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Magicka Serrella - A Book of Magic
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/20/2018 14:23:04

A great purchase and well worth your cash. However, nothing is perfect, so here's my critisms:

  1. The cover is enormous. It sounds like a weird complain, but the pages are like 1/8th the size of the cover.
  2. While the font choice is excellent, the spell list has a lot of white space between lines. A slightly larger font and smaller space would be easier on the eyes.
  3. The class identifiers in the spell list are ok, but the spell level headers could be a little bolder.
  4. The fancy "medieval" style letters are nice to look at, but it makes the layouts really awkward. Perhaps shrink the letter down to make things flow better.
  5. The page numbers are ALL on the same side. If you were to print this, that would look very very bad.

Still reading through to find out if the spell conversion balance is good, but so far it all reads as balanced. I guess actual play might be needed to determine how balanced these are.

Edit: Updated to 5 stars after author took care of issues.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Magicka Serrella - A Book of Magic
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for your kind words! I'll have a look at the layout issues. If I can improve them, I will. I have zero idea what's up with the cover, but I'll address it if I can. I really sweated over balance, and I hope if I made an error, it's on the side of nerfing rather than letting anything overpowered slip through. If you have thoughts on that, I'm all ears! Thanks again, Bob
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Monsters Without Borders
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/12/2018 09:23:09

For Charity? Amazing, they could've slapped a 5 dollar price tag on it and the thing still would have felt perfectly priced. The creatures in here come from a wide number of authors, meaning you have a very diverse lineup.

Edit: It was supposed to be 5/5, my review was on my phone and I hit the wrong number!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Monsters Without Borders
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Creator Reply:
Thanks so much! Glad you loved MWB :) Just a quick question... did you accidentally select a 4star rating? Or was there some feedback for us to consider? Many thanks!!
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That's perfect thanks Bryan!! Thank you!
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New and Updated Feats and Racial Traits
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:41:24

From layout to artwork, this supplement is difficult to look at. Nothing in it follows the baseline balance that already exists in the game, making most of the content found within significantly better than what you'll currently find in the game. Also for some reason, the author decided to re-do Animate Dead and make it more powerful? Overall, I do not recommend.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
New and Updated Feats and Racial Traits
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Feats Volume 1
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:39:08

16 feats that neither outshine nor are outshone by the PHB ones. All are well balanced and can be used at any table without concern for balance. Good stuff.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Feats Volume 1
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Swashbuckler Class
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:38:02

"Full Class" type supplements often can be better represented as a specialization of one of the normal classes. For example, Swashbuckler could be a Rogue, Ranger or Fighter. Instead we get something that's not quite any of those things (although it IS mostly rogue). You gain a fighting style, which to me makes no sense as swashbuckling should BE the fighting style you're trying to create. The class has "Swashing points" to do specific attacks, which are all mostly things characters can do right now as an action. So it just allows you to do these things in tandem with your attack, making a swashbucklers attacks better than most characters.

Additionally they get jack of all trades from bard for some reason, extra attacks and AC bonuses, and can learn the exact meta-stats of a target if they observe it. THEN it also gets archetypes. Honestly, this is a classic example of going too far.

That being said, if you're looking for a swashbuckler that will end up outclassing the rest of your party, can use firearms, and comes with their own armor that only works vs melee? Then this is the class for you!



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Swashbuckler Class
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Subclass Supplement
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:32:13

A collection of specializations for the classes (one each) of varying quality. I like a lot of the ideas here but mechanically many of them fall short. The Barbarian getting ki points, but not describing how they work with multi-class acquired ki points is troublesome. The bard has a bunch of abilities that are all quite lengthy and would require re-reading them any time the player wanted to use it. The Journey Domain tracks how far a player has moved to gain charges, which is functionally difficult. It just goes on from there.

I'm rating this three stars because it could be better, with a lot more work. The ideas and themes are fantastic, but it's just the execution that is flawed.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Subclass Supplement
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Chistopher Grey's A Few Backgrounds
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:27:29

This is a great supplement with many solid ideas for backgrounds, however this is rated three stars instead of four because the author has gone against the current mechanical methods for backgrounds and granted you an additional +1 bonus when you are already proficient in something. 5e doesn't really work well with +x bonuses and rarely gives them out. Certainly not in backgrounds.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Chistopher Grey's A Few Backgrounds
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Arcane Armoury - Volume 1; 40 Magic Items
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:23:50

