Kingdoms of Kalamar Players Guide

Set in the popular Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting, this book is loaded with new official Dungeons and Dragons material including: five new variant classes, ten new prestige classes, over 70 new feats, new weapons, new armor, new combat options, new clerical domains, new spells and a new class of spells: scalable spells. Also included is more detailed information about the world of Tellene, its races, classes and politics that will allow Dungeons and Dragons players to create a unique character that matches their unique vision. Additionally, D&D Dungeon Masters will have a plethora of information at their fingertips with which to customize any campaign world. An abundant source of official Dungeons and Dragons material of the high quality you have come to expect from Kenzer and Company, this is one product you do not want to miss.

Players Guide to Kalamar
272 pages, $29.99

4 out of 5 stars.

Now, I am not normally a person to give a general review of a product, beyond telling my friends "Hay this is cool, "or, "This sucks", but I felt the need to review this rather nice, albeit full of reprint info supplement. Due to Kalamar being licensed, it pulls form multiple core and variant sources, which is the books biggest selling point.

First I am not a fan of Kalamar, I find the world boring and the world book a poor resource, reading like a history text instead of a game aid. I use my own campaign world, and have done so for over 15 years, and plan to for some time to come. Despite that, I'm a big fan of options, the more the merrier. I purchased this book with the sole purpose of using it for my existing world, not using Kalamar. So with that I am reviewing this book as an aid to other games.Now past that, I was rather impressed with the Players Guide to Kalamar, but it's not a perfect supplement, hence the 4 star rating.

Okay first the basics.

Art: Well the art could have been better in some places, it seems smudged or out of focus with the line work but it is better then some supplements I have seen from other companies. What art there is is black and white, which irritates me especially with the cover price. At 30 bucks, it would be nice to have some color to the book.

Layout: Standard layout, very similar to the WoTC PHB. In some places over a quarter of the page is just one word, on a big grey box, which I feel is a waste of space, similar to the Mythic Races supplement. Tables are laid out well, blocked in to help prevent run on which I do like. Font is very basic, easy to read.

The chapters breakdown as follows:

Intro: Basically "Why you should like Kalamar, let me praise ourselves here." Really unneeded, if you're a Kalamr fan you'll love it, if your not, this guy isn't going to sell the book.

Ch 1: Races: The races section is basically the reprint of the PHB races, with the subraces (grey, dark, wood, etc) and a few new subraces (stone dwarf, golden halfling, etc,) plus new races representing the hobgoblin factions. I did not really care for the alterations to the core subraces for the most part, but it gave me ideas on what to do with them, such as the elves, to vary them more in abilities. The new subraces, were hit and miss, once again based on personal taste. Some seem rather balanced, while others seemed for better term of the word Hosed, with so little benefit that most players, even the die hard plumber role players won't touch them. The hobgoblins are interesting, but they once again fall into the balance issue. Too much was done to make them playable, when in the DMG they are already a 0 increase ECL race. The hobgoblins of Kalamar are dumber, less observant and less intimidating then normal hobgoblins. The human races are also defined, with no variant rules just background info which can come in handy fleshing out the human population of your game.

Ch 2 and 3: Classes and Prestige Classes: There's world specific info for each core class is here as well as the new classes (Gladiator, Basiran Dancer, Brigand, Infiltrator, Shaman and Spellsinger,) and world specific prestige classes in Ch 3. The new classes vary in ability, mostly being low key compared to other supplements. The gladiator seems rather pointless, especially the condescending tone the author takes in the reasoning for their inclusion, such as comments to the prestige class in Sword and Fist. It seems the author doesn't understand the prestige class is for skilled gladiators, not beginning ones. Gladiator = Fighter in my book.

The brigand is another class that can be simulated through the Fighter/Rogue. I do not care for the Saving Throw progression for one, and most of the brigands abilities can be simulated through feats.

The rest of the classes however make for nice additions. The Basiran Dancer is basically a dancing bard with some nice extras. The Infiltrator is basically a Rogue/Ranger but is just different enough to make it worth inclusion. They fill the role more of a raider/saboteur then hunter of whatever. The shaman is basically the druid, with a couple of changes (Animal Totem, Fetish, lower saves, lower BAP, domain spells similar to the OA shaman) and spellsinger is basically a variant sorcerer, with Perform skill and no need for somatic/material components and less spells per day.

