Dragon Magic - Power Incarnate

Dragon Magic is all about harnessing the raw power of dragonkind, getting to the very roots of magic and uncovering the deepest mysteries - it takes a great deal of time, patience and understanding, but the true Dracomancer has few equals and may even be powerful enough to bend Dragons themselves to his will. The path to adding Dragon Magic to your sorcerer, wizard or bard can start very early but this is a discipline that only truly bears fruit at the highest of levels. And its effects can be frightening.

Dragon Magic kicks off with an overview of the art, covering the components that actually make spells work and how they relate to dragons, the Dragonsong, the High Draconic language, dragon bloodlines and the True Wordsof power. This is built upon by the next chapter, Draconic - Language of Magic, which provides all the basic tools a practitioner needs if he is to adopt Dragon Magic. Students must work hard to learn High Draconic (it is not simply 'just' another language), and its application has a permanent drain on magical abilities. With this, however, comes new benefits - spellcasting using High Draconic permits a caster to alter spells on the fly as if affected by a Metamagic feat but with no actual requirement to have learnt the feat in the first place - if you have ever wondered how your wizard could possible use all the metamagic feats currently available to him, this is one route he can try. The risk is having the spell backfire with a number of different effects, so a practitioner must be cautious, balancing his skill in High Draconic with the desired effects. With High Draconic also comes an understanding of the Words of Power, similar to power word spells but with greatly extended capabilities. These are the roots of all magical spells, and a practitioner can now, for the first time, access this base magic directly. Last, there are the Dragonsongs, the tools of bardic practitioners who learn the chorus all dragons sing in High Draconic in order to bring powerful magicks under their direct control.

Dragoncraft - Magical Resonance, explores the sorcerous capabilities inherent to all dragons, and how a careful practitioner may awaken the properties of slain dragons to enhance their spells and magical item creation. This is not an easy process for a dragon has to die to access this part of the art, and body parts have to be carefully harvested if they are to retain their value. However, the benefits are enormous, as the raw power of dragonkind can be fed directly into spells and magical items, boosting their effectiveness and abilities.

The next chapter, Ascendancy - Primordial Blood, explores the role of dragon blood within families and inherited powers that may come with it. This will likely be of particular interest to sorcerers, though it is accessible by any character class. Unlocking the secrets of a bloodline requires meditation and practice, but benefits include extended life spans, the ability to shapeshift and gaining the keen senses of a dragon. As a character moves closer to his draconic ancestry, he may become increasingly more dragon-like, gaining various templates such as the Dragon Aspected, the Dragonchild and, of course, the Half-Dragon.

There are those who will look to Dragon Magic not to purely boost their own magical abilities, but also to force their will upon dragonkind. The Dragon Mastery chapter, including the Dragon Master prestige class, will allow them to do just that. Ever wanted a high level wizard who makes pacts with dragons and can summon them at will? This is the class for you. . .

Dragon Magic Feats provides 13 new feats designed to supplement and enhance practitioners studying this type of sorcery - once a caster becomes Dragon-Blooded, a whole new vista of possibilities are open to him, allowing him to approach his spellcasting in a radically different manner, throwing enemies off guard and even gaining a breath weapon.

The last chapter, Help for Games Masters, gives all the aid a hassled GM will need to integrate these rules into an existing campaign - even one that does not actually have dragons.

Encyclopaedia Arcane: Dragon Magic - Power Incarnate is just the book you need if your arcane spellcaster is increasing in level and needs a new 'project' to work towards. As for GMs, put these rules in the hands of your favorite Kobold Sorcerer and your players will certainly have a new enemy to fear, as the story running through the entire book demonstrates. . .