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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-witch-tools-stock.html
More stock art tonight and some very useful ones at that. I have used all of these in one form or another in my own work.
Witchcraft Tool Set - Illustrations - Stock Art
From Nono. $5.00. PDF.
Instead of separate image files this one is presented as a pdf. Less useful when using the images, but easier to evaluate them all at once. This one has 42 images, including knives, candles, brooms, cups, crystals, herbs, and wands.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-publishers-choice.html
More stock art tonight and this one is a treat, some Baba Yaga.
Publisher's Choice - Colin C. Throm (Baba Yaga)
Another one I bought a while back but I have not had the chance to use this one yet.
Though looking at it now I think I have the perfect place for it.
I mean really, who wouldn't to have Baba Yaga in an adventure or book?
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-v-35.html
We are getting to the end of the D&D 3.x Monster Manuals now. There are more 3.x monsters to be found; not just official D&D ones, but thousand through the d20 explosion. Today though I want to spend some time with the Monster Manual V.
Monster Manual V (3.5)
PDF. 223 pages. Full-color covers and interior art.
For this review, I am considering the PDF from DriveThruRPG and my hardcover I had a number of years ago.
Published in 2007 this was one of the last hardcovers published for the D&D 3.5 game prior to the announcement of the D&D 4e.
I picked this one up cheap at the local RPG auction and I think I sold it back at next year's auction. Not a ringing endorsement I know, but in mine (and this book's) defense I was reducing my 3.x collection to make room for more OSR books and the upcoming 4e. I am glad I picked up the PDF though.
There are just over 110 monsters in this book (ranging from CR 1/2 to 22), the least amount for any of the "Monster Manuals" for 3.x. There are 11 templates, and many companion and summonable creatures. There are even new feats and spells. So at least this late in the game there is (or was) new material that could be shared.
The monster entries are again limited to whole pages. To make up the space there are "Lore" entries on some monsters. Others even have a Sample Encounter, Typical Treasure and/or how the monster appears in various campaign worlds. I admit these do not feel like padding and instead feel like a value-added feature.
Alignments are also prefaced with "Always" or "Usually" in some cases, giving more variety to alignments.
Among my favorite creatures here are" the Arcadian Avenger, the various new demons, the unique Dragons of the Great Game, Frostwind Virago, the God-Blooded creatures, Kuo-toa (finally!), Mindflayers of Thoon, Skull Lord, Spawn of Juiblex, the unique vampires, and the Wild Hunt.
While I was expecting a lot of "also-rans" and some diminishing returns on monsters this one actually is pretty good. The details are greater for each monster entry, so this explains the low monster-to-page ratio here.
Still, you have to be playing D&D 3.5 to really get the most out of these monsters.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-iv-35.html
I have been reviewing all the various Monster Manuals over this past year. My goal with the various Monster Manual reviews is to see if there is growth or even refinement of the monster entries.
This can easily be seen in the AD&D 1st Edition monster books as each, Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II, builds on the other adding refinements to the stat block. The same can be said for the 4th Edition books.
I would like to be able to say the same for the 3rd Edition books. Certainly, we saw improvements from MM1 to MM3, but those were largely due to the change in the rule system; that is 3 to 3.5.
I am particularly interested in these sorts of changes now that we are on the verge of One D&D from 5e. One sec, need to sip my Kool-Aid. Ok. Better now.
All is well and good, but what does that mean for the 3.5 Edition Monster Manual IV? Let us find out.
Monster Manual IV (3.5)
For this review, I am only going to consider the PDF from DriveThruRPG. I had owned this in hardcover largely due to the Blue Dragon on the cover (my oldest loves blue dragons) but it was auctioned off when I downsized my 3e collection.
PDF. 226 pages. Full-color cover and interior art.
This book does show some refinements and evolution. There are about 140 some odd monsters with a bit greater detail than previous ones. Often the monsters come with other details like a lair or use as characters.
Among the monsters here the ones I found most useful were the Avatars of Elemental Evil, the Balhannoth, some new demons, a few new drow types, some more lizard folk (I can't help it, I love those guys), some more orcs, the Spawns of Tiamat is rather fun too, and some new Tuan-ti.
There is not a lot of undead here, only 6 new monsters.
The biggest feature though is that all monsters are now on a "1 monster per page" layout, or span multiple whole pages like 2nd Ed and 4th Ed. This increases the value of the PDF in my mind and now I am not that sad I sold off my hard copy. Yes, today is the first time I have looked at this since then.
