Dragon #378 (4e).pdf

ISSUE 378 | AUgUSt 2009

A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ® ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT

CONTENTS

F e at u r e s

Pl ay er’ s H a n dbo ok 3 Debu t: Githzer ai

By Robert J. Schwalb

Complete with staff commentary, this is the second in our Player’s Handbook 3 debut series. This time, we’re

presenting one of the races from PH3 : the githzerai.

12 Dom ains oF Dr e aD : monaDhan

By Daniel Marthaler

Arantor, condemned undead dragon, rules this realm of betrayal with a tyrant’s claw.

Learn about Monadhan, the domain filled with the most fearsome betrayers in existence

… including the legendary Kas!

25 Dom ains oF eber ron anD the ForGot ten r e al ms

By Logan Bonner

Divine Power introduced the concept of domains. Now get all the information you need

for domains for deities of Eberron and the Realms.

39 FiGhter essential s

By Robert J. Schwalb

This first article in an ongoing series for all classes introduces some character creation

and tactical basics for character classes. Plus, this installment features new content for

the tempest and battle rager fighters, the new builds featured in Martial Power .

51 ba z a ar oF the biz ar r e: items oF Pr im al Power

By Kolja Raven Liquette

These new primal-themed magic items are suitable for many classes, but they’re

especially great for your barbarian, shaman, druid, or warden.

60 Channel Divinit y: baha mu t

By Robert J. Schwalb

A new series premieres with support for worshipers of

the Platinum Dragon. A player’s companion article to

“Deities & Demigods: Bahamut.”

Co l u m n s

70 Deities & DemiGoDs: baha mut

By Robert J. Schwalb

Everything DMs need to know about the worshipers

and advocates for Bahamut, ready and waiting to be

dropped into your campaign.

4 eDi tor i a l

96 De s iG n & De v eloPm en t: i t em s e t s

By Logan Bonner and Peter Schaefer

This month, we get a look at the creation of item

sets from Adventurer’s Vault 2 .

99 Con Fe ss ion s oF a F u l l-t i m e w i z a r D

By Shelly Mazzanoble

D&D’s “Player-in-Chief ” shares more of her

wisdom and insight.

104 r P G a r ePort

By Chris Tulach

The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn

more about how to get involved!

107 a m Per sa n D

By Bill Slavicsek

Bill discusses more of the changes in store for

D&D in 2009.

79 Pl ayinG Githzer ai

By Chris Sims

This in-depth article dives deep into this months’

Player’s Handbook 3 debut content, expanding on the

race with more information on githzerai culture, new

racial feats, and more!

88 e x Plor e air sPur , Part 2

By Brian Cortijo

Our exploration of Airspur continues as we explore

some of the major villains and antagonists your

characters might encounter in the city.

on t h e Cov er

Illustration by Matt Stawicki

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com/dnd

JUST THE

E D i T O R i A L

378

Dragon

A u g u s t 2 0 0 9

FACTS, MA’AM

Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs

Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette

Web Specialist Chris Sims

i experienced what might be my favorite D&D moment of

all time a few weeks ago. Chris Perkins’ Wednesday night

game is a world of small islands and large oceans, and our

low-paragon group has just acquired our first ship. We rou-

tinely have sessions in which we don’t roll a single die, and

one such session a few weeks back involved us attempting

to hire a crew. Chris informed us, through an NPC ally, that

the secret to a happy crew was a good ship’s cook. When all

was said and done, we managed to successfully hire the best

cook in the city through a series of roleplaying encounters,

wrangling him away from the service of another captain. As

negotiations wrapped up, i happily leaned back in my chair

and announced my satisfaction at finally hiring my own

personal chef -- even if he was only around to make me mid-

night snacks in game. What a night!

your next 4th Edition session and show them firsthand the

roleplaying opportunities available in the game.

Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter

Fourth edition doesn’t include some of the mundane

mechanical elements of character building that 3rd Edition

did. For example, certain skills (i’m looking at you Craft and

Profession) enabled a player to feel like his character had

some sort of grounding in the “real world” of the campaign.

Odds were good that you never made a Craft or Profession

check in your game, but having ranks in that skill made

you feel connected to your character’s background. in 4th

Edition, those skills are gone. Why? Because we feel like a

character’s statistics don’t represent the absolute truth of a

character’s story. That’s right -- the reason those skills (and

other such elements from other editions) are gone is that we

felt they hindered roleplaying.

Now if you want to say your character was a blacksmith’s

apprentice and knows how to make his own sword, just say

so. Don’t worry about feeling forced to ref lect that story

decision mechanically. Just write it on your character sheet.

Liberating, isn’t it?

Then you’ve got skill challenges. While they do include

mechanical elements, they provide a structure that DMs can

use to navigate complex non-combat situations. Most impor-

tantly, this is the first time the game has given DMs an easy

way to reward characters for their participation. in other

words, 4th Edition includes incentives to incorporate role-

playing (and other non-combat) situations into your game.

