One of the better takes on the witch class for a modern d20 game. Lots of useful material here including two new classes, some FX items and spells. Can be used with other d20 games with a bit of tinkering, or used with other d20 witch classes.

As with all of the Arcane Classes series from 93 Games Studios, you get a fair amount of information packed into a compact pdf package, beginning with a brief introduction of Wiccan precepts, practices, and terminology. The Wiccan advanced class is, as has been pointed out in other reviews, not one that is designed fro frontline combat, having only the most minimal offensive ability (Glyph of Warding is the most dangerous spell on their list). However, they make up for it with a plethora of defensive, healing, and divination magic and class features, designed to assist and protect their fellows. The Wiccan High Priestess prestige class furthers these abilities and emphasizes bonding with allies. While not every player will be intrigued by playing such a support character, GMs will likely find such a support NPC extremely useful.

Also incuded are 10 new spells Levels 0 to 5, many of which may also be used by the Hermetic Mage and Shaman advanced classes from the same publisher, (I particularly like the Binding spell, which prevents a foe from taking any aggressive actions, although the mechanics of Book Blessing are a little vague, as it seems to be cut and pasted from Glyph of Warding without the specifics changed), a new incantation, 3 nifty new feats, and 5 flavorful new FX items that fit into a modern setting better than straight imports of D20 Fantasy magic items.

93 Games Studios does decent work, and if you're running a D20 Modern campaign in the Dark*Matter, Shadow Chasers/Shadow Stalkers, or Urban Arcana settings, you'll find a lot of good material from them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Arcane Classes Wicca

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: THe little details on the Wicca religion<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: mechancis are a bit strong<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

?Arcane Classes: Wicca? is a seventeen page PDF document which presents the ?real life? magic of Wicca in a d20 format. Wicca is explained as a ?modern interpretation of the ?Old Religion? of the indigenous people of Northern Europe.?

The seventeen pages include the one page cover, one page of credits, one page with a table of contents, one page of advertising for other 93 Games Studio products, and one page for the Open Game License. There are four images, besides the cover and advertising, in the product. Two of them are pentagrams enclosed in a circle, one of them is an illustration of three robed figures standing before a smoking cauldron, and the last is an overhead image of a woman in a black hooded robe in a ?mystical? style.

?Arcane Classes: Wicca? begins with an introduction to Wicca. It describes the focus of worship and presents the images with symbolic value to Wiccan worshipers. It goes on to present a little history and the central tenet of the religion. The text of this product is divided into thirteen sections which are each briefly discussed below.

The Three-Fold Law This section is one paragraph that principle underlying the Wiccan magic system and ties it to the central Wiccan tenet presented in the introduction.

Holidays This is a slightly longer, though still short, section which presents the importance and relevance of holidays to the Wiccan calendar. It lists the eight important dates for easy reference.

The 13 Principles This section presents thirteen principles that Wiccan worshipers have adopted. These include statements concerning their reasons for practicing witchcraft, an explanation of the source of their power, an explanation of their worldview, and their position with respect to other religions.

Wiccans This three paragraph section describes the typical backgrounds of Wiccans. It touches upon their dress, their meetings, their titles, and their relationships.

Wiccan Tools This four paragraph section discusses material objects used for withcraft such as the witch?s athame (ritual knife) and elemental symbols.

Wiccan Rituals This two paragraph section describes the source of Wiccan power for their rituals and the forms in which the invocation rituals take. These include dance, chanting, or poetry.

Terminology This section defines thirty-one different terms relevant to witchcraft. These include athame, coven, grimoire, pentacle, and witch.

Wiccan This section presents the Wiccan advanced class for d20 Modern. It includes information on skills, allegience, and holy symbols. In addition, it presents the class information for the Wiccan advanced class, such as hit die, action points, class skills, and the class features. The level progression chart is presented for the ten levels of the Wiccan advanced class. At each of the ten levels the Wiccan character will gain spells and one additional class feature. These additional class features include, among other novel abilities, the ability to summon a familiar, bonuses to skills relevant to the witch?s empathic ?openness? to those nearby, and to craft magic items.

High Priestess This section presents the High Priestess prestige class. It includes the same format as described above. The High Priestess is a five level prestige class. The level progression includes a special ability at each of the five levels. These abilities include the ability to form a connection with a willing subject. This connection extends the High Priestess? magical effects to the subject. This ability improves twice in the level progression after initially gaining it. In addition, the High Priestess gains an enhanced ability to cast spells.

Wiccan Spells This section begins by listing each of the spells available on the Wiccan spell list for levels zero through five. There are nine 0 level spells, eleven 1st level spells, thirteen 2nd level spells, ten 3rd level spells, ten 4th level spells, and ten 5th level spells. In all, ten of the spells available to Wiccan practitioners are new spells which are subsequently described. These are all consistent with the overall feel of the Wiccan practices described earlier in the product. For example, one of the spells prevents the target from taking any action that causes any harm to another, including causing any negative status effects. This section also includes on Wiccan Incantation, which is a three day ritual that results in a buff with a duration of three days on the caster.

