature with a weapon attack using that weapon or 
  ammunition, the target takes ongoing 2 poison damage 
  (save ends).  
  First	Failed	Saving	Throw: the enemy instead takes ongoing 
  5 poison damage (save ends).
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  nitharit poison to a single handheld object. the first 
  creature other than you to hold or wear the object for 
  more than 1 minute gains vulnerable 5 poison and loses all 
  poison immunity or resistance until it takes an extended 
  rest.
  CriPPling Poisons
  Several of the poisons described here have 
  special effects which begin with “If this attack 
  reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is 
  not killed but is instead knocked unconscious 
  and …”
   
  these are discretionary effects in that they 
  call for some interpretation by the players and 
  the Dm. For example, id moss powder causes 
  ‘permanent insanity’. We don’t define what that 
  means; it’s up to you. You may decide that either 
  (or both) the target’s Intelligence and Wisdom 
  scores drop to 1 with no hope of recovery, or 
  that it regains its former mental capacity but 
  is forever twisted in some psychotic way. Like-
  wise, the extent of the ‘visible scarring’ caused 
  by ungol dust is open to interpretation. Do the 
  scars cover the victim’s whole body or only its 
  face? Do they affect Charisma?
   
  All of this assumes, of course, that the assassin 
  leaves the target alive at 0 hit points rather than 
  just finishing it off.
   
  If these poisons are ever used against fellow 
  player characters, the Dm should consider 
  allowing the ‘permanent’ effects to be removed 
  through quests, long-lost rituals, or some other 
  difficult but adventurous process.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  28
  Ungol Dust
  Ungol dust is a black powder made of the crushed 
  remains of dried-up spiders and scorpions which is so 
  fine that one errant breath can blow away an entire 
  dose. Most of those who craft this poison wear masks 
  to ensure that they do not accidentally disperse—or 
  inhale—the ungol dust before packing it into small, 
  easily shattered pellets. When ungol dust comes into 
  contact with flesh or other living material, it becomes 
  highly corrosive.
  Ungol Dust 
  Level 1
  This black powder dissolves organic material.
  assassin	Poison	
  Power	(Consumable F acid,	Poison): Standard Action. 
  Effect: make the following attack:
  	
  ranged	5
  	
  target:	One creature
  	
  special: You can add your enhancement bonus from your 
  ki focus to the following attack and damage rolls.
  	
  attack:	Dexterity vs. reflex
  	
  Hit: 3d10 + Dexterity modifier poison damage and 
  ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends).
  	
  miss: Half damage and ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends).
  	
  special: If this attack reduces the target to 0 hit points, the 
  target is not killed but is instead knocked unconscious and 
  permanently and visibly scarred.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): Standard Action. place the 
  ungol dust in a closed container, such as a chest or a 
  jewelry box. the first creature to open the container suffers 
  3d10 poison damage and ongoing 5 acid damage (save 
  ends). If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the 
  target is not killed but is instead knocked unconscious and 
  permanently and visibly scarred.
  Level 2: Utility Power
  Part of being an assassin is knowing which tool to 
  use in every situation. Some executioners master the 
  power of shadow magic early to gain a supernatural 
  edge over their targets. others simply refine their nat-
  ural skills, pushing themselves to peak performance.
   
  Benefit: You gain one of the following utility 
  powers.
  Distracting Illusion
  Mastering the ability to weave shadow magic to 
  create illusions can be a useful skill for the assassin 
  who wants to focus on subterfuge and misdirection. 
  The images created by distracting illusion won’t fool 
  anyone who examines them closely or interacts with 
  them. Instead, these illusions are meant to cover up 
  the assassin’s actions. For example, an assassin might 
  create an illusion of the guard that the assassin just 
  killed, standing at his assigned post, in order to fool 
  observers into thinking the guard is still on duty. 
  Alternatively, an assassin might lure his or her quarry 
  out into the open by creating an illusion of a trusted 
  companion beckoning the target urgently to where 
  the assassin lurks in the shadows.
  Distracting	illusion	
  assassin	utility	2
  The image of a creature flickers and then solidifies as you craft 
  an illusion meant to cover your dark deeds.
  encounter	F	illusion,	shadow
  minor	action	
  	
  Close	burst 10
  effect: You create the illusion of a medium-sized creature of 
  your choice in an unoccupied square in the burst. the il-
  lusion is silent but moves and acts as though it was the 
  creature it appears to be. Creatures that closely examine 
  the illusion can make an Insight check opposed by your 
  bluff check to discover the illusion for what it really is. the 
  illusion lasts until the end of your next turn.
  sustain	minor: the effect persists until the end of your next 
  turn, and you can move the illusion up to 6 squares.
  Silent Stalker
  You’ve learned to quiet your steps and keep your 
  equipment from making noise. As soon as your 
  enemies turn their backs on you, you can approach 
  quickly and quietly, using your enemy’s body to shield 
  yourself from sight.
  silent	stalker	
  assassin	utility	2
  You pad quietly toward your victim, unseen and unheard.
  at-Will	F	martial
  move	action	
  	
  Personal
  requirement: You must be hidden.
  effect: move up to your speed to a square within 2 squares of 
  an enemy. You remain hidden until the end of your turn.
  Summon the Mists
  Summon the mists is a simple hex which provides rudi-
  mentary cover against observation. It allows you to 
  call up a bank of fog which rolls out from the shadows 
  to conceal your actions. When used properly, this hex 
  usually draws little attention from observers because 
  the fog appears to be perfectly natural even as it con-
  ceals dark deeds.
  summon	the	mists	
  assassin	utility	2
  A thick fog rises around you.
  Daily	F	shadow,	zone
  minor	action	
  	
  Close	burst 5
  effect: the burst creates a zone of lightly obscured squares that 
  lasts until the end of the encounter.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  29
  Level 3: Death Attack
  Executioners know how to ensure that the job gets 
  done. You rarely leave your enemies on the brink of 
  death and know how to drive your weapon just a little 
  deeper to turn a grave wound into a killing blow.
   
  Benefit: When you hit an enemy with a weapon 
  attack that deals damage, if the target has 10 hit 
  points or less after you deal damage, you can choose 
  to automatically kill the target. 
  Level 4:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you more 
  deadly by the day.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 4: Nimble Drop
  Whether high on the rooftops or lurking along the 
  edge of a cliff, you often find yourself with hiding 
  places that are perched upon great heights. You know 
  how to soften a fall so that you can leap into action 
  from your lofty perch.
   
  Benefit: You gain the nimble drop power.
  nimble	Drop	
  assassin	utility
  You cushion your fall with secret techniques that protect you 
  even when dropping from a great height.
  at-Will	F	martial
  Free	action	
  	
  Personal
  trigger:	You take falling damage.
  effect: reduce the falling damage by 10. If this reduces the 
  falling damage to 0, you do not fall prone and instead land 
  on your feet.
  	
  Level	11: reduce the falling damage by 20.
  	
  Level	21: reduce the falling damage by 40.
  Level 5: Efficient Poisoner
  Your confidence in your skills as a maker of poisons 
  grows, as does your speed in doing so. Even when 
  handling deadly toxins, your hand remains steady 
  and your eye for mixtures gives you the ability to 
  accomplish more in a short time.
   
  Benefit: During an extended rest, you can create 
  two vials of 1st-level assassin’s poisons instead of 
  just one. You also learn one more 1st-level assassin’s 
  poison recipe of your choice.
  Level 6: Utility Power
  You’ve learned to master more advanced assassi-
  nation techniques ranging from improved skill in 
  shadow magic to practical experience in staying out 
  of sight.
   
  Benefit: You gain one of the following utility 
  powers.
  Ghost of the Rooftops
  Streets and alleyways are filled with city guards and 
  other witnesses, so some executioners learn the art 
  of dancing from rooftop to rooftop with speed and 
  precision. For the executioner, clearing the distance 
  between buildings or scaling a palace wall is like a 
  stroll around the corner.
  ghost	of	the	rooftops	
  assassin	utility	6
  Your skill at climbing and leaping allows you to move across 
  the rooftops unhindered.
  at-Will	F	martial
  move	action	
  	
  Personal
  effect: Climb a number of squares up to your speed, or jump 
  horizontally a number of squares up to your speed.
  Darkness
  Not every execution can be performed with only your 
  victim present. Bodyguards, servants, and innocent 
  bystanders sometimes interfere with assassinations. 
  The darkness hex allows you to sow confusion by 
  creating an area of pure, magical darkness which 
  no light can penetrate. Those in the darkness effect 
  cannot see you performing your lethal task. Some 
  executioners also use this hex to conceal their hiding 
  places from outside observers; a well-placed darkness 
  hex can block the light of lamps and candles, making 
  a room in an inn appear dark to observers who might 
  be hunting the assassin just outside the window. 
  Darkness	
  assassin	utility	6
  A cloud of pure shadow expands from you, shrouding the  
  area in darkness.
  Daily	F	shadow,	zone
  minor	action	
  	
  Close	burst 2
  effect: the area of the burst becomes a zone filled with 
  darkness until the end of your next turn. the zone blocks 
  line of sight for all creatures except you. Creatures in the 
  zone other than you are blinded as long as they remain  
  in the zone.
  sustain	minor: the effect persists until the end of your next 
  turn. You must be within the zone to sustain it.
  Vanish
  A quick escape is one of the most valued tools in your 
  repertoire. The vanish hex ensures that you can disap-
  pear without a trace, at least long enough to retreat 
  without pursuit. This hex envelops you in a cloak 
  of invisibility, then teleports you a short distance to 
  make sure that your enemies are completely con-
  founded. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  30
  vanish	
  assassin	utility	6
  Without warning you completely vanish from the sight of all 
  around you. By the time you reappear, you are far from where 
  you once stood.
  encounter	F	shadow,	teleportation
  immediate	reaction	
  Personal
  trigger:	You are hit by an attack.
  effect: You become invisible until the start of your next turn. 
  You teleport up to your speed.
  Level 7:  
  Guild Weapon Training
  Versatility is the key to adapting to changing situa-
  tions; nothing ever goes completely according to plan 
  when it comes to assassination. You benefit from 
  your ability to learn new techniques with your guild’s 
  favored weapons.
   
  Benefit: You gain one additional guild weapon 
  attack. 
  Level 8:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you more 
  deadly by the day.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 8: Flawless Disguise
  Deception is a key part of the executioner’s ability to 
  reach his or her targets without impediment. Because 
  infiltration is often necessary for gaining access to 
  a target, executioners learn to disguise themselves 
  well enough to blend in with their surroundings. You 
  might disguise yourself as a servant to infiltrate the 
  local lord’s manor or appear as a merchant’s cook to 
  gain access to his dining chambers.
   
  Benefit: During a short rest, you can craft an 
  excellent disguise that makes you appear to be 
  another humanoid of your size (either a specific 
  person or a nondescript member of a race or orga-
  nization). Any creature that attempts to see through 
  your ruse makes an Insight check opposed by your 
  Bluff check, and you gain a +5 bonus to your check. 
  You must have a disguise kit to use this ability.
  Level 9: Master Poisoner
  The longer you work with your poisons, the more you 
  learn about them. Whether you pick up the knowl-
  edge from a fellow assassin, pay a local apothecary 
  for new instruction, or simply learn of new poisons by 
  trial and error, your repertoire of poisons continues 
  to grow.
   
  Benefit: During an extended rest, you can create 
  three vials of 1st-level assassin’s poisons instead of 
  two. You also learn one more 1st-level assassin’s 
  poison recipe.
  Level 10: Utility Power
  At the peak of your power in the heroic tier, your mas-
  tery of shadow magic gives you a variety of tools that 
  you can use to perform your executions without being 
  obstructed or captured.
   
  Benefit: You gain one of the following utility 
  powers.
  Death Mark
  Executioners often mark their targets in some way 
  before the assassination occurs. The death mark hex 
  creates a singed, black sigil somewhere on the tar-
  get’s body that pulses with shadow magic. This death 
  mark creates a bond between the executioner and 
  the target which gives the executioner the ability to 
  detect the target with unerring accuracy. once the 
  death mark is placed, the assassin is rarely far behind, 
  and both the target and bystanders know that death 
  comes soon after.
  Death	mark	
  assassin	utility	10
  A black mark appears on the target’s form, appearing to be 
  burned in with a hot iron. It warns of impending death.
  Daily	F	shadow
  minor	action	
  	
  Close	burst 5
  target:	One creature in the burst
  effect: Until you take an extended rest, you always know the 
  direction and approximate distance to the target. the  
  target cannot become hidden from you and you can see  
  the target even when it is invisible.
  Eyes Unseen
  A useful hex that has saved the lives of many an exe-
  cutioner, eyes unseen allows the user to peer through 
  walls, around corners, and even through ceilings and 
  floors to see what lies ahead. The hex creates a small, 
  invisible sensor crafted by shadow magic that can 
  appear within a small radius and pass visions back 
  to the assassin. Many executioners use eyes unseen 
  to search for guards, keep an eye on pursuers, and 
  reveal traps and ambushes before walking into them.
  eyes	unseen	
  assassin	utility	10
  You conjure a sensor of shadow that appears nearby and 
  which allows you to see through walls and other barriers.
  encounter	F	shadow
  minor	action	
  	
  Close	burst 5
  target:	One square
  special:	You need not have line of effect or line of sight to the 
  target square to use this power.
  effect: Until the end of your next turn, you can see and hear as 
  though you were standing in the target square. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  31
  Walk Through Shadow
  When you use walk through shadow, you create a brief, 
  flickering shadow that whisks you quickly from one 
  place to another. Unlike some other teleportation 
  abilities, walk through shadow can take the user into 
  unknown places and allows him or her to bypass 
  walls, doors, and other barriers with a blind jump.
  Walk	through	shadow	
  assassin	utility	10
  A swirling mass of shadow surrounds you before transporting 
  you instantaneously a short distance.
  encounter	F	shadow,	teleportation
  move	action	
  	
  Personal
  effect: You teleport a number of squares up to half your speed. 
  You do not need line of sight to the square you teleport 
  into. If you try to teleport into a square that you cannot 
  occupy, this power has no effect.
  Paragon exeCutioner
  Executioners that reach the paragon tier have proven 
  themselves more than capable of carrying out assas-
  sinations (both clandestine and public) without being 
  caught or killed themselves. For you, simple political 
  assassinations and hired killings begin to lose their 
  luster, as city watchmen or the bodyguards of local 
  merchants rarely challenge your skills. Your unique 
  abilities are better spent stalking more powerful 
  quarry—those that threaten the entire world, if not 
  the planes themselves.
  Paragon Path:  
  Guild Executioner
  At 11th level, your executioner takes on the guild 
  executioner paragon path. As a member of a power-
  ful guild, you are afforded training and education 
  in the killing arts that surpasses those of most who 
  work alone. You learn secret fighting techniques, 
  gain access to experts in the field of poison use, and 
  rise through the ranks of your guild as your skills 
  progress. Perhaps one day you will even challenge the 
  Grandfather of Assassins for control of the guild. 
   
  Prerequisite: only an executioner can take this 
  paragon path. You do have the option of selecting a 
  different paragon path for which you qualify. If you 
  do, you gain that path’s benefits in place of the guild 
  executioner benefits.
  ExECUtIONEr ASSASSIN (pArAGON tIEr)
  xp 
  LVL 
  Feats 
  benefits
  26,000 
  11 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
   
   
   
  Attack finesse
   
   
   
  blindside  
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
   
   
   
  Devastating assassination 
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
   
   
   
  Executioner’s action 
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
  32,000 
  12 
  +1 
  Daring escape
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
  39,000 
  13 
  — 
  Death attack (20 hp)
   
   
   
  Shadow coffin
  47,000 
  14 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
  57,000 
  15 
  — 
  Advanced poisons
  69,000 
  16 
  +1 
  Vital Strike
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
   
   
   
  Untraceable step
  83,000 
  17 
  — 
  Guild weapon training
  99,000 
  18 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
  119,000 
  19 
  — 
  master poisoner
  143,000 
  20 
  +1 
  poisoner’s secrets
   
   
   
  [guild executioner]
  Level 11:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you ever more 
  deadly.
   
  Benefit: You increase each of your ability scores 
  by 1.
  Level 11: Attack Finesse
  The deftness with which you manipulate your 
  weapons throws off enemy defenses, allowing you to 
  plunge in your weapon for a deadly strike.  More than 
  ever before, your weapons flash before your enemies’ 
  eyes with uncanny speed.
   
  Benefit: The damage bonus you receive from 
  Attack Finesse increases to 2d6.
  Level 11: Blindside
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  A key skill taught to you by your guild is how to take 
  advantage of the ignorance of your enemies. While 
  hidden, you can remain so still that, when your strike 
  comes, your enemies have no time to react or defend 
  themselves. Though truly blindsiding your enemies 
  is difficult (requiring them to move within striking 
  distance of you without seeing you), good luck and a 
  good hiding place can often make your assassinations 
  easier than ever.
   
  Benefit: If you are hidden at the start of an 
  encounter, you gain a +4 bonus to your first attack 
  roll.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  32
  Level 11: Devastating 
  Assassination
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  Your guild has taught you its secret techniques 
  for executions. These secrets may be as simple as 
  the angle of a blade or as complex as a long period 
  of preparation before the execution takes place. 
  regardless of the actual form they take, these secrets 
  increase the potency of your deadliest attack.
   
  Benefit: When you use assassin’s strike, increase 
  the extra damage it provides by 2d10.
  Level 11:  
  Executioner’s Action
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  For you, the precise instant when your killing blow 
  streaks toward your enemy’s body seems to slow to 
  a crawl. That crucial instant passes in the blink of 
  an eye for your enemies and allies, but you perceive 
  each moment in full clarity which lets you guide your 
  strike to where it will do the most harm.
   
  Benefit: When you spend an action point to make 
  an attack and you roll a 1, 2, or 3 on any damage dice 
  associated with that attack (including extra damage 
  from assassin’s strike or critical hit dice), treat those 
  dice as though they showed a result of 4.
  Level 12: Daring Escape
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  When the kill is made, you need to be prepared to 
  bolt away at a moment’s notice. Your guild masters 
  taught you a special slaying technique that uses the 
  momentum of your last, deadly strike to propel your-
  self away. Before your enemies even know that their 
  ally is dead, you are already speeding out of sight.
   
  Benefit: You gain the daring escape power.
  Daring	escape	
  guild	executioner	utility	12
  You carry the momentum of a killing blow into a rapid dash 
  that leaves remaining other enemies far behind.
  encounter	F	martial
  Free	action	
  	
  Personal
  trigger:	You reduce an enemy to 0 hit points.
  effect: You shift up to twice your speed. You gain a +5 power 
  bonus to all Athletics checks made to climb and jump dur-
  ing that shift.
  Level 13: Death Attack
  Death comes swiftly to the wounded, and even more 
  swiftly when you are involved. Your ability to end the 
  life of a wounded enemy grows to the point where 
  even those who don’t yet feel truly endangered can 
  fall to your attack.
   
  Benefit: When you hit an enemy with a weapon 
  attack that deals damage, if the target has 20 hit 
  points or less after you deal damage, you can choose 
  to automatically kill the target. 
  Level 13: Shadow Coffin
  Those who hire executioners usually want proof of 
  the target’s death. The shadow coffin hex is an applica-
  tion of shadow magic that allows the executioner to 
  bring back more than just a simple token of the assas-
  sination; it retrieves the entire body of the intended 
  target. Even in situations where no proof of death 
  is necessary, executioners may use shadow coffin to 
  quickly and expertly dispose of inconvenient corpses. 
  This is especially important when the authorities are 
  investigating nearby.
   
  Benefit: You gain the shadow coffin power.
  shadow	Coffin	
  assassin	utility
  You trap the target of your assassination in a small object 
  which keeps the body out of sight until you are ready to  
  release it.
  at-Will	F	shadow
  Free	action	
  	
  melee 1
  trigger: You kill an adjacent enemy.
  effect: the enemy’s body disappears and becomes trapped in a 
  small, fragile object of your choice (such as a delicate gob-
  let, a handheld mirror, a small gem, or a piece of jewelry). 
  You can release the body into an adjacent square by break-
  ing that object. You can have only one creature in a shadow	
  coffin at a time.
  Level 14:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you ever more 
  deadly.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 15:  
  Advanced Poisons
  As you gain greater experience in the wider world, 
  you also come across rare substances that can 
  enhance the effectiveness of your poisons. Through 
  study and experimentation, you learn to create dan-
  gerous toxins that draw their potency from exotic 
  creatures and plants.
   
  Benefit: You learn one of the following 15th-level 
  assassin’s poison recipes. When preparing poisons, 
  you can create two 1st-level poisons and one poison of 
  up to 15th level.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  33
  Black Lotus Extract
  This powder is derived from the legendary black lotus 
  flower. The effect is devastating when it comes in 
  contact with a creature for more than a few seconds. 
  Black lotuses bloom only once every three years, and 
  it is during that time that the flowers can be har-
  vested to produce this toxic oil. Black lotuses grow 
  only in deep swamps, along shadowed riverbanks, 
  and at the edges of caves where they are sheltered 
  from direct light.
  black Lotus Extract 
  Level 15
  This thick, poisonous oil is dark blue in color, though it quickly 
  becomes invisible when applied to a weapon or object.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the black 
  lotus extract to your weapon or one piece of ammunition. 
  Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit a creature 
  with a weapon attack using that weapon or ammunition, 
  the target takes an extra 5 poison damage.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. Apply the black 
  lotus extract to a single handheld object. the first creature 
  other than you to hold or wear the object for more than 1 
  minute takes 40 poison damage.
  Insanity Mist
  Another poison designed to affect the mind as 
  much as the body, insanity mist is a liquid that is 
  only potent when made airborne and then inhaled. 
  A liquid is distilled from the brains of mind flayer 
  thralls (or mind flayers themselves, which produce a 
  much higher quantity of poison) and combined with 
  several kinds of mold spores to deliver the poison 
  straight to the brain. Insanity mist attacks the mind 
  of the target and begins eroding the consciousness of 
  the victim almost instantly.
  Insanity mist 
  Level 15
  This deep purple liquid swirls with milky colors that some-
  times seem to resolve into disturbing images.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison,	Psychic): Standard Action. 
  Effect: make the following attack:
  	
  ranged	5
  	
  target:	One creature
  	
  special: You can add your enhancement bonus from your 
  ki focus to the following attack and damage rolls.
  	
  attack:	Dexterity vs. Fortitude
  	
  Hit: 2d10 + Dexterity modifier poison damage and the 
  target takes ongoing 10 psychic damage (save ends). 
  	
  miss: Half damage and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save 
  ends). 
  	
  special: If this attack reduces the target to 0 hit points, 
  the target is not killed but is instead driven permanently 
  insane.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): Standard Action. place the 
  insanity mist in a closed container, such as a chest or a 
  jewelry box. the first creature to open the container takes 
  2d10 poison damage and ongoing 10 psychic damage 
  (save ends). 
  Lich Dust 
  To those uneducated in the art of poison crafting, 
  lich dust is often believed to be a powder made from 
  the ground-up bones of liches. This belief is only 
  partially correct; in truth, lich dust is made from a 
  combination of pulverized bones taken from a variety 
  of undead creatures (liches among them) mixed with 
  other alchemical and natural substances. lich dust 
  retains some of the necromantic power that once ani-
  mated the bones it is made from, which can drain the 
  energy and spirit of creatures that consume it or are 
  injured by a weapon coated in the poison.
  Lich Dust 
  Level 15
  This white powder looks to be the residue of ground-up bones.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the lich 
  dust to your weapon or one piece of ammunition. the first 
  creature you hit with a weapon attack using that weapon 
  or ammunition before you take a short rest takes an extra 
  10 poison damage and is weakened (save ends).
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. pour the lich 
  dust into a drink or onto a plate of food. the first creature 
  to consume the food or drink is weakened until it takes an 
  extended rest.
  Level 16: Vital Strike
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  In your pursuit of a greater ability to execute your 
  targets quickly and efficiently, one of your fields 
  of study is that of the anatomies of various types of 
  creatures. More than just the study of natural races, 
  you’ve learned where to strike demons to inflict the 
  most damage, where the weak points of angels can be 
  found, and where an archon’s armor leaves tiny but 
  dangerous gaps.
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls 
  against targets that you have combat advantage against.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  34
  Level 16: Untraceable Step
  When you use untraceable step, you use the power of 
  shadow magic to create a veil around yourself that 
  hides you from the sight of others. This veil is short-
  lived, but it does not waver even when you perform 
  strenuous activity. Many assassins use this hex as a 
  means of both infiltration and escape, either slipping 
  past the eyes of guards on the way to an assassination 
  or vanishing from sight long enough to get free of the 
  chaos that follows a killing.
   
  Benefit: You gain the untraceable step power.
  untraceable	step	
  assassin	utility	16
  The air wavers for a moment before a veil of invisibility covers 
  you from head to toe.
  encounter	F	shadow
  move	action	
  	
  Personal
  effect: You become invisible and move up to your speed. You 
  remain invisible until the end of your next turn.
  Level 17:  
  Guild Weapon Training
  Your practical experience in the field gives you new 
  insight on how to use the weapons favored by your 
  assassin guild. 
   
  Benefit: You gain one additional guild weapon 
  attack. 
  Level 18:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you ever more 
  deadly.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 19: Master Poisoner
  The longer you work with your poisons, the more you 
  learn about them. Whether you pick up the knowl-
  edge from a fellow assassin, pay a local apothecary 
  for new instruction, or simply learn of new poisons by 
  trial and error, your repertoire of poisons continues 
  to grow.
   
  Benefit: You learn one additional assassin’s poison 
  recipe of up to 15th level. When preparing poisons, 
  you can create two poisons of up to 15th level and one 
  that is 1st level.
  Level 20:  
  Poisoner’s Secrets
  guild executioner paragon path feature
  When you reach the height of your power within your 
  assassin’s guild, you become privy to the secrets and 
  mysteries that your guild’s poison masters have held 
  for many years. You not only learn the secret to craft-
  ing the deadly poison known as wyvern venom, you 
  also learn how to mix your poisons more efficiently so 
  that you can craft more poisons in the same amount 
  of time.
   
  Benefit: You learn the wyvern poison recipe. 
  During an extended rest, you can create one more 
  vial of assassin’s venom in addition to those you can 
  normally create during an extended rest. That poison 
  can be up to 20th level.
  Wyvern Venom
  The secret to creating wyvern venom, a rare and 
  potent poison, is closely guarded by the most power-
  ful assassin guilds. Versatile in its application, wyvern 
  venom not only does injury to a creature’s body, it also 
  rots away flesh and bone, melts sinew and boils the 
  blood. Even after the initial shock of the effects of the 
  wyvern venom is over, the pain and damage inflicted 
  by the poison linger, making it difficult for the body 
  to heal. The base of the poison is the venom from an 
  actual wyvern, though the poison used by guild assas-
  sins is the result of a complex alchemical process that 
  increases its potency tenfold.
  Wyvern Venom 
  Level 20
  This poison is far more dangerous than that delivered by the 
  sting of a wyvern itself, as a result of the alchemical process 
  that produces this inky-black liquid.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F necrotic,	Poison): minor Action. 
  Apply the wyvern venom to your weapon or one piece 
  of ammunition. the first creature you hit with a weapon 
  attack using that weapon before you take a short rest takes 
  an extra 25 necrotic and poison damage.
  Power	(Consumable	F	necrotic,	Poison): minor Action. pour 
  the wyvern venom into a drink or onto a plate of food. the 
  first creature to consume the food or drink takes necrotic 
  and poison equal to half of its bloodied value and cannot 
  regain hit points until it takes an extended rest.
  Power	(Consumable	F	necrotic,	Poison): minor Action. Apply 
  the wyvern venom to a single handheld object. the first 
  creature other than you to hold or wear the object for more 
  than 1 minute takes necrotic and poison damage equal to 
  half of its bloodied value and cannot regain hit points until 
  it takes an extended rest.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  35
  ePiC exeCutioner
  By the time you reach the epic tier, you are more than 
  a simple killer for hire: you are among the greatest 
  assassins to ever have lived. Elemental princes watch 
  of their shoulders for a sign that you might be lurking 
  in their shadows, and the very whisper of your name 
  sends chills through the courts of the fey. 
   
  When your executioner reaches 21st level, he or 
  she takes on an epic destiny of your choice. This epic 
  destiny represents the grand finale of your adventur-
  ing career, and like your paragon path, it grants a set 
  of related features and powers.
  ExECUtIONEr ASSASSIN (EpIC tIEr)
  xp 
  Level 
  Feats 
  benefits
  175,000 
  21 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
   
   
   
  Attack finesse
   
   
   
  Epic destiny feature
  210,000 
  22 
  +1 
  power
  255,000 
  23 
  — 
  Death attack (30 hp)
  310,000 
  24 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
    
   
   
  Epic destiny feature
  375,000 
  25 
  — 
  Epic poisons
  450,000 
  26 
  +1 
  Epic destiny power
  550,000 
  27 
  — 
  master poisoner
  675,000 
  28 
  +1 
  Ability score increase
  825,000 
  29 
  — 
  master poisoner
  1,000,000 
  30 
  +1 
  Epic destiny feature
  Level 21:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you more 
  deadly by the day.
   