40 magic items, all across a variety of rarity levels, that all comes with origins describing where they come from narratively as well as being quite balanced? It's a feat to pull off but the author here does an admirable job. With very few items I wouldn't allow at my table, I can say that this is one of those books most DMs should have!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Arcane Armoury - Volume 1; 40 Magic Items
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Core Class Options
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 14:21:55

This document is designed to be used with the PHB or SRD, giving players more options for the 'core' characters of Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard. Below, I'll review each specialization :

Cleric

Beauty Domain - I was interested in this at first, because there ARE gods of beauty in the Forgotten Realms and so it makes sense as a domain. The domain spells are great, but that's where "great" ends. At first level, you gain proficiency with heavy armor? WHY? You can chanel divinity to charm humanoids, which is cool, although the document should follow the standard of writing and put in what that means (the effect of Charmed). Not that you can't look it up, but it's better when it's included. At 6th level you can use your Channel Divinity to frighten creatures, which I don't understand why that belongs with the beauty domain. Then at 8th level you get your wisdom damage added to cantrips. Overall it just doesn't click thematically.

Disease Domain - Another exciting domain for how prevelant the disease/poison gods are in Faerun, this was much better. All of it's abilities are thematically cohesive and remain balanced and I literally have nothing that could be negative to say.

Fighter

Beast Blood Warrior - A shape shifting fighter who becomes a boar, bear or wolf. All of the abilities you gain are great, except the 18th level one. Summoning a large number of low CR beasts feels like it would slow down combat too much.

Pit Fighter - A dirty fighting fighter. The abilities here are all quite what I would expect, if a little tame. Some more editing could have gone into this class, with lots of "(Attack Action)" after an ability to denote what sort of action it is, where they should have written the abilities "As an attack action..." but not bad.

Rogue

Brigand - A more martial rogue, expanding on the number of weapons the rogue can use as well as which ones benefit sneak attack. It doesn't do much other than that, which is a bit of a disappointment as these abilities often give you some stuff you can RP with.

Scout - A ranger-like rogue. They move quickly, can spot things easily, and fight at range. I like the "Light Feet" ability preventing them from being hindered by magical and nonmagical difficult terrain.

Wizard

Animancer - Focusing on animating objects, repairing damage goods magically, and commanding their animated lackies around. It's actually quite good, for it uses your action to tell your constructs to do things but they'll continue to do them until the task is complete.

Thaumaturgist - This wizard specialization looks into all things ummoning and the planes. It's basically a summoner, but having an alternative to the conjurer in the PHB is a great thing.

So overall the classes came across very well with only the beauty domain being sort of... halfway there. Everything else I'd say is usable.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Core Class Options
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Additional Feats
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:47:06

A series of feats that all seem balanced so far. A few of them have gotten some use at my table, and they all fit with D&D well!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Additional Feats
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Visions of the Vault - Magic Item Compendium
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:40:50

With this many magic items you're sure to run into some you do not like, but overall I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't love more than half of these. Excellent lore behind them as well and the illustrations don't hurt either!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Visions of the Vault - Magic Item Compendium
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The Enchanter's Handbook
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:39:33

Thematically, I don't love this. But what I do like is seeing some old 3.5 spells brought back in 5th, and reasonably well balanced.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Enchanter's Handbook
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The NPC Creator
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:37:45

A fine list of inspiration, but nothing I'm not able to find elsewhere. If it were to have some extras, such as numbers for random rolls, then perhaps the added value would make the product more appealing.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The NPC Creator
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Umbero's Compendium of Ancient Archetypes
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:36:34

Thematically, there's a lot to love here. But I cannot recommend a book that is this poorly balanced. As always, give it a read yourself but this is one of those supplements that I just can't endorse.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Umbero's Compendium of Ancient Archetypes
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Way of the Drunken Fist - A Monastic Tradition for Monks
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2018 13:35:12

I rated this three stars because I'm trying to remain neutral. Unlike the WOTC Drunken Master, this one actually drinks and gets drunk. Is one better than the other? No, and that's to your own taste. I'm not actually a fan of how being drunk was implemented, but that's a design thing and not a question of if it's good or not. Give it a read, maybe you'll like it!



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Way of the Drunken Fist - A Monastic Tradition for Monks
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your feedback! I admit, I think the Way of the Drunken Fist is one of our weaker class archetypes. It was made before their was an "official" one, and we figured it was such an obvious addition, it just needed to be out there. In an effort to improve as designers, are there any particular areas of the design that you don't like and we should try and improve upon?
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