Solid Idea, Mind-Boggling Execution

Length: 14 pages total: 1 page front cover and credits; 11 pages of content; 1 page advertising; 1 page licensing.

Format: 2-column, with a couple information tables spreading from side to side. Laid out well for the most part, but the font is a little thin, so I zoomed in to 100% to make it more comfortable to read. There are multiple times where an ability makes reference to another part of the book without clearly saying where that information is, and a table of information was awkwardly inserted into a column of unrelated rules. I found several typographical and grammatical errors—neither numerous nor serious enough to cause confusion—but after spotting several large mechanical flaws with the class, I stopped keeping track.

Art: 1 cover image showing the Eldritch Conjuror and a conjured creature. 8 pieces of interior art, representing various aspects you'd expect: 4 sigils related to Old Gods, 2 creatures, a character and a tome. Some of the art is black and white while others are in color. All of the art is of good quality.

The Eldritch Conjuror: This book tries to present a new class, modeled partially after the Summoner, sans-eidolon, and I am sad to say that it utterly fails on a mechanical level. The premise is sound, and reasonably appealing: Drawing power from Old Ones, the Eldritch Summoner has access to strange powers and the ability to apply 'Pseudonatural'—a new template presented herein—to any creature summoned via the summon monster line of spells. In terms of flavor and mechanics, this template is actually pretty nice, and I will certainly use it on monsters elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Eldritch Summoner class says that it can use this ability on all of it summons starting at level 1. The pseudonatural template adds SR, DR 5/—, immunity to crits and sneak attacks, +4 Str and Con, and changes the Type to Outsider. This is very powerful for a level 1 combatant, and that's only the beginning.

The main problem with the Eldritch Summoner is its spell-list. This book does not have a spell-list, opting instead to use fuzzy language implying that they can pick any spells they want from the summoner list, the wizard/sorcerer list, or even make up their own spells via research. They are a 6-level spell-casting class, with the usual early-access issues you might imagine, but exacerbated by a terrible class abilities table. The default summoner gains access to 2nd level spells at level 4, 3rd at 7, 4th at 10, 5th at 13, and 6th at 16, so even though it has access to high-level wizard/sorcerer spells, its early-access isn't ridiculous. The balance issues were only when you combined it with potion-making, elixirs and Limited Wishes. The Eldritch Summoner takes that much further by granting 2nd level spells at level 4, 3rd at 6, 4th at 8, 5th at 10, and 6th at 12. So imagine, if you will, a 6th level character casting Black Tentacles or Dimension Door, an 8th level character with Baleful Polymorph or Magic Jar, a 10th level character with Plane Shift or Simulacrum, and a 12th level character with Dominate Monster or Greater Planar Binding, PLUS Summon Monster VIII. To add insult to injury, this book lists the Eldritch Summoner as being able to cast all of their spells multiple times per day a full level before knowing them. They are also described as being spontaneous casters that never need to prepare spells (despite being automatically granted all of the summon monster spells as known spells), and then described as being able to swap out their nonexistent prepared spells for a summon monster spell of equivalent level… spontaneously. 4 different class abilities are listed with the text conflicting with the table (one of them is a full 4 levels off!), and 3 other class abilities don't specify when they are gained, leaving us at the mercy of said table for guidance.

After those points, I must confess that I stopped paying close attention to what was going on in this book. There is an archetype for the class, as well as 6 spells, 3 magic items and some short write-ups for Old Ones, but the heart of the book is completely broken, and the flavor is not enough to redeem it.

Verdict: Unless there is a major revision, I cannot recommend this book to anyone, despite its solid premise. If an update is released, I'm certainly willing to revisit this.

Whilst presented as a new base class, it is likely that the eldritch conjuror is going to be more useful as an NPC. Not only is he required to be of 'not good' alignment, he progressively goes off his head as he is taken over by whatever elder creature from beyond the stars that he has embraced to gain his powers.

Eldritch conjurors have taken summoning to new heights (depths?), and study many dark rituals and forbidden tomes to acquire the knowledge they crave. Functioning in a similar manner to a wizard, one important difference is that when they summon a creature, they get an aberrant variant of that creature. Tentacles abound! Mechanically, this is handled by applying a pseudonatural template (which is provided later on in the book) to the creature in question.

They deal with Powers That Should Not Be from the earliest days of their career, so it is no suprise that they tread the fringes of madness. Along the way they acquire a 'profane idol' - a hideous otherworldy item sent by their patron - enter into blasphemous packs and acquire forbidden knowledge: in short, they're classic evil mages!

Once the class has been detailed completely, we're provided with a selection of profane idols - each one provides different effects, so pick one that suits - as well as a couple of archetypes, new spells and a few items. Finally, there is a selection of Powers That Should Not Be - new ones, should you have been wondering if these conjurors are chatting to Cthulhu and his ilk. Of course, if you want to substitute the Cthulhu mythos that would work fine - but they are well known in the gaming community, so you may prefer to go with the suggestions here to maintain the mystery and horror of finally finding out who the eldritch conjuror is aligned with!

One or two jumbled sentences, but otherwise excellent potential for building a potent Bad Guy especially if you like an element of classical evil mage horror in your game.