  Benefit: You increase each of your ability scores 
  by 1.
  Level 21: Attack Finesse
  Your skill in combat allows you to slip your weapon 
  past your enemies’ defenses with greater speed 
  and efficiency. You move faster, react to defensive 
  postures more quickly, and seek out weak points so 
  quickly that your combat skills border on the super-
  natural.
   
  Benefit: The damage bonus you receive from 
  Attack Finesse increases to 3d6.
  Level 21:  
  Epic Destiny Feature
  As you enter the epic tier, your final destiny comes 
  into focus. Perhaps you are fated to save the world 
  from some great evil, or maybe fate has dictated that 
  you must fight against a god. The destiny you pursue 
  shapes you just as your actions shape the cosmos.
   
  Benefit: You gain a feature associated with your 
  epic destiny.
  Level 22: Ignore Barriers
  Executioners often receive assignments to assassinate 
  powerful individuals that cordon themselves off from 
  the world behind walls of stone and gates of steel. The 
  ignore barriers hex allows you to use shadow magic to 
  cause walls, doors, and other objects to temporarily 
  fade from existence when you approach them, allow-
  ing you to pass through barriers that would keep 
  other creatures out. 
   
  Benefit: You gain the ignore barriers power.
  ignore	Barriers	
  assassin	utility	22
  Your physical form becomes as unstable as a shadow, allowing 
  you to step through physical barriers with ease.
  Daily	F	shadow
  minor	action	
  	
  Personal
  effect: You gain phasing until the end of the encounter.
  Level 23: Death Attack
  Your gift for executing the weak and dying allows 
  you to put down creatures of greater power quickly 
  and without a mess. Your attacks rarely leave your 
  enemies at death’s door; instead, they escort your 
  enemies through that door into death’s parlor.
   
  Benefit: When you hit an enemy with a weapon 
  attack that deals damage, if the target has 30 hit 
  points or less after you deal damage you can choose to 
  automatically kill the target. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  36
  Level 24:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you more 
  deadly by the day.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 24:  
  Epic Destiny Feature
  Your place in the cosmic order becomes cemented as 
  you gain still more power. At this point, fate seems to 
  bend and weave to ensure your survival.
   
  Benefit: You gain a feature associated with your 
  epic destiny.
  Level 25: Epic Poisons
  like any other field of learning, the mastery of 
  poisons comes only after a long period of practice 
  and diligent studying. As you approach the apex of 
  knowledge in the poisoning arts, you learn how to 
  manipulate poisons extracted from the bodies of pow-
  erful beings, like angels, basilisks, and dragons.
   
  Benefit: You learn one of the following 25th-level 
  assassin’s poison recipes. When preparing poisons, 
  you can create one poison of up to 25th level and two 
  of up to 15th level.
  Dark Reaver Powder
  Said to come from the pulverized bodies of angels 
  devoted to gods of death (the raven Queen, Kelemvor, 
  etc.), dark reaver powder has the ability to render a 
  creature unconscious for long periods of time. Assas-
  sins use dark reaver powder to get enemies out of the 
  way without killing them or to leave them as long-
  term reminders not to cross the wrong person. When 
  applied in powder form to a weapon, the poison seeps 
  into the blood and produces a diluted effect that ren-
  ders enemies woozy for a short period of time.
  Dark reaver powder 
  Level 25
  This fine, black powder gives off no odor but can render a 
  creature comatose if consumed.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  dark reaver powder to your weapon or five pieces of 
  ammunition. Until the end of the encounter, whenever you 
  hit a creature with a weapon attack using that weapon or 
  ammunition, the target takes an extra 10 poison damage 
  and is dazed until the end of your next turn.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. pour the 
  dark reaver powder into a drink or onto a plate of food. 
  the first creature to consume the food or drink becomes 
  unconscious until it takes an extended rest. At the end 
  of that extended rest, the poisoned creature must make 
  a saving throw at a  –5 penalty. Success indicates that 
  the person has overcome the poison and is no longer 
  unconscious. Failure indicates that the unconscious 
  condition persists until the next extended rest, when 
  another saving throw can be made.
  Dragon Bile
  Dragon bile is one of the most sought-after substances 
  harvested from dragons. It can be made into a deadly 
  poison that can slay a person in a matter of minutes. 
  The dragon bile used by assassins is among the most 
  potent, and is harvested from the bodies of power-
  ful and ancient dragons slain by adventurers. A brief 
  touch of dragon bile can make it impossible for a 
  creature to move or do anything else, while prolonged 
  exposure is almost always fatal.
  Dragon bile 
  Level 25
  Harvested from the bodies of ancient dead dragons, this poi-
  son is among the most deadly.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  dragon bile extract to your weapon or one piece of 
  ammunition. the first creature you hit with a weapon 
  attack using that weapon or ammunition before you take 
  an extended rest falls prone and is stunned until the end of 
  your next turn.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): minor Action. Apply the 
  dragon bile to a single, handheld object. the first creature 
  other than you to hold or wear the object for more than 1 
  minute dies. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Assassin, Executioner
  37
  Eye of Basilisk Powder
  Among the rarest of poisons used by assassins, eye of 
  basilisk powder is a fine powder that is exceptionally 
  potent in minute quantities. The eyes of actual basi-
  lisks (harvested at great expense by adventurers) are 
  dried out and ground into a powder that, when prop-
  erly prepared, can turn its victims to stone. Assassins 
  put small amounts of the powder into alchemical 
  pellets which explode when broken to release a small 
  cloud of the poison around the victim.
  Eye of basilisk powder 
  Level 25
  This unremarkable white powder holds the petrifying ability 
  of the basilisk.
  assassin	Poison
  Power	(Consumable F Poison): Standard Action. Effect: make 
  the following attack:
  	
  ranged	5
  	
  target:	One creature
  	
  special: You can add your enhancement bonus from your 
  ki focus to the following attack and damage rolls.
  	
  attack:	Dexterity vs. reflex
  	
  Hit: 4d10 + Dexterity modifier poison damage.
  	
  miss: Half damage.
  	
  effect:	the target is slowed (save ends).	First	Failed	Saving	
  Throw: the target is instead immobilized (save ends). 
  Second	Failed	Saving	Throw: the target is instead petrified.
  Power	(Consumable	F	Poison): Standard Action. place the eye 
  of basilisk powder in a closed container, such as a chest or 
  a jewelry box. the first creature to open the container is 
  targeted by the above attack.
  Level 26:  
  Epic Destiny Power
  Your foes’ worst attacks cannot sway you from the 
  great goal that lies before you. When all seems lost, 
  you have the strength and determination to deny 
  death and fight on.
   
  Benefit: You gain a power associated with your 
  epic destiny.
  Level 27: Master Poisoner
  The longer you work with your poisons, the more you 
  learn about them. Whether you pick up the knowl-
  edge from a fellow assassin, pay a local apothecary 
  for new instruction, or simply learn of new poisons by 
  trial and error, your repertoire of poisons continues 
  to grow.
   
  Benefit: You learn one additional assassin’s poison 
  recipe of up to 25th level.
  Level 28:  
  Ability Score Increase
  Your experience as an assassin makes you ever more 
  deadly.
   
  Benefit: You increase two ability scores of your 
  choice by 1.
  Level 29: Master Poisoner
  The longer you work with your poisons, the more you 
  learn about them. Whether you pick up the knowl-
  edge from a fellow assassin, pay a local apothecary 
  for new instruction, or simply learn of new poisons by 
  trial and error, your repertoire of poisons continues 
  to grow.
   
  Benefit: You learn one additional assassin’s poison 
  recipe of up to 25th level. When preparing poisons, 
  you can create two poisons of up to 25th level and one 
  of up to 15th level.
  Level 30:  
  Epic Destiny Feature
  You have achieved the absolute pinnacle of your abili-
  ties. on the verge of facing your destiny, you gain one 
  final edge that could spell the difference between 
  ultimate victory and utter defeat.
   
  Benefit: You gain a feature associated with your 
  epic destiny.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  38
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By Scott Fitzgerald Gray 
  Illustration by Craig J. Spearing
  Class Acts: 
  Battlemind
  the Ghosts of Nerath
  “I was there when the Shining Citadel fell, 
  whose true name is barely memory now. I 
  was there when the surviving darkmages 
  sacrificed themselves in advance of the 
  cleansing of Khesen. I was there for the 
  end of greatness, but I will be watching 
  through the eyes of the ghosts who follow 
  me when Nerath begins again.”
  — Uhon Nerika, 
  last commander of the Ghost Blades
  Few except the most knowledgeable sages can 
  recount the history and fall of the empire of Nerath 
  as anything but guesswork, rumor, and legends that 
  have quickly taken root in the shadow of lost truth. 
  Among the most common of those legends are the 
  tales of the elite Imperial Guard, including the 
  Curthauri—the legendary legion of the Ghost Blades.
   
  The Ghost Blades were an order of warriors 
  charged with protecting the nobility of the empire 
  and its far-flung kingdoms. Its members were 
   exclusively and secretly battleminds. Their princi-
  ples and training were said to trace back to the first 
  members of that class who stood against the horrors 
  of the Far realm.
   
  When the empire fell, the imperial legions fell 
  with it. Most of the guard was destroyed in the chaos 
  that consumed Nerath. The few survivors were 
  hunted down in the aftermath by those forces quick 
  to claim territory and power where the empire once 
  stood, and also by those once loyal to the empire, 
  who blamed its greatest warriors for its destruc-
  tion. Within a generation, the Imperial Guard was 
  destroyed and all but forgotten.
   
  But across the frontier, from isolated hamlets to 
  the roadhouses of the largest cities, folk have always 
  spoken of lone wanderers outfitted in cloaks of gray 
  and black. Seated around tavern tables and camp-
  fires, they spin elaborate tales of the empire’s glory. 
  Beneath their ragged tunics gleams ghost-gray armor, 
  and the strike of their weapons is said to shroud them 
  in shadow that protects them from all harm.
   
  These are the ghosts of Nerath, whose psionic 
  power connects them to the traditions of a dead 
  empire—and sets them on an endless quest to see that 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Class Acts: Battlemind
  39
  empire restored once more. These battleminds share 
  the faint and bitter memories of the ghosts who came 
  before them—memories that trace back to the last of 
  the Ghost Blades, whose knowledge, understanding, 
  and purpose somehow survived their end.
   
  These are the ghosts of Nerath. They wander the 
  land that was once an empire, scouring its ruins and 
  isolated points of civilization for something that only 
  they would recognize. Perhaps they seek some legacy 
  of the glory that once was. 
   
  outside their tight-knit, mysterious circle—if such 
  a thing even exists—no one knows how the knowledge 
  and conviction of the Ghost Blades is passed down 
  through successive generations of battleminds. Is it an 
  innate, psionic instinct, or do they receive training in 
  some remote, unsuspected location? All of them seem 
  to search for the same signs that they believe promise 
  the empire’s return.
   
  The truth is that the Ghost Blades are search-
  ing for the ancient lore and lost relics of the Empire 
  which they believe still exist deep in the ruins that 
  mark its fallen greatness. Ghosts of Nerath fight 
  alongside the protectors of civilization and those who 
  struggle to push back the dread chaos of the wilder-
  ness that consumes it. A ghost constantly seeks quests 
  that show him or her the path that must be taken 
  to hasten Nerath’s return. All understand that such 
  a return is not inevitable—it must be brought about 
  through the effort and sacrifice of the Empire’s most 
  dedicated servants. Most importantly, it will happen 
  only when the long-awaited signs appear to herald 
  the return of an heir to the vacant imperial throne.
   
  Whispered rumors in the empire’s final days told 
  of an infant girl born amid the lethal chaos of the 
  Empire’s final days. She survived her mother’s death 
  and was secreted away by Uhon Nerika, the last com-
  mander of the Ghost Blades. What became of the girl 
  or her savior, no one knows. Every Ghost of Nerath 
  believes with absolute certainty, however, that the 
  Imperial bloodline has endured through her and that 
  somewhere in the wide world, a descendant of the 
  last Emperor is waiting to be found. Some ghosts have 
  come to believe that this scion is fated to emerge from 
  among their own number—one of Nerath’s ghosts is 
  heir to an empire without knowing it, but the truth 
  will emerge when the world is once again ready.
  The Ghosts of the Past
  The ghost of Nerath is a battlemind character 
  theme most suitable for the quick battlemind build. 
  Although Nerath was a human-ruled empire, all 
  humanoid cultures coexisted within its borders. 
  Battleminds of any race can find their fates caught up 
  in the shadows of the empire’s past.
   
  The ghosts are not a formal order or tradition, nor 
  are they organized enough to compose a paragon 
  path. However, existing paragon paths can be used to 
  extend the ghost of Nerath theme if you and the DM 
  see fit. In particular, the steel ego and zephyr blade 
  paragon paths from Player’s Handbook 3 are good 
  choices for a ghost of Nerath character.
  Special Background
  This background can connect a character to the 
  traditions of the ghosts of Nerath. This is not manda-
  tory; because of the ghosts’ nebulous structure, a 
  battlemind character of any background can make 
  use of the thematic powers and weapons presented 
  here. You must decide whether your character is 
  knowingly a Ghost of Nerath who pursues a hidden 
  agenda, or only a battlemind who picked up an 
  unusual, little-known technique or tool in the course 
  of a far-ranging career without understanding its full 
  implications.
   
  From a campaign perspective, bear in mind that 
  these powers and weapons are ancient and unusual. 
  Using them can draw attention from scholars of 
  the Empire and especially from other battleminds 
  or organizations which might not understand their 
  origins and may be suspicious of anyone practicing 
  unknown techniques. Beyond that, they will draw 
  attention from any NPC Ghost of Nerath, whose iden-
  tity will almost certainly come as a surprise to player 
  characters.
   
  ghost of nerath: From the day you were born, 
  you were told the tales of blood and bravery that 
  marked the empire’s fall. As a child, you played out 
  the ancient battles whose names were among the first 
  words you learned, but Nerath was never more than 
  stories to you. or so it was until you first felt the spark 
  of psionic power that marked you as a battlemind. 
  With that power came a knowledge that filled you 
  like a ghostly chorus—the memory of a dozen life-
  times never lived, tracing back to the last of the Ghost 
  Blades.
   
  Whether or not you sought the role, you are a 
  ghost of Nerath fated to search for the signs that 
  will herald the empire’s rise from the ashes. Do you 
  have the strength to take up a quest whose conclu-
  sion might lie long after your own death? Can you 
  set aside the need for love and family, hearth and 
  home to wander the world in search of the vague and 
  elusive signs? Do you dare to consider that you might 
  be the most important of those signs and scion to a 
  bloodline long thought lost?
   
  Associated Skills: Endurance, History
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Class Acts: Battlemind
  40
  new Powers and items
  The following new powers and magic items are the 
  signature abilities of the ghosts of Nerath and define a 
  character’s full connection to that path. However, any 
  battlemind character can use the powers, and charac-
  ters of any class can use the weapons.
  shade	strike	
  battlemind Attack 3
  Wisps of shadow bind you to your foe, obscuring its attempts 
  to strike back at you.
  at-Will F augmentable,	Psionic,	Weapon
  standard	action	
  melee	weapon
  target:	One creature
  attack:	Constitution vs. AC
  Hit:	1[W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until you end your 
  turn not adjacent to the target, you have partial conceal-
  ment against the target. 
  augment	2
  Hit:	2[W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until you end 
  your turn not adjacent to the target, you have partial 
  concealment against the target, as do your allies while they 
  are adjacent to you.
  ghost	Jaunt	
  battlemind Utility 6
  You vanish from an enemy’s sight, slipping past other foes as 
  you move into attack position.
  encounter F illusion,	Psionic
  move	action	
  ranged	5
  target:	One creature marked by you
  effect: You become invisible to the target, then shift up to 5 
  squares to a square adjacent to the target. this invisibility 
  lasts until the end of your turn or until you make an attack.
  shadow-shroud	armor	
  Level 5+ Uncommon
  This armor pulses with shadow when you are struck, lancing 
  out to shroud you and your allies against further attack.
  Lvl 5 
  +1 
  1,000 gp 
  Lvl 20 
  +4 
  125,000 gp
  Lvl 10 
  +2 
  5,000 gp 
  Lvl 25 
  +5 
  625,000 gp
  Lvl 15 
  +3 
  25,000 gp 
  Lvl 30 
  +6 
  3,125,000 gp
  armor:	Chain, scale
  enhancement:	AC
  Power	(encounter F augmentable):	Free Action. Trigger: You 
  take damage from an attack. Effect: You and all allies within 
  3 squares of you gain partial concealment until the end of 
  your next turn.
  augment	1:	Effect:	You and one ally within 3 squares of you 
  gain total concealment until the end of your next turn.
  ghost	Dance	Weapon	
  Level 3+ Uncommon
  You react to an enemy’s attack with a lightning-fast strike, 
  then slip away within a shroud of shadow.
  Lvl 3 
  +1 
  680 gp  
  Lvl 18 
  +4 
  85,000 gp
  Lvl 8 
  +2 
  3,400 gp 
  Lvl 23 
  +5 
  425,000 gp
  Lvl 13 
  +3 
  17,000 gp 
  Lvl 28 
  +6 
  2,125,000 gp
  Weapon:	Any melee
  enhancement:	Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical:	+1d6 damage per plus, or +1d10 damage per plus 
  with opportunity attacks
  Property: Whenever you make an attack with this weapon 
  while you have total concealment, you gain a +2 item 
  bonus to all defenses until the start of your next turn.
  Power	(Daily F augmentable): Immediate reaction. Trigger: 
  You take damage from a melee attack by an enemy marked 
  by you. Effect: make a melee basic attack using this weapon 
  against the triggering enemy. You then shift a number of 
  squares equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus.
  augment	2:	the attack deals 1[W] extra damage.
  About the Author
  Scott Fitzgerald gray (9th-level layabout, vindictive neu-
  tral) started gaming in high school and has worked as a 
  writer and editor much of the time since then. After belat-
  edly realizing he could combine both vocations in 2004, he’s 
  been making up for lost time as a freelance rPG editor and 
  designer, primarily for Wizards of the Coast. He lives in the 
  Canadian hinterland with a schoolteacher, two daughters, 
  and a large number of animal companions.
  
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  41
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  By Mike Mearls 
  Illustration by Craig J. Spearing
  Pyromancy:
   
  The Magic of Fire
  Many schools of magic exist, each with their own 
  philosophies and aesthetics. Illusionists alternate 
  between subtle trickery and outrageous distractions. 
  Necromancers are grim creatures more at home 
  under the light of a gibbous moon than the noonday 
  sun. Evokers are aggressive, forceful wizards, more 
  akin to a conquering general than a detached scholar.
   
  of all these wizards, none have quite the repu-
  tation of a pyromancer. Masters of fiery magic, 
  pyromancers are regarded by many as half-mad, 
  and drunk on power and destruction. They have 
  a well-earned reputation for rage, aggression, and 
  impatience. The truth is far more complex and, in 
  some cases, marked by tragedy rather than rage or 
  ambition.
  tHe tale of 
  lord kelwyn
  lord Kelwyn was the scion of a long-forgotten realm, 
  a land where the study of arcane magic stood above 
  all other disciplines. Even the royal army adopted this 
  approach. When war as at hand, Kelwyn’s people sent 
  forth companies of wizards to devastate, trick, and 
  confuse their enemies. Few dared venture into the 
  borders of that land, and for many decades peace and 
  prosperity reigned.
   
  It stood to reason that in a realm where arcane 
  magic reigned supreme, those who wished to reign 
  should take up its study. Kelwyn’s father was a stern 
  evoker who had won many battles against raiding 
  “I have unearthed vast tomes of ancient knowledge. 
  I have delved deep into the depths of the earth and 
  encountered creatures far beyond mortal ken. I have 
  uncovered lost treasures of forgotten empires. And I 
  have burned them all. I have burned them all for the 
  greater glory of the unquenchable fire.”
   
  —Lord Kelwyn of the Ash-Choked Path, 
  Archmage of Pyromancy
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Pyromancy: The Magic of Fire
  42
  ogres. His mother was a skilled transmuter whose 
  spells transformed the ancient monuments that 
  watched over the kingdom’s borders into indomitable 
  living statues.
   
  Perhaps it was the lofty standards established by 
  his parents, or maybe it was a streak of simple youth-
  ful rebellion within the boy. Whatever the cause, 
  Kelwyn shunned the mages sent to tutor him. He 
  preferred to wander the realm’s forests, departing for 
  weeks at a time with nothing more than a waterskin, 
  his bow, and a quiver of arrows.
   
  In time his parents grew so frustrated with him 
  that they shackled him in irons and forced him to 
  attend to his studies. By this time he had grown tall 
  and strong. The first mage sent to tutor him escaped 
  with a few bruises and a bloodied nose. The second 
  suffered a broken arm. To Kelwyn’s credit, he did lift 
  the bookshelf he had knocked on to the poor wizard 
  and used his knowledge of woodcraft to soothe his 
  pain until the royal doctor arrived.
   
  one day, a stranger appeared at the castle’s gate. 
  He wore crimson robes and a black turban. Although 
  his hood was pulled far enough forward to conceal 
  his face, he made no effort to hide his flickering tail. 
  He was a tiefling from the far south, and he came 
  bearing an offer to the royal family. He would suc-
  ceed where a dozen tutors had failed. He would teach 
  the intractable Kelwyn the secrets of fire magic, a 
  relatively rare school that none within the realm had 
  previously studied. Since Kelwyn was their only son 
  and the law of the land clearly required the king to 
  display proficiency in the wizardly arts, Kelwyn’s par-
  ents eagerly accepted his offer.
   
  The mysterious tutor entered Kelwyn’s study. Ser-
  vants gathered around the door, ready to spring to 
  action at the first sounds of toppling bookshelves and 
  cries of pain. But instead, they heard nothing. Hours 
  passed, and soon the doors opened. The mysterious 
  stranger emerged, his new apprentice in tow.
   
  Kelwyn proved a natural student for the school 
  of pyromancy. Although his spells lacked the subtle 
  power of his mother’s or the fine tactically precise 
  control of his father’s, he more than matched them in 
  pure, unfettered power. His spells incinerated a troll 
  warband. They cleansed the ghouls that infested a 
  forgotten cemetery. It seemed clear that Kelwyn was 
  on his way to joining the rest of his family’s line in 
  arcane greatness.
   
  His parents were therefore shocked and surprised 
  when the mysterious tutor came to them one day and 
  begged to be released from his duties.
   
  “The fire burns too brightly within him,” he said to 
  them. “There will come a time when he cannot con-
  trol it. I cannot set him upon a path that will lead to 
  his ruin.”
   
  Kelwyn’s parents laughed. “our line has mastered 
  magic since the dawn of the world. How could some-
  thing as simple as fire prove too much for our son?”
   
  “The fire has power more subtle than you can 
  imagine. The pyromancer commands a magic first 
  crafted by the primordials. Even today, the voice of 
  those long-forgotten beings echoes in the magic we 
  wield. It offers us great power, but it demands obe-
  dience first, submission soon after, and then slavery. 
  We do not control this power. We channel and 
  resist it.”
   
  Kelwyn’s parents paid no heed to the tutor’s warn-
  ings. They locked him away, seized his books of 
  knowledge, and gave them to Kelwyn. Clearly, their 
  son could complete his training without him.
   
  True to his bloodline, Kelwyn delved faster 
  and deeper into his studies than even his parents 
  expected. He became obsessed with mastering every 
  aspect of fire, housing himself in chambers where 
  lanterns and cauldrons filled with oil burned cease-
  lessly. He disappeared for days at time, consumed by 
  his studies to the point that he paid no heed to food or 
  drink. He was on the verge of a great breakthrough, 
  he told his parents. Excitedly, they called the great-
  est sages and wizards of the land to unveil their son’s 
  great achievement.
   
  Thus it came to pass that the most powerful folk of 
  the realm were on hand to witness Kelwyn’s transfor-
  mation. He stood before a great crowd of onlookers in 
  the royal feasting hall, eyes bulging and frantic. What 
  the crowd took for excitement was instead mad-
  ness. What they saw as a harmless flame soon grew 
  to a searing holocaust. The cry of triumph, a joyful 
  shout of discovery, gave way to a bloodthirsty shriek. 
  Kelwyn became a creature of fire, a being of pure 
  flame who reduced his realm’s finest, most powerful 
  folk to ash in the time it takes to draw a single breath. 
  The castle burned, its folk died. Kelwyn’s body was 
  so thoroughly consumed by the conflagration that no 
  trace of it remained. only the tutor, forgotten in his 
  dungeon cell, survived to spread the tale since known 
  as Kelwyn’s Immolation.
   
  Kelwyn is the most renowned example of the 
  dangers of fire magic. The tutor spoke true when he 
  pleaded with the doomed lord’s parents. The first 
  stirrings of fire magic arose in the ancient days, at the 
  behest of a great elemental lord of fire. Although its 
  name is long since forgotten, that creature still lives 
  within the arcane phrases and mystic patterns of 
  pyromancy.
   
  Kelwyn’s example reminds all pyromancers of the 
  power and danger offered by their magic. The anger 
  and fury many harbor must be projected both within 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  43
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  and without, a useful channel for a power that could 
  grow overwhelming and a stern reminder of the risks 
  they undertake. It is said that a pyromancer saves the 
  hottest wrath for his or her mistakes, and few practi-
  tioners of this school of magic would disagree.
  meCHaniCs
  As a mage, you can choose pyromancy as your school 
  of magic. The benefits you gain from this school are 
  outlined below. If you choose to specialize in pyro-
  mancy, a high Constitution score serves you well.
  Level 1: Pyromancy 
  Apprentice
  apprentice Mage feature
  Fire roars through your soul just as it courses through 
  your magic. The fire you tap in to burns hotter than 
  any source found in the world or even on the planes.
   
  Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls with 
  arcane fire attacks. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th 
  level and +3 at 21st level. Additionally, your attacks 
  ignore fire resistance.
  Level 5: Pyromancy 
  Expert
  Expert Mage feature
  When confronting others, you make it plain that 
  your control over your power decreases as your anger 
  increases. Whether your threat is genuine or a mere 
  bluff, only you can say for sure.
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff checks and 
  Intimidate checks.
  Level 10: Pyromancy 
  Master
  Master Mage feature
  Your spells ignite the ground, spreading flames and 
  consuming your enemies even if they are fortunate 
  enough to dodge your attacks.
   
  Benefit: When you use an area or close arcane 
  fire attack power that is not already a zone, the area 
  of the attack becomes a zone that lasts until the end of 
  your next turn. Creatures that end their turns within 
  the zone take fire damage equal to your Constitution 
  modifier.
  Level 11: Pyromancy 
  Action
  Enigmatic mage paragon path feature
  Your first steps along the path of pyromancy mastery 
  required you to relinquish some control. In doing so, 
  you learned the secrets of fire magic. Now, when you 
  draw upon your reserves of energy and effort, you 
  exercise precise, deadly control of your magic.
   
  Benefit: When you spend an action point to take 
  an extra action, pick an enemy within 10 squares of 
  you. The next time you damage that enemy with an 
  at-will or encounter fire attack this turn, that enemy 
  takes damage as if you rolled the maximum result on 
  all dice for that damage roll. If you score a critical hit, 
  the extra damage is instead maximized. You gain no 
  benefit if the damage you inflict does not require a 
  damage roll.
  Level 11: Pyromancy 
  Encounter Power
  Enigmatic mage paragon path feature
  Kelwyn’s devouring fire has a sinister reputation. It 
  calls forth a sheet of fire similar to burning hands, but 
  those who have survived this spell’s fury claim that 
  it is a living thing—a whispering spirit that burned 
  both body and soul. The few pyromancers willing 
  to discuss the spell tell of a compelling voice that 
  sometimes speaks to them, urging them to unleash 
  the spell and wreak havoc regardless of the conse-
  quences.
  kelwyn’s	
  Enigmatic mage Attack 11
  Devouring	Fire
  A sheet of flames roars forth from your hands, burning all  
  in its path.
  encounter F arcane,	evocation,	Fire,	implement
  standard	action 
  Close blast 5
  target: Each creature in the blast
  attack: Intelligence vs. reflex
  Hit:	3d8 + Intelligence modifier fire damage.
  miss: Half damage, or slide the target up to 4 squares and it 
  must end the slide outside the blast. If it cannot end the 
  slide outside the blast, it instead takes half damage.
  effect:	If you kill one or more creatures with this attack, 
  all creatures in the blast take fire damage equal to 5 + your 
  Constitution modifier. Apply this extra damage  
  after attacking all the targets.
  