Prestige Classes follow and they range from poor to good. Most of the spellcasting prestige classes have very poor spell progression, with the range 4 to 5 levels, which is hard to discern due to the format of the class tables, the only place the format breaks down in the supplement, which I don't think would have been a problem if they gave themselves more room with shrinking the chapter title blurbs. Some seem more suited towards NPC characters, then PC characters, such as the Merchant.

Ch 4: Skills. A lot of reprint of skills, but some new uses for them and a VERY nice list of craft, knowledge and profession skills beyond the handful of skills found in the PHB. This is the nicest aspect of the chapter.

Ch 5: Feats. Another big selling point of the book is the feats section. Well the huge number of feats publicized to be here are in fact reprints of various feats from the FR Handbook, and the various class books, with a helping of new ones. Now if you don't own these supplements, having most (not all) of the feats from those books is worth the cover price (figuring 40 dollars for the FR handbook and 20 dollars per class book) especially if you like to have everything in one source like I do. The new feats run the gambit of +2 to two skills, to new combat feats (Immovability, +4 to opposed overrun/knockdown checks, Iron Touch of Kruk-Ma-Kali, -1 factor to all critical hits you suffer, i.e. x3 becomes x2) and many more. There are about 99 new feats in the book, but some are variations or identical to existing feats, with just the names changed to protect the innocent.

Ch 6: Religion: Once again a nice area because it includes the FR domains, Defenders of the Faith domains and a few new ones to expand your domain list. This section also defines the gods, and gives them the domain lists that were missing from the old Kalamar book, and good thing too since the domains are different here. The deities themselves are more definitions then actual named gods, such as "Knight of the Gods," instead of Hextor for instance, which doesn't suit me but may help define your existing gods by comparing titles.

Ch 7: Equipment: Tones of new equipment, old and new, with new alchemical and poison materials, armor and weapons. The slave cost bothered me, since player characters are traditionally heroes. There are a few new weapons, the obligatory funky double weapon (Malakbar) and new ammunition very reminiscing of 2nd edition with different arrow types. There are also new armor types, which depending on your campaign may be nice additions or unwanted add-ons.

Ch 8: Combat: A list of various career paths (feat chains) for world specific fighting styles. It would have been nice to have special abilities, similar to the OA martial styles to represent those who master the combat styles. They also add 4 new combat maneuvers, Kick, Shield Disarm, Throw and Unbalance.

Ch 9: Adventuring: What its like to adventure in Kalamar, with new diseases and nobility.

Ch 10: Magic: Another great area for enhancing your campaign. New uses for channeling (turn undead), that make for interesting uses of channeling but some of the abilities are downright nasty. You get an ability, based on your religion and only if you take the feat Channel Positive(Negative) Energy. Also there is a section on the Divine Right of Kings, with how the gods protect nobility, giving the nobility special abilities (bonuses to saving throws, damage reduction).

Ch 11: Spells: This is the chapter that contains the new and reprinted cleric Domains, including reprinted spells such as Bolt of Glory for the Glory domain, and a slew of new spells. Some spells are victims to the "dumb name," syndrome such as "Appear as a Wizard," among others. No spell jumps out and says Boo, being grossly out of balance compared to other core products. Draw Forth the Oak Spirit is a nice spell, that allows druids to create dryads in trees.

Ch 12: Magic Items: A slew of new items, new additions to weapons (Blinding, Champion, Shield Breaker) and armor and new specific items. A few new artifacts round out the chapter. The last two sections seem to point to Kalamar containing just as much magic as any other world (well maybe not the FR.)

Pages 205 to 276 contains appendices for the products that the players guide contains (what came from where) as far as published products, a glossary of terms, master feat list, place of origin tables, character sheet, spell planner (including sources from the Class Books, Forgotten Realm books, Manual of the Planes, WoTC adventures and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and an index.

Overall the book is full of juicy tidbits as well as a mass consolidation of Core material. This is the books strength, and weakness. For those who already have it all, it's not as useful except for the new material, and at 30 bucks, I don't know if there is enough there. For those who don't have it all, or like everything in one source, this is a nice guide and addition to your gaming book stack. The art could be better, and color couldn't hurt. The prestige classes need a little work and a couple of the new "core," classes are redundant. But overall it's a nice product, just not perfect.

