Unless I'm missing something, this is no battle map. All I get is an image of a space station (the same one as in the thumbnail).

Edit 9/9/23: The publisher has edited the description to now correctly reflect the nature of the product. I'm adding a star for a proper description, but the name of the product was changed and the description added after I made the purchase.

A solid selection of new wilderness-based monsters for D&D 5th Edition. Each includes lore, suggested encounters, and adventure hooks. Some of the statblocks seem a little odd in places, but this shouldn't seriously affect gameplay. The writing style might also put off some fans of official D&D products, since it can be very casual at times, but this is also no deal-breaker. Highlights include the bloodboar, the knaerk, and the spiderbear.

Following on the heals of the superb Spell Codex 1, this Volume 2 is every bit as good. With top-notch organization and attention to detail, plus wonderful art, it's everything I could ask for in a compendium like this. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having these obscure spells gathered together in one place, plus updated for consistency and to include ALL of the classes, including those not published yet when the spell was first published. This book, like its predecessor, is a MUST-HAVE.

Nice to have all the spells in one place (well one set of volumes)

I bought the PDF due to budget concerns, but will be collecting these in print for ease of reference.

This is a mich-needed book for PF1 players. The organization of this book is outstanding. Highly recommended.

Something that automatically knocks this down one star: these are actually 5E versions of races from the Pathfinder RPG (specifically from its Advanced Race Guide), but this is never indicated in either the introduction or in their Open Game License text. (This is why the "everborn" is misidentified as the "samsaran" on the first page - that was the race's name in Pathfinder.) This may have been an oversight, and this work definitely goes beyond its Pathfinder roots, but it unfortunately gives the impression that the author is passing off the ideas of others as their own. (If this is corrected, I will gladly restore the removed star.)

With that out of the way, thoughts on each race:

• Catfolk: Distinct from either the Pathfinder catfolk or the 5E tabaxi, these catfolk are matriarchal by default and split into two subraces - the more human-like faol and the more cat-like saebul. The race and subraces have pretty solid mechanics, and the lore is quite well-thought out. This probably the winner of the four, although it'd be odd to have both this and tabaxi in the same setting, since they occupy the same niche despite differences.
• Everborn: At its core, a fairly direct conversion of the Pathfinder samsaran. The two subraces have interesting concepts but we don't get much on this besides mechanics. The lore is OK but seems vague on certain points (like exactly how they reincarnate). Probably the least interesting of the four options.
• Hagborn: A straightforward conversion of Pathfinder's changeling, although the three subraces are different from and more interesting than their Pathfinder equivalents. The expansions on their Pathfinder lore work out pretty well, especially the different possible relationships with their hag mother.
• Tengu: Also pretty similar to the Pathfinder version, with a few of its Pathfinder traits split between the two subraces (which are just OK concept-wise). The lore for the race expands upon the Pathfinder baseline, emphasizing their desire to show off their "possessions" in a fairly broad sense. Tengu culture still comes off as a little one-note, but it's a good effort. They do feel different enough from the official 5E kenku that you could probably get away with having both, but it might still seem redundant.

The product wraps up with a selection of new subraces for dwarves (cloud and tome), elves (frost and ghost), halflings (trickfinger and wiseheart), and gnomes (river). Unlike the earlier content, these appear to be original creations, and are all pretty neat additions.

In summary, this is worthwhile if you're looking for 5E conversions of the Pathfinder races, with the subraces at the end a nice bonus.

With a total of 58 – d66 lists you get a lot of value in this PDF. I will be using this often.

Pros: Excellent starter adventure that pits the PCs against a variety of spiders instead of the usual array of goblins and kobolds common to 1st level adventures. Smart choice to change up the types of spiders encountered to keep the fights from getting stale. Some nice NPCs to interact with as well that can teach the adventurers to talk instead of fight.

Cons: Several editing issues in the adventure including

• Giant Wolf Spiders encountered twice, both times the module mentions them using their web; however, the monster has no web attack
• Room 3D described as a hidden room behind a secret door, but the map shows it as a main thoroughfare. No room with a secret door is shown in the complex.
• Numbered encounters for the village and woods, but no maps

Also, the boss fight can be a little anti-climactic. Needs either a couple of minions or some legendary actions.

To emphasize though, despite that list of cons, a worthwhile and fun adventure. Just needs a little DM attention here and there before you run it.

product as described in the blurb, excellent value for money

Solid product. I bundled this and Compendium 2 into a binder to take with me to Traveller sessions as Referee. Great stuff for ideas.