New Feats This section presents three new, relevant feats. The first identifies the character as the offspring of a witch, and is only available at character creation. The second enhances the character?s ability to brew potions. The last provides benefits to an ability and skills based on the character?s status as an ?old soul?, and is only available at character creation.

FX Items Five items are described in this section which are appropriate for a Wiccan practitioner. These include a cauldron, a small knife, a bracelet, a book of magic, and a small stone. Each item description includes information on it?s type, caster level, purchase DC, and weight. Four of the items are of type ?Wonderous Item (Magic)?, the fifth is of type ?Armor (Magic)?. The items bestow a variety of effects, including bonuses to skills and bonuses to saving throws.

Support Materials This section presents five websites that might be of interest to anyone interested in including witchcraft in their campaign.

Overall, this is an interesting product if you would like to enhance your campaign with witchcraft but you are unsure about your ability to correctly set the stage. Both classes, the spells, the feats, and the items are presented with the appropriate flavor for witchcraft.

The strength of the mechanics of this product end up highlighting the sparse treatment that the background flavor information were given. Most readers are likely to be unfamiliar with modern Wiccan practices. This barrier must be broken for an authentic and complete portrayal of these characters. As this product targets those interested in incorporating this modern aspect of witchcraft, the background introduction is likely something that many buyers will end up relying on. The identification of web sites with relevant information helps to soften this blow as there is sufficient information on the internet to satisfy the curiosity of most. Providing some more depth to the discussion included in the beginning of this product would reduce the number of purchasers that felt they had to do additional research to those looking for the most realistic portrayal of the practices of modern witchcraft. This product will disappoint those seeking a product that has done all the preparatory work and will not require consideration of some difficult questions, such as how does the moral code fit into the campaign world.

In the end, the flavorful campaign components presented here, when combined with at least a preliminary review of the suggested materials and some critical thinking, make the incorporation of witchcraft into your modern campaign simpler and more natural to the setting than might be as a result of an unguided first effort.

To rousing gaming and ample rewards, I. Perez <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>:

1. Consistently maintains promised flavor in the mechanics. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>:
2. Minimal presentation of background information. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Arcane Classes: Wicca is the first of 93 Games Studios? line of supplements focusing on Modern d20 spells and spellcasting based on ?real life? magic. The product is seventeen pages long. However, with the cover, introduction/credits, table of contents, advertisements, and OGL, you only get a dozen pages of material altogether.

The product is black and white, save for the cover. It has few illustrations, and the few it does have are in grey. This is good, since no printer-friendly version is included. It does, however, include bookmarks along with its hyperlinked table of contents.

The book opens with the introduction talking about the formation and growth of 93 Games Studios. A sidebar also mentions that, although this is covering a real religion, it?s meant to be both respectful, and a fictitious interpretation.

The first few pages of the book act as an introduction to Wicca. Briefly covered are the history of Wicca, the Three-Fold Law (whatever you do to others comes back to you three-fold), Wiccan holidays, the thirteen major principles that govern the Wiccan faith, their tools, rituals, and a handy guide of Wiccan terminology.

The first section with game mechanics begins about four pages in, after the explanatory material. First presented is the Wiccan advanced class. This 10-level class grants divine spellcasting ability of up to 5th level, along with a few powers. Following this is the High Priestess prestige class, which is a 5-level class building on and supplementing the Wiccan advanced class; it offers increased spellcasting, as well as powers meant to help tie a Wiccan closer to members of their coven.

The Wiccan spell list is given next. Perusing this list quickly reveals what was only hinted at before: the major weakness of playing a Wiccan character is the near-total lack of offensive power. While that theme is laid out in the flavor text section, and is hinted at in the class material (which have a very poor base attack bonus and no offensive powers), seeing a spell list with only defensive, utility, and healing spells drives the point home very fast. Ten new spells and one new incantation are also presented.

Three feats and five new FX items (magic items) round out the product. Following that are a few links to websites with more information on Wicca, then a page of ads, and then the OGL.

There can be no doubt that Arcane Classes: Wicca does an excellent job of putting this spellcasting religion in Modern d20 stats (at least, it seems so, judging from the information about the religion in the book itself). However, I feel that the major weakness of this product comes from the lack of information about how to actually play a Wiccan character. It?s a staple that adventurers of any stripe will get into fights; how does a character sworn to do no harm deal with that? How does a character with no offensive spells justify his worth to the party? These are the sorts of questions that this book should cover, but doesn?t.

That said, this is still an excellent product. All of the necessary mechanics to play a truly Wiccan character are here, and are done very well and presented in a fashion that is both informative and pleasant to read. Arcane Classes: Wicca is definitely a strong choice for any Modern d20 game. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The excellent summary of the important points regarding the history and practice of the Wiccan faith. The excellent d20 write up that captures the feel of what a Wiccan priest would be like.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: This product didn't cover how a Wiccan character would adventure; having a religious tenet of doing no harm, and having no offensive spells, can be a major weakness for a d20 character.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A good start for their d20 publishing, I look forward to more from them. The material is very well researched, and the pdf has a clean and easy to read layout. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I liked the depth of research that went into this product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A well balanced class, very promising venture from their main system into something new.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: A lot of background information useful for roleplaying and even links to other websites if the player or dm would like to research further.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>