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A selection of minor but interesting enhancements for each of the devils in the 5E Monster Manual. Note that a few of the abilities seem to stretch the limits of 5E rules (such as the Spined Devil's Reckless Dive) and others really seem like they should be raising the creature's CR (such as the pit fiend's new ability to heal itself automatically after claw attacks), so each should be added with care. But barring that and some minor formatting issues, this is a very useful product at a fair price.
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This reads like what it is: a conversion of a Pathfinder product to D&D 5th Edition. The titular Necrotic Verses have a neat enough backstory (blatantly inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann"), followed by mechanics allowing bards to learn new spells and "masterpieces" from the work. The masterpieces are music-themed abilities that permanently replace a bard's feats or spell slots; each has a very detailed description with evocative imagery, but also complicated mechanics much more suited to Pathfinder than 5E. (Also, some Pathfinder terminology managed to sneak through.) This product might suit 5E DMs or players who enjoy more complex rules than usual, but I suspect most would find this too cumbersome to use.
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A collection of D&D 5th Edition character options. While ostensibly themed around battling giants, the connection is honestly pretty thin, beyond the flavor text and a few bits near the end - but this doesn't make the product a bad one.
Going section by section:
- Barbarian: One new archetype, the "Path of Whirling Steel." An interpretation of the "Dervish" concept from earlier editions, this is a pretty solid Dexterity-focused barbarian.
- Druid: One new archetype, the "Circle of Storms." These druids are themed around lightning storms, and have decent abilities, if perhaps a little underpowered. You also get a neat stat block for a "storm elemental."
- Fighter: Two new archetypes. One is the "Dreadnought," which is supposed to be an extra-tough fighter, but is another that seems a little underpowered. The "Sentry" is an update of the Dwarven Defender concept from earlier editions, and looks like a pretty interesting defense-based warrior.
- Paladin: One new archetype, "Oath of the Bastion," which is a bodyguard/protector paladin. This is OK - while the theme seems to overlap with the Dreadnought fighter, they do actually have some differentiation.
- Ranger: Two new archetypes. One is the "Wanderer," a movement-focused ranger; a pretty neat concept (though not well sold in the flavor text) and well done, though I note it shares the same capstone ability as the Whirling Steel barbarian. The other is the "Mage Hunter," which is adept at fighting spellcasters, and also designed to work with the Unearthed Arcana "no spells" ranger; it's also fairly well done.
- Rogue: One new archetype, the "Scoundrel," which can use misdirection to its advantage. It can also trade in Sneak Attack damage for extra debuffs. Probably my favorite in the product. That said, there's one (presumed) error - Debilitating Sneak as written can permanently reduce a target's speed by half.
- Sorcerer: One new archetype, the "Elemental" Sorcerer, which fills in a serious gap in the core game. Not bad, solid mechanics, but it feels like it needs something more to be really great. Also, the capstone ability seems a little weak.
- Warlock: Two new archetypes. One is the "Great Wyrm," which allows a pact with a dragon; a good concept, but I don't know about them being able to resist multiple types of elements, and it doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from the core Draconic sorcerer. The other is the "Primordial," another good concept, but misses the mark by allowing them to change their elemental attunement on every rest - unless your patron is associated with multiple elements, that doesn't make much sense, even with the flavor text. There are also some new warlock class options, including a new Pact Boon (Pact of the Rod) and some new invocations (three of which are very general, but two of which work nicely with the new archetypes).
- Equipment: Some rules for wielding oversized weapons (that honestly seem too generous, and oddly bypass making them heavy), a selection of giant-themed trinkets, and some new magic items (all referencing various tales of giants; I don't know about the goose being here).
- Spells: Six decent new spells, which seem well-balanced.
- Variant Rules: For attacking the limbs of larger humanoid creatures. The rules seem pretty solid, and also account for dragons as well.
Overall, there are some formatting hiccups throughout; some redundant themes and mechanics; and perhaps a bit too much caution in terms of power levels. However, none of these are deal-breakers, and this product still provides a good amount of useful material for an excellent price.
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On the one hand, I really appreciate the enthusiasm and effort put into this upgrade to Curse of Strahd's take on Strahd, which was disappointing. There are a lot of interesting new features in here and this would certainly make for an epic final boss battle. For bonus points, they also provide/convert four additional spells.
