I wanted to like this one, I really did. I enjoy the Animal Adventures miniatures, and while the last book had a few balance issues, I thought this one would have enough people working on it to make sure it's more properly balanced. However, there are some major flaws I can't overlook.

First, the positives! The Faraway Sea expands on the world-building of the Animal Adventures setting, introducing several new species, a few new classes and subclasses, and a whole new area of the world to explore with its own history. It's clear that a lot of thought went into the setting, which can easily be slotted into most homebrew campaigns.

The book even provides guidance for factoring in reputation and rivals, a list of friendly or unfriendly NPCs, and a bestiary. It also has a few adventures that can be run as one-offs, which I haven't had the chance to run but could certainly grab if I ever need a quick adventure for my players.

The artwork is also lively and full of personality. Several different artists worked on this book, but they all did a fine job bringing the setting and animal characters to life.

Now on to the negatives. I mostly wanted to check this out to see what character options it provided, and while it does have plenty, they are in serious need of work and balancing.

I think the biggest issue comes down to scaling, or lack thereof. Some features scale well, like natural weapons growing more powerful as the animals grow. Others either start off way too strong and keep growing from there (like the bear having two attacks that deal 2d6+str damage per round at level 1 or the Tinkermage getting two 2nd level spell slots also at level 1) or just use a flat number don't scale at all (like the goat's "Troll Terror" ability and the fox's "Rodent Rations" being a flat DC 12 at all times).

Sure, I can make these work with a bit of tweaking, but it's unfortunate that these blatant issues got through in the first place.

As for the classes, there's the Tinkermage and the Watcher. The Tinkermage, sadly, feels incredibly redundant with the Artificer, as they pretty much do the same thing; what is an item augmentation if not an infusion by any other name? The specializations are also pretty much direct parallels with artificer subclasses, like the Armoursmith Tinkermage vs the Armorer artificer.

Also, as previously mentioned, it has two 2nd level spell slots at level one. That's kind of ridiculous; there's a reason characters don't unlock higher level spells until they level up.

However, there are some ways that make it different from an Artificer which I do appreciate. It has specific rules for crafting magic items, and the Expanded Lore adds more flexibility to its spellcasting. The Inverse Augmentation is also a neat way to debuff the opponent too. I just think it needs more ways to differentiate itself from the Artificer, or it could even just become an Artificer subclass with its unique augmentations turned into new infusions.

Then there's the Watcher. Obviously this is supposed to be a reference to the Witcher, and I'm cool with that. I have far less issues with it than I do with the Tinkermage, but once again, scaling and redundancies are a problem here.

For instance, you start off with a silvered weapon - just given the value of silvering a weapon, that's pretty crazy for starting gear. Then at level two it immediately counts as magic for overcoming resistances (a feat monks don't get for their unarmed attacks until 6th level, for comparison).

Watchers also get extra attacks at the same rate as a Fighter, up to four attacks per round. While they may not get Action Surge, this still feels like it's stepping on the Fighter's toes. And while there are some unique fighting styles available to the Watcher, I'm concerned about the scaling and balancing for some of them.

I haven't exactly gone over this with a fine-toothed comb, and I've already let this review go on for far too long. So tl;dr - It's a great concept and world, but the species and classes need a major overhaul to be balanced and scale properly. I wish I could give it a higher rating, but I hope my review is taken in the spirit of constructive criticism it's meant in.

Let's start with the new Class, the Tinkermage. It feels like a direct rip-off of the Artificer with one MAJOR exception, you get two 2nd level spell slots at 1st level. After speaking with the creators, they insist that this was done to make up for the lack of spells in later levels, which isn't how the game supposed to work; this reasoning only really makes sense if you insist all players start at 5th level or higher, otherwise, you get a 1st level PC that can cast Shatter in the first two rounds of combat. No power gamer worth their salt isn't going to dip into artificer before moving on to other classes. Also, at 1st level you get "Augment Item" which is way more powerful than the Artificer's "Magical Tinkering."

Now, let’s get into the Species. Now, an interesting feature of some of the species is that they have natural attacks and the damage for these attacks increase as the PC levels, similar to how cantrips damages increase, not a huge deal, I even like it; though I question whether a fox should start out with 1d6+dex damage, more damage than a fighter with a dagger, but it's not too broken. What we should really look at is the BEAR! A bear starts with a natural attack that does 2d6 + your Strength at 1st level and progresses as follows: 5th lvl: 2d8 10th lvl: 2d10 15th lvl: 2d12 This is insane for a single claw attack, but at 1st level the bear gets TWO attack per round!

I have a few other complaints that pale in comparison to the bear because they're not mechanically broken. Like I think the Raccoon and the Fox should get a climb speed. THE BEAR has a climb speed, but the raccoon apparently can't climb for shit. I also think several species, like the raccoon and Red Panda should be considered tiny, and not small. I also wish there were some physical restrictions on the smaller creatures’ strength scores; it's not a huge deal, but I think it's going too far when you can create a Koala with a 15 strength scores.

The biggest argument to my critiques would be that this is just a game, and players can make any changes they feel work. The basis of D&D is using the rules however you want and playing however you want, but a Dungeon Master shouldn't have to make huge adjustments to their campaign because you chose to go with a class and race from a 3rd party publisher. As a DM, I like that I can start a campagin with four players and the only imbalance I'll encounter is maybe one of them choosing to be a Gloom Stalker Ranger.

The rest of the book is good, but it doesn't compensate for its other flaws.

When I first got the PDF for this book, I was convinced it was a typo, that someone had overlooked a formatting error. In fact, I still wonder if their insistence that all these issues were done on purpose it's just a cover because they can't openly admit they messed up without offering refunds. This whole book feels like a rough draft that no one bothered to update. Maybe there were not enough hands and everyone thought someone else was dealing with these problems, and by the time they realized the issues weren’t being resolved it was too late. This theory is also backed by another claim that they were supposed to include art of certain backers’ pets as NPCs in the book, but it didn't make the final draft. I'm open any further discussion they would like to broach, but I don't think I'll purchase from Steamforged Games again. The only word I can use to describe this book is, "Irresponsible."

Always a delight, and a nice addition to open up for more kinds of animals. My group was sold when they found out they could make otters, seems we are going to play a pirate crew of all otters.