Alluria Publishing is a new publisher for the 4e GSL system, and their first series of products for the system is entitled Remarkable Races. Each product features a new and unusual player race for the 4e GSL game, and having looked at their first two releases in the series, they've come out swinging and produced some high quality material. This product, Remarkable Races: The Obitu, features a living skeletal creature as a new race, and includes all the 4e material required to include the race in your campaign and create a memorable PC.

Remarkable Races: The Obitu comes as a single pdf file, and includes a front and back cover, credits page and table of contents, but unfortunately no bookmarks. The presentation standard is very high and professional with some wonderful artwork from Benjamin R. Barnes, and some good writing by the author of this 12 page pdf. The layout and design of the product is similar to what one would expect from a 4e product, and indeed a 4e race write-up. I was very pleased by the presentation of this product, particularly the vibrant art, but also the completeness of the product design and layout.

The obitu are a race of living skeleton creatures, originally created by a lich to serve as non-turnable minions with a necromantic, undead flavor. Due to unknown reasons, the creation of the obitu allowed them to gain sentience and life, eventually resulting in them turning on the Lich and becoming free-willed creatures. The origin of this race might seems somewhat contrived, but once you read the description of these creatures as a race, you'll realise that a lot of thought has gone into this race to create something that's plausible, living, vivid and real. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this imaginative description of the race, which has got a lot of believability to it, and is also well supported by the underlying mechanics.

The product includes the usual features for a racial write-up including racial traits (and a hefty +4 Dexterity bonus), racial powers, physical description, ecology, and a variety of other material including racial feats for heroic, paragon and epic tiers. All this material combines well to create a fun and interesting race, and certainly one that's got a lot more character than some of the races out there. I think what makes this race different is not so much the quantity of new material, or the mechanics, or even the concept of a living skeleton, but rather the potential for great roleplaying fun. There's a lot you can do with a character such as this in a campaign. Granted, not in every campaign can you walk a living skeleton down the city streets, but even there lies some potential for an interesting and different campaign devoid of some of the stereotypes of fantasy. I think this is where the product and indeed the series shines - it's provides playable races that are fun, with lots of potential and are more than just another weird shaped humanoid or bundle of leathery fur.

The pdf goes on to provide a new magic item slot for the obitu in the heart slot, and it lists a number of useful magical items that can occupy the obitu's chest cavity. It also lists a new disease, applicable only to undead, that is responsible for the creation of the obitu as they are today. One has to wonder what happens if some sort of remove disease ritual is used on an obitu, and unfortunately it's not mentioned in the product. The idea, though, could make for interesting possibilities. The latter part of the pdf concludes with several new obitu monsters, mostly good aligned, as well as some useful advice on running the race in your game and campaign world.

Overall, I thought the obitu was a imaginative take on the living skeletal warrior, complete with easy to understand and use 4e statistics, useful roleplaying advice and information, and in this reviewer's opinion a lot of potential for imaginative gaming. Remarkable Races: The Obitu is a very enjoyable product with top quality presentation and artwork, a very good mechanical write-up, and a vivid descriptive race with a lot of potential. With good value for money, it's well worth a look at.