Three simple points: (1) best RPG setting I've ever read (for context, I've played rpgs for over 30 years). The world is rich and there are some real wows when you read through the world... (2) excellent adaption of 5E - actually outshining WotC big time (3) such a beautiful book that I own two copies - one that just sits on a shelf because I want it to remain unblemished because it's so beautiful.

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Arcanis 5E Campaign Setting

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product- Arcanis 5E Campaign Setting System- DnD 5e Producer-Paradigm Concepts, Inc. Price- $25.00 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234910/Arcanis-5E-Campaign-Setting?affiliate_id=658618 TL; DR-Shades of grey are finally comprehensible! 95%

Basics-For the EMPIRE! FOR ILLIIR! Arcanis was a campaign setting for 3.5 DnD which grew to its own game when 4th edition happened, and finally is coming back into the DnD mechanics with a conversion of DND 5e. How does the world of the Shattered Empires stack up with a 5e rebuild? Let’s get into it!

Mechanics or Crunch-I usually start with theme, but let’s go mechanics first. If you like 5e DnD, then you will like this. This isn’t a scrap to the base boards rebuild of DnD 5e, it’s a new implementation using the same base mechanics of proficiency, hit dice, et al. you most likely love from DnD 5e. And honestly, that a good thing. I could give any person playing “Hoard of the Dragon Queen” an Arcanis character and they would be playing in seconds. So that begs the question, what's different? Well some things are just simple reskins. The Fury is the Barbarian. It’s got some different parts to it, but let’s be honest-it’s just a new name. Not bad, some theme for Arcanis added, but it is what it is. Some get a much more exhaustive change. Paladins are holy champions, and they might be a tad overpowered if you build them right, but that’s a criticism of DnD 5e itself. Holy Champions get god specific paths to take that really hit theme hard with powers appropriate to the gods of the setting. The same thing for clerics. There are new races with instructions on how to change DnD straight races toward Aracnis races like there are no Tieflings, but there are Dark kin. New feat trees are brought in so you can master a fighting style with both introduction and advanced versions of those feats. The book also introduces psionics in a heavy way, but honestly, it’s just the same mechanics you’ve seen time and time again in DnD 5e vanilla. You have powers, the DC of the power is 8 + ability mod + proficiency or you attack with a power and you use ability modifier + proficiency. DONE. Vanilla is my favorite base for ice cream, so this isn’t a bad. Rocky road starts Vanilla, and that's what this book did. It took the base stuff you know and like and made it something you will love. 4.8/5

Theme or Fluff-So what is Arcanis? Well, that's probably the best thing this book does. You get to feel the Shattered Empires honestly better than before. It’s a pretty weighty tome coming in over 400 pages, so you get a lot of backstory. And that’s really what this world needs. I came in when DnD 4e brought about a major change in the RPG world around it. The Aracnis alone system wasn’t bad, but it relied heavily on me having books that we not in print and knowledge for a world that I could not find. So, I was honestly in the dark for large portions of this world. Heck, there wasn’t even a great map available. I had fun with what I understood and playing in, so off I went playing and running Arcanis all over. But, I would always run in to diehards who knew stuff from the wayback. The 5e book fixes this smashingly. I get better breakdowns in things. It’s big, but doesn’t have to dedicate all the pages the base DnD system does to the base rules just saying “GO SEE THE OTHER BOOK YOU BOUGHT!” and can dedicate those words to how the world works. That’s amazing! The mechanics have been adapted and modified to meet the needs of the theme. Again, that's a phenomenal way to build your world. As a GM when I run games with this book, I’m not lost. I feel like I finally know as much or MORE than my players. Sure, they are also republishing all the old books with updated rules, but this is a good way to hop in to a world of multiple different empires and groups fighting and in-fighting for control in a quzi roman world. 5/5

Execution-And the low point because I’m a bit petty. I like the way this book is laid out. I like the text style, but it might be a bit too small. I like the background, but I would like a background free version to read on my tablet. It comes in a PDF from Drive Thru RPG, so I’m thrilled that we’re moving Arcanis to the Paper free world. But the things that makes me the least happy is no-hyperlinks in the text. This book is 400 plus pages. Thats a lot of hopping around trying to find pages. Just link the book! The book is bookmarked, so if you read on some readers, you will be fine. Honestly, it’s small things that minorly annoyed me about this book, but as the RPG industry moves forward, I want hyperlinked PDFs to become the standard! 4.4/5

Summary-The real two remaining question to if you want this book is 1-Do you like the 5e DnD rules? And 2-do you want morally ambiguous semi-roman age fantasy? If you don’t like 5e DnD, then this book still has lots of background that you might want to put into your game. If you don’t like shades of gray in your fantasy but love DnD 5e, then this is a great source book for crunch including psionics which WotC needs to get out there before they end up just copying these guys. I like this book. I like the shades of gray fantasy that Arcanis bring to the table and using 5e is a great way to get people into the world extremely quickly since 5e is a snap to learn. My only qualms with this book are technical. Give me a backround free version if I want to print and bind myself or read on a tablet and HYPERLINK THE BOOK! Will that stop me from reading this? No. This books is a well done resource from a fun world where a fallen Roman empire battles snake people for dominance of long lost relics that belonged to the elven gods that the Roman gods ate for power using slick mechanics. Ya, that’s an Arcanis sentence if I ever saw one. If you want to play in that world, then you need to get this book NOW! 95%

A fantastic campaign setting! I can't recommend this book enough! Arcanis has been around for many years, and the amount of content available for it is staggering. PCI did an amazing job converting this to 5e. The artwork is beautiful, the layout and presentation are both great. If you are looking for a high fantasy campaign world with a rich history that has it all, look no further!