  Level 12: Pyromancy 
  Utility Power
  Enigmatic mage paragon path feature
  If devouring fire was the first sign of Kelwyn’s descent 
  into madness, the fiery form spell he developed 
  marked his slow transformation from a living crea-
  ture to a being of pure fire. Kelwyn’s fiery form shifts its 
  caster from a mortal creature to an elemental being 
  of fire and ash. In this form, waves of heat cascade 
  from you to burn creatures that draw close to you. 
  The more victims you present to it, the deadlier the 
  fire burns.
  kelwyn’s	Fiery	Form	 Enigmatic mage Utility 12
  You become a creature of fire as you give both body and soul 
  over to the power you command. For a few moments, it now 
  commands you.
  Daily F arcane,	Fire,	Polymorph
  minor	action 
  Personal
  effect: You transform into a humanoid creature of ash and fire. 
  Until the end of the encounter, you gain immunity to fire 
  and a power bonus to damage rolls with fire attacks equal 
  to the number of targets of the attack. If at least one of 
  those targets is an ally, the bonus increases by 4. Creatures 
  that end their turns adjacent to you take 5 + your Constitu-
  tion modifier fire damage.
  Level 20: Pyromancy Daily 
  Power
  Enigmatic mage paragon path feature
  This deadly spell is thought by some to be the (barely) 
  controlled version of the spell which vaporized 
  Kelwyn and ended his dynasty. Kelwyn’s final devasta-
  tion channels such destructive power that even the 
  most powerful pyromancers cannot fully control 
  it. By surrendering to the flame, you unleash vast 
  destructive power.
  kelwyn’s	
  enigmatic mage Attack 20
  Final	Devastation
  You gather and then channel fiery energy that chars your flesh 
  as you unleash a blast of fire.
  Daily F arcane,	evocation,	Fire,	implement
  standard	action 
  area burst 2 within 20
  target: Each creature in the burst
  attack: Intelligence vs. reflex
  Hit:	10d10 + Intelligence modifier fire damage.
  miss: Half damage.
  effect:	You take damage equal to your bloodied value.
  this damage cannot be reduced in any way.
  About the Author
  Mike Mearls is the Group Manager for the Dungeons & 
  Dragons® roleplaying game. His recent credits include Play-
  er’s Handbook 3, Hammerfast, and Monster Manual 3.
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Pyromancy: The Magic of Fire
  44
  
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  45
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  By Rodney Thompson
  Illustration by Craig J. Spearing
  Staff Fighters
  Weapon of the Common Man
  There is perhaps no weapon simpler than the 
  staff. More than that, the staff is the weapon of the 
  common man. Swords are expensive and often 
  outlawed by controlling lords, leaving common-
  ers nothing to protect themselves with other than 
  simple weapons, and what could be simpler to make 
  than a staff? 
   
  The quarterstaff is a weapon with a long history. 
  It dates back to the earliest days of civilization and 
  is commonly found in cultures from all corners of 
  the world.
  History of tHe 
  Quarterstaff
  Given the simplicity of the weapon, it is impossible 
  to determine where and when the quarterstaff 
  originated as a weapon. In Western culture, the 
  weapon rose to both prominence and fame during 
  the Middle Ages, when commoners working under 
  the feudal system often needed weapons to protect 
  themselves not only from brigands but from the 
  servants of rival lords as well. The staff was an 
  inexpensive weapon to make, so that commoners 
  with little in the way of wealth could use it to defend 
  themselves without access to costly steel. The 
  quarterstaff is also popularized in fiction during this 
  time, as it is shown to be the chosen weapon of robin 
  Hood’s companion little John.
   
  In Eastern cultures, a variety of staff weapons are 
  staples of many martial arts styles. As in Western 
  cultures, the staff actually sees its origins more as a 
  tool than as a weapon—one used for carrying baskets, 
  pushing boats along shallows, herding animals, etc. 
  In ancient China, the staff was a weapon kept by 
  commoners who were forbidden traditional weap-
  ons, and they were used to continue the tradition 
  of passing down family martial arts styles in secret. 
  The staff is often depicted in Eastern literature as a 
  weapon of the humble or common warrior. In fact, it 
  is said that the great Japanese swordsman Miyamoto 
  Musashi was only defeated once—by a man wielding 
  a quarterstaff.  
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Staff Fighters
  46
  using tHe 
  Quarterstaff
  The quarterstaff makes a great weapon choice for any 
  hero who comes from a humble background. While 
  heroes who come from loftier backgrounds certainly 
  can use staffs, the staff is a symbol of the common 
  man, so choosing to fight with a staff rather than 
  more expensive and exclusive weapons like swords 
  and polearms proclaims that the character identifies 
  more closely with commoners than with nobility or 
  full-time warriors. 
   
  If you want to use a staff as your chief weapon, 
  several existing options can get you started.
   
  The Staff Expertise feat (Heroes of the Fallen Lands, 
  page 317) should be one of the first things that you 
  look at when creating a hero whose primary weapon 
  is the quarterstaff. This feat not only provides a bonus 
  to accuracy for the quarterstaff (both for weapon 
  users and implement users) but also gives the benefit 
  of 1 extra square of reach for its wielder. 
   
  Additionally, the Staff Fighting feat (Dragon 
  Magazine Annual, page 94) allows you to treat the 
  quarterstaff as a double weapon. This allows you to 
  use the staff with feats like Two-Weapon Defense 
  and Two-Weapon Fighting (Heroes of the Fallen Lands, 
  page 319). Furthermore, it allows you to use the 
  quarterstaff instead of two separate weapons, making 
  it a good option for rangers and tempest fighters. At 
  epic tier, the Bludgeon Mastery feat can increase your 
  critical hit range with the staff. 
   
  Below you will also find several new options that 
  can help you build a staff fighter, plus some advice 
  about how to craft a character for which a staff is the-
  matically appropriate. 
  Knights
  The knight is a defender of his or her people. Knights 
  stand stalwart against all manner of threats, and 
  what better way to show your dedication to defend-
  ing your people than by wielding the weapon most 
  commonly used by them? Though most knights typi-
  cally defend while using a shield and a one-handed 
  weapon, the speed with which a quarterstaff can be 
  whirled around the body means that a trained knight 
  can deflect attacks just as easily with the staff as with 
  the shield. 
   
  What does it say about you as a knight fighter 
  if you use a staff? It says that you are a hero of the 
  common folk. It says that you might have received 
  your training in secret; it says that you might live in 
  a place where there simply was no chance for you to 
  train with a sword and shield. 
   
  You can choose the Spinning Deflection fea-
  ture instead of the Shield Finesse feature when 
  you create a knight. Additionally, at 7th level you 
  can choose the Bludgeoning Staff feature for your 
  Weapon Specialization.
  Level 1: Spinning Deflection
  You can spin a quarterstaff around your body so 
  quickly that you can turn aside attacks with it just as 
  well as you could with a shield.
   
  Benefit: While you are wielding a quarterstaff, 
  you are considered to be wielding a shield for powers 
  and effects that require you to wield one. You also 
  gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and reflex.
  Bludgeoning Staff
  The thickness of a staff, combined with the speed 
  with which you can whip it around to strike at an 
  enemy, can hit your enemies with such force that they 
  reel away from you.
   
  Benefit: When you use power strike with a staff, 
  you can push the target up to 2 squares and can shift 
  2 squares.
  Slayers
  The staff may be a weapon of defense for commoners, 
  but for those who face bandits, brigands, and mon-
  sters on a daily basis, the staff can be a lethal weapon 
  of offense that staggers enemies. While some might 
  favor the axe or the sword, you know that the simple 
  staff of ash or oak can crack skulls and break bones 
  just as easily and is far less likely to draw the attention 
  of others when you roll into a new town. 
   
  What does it say about you as a slayer fighter if 
  you use a staff? It says that you favor a more subtle 
  approach to arming yourself. A staff can be a walk-
  ing stick or a shepherd’s tool, and you are content 
  to let others underestimate you because they don’t 
  fear anyone who’s not carrying a greataxe. It also 
  says that you may be self-taught and learned how 
  to crack skulls with a quarterstaff in order to keep 
  yourself alive.
   
  You can choose the rapid Quarterstaff option for 
  your Weapon Specialization class feature at 7th level. 
  Additionally, you can choose the Staggering Staff 
  power as your 12th level utility power for the Mythic 
  Slayer paragon path.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Staff Fighters
  47
  Rapid Quarterstaff
  When you strike a solid blow upon your enemy, 
  you can convert the force of the impact to let you 
  whip the staff around you at incredible speeds. You 
  hammer at the foes around you with a broad, sweep-
  ing blow.
   
  Benefit: When you use power strike with a staff, all 
  enemies adjacent to you other than the target of power 
  strike suffer damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.
  Staggering Staff
  one of the most dangerous things about the staff in 
  your hands is that you can attack with it in a series 
  of quick but varied strikes. Even when you miss your 
  enemies, your quick jabs cause them to flinch away 
  and stumble into whatever position you choose.
  staggering	staff	
  mythic Slayer Utility 12
  Your staff whirls in your hands, and your enemy stumbles into 
  just the right place.
  encounter	F	martial
  Free	action	
  melee weapon
  trigger: You miss an enemy with a melee attack using a staff
  target: the enemy you missed
  effect: You slide the target 2 squares.
  new feats
  The following new feats are available to any character 
  that meets the prerequisites.
  Ordained Weapon Feats
  Many churches represent their devotion to their deity 
  by carrying a favored weapon. often this weapon is 
  similarly represented in depictions of that deity and 
  its avatars. The clerics, paladins, and other adherents 
  of these churches often draw focus and confidence 
  when wielding their deity’s favored weapon.
   
  The feats in this category all modify divine weapon 
  attack powers. They are ideal for clerics, paladins, 
  and other divine weapon-using classes. 
  ordained	Weapon
  staff	of	knowledge
  staff	of	travel
  Staff of Knowledge
  The staff has often been associated with the sage, and 
  what better representation of the sage is there than 
  the god Ioun. Followers of Ioun often carry a staff as a 
  favored weapon to display their dedication to a life in 
  pursuit of knowledge. 
   
  Prerequisite: Intelligence 13
   
  Benefit: You gain combat advantage with the first 
  divine melee weapon attack you make with a staff 
  during an encounter.
  Staff of Travel
  Most travelers who spend a great deal of time on the 
  road know that a good walking staff can be invalu-
  able, so the church of Avandra recognizes the staff as 
  a symbol of their goddess’s control over the domain 
  of travel.
   
  Prerequisite: Constitution 13
   
  Benefit: When you use a staff to make a divine 
  melee weapon attack, if you hit you can shift 1 square 
  as a free action.
  Thief Weapon Feats
  Most thieves prefer small, subtle weapons when 
  plying their craft. Some, however, specifically train 
  with other weapons to give them an advantage over 
  their fellow rogues. The feats in this category modify 
  the Sneak Attack feature and backstab power in some 
  way, expanding the use of these elements with weap-
  ons not traditionally associated with the rogue.
  thief	Weapon
  Backbreaking	staff
  sneaky	staff
  Backbreaking Staff
  While a staff is difficult to hide, it is a deceptive 
  weapon, one which appears to be nothing more than 
  a utilitarian object for the elderly and the injured. 
  Thieves who use the staff rely on its innocent appear-
  ance to avoid detection, while its size and weight 
  make it ideal for rendering a foe senseless. 
   
  Prerequisite: Backstab
   
  Benefit: When you use backstab on an attack using 
  a staff, on a hit the target is also dazed until the end of 
  your next turn.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Staff Fighters
  48
  Sneaky Staff
  In trained hands, a staff can be used for jabs and 
  quick strikes which allow the wielder to hit vulner-
  able areas when the opportunity presents itself.
   
  Prerequisite: Sneak Attack
   
  Benefit: You can gain the benefits of Sneak Attack 
  and your Weapon Finesse class feature when you 
  make a weapon attack with a quarterstaff, and you 
  gain proficiency in the quarterstaff. In addition, you 
  can use a quarterstaff with rogue powers that require 
  a light blade and are not ranged or area powers.
  Weapon Training
  The intense study of a single weapon allows a war-
  rior to achieve unmatched levels of skill, though at 
  the cost of flexibility. The following feats add to the 
  Weapon Training category. 
  Weapon	training
  stout-Handed	staff
  War	Wizard’s	staff
  Stout-Handed Staff
  Drawing on a martial discipline first created by a wan-
  dering halfling bard, you have learned to use a staff 
  despite its great size compared to your small frame.
   
  Prerequisite: Size Small
   
  Benefit: You wield the quarterstaff as if it was a 
  small weapon. If you knock prone an enemy that is 
  larger than you with a weapon attack using a staff, 
  you can shift 1 square as a free action.
  War Wizard’s Staff
  Few wizards venture close to their enemies in battle, 
  but you have learned to wield your staff as both 
  a weapon and an implement. As you prepare to 
  unleash a blast of arcane power, you augment your 
  staff with such power that you herd an ally out of 
  your blast with it or send a foe tumbling into your 
  spell’s path.
   
  Benefit: When you use a close arcane attack with 
  a staff implement, you can slide one adjacent creature 
  to a different square adjacent to you before making 
  the attack.
  About the Author
  rodney Thompson is an rPG designer at Wizards of the 
  Coast. originally from Chattanooga, TN, his credits for 
  Dungeons & Dragons® include Monster Manual 3, the Dark 
  Sun Campaign Setting, Player Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen 
  Lands, Player Essentials: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, and 
  Monster Vault.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  49
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By Matt Sernett
  Illustration by Matthias Kollros
  Winning Races: Dwarves
  Favored of the All-Father
  Dwarves know Moradin as the All-Father because 
  he crafted all dwarves. Yet Moradin has made many 
  things in his immortal lifetime. Some were stronger 
  and some more beautiful, but none found so much 
  favor in Moradin’s bejeweled heart as his dwarves. 
  The dwarves were the first of Moradin’s makings 
  that made him proud not only of his own skill, but 
  proud to know them and prouder still that they 
  prayed to him.
   
  Dwarves honor their creator through prayer, 
  but also through proud traditions. Knowledge and 
  customs passed down through the generations—
  almost unchanged from the Dawn Age—guide 
  dwarves through the uncertain present and into the 
  unknowable future with the confidence that what 
  has been will be. The past lives on in the present 
  through the deeds of honorable dwarves. So shall 
  it always be as long as any of the favored of the All-
  Father draw breath.
   
  This article presents feats that are compatible 
  with the new Dungeons & Dragons Essentials™ 
  products. Feats are grouped into categories so that 
  you can make decisions about what feats to take 
  based on your character’s personality, background, 
  and goals. Although you can take feats from any 
  category, sticking with one or two presents you with 
  a clear path and reinforces the themes of your char-
  acter as you gain levels. Then, after looking at the 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: Dwarves
  50
  themed  categories and choosing feats that appeal 
  to your character concept, you can find the feat 
  descriptions presented in alphabetical order at the 
  end of the article.
  Giant Slaying
  The titans, sons and daughters of the mighty pri-
  mordials of old, bound to their service the race of 
  dwarves. Enslaved by these powerful masters and 
  their lesser kin—the still massive and mighty giants—
  dwarves lived in chains for untold centuries. Giant 
  feet trod stones mortared with dwarf blood, and giant 
  hearths blazed with fires stoked by dwarf bones.
   
  Moradin took pride in his creations. Despite their 
  many hardships, they endured. The storm of the 
  titans’ wrath was met with the stoicism of stone. Yet 
  pride comes not just from looking at one’s good works, 
  but at seeing oneself as good, and one dwarf, Clanged-
  din Silverbeard, could bear the giants’ yoke no longer.
   
  Moradin had created the dwarves and given them 
  to the primordials, who had in turn granted them 
  to their creations, the titans and giants. Now the 
  dwarves gave their creations to their masters. It was 
  the order of things since time immemorial. Clanged-
  din decided instead to give something to himself and 
  to his people. In secret, he made two fine axes, meld-
  ing into them the strands of his own silver beard. 
  Then Clangeddin set about giving the dwarves pride 
  in themselves. He showed them how to cut the giants 
  down to size, and he offered the titans the gift of fear.
   
  Clangeddin’s rebellion came amid the Dawn 
  War, when gods and primordials battled for control 
  of the world. For the first time, Moradin took pride 
  in his creations—not just for the greatness of what 
  he had made, but for the greatness they inspired in 
  him. Clangeddin Silverbeard became an exarch of 
  Moradin, and ever since then the dwarves have had 
  a tradition of training to take on challenges much 
  larger than themselves.
  Dwarven Stamina
  Moradin’s clerics exhort all to face difficulty with 
  stoicism and to endure danger with courage. Dwarves 
  honor the tenacity and determination of even the 
  foulest foes, and their legends are filled with battles 
  between combatants that last for days, months, and 
  even years. Dwarven stamina itself is legend, and 
  dwarves are renowned for their ability to outfight, 
  outdrink, and outlast opponents.
   
  Berronar Truesilver acts as the patron of dwarven 
  stamina. Moradin relies upon her clear thinking and 
  steady hand in all his plans. And even  Clangeddin’s 
  bravado and bluster are said to wither before her 
  unwavering and serious gaze. An exarch and con-
  sort of Moradin, Berronar is the stern and steadfast 
  mother-figure to all dwarves. Dwarves who desire 
  strength to withstand trying times, patience to see 
  their quest through to the end, or resilience to spring 
  back to health after taking harm say a prayer to Ber-
  ronar.
  Steady as Stone
  Although dwarven stamina might be mocked as 
  stubbornness, few find humor in a dwarf’s ties to the 
  earth. like the sea crashing against cliffs, a dwarf can 
  stand against waves of foes and not be driven back. 
  Powerful limbs and a hunkered form makes it diffi-
  cult to throw them off balance.
   
  With a little work, any dwarf can turn these inher-
  ent traits into a superior advantage. Such a dwarf in 
  the halls and caverns of his or her home can be as 
  fleet as any elf in the forest.
  giant	slaying	Feats
  Feat 
  Effect
  Beneath	notice	
  When	you	and	an	ally	are	adjacent	to	the	same	enemy	of	large	or	greater	size,	you	
  	
  gain	combat	advantage	against	that	enemy.
  giant	killer	
  When	you	score	a	critical	hit	against	a	creature	of	large	of	greater	size,	you	gain	an	
  	
  extra	critical	damage	die.
  DWarven	stamina	Feats
  Feat 
  Effect
  Poison	adaptation	
  you	gain	poison	resistance.
  steaDy	as	stone	Feats
  Feat 
  Effect
  knock	Back	
  you	can	knock	prone	a	foe	within	your	reach	when	you	make	saving	throw	to	
  	
  prevent	yourself	from	being	knocked	prone.
  Quick	steps	(Dwarf)	
  you	gain	a	+1	bonus	to	speed.
  solid	Footing	(Dwarf)	
  you	ignore	difficult	terrain	that	is	the	result	of	stairs,	rubble,	or	stone.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: Dwarves
  51
  Beneath Notice
  You know how to use your enemy’s size against it. 
  With an ally for distraction, you occupy your foe’s 
  blind spot.
   
  Benefit: While you and an ally are adjacent to the 
  same enemy of large or greater size, you gain combat 
  advantage against that enemy.
  Giant Killer
  You know how to cut your enemies down to size. 
  larger foes mean bigger weak spots.
   
  Benefit: When you score a critical hit against a 
  creature of large or greater size, the creature takes 
  1d6 extra damage. 
  Knock Back
  No one pushes you around—at least not without you 
  pushing back. You use your solid footing and combat 
  skill to turn momentum against a foe when someone 
  tries to bowl you over.
   
  Prerequisite: Dwarf
   
  Benefit: When you succeed on a saving throw to 
  avoid being knocked prone, you can knock prone one 
  enemy of size large or smaller that is adjacent to you.
  Poison Adaptation
  Due to frequent exposure or unusual stamina, you’ve 
  become inured to poison.
   
  Benefit: You gain resist 5 poison. The resistance 
  increases to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 21st level.
  feats
  Although designed for dwarves, most of the following feats are available to any character.
   
  Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to speed.
  Solid Footing
  From living in the echoing ruins of the mighty halls 
  built by your dwarf ancestors, you have become 
  accustomed to all their varied terrain. You move 
  across any stone and earth as easily as any eladrin 
  flits across a dance floor.
   
  Prerequisite: Dwarf
   
  Benefit: You gain the earth walk ability (you 
  ignore difficult terrain that is the result of rubble, 
  uneven stone, or earthen construction such as stairs).
  About the Author
  Matt Sernett is a writer and game designer for Wizards of 
  the Coast who splits his time between Dungeons & Dragons 
  and Magic: The Gathering. recent credits include Player’s 
  Handbook Races: Tieflings, The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral 
  Sea, and Magic the Gathering: Zendikar. When he’s not making 
  monsters or building worlds, he’s watching bad fantasy 
  movies you don’t realize exist and shouldn’t bother to learn 
  about.
  Quick Steps
  A dwarf need not give up speed for steadiness, and 
  you’re living proof. You have trained long and hard 
  to gain fleetness of foot, and now you can keep pace 
  with any elf or human.
   
  Prerequisite: Dwarf
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  52
  By Peter Schaefer F Illustration by Slawomir Maniak
  Winning Races:
  The Amethyst Sea
  The innate elemental natures of genasi make them 
  suited to the challenges of life in the Elemental 
  Chaos—and to lives as slaves to the many cruel and 
  mighty creatures of that plane. Firesoul genasi haul 
  carts on efreets’ private estates. Earthsoul genasi 
  toil as miners under an earth titan’s uncaring eyes. 
  Trapped as unwilling acolytes, stormsoul genasi 
  cannot escape a cult of Mual-Tar. The Smoldering 
  Duke employs many cindersoul genasi in his Chok-
  ing Palace. Voidsoul genasi slaves aid demons in 
  their torture on the fringe of the Abyss. So many of 
  the genasi living in the Elemental Chaos are trapped 
  in forced servitude that a secret group exists to free 
  them and ferry them to the natural world: the Ame-
  thyst Sea.
   
  The Amethyst Sea is composed primarily of genasi: 
  the founder Ameth, the allies she has recruited to this 
  purpose, the freed slaves who choose to join the fight, 
  and those who have flocked to her banner. An assort-
  ment of other allies works with the Amethyst Sea. The 
  Starfall Picks are a group of dwarves who fight out 
  of honor for the freedom their ancestors once earned. 
  A smattering of elves and eladrin (with one drow) 
  who call themselves the Summer Hounds refuse to 
  divulge why they help, but Ameth appreciates them. 
  The Lost Sock is a contingent of a guild of thieves, 
  con artists, and extortionists from the world who are 
  openly trying to expand into the Elemental Chaos 
  by infiltrating as they free slaves; as long as enslaved 
  genasi end up free, Ameth is happy to let the thieves 
  help.
  loCations
  Ameth leads her operations from two headquarters: 
  one in the world and one in the Elemental Chaos. 
  In a reverse of what most consider safe, the portal 
  connecting the two opens easily from the Elemental 
  Chaos into the world but is sealed and locked in the 
  other direction. Ameth’s principles allow her to worry 
  less about elemental incursion and more about the 
  kidnapping or retrieval of genasi into the Elemental 
  Chaos. The portal is a boundary and a milestone: 
  once she smuggles someone through the gate into the 
  natural world, no pursuing hunter can simply turn 
  around and bring that person back.
   
  The Amethyst Sea’s base in the world is known 
  as Harrow Keep, a pair of watchtowers on opposite 
  sides of Harrow Gorge with a bridge between them. 
  The bridge supports a keep large enough for Ameth’s 
  followers and allies. Because of its perch on the 
  gorge, Harrow Keep is vulnerable to undermining 
  from beneath, which is one reason Ameth maintains 
  neutrality regarding the politics of the world around 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: The Amethyst Sea
  53
  her and insists that her allies do the same, to varying 
  degrees of success.
   
  In the Elemental Chaos, the Amethyst Sea operates 
  out of a warehouse in the Avencina district of the City 
  of Brass. The owner of the warehouse is a low-rank 
  efreet who believes Ameth makes her money by allow-
  ing inhabitants of the world into the Commoner’s 
  Market. The Amethyst Sea uses the slave market in the 
  Arches district only for reconnaissance and research 
  oPerations
  Every rescue is unique. Ameth once planned and 
  participated in each, but as the movement grew and 
  she gained support and momentum, she learned 
  to delegate. Her view of leadership causes her to 
  offer opinions on every mission the Amethyst Sea 
  undertakes, and she still participates in every rescue 
  attempt. Her aides advise against this exposure, fear-
  ing her capture would shipwreck the Amethyst Sea, 
  but she insists it is her duty.
   
  Deception is the Amethyst Sea’s greatest weapon. 
  Few rescues are direct assaults on the slave traffickers 
  or owners, because the Amethyst Sea cannot muster 
  the resources to effectively meet their wealthy oppo-
  nents blow for blow. Ameth and her allies instead 
  infiltrate their enemies’ organizations, working with 
  slave traffickers to gain their trust or entering the 
  employment of a major slave owner. once in a secure 
  position, the Amethyst agent feeds information to 
  the rest of the group, and someone at Harrow Keep 
  plans the extraction. The best operations preserve the 
  agent’s security. Some agents have been undercover in 
  slave markets or efreets’ households for over a decade.
  Heroic Tier Feats
  Ameth and her followers have learned new ways to 
  use their elemental affiliations to aid them in freeing 
  others, or in freeing themselves. The following feats 
  are suitable for any character who meets the prereq-
  uisite.
  Acid Wash
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, acid surge racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use acid surge, you ignore the 
  immobilized, restrained, and slowed conditions during 
  the move. 
  Collapse into Nothing
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, earthshock racial power
   
  Benefit: When you knock a creature prone with 
  earthshock, that creature is removed from play until the 
  start of its next turn.
  Dwindling Strength
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, firedeath racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use firedeath, you are no longer 
  grabbed and cannot be grabbed until the end of your 
  next turn. In addition, enemies adjacent to you take a 
  −5 penalty to damage rolls against you until the end of 
  your next turn.
  Firepulse Transformation
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, firepulse racial power
   
  Benefit: Firepulse targets each enemy adjacent to 
  you instead of only the triggering enemy. 
  Forceful Shock
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, earthshock racial power
   
  Benefit: When you hit an enemy with earthshock, 
  you can also push that enemy up to 2 squares.
  Freeing Current
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, swiftcurrent racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use swiftcurrent, you ignore the 
  immobilized, restrained, and slowed conditions during 
  the move. 
  Sickening Plague
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, plaguebearer racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use plaguebearer, enemies 
  take a −2 penalty to all defenses while adjacent to 
  using tHe ametHyst sea
  It’s easy to introduce the Amethyst Sea into 
  your game. the heroes meet the Amethyst Sea 
  because . . .
  F  they need access to the Elemental Chaos, or 
  to the City of brass specifically, and the near-
  est portal is at Harrow Keep;
  F  their conflict with an efreet noble or a City of 
  brass merchant prince is about to disrupt a 
  long-term Amethyst operation;
  F  people they need to rescue are caught up in 
  a massive enslavement operation, and they 
  need assistance;
  F  a bargain they have struck requires them to 
  disable or hinder the Amethyst Sea in some 
  way.
  Getting what they need from the Amethyst Sea 
  requires the adventurers to assist on a rescue 
  operation, acquire some necessary magic items 
  for them, or go where the Amethyst Sea can’t to 
  get something done.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: The Amethyst Sea
  54
  you. This effect on you lasts until the end of your 
  next turn.
  Storm Step
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, promise of storm racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use promise of storm, whenever 
  you hit a creature with a lightning or thunder attack 
  before the end of your next turn, you can teleport to a 
  square adjacent to that creature. 
  Swift Winds
   
  Prerequisite: Genasi, windwalker racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use windwalker, your flying 
  does not provoke opportunity attacks.
  Paragon Path:  
  Element Unchained
  “Now I’m free—to kick your ass.”
  Prerequisite: Genasi
  Ameth’s closest friend and advisor, Sot-olmat, pio-
  neered a discipline of rigorous mastery over the 
  elements within a genasi. It is a discipline that one 
  can master through a combination of meditation on a 
  simple mantra and a series of exercises that look harm-
  less but serve to unlock elemental potential within 
  the genasi. The mantra is a repetition in Primordial 
  regarding one’s elemental affinity: “Fire cannot be 
  chained,” or “Water cannot be chained.” Some mani-
  festations require the mantra be changed: “Earth is not 
  chained; earth is the chain.” “Acid consumes all chains.” 
  Sot-olmat developed this path while a slave, and he 
  continues to expose himself to danger to teach the rudi-
  ments of it to other enslaved genasi.
   
  A genasi who studies this discipline becomes 
  impossible to bind or cage. He or she can escape 
  bonds of all sorts swiftly, becoming a master of escape 
  artistry through the mastery of the elemental nature 
  innate to every genasi.
  Element Unchained Path Features
   
  Liberating action (11th level): When you spend 
  an action point to take an extra action, you and each 
  ally within 5 squares of you ignores the slowed, immo-
  bilized, and restrained conditions until the end of your 
  next turn.
   
  Elements Unleashed (11th level): When you 
  use an encounter or daily attack power, you can deal 
  damage of any type that any of your manifestations 
  grants you resistance against instead of the type or 
  types of damage which the attack normally deals. 
   