For the Kalamar players, well it's your Players Handbook, no need to say anything more.

I don't usually have time to write reviews these days, but I thought that I'd set aside the time for this one.

Now, I'm not a Kalamar fan. I have most of the books (courtesy of Kenzer) but have never actually used them. In general, having read them, my opinion is that Kalamar is a high quality setting, but that it's just not for me. To be honest, I feel that that makes a review all the more telling, because reviews by self-acclaimed fans of a given publisher or product line can tend to be less objective at times.

Kenzer already have a Kalamar setting book out, and before looking at this product I must admit to having been slightly confused. It didn't take long before the confusoin lifted, however. This isn't a setting book. It doesn't tell you about Kalamar, the world, but rather gives you a great big pile of extra crunchy rules-based material for your D&D game. The "Kalamar" in the title is almost misleading - this book is as generic as they get, in the same way that Sword & Sorcery's Relics & Rituals is generic. Occasional references to Kalamar remind you that this is a Kalamar product but, frankly, it's clearly designed to be used by anyone.

This is a big ol' book. It's hardcover, 270 pages and pretty much jammed from cover to cover with crunchy material. It reminds me very much of the core Player's Handbook, although the interior art is black-and-white and the pages not as glossy. But none of that matters - I've never felt that art and paper type have anything to do with an RPG product - they're just so much extra icing on the cake.

The book is, essentially, a Player's Handbook for Kalamar. Pretty much every chapter from the core PHB is in there, less the character generation rules. There's a chapter on Kalamar races, a chapter on classes... well, it's probably easier if I just list the chapters:

• Races
• Classes
• Prestige Classes
• Skills
• Feats
• Religion
• Equipment
• Combat
• Adventuring
• Magic
• Spells
• Magic Items

Now, when I say that this is a Player's Handbook, I don't mean to imply that it can replace your core rules. It can't - the d20 STL doesn't allow that. This is a setting book, not an actual game which is what the core rules comprise. However, by looking at the chapters above, you can see that much of the PHB (and some of the DMG) has been either replaced or added to - and when the KoK Player’s Guide touches on a subject, it does so thoroughly and in depth. For example, the races chapter contains 19 races which replace those in the core rules (and also includes them - humans, elves and dwarves are all in there, along with sub-races of each type). The class section is all new material (6 new core classes), and also contains a list of which classes from the core rules are relevant to Kalamar and how they fit in. The skills section essentially replaces the corresponding chapter in the core rules, with a similar skill list and descriptions which include a few extras (there's an expanded language skill which tells you just how well you can speak a language, for example), and the feats chapter is mainly new material with one or two inclusions or overlaps from the core rules.

The book contains a lot of stuff not in the PHB, however. Details on various diseases of Kalamar, fighting schools designed to tailor your character (I wasn't so keen on that section - it's just a few pages of advice on what feats/skills to choose to replicate various styles), religious ranks (including duties, privileges etc.), plus a whole slew of spells and magical items.

There are a few oddities - the appendices take up about 70 pages, and include glossaries, charts, summaries and tables; they also include a 7-page table indicating places of origin, a 13-page table listing all official feats and their source; and about 30 pages of spell-planners and character sheets. Speaking for myself, much of those 70 pages would be fairly useless in my game (I've never used a spell-planner in my life), but I guess some people will appreciate it all. I wouldn't have a problem with it except that it's 70 pages, a whole quarter of the book - and thus you're paying quite a chunk of the cover price for it all.

However, that aside, the KoK Player's Guide really is packed full of material. Most of it is very easily used in any other campaign, and the book would make valuable addition to anyone's core rulebooks. If you're actually playing in Kalamar, then it's - well, not essential (otherwise how would you have managed up until now?) - but certainly on the must-buy list.

Would I buy it myself? Well, no. It's crammed full of skills, feats, spells etc., but I personally don't find that tons of new feats or spells necessarily make for a better game. I'm a fan of new, innovative stuff that integrates to but adds to the functionality of the d20 system. But that's not what this book is about, and that's not what it's claiming to do. If you want a whole host of extra classes, feats, skills, prestige classes, spells etc. then this book delivers that with gusto.

