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Crimson Contracts is a 127-page pdf all about assassins and the art of assassination. The book covers everything that from new prestige classes to new poison and from new feats to new originations. The book also follows the hiring of an assassination by Ralts Bloodthorne. I like how they follow this character and introduce the features of the book with him and his quest to hire the perfect assassin. It gives a great insight into the world and really adds a level to the readability of the book. There is a story to follow, as one reads from chapter to chapter and the story does not interfere of eclipse the purpose of the book.
The book comes in two versions. The first is for use on the computer while the other is designed for easy printing. I personally like this as it allows for optimum use no matter which the user wants to use the product. The art is nice and stylish. I really think it fits the product well with a feeling of evil in them. The format is really easy to read and the table of contents will help when locating specific things. The book does not have an index, which is something I like to see in all products.
The book does a very good job of covering many different types of assassins from the sneaking to the brute, the seductive to the cunning. I was very impressed with the variety of types they have.
The book starts with the roles of the assassin. It takes one through the many different types of assassins. Then it goes into the methods of the assassin like the investigation of the target and ways of dealing with him. The information here is very good and thorough. There are some mature themes and it is handled very matter of fact like.
The next chapter deals with skills and feats. There are many new uses for old skills and some good variant rules here. The feats are pretty good with some interesting ones like Run By attack and Exude Venom. While there are not many feats they are very creative and many unlike anything I?ve seen published yet.
Core and Prestige classes comes next and I?m not so sure about the new core classes. They are designed for NPCs as classes geared towards NPC Assassins and their ilk. However, I?m not sure the more NPC classes are really that needed. I would have preferred to see a single, versatile NPC class. The three core classes look well done and balanced so there should not be any problems with using them. One interesting thing they did with prestige classes was making them of various power levels. This allows the DM to select the prestige classes whose power fits his campaign. The Brutal Killer is basically a psychopath who is devastating in combat and very hard to kill. Then there is the Femme Fatale who uses seduction to kill her victims. And then there is my favorite, the Fist of Righteousness. These are Lawful Good assassins who are chosen by their god to act as judge, jury, and executioner. There are many other good prestige classes and they are of a variety of power levels.
Next is the tools of the trade chapter. It is filled with many things that an assassin will want and need in his job. There are twenty new poisons and I really think they are creative and well done. Not all of them just do attribute damage. There are some that cause pain, swelling, dumbness, and many other cool effects. There are some new magical diseases and a good deal of new equipment, weapons, magical items, and artifacts. There are even psionic items in here and that is a big plus in my book.
New Spells is the next chapter. There are not many spells, but the ones that are there are very well done. There?s a spell to hide a weapon on one?s familiar. There?s a spell that makes your alignment appear differently. And there is a nice spell that renders the subject mute. This is a very nice selection of new spells.
The following chapter is Templates. In it are seven new, and creative templates. My favorite of these is the Winter?s Child. A Winter?s Child appears as a teenage albino. They are swift and do well in cold climates. The other templates are also very good and many of them like Poison Child are quite insidious.
Then the book covers new organizations. Each gives how they have rankings, traditional clothing, markings, or weapon, places they would lair, and some methods of operation. These are well done and many should easily fit in the standard campaign.
Lastly are some variant rules. There are new torture rules that I find much better then the ones presented in the Book of Vile Darkness. There are also rules for breaking someone?s neck, using a garrote, choke holds, and instant kills using the kukri and sickle. Then there is a sample encounter.
This is a very good book about assassins and the range of information is compelling. Many of the prestige classes, new rules, and ideas presented here can also be used in a modern or other type of setting with a little work. Ambient should be very proud of this book, as I believe it is their strongest book to date.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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There are many resources out there (and right here) for the assassin prestige classes - many dealing with poisons, alternate classes, feats, skills, equipment and the like. Many are adequate, providing a look into a particular aspect of the world of the assassin. These books are good if you already have an established background for assassins in your campaign. This is not one of those books.
Instead, Crimson Contracts is the book of assassins, encompassing all aspects of the underworld of killers. Every aspect of the class is not only dealt with, it is handled with uncommon detail, thoroughness and humor. If you are looking to fill out the role of assassins in your world, this should be the very first resource you go to.
I cannot recommend this highly enough; I have purchased dozens of books through RPGNow, and while I've been happy with most, this is easily one of my top three purchases.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: The writing style, the depth of information, the layout, and the sheer 'bang for the buck'. 120+ pages of great, non-redundant information. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Absolutely, positively, painfully wonderful! This is by far the best piece of PDF RPG material I've ever read! I stayed up late reading it, and if you're into Assassin stuff, then I HIGHLY recommend it.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Extremely unique and detail oriented, original, VERY well done writing and description.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing, really. It served its purpose wonderfully.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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see my ratings as addressed in the sections below.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Worth it just for 2 spells. Haven't even read the rest yet.
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The beautiful cover is what first drew me to this PDF. Nicely designed, attractive art and layout, and powerful ideas make this a nice addition to assassins in D20. Valuable if your campaign has an assassin's guild that takes an active part in some of your adventures.
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Creator Reply: |
"It would have been nice to have a quick list of how many prints of type X or Y are needed to assemble the overview map."
That's a great idea, Sean. Thanks for that! I'll have a word with the developers and see if we can't do that for future products.