On the other hand, this product overdoes it a bit. There's so many options here that it could be a chore to run this version of Strahd, since you might be overwhelmed with choices. Also, was it really necessary to make Strahd more powerful than demon lords like Orcus or Demogorgon? The formatting issues don't help this product either (although the new mechanics seem OK aside from that).
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A handy selection of random events and encounters to spice up wilderness travel, originally designed for use with the D&D 5th Edition Starter Set. The only downsides are some shaky formatting and mechanics here and there, but the useful ideas and low price tag make this worthwhile.
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A silly scenario designed for use with Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Note that despite the scenario supposedly being playable with brand-new characters, there are encounters that could be lethal for such characters (though they include ways to mitigate this). The scenario also feels like it needed a little more content in the final area. Still, this looks like it would be fun both to play in and to run.
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A collection of five short adventure scenarios for D&D 5th Edition. Note that while the product uses 5E rules, some have elements that feel more like earlier editions of D&D (such as the loot in The Exposed Nest).
All five scenarios have fairly interesting premises, with The Exposed Nest being particularly original. However, while they are completely able to be run as is... most are so slim that it's on the DM to really make them interesting to play. (This is most noticeable in Temple of the Fallen Phoenix and Survive: In a Vampire Hive, which both feature multiple encounters that are functionally identical.) I'm also not sure the adventures would be as challenging in practice as their suggested level would suggest (particularly Survive).
While these issues are objectively fairly minor, they are more of a problem for a product that costs as much as this does. So if you're interested in this, best to wait for a sale or bundle. (If this was much cheaper, I would have likely rated it higher.)
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Like the first volume, this provides additional abilities for D&D 5th Edition monsters. However, this is the stronger of the two volumes, with abilities that go beyond tactics (a number are skill-focused) and without the wording issues of the original. The amount of actual rules material is the same (two pages), but at least the price is also the same.
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A selection of tactically minded abilities to add to D&D 5th Edition monsters. The system for adjusting the CRs for the new abilities is well thought out, and they definitely provide some useful new options for tactically heavy games. Not so much for other types of games, admittedly, but that's not the target audience; a number would also be rather gory in play. Note there are wording issues with several abilities: for example, they say a target "can" make a save at times when they clearly mean "must". And there's only two pages of actual new rules provided, with the rest of the page count going to explanations and cover material.
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Up front: At $4.99, this should basically be looked at as a charity donation that happens to net you one piece of general content (the grung race) and some background about a D&D stream. Objectively, what you get is not worth that price tag.
With that out of the way, this is neat enough. The grung's poisonous skin might seem strong for a starting PC, but it's probably on par with starting cantrips. This product would have been significantly improved with more details on how to roleplay grungs, however. (Though I suppose you can use the sample NPCs as templates.)
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As noted in the description, this appears to be based on the Warblade class from the 3.5 Book of Nine Swords. However, since I haven't read that book as of this review, I'm judging this strictly on its own merits.
The Warblade honestly feels like something that should have been built as a new class, an alternative to the core fighter - it feels pretty dense as a subclass, since it essentially contains five sub-subclasses (disciplines). The presentation of this product could also stand improvement. There are a number of minor formatting issues throughout that get in the way of clarity and readability at times. Furthermore, they don't provide much flavor to sell you on the core class (which, again, just sounds like an alternative default fighter) while the themes for the five disciplines are probably over-described and would have benefited from a tighter focus. This honestly put me off the Warblade at first, because I thought I was in for something both dull and overcomplicated.
However, as I read through the subclass, I found myself liking it more and more. Essentially, this is a battle master on steroids, a fighter that can pick and choose their stances and exploits during a battle like a spellcaster picks and chooses spells. The number of options presented can be a little overwhelming, but not really more so than looking through the spell list. As for the stances and exploits themselves, most are pretty neat (besides Fountain of Blood, which should have been toned down), if occasionally much fussier with the bonuses that we usually see in 5E. That said, this definitely isn't for a player who wants a straightforward martial character - it's for players who want and plan to use the class's tactical complexity.
In summary, this is an interesting class, once you get past the minor issues with its presentation. Though it would probably work best as a replacement for the core fighter options, rather than playing alongside them.