I can't give this a perfect 5. But it's certainly above average. It's solid and respectable, without really showing any flair. It does the job well, covers all the ground required and doesn't put a step wrong (other than the 70-page appendix). I'm trying to think of an analogy here, but coming up short - I don't know much about cars, but something like Spycraft is your d20 Ferrari while the KoK Player's Guide is the reliable car you commute to work in every day and which has never once let you down. Don’t think of it as a Kalamar product - think of it as the second half of the Player’s Handbook.

Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide

The Kingdoms of Kalamar setting is a fairly straight-laced D&D setting, albeit one with a self-professed attention to realism. As such, for most purposes you can play Kalamar with the core D&D rulebooks and the notably rules-light Kingdoms of Kalamar setting book.

Be that as it may, Kenzer has brought us the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, a sourcebook containing new options primarily targeted at players using the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting.

A First Look

The Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide is a 272 page hardcover book priced at $29.99. The book is priced rather reasonably for its size.

The cover of the book has a leather tome look similar to the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting book. The front cover depicts a hacked-upon shield bearing a coat-of-arms.

The interior is black and white. The artwork is fairly good, though a sketchy style is utilized for much of the artwork. Unlike the KoK campaign setting book, there are no color plates, but the art does seem to be better than the campaign setting book.

The typeface used in the interior is dense and there is not a line between paragraphs as with other d20 system book. This gives the Player's Guide a good text density. The leader space is a bit large, however, and the book does not quite have a WotC level text density.

Overall, the layout is nice and readable. The tables are clear and usable and use a style very similar to that utilized by WotC.

A Deeper Look

The KoK Player's Guide is arranged into 12 chapters plus appendices.

Chapter 1: Races

The first chapter covers the various races in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. As Kalamar sticks fairly closely to the core D&D model, you will find all of the typical D&D races here: humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half-orcs, and helf-elves. In addition, hobgoblins are an important race in Kalamar, and as such, rules are included for PC hobgoblins and half-hobgoblins.

Each race contains some information about how the race fits into the Kalamar setting as well as game information similar to that outlined in the D&D 3e PH. Most of the races have a variant that is pretty close to identical to the races in the D&D 3e PH, though there are some subraces that are modestly different from the basic races and from the variants presented in the PH, and some variants are entirely new. Some of the variants don't have fairly "core" elven abilities like low light vision and sleep immunity listed; this seems like an accidental omission to me.

Hobgoblins are different from the hobgoblin as presented in the 3e MM. The Kalamaran hobgoblin has penalties to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, which the core hobgoblin does not have.

The half-hobgoblin does not precisely match the statistics of the half-hobgoblin in the KoK campaign setting book; it has even valued modifiers to ability scores. This is a good thing inasmuch as the half-hobgoblin in the campaign setting book used odd modifiers, which are considered inappropriate in D&D. Instead of just trying to half the hobgoblin modifiers, the half-hobgoblins here have modifiers based on their heritage.

The races chapter also includes some additional details for fleshing out Kalamar PCs. This includes a sidebar on naming guidelines for the different cultures of the Kalamar setting, age tables, and a table for assigning height and weight according to the characters racial heritage.

Chapter 2: Classes

The second chapter discusses how core classes fit into the KoK setting. The first section devotes a paragraph to each of the existing core classes (including psions and psychic warriors), defining what role the class plays in the setting and where such characters are likely to hail from. One of the core classes is missing from this listing: the monk. It seems to me that given the unique and arguably oddball nature of monks in a Europe-inspired setting, this is a great oversight.

Sorely missed from the KoK campaign setting book, a list of deity domains is provided for clerics in the KoK setting. Owing to its "officially licensed status", the KoK PG contains several domains from other non-OGC WotC sources, such as Defenders of the Faith and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

Unfortunately, this application of new domains to the KoK deities seems a little haphazard, especially in the case of the prestige domains. Some of the prestige domains are more powerful than the basic domains (like celerity), yet KoK treats them like basic domains. This may lead to some unbalanced clerics.

