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Book Reviews

Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 3)

Psionics. I’ll admit that over the years I’ve never been a huge fan of psionics in D&D. I cringed when Wizards announced that PHB3 would introduce psionic powered character classes to 4e D&D. My initial (and completely uninformed) opinion on the matter was that psionics suck. However, over the past few months as preview material was released through DDI, I got a chance to see some of these new psionic classes first hand. I’ll admit that the preview content started bringing me around on psionics. Now that I’ve actually got a PHB3 with the full builds for each of the new psionic classes I find myself completely turned around on psionics.

In our Player’s Handbook 3 Review (Part 1) we covered the new races and the new divine leader class, the Runepriest. In Player’s Handbook 3 Review (Part 2) we covered skill powers, feats and new magic items. In today’s article we’ll look at psionics.

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Categories
Class Discussions Editorial

Is More Really Better: A Look At Character Classes

I’m all about options, I love to have a multitude of choices, doing the research and then selecting the best fit for the vision of my character. These choices don’t just include the feats and powers I select for my PC, in fact the decisions start the moment I open up the Character Builder. I’m first confronted with the choice of what class to play, followed by race and so on. While these two early choices may seem simple, they are anything but. They will serve to represent your character as much or more than any other choice you make.

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Book Reviews

Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 2)

In our Player’s Handbook 3 Review (Part 1) we looked at the new Shardmind race and one of the new classes, the Runepriest. Today in our PHB3 Review (Part 2) we’re looking at skill powers, feats, superior implements and new magic items. In our PHB3 Review (Part 3) we’ll delve into a detailed look at the psionic classes.

Here’s a quick recap of the new races and classes available in the PHB3.

New Races

  • Githzerai
  • Minotaur
  • Shardmind
  • Wilden

New Classes

There are also complete rules for building Hybrid characters of all classes (including all six new classes introduced in the PHB3).

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Categories
Book Reviews

Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 1)

You may think that you know what the Player’s Handbook 3 is all about if you’ve got a DDI subscription, but the preview content was just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re a DDI subscribers who’s considering passing on the PHB3, think again. This is one of the coolest 4e D&D books that’s come out so far.

The PHB3 comes out next week on Tuesday, March 16, but for those of us living in the Greater Toronto Area it came out this past Friday. I visited three gaming stores and a major book selling chain and they all had it proudly displayed for sale. I don’t know if this complete disregard for the street date is limited to my area or if this is the case across the board. All I know is that I was fortunate enough to get my copy of the PHB3 Friday and I haven’t put it down since.

I took some flack for my Martial Power 2 review last month. Some readers didn’t think I spent enough time giving my opinion. With my review of the PHB3 I’m going to listen to the readers and do more than just tell you what’s in the book. But given the amount of material in the PHB3 it’s going to take more than one article to cover everything. So as seems fitting, I’m going to break my review of the PHB 3 into three parts. Today we’ll look at the new races and one of the new classes – the Runepriest.

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Editorial

The Evolution of the Dungeon Encounter

“Hey what dat noise?”

“What noise dat you talk’n bout Oloorin?”

“Sounds like fight’n, maybe we go see?”

“Wha you talk’n bout? We have important job, we guard chest in 10 x 10 room. We stay put.”

“Uh… ok, if you say. What we do if someone come through dat door?”

“Probably we die. Dat da life of two orcs guarding chest in room.”

Sound familiar? Ok, maybe I’ve gone a bit too far with some stereotypes, but how many DMs have designed a dungeon that had a room with a few monster that just waited for the door to open?

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Editorial

Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover (Part 2)

This morning Ameron shared his thoughts on the new monster makeover Wizards announced yesterday. I’ve looked at the new format and thought a lot about it myself. Here are my initial impressions, with a little background to justify my thoughts.

I’m a secondary school teacher. My main “teachables” are math and computer studies. One of the computer courses I teach deals in part with the design and layout of graphics in order to more effectively convey a message or disseminate important information. It is amazing what a simple rearrangement and regrouping can do in this regard. With this in mind I must say that the DM in me has a good feeling about the upcoming changes to the monster stat blocks.

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Categories
Editorial

Wizards Delivers a Killer Monster Makeover

Keep the design simple, make the layout easy to follow and eliminate guess work. This is good advice if you’re designing a website or improving the Monster Manual. Yes, the masterminds at Wizards of the Coast have improved the Monster Manual. We’re not just talking about the release of new monsters, we’re talking about redesigned monster stat blocks.

In Bill Slavicsek’s latest Ampersand article Beyond Essentials … (release online yesterday to DDI subscribers) from Dragon#385, he debuted the forthcoming changes to monster stat blocks in 4e D&D. “We’ve reorganized the information to make it easier to use and so that you can immediately find the details you need to run the monsters.”

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Categories
Player Resources

The Goliath, A Giant Waste

Me Smash! You go crush! Me smash, you crush!

I’ll admit these were my initial thoughts on the Goliath and things haven’t changed much. Perhaps my stereotypes aren’t fair or justified, but that’s ok because they’re mine. I don’t like the Goliath for a number of reasons, however I wanted to give this giant of a race a fair shot. So here is my take on them, my perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses. You may also want to see my thoughts on Dwarves (the best race) and Tieflings.

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Eberron

Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 6)

The Dragonmarked Houses try to keep some secrets of Eberron from being revealed. In this installment we focus on the best kept secret in Khorvaire – true Dragonmarks manifesting outside of the normal racial boundaries. Power and fortunes hang in the balance if Dragonmarks loose their exclusivity to a particular house or race.

In The Gorgon Returns members of House Cannith are shocked to learn that their house patriarch, Starrin d’Cannith, may not have died on the Day of Mourning. The Dragon’s Teeth act on orders from the Dragonmarked Houses to track down anyone manifesting a true Dragonmark outside of recognized bloodlines.

Click on the Eberron tab above the Dungeon’s Master banner to find the previous installments in this ongoing series as well as many other great Eberron articles and resources.

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Categories
Month in Review

Month in Review: February 2010

February was month of milestones at Dungeon’s Master. On February 1, Dungeon’s Master celebrated its 1-year anniversary. To mark the occasion we posted the State Of The Dungeon – 1 Year Later and shared some details about how we’re doing after our first year. We’d like to thank all of the readers who have visited us during the past year. Your continued support and comments keep us motivated and let us know we’re on the right track.

Also in February Dungeon’s Master hit its 300th post. To celebrate this milestone, Ameron and Wimwick each took a stab at Creating King Leonidas (from the movie 300) as a level 16 PC. And to make the month even better we got another shout out from Wizards of the Coast on February 18 in their February News and Reviews. Check out all of the Dungeon’s Master highlights from February below.

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