This also works as a brainstorming setup for writing. looking at the names, events and places, then with it all in your mind get a flavor.

Easy enough when printed out to change up some details by crossing out and writing in new ones. can't wait to make up some of my own tables. This product and compendium 2 would be well served by including a few table blanks numbered 11 to 66.

Note: 4 years later, still using this book, it is a goldmine of ideas.

This uses Mongoose Traveller vehicle design rules. It opens with a selection of civilian battledress, followed by stats for a dozen civilian and police vehicles with 6 colour illustrations. Next are 4 types of military battledress and four military vehicles with 2 illustrations.

Given the price I am delighted with the product. Although it uses the Foreven setting, the materiel can be used elsewhere.

The only thing I can think of to improve would be an illustration of each vehicle, although this would presumably increase the price.

A guide to Fessor Subsector using the MGT format of Traveller with a write up of several worlds within a subsector. Seven worlds get roughly a half page write up each.

Useful for people like me who struggle to make sense of the numbers. Price is right.

It would have nice to have had world maps for the featured worlds as well.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Book of Beasts-series focusing on NPC Codex-style NPCs clocks in at 26 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisement, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page of back cover, leaving us with 19 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my supporters.

Okay, as usual, we begin with a brief introduction before diving into the respective NPC stats; the focus, for the most part, lies on the statblocks, though, like in the NPC Codex, there are a few instances where the statblock is followed by a brief sample NPC personality and potential roleplaying advice for said named NPCs. The rationale here is clever: Essentially, statblocks that do not take up enough room use the extra space to deliver this bonus content of sorts; conversely, this means that these entries mainly show up between the extremes of the level-range.

The pdf includes a total of 20 statblocks, one for each level, thus spanning CRs from ½ to 19. A significant plus as far as I’m concerned: there are no derivative statblocks in the supplement, so you won’t see one statblock at CR 1, and a mildly-modified/scaled version of the same statblock at CR 5; instead, each of the builds actually is independent, which is a great thing as far as I’m concerned. It’s also nice to see that base statistics are included in the builds, as is a proper tactics section.

Beyond this show of genuine passion and care, the supplement also features another aspect I very much enjoy seeing: This book makes full good of PFRPG’s extensive book canon: Ultimate Wilderness, Ultimate Intrigue, and, of course, the older hardcovers (excluding, interestingly, Occult Adventures, pretty much my favorite PFRPG 1e hardcover by Paizo), which helps diversify the content presented in a significant manner. The builds actually represent this broad focus in more than one way: The CR ½ Coven Aspirant, for example, has chosen Defiant Luck, with the spellbook including snowball.

At CR 1, we have a goblin tribal cursecaller, with corresponding low Wisdom and Charisma, and a spell-selection that includes aphasia and mudball. I really enjoy seeing builds like this. Why? Because PF1e, in some of its best moments, uses mechanics to underline the story and flavor of a creature or NPC, generating this cool mutual reinforcement between rules and flavor.

Of course, there also is a rather significant diversity between patrons chosen for the various witches. The CR 2 clandestine practitioner, for example, has the ancestry patron, while the CR 3 draconic debilitator uses the occult patron; the kobold uses the hex channeler archetype, and with flame-retardant outfit and two different grenades, the fellow feels radically different from any builds after and before it.

Need an arcane skirmisher with hit-and-run capabilities? What about a CR 4 grippli using the woodlands patron and blowgun and Opening Volley? Yeah, cool build. At CR 5, we have a hedge witch (with a super-minor cosmetic hiccup: The correctly formatted archetype is listed twice in brackets; does not influence integrity of statblock) that pretty much is a take on the white witch trope; nice!

A dwarf brewing specialist has sensible feats: Brew Potion, Brewmaster, Ironguts…you get the gist; the rules complement the concept; same e.g. for the CR 7 changeling sea witch with a tidal theme, blending “stormy” aggressive and defensive options, resulting in a we—rounded build, including Brilliant Spell Preparation and a properly reserved slot. NICE. In fact, that is probably one of the things I enjoy most about these NPC builds: I can see these characters actually existing in the game world; they make sense.