The chapter introduces 5 new core classes: the Basiran dancer, the brigand, the gladiator, the infiltrator, the shaman, and the spellsinger. It labels these classes "variant classes", stemming from the idea in the core book that by changing some class abilities you can create a more customized character.

Indeed, these classes seem like new spins on existing classes more than whole new core classes. The basiran dancer is a sort of bard variant that relies more on dance than song. The brigand is a basic highwayman, not too far from a rogue. The gladiator is fighter specialized in arena combat. The infiltrator is another class not too far from the rogue. The shaman looks a lot like a druid. And finally, the spellsinger appears to be a sorcerer that does not have to use material components.

Unfortunately, I feel that the intent of the suggestion in the PHB was to create a more customized version of an existing class to better fit your concept, and not to create whole new classes. Indeed, I feel that of the variant classes, only the Basiran dancer and the spellsinger could not be conceptually done with existing classes and feats – and then, the spellsinger is almost just a sorcerer with a different skill list and the eschew material components feat. Overall, I found most of the variant classes weren't justified as separate classes.

One thing I found particularly vexing is the justification for making the gladiator a core class. "On Tellene, characters do not adventure for years, all the while hoping to one day become a slave and get thrown in a pit." That statement makes me wonder (1) whether the author really thinks that is how things work in other campaign settings, and (2) if the author understands prestige classes at all. A prestige class like gladiator from Sword & Fist does not represent the totality of all characters that might be called "gladiators." Rather, it seems to represent a certain elite character who has developed skills that let them excel in the arena. There is nothing about gladiating that requires a character be any class at all; all that requires is the character be thrown in an arena. Many gladiators will be fighters or warriors, whether initially or after they have survived a few bouts.

I found this chapter the most disappointing in the book. Other than the weak justification of the "variant classes" there are some other vexing problems and incongruities. The bandit uses nonstandard save progressions. The shaman gets totems that give it single point attribute bonuses, another non-conventional technique. The spellsinger gets the ability to cast 2nd level spells at 3rd level, but doesn't learn any 2nd level spells until 4th level.

Further, many of the classes are missing some details needed for core classes, such as starting gold and equipment.

Finally, as a side note, given that the shaman depicted here is little more than a tweaked druid, I recommend that interested readers pursue the much more thorough treatment given by either or both Mongoose's Shamans or Green Ronin's Shaman's Handbook.

Chapter 3: Prestige Classes

The third chapter dives into prestige classes used in the KoK setting, eleven in all. The prestige classes are:

- Alliance Merchant: The alliance merchant is a prominent member of the so-called Golden Alliance, a league of merchants in the KoK setting. The concept seems sound, but there is some of the class abilities struck me as rather cut-and-dried and they ignored the supporting system. For example, the fools gold ability lets the character to automatically pass off inferior goods as if they were of better value; I would think that a bluff check versus a buyer's appraise check would be appropriate. Similarly, the perfect appraisal ability allows the character to automatically know the worth of all valuables, instead of providing a (possibly hefty) bonus to the character's appraise skill.
- Bounty Hunter: There are already many variants of the bounty hunter prestige class in different supplements; here's one if you don't have one already. In contrast to the alliance merchant, most of the abilities seemed well conceived and are worded to work with the supporting system. For example, penetrate disguise allows the character a bonus on spot checks to notice a character is using a disguise.
- Mariner: The mariner is a prestige class representing certain sailor types in the KoK setting, from Reanaarian pirates to Meznam traders. Most of the class abilities are well conceived for a nautical character, but some only seemed useful if the character also happened to be a spellcasters. (As I side note, I find it ironic that earlier in the book, the author disdained the use of prestige classes to represent a common archetype, yet do that exact thing here with the mariner.)
- Golem Master: The golem master is a spellcaster specialized in the creation of constructs. In addition to slow continued spellcasting advancement, the golem master receives class abilities that aid in the creation of golems and other constructs. A fairly well put together class.
- Muse: This class is a bit of an oddity. It is something of a specialized bard complete with its own skill list. Instead of inspiring courage is combat, the muse inspires characters in other venues, primarily skill checks. While this sounds like an interesting variant, I can really only see PCs taking this class in a very skill oriented game. And then, many skill-oriented games are stealth oriented, so that may be out as well. The stated purpose of the class is actually to inspire works of artistry, so the muse may be more specialized yet. This class will probably primarily be relegated to interesting NPC encounters.
- Order of the Slayer: The Order of the Slayer is an order dedicated to the destruction of undead. They are similar in many ways to other iterations of undead-slayer type classes, with abilities that help them combat undead and offset the damage of undead attack modes, as well as having their own spell list. The class seems adequate, with one exception: the death's embrace class ability seems entirely too powerful to me, having a chance of destroying any undead creature regardless of power, without chance of returning.
- Restorer: The Restorers are a hobgoblin sect obsessed with restoring a member of an ancient line to the throne of a hobgoblin nation. Members of the class must be hobgoblins who cast their spells as sorcerers (a less than optimum combination, since hobgoblins have a charisma penalty.) They have class abilities that let them lead hobgoblins as well as a few spell like abilities and modest continued spellcasting advancement. One ability they have seems troublesome: rise a second time. Any event that reduced the hobgoblin to between -1 and –9 HP instead reduced to restorer to 0 hp. It seems like this ability needs more restrictions or it will be rather abusive.
- Sentinels of Providence: This class represents members of the Order of Providence, an order dedicated to countering the threat of fiends to the land of Tellene. The class has modest fighting abilities as well as abilities that let them better deal with outsiders. The also have improved spellcasting advancement, but no actual spellcasting requirements. There is no guidance on how to handle spellcasting advancement if the Sentinel doesn't actually have spellcasting levels.
- Slaver: The slaver prestige class primarily represents slavers of Pel Bronlenon in the KoK setting. They have fair fighting ability and skills, as well as some class abilities to assist them in their task of capturing and keeping slaves.
- Vessel of Man: This class is concerned primarily with stopping the meddling of gods and clerics with the land of Tellene. They have good fighting abilities and class abilities that help them struggle with divine spellcasters. They also have their own spell selection, ironically divine spellcasting, though it is granted by unnamed gods of chaos.
- Warlord: The warlord is a simple concept, a military leader of men. The warlord gains a number of bonus combat feats as well as special abilities related to leading men. This class is fairly straightforward and some may find it more suitable for "general" type characters than more esoteric choices in other d20 system resources.

Chapter 4: Skills

The fourth chapter covers skills in the KoK setting. Includes are new categories for craft, profession, and knowledge skills. In the case of the knowledge skills, there are several categories of military studies: art of war, fighting styles, military logistics, military tactics, and military training. There are applications for each of these. However, I wonder given the generic nature of most D&D skills if these categories aren't too fine and if some of them would best be combined.

Many old skills are covered here with new applications. For example, the heal skill can be used to find weak spots on creatures, and innuendo can be used to disguise spellcasting.

Only one all new skill is provided: pantomime. As is the case with many new skills introduced in d20 system products, I wonder how justified it is given the general nature of D&D skills. It seems to me as if communicating emotions and intents via non-linguistic methods might be a function of innuendo. At any rate, no mention is given to whether this is to be considered a class skill for any of the core D&D classes.

In addition to the skills provided, there are Kalamar languages and a variant system that provides more detailed treatment of languages. Under this system languages are not binary in nature, but rather are divided into various levels of proficiency. Characters can spend skill points on languages, and also get a number of points to devote to language skills as they advance levels. This is a nice system to consider if you are discouraged by the rather abstract and generous nature of the default D&D language system.

Chapter 5: Feats

This chapter provides a considerable selection of new feats for your D&D game. There are 103 feats in all, though some are reprinted from Wizards of the Coast books like expert tactician. Many of these feats depend on a character hailing from a certain race or regions, much like the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book. Unlike the FRCS, such feats merely make the feat or race in question a prerequisite instead of the more complicated region mechanic.