The Arcanis 5e campaign setting by Paradigm Concepts is a large book sitting at 420 pages. It presents a campaign world for D&D 5e that is original and very deeply detailed. It is rich in politics and religion and everything else that makes for a good, epic campaign. The book is overflowing with beautiful artwork. Chapters 1 to 5 in this book entirely replace chapters 2 to 6 in the Player's Hanbook, There is also a free Arcanis Primer available if you want to get a taste of the setting before fully diving in… http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194097/Arcanis-5E-Primer?term=arcanis&test_epoch=0

To start with, Chapter 1 presents the races of Arcanis. There is no need to flip back and forth between the Player’s Handbook and the Arcanis campaign book, however, as the races for Arcanis are all reimagined and given a definite twist to make them setting specific. Of the standard D&D races there are: Dark-Kin (Tieflings) who bear the taint of an infernal invasion centuries ago; Dwarves, formerly giants now cursed for not aiding humans as the gods intended; Elorii (Elves) former slaves of an ancient reptilian race, bonded to the four elements and mourning the loss of their dead gods; Gnomes, deformed mutants created by the mating of Dwarves and Humans; the current masters of the Known Lands. Added to the standard races are: Kio, mysterious survivors from an ancient sky city that fell to earth centuries ago; Ss’ressen, lizard folk who have abandoned their reptilian overlords to live and serve among the human kingdoms; Undir, semi aquatic river folk descended from human and undine forbearers; and Val, descendants of humans who bred with celestial Valinor, and are now the ruling class of the human nations. Dragonborn, Halflings, Half Elves and Half Orcs do not make an appearance in Arcanis.

Chapter 2 is devoted to the classes of Arcanis. As with chapter one, there is no need to flip between the Players Handbook and the setting book to sort out your character’s class. All the information is here. As with the races above, all of the classes and their archetypes are either re-imagined classics, or entirely new for the setting. The Cleric and Holy Champion (Paladin) classes are designed to fit specifically into the setting’s gods and churches. The Fighter, Fury (Barbarian), Ranger and Rogue have all new archetypes to suit the classes in this world. The classic wizard is gone, but there are two types of sorcerers, the Elder Sorcerer and the Eldritch Sorcerer. The first represents the magic tradition of the elder races of the land, and represents detailed and specific study and casting of spells. The Elder Sorcerer is the magic using class of the younger races, it is not as precise, but is fierce and is wielded like a hammer. The Warlock is not available for play (yet) but many of the rules for the warlock are cleverly redesigned to represent the spirit magic of the Shaman. The Druid and the Bard are absent from the book.

Chapter 3, Backgrounds introduces new, setting specific backgrounds and introduces background effects based on your character’s nationality. Along with these things it introduces Fate, a replacement mechanic for inspiration, which represents the Divine Harlot’s fickle ebb and flow of forces in the world. This chapter also announces that Alignment is out. The events in Arcanis are all various shades of grey, and the use of alignment is too restrictive.

Chapter 4, Equipment is also a complete replacement of the equipment chapter in the Player’s Handbook. As well as the standard adventuring gear, weapons and armor, the book introduces regional weapons and armor, and slaves.

Chapter 5, Customization Options presents rules for Allegiance to a particular country, Fame, Secret Society membership, revised rules on Multiclassing, setting specific Feats that replace those from the Player’s Hanbook, and Combat Schools.

Chapters 6 and 7 present setting specific rules for magic and new rules for psionics. They also include new spells, spell lists and psionic powers. I won’t go into details here, but the chapters are well written and clear. They present a different take on the traditional D&D metaphysics, but it is all internally consistent and fits the setting.

Chapter 8 presents the world of Arcanis, It is almost 100 pages of detailed description representing the history and geography of the world. In Arcanis, as in the real world, religion and politics play a large role in world events. We see the role of the church of the Pantheon of Man presented here from the personal piety of a peasant believer to world shaking events such as heresies and crusades. The politics and power struggles are present here as well. All the detail present shows that this is a world where the adventurers actions can affect the paths of nations. For fans of the older edition of Arcanis, it appears that the timeline has been advanced 50 to 100 years.

The book ends with 2 appendices of new monsters and new magic items and a detailed index At the time of this writing, (March 2018) the hardcover book is not out yet. From what I understand the book is expected to be out in May 2018.