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Artifacts of Legend is a book of (what else) artifacts from Mind Forge Games. The zipped file is eight megabytes in size, and contains a single PDF file that?s slightly larger. The book is sixty-five pages long, with a non-hyperlinked table of contents and full bookmarks.
Much like their first release (Shadow of the Tower), Artifacts of Legend is overflowing with beautiful artwork. The cover image is stunning in its visual quality, and most of the interior art is full-color work of comparable appeal. Further, all of the pages have had the backgrounds shaded to a sort of tan-gray that suggests some sort of vellum, as though this were an actual book, which greatly makes even the plain text seem easier to read. Of course, the flipside to all of this is that there is no printer-friendly version, meaning that trying to print this out could be a major ordeal.
Artifacts of Legend presents fourteen new artifacts for you Fantasy d20 game. The term ?artifacts of legend? has a specific connotation here, as these artifacts use slightly different rules than most. Artifacts of legend all have levels, like characters, and the more levels they get, the more powerful they become. All of them are also alive and intelligent, having mental ability scores and skills, some of which can be used to help their wielder. Finally, instead of having ego scores, all have an associated curse called a stigma, which grows in proportion to their level and powers gained.
The book opens with an in-character description of Amenorian, the Blade of Hope, by Amenorian herself, before the book launches into descriptions for its rules. Careful attention is paid in the first section of the book to things such as the saving throws, AC, and hit points of these artifacts. It is, in fact, possible to break these artifacts through hit point damage, but that won?t truly destroy them (that requires a much greater quest, which isn?t elaborated on in the book). It then covers several artifact feats, at least one of which is required in order to bond with an artifact at all, so that you can make it gain levels (by investing experience points in it, though it can usually never be of a level higher than your character level).
Two new prestige classes are also given: the Steward of Legend, and the Artifact Thrall. The former is committed to containing an artifact without being controlled by it, while the latter has submitted to an artifact utterly for even greater power. While both prestige classes are interesting in concept and design, both have minor flaws. Each one notes that certain levels in it cause you to gain the class features of whatever class you had prior to taking that prestige class. This should have a notation that this only applies to the features of a single class, otherwise it?s open to abuse as multiclassed characters mix and match advancing class features as they take levels in this PrC. Worse, neither prestige class lists their hit dice advancement.
Finally, we come to the artifacts themselves. The section covering them opens with a note that all of them have a power called The Calling, wherein they can draw suitable wielders in the nearby area to them. The artifacts are grouped into four different categories ? lesser, great, greater, and greatest (though one artifact, Long Tread, is mislabeled as a great artifact when it should be a lesser one). The difference is in the number of potential levels they can gain: lesser artifacts of legend can gain ten levels, great can gain fifteen, greater can gain twenty, and greatest artifacts can be raised to a whopping thirty levels. As they gain levels, their powers improve and their skills grow, but their stigma also becomes worse. The price of power is often high indeed.
Altogether, Artifacts of Legend is a great resource for powerful items that can range from being merely a catalyst for a few adventures, to being truly world-shaking in their scope. However, the minor flaws that crop up throughout (the Embraced of Amenorian template, for example, gives you the Outsider type, but doesn?t say whether you gain the Native or Extraplanar subtypes, or if you gain the Augmented subtype), and the lack of a printer-friendly version, hold this back from being a five-star book. That said, this is still an excellent resource full of material that, if used in your game, will have a major impact. Your characters won?t be the same if they wield any of the Artifacts of Legend.
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<b>LIKED</b>: The rules presented about the artifacts were very cohesive, covering the little things that most other books ignore. The complementary feats and prestige classes helped to round out the material, and of course the artifacts themselves were excellently done. And lest I forget, the artwork was truly spectacular.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Minor errors came up in various parts of the book. The prestige classes needed to clarify their "class features" power, and list their hit dice. The Embraced of Amenorian template needs to say what subtypes it grants. Long Tread needs to be a lesser, not great, artifact. And of course, the entire book really needs a printer-friendly version.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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