  Unchained assault (16th level): When you hit 
  with an attack while you are slowed, immobilized, or 
  restrained, you end slowing, immobilizing, or restrain-
  ing effects currently affecting you.
  Element Unchained Powers
  elemental	eruption	
  Element Unchained 
  	
  Attack 11
  You disappear into a burst of energy and reform elsewhere.
  encounter F acid,	Cold,	Fire,	lightning,	Poison,	Psychic,	
  teleportation
  standard	action 
  Close burst 2
  target: Each creature in burst
  attack: primary ability + 6 vs. reflex
  	
  Level	21: primary ability + 9 vs. reflex
  Hit: 2d8 + primary ability modifier acid, cold, fire, lightning, 
  poison, and psychic damage.
  effect: You teleport to any square in the burst or any square 
  adjacent to the burst.
  elemental	transposition	
  Element Unchained 
  	
  Utility 12
  You dissipate into your constituent elements, reforming once 
  danger is past.
  encounter F	zone
  standard	action 
  Close burst 2
  effect: the burst creates a lightly obscured zone that lasts until 
  the end of your next turn. You are removed from play until 
  the start of your next turn, when you return to a square 
  within the zone.
  Duplicate	escape	 Element Unchained Attack 20
  The elements that compose you are everywhere, and you ma-
  nipulate them into simulacra of you to confound your enemies.
  Daily F Conjuration,	teleportation
  standard	action 
  Close burst 5
  effect: You conjure a duplicate of you in up to 4 squares in the 
  burst. Each duplicate makes a single-target at-will ranged 
  or melee attack against a different creature using your basic 
  attack. A duplicate lasts until the end of your next turn, is 
  indistinguishable from you, and can be attacked. A dupli-
  cate that takes damage is destroyed.
  sustain	minor: You and any one duplicate can teleport, 
  swapping places, then each duplicate moves your speed. 
  In addition, the duplicates persist until the end of your 
  next turn.
  About the Author
  Peter Schaefer is a sentient cactus. He (though gender 
  assignation is arbitrary) can move under his own power 
  through telekinesis, which also allows him to manipulate his 
  computer through its standard peripherals. His vegetable 
  perspective makes him an essential rPG developer on such 
  products as Primal Power, Dark Sun, and Player’s Handbook 3, 
  in addition to numerous D&D Insider articles. But do not cross 
  him; the needles he can fire carry deadly venom.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  55
  By Robert J. Schwalb F Illustration by Slawomir Maniak
  Winning Races:
  Muls beyond the Desert
  Bred to be slaves, born to fight and toil, muls are 
  the bedrock of Athasian society. In another world, a 
  blending of dwarf and man would be unthinkable, 
  but to the crafty minds of the templars and those 
  sorcerer-kings who rule them, the mul is a near per-
  fect creation. A young mul faces a bitter life full of 
  hardship with only a shallow grave and dry eyes to 
  mark his or her passing. 
   
  Yet not all muls are content to accept the poor 
  hand fate has dealt them. Some see freedom as their 
  ultimate goal and devote their wretched lives to 
  breaking free from the chains that bind them.
   
  of all the unusual races populating the world of 
  Dark Sun, muls are the most iconic. They embody the 
  challenge inherent in the setting while possessing the 
  strength and grit to overcome them. They are peer-
  less warriors, bred for battle, tireless in their pursuits, 
  and unflinching in danger’s face. It is no wonder muls 
  have enjoyed enduring popularity since their debut in 
  2nd Edition AD&D.
   
  The Dark Sun Campaign Setting presents a world 
  markedly different from the core D&D setting. 
  Between the strange, fearsome monsters and the 
  despotic sorcerer-kings, the often cruel environment 
  shaped by reckless magic and a prevalence of psionic 
  magic, combined with all the other distinctive ele-
  ments, a Dark Sun game is unlike any other Dungeons 
  & Dragons® experience. Even if you don’t play in a 
  Dark Sun campaign, its concepts and options provide 
  interesting additions to any world. Plundering is a big 
  and important part of D&D, and this article shows 
  you one way to do it for one of the more distinctive 
  races on Athas.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: Muls 
  56
  In the Dark Sun Campaign Setting, muls are born from 
  human and dwarf parents. This union is prompted 
  by slavers and nobles to produce a hardy warrior or 
  worker capable of withstanding incredible punish-
  ment. The conditions into which muls are born are 
  not common, if present at all, in most D&D worlds, 
  because slavery rarely exists outside the most evil 
  communities. rather than seeding muls into civilized 
  lands willy-nilly, muls are more likely to come out of 
  those places where evil holds sway, perhaps as slaves 
  to the drow, mind flayers, derro, or even the giants. 
  The following summary is one example story which 
  can explain how muls fit into your non-Athas world.
  Forged in Darkness, 
  Tempered in Blood
  Drow slavers created the first muls in an age long for-
  gotten. The dark elves and their slave soldiers welled 
  up from the Underdark’s blackest depths to silence 
  the ringing hammers of Kög Kragnarn, a mighty 
  dwarven citadel high up in the sprawling mountains 
  called the Shattered Teeth. The drow were merciless 
  butchers, driving their enraged quaggoths before 
  them to slaughter the doughty defenders in a great 
  clash. When the frothing beasts set upon the bold 
  defenders, the drow flowed by them to enslave the 
  children. They had need of miners in the deep abyss 
  in which they lived, and dwarves had long proved 
  equal to the rigors posed by such work. These dwarf 
  captives were dragged in chains to the bowels of the 
  earth, then forced to toil and dig, tearing what ada-
  mantine they could from the grasping stone. Even 
  with their vaunted endurance, these dwarves died 
  from the hard work and poor conditions in which 
  they were forced to live.
   
  The solution to their problems came in a vision 
  from the Demon Queen of Spiders. The high priest-
  ess, a vile harridan named Qualkaral, divined the 
  goddess’s intent and decreed that the dwarves would 
  mingle with human captives to produce offspring 
  greater than either parent. Those who resisted faced 
  magical compulsion. Those who complied wept bitter 
  tears for the evils done to both their people.
   
  The vision proved accurate. The strength and 
  endurance of this mighty brood was greater than that 
  possessed by the loathsome quaggoths, who had been 
  thralls of the drow for generations. These muls, as 
  the drow called them with derision, proved superior 
  in nearly every way because they could work without 
  rest for days on end. They could endure the most 
  appalling injuries and still struggle against the daunt-
  ing stone. 
   
  So the breeding continued, until eventually the 
  dwarf and human sires faded out and the muls were 
  alone in the pressing gloom.
   
  lolth is a fickle mistress who withdraws her 
  favor with little warning and for the least offense. 
  Qualkaral, for some minor slight, felt her goddess 
  withdraw her gaze from the outpost, casting her and 
  her people to whatever fate they had earned. The 
  drow realized at once the error in placing too much 
  faith in lolth’s guidance. The magical compulsions 
  keeping the muls in line corroded and fell away, and 
  the freed muls turned their anger against their over-
  seers. The muls ceased their work against stone and 
  iron, and their picks tore into the soft flesh and bone 
  of the dark elves.
   
  The muls destroyed their masters, shattered the 
  drow city, and escaped, blinking, into the bright light 
  of the surface world. They spread across the land as a 
  sundered people, drifting and shiftless, to find places 
  for themselves along civilization’s fringes or in the 
  untamed wilds where they became bandits, merce-
  naries, and wanderers. The muls are rare, of course, 
  but wherever they tread, legend follows.
  Attitudes and Beliefs
  Into slavery the first muls were born, and the chains 
  and collars that once bound them chafe them still, 
  even though they tore themselves free long ago. 
  Muls possess an ingrained loathing for tyranny and 
  authority, and they prove intractable allies by being 
  stubborn and resistant to anyone who would control 
  them. They count slavers as their greatest foes, and 
  many kill such scum on sight, even if it means their 
  own death.
   
  Slavery’s effects can shape a mul’s outlook, but 
  they have shame as well. Most muls know the ori-
  gins from which they were born, understanding they 
  are children of dark magic and evil intent. Many 
  muls burn with anger at what was done to their 
  ancestors and use it to find the strength they need to 
  overcome adversity. others are embarrassed at who 
  they are and are never quite comfortable in their 
  skin. These latter muls go to great lengths to hide 
  their unusual appearance.
   
  Muls might be uncomfortable about their heri-
  tage, but most have at least some passing interest in 
  the culture and people from which they descend. 
  Muls mingle with humans freely, curious about their 
  ways and manners. They approach the dwarves, 
  on the other hand, with some reluctance; many 
  dwarves shun them as abominations, and only the 
  most open-minded dwarves can bear to acknowl-
  edge muls as kin.
   
  When it comes to deities, the muls are suspicious. 
  They, like their dwarf cousins, are able servants for 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: Muls 
  57
  the gods, but many muls regard such service as only 
  a step removed from slavery. The only god many 
  have known is lolth, and only the most wicked muls 
  find in her a suitable patron. Doubtless many “half-
  dwarves” blame the gods for their sorry birthright. 
  For these reasons, most muls have little interest in the 
  deities. The rare few who overcome their anger favor 
  gods of battle, strength, victory, and justice, meaning 
  that Kord and Bahamut are the most popular deities.
   
  Muls have no mercy for those who count them-
  selves as an enemy. Fury drives them forward to 
  dispatch their foes with the same brutal efficiency 
  they cultivated in the mines. They hack through their 
  opponents with a savagery many find unsettling. 
  Muls despise weakness, and cravens bear the worst of 
  their attacks.
   
  Muls are slow to trust others. They consider it 
  wisest to place faith in themselves. When muls do 
  form friendships, they are long and lasting. No matter 
  how they are tested, such bonds, once forged, are 
  hard to break.
  Mul Communities
  Muls have no sense of community with their own 
  kind and thus raise no towns or settlements. Instead, 
  they find their way to larger towns and other places 
  where they can become lost in the diverse crowds of 
  nationalities and races. Muls favor human lands to 
  dwarven ones, but they can be found in both where, 
  if not welcomed, they are at least tolerated. local 
  customs intrigue muls, and if they can live peace-
  fully in their adopted lands, they might take up the 
  beliefs and attitudes held by their neighbors. They 
  abide by the laws as most do, but should the laws be 
  overly taxing, muls are the first to rise up against 
  their oppressors.
  Mul Adventurers
  From the moment they broke free from the Under-
  dark, muls have roamed the lands, searching for a 
  place to belong. Many do settle down in the towns 
  and villages they come across, but more than a few 
  take up the adventurer’s life, finding glory, treasure, 
  and power along the way. These accomplishments are 
  accepted, but rarely are they the purpose for which 
  muls adventure. Instead, they might crave vengeance 
  against their ancient enemies, fight to prove they have 
  a place in the world, or scour the lands for meaning.
   
  As mentioned above, the gods have little appeal 
  to mul adventurers and many eschew them alto-
  gether. For a mul to make a god’s aims his or her 
  own and become a divine servant takes a profound 
  revelation. religious muls can become fanatics, 
  favoring any class that puts their assets to good use. 
  The few who follow that path can find great success 
  as avengers, battle clerics, avenging paladins, and 
  wrathful invokers.
   
  The heavens might hold little appeal for muls, 
  but their scorn does not extend to the world around 
  them. Muls seem drawn to the primal spirits—those 
  essences uncaring of their pedigree or past deeds—
  and they find in muls strong allies to protect the 
  unspoiled wilderness. In this capacity, muls become 
  rageblood or thunderborn barbarians or, for those 
  who can control their anger, take up the warden’s 
  path. Enlightened and mystically inclined muls also 
  make powerful shamans, seekers, and druids.
   
  Muls who find places in civilization might pursue 
  other avenues. Their natural hardiness and grit leads 
  many to pursue martial classes. As fighters, rangers, 
  and warlords, they can join military outfits to protect 
  their new homelands. Those with psionic talent often 
  become battleminds and perform in the same capacity.
   
  Arcane magic is mysterious and distrusted by 
  most muls. They have little talent at wizardry and 
  might scorn its use. The one exception is the mul war-
  lock. Muls might find meaning in the vestiges of their 
  ancestors, in the dark between the stars, or even in 
  the diabolical powers of the Nine Hells.
  Roleplaying a Mul
  You have known hardship your entire life. Your past 
  is likely one of endless challenges and cruelties—a 
  series of terrible experiences you only just escaped. 
  These dark times shape your outlook. You might be 
  hard and unforgiving or melancholy and somber. 
  You might indulge in excessive drink, play, and other 
  pleasurable pursuits, or you might deny yourself these 
  things, living the ascetic’s life to cleanse yourself of 
  the shame your existence suggests.
  Mul Backgrounds
  The background elements below highlight different 
  explanations for how you might incorporate muls into 
  your game.
   
  Driven to Vengeance: Winning freedom was a 
  start, but it wasn’t the end. What use is it to be free 
  when the tyrants will just scoop up another people 
  and subject them to the same evils? You commit 
  yourself to eternal war against the ones that bred 
  your race, naming drow (mind flayers, sorcerer-kings, 
  derro, or something else) as your paramount foes. 
  Can you show mercy to these people? If so, under 
  what circumstance? To what extent will you go to 
  fight them?
   
  Associated Skills: Dungeoneering, History
   
  Associated Languages: Deep Speech, Draconic, 
  Elven, or Giant
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Winning Races: Muls 
  58
   
  Lost Drifter: Since gaining your freedom, you 
  have been adrift, unable to settle down and make 
  yourself a home. How did you escape your captivity? 
  What drives you now? What stops you from settling 
  down? What is a cause for which you could fight?
   
  Associated Skills: Nature, Perception
   
  Merciless Brigand: Freedom is sweet, but surviv-
  ing is sweeter. You fled into the wilds and lived as a 
  bandit for a time. Were you a loner or were you part 
  of an outlaw band? Why did you choose this path 
  instead of honest work? Your new life as an adven-
  turer suggests you broke with this career. What made 
  you change?
   
  Associated Skills: Intimidate, Stealth
   
  Sword-for-Hire: Fighting and toiling are the only 
  things you know. luckily for you, something always 
  needs fixing and someone always needs killing. 
  What sorts of masters have you served so far? Is there 
  anyone for whom you won’t work? What kind of mis-
  sion would it take for you to refuse payment?
   
  Associated Skills: Athletics, Intimidate
  Mul Feats
  In addition to the feats described in the Dark Sun 
  Campaign Setting, the following feats are available to 
  any mul character that meets the prerequisites.
  Born in Darkness
   
  Prerequisite: Mul
   
  Benefit: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Dun-
  geoneering checks. In addition, you gain low-light 
  vision.
  Eager Charger
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, barbarian, swift charge power
   
  Benefit: You gain a +1 racial bonus to speed when 
  charging. In addition, you gain a power bonus to the 
  damage roll of the charge attack granted by your swift 
  charge power equal to your Constitution modifier.
  Fearsome Toughness
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, fighter, incredible toughness 
  racial power
   
  Benefit: When you use incredible toughness, each 
  enemy adjacent to you is marked by you until the end 
  of your next turn.
  Relentless Battle Fury
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, fighter
   
  Benefit: Whenever you make a damage roll while 
  you have maximum hit points, you gain a +2 bonus to 
  that roll.
  Spirit of Courage
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, shaman, incredible toughness 
  racial power, call spirit companion class feature
   
  Benefit: When an ally uses his or her second 
  wind while adjacent to your spirit companion, that 
  ally can end one dazing, slowing, or weakening effect 
  on him or her.
  Strength from Anger 
   
  Prerequisite: Mul
   
  Benefit: Whenever you end the dazed, slowed, 
  stunned, or weakened condition with a save, you gain 
  a +1 bonus to the next attack roll you make before the 
  end of your next turn.
  Sturdy Toughness
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, incredible toughness racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: When an effect knocks you prone or 
  pushes, pulls, or slides you, you can use an immediate 
  interrupt to expend incredible toughness. If you do, you 
  ignore the forced movement or remain standing.
  Unstoppable Fury
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, incredible toughness racial 
  power
   
  Benefit: You can expend incredible toughness to 
  end an immobilizing effect on you.
  Unstoppable Transformation
   
  Prerequisite: Mul, incredible toughness racial 
  power, wild shape power
   
  Benefit: When you use wild shape, you can expend 
  your incredible toughness to gain a power bonus to 
  damage rolls until the end of your turn. The bonus 
  equals your Constitution modifier.
  About the Author
  robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer 
  who has contributed design to or developed over one 
  hundred roleplaying game titles for Dungeons & Dragons, 
  Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, Star 
  Wars RPG, and the d20 system. Some of his more recent work 
  for Wizards of the Coast can be found in Player’s Handbook 
  3, Martial Power 2, and Draconomicon 2: Metallic Dragons. 
  In addition, he’s a regular contributor to both Dragon and 
  Dungeon magazines. robert lives, works, and will probably 
  die in Tennessee.
  
  Septmeber 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  59
  illustration by Arnie Swekel
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC All rights reserved.
  By Mike Mearls
  grifnar’s arms
  Grifnar’s Arms is a small weapon shop and smithy tucked away down 
  a side alley in a medium-size or larger town or city. A sign hanging 
  above the door depicts a troll crouched over a bubbling cauldron, with 
  two stubby arms bobbing in the stew. Anyone  viewing the sign instantly 
   realizes that the arms are Grifnar’s, even if they have never met the 
  dwarf. The thought pops into the mind, unbidden but unshakeable.
   
  The shop is crafted from expertly fitted stone blocks and resembles 
  a giant, stone cube. There are no windows and only a single, iron door 
  with a view slit directly beneath the sign. Its  teetering, brick chimney 
  is the shop’s only distinguishing trait—from the outside.
  B A z A A r  o F  T H E  B I z A r r E
  
  60
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  B A z A A r  o F  T H E  B I z A r r E
   
  The interior of the shop is dominated by a forge 
  and various tools, along with ingots of iron, copper, 
  and other metals. A trapdoor leads down to a storage 
  chamber where Grifnar keeps his wares on display. 
  His ‘showroom’ is in the basement because it’s more 
  secure and stays cooler than the rest of the shop. The 
  dwarf crafts mundane items and common magical 
  weapons of up to 10th level.
   
  The dwarf Grifnar is a grouch with a long, gray 
  beard. He is balding and is almost always covered 
  with a layer of soot streaked with sweat. His teeth 
  are crooked and discolored, and his unfortunate 
  diet gives his breath a noticeable pungency (he is 
  convinced that eating raw onions wards away the 
  undead). Grifnar wears ragged pants, hobnail boots, 
  and a shabby tunic beneath his leather apron.
   
  The dwarf’s personality matches his appearance. 
  He tries to be personable when there’s potential for a 
  sale—he escorts buyers into his basement showroom 
  and fawns over them while displaying his wares—but 
  his personality often overpowers his intentions, so 
  even his best behavior can be gruff. When not trying 
  to exercise restraint, he is crass, loud, aggressive, and 
  lacking in any shred of tact.
   
  Grifnar’s greatest fault is his disdain for elves, 
  which manifests in a blistering contempt that he 
  struggles unsuccessfully to reign in. The sign above 
  his shop is a “gift” from Aldanian, an elf who crafts 
  and sells implements in town. Aldanian enchanted it 
  so that Grifnar sees his proud coat of arms with two 
  axes crossed over a shield, just as it’s always been. 
  All other folk see a hungry troll about to snack on 
  Grifnar’s limbs. The dwarf has no idea that Aldanian 
  swapped out his original sign for this one. Pointing it 
  out to him only confuses him.
   
  Grifnar’s apprentice is named Gromdol, a young 
  dwarf indentured to Grifnar by his clan. He hopes to 
  learn enough from the old dwarf to return home and 
  forge weapons for use against the giants and orcs 
  that menace his people. Gromdol has brown hair 
  and a short beard. Unlike Grifnar, he is quiet, polite, 
  and easygoing. He will try to warn new customers 
  not to talk about the sign, if anyone appears about to 
  mention it. 
  Anointed Mace
  “If you are an acolyte of the gods, my friends, you 
  will find no better weapon than this. And if you trust 
  in the gods, clearly you need all the help you can 
  get. Trust in yourself, that’s what I say. And trust in 
  my weapons, of course! What, did I say something 
  wrong? I mean no disrespect. Clearly this is my per-
  sonal belief. Perhaps you would like to speak to me of 
  the gods? I have plenty of time to learn of your faith, 
  maybe after you have made a purchase? Surely you 
  can see the value of this weapon. The power captured 
  within it is particularly deadly to the undead, while it 
  also aids in channeling divine magic.”
  anointed	mace	
  Level 3+ Common
  This steel mace is scribed with several runes of divine power. 
  One side of its crushing end is marked with a rune of life, the 
  other with a rune of final endings for the restless dead.
  Lvl 3 
  +1 
  680 gp 
  Lvl 18 
  +4 
  85,000 gp
  Lvl 8 
  +2 
  3,400 gp 
  Lvl 23 
  +5 
  425,000 gp
  Lvl 13 
  +3 
  17,000 gp 
  Lvl 28 
  +6 
  2,125,000 gp
  Weapon: mace
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 radiant damage per plus.
  Property: You gain a +1 item bonus to attack rolls against 
  undead creatures with this weapon.
  Property: Whenever you reduce an enemy to 0 or fewer hit 
  points with this weapon, a bloodied ally of your choice 
  within 5 squares of you regains hit points equal to this 
  weapon’s enhancement bonus. If you are bloodied, you can 
  choose to regain the hit points instead of the ally.
  Axe of Sundering
  “Here, my friends, we have the finest axe of dwarven 
  make. Careful now with that cutting edge! Just last 
  week a poor half-orc nearly sliced his thumb off when 
  he was fool enough to test its edge. My people crafted 
  these weapons to aid in their siegecraft. No door or 
  wall can withstand this axe’s strike. Yes, yes, even 
  stone my friends. Gromdol, fetch a brick from next 
  door, these discerning customers need a demonstra-
  tion. oh, and if you plan on delving into an old tomb, 
  this is the weapon for you. Not only can it smash 
  through locked doors, but its effects extend to crea-
  tures animated by magic. Skeletons, zombies, even 
  golems are no match for it!”
  axe	of	sundering	
  Level 2+ Common
  This heavy axe looks battered and old, but the slightest touch 
  shows that its cutting edge is sharp and true.
  Lvl 2 
  +1 
  520 gp 
  Lvl 17 
  +4 
  65,000 gp
  Lvl 7 
  +2 
  2,600 gp 
  Lvl 22 
  +5 
  325,000 gp
  Lvl 12 
  +3 
  13,000# gp 
  Lvl 27 
  +6 
  1,625,000 gp
  Weapon: Axe
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 damage per plus, or +10 damage per plus 
  against objects and animates.
  Property: You gain a +2 item bonus to damage rolls on attacks 
  made with this weapon against animates. Your attacks with 
  this axe made against objects deal maximum damage.
  	
  Level	12	or	17: +4 item bonus.
  	
  Level	22	or	27: +6 item bonus.
  Chieftain’s Weapon
  “A great leader requires two things: fine warriors to 
  command and a stout weapon to lead the charge. 
  Perhaps you still need competent companions; I have 
  no idea how well these other guys fight. Perhaps you 
  should hire a few dwarf mercenaries? But if you are 
  a looking for a weapon, search no more. The magic 
  within this weapon fills your allies with a cunning 
  
  61
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  B A z A A r  o F  T H E  B I z A r r E
  sense of battle. When you urge them to strike, its 
  magic aids their accuracy.”
  Chieftain’s	Weapon	
  level	3+	Common
  This long spear’s haft is covered with runes, each linked 
   together to form a chain that runs in a spiral along its length.
  Lvl 3 
  +1 
  680 gp 
  Lvl 18 
  +4 
  85,000 gp
  Lvl 8 
  +2 
  3,400 gp 
  Lvl 23 
  +5 
  425,000 gp
  Lvl 13 
  +3 
  17,000 gp 
  Lvl 28 
  +6 
  2,125,000 gp
  Weapon: polearm, spear
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 damage per plus.
  Property: Whenever you grant an ally the ability to make a 
  melee or ranged basic attack, that ally gains a +1 item 
  bonus to the attack roll.
  Flail of Winds
  “Many folk expect that we dwarves know only fire 
  and earth, but many of us have studied the secrets 
  and magic of the other elements. Take this flail, for 
  instance. Now and again, a vein of iron ore becomes 
  exposed to the elements at the uppermost reaches of 
  a mountain. The howling storms that whip around 
  the peak impart their magic to the metal. A smith 
  as skilled as me can draw forth that magic to craft a 
  weapon which imbues your attacks with the power of 
  wind. With the right tactics, you can send your oppo-
  nents crashing across the battlefield.”
  Flail of Winds 
  Level 3+ Common
  This flail’s bludgeoning head is scribed with runes of elemental 
  magic. The runes form creases and grooves along its head. 
  When swung, it emits a whistle like a howling wind.
  Lvl 3 
  +1 
  680 gp 
  Lvl 18 
  +4 
  85,000 gp
  Lvl 8 
  +2 
  3,400 gp 
  Lvl 23 
  +5 
  425,000 gp
  Lvl 13 
  +3 
  17,000 gp 
  Lvl 28 
  +6 
  2,125,000 gp
  Weapon: Flail
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 damage per plus.
  Property: If an attack made with this flail causes a forced 
  movement effect, increase the distance of that effect by  
  1 square.
  Hammer of Victory
  “Did you know that my people have produced some of 
  the greatest bards of this era? Yes, it is true, and I don’t 
  appreciate your laughter. We dwarves love music! Just 
  not the wheedling titters of elves about forests and 
  prancing unicorns. We sing about victory in the face 
  of certain defeat, of battles against unspeakable odds, 
  and the glory of the dwarven legions. This hammer 
  is imbued with such songs. As your foes cower before 
  you, its music roars forth as a peal of thunder to knock 
  your enemies to the ground.”
  Hammer of Victory 
  Level 4+ Common
  This hammer’s striking head is carved with an intricate scene 
  depicting dwarven warriors cleaving through a goblin horde.
  Lvl 4 
  +1 
  840 gp 
  Lvl 19 
  +4 
  105,000 gp
  Lvl 9 
  +2 
  4,200 gp 
  Lvl 24 
  +5 
  525,000 gp
  Lvl 14 
  +3 
  21,000 gp 
  Lvl 29 
  +6 
  2,625,000 gp
  Weapon: Hammer
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 thunder damage per plus.
  Property: Whenever you reduce an enemy to 0 or fewer hit 
  points with this weapon, all enemies adjacent to you are 
  knocked prone.
  Raider’s Crossbow
  “Archery, fah! That’s for cowardly elves. Present com-
  pany excepted, of course. I’m sure that attacking from 
  a distance is wise, in your case. I mean, archery is 
  a noble path for a warrior. It is only cowardice such 
  as elves display—present company excepted—which 
  I take issue with! Surely a warrior as skilled as you 
  can see that pressing the attack is the key to victory. 
  This crossbow is the perfect weapon for the aggres-
  sive warrior. Dwarf explorers use it to slay their 
  enemies before they even know an attack is at hand. 
  While others gape and fumble for their weapons, this 
  crossbow fires straight and true. Many a battle has 
  been won before it’s even started, thanks to this fine 
  weapon in fine, dwarvish hands.”  
  raider’s Crossbow 
  Level 5+ Common
  This compact crossbow is light and easy to handle.
  Lvl 5 
  +1 
  1,000 gp 
  Lvl 20 
  +4 
  125,000 gp
  Lvl 10 
  +2 
  5,000 gp 
  Lvl 25 
  +5 
  625,000 gp
  Lvl 15 
  +3 
  25,000 gp 
  Lvl 30 
  +6 
  3,125,000 gp
  Weapon: Crossbow
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 damage per plus, or +1d10 damage per plus 
  during a surprise round.
  Property: During a surprise round, you gain a +2 item bonus 
  to attacks with this crossbow. After you attack with this 
  weapon during a surprise round, you can shift 3 squares as 
  a free action during that turn. 
  Shielding Blade
  “Ah, you are wise enough to spot my finest blade. 
  Notice the heavy cross guard. The magic within this 
  weapon shall guard your hand unerringly to block 
  and parry. A giant’s club? Knocked aside like an elf’s 
  dagger! The power within this fine sword deflects 
  attacks and sharpens your defensive skills. You’ll have 
  no need for a shield with this weapon in hand. I’ve 
  seen a warriors slice arrows in half and even deflect 
  scorching rays of magical energy with this weapon.”
  Shielding blade 
  Level 4+ Common
  This sword’s broad cross guard is larger and thicker than 
   normal, but a few practice swipes with this weapon show that 
  it is still perfectly balanced.
  Lvl 4 
  +1 
  840 gp 
  Lvl 19 
  +4 
  105,000 gp
  Lvl 9 
  +2 
  4,200 gp 
  Lvl 24 
  +5 
  525,000 gp
  Lvl 14 
  +3 
  21,000 gp 
  Lvl 29 
  +6 
  2,625,000 gp
  Weapon: Heavy blade, light blade
  enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
  Critical: +1d6 damage per plus.
  Property: You gain a +1 shield bonus to AC.
  About the Author
  Mike Mearls is the Group Manager for the Dungeons & 
  Dragons® roleplaying game. His recent credits include 
   Player’s Handbook 3, Hammerfast, and Monster Manual 3.
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  62
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By Paul Park 
  Illustration by Eric Belisle
  He lived with his own kind in the forest, away from 
  the towns of the human world, because of what he 
  was. But once a year since he was small he’d come 
  away to the ruined city on the mountainside where 
  his own people never ventured, nor full-blooded 
  humans either, a place of old magic and old defeats. 
  That first time he’d been hunting on the cliff-top, 
  and a wounded ram had led him far from home. In a 
  bowl of mist and leaning stones he brought it down, a 
  lucky shot with the small bow, but already he heard 
  the hounds yelping behind him. Before he could 
  claim the kill he had been whipped away by men 
  on horseback, shouting and cursing the mother who 
  had borne him. Some dismounted and threw stones. 
  Helpless, he had watched them pull the ram away, his 
  arrow still lodged in its throat.
   