Need a dhampir caster with a serious vampire mage angle? You can find it here. A sylph with a hard and soft terrain control angle themed around mobility and a theme of mists and air magic? Included. A tiefling with a seduction/enchantment theme? Yep. Want a witch who, spell-wise, cleaves closer to the wizard, representing arcane schooling? Included herein. Want a hermit with a subdued dark fey/thorn angle? You can find ne in this pdf. With the bonded witch archetype and deception as a patron, we have a CR 13 half-elf that makes for a good take on the arcane thief/heist-specialist. The ratfolk skin changer would do skaven proud, with a blend of transmutations & plague-based magic.

The book also includes an evil monarch build focused on domination and vengeance, supplemented by full-blown battle magics, and, on the other side of the spectrum, the most potent witch herein masquerades as a shepherd…and if you cross them, you may end up as a goat…

One of my favorite builds in a while: Fetchling gravewalker 17 that has a spell-selection based primarily on necromancy, with darkness and debuffs plus clever selection of hexes and supplemental options, making this witch a threat in regular combat, but also a surprisingly efficient serial killer style adversary. A genuinely cool villain build that made me come up with a neat adventure outline.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are excellent on a formal and rules-language level; well done! Layout adheres to a two-column full-color standard, with a black border, and the pdf includes a blend of new full-color artworks and classic stock art pieces. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Richard Moore delivers, big time, in this NPC-Codex-style offering; the builds are versatile, make sense in-game as persons, and still retain a wide variety of tricks that make them mechanically viable for the respective focus of the build. The pdf does everything right that I’d want here: The builds are versatile and varied; they make use of a ton of options and provide a blend of straight and rather out there builds, and all without compromising the viability of the respective statblock as a representation of a character actually existing in-game. Heck, when a statblock makes me come up with a module structure? Yeah, awesome.

This is 100% worth the low asking price and stands as an excellent representation of a damn fine NPC Codex-style book. Final verdict? best of-tag, 5 stars + seal of approval. Want a selection of diverse and cool witch statblocks? Get this. Heck, this might be worth getting even if that’s not what you’re actively looking for.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This book of races clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/introduction, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 9 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review by my patreon supporters.

So, structurally, this book contains 4 new races, with each race receiving between 2 and 3 pages of information, which include physical descriptions, notes on the society of the respective race. Each race gets one stunning artwork, with the androids getting 2 additional ones that are slightly more comic-like in style, but also neat.

Two of the new races herein are constructed beings: The first would be the androids, who increase their Intelligence by 2, and get a kind of combination of low-light vision and darkvision: Within 60 ft., they treat dim light as bright light and darkness as dim light, but when in darkness, they only see in shades of gray. Imho, this should just be called Darkvision, the Perception proficiency outsourced elsewhere, but that’s cosmetic. Androids have advantage on saving throws against poison and enchantment spells; this is slightly ambiguous, for the reference to “poison” here could refer to the poisoned condition, and/or to poison damage. In comparison, the rules-syntax of Dwarven Resilience made that clear by contrasting it with resistance to poison damage, but this is admittedly nitpicking; I assume that the poisoned condition is meant. They also get proficiency in a weapon of their choice, and in Perception, but otherwise are Medium, 30 ft. speed. Two android subraces are provided to choose from.

Alchemical androids increase Dexterity by 1, their speed to 35 ft., and gain proficiency with their choice of alchemist’s supplies, cartographer’s tool, glassblower’s tools or tinker’s tools. Technological androids increase their Constitution by 1, and get advantage on saves against lightning damage and also have resistance to lightning damage. They also get an additional language.

The second construct race would have a less pronounced science-fantasy angle: The Geppettoans. The race’s name makes it obvious: We have the wooden Pinocchio-style race. Originally created by a fair and kind-hearted man, the design to create these intelligent servitors was quickly abused…until the race broke free. They increase the Intelligence and Constitution by 1, are Small with a 25 ft. speed, and are proficient with club, greatclub, quarterstaff and spear. They are immune to disease, but can ingest potions etc. like living creatures. They do not need to sleep, but must spend 4 hours a day maintaining their animating runes. This race has no subraces.

Beyond these constructed races, we have the Gillfolk free of their erstwhile aboleth masters. A warlike people, the Gillfok here reminded me less of the traditional Lovecraftian angle, and more of the subjects of e.g. Aquaman (or Prince Nemo, if you prefer Marvel); they increase Strength by 2, are Medium and have a land and swimming speed of 30 ft. They are proficient with net, spear and trident and the Athletics skill. Gillfolk who spend more than a day sans being fully immersed in water for at least one hour suffer disadvantage on all actions for that day. They can, obviously, breathe both air and water.

