Close
Close
Please choose which option you would like to add to your cart.
Advanced Search

DMGR8: Sages & Specialists (2e)Click to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/16884.xml&w=500&h=331
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/16884-sample.pdf

DMGR8: Sages & Specialists (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

In the dangerous, fast-paced world of adventuring, knowledge means survival. In a age of legends, even the greatest heroes need technical advisors.

Inside Sages & Specialists you'll find ten new NPC specialist classes--from apothecary to seer, from engineer to scribe--each with his own special talents and insights.

In addition, this book contains a host of new rules that directly affect the lives of PCs everywhere. Add depth to your campaign with these unique and three-dimensional NPCs.

Product History

DMGR8: Sages & Specialists (1996) is the eighth book in the Dungeon Master Guide Rules Supplement series for AD&D 2e. It was published in July 1996.

Continuing the DMGRs. Like the previous books in the "DMGR" series, Sages & Specialists is a blue leatherette book for the dungeon master. It doesn't actually have the "DMGR" module code on the cover, but it's widely accepted as "DMGR8".

The previous dungeon master book, DMGR7: The Complete Book of Necromancers (1995), broke new ground for the series by focusing on NPC classes. This concept of NPC-only character classes was quite old, dating back to the ninja in The Dragon #16 (July 1978). Sometimes, they were classes that were less appropriate for players, but more often, they were just "unofficial".

However, where The Complete Book of Necromancers featured just two new classes, for deathly wizards and priests, Sages & Specialists instead detailed ten(!).

Origins (I): The Unloved Classes. Much later, Matt Forbeck said that his brief for the book was essentially to "[d]esign ten character classes no one would ever play." It followed in a long tradition of sages and specialists that had been with D&D from the beginning, but expanding the topic to book-length still was challenging. Forbeck says that developer Keith Strohm, when he much later became a manager for D&D 3e (2000-2007), promised Forbeck that he'd never ask another writer to author something like Sages & Specialists.

Origins (II): A History of Sages. The idea of specialists in D&D dated back to the publication of the originalOD&D (1974), which listed ten sorts of people that could be hired by PCs: alchemists, armorers, assassins, animal trainers, engineers, sages, seamen, ship captains, smiths, and spies. These specialists received just a paragraph each and were strictly utilitarian.

The sage returned in Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975). The rumor mill says that Arneson meant him to be a character class. Instead the sage reappeared under the specialist header as a hireling, but with more extensive rules than were found in OD&D.

By the time that TSR published the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) they'd largely removed the "specialist" term — though a few remnant references remain. Instead sages appear as a "special case" of hirelings, with dozens of possible sorts of knowledge and extensive rules for using it.

However none of these three sorts of sages is actually the one that's best known to D&D players. Instead D&D's celebrity sage appears in Sage Advice, where he (or she) has dispensed answers for the D&D game since the '70s. He was named Theronius when he debuted in The Strategic Review Vol. II #1 (February 1976), which might have been a pseudonym for Terry Kuntz. However, the first regular sage was Jean Wells, who began writing answers to D&D questions in The Dragon #31 (November 1979). The most long-lived sage was Skip Williams, who began his reign in Dragon #119 (March 1987) and continued through Dragon #322 (August 2004). Andy Collins then committed sagery until the magazine's demise in Dragon #359 (September 2007).

Origins (III): A History of Other Specialists. Though some of the specialists in Sages & Specialists might be considered sages, they actually encompass ten other classes: apothecary, appraiser, blacksmith, cartographer, engineer, guide, healer, historian, scribe, and seer.