  When he ran away it had not been in shame or 
  fear so much as rage. Toward sunset he came out on 
  the mountainside above the clouds and watched the 
  red light cut across the rocks amid the tussocks of 
  coarse grass. There was the fallen gate, its stone posts 
  inscribed with runes he couldn’t read, not yet. Beyond 
  it, he came into the first of the ruined streets, the 
  ruined houses built into the cliff-side.
   
  Carved statues lined one avenue. Some had lost 
  their arms, legs, heads, but even so he could see a 
  vision of ideal beauty in the broken stones. He paused 
  to study the statue of a boy about his age, yet more 
  beautiful even than a human child, tall and slender, 
  with long eyes and delicately pointed ears. The statue 
  stood at the lip of a stone pool, gesturing down into 
  its depths, and in the last rays of the setting sun the 
  living boy squatted over it and saw reflected in its sur-
  face, as carefully as in any mirror, his own distorted 
  features, his heavy jaw, protruding teeth, mashed 
  nose, bulbous eyes under heavy ridges of bone. In 
  such circumstances even the small attempts at deco-
  ration, the shards of broken glass that his mother had 
  tied lovingly into his shaggy hair, appeared to mock 
  him as they caught the light. 
   
  Then it was dark. He looked around for the door 
  of a stone hall that still retained some of its roof. Now 
  suddenly the black doorways seemed menacing. Who 
  knew what ghosts and spirits prowled these ruins, 
  who had died here when the city fell? Instead, shiv-
  ering with cold, he stayed beside the pool, until the 
  moon rose behind the shattered peaks, and moon-
  light struck the surface of the pool. 
  Watchers 
   
   Living Gate
  at 
   
  the
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  63
   
  That was the first time he had seen her. Every year 
  since then he had returned, when the first full moon of 
  summer fell into the water. He had changed since that 
  first time, grown in stature and in skill, but she never 
  changed. Always she stroked to the surface as if swim-
  ming up from underneath, from some submerged 
  tunnel, he had thought at first.
   
  Then, because he was a boy, he had worshiped 
  her as a boy does a woman, worshiped her goodness, 
  as he imagined it, striven to be worthy, and to fulfill 
  every command. later, full-grown, his shoulders tat-
  tooed with his clan’s symbols of manhood, his ears 
  pierced with iron rings, he had moved into another 
  kind of worship, as she stood with the water to her 
  knees, her body clothed in wet silk, and a phospho-
  rescent sheen that had followed her from the depths. 
  later still, reckless, he had staggered down into the 
  pool, only to find himself enmeshed in weeds, while 
  she pulled laughing away. “How ugly you are! How 
  is it possible for a living creature to be so ugly? You 
  disgust me—truly, you disgust me.” But when he was 
  exhausted and discouraged she came close to him 
  again, and with flashing eyes she told him once more 
  what he must accomplish to prepare himself. He’d 
  done everything she’d asked.
   
  These commandments, as if from a goddess, had 
  led him far from his own people. Not for him the 
  brawls between the clans, the comforts of marriage 
  and children. Instead he lived with his widowed 
  mother in the forest, away from the clan’s hearth, 
  despised, he imagined, by the purebreds in his vil-
  lage. With a dedication born of rage, he studied 
  human lore. He learned the languages of men and 
  other creatures. He studied old books by candlelight, 
  and parchment scrolls from the libraries of the aban-
  doned city. He spoke the words the goddess brought 
  to him until the trees came alive. And in the spring 
  he cut his totem stick from a piece of bone, and 
  carved the length of it in a pattern of braided hair, 
  and fashioned its knob in the shape of a wolf’s head, 
  with lumps of agate for its eyes.
   
  on the night of the full moon he slept most of 
  the day. His mother woke him for supper, as he had 
  requested. Yawning, he sat down on a mossy rock in 
  the middle of the stream, washed his body, shaved his 
  face, combed his hair and knotted it with iron beads. 
  Then he dressed himself in the clothes he had laid 
  out the night before, his father’s shirt, made from doe-
  skin as fine as linen, salvaged by his mother after he’d 
  left them, mended and patched over the years. The 
  tribe wore furs and harder, heavier leather when they 
  wore anything, but she had kept this human garment 
  for the wedding of her half-human son. 
   
  Now she brought him porridge and blood sausage 
  from the fire. She stood watching him, holding the 
  food in a wooden bowl. long before, she had learned 
  not to question his choices, because it was common 
  for the men in the village to abandon their old moth-
  ers and fathers to the wolves, the totem of their clan, 
  when there were too many mouths to feed. But her 
  son was a powerful hunter. others claimed to see the 
  deer and elk search for him in the meadows and the 
  woods, and lay their horned heads in his lap.
   
  “Haggar,” she said. 
   
  He looked up smiling into her coarse and wrin-
  kled face, until he noticed that her eyes were bright 
  with tears. “Don’t worry.”
   
  “I’m not worried. But you are going far away.”
   
  He expected some sort of complaining then, and 
  when it didn’t come he started to say all the things 
  that he’d rehearsed in order to forestall her: “I won’t 
  be long. I’ve left seven necklaces of iron cash. In the 
  digging pit there’s a wooden box with agates and 
  opals you can sell in town. Humans love them for 
  their games. The smokehouse is full of meat and fish.”
   
  But when she said nothing about any of that, he 
  stood up to comfort her. “I won’t go far,” he said, 
  which was a lie, the first he’d ever told her. 
   
  “There’s my cousin,” she said, referring to a girl in 
  the village. “She waits for you.”
   
  When he put his arms around her, she relaxed 
  into his chest. “Me, too,” she said, fingering the bone 
  buttons of his father’s shirt. 
   
  later, as it got dark, he left the encampment. 
  Barefoot, he ran uphill through the woods. When the 
  trees gave way among the rock piles, he clambered 
  onto the ridge, then stood looking back for a moment 
  at the firelight among the trees. It was the first night 
  of the summer festival, and the men were lighting 
  the bonfire in the charmed circle. They were already 
  drinking their honey beer, and soon the women 
  would dance to the rhythm of the drums, while the 
  old shaman marked their foreheads from a bowl of 
  blood—he’d never seen the ceremony. He missed it 
  every year. 
   
  He stood on the ridge as the darkness gathered. 
  “I know you’re here,” he said without turning round. 
  The she-wolves picked their way over the stones, their 
  heads low. He ran among them up the slope into the 
  high meadow, among the red-star columbines. The 
  wolves coursed after him but could not reach him, 
  because as he ran he gripped his totem stick and mut-
  tered his evocations, until he could feel the coarse 
  hair on his back and down his arms, and he dropped 
  down to all fours.
   
  Everything she’d asked he had accomplished, no 
  matter what the sacrifice. Tonight she would under-
  stand that there was no remaining trace of the boy 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  64
  whose shape had so disgusted her. She would recog-
  nize how love had changed him. 
   
  Before moonrise he paused at the stone gatepost 
  on the mountainside, whose runes, he now saw, 
  spelled out a name, or else part of a name: CENDr. 
  The remaining letters on the other side had crumbled 
  away, and the post itself had broken into pieces in the 
  coarse grass. The wind had died. Black clouds hung 
  above him, obscuring chunks of stars. 
   
  And when he saw the sky glow silver behind the 
  eastern peaks, he picked his way down the avenue 
  of statues, his feet delicate on the uneven stones. At 
  the limit of his senses he could hear the noise of rats 
  or rabbits in the empty houses; they would not show 
  themselves. They would crawl into their crevices 
  and holes, not knowing they were safe from him; he 
  wasn’t hungry. All day he had fasted, in preparation.
   
  Finally he reached the rim of the stone basin and 
  lowered his head to drink. But at the last moment he 
  did not break the surface with his long tongue, and as 
  the moon rose he saw his countenance reflected as in 
  a mirror, his yellow eyes and cruel teeth. Baring them, 
  pulling away his dark lips, he allowed his breath to 
  trouble the water, while at the same time a small  
  wind came out of nothing, following his secret com-
  mand. It stirred the surface, sparing him the sight of 
  his ugliness as he regained his mortal shape.
   
  When the circle of the moon was bright in the 
  water, he heard her laughter from the other side of 
  the pool. She sat on the far lip of the basin, weeds 
  in her yellow hair, which gleamed with phospho-
  rescence. She was examining the bottom of one foot 
  when she raised her head. 
   
  “Haggar,” she said, her voice soft and musi-
  cal, and he wondered if he’d ever told her his true 
  name, and if not, how she came to know it. “So 
  many years you’ve disappointed me. When I tell my 
  friends, they laugh at me. But it’s time to prove them 
  wrong. I need your help. I have an urgent need. I 
  hope things are different now.”
   
  So many years—nine years. During that time he 
  had changed utterly in body and mind, but she had 
  not changed. He stood in his leather breeches and 
  his father’s wedding shirt, his totem stick slung in his 
  belt. Now she stood and beckoned, and as he stum-
  bled forward, it occurred to him that he was older 
  than she, or at least he looked older, a full-grown 
  man. And at the same time he thought about what 
  she’d said: she needed him. What for? Need, he knew, 
  was different from love, however similar they felt. 
  And friends—what friends? He’d always thought she 
  was alone in the world, last of her race, of the people 
  who had lived in the crumbling city, perhaps.
   
  He paused, the water around his shins. She stood 
  within a stone’s cast away, one hand on her slim hip. 
  She smiled at him, a mocking smile, he understood, 
  and for the first time he listened to his doubts—he 
  had learned much in the solitary study of his craft. 
  He knew the evocations that summoned clouds and 
  rain, and those that summoned lightning from the 
  sky. He had his hand on the druidic chain of being 
  that linked all beasts with the primal spirit, and he 
  knew the evocations that would pull him closer to 
  that spirit up the evolutionary links, so that he could 
  find the dividing lines, and sink back down again 
  into another body, bird, or fish, or reptile, or warm-
  blooded beast. And though he had the practical mind 
  of his mother’s people, he could not have learned 
  these things without some knowledge of the rest, 
  of other worlds or planes that joined to this one in 
  small places, of the Feywild and the crystal towers of 
  Cendriane, where the eladrin had once lived, tall and 
  proud and slender, but blind in their suspicion that 
  all other races were animals to be used. Worse than 
  humans in that way.
   
  “When I tell my friends. . . .” Now suddenly he 
  imagined her not as a solitary gift to him, but as an 
  emissary from that world. He took a step backward, 
  and at the same time watched the smile fade from 
  her lips. How had she known his name, and not even 
  his clan name but the secret name his mother called 
  him? For an instant he imagined his mother’s cottage 
  in the woods, and heard in his mind’s ear the drums 
  of the summer festival, and saw the bonfire and the 
  women dancing among the trees, among them Uruth, 
  his mother’s cousin, but younger than him, a sweet 
  girl with big eyes, but not beautiful, not like this. 
   
  Her smiled dwindled as she saw his doubts. She 
  stood with her hand on her hip, while the moonlight 
  spread across the surface of the water. “Catch me,” 
  she said, and she dived into the depths—the pool was 
  deeper than it looked, he knew. With a cry, he dived 
  in after her, struggling to follow, to seize her as she 
  swam down. For an instant he thought he’d clasped 
  her in his arms, but then she’d slipped down deep, 
  the wet silk slippery as eelskin. The water was murky, 
  suffused with light, and he saw nothing. 
   
  His lungs were bursting, but he held his shape. He 
  knew this was a test, a last test, and if he failed it she 
  would not come again. last year he’d tried to follow 
  her down, and in the hole at the bottom of the pool 
  where the current changed and the water turned 
  cold, he’d lost his nerve. Defeated, desperate, he had 
  clawed his way up to the surface again.
   
  But now he saw a glimmer down below, and imag-
  ined her small feet kicking through the weeds. He 
  imagined diving down to her, touching her body with 
  his outstretched fingertips as she twisted away. He 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  65
  imagined he would drown and die rather than lose 
  her, and with all his strength he struggled grimly, 
  even as he felt the weeds clutch at his legs. Below 
  him in the phosphorescent depths of the pool he 
  saw a shadow flicker, and with his lungs empty, his 
  brain starved of air, he toiled down into the glow, 
  first green, then blue until it burst around him, and 
  he realized he’d been swimming upward to the light, 
  and had broken through the surface of another pool, 
  under another sky. 
   
  And even so he might have drowned, because he 
  found himself almost too exhausted to move, and too 
  depleted to breathe, except the water was shallow 
  where he was. on his hands and knees, he dragged 
  himself up a surface of smooth, blue-green tile until 
  he lay at her feet. 
   
  The sunlight blinded him, it was so bright. The air 
  was too rich to breathe. He had a vague impression 
  of her standing over him, speaking not to him but to 
  someone else: “Humor me. I didn’t choose him for his 
  looks. Take him and put him with the others. leave 
  him his rags until we find him proper clothes. And 
  be careful. He doesn’t look it, but he has some skill. 
  That’s why he’s here.”
   
  Haggar rolled onto his back, forcing his eyes open, 
  so that he could peer up through his lashes at the 
  azure sky, so terrible and deep. He forced his ears 
  and nose to open, fuzzily aware that if he tried to pro-
  tect himself from the intensity of colors, sounds, and 
  smells that distinguished this place, he would lose 
  any hope of commanding nature here, as he could at 
  home. Ignoring the long hands that snatched his wolf 
  stick from his belt, he murmured an evocation. leav-
  ing his body to be mauled and harried by the eladrin, 
  he cast his mind into the air until he hung suspended 
  far above, and looked down with an eagle’s eye on the 
  small group of struggling figures at the edge of the 
  tiled pool. 
   
  This projection of himself, this imaginary eagle, 
  was not capable of astonishment. otherwise he would 
  have been amazed to see the extent of the ruined 
  city below his claws, the height of the crystal spires 
  that soared up past him. The city lay not in a moun-
  tain bowl but at the edge of a sprawling forest that 
  had overgrown it in a twisting mass of vines. What 
  remained were buildings of prismatic stone, many of 
  them perfect and untouched, as if the inhabitants had 
  been called away momentarily to attend to something 
  important, and left their doors standing open. But 
  other parts of the city bore the traces of the powerful 
  explosions that had destroyed it many years before, 
  circular craters that contained structures not just 
  ruined but pulverized, blasted to their foundations. 
  Within these circles nothing lived, in contrast to the 
  teeming life that overran the rest, life not just veg-
  etable but animal as well: panthers and rodents and 
  feral pigs, as well as monstrous insects, made huge, 
  perhaps, by the lingering effects of a forgotten war. 
   
  There were no birds above him in the high, 
  unnatural, purple and blue vault of the sky. Below, 
  the eladrin were wrestling his body into a cart. He 
  counted three of them besides the girl, and as they 
  bound his arms behind him, he could tell they were 
  nervous and unsure. He knew it from the language 
  of their bodies, and because they were rougher than 
  was necessary—he was offering them the resistance 
  of a sack of potatoes, or perhaps a sack and a half. Nor 
  could he explain their vicious pokes and jabs as just 
  their natural contempt for him. No, the eladrin were 
  in a hurry, and the horses, also, were skittish and shy. 
  It was hard for him to judge the time of day from the 
  color of the light, which was still too unfamiliar. He 
  could not see the sun. But as he sank down into his 
  body, he tried to imagine the reason for their haste 
  as they pulled the horses over the jolting stones, 
  down the Avenue of Gods—this name appeared to 
  him intact, a memory from old maps. He knew that, 
  like the corresponding street in the mortal realm, it 
  cut across the city toward the eastern gate, and was 
  embellished by its own double line of marble statues—
  many objects here, he knew, had their own pale 
  resonance in the land he had left behind.
   
  He lay trussed-up in the back of the cart, con-
  sidering his options. Now that he had his bearings, 
  it seemed to him that even without his totem stick, 
  much could be done. Whatever these people were 
  afraid of, he could use that fear against them. He 
  started with a few small guttural evocations, which 
  his captors might confuse with the sound of him 
  coughing or spitting—they hadn’t blindfolded him 
  or bound his mouth. No, they had underestimated 
  him, which was why he’d not resisted them. But that 
  would change now, he thought, staring at the girl’s 
  beautiful face as she looked up into the sky. The 
  breeze had freshened, and tendrils of dark vapor 
  moved across the sky, while at the same time the 
  front wheels of the cart fetched up against a root, 
  whose heavy knee had split the paving stones. The 
  driver spoke his own less-effective evocation as a 
  single tendril broke out of the bark, and grasped at 
  the wooden rim like a weak, small, pale green hand—
  it was enough. Before the horses could pull free, 
  a half-dozen more had clutched the wheel, while 
  vinelike clouds clutched at them from above—the 
  Feywild, Haggar thought, was responsive to him. The 
  force of nature was overwhelming here. 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  66
   
  The sky darkened. Soon, he imagined, a bolt 
  of lightning would spook the horses; already they 
  refused to move, stood shivering with their ears back, 
  while the driver hacked them with his whip. Two 
  eladrin warriors had leaped out of the cart, and one 
  stood guard while the other bent to cut at the new 
  creepers with his sword. Neither of them had yet 
  thought to connect him with what was happening.
   
  The girl, however, was wiser than they. Alone 
  in the cart with him, she bent down over him. Her 
  yellow hair fell over her face and he could smell 
  the scent of her, a perfume like cinnamon or clove. 
  “listen to me, you bird-brained pig,” she murmured. 
  “let me explain. In half an hour it will be dark. 
  Sooner if you persist. Even in twilight, we won’t last 
  ten minutes here. lord Kannoth will open up the 
  gates of his black palace, and he will hang our corpses 
  from the trees. He has an army of undead soldiers 
  who worship him as a god. Do you want to play your 
  stupid games with him?”
   
  “Free me,” Haggar croaked. His voice was ugly 
  even to himself. 
   
  She bent lower, so that she could whisper softly in 
  his ear. “You stinking lump of excrement.” 
   
  Above them the sky was black, and a foul mist 
  had gathered. rearing up, screaming with terror, the 
  horses yanked at their traces and the cart fell to one 
  side, kept from overturning by the swarming vines. 
  The girl stepped to the ground and stood erect. She 
  raised her cupped hands, filled now with a green-
  ish light that ran down her naked arms and over her 
  body, soaking her clothes until she herself was a radi-
  ant torch against the darkness. She drew her knife 
  and cut the horses free of the vines, and in an instant 
  they were quiet; they stood trembling, patient, their 
  eyes wide, their nostrils rimmed with foam. Then 
  she bent to hack at the creepers that held the wheel, 
  and Haggar could feel the cold edge of the blade as 
  if against his own skin. He had rolled down against 
  the side of the cart, and there he found his totem 
  stick discarded and wedged in a crevice between the 
  knotted slats; the eladrin had thrown it there, not 
  respecting him enough to keep it safe. rolling against 
  the wolf’s-head knob, pressing his shoulder into it, he 
  snarled an evocation and felt his body change. He felt 
  the bone absorb into his body. The ropes slackened, 
  and he bit at them until they gave way.
   
  He no longer suffered the edge of the girl’s knife. 
  Instead, she’d turned away from him, walked a few 
  paces down the road to illuminate a wider area. Her 
  arms were upraised, and the knife glowed in her left 
  hand. In the mist, Haggar could see she kept at bay 
  an emaciated pale creature taller than herself, while 
  the other eladrin, the two soldiers and the driver, 
  cowered behind her. Shaking himself free of the last 
  knots, he bounded from the cart and moved away 
  into the darkness, only to turn when he heard one of 
  the horses groan, a low gurgle deep in its chest.
   
  Both animals had sunk to their knees in the stone 
  road. A hideous spider, larger than a man, crouched 
  above them. Snarling and cursing, Haggar did his 
  best to clear the darkness he had made, conjuring up 
  a wind to blow the mist away, break apart the clouds. 
  But he knew that whatever he did, he would find the 
  day had sunk to twilight. Whatever creatures lurked 
  in the catacombs and forests of Cendriane, their feed-
  ing time had come. 
   
  But there was a full moon here too, or almost full, 
  brighter than its counterpart in the mortal world. 
  By its light, and the light cast by the girl, he could 
  watch the spider wrap its kill in pale cords as thick 
  as a man’s wrist. In the other direction, toward the 
  eastern gate, the way was blocked by a dozen or more 
  of the undead, their bone-bleached skin luminous 
  in the moonlight. Skeletal, with swollen heads and 
  grinning jaws, they carried weapons of a type Haggar 
  had never seen, swords that shone like crystal, and 
  bows of yellow horn. one of them nocked a gleaming 
  arrow, and in a moment the eladrin driver fell, shot 
  through the eye.
   
  Again Haggar paused, one forefoot upraised. This 
  was not his fight. But then he saw another of the 
  eladrin stumble to his knees, a sword through his 
  belly. The final soldier was just a boy, and he fought 
  bravely, his yellow hair badged with blood. But then 
  one of the pale creatures pulled him down from 
  behind, which left only the girl, twisting away from 
  a behemoth with an axe, cutting him through the 
  ribs and then shying back, her green fire diminished, 
  almost extinct. 
   
  Haggar threw back his head and howled, and a 
  single bolt of lightning hit the spike of the creature’s 
  axe, sending him sprawling. A peal of thunder shook 
  the ground, and then Haggar was upon them, snatch-
  ing the thin bones of the skeletons’ legs. And when 
  the girl fell, he seized hold of the collar of her shirt, 
  gripping the weak cloth in his narrow jaws, dragging 
  her away. At the same time a miasma of fog seemed to 
  spill out of the ground, and the creatures, disoriented, 
  hacked and stabbed at shadows, while a freezing 
  wind surrounded them in a sudden squall of snow. 
  Haggar backed away from them, dragging the girl 
  over the icy stones, until they reached the gate at the 
  base of the avenue, an enormous arch of carved and 
  decorated marble, with friezes and embellishments 
  of fighting beasts, and a squat, square, stone eagle on 
  each corner of the roof. 
  
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  Watchers at the Living Gate
  67
   
  on the other side of the arch, the moon rode high 
  and unimpeded above the forest’s edge. Not know-
  ing if she was alive or dead, Haggar dragged the girl 
  out through the gate, out of the city, and immedi-
  ately found himself returned to his common form, 
  a lurching half-breed orc, gesticulating impotently 
  with his totem stick while the fingers of his other 
  hand grasped at her torn collar. Back through the 
  arch he could still see the blizzard, but here every-
  thing was still.
   
  or not quite. There was a sound of melancholy 
  laughter. Then a man detached himself out of the 
  shadow of the gate, and Haggar understood without 
  knowing that this was lord Kannoth, archfey ruler of 
  the catacombs of Cendriane.
   
  He was a man of middle height, dark, delicate, 
  and slender, and dressed in a jacket of wine-colored 
  velvet. His only weapon was a flower, a lily at the end 
  of a long stalk. Bending down over the recumbent 
  girl, he touched the lily to her brow, her lips. His 
  voice was light and mocking: “When I first saw you, 
  I thought perhaps you were an enemy to be feared, 
  some wild lycanthropic berserker out of Brokenstone 
  Vale. But in the moonlight, as you perceive, these illu-
  sions have melted, and here we are, a simple eladrin 
  maiden, a cowering orc, and me.”
   
  As he spoke, the snow died away on the other side 
  of the arch. The mist dissipated, and as far as Haggar 
  could see, the Avenue of the Gods stretched unim-
  peded to the blue-tiled pool. The wreckage from the 
  fight had been pulled away. The stones were white as 
  chalk under the moon. 
   
  “Tell me,” said the archfey. “Now that everything 
  is still, and if you can remember, and if you have 
  the wisdom to speak, what is the impulse that has 
  powered all this violence? Don’t worry,” he said, as 
  Haggar crouched over the girl’s body, stretched out 
  his hand and then drew it back. “She is asleep, wait-
  ing for you to wake her. It is love, is it not? It is love 
  that has caused all this.”
   
  He didn’t deny it. In slumber, in the moonlight, all 
  the anger and contempt that had disfigured her were 
  bleached away. She lay on her back, her hair away 
  from her face. 
   
  “And what about her? What does she feel? An orc 
  and a fey maiden—I must confess to you, a story such 
  as this could touch my heart.”
   
  Haggar shook his head. lord Kannoth smiled. “But 
  that might change. You must not give up hope. Don’t 
  be afraid—she cannot wake unless you kiss her lips.”
   
  Haggar looked up in wonder into the archfey’s 
   pensive face. Again he put his hand out, pulled it back. 
   
  “Boy,” advised lord Kannoth. “It is a token of my 
  good will. But do not make me wait. For only a few 
  more moments will I consent to be amused.”
   
  And so Haggar closed his eyes, leaned forward, 
  and placed the lightest possible kiss on the girl’s lips. 
  Instantly she came awake, and when she saw him, 
  she twisted away as if he’d burned her. She turned 
  her face to the ground and spat. “Pig!”
   
  lord Kannoth laughed. “This boy has saved your 
  life. Show some gratitude, my child. Pride is noth-
  ing, beauty is nothing, compared to the virtues of an 
  honest heart. Believe me, this I know.” 
   
  With his lily wand, he pulled the hair back from 
  his feral, delicate face. And wherever the flower 
  touched, the skin changed. What had been pale and 
  pure, in a moment was scorched and ridged, gro-
  tesque and distorted, with ragged lips pulled back in 
  a grin. “Child,” he said softly. “What’s your name?”
   
  “Astriana, my lord,” she mumbled into the dirt.
   
  “Astriana, that’s a flower’s name. Accept your fate, 
  Astriana, as I have accepted mine. This is your hus-
  band. Do you understand me?”
   
  Tears glistened in her eyes. “Yes, my lord.”
   
  “Speak the oath in your heart, where I can see it. 
  Good. Then it is done.” 
   
  He stood and turned away from them. The moon 
  slid behind a cloud. When it came free again, lord 
  Kannoth had disappeared. 
   
  “Come,” Haggar said, after a moment. “let’s leave 
  this place. It’s not safe to stay here.”
   
  A hundred paces from the road, the forest waited. 
  “No one will harm us,” murmured Astriana. “Are you 
  so stupid that you did not hear? He gave his word.”
   
  She was weeping into her fists. She crouched in 
  the road as he stood over her, embarrassed. There 
  was no wind.
   
  “Are you so stupid that you don’t understand?” she 
  continued. “You’re my husband now. Anything you 
  ask, I am sworn to deliver, especially on this night.”
   
  “That is not the custom of my tribe,” he said.
   
  Moaning into her hands, she didn’t hear. “I am 
  carefully punished. All these months I’ve used my 
  own self to entice you, everything I am—I knew what I 
  was doing. Why else would you have come?” 
   
  Then she looked up, her cheeks wet, her eyes glint-
  ing savagely. “What do you want? Don’t keep me in 
  suspense. Whatever it is, I am bound to give it, as a 
  good wife should.”
   
  Standing in the bone white roadway, Haggar 
  cleared his throat. He fiddled with his totem stick, 
  picking with his thumbnail at the chunks of agate. 
  “In my clan,” he murmured humbly, “that is not the 
   measure of a good wife.”
  
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  Watchers at the Living Gate
  68
   
  She gave him a glance in which a moment of clear 
  gratitude was immediately clouded with suspicion. 
  “Easy to say. Are you so stupid that you can’t under-
  stand what I’m offering you?”
   
  He smiled, because he thought he understood how 
  to disarm her. “Astriana,” he said, and saw her flinch. 
  “Woman,” he amended, “this is what I want.” Again 
  she cringed away, as if from a blow. “I want to under-
  stand why you have brought me here, to this place. 
  For nine years you made the journey to my world. 
  ‘Put him with the others,’ you said, when I was lying 
  in the cart.”
   
  She looked at him then, a long, slow stare. She 
  wiped her nose on her sleeve and, eyes dry, clambered 
  to her feet. “That’s what you want?”
   
  “That’s what I want.”
   
  “I swear you’re even stupider than I thought,” she 
  said, but then she smiled when he burst out laugh-
  ing. “In the Feywild we are bound by our promises, 
  you understand?”
   
  He nodded.
   
  “Then come,” she said. “I’ll tell you. It was not nine 
  years for me.”
   
  She turned down the road into the forest. “What 
  about your men?” he asked her. “Will you come back 
  in the morning?”
   
  “Who?” She shrugged. “They’re gone. I hired them 
  in the village.”
   
  “Even so. We should go back. one of them was just 
  a child.”
   
  She gave him a look that suggested his stupid-
  ity had grown so powerful, it had become a force of 
  nature like the ocean or the wind. “Besides,” he said. 
  “We have no weapons.”   
   
  “That’s not the place to search for them.” She 
  gestured with her hand. looking back through the 
  gate, he could see an enormous figure standing in the 
  roadway near where they’d struggled over the cart. 
  His shape was human, but his size was not. 
   
  “We have no choice,” she said. “lord Kannoth has 
  taken everything, all our strength. It’s a tradition. His 
  gift to us.”
   