Graphic Design Keven Smith

Contributing Authors Logan Bonner, Brian Cortijo,

Kolja Raven Liquette, Daniel

Marthaler, Shelly Mazzanoble,

Peter Schaefer, Robert J. Schwalb,

Chris Sims, Bill Slavicsek,

Chris Tulach

Developers Stephen Radney-MacFarland,

Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert,

Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson

So what’s the point here? Well, if you’re reading this,

odds are good that you’re a 4th Edition D&D player. if you

are, odds are also good that you know folks who play other

editions. And if you know folks who play other editions,

odds are especially good that you’ve heard the complaint i’m

about to address.

Before we go any further, let me say one thing: i don’t

mind if you’re playing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Edition. if you’re

having a great time and your campaign is fun, keep doing

what you’re doing. We love it that you’re playing D&D -- any

D&D! Personally, i wouldn’t trade my 3rd Edition campaign

memories for anything. if you’re playing another edition

because you’re having fun, i’d say you’re doing so for the

right reason. Gaming should be about fun first and foremost,

after all! That said, as a true believer in the current edition,

i certainly hope all D&D players give 4th Edition a try at

some point.

Editors Jeremy Crawford, Miranda Horner

Cover Artist Matt Stawicki

Contributing Artists Steve Belledin, Leonardo Borazio,

Empty Room Studios, Chad King,

Michael Komarck, Jorge Lacera,

Warren Mahy, Kiriko Moth,

William O’Connor, Eric L. Williams

Cartographers Sean Macdonald

Beyond character background or skill challenges, this

complaint makes the least sense to me because in every RPG

i’ve played over the past twenty years and more, roleplaying

was ultimately a result of the narrative brought to the table

by the DM and players, not something provided by rules.

That’s the beauty of roleplaying, after all! D&D has always

been a game of heroic fantasy, and there’s nothing about

those two words that requires rules of any sort.

i honestly hope that most 4th Edition players don’t

encounter this level of antagonism often. i also hope none of

us stoop to taking potshots at the games other people play.

This hobby is supposed to be fun, so even if you’re tempted

to rise to the bait of a hater , remember what Thumper said-

ear it at dndinsider@wizards.com . if we get some good ones,

we’ll share them with the rest of our readers. We want to

hear from you!

Web Development Mark A. Jindra

D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins

Executive Producer,

Anyway, if you’re like me, you’ve likely heard some

unfounded criticisms about 4E and been frustrated by them.

A lot of misconceptions still f loat around in cyberspace,

often spread by people who haven’t even played the game.

But i want to address one of the strangest here:

All roleplaying has been removed from D&D with 4th

Edition.

if you’re here on D&D Insider, i’ll bet you’ve heard

this before. The first time you heard it, you might have

responded the same way i did: with confusion.

D&D Insider Ken Troop

Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek

Special Thanks

Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter,

Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Torah Cottrill,

Jeremy Crawford, Mike Donais, Rob Heinsoo, Nina Hess, Peter Lee,

Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal Moore, Stephen Radney-MacFarland,

Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett,

Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt

The next time you hear this myth bantered around, feel

free to direct people here. Better yet, invite these folks to

GITHZERAI

Design by Robert J. Schwalb

This month’s Player’s Handbook 3 debut content is the

githzerai, one of four races to be featured in that book.

In addition to the full race entry, this article

presents a brand-new githzerai paragon path—the

vengeance warrior known as the rrathmal —as well as

several racial feats for your githzerai character.

All of this content comes directly from the pages

of next year’s Player’s Handbook 3 , and you get to see it

seven months before everyone else: just another of the

great benefits of being a D&D Insider!

Thanks for all your feedback on our first PH3

debut article, last month’s psion . We’ve tweaked the

format a bit to make this month’s article more reader-

friendly, while retaining the R&D commentary that

makes this content more than just pages from a book.

Tune in next month for another exciting dose of

Player’s Handbook 3 !

Commentary by Mike Mearls, Stephen

Schubert, Robert J. Schwalb, Chris Sims,

and James Wyatt

illustrations by Michael Komarck

Click here to visit the Compendium entry for the

githzerai.

Commentary

James Wyatt: The inclusion of the githzerai was a no-

brainer for the Player’s Handbook that introduces the

psionic power source to the game. They’re one of the

most iconic psionic races. Not coincidentally, they’re also

iconic monks.

robert J. Schwalb: Of all the psionic-themed races

appearing in 3rd Edition, the ‘zerai are the strongest in

terms of f lavor and party compatibility. As a human-like

race, they are not so alien that the average player can’t

have fun giving them a spin.

What’s more, the githzerai have an interesting his-

tory (descent from an enslaved race), they have classic

enemies (githyanki and mind f layers), and they work

especially well with the background developed for the

psionic power source.

A u g u s t 2 0 0 9 | D r a g o n 3 7 8

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