Oliver Clegg has made some of the most unique homebrew content for D&D 5E on the DMs Guild in the last several months and the Antiquarian is certainly one of the most interesting homebrew classes I have come across in quite some time.

Right off the bat, it reminds me of the same character from the Darkest Dungeon game- a character that's a mix of skill, skulk and support. With six different archetypes to choose from, there is no shortage of interesting characters you could create with this class, from an Indiana Jones-esque academic skill monkey to a devilish trader to a greedy collector to a plague doctor-style embalmer to a exorcist.

Where the class really stands out is in its use of enhanced cantrips, many of which are normally considered too weak or situational to find use in many games. This feature breathes new life into many of these forgotten magics and makes them quite useful, or at least worth a second look. There are a few esoterica that are still clunkers and a few that certainly feel a bit overpowered (Billowing Fury and Engorged Hand spring to mind) but there's nothing on the list that makes this class too exceptionally gamebreaking.

While there are many good (or at least fun) things about this class, I do have to point out what I see as a couple of apparent drawbacks as well. First, with the low hit points and armor rating, survivability could definitely be an issue, particularly at lower levels and especially for newer players. And the high level core class abilities do feel somewhat lackluster compared to the earlier-level abilities. Overall, it's a class that I could see working very well as a multiclass combination with a rogue or warlock, but not something I could see myself playing all the way to max level. Nevertheless, this is still one of the most creative homebrews I've seen and I'd certainly be excited to make some characters with it, which is what matters in the end.

Critical Bard's encore presentation does not disappoint! This is a fun, clever and well-written archetype that gives me some inspiration for making a Songbird/Black Bolt-inspired character.

Hopefully we can get a full symphony of subclasses from you!

This creation takes the novel approach of basing most of its design, or at least most of its inspiration, from a single spell and does a good job of making a subclass that looks like it will be both fun and effective to play. True to the nature of the Bard class, this archetype's features provide abilities with collective benefits and encourage teamwork and cooperation among party members. The artwork is quite good and gave me delightful flashbacks to the classic Bohemian Rhapsody music video, and the new spells and feats at the end, along with the bardic equivalent of thieves' cant, add a nice extra bit of flavor to the product as a whole.

I recommend getting this product and I look forward to seeing more of this author's creations in the future!

If you're looking to "decolonize" D&D, move away from strict racial-trait systems or are just looking for another way to customize characters in your setting, this is an awfully good way to do it. The authors have meticulously curated all of the racial traits from each playable race in the current 5E environment (including PHB, Volo's, Ravnica, Eberron and MTOF) and developed a solid method of creating highly customizable characters using a variety of selectable "inheritances" rather than requiring every character of every race to have the same immutable traits. They also decouple stat bonuses from racial traits and provide means of tying them to classes or backgrounds instead. All this results in a much more diverse method of character design. Highly recommended, and something that could serve as a good foundation for future editions of the game.

As I recall, this project came about as a bit of a gag on Twitter but I'm very glad that the author and creators decided to make it a reality. The content is really fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, and the artwork is fantastic and justifies the price all by itself. If people are complaining about something being pricey, they need to realize that creators deserve to be paid fairly for creating high-quality work like this and adjust their expectations accordingly.

The one bit of constructive feedback I'd offer is that it would have been nice to have the base stat blocks included with all the familiars, but these can all be easily found with little effort even if a person doesn't own the monster manual.

I'm very happy to see this anthology released. The amount of content contained in this is extremely rich and diverse, to the point where it's going to take me quite some time to thoroughly process everything in here. So at this point, my good rating is generally focused on the layout and appearance of the anthology (which are very good) and the sheer variety of content and unique interpretations on all sorts of traditional folklore and tales. I especially enjoyed reading each contributor's individual author's notes and perspectives of their stories. It gave me a much stronger sense of connection to the authors than I typically get from a product.

And to those who might feel a need to complain about "inclusion" or "politics", you're clearly overlooking the last 40-some years of RPG writing, which has been predominantly CHWM-oriented. It's high time that we had some different kinds of stories, presented through different lenses and centered on different kinds of people than what we've traditionally had in most RPGs.

There are numerous modules on inns and taverns on the DMs Guild, but this one definitely stands out with its unique and charming locations and a host of NPCs and plot hooks associated with each one. The quaint description of the first tavern, the Oaken Arms, is exactly what you'd hope to find in coming across such a tavern or inn in real life, and sets a great tone for reading through the rest of the book. I definitely recommend purchasing this.