  Now suddenly she was in a hurry. She turned and 
  ran down the gentle slope, and he followed her. She 
  had spoken the truth:  there was no strength in him, 
  no trace of his totem animal. Heavier than she, he 
  labored to keep up, as if the air of this new world were 
  too rich for him to breathe. 
   
  After half a league, she stopped to draw breath 
  under the forest’s eaves. “How long?” he asked, after 
  a moment.
   
  “Until dawn tomorrow. It happened when I made 
  my vow. It is the way of the eladrin, to come together 
  without any skills or powers, as simple men and 
  women on our wedding night.”
   
  He had the impression that she was mocking him. 
  “Don’t keep saying that.”
   
  “It gives me no pleasure to remind you. Nine 
  months, it was, not years. Nine months I cast my hook 
  into that pool. You’re not the only fish I caught.”
   
  “I suppose not.”
   
  She studied his face as if, he thought, she were 
  trying to memorize his ugliness. “Why aren’t you 
  angry?” she asked. “I would be angry at the things  
  I say.”
   
  They stood beside a stone pillar at the entrance to 
  the forest. It marked the border where the bleached 
  dust of the roadway and its verges gave way to the 
  darkness of the trees. Where the paving stones 
  gave out and the road became a rutted track, two 
  enormous oak trees stood as sentinels. “Kannoth’s 
  protection ends here,” she said. She shrugged. “Even 
  my knife is cold.” She turned under the oaks and dis-
  appeared into the darkness. 
   
  He didn’t know whether she was lying, or didn’t 
  understand her own powers, but she retained some 
  luminescence in the dark, a greenish glow that led him 
  onward. Without it, he’d have had to pick his way like 
  a blind man, because the canopy of leaves denied all 
  but an occasional shaft of moonlight, and the path was 
  muddy, and wound among tangled masses of roots. 
   
  Soon the way steepened, and in some places they 
  descended a cliff-face among evergreens, clambering 
  down over wet boulders. rivulets of water fell around 
  them, and Haggar was astonished at the fecundity 
  of this place, the denseness and intensity of life. 
  Every place he put his hand or foot, living creatures 
  squirmed or flopped or skittered away, and the air 
  was thick with bugs, which got into his nostrils and his 
  mouth. In the darkness, sounds and smells assaulted 
  him with an almost physical pressure, a profusion of 
  squawking and chittering and grunting and croaking, 
  of sap and ash and mud and rotting wood. 
   
  But among all these he caught the tiny, evanescent 
  perfume of cinnamon or clove, which he followed 
  downward like a gleaming thread, hour after hour. 
  Sometimes the scent of her would thicken, and he 
  would find her waiting for him in some crevice 
  or dell, her skin glimmering faintly. And at these 
  moments as they rested, she would give him partial 
  answers to the question he’d asked.
   
  “I had to find some help,” she said. “In the deep 
  Feydark, where we are going, there is a portal called 
  the living Gate. For many generations, which means 
  many hundreds of your years, a cohort of my people 
  were its guardians. over the years they relaxed their 
  vigilance because the gate was shut, sealed in the old 
  days. Even though we retain terrifying stories of the 
  
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  Watchers at the Living Gate
  69
  days before the seal was place, still over time these 
  legends lost their urgency, sank into myth.”
   
  He stood beneath an overhang of gnarled roots 
  while she bent to scoop up a handful of water. A 
  beetle scurried up his neck and he slapped at it. 
  When he looked down she had disappeared, and he 
  clambered after her through the boulders. It was only 
  after half an hour, sitting on a fallen tree trunk in a 
  broad forest of oaks, that he heard the continuation.
   
  “So the traditions of the guardians became 
  empty and ceremonial. It was a mark of honor at the 
  Summer Court to be its captain. last year a nephew 
  of the queen achieved this post, a boy named Soveliss, 
  and he used it to discover a way to break the seal, per-
  haps because he was curious about the world beyond 
  the portal, the Far realm. Perhaps for the glory of 
  closing it again—we cannot question him, for he is 
  dead, or worse than dead.”
   
  Her voice was a drifting whisper, and he had to 
  lean in close to understand. She turned her head 
  away. “Your breath stinks,” she murmured softly.
   
  The way grew steep again. In a crevice between 
  enormous boulders, she paused. “At first, out of 
  shame, he hid what he had done. He knew nothing 
  of druidic lore, or any of our traditions. He was a boy 
  flailing in the dark, and by the time he had confessed, 
  most of my cohort was already destroyed. Nor was I 
  able to recruit another, for the boy had been a favorite 
  of the queen, and she refused to allow it. She was the 
  one who suggested I go elsewhere, so as to find cruder 
  folk. We are long-lived, and one of our lifespans is 
  worth seven of yours.”
   
  “That is well-known,” grunted Haggar. “The 
  arithmetic is clear,” he added, and Astriana smiled. 
   
  “It was my choice to train you as I did,” she said. 
   
  He remembered the long hours by himself, the 
  years of study. “You didn’t train me.”
   
  She shrugged. “But I provided the spark.” Then she 
  was gone again and he hurried after, stumbling down 
  through smaller trees with trembling leaves and pale 
  branches, until he reached level ground, where he 
  sank up to his shins in the water, and his bare feet 
  disturbed minnows and frogs. 
   
  Then the trees gave out entirely, and he strode 
  though waist-high bushes in the swamp. The moon 
  was down behind the hills, and the first red glow 
  of dawn was in the sky. From this new vantage 
  point, and under this new light, he saw he stood in 
  a bowl among high hills with the forest all around 
  him. He saw for the first time that the way they had 
  traversed, wild as it seemed, was not untouched 
  by ancient architects and builders, for here at the 
  bottom of the bowl, rising up out of the swamp, he 
  could see the remains of ruined building, the stone 
  foundations of colossal structures. Following Astri-
  ana’s footsteps, he soon found himself on the lip of 
  a sinkhole which, though it was topped with mud 
  and grass, and though rivulets of water coursed over 
  its edge and fell in endless streams, revealed itself 
  under the pink light as a gigantic cylinder of stone 
  masonry, whose circumference was a league or 
  more, and whose bottom was obscure.
   
  She stood on the brim of a waterfall, looking down. 
  “We have arrived.”
   
  In the middle of this cylindrical well, rising from 
  the bottom, was a tower, whose gabled roofs and tur-
  rets were far below them. A stone staircase spiraled 
  down from where they stood, a quarter of the way 
  around the inside of the well. It ended in a fortified 
  buttress, from which a high bridge, a single wooden 
  span, joined a crenellated terrace at the tower’s top. 
  Astriana had already begun to make her way down 
  the steps, and Haggar followed; there was no rail or 
  balustrade, and to their left yawned the abyss, an 
  open maw of darkness with the tower as its tongue.
   
  But after a quarter of an hour, they stood on the 
  stone buttress at the bridge’s outer end. Guards 
  kept watch there, archers with long bows, and hal-
  berdiers. The captain saluted as they approached the 
  bridge: “lady Astriana, when you didn’t return, lord 
  Themiranth decided to go anyway. Past midnight 
  we brought some of them up again—another failure. 
  Your two were the only survivors, though one has 
  died since, I think.” 
   
  “And Themiranth?”
   
  “He did not return.” 
   
  He was speaking to her, but he was looking at 
  Haggar, his nostrils wide, his lips curled in disdain. 
  “Is this orc your prisoner or your slave? I’ve got a cage 
  full of his stinking kind.”
   
  She smiled. “Captain, this is Archdruid Haggar, 
  Magister of the Broken Pool, master of all druids in 
  the mortal realm. He has agreed to help us. Is that not 
  so, magister?”
   
  At that moment, above them, the first rays of the 
  morning sun touched the inside of the well, reveal-
  ing tendrils of vegetation that hung down from 
  its rim over the black stones. And as if touched by 
  Kannoth’s flower, Haggar felt his strength return. 
  Astriana faced him, and in the new light he noticed 
  things he’d never seen before, either in the darkness 
  at home when he had met her at the stone pool on the 
  mountainside, or in Kannoth’s bewitching moonlight, 
  which had covered everything it touched with a light 
  as thick as paint, hiding as much as it revealed. She 
  stood just his height, a fair-haired woman in ragged 
  blue-green silk, barefoot, with muddy legs. like all 
  
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  Watchers at the Living Gate
  70
  the eladrin, she appeared to have no pupils or whites 
  to her eyes, which had a faintly yellow cast. Her wide 
  mouth and forehead, her high cheekbones were beau-
  tiful to him—beyond beautiful—but at the same time 
  he could see her flaws, the misshapen bridge of her 
  nose, where it had been broken and reset, and the 
  scar that ran over her cheekbone and her lips.
   
  Suddenly embarrassed, he looked down at himself, 
  the torn wedding shirt, which revealed his tattooed 
  chest and shoulders, slick with sweat. “ ‘Magister,’ 
  that’s a new one,” chucked the captain. “Is this crea-
  ture capable of speech?”
   
  “It is you who should be silent,” Astriana said. She 
  turned, and Haggar followed her over the bridge 
  into the tower. And she whispered to him as she 
  walked through the guard chambers and tapestried 
  corridors, so that he had to follow close behind her. 
  “Among my people, it is customary for a man and 
  wife to trade requests. You asked a question, and 
  I answered. Now it is my turn. I want you to close 
  this gate with me, and kill whatever creatures have 
  crawled through from the Far realm. Then it will be 
  time for you to ask again.”
   
  “Anything I want?”
   
  “Anything you want,” she conceded, eyes fixed 
  straight ahead. A pair of soldiers saluted then drew 
  back in surprise when they saw Haggar. “one more 
  thing,” she continued without turning around. “You 
  are not to speak of lord Kannoth, or refer in any 
  way to the magic he cast over us, or of the promise I 
  made. These obligations can only be dissolved by the 
  Summer Queen at the Court of Stars, whom I will 
  petition as soon as we have done our work. That will 
  be enough of an opportunity for my humiliation, as 
  if I needed to dissolve a marriage with a pig or a goat. 
  No, be quiet,” she went on, as he tried to interrupt her. 
  “Among my people, my ugliness is already a legend. 
  The part of a seductress was a new one to me, not 
  one I could accomplish here. Doubtless I enjoyed it. 
  Doubtless that was part of Kannoth’s joke.”
   
  They had come to the center of the tower, a circu-
  lar chamber that also contained a well, the interior 
  echo of the colossal architecture outside. And in the 
  middle of the well was an iron cage suspended from a 
  hook and pulley and reached by an iron ramp. With-
  out pausing, Astriana climbed the ramp and climbed 
  into the cage, where she stood holding the bars. 
  Haggar entered behind her, and at a nod from her 
  a pair of soldiers pulled the ramp away, leaving the 
  cage dangling. Then another pair let down the chain; 
  the cage descended down the length of the shaft, 
  whose bottom was in darkness, invisible to Haggar as 
  he peered between his filthy feet.
   
  They passed storey after storey of iron balustrades, 
  lit by glimmering lanterns. In time, Haggar guessed, 
  they had penetrated below the foundations of the 
  tower, and down into the rock. The air here was 
  damp and thick. As they descended, he felt his mood 
  darken also. Astriana said nothing during all this 
  time, but only stood with her hands on the iron bars, 
  embarrassed, he imagined, at having revealed so 
  much. Now that they could talk freely without fear of 
  being overheard, she was silent. Nor could he think 
  of what to say. “This is my duty as your husband,” he 
  ventured finally, “to close this gate?”
   
  She shot him a look of agonized contempt. “If 
  Themiranth is dead, it is a blessing. Not once has he 
  followed my command.”
   
  A bell clanged and the cage jerked to a halt, dan-
  gling and groaning at the end of its stupendous chain. 
  They hung suspended in a natural cavern, with sta-
  lactites and stalagmites the length of a man. Down 
  below, a platoon of soldiers labored secure them with 
  long grappling hooks, and then to pull them to the 
  edge of a metal structure, a wheeled staircase; when 
  the cage grated against its iron edge, Astriana leaped 
  onto it as if relieved not to be with him any longer in 
  such an enclosed space, and sprang down the stair-
  way, among soldiers very different from the eladrin 
  in the upper tower. These were men in black armor, 
  with hunched shoulders and heavy faces, stunted 
  legs, and powerful arms. 
   
  They were inhabitants of the Feydark, Haggar 
  guessed, firbolgs and goblins. one looked up, and 
  he saw it was missing an eye. They clustered around 
  Astriana as she descended the stairs, and she held out 
  her hands, whether to welcome them or keep them 
  at a distance, Haggar couldn’t tell. They moved aside 
  to let her pass, and she waited for him to catch up. “If 
  the watch captain is right,” she said, “we don’t have 
  time to lose. You will see.” 
   
  Then she turned to speak to the one-eyed soldier 
  in a language Haggar didn’t know. “He says he’s laid 
  them in the antechamber,” she summarized after a 
   minute’s talk. “Come.”
   
  They passed into a torchlit corridor, rough-hewn 
  from the rock. And then through an iron door into a 
  vaulted hall, at the far end of which two figures lay 
  in nests of rags. Astriana hurried to them and went 
  down on her knees.
   
  one was alive and one was dead, as the captain of 
  the watch had claimed. Astriana knelt over the living 
  one, taking one of her hands and pushing the hair 
  back from her face. A smoking lantern hung from 
  an iron stanchion above their heads, and by its light 
  Haggar examined the corpse of the other, a tiefling, 
  he saw, with bosses of bone along the crest of his 
  scalp, and curling horns that rose up from his brow, 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  71
  one intact, the other lopped off at the base. The crea-
  ture was dressed in jointed armor, and in his stiffened 
  hand he still clutched a druid’s staff, decorated with 
  carved runes and also sheared off short. He lay on 
  his back, and the straw and rags beneath him were 
  soaked in his blood.
   
  Fascinated, Haggar studied the man’s face, his 
  heavy beard, his red skin, paler now, he imagined, 
  in death. He knew the history of this maligned and 
  hated race, how ancient human families had sworn 
  pacts with devils and corrupted their entire lines. 
  “What did you promise him?” he asked. 
   
  Astriana didn’t answer. The other woman was a 
  shifter from the look of her, with a flat, feline face 
  and jagged teeth. Hair grew on her cheeks and down 
  her neck, and she was dressed in fur and leather. or 
  rather she had been, for she had ripped most of her 
  clothing away with her long claws, and lay with her 
  hairy body exposed. Her totem stick had fallen away 
  from her and lay forgotten on the ground, a black 
  shaft of tibia bone studded with uncut tigers’ eyes.
   
  She had raised herself onto one elbow and was 
  talking to Astriana in low, urgent tones. Astriana 
  scarcely seemed to listen, but instead she busied 
  herself re-arranging the pillows so the shifter could 
  lie more comfortably. And when the firbolg captain 
  strode in, she turned on him. “Didn’t I ask you to 
  take care of them? Bring her to my guardroom, to my 
  couch. Give her water mixed with wine.”
   
  “lady, she’s a—”
   
  “Do not tell me what she is.”
   
  later, she brought Haggar to a square stone 
  chamber cut into the rock. Food and water had been 
  laid on an iron table, roast capon, pepper sauce, and 
  bread. They sat on iron stools. “To answer your ques-
  tion, I promised I would fill his boots with gold.”
   
  “And her?”
   
  “An invitation to the court of the Summer Queen 
  at Senaliesse. The thanks of her majesty. You see,” she 
  said, biting into a bone, “you work for cheap.”
   
  “I would not have come here for those things.”
   
  “Don’t I know.” And then after a pause: “Themir-
  anth was a fool, but at least he did me this favor. No 
  one will question my decision to bring druids from 
  the mortal realm. The tiefling. You and the shifter. 
  You have a toughness that the eladrin have lost, most 
  of us.” 
   
  She grimaced, then continued. “Themiranth said 
  it was because I was most at home with outcasts and 
  degenerates. Creatures more like animals. He said it 
  was because none of my own kind would look at me. 
  Because of my ugliness.”
   
  He said nothing, even though he imagined this 
  confession cost her a great deal. He watched her take 
  a gulp of water from a crystal cup. At first he’d been 
  embarrassed to eat with her, until he’d noticed how 
  messy she was, licking her fingers, wiping her mouth 
  on her hand. She’d changed into new clothes, soldier’s 
  garb that was heavier and plainer than the thin silks 
  she’d worn in Cendriane. 
   
  “Eat,” she said. “You’ve had nothing, and you need 
  your strength.”
   
  The chamber was lit with magical lights that 
  burned with a hard, white flame. They were set 
  in niches in the walls. Haggar leaned forward on 
  his stool, and stuck his spoon into a wooden plat-
  ter:  grilled mushrooms in black sauce. “What do 
  you know of the Far realm?” she asked. “The living 
  Gate, that’s where it leads. No—‘leads’ is not the word 
  I want.”
   
  When he didn’t reply, she frowned. “I told you how 
  to find the texts to study these things. Months ago—
  years ago, for you. Because I knew I wanted you for 
  this. So try and talk to me. Try to be cleverer than you 
  are. The Far realm is outside of time and space—”
   
  Haggar interrupted. “The words we use to 
  describe these things, we can’t control them.” 
   
  Astriana looked at him, grease on her lower lip. “So?”
   
  “So—nothing. This is what I took from what little I 
  read, before I forced myself to stop: It makes us vul-
  nerable to think about these things. outside time and 
  space—what does that mean? objects and creatures 
  that we can’t perceive. What we see is only indirectly, 
  by its effect upon our minds. And this is corruption. 
  Creatures from this world that are pulled from their 
  true nature and transformed.” 
   
  Astriana stared at him, chewing slowly. “That 
  razorclaw shifter,” she said. “Hazel is her name. She 
  told me Themiranth and the others are still alive 
  down there. Mindslaves. Servitors of something 
  called an aboleth.”
   
  “Did she see it? How does she know its name?”
   
  She laughed. “I told her.” Then after a moment: 
  “The important thing is sealing the gate. These crea-
  tures, the mind flayers and their slaves. They will try 
  to prevent us.” 
   
  She kept chewing, pointing at him with her 
  chicken bone. “You and me.”
   
  And when he said nothing, she paused, looked 
  down. “Because you promised.”
   
  He cleared his throat. “When we have done with 
  this, I won’t be content with any knowledge or coin or 
  the worthless thanks of some archfey. The Far realm 
  is not the only thing that can’t be thought of without 
  damaging ourselves.”
   
  “So,” she said, “you’re saying we can use stupidity 
  to protect ourselves. I suppose it’s not so bad, to culti-
  vate the minds of animals.”
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  72
   
  “It’s what our people do,” he said, not meaning orcs 
  or eladrin, but followers of druidic knowledge from 
  the dawn of time, before the higher races had evolved.
   
  She smiled. The scar across her lips was livid in 
  the dim light. “That’s a lofty reason to have no plan at 
  all. Eat,” she said.
   
  He chose a leg from the bowl of capon parts and 
  brought it to his mouth, wondering if she could see his 
  heavy teeth, the long tearing incisors, and if so, whether 
  she’d grown accustomed to them. “lord Themiranth 
  and the others, I’m sure they were full of plans. Scholars 
  of the Far realm. Mindslaves now. After this, we won’t 
  think or talk when we fight against these creatures. 
  Instinct only. Kick me if I have a thought.” He stuck the 
  legbone in his mouth and snapped it off. 
   
  “I’ll kick you anyway,” she said.
   
  After they had finished, she left him for a few 
  hours to rest. In a lighted alcove off the main cham-
  ber, he found a mirror set into the wall. Standing 
  before it, he unbuttoned the remnants of his father’s 
  shirt and slipped it off, put it aside. He poured water 
  from a crystal ewer over a linen towel, and used it to 
  clean his body, wipe away the mud that obscured the 
  tattoos on his hairy arms and chest. 
   
  like all shape-shifters, he wore only leather, which 
  absorbed into skin during the transformation, as did 
  the bone of his totem stick. Doubtless Astriana at that 
  moment was dressing herself in armor, choosing her 
  swords and knives and spears, but he couldn’t use any 
  of that. Instead he stared at himself in the dim glass, 
  while in his mind he allowed himself to climb the 
  curving helixes of evolution away from his finished 
  nature. These were the shapes he would take with 
  him on this adventure, and he moved through them 
  in the new air of the Feywild, to see if anything was 
  different in this world. 
   
  He watched his jaw lengthen, and his neck grow 
  thick, and slope down toward his shoulders, which 
  swelled first and then receded as he sank down to 
  all fours—a wolf, the totem of his clan. It was his 
  most comfortable shape, but he didn’t stop there. 
  Instead he increased the pace of transformation, 
  while in his mind he scampered up the ladders:  
  the coarse hair thickened on his forearms, turned 
  into quills, while at the same time a web of skin 
  stretched from his shoulders to his wrists, and his 
  jaw turned cruel and sharp. And then his feathers 
  receded into patterned, oily skin, and the scales 
  spread from his nose as his legs fused together and 
  his arms clung to his sides, and he dropped down 
  before the mirror in a coiling heap. 
   
  But he was curled up asleep in his wolf’s shape 
  when she returned. She was dressed in the war garb 
  of a shiere knight in the Summer Court of Queen 
  Tiandra, an armor of overlapping scales, alternat-
  ing blue and green, made from carapaces of insects, 
  lighter and tougher than steel, and so tight and fine 
  that they covered her body like a second skin. Her 
  hair was brushed back from her face and held at her 
  nape with a silver ring. She wore ridged gauntlets of 
  silver mail, and carried a mace in her left hand, while 
  a long scimitar hung at her waist. In the dark alcove, 
  her body seemed to glow. 
   
  “Time to move,” she said, and he got to his feet and 
  stretched, lowering his shoulders, letting his tongue 
  loll out between his teeth. He followed her through 
  the studded door and down through a warren of 
  deserted ward rooms and low-ceilinged corridors. 
   
  In ordinary times, this place was full of life, the 
  borderland between the Feydark and the surface 
  world, where the fomorians of Harrowhame and the 
  eladrin rangers of the woods maintained a queasy 
  peace. This nest of warriors was now empty, but when 
  Haggar and Astriana reached the endless staircases 
  that led deeper into the guts of the rock, they found 
  them packed with refugees, goblins and cyclopses 
  and fomorians all crowding toward the surface, their 
  possessions on their backs. And in their terror, all 
  these pale citizens of the underworld had forgotten 
  their differences, though they came from a dozen 
  clans and races and competing powers. They waited 
  in long lines so that they could pile on upward toward 
  the sunlight, which many of them had never seen. 
   
  Hunchbacked women with bloated hands and 
  faces carried their children on their backs, and they 
  shrunk against the damp, black walls to allow Haggar 
  and Astriana to pass, the last guardians of the living 
  Gate. occasionally they touched their foreheads or 
  else murmured some vestigial token of respect, before 
  they bent to their burdens again and resumed their 
  place in line. The wolf bounded ahead to clear the 
  path, the long staircase that was lit not by torches or 
  burning chemicals, but by glowing crystals in the 
  rock, which shone blue and green and purple as they 
  climbed down. 
   
  In time they came to Harrowhame itself, the 
  dismal fortress of King Bronnor, built in an enormous 
  cavern of quarried salt. They came out suddenly onto 
  the salt floor, where the stone and iron ramparts 
  rose above them. Here at least there was light and 
  soldiers also, the myrmidons of the fomorian king. 
  From the citadel there came the sound of drumbeats 
  and brazen trumpets, which echoed from the crystal 
  walls. But the gates were closed, and there was no 
  guard to acknowledge them as they crossed the salt 
  plain under the battlements to continue their descent. 
   
  They entered a gigantic fissure in the rock, where 
  the ground sloped downward. And here the world 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  73
  changed. Above, nearer the surface, the rock was cut, 
  quarried, and dead. Here it was still alive, growing 
  in a landscape as varied as any forest or mountain-
  side. They climbed down through glowing forests of 
  mushrooms. Animals lived here, snakes and lizards 
  and rodents of all kinds, but also tiny deer and goats 
  perched upon the rocks, and even a few pale birds. 
  Flowering vines and creepers covered the distant 
  walls, and hung from the stalactites above their 
  heads. The air was lighter, richer here, and breezes 
  wafted through the endless caverns, as if freshened 
  from below. 
   
  The wolf loped ahead. They came to the shore of 
  a black river and climbed the shattered rocks beside 
  the waterfall. Haggar picked his way over the stones 
  and paused at the first man-made structure he had 
  seen in hours, a guardhouse built from black cubes of 
  pumice stone, and lit with a guttering lantern. “Who 
  is there?” Astriana called. 
   
  Her armor glimmered green and blue in the dark-
  ness, and she raised her silver mace. A man staggered 
  out the open door, a firbolg warrior dressed in leather 
  armor, carrying his sword. “You’re here,” he said. 
  “Thank the gods. I’ve stayed alone for hours, waiting 
  for them to come back. They’ve taken all my men,” he 
  added, pointing with his sword to a hole in the rock 
  wall, lit from within by an unearthly mix of colors.
   
  “Who?”
   
  “Themiranth and the others. What’s left of them.”
   
  He was a big man. Sweat glistened on his fore-
  head. raising his sword, making a gesture toward 
  the depths, he said, “I was about to try again, one last 
  time. There are too many of them if they come out in 
  the open. But we can fight them in the tunnels, one 
  by one.”
   
  “What’s your name?” said Astriana.
   
  “Garm, my lady.”
   
  “You’re a brave man. let’s go down.”
   
  Finally they had reached the environs of the 
  living Gate, that tiny portal to the Far realm. Its 
  diameter could be measured in microns, yet even 
  so, the substance that seeped through, less matter 
  than deranged ideas, could poison a whole world. 
  once inside the last cave, they could see how all its 
  surfaces were covered with a glistening slime, which 
  sucked at their feet and made it hard to move. Yet it 
  provided light for them; half a league in, they saw the 
  first of the aboleth’s servitors, the eladrin guardians it 
  had bent to its will. one of them appeared suddenly, 
  standing up out of the shin-deep slime, where he had 
  been lying full-length. 
   
  “Themiranth,” Astriana breathed. 
   
  His skin was transparent now, his organs and 
  blood vessels mottled and visible, his staring eyes 
  wide with unthinking malice. He wore no clothes, 
  carried no weapons, but waded toward them with 
  his arms stretched out, trying to wrap Astriana 
  in his slimy grasp. She hacked at him with her 
  mace, which made a wet, squelching sound as it 
  sunk into his flesh; Haggar didn’t watch. He had 
  already begun his transformation, climbing down 
  the curving ladder in his mind, until his body had 
  lengthened many times, his arms and legs had 
  disappeared, and he was slithering through the 
  mucus-covered rocks, past Thermiranth and past 
  the other eladrin servitors deeper down in the hole; 
  they couldn’t see him. 
   
  As he passed, he battered at their ankles with 
  his blunt nose; one he knocked from his feet, and 
  encircled with his tail as he pulled himself along, 
  crushing out of him or her what still passed for life. He 
  let go, then swam down where the slime was thickest, 
  submerged in a paste or stew of half-dissolved corpses, 
  until he found a corridor that was entirely packed 
  with mucus, and he slithered through. 
   
  Just for a moment he saw the aboleth, with its 
  wings and flanges and tentacles, its three red eyes 
  in a vertical line; he closed his own eyes, closed his 
  ears, let his mind sink down into its tiniest reptilian 
  confinement, locked inside his flat little skull as if 
  inside a prison made of bone, in the center of which 
  he rolled his consciousness into a ball, as a prisoner 
  might sit and hug himself on the floor of his cell, 
  turning his face inward partly from despair, partly as 
  a way to conserve his strength. 
   
  on the long dull surface of his body, along the 
  smooth patterned skin of the great snake, he allowed 
  himself to feel no sensation as he burrowed through 
  the slime into the belly of the great beast, a belly that 
  absorbed him as it allowed him to pass, and sucked 
  him down into a landscape of inflamed viscera, 
  mucus-encrusted tunnels full of parasites. 
   
  Even with his mind shut down, and sunk into his 
  body as far as he could permit it without letting go of 
  the synapses and ganglia that controlled his breath-
  ing and his heart, still he caught a vague impression 
  of Astriana and Garm up to their knees in effluent, 
  hacking and pounding at the parasites that tried to 
  drag them down. 
   
  Then Haggar was past them, and had slipped 
  down through the submerged tunnels yet again, and 
  glimpsed again the red eyes of the aboleth, and sunk 
  through the membrane of its body yet again. 
   
  Here in the heart’s core of the monster he discov-
  ered the living Gate, the portal to the Far realm. 
  Contagion seeped from it, a tiny valve of puckered 
  flesh in the contracting wall. Another monster lurked 
  here, floating in a substance that was neither solid nor 
  
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Watchers at the Living Gate
  74
  liquid nor gas, a creature made of writhing tentacles 
  around a single flaming eye. Daggerlike teeth circled 
  its maw, and Haggar found himself drifting toward 
  it in his natural form, naked save for his totem stick, 
  which protruded from the bone of his forearm. It was 
  as if this creature could perceive his true essence after 
  all, and limit him to his weakest shape. 
   