Several of these specialists also had been seen previously:

  • Apothecary. A new class, though a variety of alchemists had previously appeared, including a specialist in OD&D, a character class in The Dragon #2 (August 1976), an NPC in Dragon #45 (January 1981), and NPC-only classes in The Dragon #49 (May 1981) and in The Dragon #130 (February 1988).
  • Appraiser. Another new class, though a few instances of a merchant class might be considered predecessors. Len Lakofka gave merchants magic in Dragon #62 (June 1982), then they got their own NPC-only class in Dragon #136 (August 1988).
  • Blacksmith. An NPC-only smith class appeared in Dragon #70 (February 1983), by none other than Ed Greenwood. Meanwhile, the somewhat similar armorer appeared in the original OD&D as a specialist.
  • Cartographer. The first of a few classes in this book who had previously appeared as an AD&D 2e character kit — in this case a halfling fighter/thief kit that was published in The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings (1993).
  • Engineer. This class had only appeared previously as an OD&D specialist.
  • Guide. There was a 2e character kit named a guide that appeared in Chronomancer (1995) but they were pretty different as they were time traveling guides! The scout kit that appeared in PHBR2: The Complete Thief's Handbook (1989) or the scout/explorer kit that appeared in Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales (1994) might be somewhat closer predecessors. Meanwhile a more complete scout character class for AD&D 2e appeared in Dragon #161 (September 1990).
  • Healer. Much like the alchemist in The Dragon #2, the healer in The Dragon #3 (October 1976) appeared so early on that it wasn't confined to NPC use only — though editor Tim Kask clearly stated that it wasn't "official". Many years later, a healer apperaed as a halfling cleric kit in The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings.
  • Historian. The only previous historian was in Chronomancer (1995), though he was less of a time traveling adventurer than the other character kits in that book.
  • Scribe. A scribe specialist appeared in The Dragon #3, then Ed Greenwood authored a scribe NPC-only class for Dragon #62 (June 1982).
  • Seer. The best predecessor to this volume's new seer was probably the astronomer NPC class in Dragon #45. (January 1981) However there was also a time traveling seer in Chronomancer (1995) and a barbaric seer in PHBR14: The Complete Book of Barbarians (1995) — both kits, of course.

Expanding D&D. How do you fill 128 pages with NPC character classes? Forbeck accomplished this in part by including a bit of fiction about each class, but he also included plenty of rules systems, including rules for: making mundane and magical concotions; buying, selling, and identifying items; making, repairing, and maintaining equipment; and creating and verifying maps. Each class tends to include some complementary rules systems, but these were the most notable.

However, the biggest rules expansion in Sages & Specialists allows "attached" specialists to rise in level alongside the player characters, so that the players can keep interacting with them over the course of an adventuring career. Creative Director Steve Winter apparently came up with this idea.

About the Creators. Forbeck got his start in game design with the paired Outlaw (1991) and Western Hero (1991) books for ICE — who at the time was running both the Rolemaster and Hero Games lines. By 1996, he hqd also done some work for Target Games and their Mutant Chronicles lin3. Sages & Specialists was his second job for TSR, following Mind Lords of the Last Sea (1996).

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (1)
Discussions (1)
Customer avatar
Matt B March 08, 2018 5:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
POD is an excellent copy.
Reply
Customer avatar
Brandon G September 11, 2018 10:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for letting us know, do these reprints have writing on the spine? How much different are they from the originals?
Reply
Customer avatar
Matt B September 13, 2018 5:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Some of them do have the title on the spine. I'm not sure how they decide because I see no rhyme or reason to it (I have quite a few of the PODs). I personally wish that they all did but it is not a deal killer. The copy of Sages & Specialists that I have does have the title on the spine.

As for differences, the interiors are all set up the same. Some maps or poster or things that were on a modules cover are usually put in the back of the book, broken up into page sized pieces. I would prefer poster sized maps but would I pay 5$ more for each one? No; at this price point & the fact that the copy you get is in perfect condition (compared to ebay for example) I check here before I make any other purchase for my D&D books.

Also, the customer service is top notch. An earlier order had a book missing a map & they refunded me & replaced the copy as soon as they fixed it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Brandon G September 14, 2018 5:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great news thanks for the reply and info. There isn’t a lot of pictures out there for some of these books so I’ve been on the fence.
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Gold seller
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
128
Edition
1.0
Publisher Stock #
DND 2146
File Size:
34.82 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
May 02, 2016
This title was added to our catalog on May 03, 2016.