In many ways this book is superior to the Monster Manual III, layout just being one of them.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-iii-35.html
Moving through the 3.x Monster Manuals this month. Getting to the third named Monster Manual for 3.x and the first time we get a "3" in our Monster Manual. Yes AD&D had three monster books and AD&D2 had...well a lot, I was curious to see if we were hitting a point of diminishing returns on our books yet.
But in any case, the cover is rather cool.
Monster Manual III (3.5)
For this review, I am considering the PDF version of this book from DriveThruRPG. I did have the hardcover of this book but I downsized my 3.x collection a few years back.
PDF. Color cover and interior art. 244 pages.
This book is the first monster supplement for the new "updated" 3.5 version of the D&D rules. Honestly, I used 3.0 and 3.5 interchangeably, so for me it was another monster book.
This one gives us roughly 170+ new monsters. We get some new demons, and more old favorites from the Yugoloths return (one of the reasons why I wanted this one). This book gives us the Warforged outside of their origin world of Eberron. There is a creature called a "Witchknife" that caught my attention as well as a "wood woad" but both of them disappointed me. I rather liked the new undead in the Bone Claw, Bone Drinker, Charnel Hounds, and Necronaut. The Eldritch Giant is also rather cool.
Some of these monsters I did not meet in this book first. Many I ended up getting in packages of mini from Wizards of the Coast before I even knew what they were. The Chraal and Blackscale Lizardfolk are two perfect examples. I thought the Chraal was a sort of demon at first. I did not play the minis game, so I rarely looked at the cards in detail.
For me, the monsters I liked made it worth the price to buy the book. But it was not enough to have me keep it when I downsized my 3.x collection.
The art is still all quite good and what I expect from WotC at this stage.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-talented.html
Ok, this is a bit harder to give a fully objective review to because I have worked with nearly everyone involved on other projects. That being said I will be following my rules for this work.
Christina Stiles Presents: Talented Adventurers - The Witch: Marena Lenoire
PDF. $3.95. 24 pages. 1 cover page, 1 credits page, 1 about the author page, 3 pages for the OGL. 18 pages of content. Color cover and interior art.
This product does one thing and does it really, really well. It presents us a single witch, the titular Marena Lenoire, from 1st level to 20th level.
We are given a little bit of background on her and then detailed stat blocks for her 20 levels.
It is a great product for any Pathfinder DM/GM who needs a reoccurring NPC to aid the party. She is a Lawful Good witch (rare and nice to see) so she would not make a good "bad guy" for them.
Use in War of the Witch Queens
I mean, yeah, she really begs to be used. I have worked with everyone involved with her creation, so I owe them at least that much to have her show up in the campaign at some point. I see her in the exact role she was designed for; as something of a folk hero. She is not a witch that would seek out the title of Witch Queen but would accept it if her peers willed it and she could use it to help her people.
I just need to find a good spot for her.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-genius-guide-to.html
Rogue Genius Games does a LOT of great stuff. Their "Talented" line for various classes was always something I wanted to look into, but since I haven't been playing Pathfinder all that much so I never bought any of them. But of course, I had to buy the Talented Witch.
As always I will be following my rules for these reviews, moreover, many of the people involved with these products are people I have worked with in the past. So I am going to try be extra careful in how I review these.
The Genius Guide to the Talented Witch
PDF ($4.95) and Softcover Print Options, 57 pages. 1 cover, 1 table of contents, 1 credits, 1 OGL, rest content. Color cover and interior art.
There is a lot to like about this really. The cover art is from the late Marcum Curlee and features an interesting trio of witches. There is art from Other Side friends Jacob E. Blackmon, Brian Brinlee, and Gary Dupuis. I really love the art, but that is expected. Hell, even that Morpheus font is like they are flirting with me.
The talented witch is a little different than the base Witch class in the Pathfinder book. It gets various Edges and Talents at alternate levels. These largely replace all the powers of the witch, including the Hexes.
Edges are first and there are 40 of these. Edges are a lot like Feats in how they are presented. They include Combat, Cunning, Elemental, Hag, Patron, Spellcasting, and Spellcasting Conduits. Hag for example can give the Edges of Bite or Claws to do damage.
Talents are more like magical powers, like Hexes, and also have groupings. There are 140 of these in Blessing, Crafting, Curse, Necromancy, Personal, Spellcasting, and Utility. There are also Major and Grand Talents. Talents that are Hexes are marked with an asterisk.
