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101 1st Level Spells (5E) $5.99
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101 1st Level Spells (5E)
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101 1st Level Spells (5E)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Gaetan V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/04/2016 17:38:51

Lacks professional editing and polish. For a $6 PDF book, I expect a lot more.

Polish issues

  • Text Splitting. Text is regularly split across pages. On page 12 the description of Escape Grapple is on the next page, on page 13, the last line of Glamour runs on the next page. This isn't a print book, so I'm not sure why we're trying to conserve space over readability here.
  • There's a "Summary" section at the front, but it's split across two columns in a way that makes it really awkward to read.
  • The Borrow Skill and Glamour spells both have text alignment problems.

Professional Editing

  • Terminolgy layout. In 5e, the wording on things like saves and checks are very standard. The Pass without Trace spell has the following: "...has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks...". In this book, the spell Keen Senses has the line: "...advantage on Wisdom(perception)..."
  • More Terminology. There's a spell called Gloomlight that is a Light spell that adds color to Darkvision. It's a cool idea, but I would expect the wording to look a lot like the Light spell. Instead it fails to copy the structure and becomes unusable as a result.
  • There are lots and lots of awkward sentences and just outright typos. Here's a sample from Avert Attack: "You're quick spells keep your friends save."
  • There are spells with range touch that say you instead of touched creature/object. This is clearly a spell that cannot be used as written.

Lack of rules knowledge

  • Some spells reference "Low-light vision" or object Hardness or "full-round action". None of these are things in 5e. I would expect a professional editor to catch this stuff on the first pass.
  • Lack of correct terminolgy affects all kinds of things. The spell Guilt not only has some typos, it doesn't really work. It says the target "is denied any action except to protect itself". "Protect Yourself" is not an Action in 5e. This spell should be very specific, something like "cannot take any Actions, Reactions or Bonus Actions". It also has clause to "shake off" the effect, but wording on the clause is completely different from the otherwise similar Hold Person spell.
  • Spells like Energy Weapon and Energy Missile are very powerful and frankly a little bland.

Overall This is a book filled with good ideas. There are lots of ideas here that could become staple spells for a campaign.

But the spells are simply not ready "as written". Most of them need some type of editing to come in line with the 5e style.

For $3 you can get great stuff from Kobold Press that doesn't have this problem.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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101 1st Level Spells (5E)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Trev W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/08/2015 20:17:18

If you want very low level spells for multiple classes, and to have a lot of spellcasting options, here you are. What surprises me are two things. First, they have been very efficient in cramming the spell lists and descriptions into only 29 pages—you won’t get lost in hundreds of pages of spells. So it is quite well contained. The second thing is the art. Good quality images are here, and for spells like torchbearer the creepy humanoid bearing a torch, made me immediately want to check out the spell, which didn’t disappoint.

This is quite clearly for 5th ed and the number of spells per class is pretty well balanced, even the paladins are not left behind! Of course, the wizards/sorcerers get the most spells. Earth Charger, to enhance a mount and allow them to plough through enemies is excellent, and comes with good art; Hidden Shelter would be extremely useful (look to what it blocks out and protects you from, and it is for a large party) so that gets a mention; Id Seizure and just sapping actions from a target as you overwhelm them with “primitive urges” is quite amusing and poison weapon could really give the (painful and debilitating) edge to low level combat (everyone loves doing more damage, without the fuss of fiddling or worrying about poisons too much). Pressure spray also does a nice amount of damage and gives the “shooter” of the spray a good nonlethal option (the damage can kill, or doesn’t if you do not want it to). Good thinking went into designing this spell. Lastly, Share sacrifice where you take away half of the target’s damage and take half of that upon yourself would be great for combat spellcaster builds that have hp to spare and want to be able to help their party survive by taking away half of their damage at any time. I like this spell (and there are many others I also think are excellent).

Conclusion It is good, it is the worth the money. There are some well-designed spells here and many of them are very interesting and would add new tactical options and possible actions to an adventuring party. 5/5



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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