Two subraces are presented: Deep sea gillfolk increase Constitution by 1 and gain nominally the same Enhanced Sight feature as the androids, save that it actually has different effects: It has a range of 120 ft., but does not offer proficiency with Perception, and yet has the same name as the android feature. I think different names would have been preferable here, They also are have resistance against cold damage and advantage on saving throws vs. cold damage. Shore line gillfolk increase Charisma by 1, and know the shocking grasp cantrip. At 3rd level, they can cast speak with animals 1/day, and at 5th level, misty escape 1/day, all using Charisma as their spellcasting ability.

The final race would be lizardfolk, who increase their Constitution by 2 and gain proficiency with blowgun, handaxe, javelin and maul. They come with 2 subraces: Dragonsired lizardfolk increase Charisma by 1 and gain resistance against your choice of acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison, and also advantage on saving throws against these effects. Here, it’d be interesting to know how this works regarding poisoned condition/poison damage, and they also get a cantrip of their choice from the sorcerer spell list, using Charisma as spellcasting ability. Swampkin lizardfolk increase Wisdom by 1 and gain Hold Breath as well as +1 natural armor bonus…which isn’t how 5e handles natural armor. 5e uses natural armor as an alternate AC-calculating formula that does not stack with e.g. Unarmored Defense etc. Then again, this doesn’t break the game. As an aside, I’d have preferred to see a non-draconic lizardfolk subrace, after all, we already have dragonborn as a core player-race.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level; on a rules-language level there isn’t much to complain about either, with all my niggles being nitpicks. Layout adheres to the series’ standard, with green stripes on top and bottom, and the artworks deserve special mention: The prestige artwork that accompanies each race is really nice. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience.

Dale C. McCoy Jr., Richard Moore, and Kevin Morris deliver a really nice supplement here. All of the races herein are power-wise within the same rough area and shouldn’t unbalance most games. Now, personally, I’d have liked to see some supplemental material for the races, or at least one instance of slightly more daring design; the content herein is pretty conservative in what it offers. But considering the low asking price, I do think that this is worth taking a look at. My final verdict will be 4 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This book of races clocks in at 17 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial,1 page advertisement,1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 12 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review by my patreon supporters.

So, structurally, this book contains 5 new races, with each race receiving between 2 and 3 pages of information, which include physical descriptions, notes on the society of the respective race (including how they handle age and death, love and mating, communities and settlements, languages and nomenclature), and these races also note the interactions with the Icons. Each race gets one stunning artwork, and 1 to 2 additional ones that are slightly more comic-like in style, but also neat.

Two of the new races herein are constructed beings: The first would be the androids: Androids rarely congregate in communities, and, well, being androids, their perspectives on love and magic are interesting. Both Shadow Prince and Archmage are intrigued by them, while the Dwarf King remains conflicted; the Great Druid, no surprise, is not a big fan of the species. Mechanically, they receive their choice of +2 to Dexterity or Intelligence, and the Nanomachines racial power, which can be activated as a move action once per battle. Doing so lets the android roll the next d20 roll twice and take the better result. With a champion feat, the nanomachines are now used as a quick action. Due to the global substitute downward rule of 13th Age, this works.

The second construct race would have a less pronounced science-fantasy angle: The Geppettoans. The race’s name makes it obvious: We have the wooden Pinocchio-style race. Originally created by a fair and kind-hearted man, the design to create these intelligent servitors was quickly abused…until the race broke free. As a result, the Archmage is not a fan of these rebellious constructed beings – a fact that makes hem potential allies to the Lich Queen. The Great Druid isn’t as opposed to the geppettoans as to e.g. Androids, and the Orc Warlord would love to have the secret to create them. Mechanically, geppettoans get to choose +2 to Dexterity or Intelligence and gain the alchemical resilience racial power: On your first rally per combat, you heal 1.5 times the average amount of your recovery dice rolled, before applying Constitution modifier. A handy example illustrates how to calculate this. With a champion feat, you triple Con modifier when adding it to your recovery hit points attained from the first rally in a combat, which is upgraded to quadrupled at Epic tier.