The idea here is customization. Basically, if you can imagine a witch, you could build it from these options. There is a dizzying array of choices here. There is even an appendix on familiars here and another on patrons and a compiled witch spell list from various Pathfinder products.
There is an absolute ton of information here and more than I know what to do with.
One thing I didn't like about the book was the huge border around all the text. It makes the book pretty, but it is not as efficient when it comes to displaying the text.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-genius-guide-to.html
Rogue Genius Games does a LOT of great stuff. Their "Talented" line for various classes was always something I wanted to look into, but since I haven't been playing Pathfinder all that much so I never bought any of them. But of course, I had to buy the Talented Witch.
As always I will be following my rules for these reviews, moreover, many of the people involved with these products are people I have worked with in the past. So I am going to try be extra careful in how I review these.
The Genius Guide to More Witch Talents
PDF. ($2.95) 25 pages. 1 cover, 1 table of contents, 1 credits page, 1 OGL page.
This adds more Edges and Talents to the witch class.
This gives us 5 new edges and 95 new witch Talents. And I thought I had options before. Talents that are Hexes are marked with an asterisk.
This one leans more into the curses which are nice.
Like the Genius Guide to the Talented Witch, this book provides a lot of options for nearly any sort of witch. Also, like that book the art here is really good.
I am not exactly sure where or when the Talented idea came about but checking the Rogue Genius Games listings there are lot of these. I am not sure how they change the game, but I do love the ideas here as a designer and player of witch classes. As a player, it would also be fantastic especially if you love character customizations. As a Game Master, keeping track of all of this would be a bit of a chore I think.
I'd have to print these both out I think to get a real feel for them.
One thing I didn't like about the book was the huge border around all the text. It makes the book pretty, but it is not as efficient when it comes to displaying the text.
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Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-witches-brews.html
Witches' Brews & Potions
PDF. 9 pages. 1 cover, 1 title/contents page. Interestingly enough, no OGL.
The is largely a set of tables and various notes on brewing various items including potions, but nothing game-specific.
Given the randomness of the tables they work, but produce all sorts of strange results. Now sometimes this is great, but for a game like Pathfinder or d20 D&D there are very specific ingredients used. It would be good for an OSR-style game.
Since the material here is not really game-specific it would work for any sort of game really.
I could use this as a GM tool to get me started, but I tend to make potions that have very specific ingredients related to their effects.
The best use for me would be to use it to determine what any one particular witch has in her cupboards. Now that idea makes this product much more useful to me!
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Full review of all the products in this series can be found here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-echelon-reference.html
Two books. One straight from the Pathfinder SRD and the other from all other 3rd Party spells. Both books cover 9th level spells.
The Pathfinder book has 22 spells. The Third Party book has 109 spells. Total of 60 pages. Fully hyperlinked index and full OGL. Very useful for every Pathfinder GM and for witch characters.
All of these represents a lot of hard work on the part of the author to collate all of these spells and get them into proper shape.
Choose this product if all you need are 9th level Witch Spells.
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Full review of all the products in this series can be found here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-echelon-reference.html
Two books. One straight from the Pathfinder SRD and the other from all other 3rd Party spells. Both books cover 8th level spells.
The Pathfinder book has 28 spells. The Third Party book has 122 spells. Total of 62 pages. Fully hyperlinked index and full OGL. Very useful for every Pathfinder GM and for witch characters.
All of these represents a lot of hard work on the part of the author to collate all of these spells and get them into proper shape.
Choose this product if all you need are 8th level Witch Spells.
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Full review of all the products in this series can be found here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-echelon-reference.html
Two books. One straight from the Pathfinder SRD and the other from all other 3rd Party spells. Both books cover 7th level spells.
The Pathfinder book has 40 spells. The Third Party book has 131 spells. Total of 64 pages. Fully hyperlinked index and full OGL. Very useful for every Pathfinder GM and for witch characters.
All of these represents a lot of hard work on the part of the author to collate all of these spells and get them into proper shape.
Choose this product if all you need are 7th level Witch Spells.
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Full review of all the products in this series can be found here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-echelon-reference.html
Two books. One straight from the Pathfinder SRD and the other from all other 3rd Party spells. Both books cover 6th level spells.
The Pathfinder book has 39 spells. The Third Party book has 142 spells. Total of 74 pages. Fully hyperlinked index and full OGL. Very useful for every Pathfinder GM and for witch characters.
All of these represents a lot of hard work on the part of the author to collate all of these spells and get them into proper shape.
Choose this product if all you need are 6th level Witch Spells.
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