Other good Dragon articles

Discussing all things Ravenloft
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Solan
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Other good Dragon articles

Post by Solan »

There is already a listing on this site of all Dragon articles pertaining directly to Ravenloft, but there are plenty of articles which are quite well-suited to Ravenloft and I thought I'd list them here, for your use.

#76 The Deathmaster, A particularly vile NPC sub-class of the wizard with plenty of his own special spells, including some to create greater undead such as mummies and ghosts.

#91 Two magic swords well suited to Ravenloft, the cursed Sword of Everstriking, which draws on the hits points of its wielder to make sure it can strike and harm targets, and the Sword of Night, a+1 weapon which can cause fear and sheds darkness; thus a great blade for wise vampire to have.

#114 Witches, with a whole host of imaginative and powerful spells for them. There are also several Graveyard Encounter tables in this issue.

#138 A variety of new undead, such as the Gem Eyes Skeletons, Skelros, Dry Bones and most importantly, two types of Undead Colossi, which could be a great and ambitious project for a Necromancer or lich.

#162 This issue features the Book of Horrors, a cursed spellbook of dark magic contains the new spells of undead control, Sinous Horrors, Vampiric Mist, Crimson Scourge and the spell which can create the one major horror monster missing from the Mists: Amorphous Blob

#179 Here there are a wealth of magical lanterns. Illiags Abominable Beacon, which can cast darkness, attract undead and control them (but if it attracts more undead than it can control, too bad for the bearer) is the one best suited to Ravenloft. Bashal's Tendrillight, however, does create a paralzying, constricting tentacle of darkness to attack others, while Malthrax's Shadowcaster can both dispel magic and create a shadow clone of someone which fights as a 6th level fighter and the hideous Meshakk's Eye can cast both continual light and hold person.

#180 The Soulseeker Dagger, a +2 to hit and +5 to damage intelligent blade containing the life essence of a demon which, on a hit roll of twenty, requires the one struck to save vs. death magic or have his soul sucked into the weapon. Come on, you can't tell me a magic item like this one doesn't belong in the Land of the Mists!

#186 Fifty Castle Hauntings, a number of which can plunge your characters into Ravenloft! If you happen to be looking for a good hook to get Prime Material PC's trapped in the Land of the Mists, this has some nice ways it can happen.

#188 The Wizard's Three article here really outdid itself for the Necromancer! It has stats for Champion Skeletons, which are among the crowning jewel of undead creations, and two terrific low-level spells, the first of which can be cast on normal Zombies or Skeletons and set to trigger either when they are destroyed or when they are turned. If the former, it immediately creates two Zombies or Skeletons for every one destroyed! If the latter, it does the same and makes the new Undead IMMUNE to turning! The second spells causes the bones of Zombies to Skeletons to explode when they are destroyed, doing a fair amount of damage. There are even rules for the horrific amount of damage dones when especially clever and evil spellcasters first fill their Zombies with a few pounds of nails before casting this spell :twisted:!

This issue also introduces two especially Ravenloftesque magical swords. Calathangas is a sword that passes on Wererat lycanthropy among other powers and is perfectly suited to belonging to a powerful wererat of Richemulot. The Sword of Vampiric Regeneration does just what its name implies :wink:.

#197 Flameskulls, a truly impressive undead guardian

#198 This one has a Ka, an extra powerful tomb-protecting mummy that need not be evil, and stats for a Wight King and Wraith King, each a tremendously powerful undead which could certainly be Darklord of their own Island of Terror

#199 The article on trolls gives four excellent different troll races: Phaze, Stone, Fire, and Gray. Gray Trolls are absurdly fast regenerators who are harmed by the light of day and can assume gaseous form three times per day. They are normal trolls which reached their present state by being level drained to death, usually by undead. 95% of the time trolls die in these circumstances, but 5% of the time they continue to live as Gray Trolls. Now I ask you, where in the entire MULTIVERSE are Gray Trolls more likely to be created than in the Demiplane of Dread?

#210 Another host of new undead, the most interesting of which is the ironicallly named Dark Lord :shock:! This Dark Lord is an extremely high Chaotic Evil character slain by a Sphere of Annihilation. The soul of such a person finds itself among the undead of the other world and in very rare cases is able to fight it's way back to this dimension, gaining abilities relating to other dimensions, gravity and the space-time continuum in the process. Like the Wight King and Wraith King, the Dark Lord is an extremely deadly foe and should probably be at the heart of his own unique Island of Terror.

