This and his other artwork needs to be clarified. On the RPGNow.com site for this product (and the other portfolios) says "When a person acquires Image Portfolio, any of the art in the PDF can be used in any of their own products as if they owned it them(selves)[sic]." However, the PDF states that the pictures may not be modified in any way. Being that this is only done in PDF - it makes it very difficult to use this product. I must first extract the page that I want to use, then adjust it in PhotoShop or other editing software to fit my page management. If this offered in PDF to view the products and then again in .tiff format to better use then this product would be worth it's money. Until that is corrected, this review stands.

I expected this book, written by a former (or maybe even current) WotC employee, to be better - or at least different. Almost all new d20 books have a PrC or two. For some, thats all they have. This book has four PrC's, all dedicated to sword or weapon ownership. It's this sword ownership that I expected to be expanded upon. I expected, as a DM or even a player, to be able to design a weapon that was generic at the Player Characters level one and two, and after a few adventures gain power.

For example, I wrote a cool history about my PC's shield. The PC and his mentor were both weapon and armorsmiths and together both forged the item. I used the shield to bash opponents more than I used any other weapon - even with the shield being in my off hand and not having a high enough Dex to have a bunch of cool abilities.

So I was hoping this cool new book would give me ideas and such of how this ordinary shield might just become magicial on its own, and advance as I advanced. No such luck. Sure the shield could be inserted for sword - but I'd still have to join some PrC class to be able to do so. So since my DM requires a PC to be of 10th level to join a PrC - even if the requirement is low enough for 2nd level characters to join - I'm out of luck. By the time I reach 10th level, I'd have a new shield. Or my DM and I would come up with it having powers on its own, without the need or use of this book.

So if your looking for another PrC to join - one that then has your weapon advance, then ok, maybe this is for you. If your looking for ordinary weapons to advance, maybe the section undre Legendary Weapons is for you. But I think the concept and reasoning behind the Legendary Weapons is just way too over the top and is not what I was expecting from the "blurb" promoting the product.

As such, I'd say that TGM owes me $5. If this were a print book, I'd see it on my Retail Shop's shelf - glance through it, read a headline here, read a section there and decide to purchase or place it on the shelf again. What makes one by a PDF product is that its generally cheap and you buy from certain companies. TGM is one such company that, as current and former WotC employees, you'd expect good products from. This is not the case with this product. Or it could be a good product - but not what it was hyped to be. That's what makes the product a dud in my book.

This is a DM's product. I like this. When I give treasure to my players I don't give them a +1 sword. I give a +1 Sword of Numio, a +1 Sword of the Church of Light, or a +1 Sword of Jequ. Mage's don't just sit around creating magic items for the mass market (unless you play in the forgotten realms). If you can't come up with a name and history for a magical item your giving out, this book will come up with it for you. But this is not just a book of +1 Swords with Names, however, there are swords and weapons, like the Masterwork Flame Dagger and Slayer of Evil (a hammer). There is also clothes, vases, tapestry's, and even the Stone Tankard. The histories of the items are generic enough to allow for future customization. Many times I don't want to give another pile of gold, and having this to get ideas from will make a great addition to my other treasure item ideas. If you've got plenty of ideas yourself or have specifics in mind when leaving treasure for your party then this product may be of little use to you. On the other hand, for $3 you get 101 ideas to leach from.

A book filled with spellbooks is great. This book is nicely done. Littered thoughout is Larry Elmore art - I presume from his free d20 list. If spellbooks were listed in some sense of order - books focusing on armor spells, spellbooks detailing death, etc... it would make it an easier sourcebook. The descriptions detailing the outside and the inside, as well as the spells are entertaining. This book can easily make a DM's job easier. I'd like to see a cover on this book. The "fake cover" that is used - a half cover with an introduction - shows a minor lack of professionalism (but then M.Cook did the same with Eldritch Might [before the name change and other corrections, including a new cover]). If you add this sourcebook with that of Bastion Press's Ink & Quill (a free sourcebook) and a DM or Player with a real excitement for the written word (my current PC is a Book Merchant that focuses on Music Books) you've got a great $3 investment.

Buy It. Buy It Now. This is good stuff. You have ideas of what your looking for - but not something complete - use this. Your players want to know whats on the shelf someplace - this is the place. If you want something specific its got 'em. I think I'll be using it to mix and match - use something from one section combined with another section. Art leaves a little to be desired, but it's ok, it only costs $5. And it allows it to print easily (only the cover is in color). The only bad thing that I don't like is that it comes in multiple sections. Each of the 13 locations are broken down (i.e. a .pdf for each). Overall I'd say 4 1/2 out of 5!