Both construct race may, subject to the GM’s discretion, benefit from alternate rules regarding constructed races: These optional modifications are designed to enhance how different they feel: Constructs under these rules don’t eat, drink, sleep or breathe, but still require rest. They are thus immune to the sleep spell (italics missing; same goes for other spell-references in this section), but e.g. cure wounds and similar cleric spells is halved. Potions can heal constructs to the full extent. Additionally, all constructed races have resistance 12+ to holy, negative and poison damage, but pay for these with a vulnerability. We get suggestions for these: Androids don’t deal well with lightning damage, forgeborn are vulnerable to psychic damage, and geppettoans are, well, flammable and thus vulnerable to fire damage. I enjoy rules like these that serve to further differentiate races in 13th Age, and having this presented as both optional, and with drawbacks for both new features also lets you pick and choose: If you only want the vulnerability angle, you can ditch the ability regarding no eating, drinking, etc. without altering the balance of the package. Nice.

Beyond these constructed races, we have the Gillfolk free of their erstwhile masters (Aboleths are contextualized as Abyssal, fyi), and as such, opposed to Diabolist; the relationships with the other Icons are rather nuanced and interesting here. A warlike people, the Gillfok here reminded me less of the traditional Lovecraftian angle, and more of the subjects of e.g. Aquaman (or Prince Nemo, if you prefer Marvel); they can choose +2 to either Constitution or Charisma, and can fight as well in water as in open air. They can breathe water well, but must fully submerge themselves in salt water every 3 days or die. Their racial power is aberrant resistance, which lets you once per battle roll a save against an ability or spell twice and take the better result. However, the first save against an ability or spell against a monster of the aberration type automatically fails. OUCH! This looks brutal, and it is – but it also is interesting from a narrative perspective and contextualizes the struggle of the race: When you auto-fail against the save-or-perish-level magics of your masters, rising up in revolution has serious stakes. It’s a small thing, but I really like it. The champion feat upgrade alternatively lets you choose to get a +5 bonus, which lets you automatically succeed on Easy saves. Additionally, you no longer autofail the first save as noted above, but instead need to roll twice, taking the worse result.

The moonblooded are essentially a playable lycanthrope race (minus the whole curse angle), though their flavor contextualizes them as subject to demonic possession due to their bestial abilities. Moonblooded gain +2 Wisdom and the change shape racial power, which can be sued as a standard action once per battle. In this form, you increase one of your physical ability scores of your choice by +2, and increase unarmed melee attack damage to that or a two-handed, light, or simple weapon for your class – unless your unarmed damage would be better (such as if you’re a monk), in which case you use that. The champion feat lets you change as a move action and the unared attack benefit from two-weapon fighting. I have a tiny nitpick here: RAW, the moonblooded can’t choose to revert to non-bestial form, which might be intentional, or an oversight, but I can picture some instances where the player might wish to prematurely revert before the combat ends (such as when witnesses/guards/etc. approach…). Then again, this is easy enough to upgrade with a feat.

The final race contained herein would be an old favorite of mine, the tengu, who are most commonly found in service to the Shadow Prince; they a rather detailed look at their culture, which belnds a reputation for being greedy opportunists with a surprising aptitude for arts and crafts…and, obviously, swordsmanship. Tengus get to choose either +2 to Dexterity or Wisdom, and their racial power is opportunist: Once per battle as a free action when a nearby enemy rolls a natural 1—5 on an attack or save, you get either a basic melee attack at half damage, or steal an item they are not holding…but the target ALWAYS knows if you steal this way. I LOVE this ability. It screams cinematic combat to me, as seen in many a comic: You know, the immortal, super-powerful villain pummels his enemies, invulnerable…and then, suddenly, the trickster character pops up, has the item…and the tide of battle turns. This is very much awesome. The champion feat upgrade makes this ability work on enemies’ natural 1s without expending it, and attacks executed as a result with sword-like weapons (yes, that’s defined) deal full damage. If you steal, the target no longer automatically knows it; they now need to make a normal save.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level; apart from a few cosmetic and minor hiccups, I noticed no issues. Layout adheres to the series’ standard, with green stripes on top and bottom, and the artworks deserve special mention: The prestige artwork that accompanies each race is really nice. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience.

Joel Flank, Dale C. McCoy Jr., Richard Moore, Kevin Morris and David N. Ross deliver a really nice supplement here. In spite of the limited design space afforded by 13th Age’s races, the individual write-ups manage to achieve meaningful differentiation between each of the races. Personally, I was most fond of the rather courageous take on the gillfolk, as well as by the tengus’ very cinematic racial power. When a power could easily act as a catalyst for an epic battle, I’m all for it. When all’s said and done, I consider this to be a worthwhile addition to the arsenal of 13th Age gaming groups. My verdict is 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.