Excellent spell lists, solid rules that work around them and interesting professions. The only thing letting this down as well as core law is the artwork. Looking at the old rolemaster and especially the Harp cover art had more character in my opinion. The cover art for RMU is a puzzling choice indeed. Basically I love the rules but are a little disappointed each time I pick the book up and look at the cover.

An amazing collection of spells and the rules to handle them in your story and setting, true to the Rolemaster tradition but in the brand new and excellent Rolemaster Unified edition, bringing this awesome system into the current rpg era with a bang.

Okay, full disclosure: I was the primary author on this book. However, I'm also quite capable of being dissatisfied with my own work. There were a number of goals I had for a new Spell Law, and I believe these were largely achieved.

As noted, there are no more gaps in the 1-20 spell levels. I added two additional high level slots to give higher level characters more to play with. You just get more with each spell list.

I also wanted to strengthen the character of the Realms, so when I added spells, I tried to make them distinctive, and some things got moved around. I added some extra lists to Essence so that the "elemental" Realm wasn't the only one where some characters did not have access to an elemental bolt attack. Each Realm now has its own spell failure tables. More could be done, of course, but that is going to be setting-dependent (and there is some discussion of how to adjust magic rules for individual campaigns).

I also wanted to distinguish the approach of the pure spellcaster from that of the semi-spellcaster, who develops more mundane skills. One obvious example is the way that Clerics and Paladins handle the Undead. In previous editions, both had spells that would simply blast the Undead (inspired by the venerable "Turn Undead" ability of the most famous RPG). Now, Paladins have spells that enhance their physical attacks on unholy foes, while Clerics attack directly with Undead-blasting spells.

There was also a lot of work put into making the spells consistent over the various lists. You may still see the same spell with a parameter of "self" in the Mentalism version and targetable to another in the Essence version. That's a difference of Realms. The spell effect, however, needed to be identical if the spell name was the same. There were actually quite a few cases that required cleaning up in this respect.

There's a general streamlining of rules, as well as a good deal of work in clarity of rules and consistent treatment across the system. I don't think clearer rules for spell research or ritual magic have ever been published for Rolemaster.

Is the result a perfect spell system, destined to eclipse all other lesser tomes of game magic? Of course not. It is, however, a work I present to the world with pride.

Great update to Rolemaster. No more empty spell levels. Better description of spells and great artwork.

The rules are generally an improvement over previous editions... Especially RMSS and RMFP. I like that casters get spells every level and that the semi spell users have been tweaked... In a very good way.

As far as rules content... This is a solid improvement in the Spell Law series, worthy of a true improved 5th edition... Even over my beloved 2nd Edition.

I won't go over every item here... It is very worth buying for content.

However... Brace yourself for poor layout and page design. The art is weird to just ok... But I give a lot of credit to ICE for having it all bebe full color. That isn't cheap... But the art is definitely not a selling point... But welcome as no RM book (outside Germany) has color art.

It's the layout. Holy cow. It's not well done. Whoever did this looks like they have a tenuous grasp on how Microsoft Word works... Has never designed a technical document... And has never been to a design class. (3 pieces of 1/8 page art on a single page??)

In summary... RMU is a great progression of RM rules... Presentation seems more like a fan effort... Much love, but needs a professional touch... Don't let this keep you from laying down the money though... Good read, great new edition. Just wish they'd hire a better designer and less weird art.