I've got my books yesterday, and I'm quite happy with them (it's still sad to see the SL go away, though).
Starting off with the
essays from Joseph Carriker, Ari Marmell and Andrew Bates about the end of the Scarred Lands, we first get a map and an overview on Asherak in the first chapter, including a few sidebars, such as on god-king stats. The first chapter continues with two races, wrack elves and the Ubantu we already know from the CC. We also get the humans by region variant rule. Concluding this chapter are four prestige classes, a craft skill, and feats.
Chapter two starts with equipment in Asherak, such as Ubantu poison and theurgic items (divine alchemy). Next are magic items, with rules for extraplanar creatures bound into weapons. Finishing the chapter, we get several spells and true rituals, with quite a number of necromantic spells.
The chapters on Asherak are the longest if you ignore the monster chapter.
The first chapter on the Dragon Lands (also called Tanaroth), similarly starts offf with an overview of history and the clans of the land. The Dragon Lands certainly have an oriental flavor (the clan rulers are even called shogun). The races introduced in this chapter are the tatsuri, who can be said to be dragontouched, and the Dragonland Kobolds. Finishing the chapter are several feats, many of them tied to one or two of the clans, and Totem feats.
The fourth chapter again starts off with mundane equipment (dragon mail and dragon blade, each in two weight classes), going on to magic items, including some tattoos. Finally, we get spells dealing with dragons, elementals, and other themes such as Time.
The Roof of the World is the first chapter to deal with Fenrilik. Again, we get an overview on history, religion and geography. After that, we get a new race, the winter gnomes, and a prestige class, the ice-walker. No feats this time around.
The sixth chapter again starts with equipment and magic items (along with a material - hardened ice) and a small number of spells, a few of which are updated from Warrens of the Ratmen.
Fenrilik definitely gets the least amount of space in the book, but considering how sparsely populated it is, it is not surprising.
Chapter seven introduces several creatures, sorted by the continent they appear on. I think all sizes and types can be found, ranging from the Fine (godfly swarm) to Colossal (special mention goes to the Fell Deer). Challenge Ratings seem to be a bit higher, with several in the above 15 area. There are three creatures above CR 20, Suvarros, the Undying Prince (CR 24), the sample nether dragon (CR 26), and the crawling glacier (CR 23). A creature that leapt out to me was the ice warden - it very much gets to the limits of the ooze type.
A number of unique creatures can of course be found in this chapter, as well. I already mentioned Suvarros. Others are the Dustwrack dragon and Gommog, a draconic ogre.
Finally we get to the appendix, starting off with material for familiars (including a table that clears up at which level you can take creatures from the CCs as Improved Familiars). The nextpart is artifacts and Divine and Defeated writeups for several demigods, including Jandaveos.
The next part is templates (including the ignan and rock goblin template), and the piradun, pale elf. Finally we get three prestige classes, one for casters who like familiars, the prodigalist, and the shadow-walker and the Zathiskan Binder.
The book isn't without errors, though. The table and the writeup of the Acolyte of the shell, for example, disagree on the levels where the natural armor and spells are gained. The eyethief daemon can use blindness as a spelllike ability, but it isn't said how often. The dragoneet has a note that it can be taken as an Improved Familiar, but no mention of the level this can happen. The skerrai's grapple bonus has not been added together, it is written out as an addition. But overall, I am happy with the book.
), and had trouble finding it at first.