And thanks for the positive comments. I'm glad you liked the tiles.
Happy gaming,
-M-
Martin, Talisman Studios Publisher |
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There's a lot good about this product. Creative spells, interesting PrCs, new poisons and items...but there are also a whole slew of errors, unbalanced bits, and downright lousy parts.
Many of the skills are either redundant or useless, and one (alchemy) becomes a must-have skill for Assassins. Among the feats, Run-By Attack grants the ability to move one's run speed, make an attack, and move one's run speed again. That's 2 full-round actions and one standrd action in one round, and it doesn't even require Spring Attack. The alternate core classes uniformly suck--any of them could be duplicated by a lower-level Rogue or Rogue/Assassin. (The Psionic Assassin, mentioned in the Table of Contents (which doesn't even give page numbers), appears nowhere). Many PrC abilities are extremely vague as to their in-game effect (the Fist of Righteousness gets at level one the extraordinary ability to "listen to the evidence, and decide guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented." A level 1 commoner can do this.). The new diseases and poisons are nice, but act odd mechanically (one is not affected by Neutralize Poison or Heal, but it never explains why). The magical items also have lots of errors, like the item that tries to bring back weapon speeds by granting +1 initiative when shooting a bow. The spells are generally fairly cool, except for the one that does 1d10 Con damage as a level 2 Sor/Wiz spell, thus totally stealing the Druid's thunder.
In conclusion, the book is probably worth the $7.50 I paid for it, but not the $11.50 it normally goes for. I'll probably use some of it, especially the PrCs and poisons, but the rest is just generally lousy.
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How many Assassin class books does the D20 system need? Fortunately Ambient decided that one more couldn't hurt and came up with a cracker. This has to be the best book on Assassins yet. Its got so much to it - its much more than simply a book for power-gamers to find a 'sick' PrC to play; loads of really good stuff for GMs to integrate into their games. I was especially impressed with the new NPC classes to help you flash out your theives guilds!. - GREAT!
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Well, let's see... I bought this book on my birthday, the day it was released. I wasn't expecting to buy it until a week later, at least, but because my website was hacked... I needed some cheering up. What I received, was more then that--
Wonderful! Spectacular! Excellent! I have never, in my life, seen such particulars in writing for a game. I especially, was fascinated by the prestige classes offered for the dark world of the Assassin! It's been amazing so far, as I read from "cover" to "cover".
Though I have not yet tried in game play, I am eager as ever to do so, moreso then when I first had the 3E Player's Handbook in my grubby hands... The rules seems exceptionally solid and the layout is fantastic for the book itself. If you buy one e-book this year, let THIS be the one!
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Dark and Deadly. A masterpiece.
Dark and brooding, this is definitely THE assassin's book in a year of four releases on this topic. The art is fantastic and moody. Layout is solid, easy to read and nice to print. Editing is good, with no typos jumping off the page to be noticed. If there was a "Quintessential Assassin" book, this would be it. The book launches with an excellent perspective on assassins, assassination, methods, mindsets and societal roles, and then introduces new skills and new uses for old skills (including extended rules for seduction, handling poisons and intimidation).
Then 15 prestige classes come out and grab you. Most of these are great, with some only coming in as "good". The Phantasmal Assassin is an Illusionist / Assassin crossbreed, Dancers of the Scarves are women who have learned to be deadly using only the minimum of weapons, scarves and kimonos (a fantastic addition to an Oriental Adventures campaign), adn in a break from the "evil only" aim of the assassin class from the DMG, there are even classes for Paladins and other zealous religious fanatics with the need to slay. The classes appeal to me because each is different, some are derivative of the core Assassin Prestige Class, while others are entirely new creations with little in common with the "lurking in shadows, poisoned dagger" assassin.
The selection of new poisons are both "evil" and interesting, with many being significantly more powerful than the poisons in the core rules, with high price tags to match. Very nice for dealing with Epic characters. The tools of the trade include a variety of garrotes as well as rules for their use, some appropriate new weapons, and some fantastic magic & psionic items such as the Second Skin and the Shard Blade. Plus there is a selection of new spells.
A true gem, and a surprise from a book about assassins, are the creature templates. 7 truly evil templates to make anything deadly, and that would complement any dark slayer. This is truly a DMs toolkit here, something to drive fear into the hearts of players.
Finally there are optional rules for garroting, breaking necks, torture (detailed rules without getting into the ugly details of torture itself), chokeholds and kukris.
This was truly $7.50 well spent, especially if you like your assassins dark, sinister and DEADLY.
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This is an excellent resource for GM's. Any DM should find lots of stuff here that will fit the power level of his campaign. The classes and prestige classes range from too weak to too strong, but they are clearly labelled as "not recommended for PC's". People familiar with the Libra Equites will recognize a similarity in style in the prestige classes.
The templates are unusual. If you have picked up "Bodies and Souls" you'll have experienced off-beat templates like these ones. (This review is not meant to be a plug for other products, btw. But if you liked them, you'll like this, and vice versa).
Crimson Contracts is quite dark. Creepy artwork like that which adorns the cover is found inside, along with a story-line that ends rather disturbingly. It complements the rules material quite well.
Oh, and I just did a search of the document, and there are no instances of "kneck" in Crimson Contracts.
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