  Gouts of fire burst from the monster’s eye. But 
  Haggar had his totem stick, and with it he began to 
  stir the substance of the deep, grunting muffled evo-
  cations as he did so, until the matrix that surrounded 
  him began to move, assume a shape like a vortex or 
  tornado; he was controlling it, as he would a cloud 
  or a storm in his own world. The streamers of fire 
  circled back, catching the monster in a net of its own 
  flame, while at the same time the living gate spread 
  open, and a single purple tentacle stretched through 
  it. This was the mind flayer, the last of the horrors 
  that awaited him here, and it searched for him dili-
  gently, penetrating through the ooze, grasping for his 
  head. Doubtless just beyond the gate was the encrus-
  tation of the elder brain that was commanding this 
  entire web of illusion and deceit.
   
  He kicked away and it grabbed hold of him. 
  Inside the prison of his mind, a long hand snaked 
  through the bars, because he was afraid. He sat 
  naked, curled up in the center of his cell, allowing 
  the hand of the mind flayer to palpate his skull, 
  searching for a place to enter. He felt a rush of emo-
  tion and sensation surge up through him, and his 
  mind was full of pictures of the past and present 
  and the future: His mother standing by the fire 
  outside her cottage in the woods. The pool in the 
  abandoned city on the mountainside, and Astriana 
  standing in it with the water around her knees. 
  Astriana with her mace held high, breaking the 
  flesh of the slime-covered servitors, while he failed 
  here, allowed the mind flayer to take him and 
  destroy him, destroy them all. 
   
  But then with a last effort of his reptile will, he 
  choked all that away, constricted the mental pas-
  sages it flowed through, that sequence of images, 
  and his mind went dark. Those processes of the 
  brain and heart were what the creature fed on, 
  and Haggar felt its grip loosen, its probing tentacle 
  release its hold. 
   
  Instead of struggling, he forced himself to relax, to 
  welcome the touch of the jailer’s hand upon his face. 
  And the more he welcomed it, the more he emptied 
  his mind of panic and regret, the weaker and less 
  sure was its grasp, while at the same time he was 
  climbing downward into a new reality, in which he 
  stood in his wolf’s form at the edge of a rocky, fetid 
  pool under a blood red sky. There was some kind 
  of twisting mollusk down there, a cephalopod with 
  purple tentacles, and he stretched out its claws and 
  ripped along its flabby, unprotected head. 
   
  He heard a scream, all the more horrifying for 
  being silent and interior. He pulled back his foot. 
  And then he found himself floating up through the 
  spheres of illusion: the living gate with his naked 
  body suspended underneath, watching the arm of the 
  mind flayer suddenly retract and disappear, and the 
  gate pucker closed. At that moment, as if the source 
  of contagion was necessary for its life, the beholder 
  shut its awful eye. And again at that same moment, 
  Haggar found himself lying on his side among the 
  mucus-covered rocks, his fur matted and greasy, his 
  body aching and hurt. He licked at the air, and then 
  after a long minute he stumbled to his four feet, and 
  climbed and scratched his way out of the tunnel, 
  to where Astriana sat among the stones, her armor 
  coated with a glowing slime, her mace broken, her 
  scimitar in her hand. Haggar crawled past Garm, the 
  firbolg soldier, floating on his back, his face contorted 
  in the rictus of death.
   
  And then Astriana put her hand out and Haggar 
  crawled under it, and allowed her to rub the soft 
  fur of his forehead and around his ears. His tongue 
  lolled out, and he licked her hands. She bent down 
  over him to put his face against her face, while he—
  not because he thought it was a good strategy, but 
  out of simple exhaustion—allowed himself to find his 
  natural shape again. His heavy head fell into her lap. 
  She took her fingers from his hair, rolled him aside, 
  and stood up hurriedly.
   
  But later, after they had climbed back to the sur-
  face again, and after they had mounted the cage to the 
  tower’s roof, and after he had washed himself in the 
  sumptuous quarters she’d assigned to him, he stood 
  in front of the window, looking up at the sun as it rose 
  above the rim of the great well. He didn’t hear the 
  door open, but he turned when she spoke. She wore a 
  gown of green silk, open at the neck and throat, and 
  her hair was loose around her head. “You know we 
  are bound by our promises,” she said. 
   
  “Then promise me. I want you to take me home.”
   
  Her head had fallen forward to accept his punish-
  ment. Now she raised her face to look at him. Her 
  nose was crooked, and a scar ran down her cheek 
  over her lips. “I promise,” she said. 
   
  “And this will be my promise,” he continued. “on 
  the night of the full moon, I will wait for you, when the 
  light strikes the surface of the water.”
   
  With his back to the window he couldn’t tell for 
  sure, but he thought he saw a blush pass over her cheek.
  
  A M P E r S A N D
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  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  Ampersand
  by Bill Slavicsek
  Hi. I’m Bill Slavicsek, r&D Director for the 
  Dungeons & Dragons brand. That means that all of 
  the creative work behind D&D game products and 
  novels is ultimately my responsibility. All of the game 
  designers, developers, and editors working on our 
  roleplaying games, boardgames, novels, and digital 
  magazines work for me. I’m also a writer, editor, and 
  game designer. Some of my recent work includes The 
  Mark of Nerath novel, the Castle Ravenloft boardgame, 
  and the Heroes of the Fallen Lands player book for the 
  Dungeons & Dragons Essentials line of products. 
  All of this puts me in a unique position to provide all 
  kinds of sneak peeks and inside secrets behind all 
  Dungeons & Dragons products. And that’s just what 
  I do every month in this column.
  This Month’s Releases
  If you’re a fan of the Dungeons & Dragons role-
  playing game, there are quite a few new items to 
  check out this month. Here’s a quick run-down of 
  the highlights.
   
  For new players, as well as for long-time players 
  with a fondness for nostalgia, we have a brand-new 
  Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game 
  Starter Set—also known as “The red Box.” The red 
  Box appears just like the original version from the 
  early 1980s, complete with cover art by the great 
  larry Elmore. Inside the red Box, you’ll find every-
  thing you need to start playing the D&D game right 
  now, including a solo adventure that guides you 
  through the steps of character creation, a full-length 
  adventure for a group of heroes, monster tokens, a 
  poster map, and game dice. Check out this link to a 
  previous column about the red Box.
   
  The red Box kicks off the new line of Essentials 
  products for D&D—a series that will eventually 
  include 10 fundamental titles for all D&D players. 
  The next in the line is Heroes of the Fallen Lands, a 
  player book presented in a new digest-sized paper-
  back format that features new versions of the classic 
  character classes: cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard. 
  These new builds are great for new players while also 
  providing new options for players who have created 
  characters from other D&D sources. Check here for 
  more information about Heroes of the Fallen lands.
   
  The Rules Compendium presents all of the rules of 
  the game in a single volume, and it is also presented 
  in the new digest-sized form. It’s a portable source 
  for adjudicating the rules of the game. Check out this 
  link for a preview of the rules Compendium.
  The Triumphant Return of  
  Gamma World and Other News
  
  A M P E r S A N D
  76
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
   
  Two other Essentials products release this month. 
  There’s the Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon, 
  a boxed set filled with 10 sheets of Dungeon Tiles 
  that can be used to construct encounters in the most 
  iconic of D&D settings. And for those of you who 
  need game dice, check out the Dungeons & Dragons 
  roleplaying Game Dice set.
   
  The new set of D&D Miniatures, Lords of Madness, 
  debuts this month. Each booster pack includes one 
  Huge figure. This might be the best set of miniatures 
  we’ve ever produced, with such stand-out sculpts as 
  the Fettered Dracolich, the Cloaker Ambusher, the 
  Iron Golem Juggernaut, the Crownwing, and the Elder 
  Copper Dragon. Check out some preview images from 
  this set here.
   
  And for those of you who like a good story, watch 
  for Bruce Cordell’s Key of Stars, a new novel set in the 
  Forgotten realms. For younger readers (or anyone 
  who likes a cool book), check out the Young Wizard’s 
  Handbook: How to Trap a Zombie, Track a Vampire, and 
  Other Hand-On Activities for Monster Hunters. This 
  jam-packed volume includes such useful information 
  as how to put together a monster-hunting pack, how 
  to make a scroll case, and how to catch a werewolf. 
  I wish I had access to this book when I first started 
  hunting monsters!
  D&D On the Road
  We were at the PAX show here in Seattle last week-
  end, running games, talking to fans, and having a 
  great time. The highlight for us was our special area 
  outside the convention center, where we did a little 
  outdoor fair complete with a decorated tour bus, a 
  life-size beholder, and a stage where we hosted con-
  tests including an ongoing D&D Spelling Bee. Could 
  you have spelled lolth? Drizzt? Tamoachan? There 
  was also the continuing saga of Acquisitions, Inc. This 
  amazing session was recorded and we’ll post it soon 
  in case you weren’t at the live event.
  D&D Celebrity Game Event
  At Gen Con this year, r.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, 
  and larry Elmore participated in a live game event 
  run by DM-to-the-Stars Chris Perkins. Follow this 
  link to see how the adventure turned out.
  Game Day This Weekend
  Get to your local game store to participate in D&D 
  Game Day on September 11. This special event 
  celebrates the release of the new D&D Essentials 
  products, including the “red Box” Dungeons & 
  Dragons Fantasy roleplaying Game. You need to be 
  at this event. I kid you not.
  D&D Encounters
  The new season of the awesome D&D Encounters 
  program kicks off at your local game store on Sep-
  tember 22. This time out, we’re presenting a retro 
  adventure that harkens back to the very beginnings of 
  the D&D game. Keep on the Borderlands features dun-
  geons and dangers on the edge of the civilized parts 
  of the Nentir Vale and uses elements from the new 
  D&D Essentials products. You’re going to want a copy 
  of Heroes of the Fallen Lands for this season—you’re 
  going to need every advantage you can get to survive 
  the terrors assaulting the Keep!
  gamma World Returns!
  Coming next month, the return of the D&D Gamma 
  World Roleplaying Game! The new boxed set features 
  all of the exhilarating energy of a post-apocalyptic 
  world and all the craziness of mutations gone wild. 
  The playtests have been a hit inside the halls of 
  
  A M P E r S A N D
  77
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Wizards and at conventions this summer, and now 
  you can get a copy of the game and try it for yourself. 
  The game utilizes a version of the rules from the 
  Dungeons & Dragons game but adds a fun twist 
  with mutations and tech cards. You literally mutate as 
  the adventure progresses! 
   
  Here’s a preview of some of what you’ll find in the 
  boxed set. First, from the player’s section …
  CHaraCter	origin	taBle
  roll	 origin
  1	
  android
  2	
  Cockroach
  3	
  Doppelganger
  4	
  electrokinetic
  5	
  empath
  6	
  Felinoid
  7	
  giant
  8	
  gravity	Controller
  9	
  Hawkoid
  10	
  Hypercognitive
  roll	 origin
  11	
  mind	Breaker
  12	
  mind	Coercer
  13	
  Plant
  14	
  Pyrokinetic
  15	
  radioactive
  16	
  rat	swarm
  17	
  seismic
  18	
  speedster
  19	
  telekinetic
  20	
  yeti
  using CHaraCter 
  origins
  Character origins provide traits, powers, and basic 
  character appearance.
   
  Traits: Mutant type identifies the primary ability 
  score for the origin and the origin’s power source.
   
  You gain a +2 bonus to overcharge rolls on Alpha 
  powers that have the same power source as your pri-
  mary origin. Each origin also shows the abilities you 
  gain that are specific to your origin. You gain the traits 
  from both of your origins. If two traits can’t be recon-
  ciled, you get only the trait of your primary origin.
   
  Critical: Your origin also determines the special 
  effect or bonus damage you gain when you score a 
  critical hit. When you reach 2nd level, you get the criti-
  cal benefit of one of your origins (your choice). At 6th 
  level, you gain the critical benefit of your other origin, 
  and both benefits apply when you score a critical hit.
   
  Powers: You gain the powers of both origins as indi-
  cated on the Character Advancement table. At 1st level, 
  you have the novice power for each of your origins.
   
  appearance: Your basic species and body form is 
  determined or influenced by your origins. Your char-
  acter “race” falls into one of five broad categories.
  Rat Swarm
  You’re a consciousness distributed across a swarm of 
  squeaking vermin.
  The actual nature of your swarm is based on your 
  other origin. For instance, if your other origin is cock-
  roach, hawkoid, or android, you might be a swarm of 
  roaches, a swarm of bats, or a swarm of tiny, whirring 
  robotic toys.
   
  appearance: Your body is composed of hundreds 
  of small beings that swarm in a single square, though 
  you usually cluster into a shape suitable for wearing 
  clothing and wielding equipment and weapons using 
  your many tiny hands.
  Rat Swarm Traits
  mutant	type:	Dexterity; Bio; +2 to bio overcharge.
  skill	Bonus	(level	1):	Gain a +4 bonus to Stealth 
  checks.
  swarm	Defense	(level	1):	Gain resist 5 to all damage 
  against melee and ranged attacks, and vulnerable 5 to 
  damage from area and close attacks.
  Crawling	mass	(level	1):	You can’t be knocked 
  prone.
  rat	swarm	Critical	(level	2	or	6):	When you score 
  a critical hit, the attack deals 1d10 extra damage, and 
  the target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls until the 
  end of your next turn.
  Rat Swarm Powers
  swarm!	
  rat Swarm Novice
  You swarm across your foe , biting it dozens of times as you 
  tangle its limbs.
  encounter ✇ Bio,	Physical
  standard	action	
  melee 1
  target: One creature
  attack: Dexterity + your level vs. reflex
  Hit: 1d8 + Dexterity modifier + twice your level physical dam-
  age, and the target is immobilized until the end of your 
  next turn.
  Cover	more	ground	
  rat Swarm Utility
  You disperse across the ground and quickly reform in a tacti-
  cally advantageous spot.
  encounter ✇ Bio
  move	action	
  Personal
  effect: You shift a number of squares equal to your Dexterity 
  modifier.
  Death	by	a	thousand	Bites	 rat Swarm Expert
  You swarm around your foe, delivering a multitude of tiny 
  bites that all result in bleeding wounds.
  encounter ✇ Bio,	Physical
  standard	action	
  melee 1
  target: One creature
  attack: Dexterity + your level vs. Fortitude
  Hit: 2d10 + your Dexterity modifier physical damage.
  effect: At the start of your next turn, the target takes physical 
  damage equal to three times your level.
  
  A M P E r S A N D
  78
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  And then, here’s a sample opponent from the Game 
  Master’s section and examples of the cards …
  Blaash (Gamma Moth)
  Bright lights attract gamma moths, so put out those fires 
  when camping near old missile craters and ruined nuclear 
  reactors.
  Fearless and carnivorous, these enormous mutated 
  gypsy moths bring down prey with radiation, then 
  hover over the corpses to feed. Black blaashes target 
  victims with precise beams of radiation.
  Black Blaash 
  Level 3 Artillery
  small	terrestrial	beast	(insect)	
  XP	150
  HP 40; Bloodied 20 
  initiative +5
  aC 17, Fortitude 16, reflex 17, Will 14 
  Perception +1
  speed fly 6 (hover) 
  tremorsense 5
  immune radiation; vulnerable 5 poison
  traits
  O radioactive	Flux (radiation) ✇ aura 1
  Any creature within the aura experiences an Alpha flux on a 
  d20 roll of 4 or lower.
  Standard Actions
  m Wing	sweep (radiation) ✇ at-Will
  Attack: melee 1 (one creature); +6 vs. reflex
  Hit: 1d6 + 6 radiation damage.
  R radiation	Beam (radiation) ✇ at-Will
  Attack:	ranged 10 (one creature); +8 vs. Fortitude
  Hit:	2d6 + 5 radiation damage, and the target is weakened 
  (save ends). Each creature adjacent to the target takes 5 
  radiation damage.
  triggered Actions
  C radioactive	Pulse (radiation) ✇ encounter
  Trigger:	the blaash drops to 0 hit points.
  Attack	(No	Action):	Close burst 3 (enemies in burst); +6 vs. 
  Fortitude
  Hit:	2d6 + 3 radiation damage.
  str 12 (+2) 
  Dex 18 (+5) 
  Wis 11 (+1)
  Con 16 (+4) 
  int 5 (–2) 
  Cha 8 (+0)
  
  D E S I G N  &  D E V E l o P M E N T
  79
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By	stePHen	sCHuBert
  illustration	By	Jim	nelson
  skill dC's
  We continually evaluate the tools we’ve put into 
  the game. As we design and develop rules and 
  mechanics, we base some of the work on underly-
  ing assumptions regarding how we expect players to 
  advance and improve their characters through their 
  choices of mechanical elements such as feats and 
  items. A short time ago, we evaluated the DCs for 
  the skills subsystem and made some adjustments to 
  the rate at which DCs scale with level. These tables 
  appear on page 126 of the Rules Compendium as well 
  as on the DM Screen available in the DM Kit. 
   
  If you compare the new values to the DCs from 
  the Dungeon Master’s Guide and DMG 2, you’ll notice 
  that the DCs are higher across the board. You’ll also 
  notice that Hard DC entries scale faster than Easy 
  and Moderate DCs by level. Finally, the new skill DC 
  table has an entry for each level instead of grouping 
  levels into bands of three. These changes are far from 
  arbitrary, as you’ll see.
   
  Early on, we divided checks into Hard, Medium, 
  and Easy, but we didn’t do a good job of telling DMs 
  which one to use in a situation. We needed a system 
  that would not only guide the DM on when to use a 
  particular check but also describe the sorts of charac-
  ters that would be attempting these checks. 
   
  The first step when evaluating the DCs 
  was to determine what those DC categories 
  truly represent. Then we describe our arche-
  typical character who fits that category and 
  determine the typical skill bonus that char-
  acter might have. Finally, we set DCs based 
  on a curve of expected values that would 
  provide a reasonable challenge at each 
  level—we define reasonable challenge as a 
  d20 roll that is successful around 65% of the 
  time (you need to roll 8+ on the die).
   
  Easy: The action involved isn’t trivial but 
  is still pretty simple. These are the simplest 
  checks and should represent a reasonable 
  challenge for characters that have no train-
  ing in the skill (an untrained character). An 
  untrained character is typically adding half 
  his level to the skill and probably doesn’t 
  have an ability score that helps him out. He 
  might get another +1 by Epic tier, since all 
  his ability modifiers have increased by 21st 
  level. Trained characters have little risk of 
  failure, and expert characters are nearly 
  guaranteed success. These are the DCs that 
  we suggest DMs should use when every 
  
  D E S I G N  &  D E V E l o P M E N T
  80
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  character in the party is expected to make the check 
  or for group checks (where half the PCs must succeed 
  on the roll to earn a success for the group).
   
  Moderate: A moderate check requires a bit of 
  training or innate ability, or a bit of luck. These 
  checks are aimed at skilled characters who have 
  training in the skill, though there are other options 
  for getting a similar skill modifier, such as having 
  a high ability score (18+) in the skill’s key ability or 
  combining a racial bonus and a moderate (14+) abil-
  ity score. These DCs scale a little faster than easy 
  DCs, which accounts for ability score increases or 
  adding a feat or path feature if the key ability isn’t 
  your primary or secondary class stat. These DCs 
  are the standard difficulty for a skill check in a skill 
  challenge.
   
  Hard: These checks are designed to test charac-
  ters who are even more focused on the particular 
  skill, though there might still be some chance of 
  failure even for these expert characters. Without 
  additional assistance (such as a power bonus or 
  another character’s aid), the expert PC will succeed 
  against these DCs around two out of three times. The 
  expert PC typically has training in the skill, and his 
  or her primary ability score is the skill’s key ability (or 
  secondary ability score along with a skill focus feat 
  or racial bonus). As the character increases in level, 
  we expect feat and item selection to provide an extra 
  boost along the way, as well as ability score increases. 
  This DC is a good choice to really challenge a focused 
  PC, though it’s also a good DC to use for repeated suc-
  cesses with a single skill in a skill challenge (once the 
  first, moderate attempt is successful). 
  DiFFiCulty	Class	By	level	
  level	
  easy	
  moderate	
  Hard
  	
  1	
  8	
  12	
  19
  	
  2	
  9	
  13	
  20
  	
  3	
  9	
  13	
  21
  	
  4	
  10	
  14	
  21
  	
  5	
  10	
  15	
  22
  	
  6	
  11	
  15	
  23
  	
  7	
  11	
  16	
  23
  	
  8	
  12	
  16	
  24
  	
  9	
  12	
  17	
  25
  	 10	
  13	
  18	
  26
  	 11	
  13	
  19	
  27
  	 12	
  14	
  20	
  28
  	 13	
  14	
  20	
  29
  	 14	
  15	
  21	
  29
  	 15	
  15	
  22	
  30
  	 16	
  16	
  22	
  31
  	 17	
  16	
  23	
  31
  	 18	
  17	
  23	
  32
  	 19	
  17	
  24	
  33
  	 20	
  18	
  25	
  34
  	 21	
  19	
  26	
  35
  	 22	
  20	
  27	
  36
  	 23	
  20	
  27	
  37
  	 24	
  21	
  28	
  37
  	 25	
  21	
  29	
  38
  	 26	
  22	
  29	
  39
  	 27	
  22	
  30	
  39
  	 28	
  23	
  30	
  40
  	 29	
  23	
  31	
  41
  	 30	
  24	
  32	
  42
  
  D E S I G N  &  D E V E l o P M E N T
  81
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
   
  all-In: As we identified these character arche-
  types, we also noted a fourth sort of PC—the “all-in” 
  character. This guy takes every possible advantage 
  toward maximizing a particular skill. He has feats, 
  a racial bonus, starts with a 20 in the primary modi-
  fier, is trained in the skill, and searches out magic 
  items that further advance his skill. Even with our 
  now-higher Hard DC scale, this character is nearly 
  guaranteed success. But it’s also difficult to get 
  bonuses that high for more than one or two skills. 
  rather than push the Hard DCs out of reach of typi-
  cal characters, we recognize that those characters 
  exist and will be really good at their chosen vocation. 
  If the DM is doing his job (and we’ve given even more 
  tools to help with that), then that character will have 
  his moments to shine but will also face many chal-
  lenges that can’t be tackled with his maxed-out skill.
   
  These new DCs form the backbone for our skill 
  challenges and for other skill-related rolls throughout 
  the game. For example, escape DCs for monsters or 
  traps can be set based on the sorts of characters we 
  expect should have a chance. 
   
  We hope this sheds some light on the method 
  behind our madness. Be sure to check out Rules Com-
  pendium for an in-depth look at setting up skill checks 
  and challenges in your game!
  About the Author
  Stephen Schubert is a game developer for Wizards of the 
  Coast, and is the Development Manager for rPGs and the 
  Dungeons & Dragons® game. He has provided development 
  and design work for many 4th Edition D&D products, includ-
  ing the Monster Manual and Player’s Handbook series, and the 
  upcoming release of Gamma World.
  
  C o N F E S S I o N S  o F  A  F U l l -T I M E  W I z A r D
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  By	sHelly	mazzanoBle
  illustrations by William O’Conner
  82
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  I’ve been waiting a long time for Gamma World. Five 
  years to be exact. Not as long as some of you, sure, but 
  when I get excited about something, I anticipate it in 
  dog years. 
   
  It was sometime in late September when our 
  department began deliberations about what our 
  Halloween 2005 theme should be. You need to under-
  stand just how important Halloween is to Wizards 
  of the Coast. It’s like the Super Bowl to football fans, 
  solstice to the druids, white russians to lebowski Fest. 
  It’s big business around here. 
   
  Every year, the departments compete against one 
  another for best decorations. I’m sure there’s a prize 
  but I have no idea what it, is because my department 
  never wins. We never even place. (This may have 
  something to do with the fact we don’t start thinking 
  about a theme until well after labor Day.) In fact, 
  some years we never decide on a theme and everyone 
  shows up doing their own thing. Your “rejected super-
  heroes” theme loses its impact when two of your team 
  members are dressed as laverne and Shirley. 
   
  Not to be a poor sport, but Halloween isn’t really a 
  fair competition here. one department in particular 
  always upsets the candied apple cart. That would be 
  the Creative Team. Yeah, I know, the name says it all. 
  These are the clever, artistic designers who not only 
  create packaging, products, and all around pretty pic-
  tures, they make their own clothes, Christmas cards, 
  and centerpieces just for fun. 
   
  “oh look! It’s Elminster made out of cherry life-
  savers and empty toner cartridges. What a fun way to 
  spend your lunch break.”
   
  one year, the Creative Team dressed as freak show 
  carnies. They had a cotton candy machine, people! 
  Who can compete with that? Another year, they were 
  dead celebrities—dressed how they died. Again, I 
  ask—how do we compete with that? Seriously. Email 
  me your suggestions.
   
  That summer in 2005, we thought we knew 
  exactly how to take down those Martha Stewart 
  disciples: we would reach into the D&D wayback 
  machine and turn our little corner of WotC into a 
  post-apocalyptic warzone wonderland. With the 
  help of Goodwill and some old fashioned dumpster 
  diving, we decked—or rather, trashed—our desks, 
  offices, and conference rooms. My coworkers and I 
  glued googly eyes to our plants, animal tails to our 
  jeans, and, in the case of our then-pregnant director, 
  a giant baby doll head to her protruding belly. 
  Seriously creepy. 
  apocalypse now!
  
  83
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  C o N F E S S I o N S  o F  A  F U l l -T I M E  W I z A r D
   
  With an industrial fan creating an eerie whoosh of 
  white noise and blowing dead leaves and debris into 
  the Finance department’s version of Candy land, we 
  huffed stale air in our gas masks and waited for the 
  judging committee to come by. 
   
  There was no way we couldn’t win this. I had a 
  raccoon face painted on me! With non-hypoallergenic 
  theater make-up. I was that dedicated to the cause. 
   
  (We came in third. robbed!)
   
   That whole day, I kept thinking, wow, this Gamma 
  World is one freaky land. I wish we would re-release an 
  updated version of the game sometime in the Fall of 2010. 
  I might be paraphrasing, but they’re my thoughts so 
  it’s oK.
   
  Imagine my delight a year ago at finding out my 
  paraphrased thoughts would come true. Gamma World 
  was making a repeat performance! Good thing I still 
  had my raccoon tail pinned to my bulletin board. 
   
  I finally got my chance to play last month when 
  Bart agreed to run us through a quick encounter. Five 
  of us went into a conference room as brand managers, 
  editors, and product specialists, but we came out as 
  rat swarms, pyrokinetics, even a yeti (until she had to 
  leave for a meeting). 
   
  “What in heck is going on here,” Hilary, who 
  was busy rolling up a radioactive cockroach named 
  Sassafrass asked. “I mean seriously? This is what I’m 
  playing?” 
   
  We had spent nearly an hour of our two-hour 
  time block laughing at the random combinations 
  people were coming up with. I particularly love the 
  character-building part of Gamma World. Sentient 
  plants? Anthropomorphism? Androids? What’s not 
  to love?
   
  Instead of picking race and class, you get two ori-
  gins that combine to define your character. origins 
  are randomly selected by a diee roll and a table from 
  the rulebook. Now, you may get something general 
  like “giant” as I did, but feel free to think outside the 
  beanstalk. A giant can be . . . well, anything.
   
  “You could be a giant fish,” Bart said. “or a Q-tip. 
  Think of something and then make it gigantic.”
   
  I decided to be a giant teddy bear, which sounded 
  sweet and comforting . . . but just wait.
   
  “I shall name him Pinky Jones.”
   
   My second origin was “mind breaker.” 
   
  “What’s a mindbreaker?” I asked.
   
  “It means you can pretty much make your oppo-
  nent’s head explode just by thinking about it,” Bart 
  explained.
   
  See? Not so sweet and cuddly anymore.
   
  “And you’re ginormous thanks to both of your ori-
  gins,” Chris Youngs noted. “Just like in real life.”
   
  “Har, har.” That’s so not true. Everyone knows I 
  have a freakishly small head. I wouldn’t mind a little 
  of Pinky’s fluff. Maybe then I could wear headbands.
   
  remember how I said we decorated our depart-
  ment by pulling trash out of dumpsters? Well, that’s 
  not far from how our characters got their equipment. 
  More dice rolls granted my fellow party members gear 
  like generators and fuel, electric blankets, and wrist-
  watches. Pinky got a heavy flashlight and a saxophone. 
   
  “okay, sure,” I said. Tabitha might not be able to 
  work that into her arsenal, but Pinky can make that 
  work. Can’t you just picture him squeezing the stuff-
  ing out of his enemies and then unwinding with a 
  little “Careless Whisper” on his sax? Hey! It’s sup-
  posed to be bizarre and unsettling!
   
  Because Pinky is a giant, he can obviously handle 
  a huge weapon. No dagger or sling shot here. 
   
   “Pinky would like a parking meter,” I said. “or 
  maybe some building scaffolding?”
   
  “Cannon balls?” laura suggested.
   
  Hilary proposed an aquarium filled with bricks.
   
  “Are we talking ranged or melee?” Chris, ever 
  pragmatic, wanted to know. 
   
  “Does that matter?” I asked. “I mean, I’m seriously 
  considering writing oscar Meyer Wienermobile on 
  my character sheet.”
   
  “It matters,” Bart said. “Pinky can have one of each.” 
   
  I kept the Wienermobile for my ranged weapon 
  (he could toss it at someone and retrieve it later, I 
  supposed) and, considering he was a teddy bear 
  and all, I figure he’d probably be comfortable toting 
  around a pillowcase.
  
