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100% Crunch: Skeletal Champions $4.99
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
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by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/27/2013 08:24:28

This pdf is 33 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC/introduction, 1 page advice for novice DMs on how to read statblocks, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 25 pages of content, so let's take a look!

Speaking of the introduction: Don't skip it, read it. No seriously. It includes a very informative sidebox that deals with an issue that undead-templates (e.g. the Skeletal Champion-template) suffer from and provides modifications for the base-CR-determining that should provide more precise results than the original while remaining relatively easy to use.

That out of the way, we get a concise table of skeletal champions by CR, ranging from CR 2 to CR 11 before we get the skeletal champion template as well as an array of options to further customize the skeletons you create: 9 simple variants, which, if you already have 100% Crunch: Skeletons, you'll mostly recall from that installment - 8 have been featured in that one before. Also, two of the three complex variants (bloody and burning skeletons) are known from 100% Crunch Skeletons, whereas the third, the Undead Bard gets a reprint from 100% Crunch: Liches. Unfortunately, the Undead Ranger and Druid-modifications that could also be found in latter book and suffered from minor issue, have not been included - this would have been a great chance to revise them. It also means that apart from the template-CR-adjustment to yield more balanced results, recurring customers of the 100% Crunch-line cannot expect to see any new simple templates/modifications herein, which is a downside for me - why not point towards the respective books/reprint a part of the options and create some new ones? Especially since the Skeleton-issue imho lacked modifications that go beyond what we've seen time and again, a book on skeletal champions would have been a great chance to add intriguing new powers - what about summoning an honor-guard, immunity to any damage not incurred in a duel etc.? The potential for true mind-blowing awesomeness has been slightly squandered here.

But let's see what author Julian Neale has crunched up in the main meat of the book, after all the series is all about the statblocks. The low-level skeletal champions provided for elven, dwarven and human races are no surprise, though it is nice to get both melee and ranged combat versions for humans. What is also nice is that goblins get their due (in two warrior 1 skeletal champions) and a thematically-fitting kobold-undead turns out to be an unliving walking, killing bone-shrapnel-bomb. At CR 3, among e.g. hobgoblins and orcs, we also get the first uncommon champion with an Urdefhan archer (there actually are quite a few Urdefhan herein) and centaur skeletal champions. And yes, Annis hags, Janni, 4-armed human rogue4/ranger1, redcap, rakshasas, erinyes, and even a dragon can be found among the ranks of the skeletal champions. my favorite one, though would be the two versions of doppelganger skeletons:

At CR 8 we get an acidic, burning, electric doppelganger ranger 1 and at CR 11 a burning, electric magus skeleton champion doppelganger ranger 5. Which also brings me to one of the gripes I have with the simple template terminology of the one new simple template: At CR+0, the Magus skeleton simple template grants the silent spell feat, which is fine by me. What's not so fine is the nomenclature here: Why in all hell call it magus? Seriously, Magus in PFRPG is defined as a base-class. SGG even renamed their Magus-class to Magister. Why artificially create confusion?

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's no-frills two-column standard and the pdf comes with thematically fitting b/w-artwork and in two different, fully bookmarked versions with one being optimized for screen-use and one for print.

All right, by now it is perhaps known that Raging Swan press as a company does not support the alchemist or gunslinger, the classes fluff colliding with their concept of fantasy. I can live with that. Where I'm not so glad is when the other APG-classes and UM-classes get so completely screwed over: While I wouldn't have expected to see any summoners, witches or oracles in here, I would have expected to see at least one inquisitor, at least one cavalier in these pages. And perhaps a Magus or a Samurai. But none of them are in here - in fact, if you take the notable exception of centaurs (if you count that), you'll only find infantry skeleton champions herein - instead we get wizard skeletal champions, blight druids etc. While I don't begrudge the inclusion of casting classes in this supplement, I'm honestly not comfortable with the pesky magus-template and the lack of members of the class herein. Also, I feel like there are less variations of base-creatures herein than usual for the line, with many build at higher CRs being progressions and variations of lower CR skeletal champions.

Beyond that, there's the undeniable fact of reprint/overlap: I get that supplements that belong to a line and deal with undead necessarily have overlap. What I don't get is the relative lack of new simple templates and complex modifications. Yes, it means that those customers who don't have 100% Crunch: Skeletons get the modifications as well, which per se is laudable. But why not e.g. take out the armored skeleton-template? Gaining proficiency with armor and weapons is mostly not required when creating skeletal champions with martial class levels and for the casters...well, they can do without it, can't they? And that's just one example. I harp on this since the room could have been imho much better used for NEW or unique abilities for skeletal champions that set them apart more distinctively from their mindless brethren. The decision also means that returning customers get less new material than if the pdf had opted to go a more courageous route.

And all of these gripes add up. More overlap/reprint than before in any 100% Crunch-book. No Magi, Cavaliers, Inquisitors, Samurai and the suboptimal nomenclature all add up to at least for me, making this pdf quite a disappointment. I was looking forward to a toolkit to make skeletal champions stand apart and this, the book simply doesn't deliver. If you're okay with skeletal champions being smart skeletons, not more, then the assumption might fit your tastes. It doesn't fit mine. The space devoted to casters could have easily been used to create template-modifications and cover classes/races that make this stand out. Don't get wrong, this pdf is by no means bad, it's just horribly short of what it could been and at least in my campaign, not many of these stats will see use.

For me as a person, this pdf clocks in as a very disappointing 2 stars. As a reviewer, though, I have to take into account that you may be looking for more "common" statblocks or simply not care about the left-out classes. For you, this still might be a 3-star file if you can live with the nomenclature-issue with the magus and don't mind the overlap with 100% Crunch: Skeletons. My final verdict will clock in at 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 for the purpose of this platform since I can't bring myself to rate this higher.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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100% Crunch: Skeletal Champions
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