There have been numerous publications that focus on the mechanical aspects of Warlocks, new Patrons and archetypes, etc., but there seems to be far fewer that make the effort that "Bonds of Study" does to really delve into the relationship between Warlock and Patron. There is some solid discussion of concepts like who or what the Patron is (including some very interesting "alternate Patron ideas"), the connection between Warlock and Patron and how that can impact a Warlock's fellow adventurers. There is a lot more room to expand on these topics, but this is a very good primer for players looking to flesh out their relationship between Warlock and Patron, and should be particularly useful for players who have never played the class before.

I'm running this section of W:DH on Roll20 tomorrow so this is a very timely release! The two hideout maps are a definite upgrade from what's in the book and default Roll20 purchase, and the additional encounters en route to and in the Skewered Dragon should flesh out those portions of the adventure. The chess-like game is a nice change from typical bar games you'd find in a tavern encounter and gives a rare opportunity to get some actual use out of a gaming set proficiency for a change. All the rest is nicely organized and concisely presented. Excellent product.

I initially bought this product thinking it could make a nice downtime setting to spin other events and plot hooks out of, but after reading through it, I am in awe of the masterful work the authors have done in putting this product together! The description of the setting, a Faire held among a village of Gnomes and Halflings, is utterly adorable and quickly drew me in. The various events and custom-made map and will easily speak to any Ren Faire afficionado. The descriptions of all of the various events are lush and detailed, but what really stands out is the how well organized the whole product is given the large amount of content and surprisingly complex storyline that is woven into the module.

Before even laying out the Faire setting, the authors spend a good amount of time describing how to effectively run the "Groundhog Day" style time loop that pervades the storyline and offer good suggestions on how to make each reoccurring day feel both unique and increasingly unsettling. Also notable is the list of dramatis personae that remain unaffected by the time loop and how their actions should change and trigger different events as time repeats itself over and over. After the comprehensive list of Faire events, the authors provide a summary page of the notable NPCs as well as what "good deed" the party can accomplish related to that NPC to help ultimately break the time loop. With such a long list of events, locations and NPCs, recapping this information in a short list gives DMs a very handy reference for keeping track of the large cast of characters and the events that affect them.

The only real drawback to this product actually derives from the positive things I listed above. The authors have provided a large amount of content, and the complexity of managing such a large cast of characters, events and locations, as well as the added task of having to make each recurring day seem different in some way, is definitely going to test your organizing skills and improv chops as a DM, and may deter inexperienced DMs from running this module. A map of the woods in section 3 that surround the Faire area would also be nice to have to give more context and scale to the setting. But other than that, I would wholeheartedly recommend getting this product and am looking forward to the opportunity of using it with my own group at some point (once I find a Ren Faire-style recording of "I've Got You Babe" to use as background music).

A hilarious resource of all sorts of shenanigans for your PCs to get involved in that they won't remember the next day but will still have to deal with. This will definitely mix well with the various downtime encounter and consequence tables out of Volo's. I personally can't wait to confront my party with the fallout of how there USED to be a mage tower in a prominent part of town before they went carousing and there's now a swirling vortex of bricks and magic hurtling through town.

A real quality product with scores of good quick adventure hooks that can easily be inserted into any campaign and incorporate a wide variety of creature encounters from several sources. Some of the hooks are quite unique, particularly the "Mimic Birthday Cake" quest which jumped off the page at me immediately and gave me all sorts of ideas. The only thing I can think of for improvement would be to list the suggested player level with each hook as well as in the index at the front for easier reference and organization. Despite that, I'm definitely recommending this as a pick-up for any DM looking to seed some sidequests into their campaign or develop a quick one-shot for a new group or if their normal group happens to be short a player or two.

I bought this product today mainly after being attracted to the exceptionally good cover art- which is certainly appropriate for a book focused on magical beauty products. The author certainly has some good ideas for items to add to your game and frames the products as items that the party should use in preparation for their adventures or escapades, rather than when they're in the thick of things. But what really made this stand out to me is the author's own artwork that's scattered throughout the book, which is of a very high quality and very reminiscent of the style of the illustrations found in the DMG. I'd certainly keep an eye out for future offerings by this author/artist, if for nothing else than the artwork. The book could have used a little more proofreading, but overall this is a nice product that might be worth considering for use in your own games.

A very enjoyable product overall, with a few minor spelling and formatting errors preventing me from giving a full 5-star rating. These minor hiccups don't detract from the overall product. I like the expanded descriptions and features of each vessel, particularly the fact that each one comes with its own unique rat infestation. Definitely something I'll try and incorporate into one of my campaigns in the future.

This is a really good, thematic listing of spells. Many of them have consistent effects that you'd expect to see with these type of spells. I particularly like Urchin's Spines as a Druid spell. With the right type of build or preparation, you could give some strong boosts to the game's grappling mechanics that don't often get used to their full advantage. Overall, a great resource to include in a game, especially with any kind of coastal-based campaign.