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A collection of steampunk-themed options for D&D 5th Edition games. The material provided is wide-ranging, including:
- One new background (Fortune Teller) and one variant background (Apothecary, a variant Guild Artisan). The Fortune Teller relies on the Charlatan background for their characteristics, which is functional but a bit of a shame. As for the apothecary, I don't know about providing an actual mechanical benefit - background features are generally limited to roleplaying benefits.
- A listing of armor for a steampunk setting, including some new armors. These include the combat robe (a lightweight armored robe for wizards which doesn't require Light Armor proficiency - seems like a cheat to be honest), the assassin outfit (with a Stealth bonus and extra pockets), "gearplate" and "mech" armor (plate armor with some of the disadvantages removed), a buckler (simple and welcome addition), and the "parasol shield" (which collapses into a parasol).
- A listing of weapons for a steampunk setting, with numerous new additions. These include not only firearms, but also brass knuckles (which add +1 to unarmed damage), a bola, a boomerang, a cane sword, a chain whip, a chainsaw (which jams on 1s and crits on a 19), gun blades and gun axes, and a sawblade launcher. They also (quietly) include a variant whip which can be used to knock enemies prone.
- A listing of steampunk adventuring gear, including a compass, lighter, camera, and watch. They also list binoculars here, but unfortunately neglected to provide rules.
- A listing of steampunk tools, including tools for the two backgrounds and investigator's supplies. Shame the latter wasn't tied to an investigator background. (The listing also accidentally duplicates some of the gear from the previous section.)
- Three new feats: Firearms Expert, which seems fair; Nimble, which boosts your AC when you're lightly or not armored; and Tinkerer, which gives any character the core rock gnome's Tinker feature. Of the three, Nimble seems to have the most general usefulness.
Although some of the mechanics feel slightly un-5E, and there are some minor formatting hiccups, overall this is a worthwhile "booster pack" of material, and not only for steampunk games.
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An adventure with a fun and novel premise: you play orc characters attempting to reclaim a lost city of orc-kind. This is a dungeon crawl divided into 13 different sections, each basically being a mini-dungeon unto itself with a diverse range of themes. It also effectively draws on the orc cultural lore established in Volo's Guide to Monsters, to include placing a central role for omens in the adventure as clues for the characters.
Unfortunately, the execution is flawed. The different sections of the dungeon don't always work well together, likely reflecting the many contributors to the work - for example, one mini-dungeon encourages you to loot a tomb, and another punishes you for it. The adventure also would have benefited from a stronger introduction that clearly laid out the history of the city and the clans - as is, the DM is left to cobble together details as they go, and even make up key details like the city's name! And despite providing many omens, they don't do a very good job of explaining how to implement them. There are other minor issues throughout, including an unexplained reference to "lines and veils" near the end (an indie RPG concept not yet introduced into D&D at the time this was published).
Despite these many minor issues, the adventure still works solidly enough as a dungeon-crawl anthology, and the core premise leads to a number of interesting elements and encounters. It's just a shame it didn't come together a little better. (Originally posted on Goodreads)
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First off, the positives. This is a very original adventure concept, built largely around obstacles rather than direct combat. And a lot of energy went into the design of this adventure, both in terms of encounter creativity and art style. Kudos to the designers for this.
But this adventure is also uncomfortably contrived to limit player choice. You're even supposed to just make up most of the saves and ability checks, presumably so the players don't do too well with various encounters. Also, unless you have a very cooperative group, or one with a good sense of humor, the revelation at the end could upset them.
In short, this adventure is interesting, but I'd personally be very wary of running it for most groups.
One last thing: the $4.99 price tag seems slightly high for the amount of content you get here (even factoring in the artwork).
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The core concept of this third-party D&D 5th Edition book is neat - a class called the General that can command a "squad" of soldiers, much like other classes have animal companions and the like. The squad is represented in an abstract way, and levels with the General. They also include a variant called the Hordelord, which has a horde of zombies instead of living soldiers.
The problem is the execution of this concept - very wordy, and very complicated. There are just way too many options for the General and for the squad (including 13 subclasses!), and it's a slog to read through. (The Hordelord has far fewer options, but is still complicated at its core.) It's not very surprising to realize that this was a conversion of a Pathfinder product; the mechanics feel much more at home in that sort of game than they do in the leaner approach taken in 5E.
I imagine there are 5E players who would love these rules, but for most, I suspect this would be just too much. Shame, as the core idea is pretty cool. (Originally posted on Goodreads)
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