#222 Ecology of the Death Knight, Ecology of the Penangglan. 'Nuff said.

#234 This issue has a ton of Ravenloft-appropriate material. In fact the beginning of the first article, the one on special undead hunting magical items like the Shroud of Sol's Embrace and Javelin, Bane of the Black Heart, specifically states that these new magic items are best suited to a Ravenloft campaign.

Then there are the stats for Zombie, Skeleton, Ghoul, Ghast, Wight, Wraith, Mummy, Specter, Ghost and Vampire DRAGONS! I know dragons are generally too high fantasy for Ravenloft's gothic horror, but undead ones?

Another article gives Crypt Ranger and Crypt Protector Ranger subclasses, both of which will find a lot of work in Ravenloft.

There is a listing of several lich specific magical items, my favorite of which is the sinister Staff of Flesh.

Finally, and I would argue most valuable of all the articles in this issue, is the Dragon's Bestiary which gives rules for six necromantic masterpieces: Spike Skeletons, Acid Zombies, Dust Skeletons, Quick Zombies, Absorbing Zombies and Defiling Skeletons. Remember how the entry for the Ghoul Lord says that it is thought the Necomancer who created the Ghoul Lords was absorbed by the Mists along with all of his creations? Whatever Necromancer or Lich created these is equally deserving of that fate.

#238 Stats for the new Bog Mummy, Ice Mummy (and new Ice spells!), the twisted products of magical experimentation such as Necromantic Sludge and Lich's Blood, and two great magic items: The +4 Gravebringer sword burns with a bluish-black fire and can deflect both normal and magical missle weapons. Many of these swords are intelligent and if they can take control of their wielder, they impose twenty foot radius vampiric feeding aura, taking a hit point from all people within that radius each round and feeding bestowing it on the wielder. The Staff of Bonees is enough to make any evil priest a terrible threat in Ravenloft, since it allows him to animate and control ten times the usual number of undead. It also ensures that if he has a chance of controlling any undead he tries to, he WILL succeed in controlling that undead :shock:.

#243 More magic swords! The Raptor is a Sword of Wounding which also tends to destroy what the target is wearing, while the Mist Bringer has great powers of illusion, including the ability to cast Phantasmal Killer once a week. There is also a good magic sword type known as the Soul Mate, one of which was said to be in the hands of Mela Istonin, Paladin of Selune, when she accidentally entered Ravenloft :roll:.

#251 Ecology of the Wererat, quite helpful for Richemulot

#252 This another bonanza issue, with a cornucopia of material. It gives the class details needed for Keepers of the Veil Paladins, who are dedicated to destroying undead, Lethean Priests, who intrestingly enough seek to release the parts of souls trapped in undead, and most intriguingly of all, Mordibund wizards, who have found a way to keep from aging by stealing the unlife energy of undead!

Of the new magic items, the Black Satchel is an evil, powerful tool which will enable the bearer to save countless lives . . . in exchange for taking countless lives. The Intellct Syringe could well have been created by everyone's favorite Cerebral vampire!

Then there is the host of spells specially suited to the Land of the Mists, such as Undead Ward, Preserve Youth, Summon Ghost, Revenant and Final Struggle!

Last, but certainly not least, complete rules for the Shadow or True Ghouls, a race of intelligent undead which includes priests, nobles and royalty and draws part of their strength from the Demiplane of Shadow. A few of these definitely belong in Ravenloft!

#259 has the Blood Pudding, which is actually an very interesting way for an evil wizard to live on past his time.

#261 features the Ecology of the Dark Naga and the Bone Nagas they can create

#272 This issue has my single favorite article in all of Dragon Magazine: Abyssal Armor. Long ago thirteen of the Demon Princes each created their own minor artifact, a unique suit of armor for their human champions, each one with great powers and great curses. The Battle Monger, the Black Prison, the Immolator and the Juggernaut are all wonderfully suited to the Demiplane of Dread, and the Infinite Panolpy, the set of armor designed by Franz Urb Luu, has actually already been written in to the false history of Falkovnia :shock:!
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Re: Other good Dragon articles

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Excellent research! thanks for sharing this with us!
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Dreamakuma
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Re: Other good Dragon articles

Post by Dreamakuma »

I can attest to Dragon #234's great wealth of horror related material. Weapon's Against the undead, undead dragon templates, extra undead creatures, Liches items and a horrifically powerful Dracolich.

It's one of my favorite issues. :D
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