  84
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  C o N F E S S I o N S  o F  A  F U l l -T I M E  W I z A r D
   
  “Filled with buckwheat,” I explain. “And it’s a 
  really big pillowcase.”
   
  It’s hard not to be inspired when the world is your 
  oyster, even if your world is filled with chaos and radia-
  tion. The rules say heavy melee. The rest is up to you.
   
  “Newton would like a 2-by-4 for his melee weapon,” 
  Chris said. “With nails in it. Big, rusty nails.”
   
  “oooh . . . tetanus! Scary!” Hilary said.
   
  “That’s so ghetto,” I told him. “I be looking for 
  Newton spread eagle on the hood of a cop car tonight.”
   
  Just when we thought we couldn’t add any more 
  layers of absurdity to our characters, Bart doled out 
  seven Alpha and omega cards for each of us. Alpha 
  cards are your mutations and omega cards are 
  technology-based ‘treasure’. You find random items 
  in this game all the time. The Alpha cards offer you 
  the ability to overcharge, meaning if you roll over a 
  ten, something good happens. If you roll under, some-
  thing bad happens. Usually to you. 
   
  “Just like Pandora’s box on Big Brother,” I mused.
   
  “Just like Pandora’s box in real life,” Chris 
  countered.
   
  (I won’t bore you with the details of our twenty-
  minute debate about Big Brother being real life. Duh, 
  Chris. It’s called reality television.)
   
  When we finally got to the meat of the encounter, 
  we discovered it wa pork. As in pigs. 
   
  “Pigs in Space!” we shouted.
   
  “No,” Bart said. “It’s pigs in leather.”
   
  Good, because I couldn’t imagine hitting 
  Miss Piggy upside the head with my seed-stuffed 
  pillowcase.
   
  “oh, and they have friends.” Bart placed three bad-
  ders on the playmat. Badders are just what you might 
  assume—mutated, evil badgers.
   
  The badders and the porkers (seriously?) had 
  attacked a convoy and were busy looting the over-
  turned vehicle. 
   
  “You suspect the truck is filled, or at least was 
  filled, with loot,” Bart told us.
   
  “Cookies?” Chris asked. Apparently Newton was 
  obsessed with cookies. likely the result of a mutation.
   
  on Pinky’s turn, he used brickbat, one of his giant 
  novice powers. It’s a close burst. He spun around 
  in a circle with his pillowcase and socked a badder, 
  knocking it prone.
   
  “Nice one, Pinky!” laura said. Her robotic rat 
  swarm, Nibbles, did a number on one of the porkers. 
  Is it too soon to say we’re good at Gamma World? 
  Because I thought we were kicking pork butt.
   
  like crows, those badders held grudges and didn’t 
  take it well when you hurt one of their own. one of 
  them shot Pinky with a rifle and dealt a whooping 
  twelve points of damage. I only had six left.
   
  “Whoa!” I shouted. “A badger can deal that kind of 
  damage? It’s a small, burrowing mammal. I’m a giant!”
   
  “It’s a badder,” Chris said. “That’s much different 
  from a badger.”
   
  “or maybe they mean badger, as in a person from 
  Wisconsin,” Hilary said. “Those long winters can get 
  to you.”
   
  Whatever it was, it didn’t back down and neither 
  did those porkers. Hilary used her cockroach novice 
  power, eau du roach, and barfed an acid marinade on 
  one and knocked it back a square. It was a solid move, 
  but poor Hilary looked mortified. I’ve never even 
  heard her sneeze.
   
  Mortification paid off, because Hilary killed the 
  porker and got to loot his possessions. In this case, it 
  was a dog.
   
  “I’ll take it,” she casually said. 
   
  Pinky was pissed. He wanted a dog!
   
  rather than psychically assault Sassafrass, Pinky 
  funneled his anger into the remaining porker and 
  hurled it into a pond of green ooze. He sank like a . . . . 
  well, like an acid-blasted, mutated pig in leather. 
   
  “I hope he didn’t have anything of value in that 
  leather suit,” Chris said. 
   
  “You want to go after him and check?” I answered, 
  flexing my biceps. or rather Pinky’s. or . . . what? 
   
  The encounter lasted longer than our allocated 
  time, but nobody cared, so we continued. We even-
  tually killed the badders and the porkers and got 
  some good loot in the process. (Pinky now has a 
  healing potion and a grenade, both of which he’d 
  trade for a dog.)
   
   I swiped Bart’s rulebook and brought it home. 
  That night I created a few more characters. Then a 
  few more in the morning. Then a handful at work the 
  next day. A telekinetic plant. A yeti speedster. A feli-
  noid hawkoid. I can’t stop creating characters! I feel 
  like those batty parents on television with nineteen 
  kids. Maybe someone will give me and my mutant 
  brood a reality TV show.
   
  As I got up from my desk, I heard laura yelp.
   
  “oh my god, Shelly!” she screamed. “Is that a rac-
  coon tail on your pants?”
   
   oh dear. looks like I need to get back to Gamma 
  Terra immediately.
  About the Author
  Shelly Mazzanoble dressed up as a mutant raccoon for 
  Halloween 2005. A few hours later in kickboxing class, 
  Bart Carroll kicked her so hard in the face that he wiped 
  her raccoon nose right off.
  
  D
  D & D  A l U M N I
  85
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  by Bart Carroll
  When it came to deciding topics, we’ve had a fortu-
  itous conflux this month. In his editorial, Steve Winter 
  announced the return of Unearthed Arcana; for those 
  not familiar, Unearthed Arcana was the 1985 AD&D® 
  supplement whose purpose (according to Gary Gygax 
  in the foreword) was to bring new dimensions to the 
  game. Added material included new spells, magic 
  items, and gear; new, formerly monstrous subraces 
  to play: the gray dwarf (duergar), dark elf (drow), and 
  deep gnome (svirfneblin); and new classes: the barbar-
  ian, thief-acrobat, and cavalier (all three of which, not 
  coincidentally, were featured in the Saturday morning 
  Dungeons & Dragons® cartoon).
   
  Today, Unearthed Arcana would in all likelihood 
  have been called Player’s Handbook 2. Yet 
  much of its material came 
  from Dragon 
  magazine, and for 
  whatever reason, 
  this material 
  retained an aura of 
  “optional” for many 
  gamers. As Steve 
  wrote, the return of 
  Unearthed Arcana to 
  the magazine means 
  a return of optional 
  rules to include in your 
  game . . . if you wish.
   
  Added to that, this month also sees the release 
  of Player Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands, which 
  brings new builds for core classes to the game. Among 
  them is the knight build for the fighter.
   
  In this installment of D&D Alumni, we wanted 
  to look back at the history of the knight in the game, 
  including its closest precursors: the paladin and 
  cavalier.
  unearthed arcana
  tHe first knigHt 
  (minus riCHard gere)
  In the original Men & Magic supplement for the game, 
  classes were limited to fighting-men, magic-users, 
  and clerics—generic terms and without embellishing 
  descriptions except for their mechanics. Fighting-
  men could rise to the level of “lord” and build castles, 
  and with the game rules themselves formulated by 
  Gygax’s Castle and Crusade Society (along with rob 
  
  D & D  A l U M N I
  86
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  Kuntz and Dave Arneson), they had all the trappings 
  of the medieval knight, without ever calling it such.
   
  For a game with its roots in historical miniature 
  warfare, as well as for its fantasy tropes, the term 
  “knight” should have made perfect sense. Then again, 
  the designers also wanted sword-and-sorcery ele-
  ments, so with three main classes to start, “knight” 
  might have been too specific of a choice of medieval 
  terminology for general use (although, it must be 
  noted, knighthood did exist in Gygax’s Greyhawk 
  campaign). “Fighting-man” it would have to be.
   
  With the 1st Edition Player’s Handbook, the fight-
  ing-man (now just “fighter”) remained fairly generic, 
  more so than any other class; if the game’s influences 
  included medieval men-at-arms as well as pulp fan-
  tasy adventurers, a fighter could be styled easily by 
  his or her player as either.
   
  A fighter/cleric hybrid, the 1st Edition paladin 
  conveyed far more specific flavor in its description 
  and abilities. Although closer to a true knight, the 
  paladin went a step further, becoming something 
  of a mystical, holy warrior (as much Jedi knight as 
  knight). Special to the paladins were their powerful 
  defenses, holy swords, and warhorses—not to men-
  tion their code of conduct, including a pseudo-vow of 
  poverty . . . if being limited to ten magic items and 
  retaining enough wealth to construct a small castle 
  could be considered frugal. “law and good deeds are 
  the meat and drink of paladins,” the Player’s Handbook 
  said, leading to the famous conundrum for the class 
  (and odd calls to Customer Service): If the paladin 
  knowingly committed an evil act, the paladin lost all 
  benefits forever.
   
  But more on that later.
  in rides tHe Cavalier
  An even closer approximation to a historical knight 
  came with the cavalier. originally introduced by 
  Gygax in Dragon #72 (April 1983), the cavalier reap-
  peared in Unearthed Arcana where it took its noble 
  place, not as subclass of fighter, but as its own class 
  (with the paladin now subclass to the cavalier). The 
  magazine description went so far as to state “. . . the 
  cavalier class . . . is predicated upon knighthood 
  and chivalry.”
   
  Compared to the mere fighter, the cavalier class 
  was superior. Vastly superior. Cavaliers enjoyed 
  combat bonuses with their preferred weapons, accel-
  erated advancement in attacks/round, and immunity 
  to fear plus high defenses against other mental 
  attacks. They remained conscious at negative hit 
  points. They could parry in lieu of attacking (subtract-
  ing their bonuses to hit against the attacker’s roll) 
  with their weapon and/or shield. The cavalier simply 
  fought better than the fighter; the fighter was merely 
  the basic foundation.
   
  In keeping with the optional or experimental 
  feel of Unearthed Arcana, the cavaliers also featured 
  new class concepts. Certain cavaliers (of lower rank) 
  started at level 0 and worked their way up to 1st 
  (which made an excellent story hook for hirelings 
  in the party). Each level, cavaliers also naturally 
  progressed in Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution—
  allowing them to reach the vaunted pinnacle of “18” 
  in those scores, even if otherwise prohibited by racial 
  limitations . . . or by being a woman. Yes, back in 
  1st Edition, female characters had ceilings to their 
  Strength scores.
  
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  And in keeping with the flavor of medieval knights, 
  the cavalier excelled at horsemanship and eschewed 
  lesser protection (regardless of any magic bonuses) in 
  their quest for the best armor: the new “superweap-
  ons” known as field and full plate. “leather, studded 
  leather, and padded armor are the dress of thieves and 
  peasants,” the cavalier felt, his nose in the air, “and as 
  such are beneath the cavalier’s station, such that the 
  cavalier will not wear these armor types.”
  tHe diffiCulties of 
  Being a CHamPion 
  of virtue
  “In my time as a DM,” roger E. Moore wrote in 
  Dragon #51 (“It’s Not Easy Being Good”), “I’ve 
  removed three or four Paladinhoods, encouraged two 
  to retirement, and even removed one Anti-Paladin 
  from his status for committing a good act.”
   
  If a balancing of the 
  paladins’ and cavaliers’ 
  superior fighting skills 
  was meant to be (aside 
  from the experience 
  points required for 
  them to gain levels, 
  back in the days 
  when different 
  classes advanced 
  at  different 
  rates), it came 
  in their strict, 
  proto-chivalric 
  codes of conduct. “There is a 
  custom-made T-shirt in my closet that depicts a red 
  Dragon,  clutching a full stomach and in some dis-
  tress, with the caption ‘Paladins Cause Heartburn,’” 
  roger wrote. “This phrase has more meaning for me 
  as a Dungeon Master and as a player in AD&D games 
  than just as a sight gag. In my three years of gaming, it 
  has been a rare thing to see a properly characterized 
  Paladin, or even one that’s done at least reasonably 
  right most of the time. Unlike other character classes 
  in AD&D games, the restrictions on the Paladin class 
  give it a wealth of special problems in play.”
   
  later in the issue (which also interpreted a pala-
  din’s immunity to disease as proof against green 
  slime—something I’d never considered), robert J. 
  Bezold contributed a model code of conduct, based on 
  11th century medieval crusaders. It went like this:
  1. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches 
  and shalt obey all her commandments.
  2. Thou shalt defend the Church.
  3. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses and shalt  
  constitute thyself the defender of them.
  4. Thou shalt love the country in which thou  
  wast born.
  5. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
  6. Thou shalt make war against the infidel without 
  cessation and without mercy.
  7. Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal 
  duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God.
  8. Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful  
  to thy pledged word.
  9. Thou shalt be generous and give largesse  
  to everyone.
  10. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the  
  champion of the right and the Good against 
  Injustice and Evil.
  reimagined for the magazine’s cavalier, the code of 
  chivalry could be summed up as follows:
  1. Noble service willingly rendered.
  2. Defense of any charge unto death.
  3. Courage and enterprise in obedience to rule.
  4. respect for all peers.
  5. Honor to all above your station.
  6. Military prowess exercised in service  
  to your lord.
  7. Courtesy to all ladies.
  8. War is the flowering of chivalry.
  9. Battle is the test of manhood.
  10. Combat is glory.
  11. Personal glory above all in battle.
  12. obedience and respect from all beneath  
  your station.
  13. Scorn for those who are lowly and ignoble.
  14. Death to all who oppose the cause.
  15. Death before dishonor.
  Expanded in Unearthed Arcana, as a result of the code 
  and desire for battle, cavaliers cannot be controlled in 
  battle situations (don’t even try to control them!). They 
  would charge any enemy in sight, with the following 
  order of preference:
  1. Powerful monsters (dragons, demons, giants, 
  etc.) serving enemy leaders, then the leaders 
  themselves
  2. opponent cavaliers of great renown, enemy flags 
  and standards
  3. opponent cavalry of noble or elite status
  4. other opponent cavalry
  5. opponent elite footmen
  6. opponent camp and headquarters
  7. opponent melee troops
  8. levies or peasants
  
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  To editorialize briefly, fundamental challenges 
  existed while playing a paladin or cavalier. For 
  starters, a class that can be demoted or fired for not 
  following a subjective code of conduct causes obvious 
  tension between a player and his or her DM. That 
  said, the player and DM can meet this challenge.
   
  However, the benefits of a paladin’s warhorse and 
  the cavalier’s horsemanship have often struck me 
  as more problematic. Dungeons & Dragons, in my 
  experiences, far more often concerns the exploration 
  of, well, dungeons—not to mention temples, towers, 
  ruins, and occasional jaunts around cities. In a game 
  of dungeon exploration, a mounted knight has issues. 
  Is the horse turned away at the entrance, like Bill the 
  Pony outside the Mines of Moria? Is it forced into the 
  dungeon (which calls to mind an old Sage Advice 
  question about how one’s centaur character could 
  possibly climb a ladder)? Aside from bragging rights, 
  what good is having a pegasus or griffon if not all the 
  party also has some means to fly (even the DC Super 
  Friends had the same issue)?
   
  For the cavalier, which excels at riding and the 
  lance, this seemingly limits their full use of powers. 
  How often did they have the opportunity to charge 
  across open ground at opponent cavaliers and at 
  enemy camps or headquarters? I’d guess the answer 
  is rarely—unless the DM was catering his or her 
  adventures to the cavalier. (I take similar issue with 
  the 1st Edition assassin’s spying abilities, as much as 
  I otherwise love the class; how often could it be used 
  without disenfranchising the rest of the table?)
   
  A powerful but limited role, the cavalier made 
  better sense in a campaign where players kept a 
  stable of characters (or character trees, from our Dark 
  Sun Alumni article), then were brought out in their 
  full, shining glory whenever the mission called for 
  their expertise.
   
  But again, that’s just me editorializing.
  additional 
  exPressions
  By 2nd Edition, the warrior classes encompassed the 
  fighter (described as an “an expert in weapons and, 
  if he is clever, tactics and strategy,” with examples 
  including Hercules, Perseus, Beowulf, and Sinbad) 
  and the paladin (“a noble and heroic warrior, the 
  symbol of all that is right and true in the world,” with 
  examples being roland and Sir lancelot).
   
  Again, neither was outright described as a knight, 
  and the 2nd Edition cavalier would have to wait until 
  the Complete Fighter’s Handbook (along with the bar-
  barian, as well as gladiators, pirates, and samurai). 
  Even then, the cavalier was now no longer a class or 
  a subclass, but it was relegated to a kit for “. . . a 
  paladin who wants to look every inch the shining 
  knight.” At least the kit started with a free horse; later 
  supplements on the crusades, fortresses, and even 
  Charlemagne would add further material.
   
  With 3rd Edition, the game literally exploded 
  with officially named knights. Starting in the Player’s 
  Handbook, a fighter came to be described as “. . . the 
  questing knight, the conquering overlord, the king’s 
  champion, the elite foot soldier, the hardened merce-
  nary, and the bandit king—all are fighters.” The term 
  had at last entered the fighter’s description; a knight 
  was a fighter, but not all fighters were knights.
   
  The 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook 2 then brought 
  the official knight class, which could issue a knight’s 
  challenge (a precursor to marking). When it came 
  to prestige classes, a good several dozen also had 
  “knight” in the name: platinum knights, Purple 
  Dragon knights, knights of the Silverymoon; not to 
  mention knights of the lily, the rose, the skull, the 
  crown, the chalice . . . the list goes on.
   
  Although the game did not use the term “knight” 
  early on, whether reticence for its historical context 
  or simply because the paladin and cavalier already 
  occupied that role, knights clearly returned later in 
  force. And why not? As questing adventurers, good in 
  purpose, and donned in armor—could there be any 
  better word?
  final tHougHts
  of course there remain still other expressions of 
  knights in the game we haven’t even mentioned, 
  such as Fiend Folio’s death knights—and as long as 
  there have been knights, there have also been black 
  knights, blackguards, and anti-paladins to oppose 
  them.
   
  We’ll end with one final code of conduct, this one 
  from the Complete Fighter’s Handbook for the cavalier:
  F He must cheerfully perform any noble service or 
  quest asked of him;
  F he must defend, to the death, any person or item 
  placed in his charge;
  F he must show courage and enterprise when obey-
  ing his rulers;
  F he must show respect for all peers and equals;
  F he must honor all those above his station (his 
  social class): he must demand respect and obedi-
  ence from those below his station;
  
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  F he must scorn those who are lowly and ignoble 
  (he will not help the ill-mannered, the coarse, the 
  crude; he will not use equipment which is badly-
  made or inferior; he will fight on foot before riding 
  a nag; etc.);
  F he must perform military service to his lord when-
  ever asked; he must show courtesy to all ladies (if 
  the cavalier is male);
  F he must regard war as the flowering of chivalry, 
  and a noble enterprise;
  F he must regard battle as the test of manhood, and 
  combat as glory;
  F he must achieve personal glory in battle;
  F he must slay all those who oppose his cause;
  F and he must choose death before dishonor.
  When I wrote about pirates of the Astral Sea, I 
  wondered about alternative pirate codes. I suppose 
  that in the game’s arenas (especially with Dark Sun 
  released), a D&D-tailored version of the Marquess of 
  Queensberry rules for boxing and sport might exist. 
  So we’ve seen various codes of conduct and chivalry 
  throughout the editions, but it strikes me as odd that 
  there should be one assumed code for all “knights” 
  (including paladins and cavaliers) for the entire 
  game world(s).
   
  My challenge to you, the reader, is to come up with 
  alternative codes of conduct for the latest inception of 
  the knight. How might such a code look, depending 
  on the knight’s race? His or her alignment? Deity? 
  Campaign world? A combination of these factors?
   
  If you were to play a knight, what code of conduct 
  would you write for your hero to follow?
  About the Author
  Bart joined Wizards of the Coast in the spring of 2004. origi-
  nally producing their licensed property websites (including 
  Star Wars and G.I. Joe), he transitioned to the D&D website, 
  where he’s remained part of the D&D Insider Team. In this 
  role, he primarily generates website content in support of 
  the 4th Edition line of products, online magazines, and the 
  gamer lifestyle—of which he is an extremely proud adherent. 
  
  D & D  P l A Y  r E P o r T
  By	CHris	tulaCH
  90
  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  W
  summer shows  
  and gamma world
  Well, the summer went racing by here at Wizards 
  organized Play. Another excellent convention season 
  for D&D—although that term is starting to lose its 
  meaning, as the big gaming shows are being spread 
  throughout the year more and more. But two big 
  ones—Gen Con Indy and PAX Prime—just concluded 
  in the past month, and I’d like to take a little time this 
  month to give them a proper wrap-up. 
   
  on the Wizards Play Network side, we’ll talk 
  Gamma World Game Day (right around the corner 
  on october 23rd). D&D Encounters: Keep on the 
  Borderlands has just begun, so I’ll give that a nod by 
  answering a burning question regarding Dragon play 
  content for use in the season. 
  Gen Con Indy 2010
  Gen Con Indy on the first full weekend of August 
  was huge for D&D again this year. We had more 
  players in the Sagamore Ballroom than last year, and 
  for the first time in many, many years, all editions of 
  D&D had a place in one room. The booth, with its 
  live-action play experience was a hit, and nostalgia 
  displays were on hand outside the gaming hall. 
   
  larry Elmore, one of the most iconic D&D art-
  ists (and illustrator of the famous “red Box” cover) 
  was one of our featured guests, and our new version 
  of the “red Box” was on display for all to see with a 
  giant interactive cover piece. Attendees could don the 
  fighter’s regalia, including his sword, shield, and furry 
  horned helmet to fight the red dragon statue leaping 
  out from the box cover! 
   
  Inside the Sagamore Ballroom, the gaming hall 
  was filled with players participating in a wide variety 
  of D&D games. on the 4th Edition front, we had a 
  smash hit with Glory and Blood: Dark Sun Arenas, a 
  multi-game challenge wherein you’d create a 1st-level 
  Dark Sun character and fight your way through the 
  seven arenas of the city-states of Athas. In addition, 
  our D&D Championship event was incredibly well 
  received, earning high praise for both the format and 
  the theme. This year, we presented the first Epic-
  tier organized play event for the championship, as 
  the players competed as teams to reach 30th level 
  and the final battle against orcus! living Forgotten 
  realms kept almost half the hall filled with gamers, 
  many of which were really digging our return to the 
  living City in the multi-adventure mini-campaign 
  called Return to Ravens Bluff. 
   
  We also filled the hall with players of other edi-
  tions of D&D—DMs who scheduled events at the 
  show were invited to run their games in the hall with 
  the rest of the D&D players. We had everything from 
  “White Box” original D&D games to 3.5 Edition 
  going on all weekend long in the hall. All D&D play-
  ers were able to game with us in the Sagamore—an 
  assembly that had not been seen since the days of 
  Gen Con back in Milwaukee years ago. It ran so well 
  that we’re definitely looking at doing it again next 
  year. After all, if you’re passionate about your favorite 
  version of D&D, you can share that with all the other 
  fans in the same room! 
   
  of course, no talk of Gen Con Indy and D&D 
  would be complete without mention of the run-
  away hit of the show—Castle Ravenloft. The first 
  board game in our line of cooperative games for 
  1-5 players, hundreds of folks took a spin through 
  the haunted halls and dangerous corridors to get 
  a sneak peek on the game. I was asked countless 
  times where to buy it, and as it didn’t release until 
  later in the month, everyone was chomping at the 
  bit to play more. By now, it’s on the store shelves, but 
  it’s flying off quick, so get yours soon if you haven’t 
  yet. You can pick up additional adventures for it on 
  the Wizards site, too!
  
  D & D  P l A Y  r E P o r T
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  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  PAX Prime 2010
  At PAX Prime, the new Dungeons & Dragons® Fan-
  tasy Roleplaying Game Starter Set had been released to 
  our core hobby stores, and we were scant days away 
  from the first full month of the Essentials line hit-
  ting those same shops. The nostalgia vibe was in full 
  swing, and as the con swelled to a sold-out attendance 
  again this year, we had droves of players participating 
  in many of the events that we ran at Gen Con Indy a 
  few weeks earlier. 
   
  We had a super-cool D&D-wrapped bus parked 
  a couple of blocks away from the show, where we 
  did all kinds of contests and shows all weekend long. 
  Folks could stop by, check out the massive dice, see 
  the well-traveled beholder (he’s been around since 
  the 4th Edition launch), and pick up some sweet 
  nostalgia swag, like t-shirts and old-school-color-in-
  the-numbers dice. 
   
  In the convention center, the highlight event was 
  the reunited Acquisitions, Inc. adventuring company, 
  with Chris Perkins at the DM helm and the return 
  of Wil Wheton’s character, Aeofel. The hall was jam-
  packed with anxious attendees, booked to capacity. 
  The game did not disappoint, and I know that I can’t 
  wait to see the footage when it goes live on our site!
   
  For gaming, we ran many of the events that were 
  popular from Gen Con, but we also brought out a first 
  look at Gamma World with a special adventure enti-
  tled “Pax Extraterrestria.” Players had a hoot creating 
  their own mutants, playing with the Alpha Mutation 
  and omega Tech cards, and attempting to squelch the 
  threat of the returned Earth to the city of “Seat.” The 
  adventure should be available later in october as a 
  convention special through the ordering system. 
  Mutants and Mayhem:  
  D&D Gamma World  
  Game Day!
  on october 23, get ready to experience some weird 
  science fantasy in the blasted remains of Gamma 
  Terra! Grab a friend and celebrate the launch of the 
  new D&D Gamma World Boxed Set. Mutate a brave 
  new hero and be ready to take on just about anything. 
  Experience the return of an old classic in a new play 
  experience using the D&D 4th Edition rules engine. 
  The D&D Gamma World game is a fast, furious romp 
  through a post-apocalyptic Earth where mutant 
  heroes face off against killer robots, alien weirdness, 
  and strange, irradiated creatures. Here’s a description 
  of the adventure:
  gamma World game Day: Trouble in Freesboro
  It’s shocking how the Big Mistake completely obliter-
  ated some places while 
  others got by relatively 
  unscathed. Freesboro 
  falls into the latter camp, 
  but if Genghis Tangh has 
  his way, life will never be 
  the same for the mutants 
  of Gamma Terra. Delve 
  into the origins of the Big 
  Mistake as you take on 
  Tangh and his forces! Pick 
  up a D&D Gamma World 
  Boxed Set, a few booster 
  packs of power cards, and 
  create your own charac-
  ters in an exciting new 
  Game Day experience! 
  A D&D Gamma World 
  Game Day adventure 
  designed for 4-6 charac-
  ters of 1st level.
  An exclusive 4-hour 
  adventure called Trouble 
  in Freesboro, written 
  by robert J. Schwalb, 
  
  D & D  P l A Y  r E P o r T
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  September 2010  |  Dr agon 391
  tm & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.
  includes an online feature to the game which, if 
  accessed during play, can provide the players with a 
  valuable clue. look for more information on this as 
  the event approaches! 
   
  If you’re playing, you’ll pick up two D&D Gamma 
  World booster packs and create your own character 
  at the store on the day of the event. DMs need to 
  have a copy of the D&D Gamma World Boxed Set and 
  the adventure materials, available prior to the event 
  day in the game day kit, to prepare to run the game. 
  In addition to a poster map and the adventure, the 
  game day kit also contains two different D&D Gamma 
  World cards, available nowhere else, and awarded to 
  players and DMs just for participating! If your store 
  isn’t participating yet, make sure to poke them to 
  order their Game Day kits soon! 
  D&D Encounters Questions: 
  Dragon Magazine Options
  The beginning of the newest season of D&D Encoun-
  ters spotlights the Essentials products, as adventurers 
  explore in and around restwell Keep, otherwise 
  known as the Keep on the Borderlands. Players create 
  their own 1st-level character using the Heroes of the 
  Fallen Lands book (and with the start of Chapter 3, 
  they can add Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms), but 
  we’ve had a very legitimate question arise with the 
  Essentials-supported articles in Dragon Magazine.
  What content from Dragon Magazine is legal for 
  D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands?
  Any content that directly supports the Essentials 
  products is oK for players to use to create their char-
  acter. So, if an article gives mage-specific options 
  or introduces a new Essentials-style class, it’s oK to 
  create a character with those options.
  It is the intent that for each season of D&D Encoun-
  ters, we’ll allow players to use the two Essentials 
  books for character creation, plus one or two other 
  products that we want to spotlight for the season, 
  plus all accompanying Dragon Magazine content 
  that supports those products. I call this Essentials+ 
  character creation, which is designed to keep the 
  amount of rules content useable at an accessible 
  level for new players while spotlighting new content 
  for existing players. 
   
  See you next time!
  About the Author
  originally thought to have been raised from a humble Mid-
  western family, Chris Tulach actually fell to Earth in a 
  meteorite-shaped capsule flung from a planet far outside our 
  galaxy. While under the yellow rays of Sol, Chris’s nerdity 
  far surpasses that of any normal human. Using this precious 
  gift only for good, he has become the D&D organized Play 
  Content Developer, responsible for the development and 
  deployment of Dungeons & Dragons organized play pro-
  grams. He is also the co-author of E2, Kingdom of the Ghouls.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/D&D 4th Edition/Dragon/Dragon_391.pdf