A description of some of the feats follows:

- Animal Empathy: This feat allows the character to use Sense Motive on animals. The feat seems rather unfortunately titled, as Animal Empathy is already the name of a skill in D&D. Further, it seems to me like that very skill already fills the role described by this feat.
- Artistic Crafter: This feat allows the character to always be able to "take 20" on a specific craft skill. I consider this mechanic ill conceived. The mechanical technique of "always taking 20" makes little sense, as in the game it is literally shorthand for a character trying over and over until they get it right, and it only works in situations where there is no penalty for failure, such as loss of material when making craft checks. It doesn't make sense for a character to have the ability to "always take 20" in the same way as skill mastery always allows the character to "take 10". In essence, the skill is allowing the character to take 10 with a +10 bonus.
- Awareness: This feat makes the character immune to being sneak attacked due to being flanked. The character can still be sneak attacked when flat-footed.
- Channel Positive/Negative Energy: With this feat specific to characters with the turn or rebuke undead ability, the character can use their ability to achieve different effects depending on their religion (described later in the book.)
- Commanding Presence: This feat gives you a fear inducing gaze attack that you can use as a free action. Thought the prerequisites are stiff, the feat seems a little giving to me. Perhaps a usage limit or limit on HD of targets affected would be appropriate.
- Elemental Adept: This feat is similar to the various "spell focus" feats, but boosts the DC of spells with a descriptor corresponding to the four elements (earth, air, fire, or water.)
- Enhance Familiar: This is not a single feat, but a collection of feats. Each one increases the capability of your familiar in a specific way, such as making it faster, giving it the ability to speak, or giving it tough skin.
- Exotic Steed: This feat gives the you a +4 bonus to ride checks when riding an exotic mount (i.e., a mount other than a horse, donkey, pony, or riding dog.)
- Fey Blood: The character gains low light vision.
- Gorgeous: The character's charisma is considered 2 points higher for purposes of the effect of appearance. I think this feat would have been better off if it was phrased as a bonus to specific skills instead of being so vague.
- Know Your Enemy: After 3 rounds of combat, you gain a bonus to attacks against a specific opponent. The bonus can be improved if you make a successful knowledge (fighting styles) roll.
- Legacy: You are considered 2 levels higher for the purposes of spells that depend on levels (like cloudkill.)
- Magical Affinity: You can cast a number of zero level spells per day equal to your intelligence modifier.
- Natural Mathematician: The character receives a +2 bonus on skill checks related to mathematics. Considering the rarity of such checks in D&D, perhaps a higher modifier might have been appropriate.
- Scholar: All knowledge skills are class skills for you, and you gain a +1 bonus with three knowledge skills.
- Skeptic: The character gains +4 to saves against phantasms.
- Tough as Nails: The you inflict damage to weapons that damage you.

Overall, this is a very nice selection of feats, with few blatantly abusive feats. Where feats seems to be unbalanced, it is mostly in the conservative direction.

Chapter 6: Religion

The sixth chapter provides additional details of deities of Tellene. In the KoK setting, each deity is worshiped by different races under different names, rather than there being race-specific deities. In the KoK campaign setting book, names were provided for the various deities as given by the various human cultures; this chapter provides similar information for nonhuman races.

The chapters provides additional salient information on various deities, including alignment, weapons, symbols, and divine focus. The chapter also provides a list of equivalent deities for players converting characters using the default D&D deities or Forgotten Realms deities.

The bulk of the chapter is used describing canons, or religious texts, of various deities. This might be useful as a roleplaying hook for players or setting flavor piece for DMs.

Chapter 7: Equipment

This chapter outlines a number of new items that can be found in the various markets of Tellene. The chapter begins with a number of alchemical concoctions such as bolomo (a solvent that can be used to dissolve adhesives like that of tanglefoot bags), lightning bottle (blinds creatures when the bottle is smashed) and noisemakers (basically, firecrackers designed for maximum noise.)

Similar the alchemical items is a number of herbal concoctions. Examples include the celestial health potion (provides a bonus on saves against the effects of disease), hag's curse (causes blindness), and orchidia (causes the victim to fall into a coma like state).

In addition to these beneficial and baneful concoctions are a number of new poisons provided for the KoK setting.

Slaves are traded in certain places in Tellene. To facilitate the possibility that dealings regarding slaves will come up in the campaign, a system is provided to determine typical rates for slaves. The system takes into account such things as race and exceptional ability scores.

Finally, the chapter ends with an assortment of weapons and armor unique to Tellene. This includes things like lamellar armor, ball arrows (that inflict bludgeoning damage), leaf blades swords, and other variants.

Chapter 8: Combat

The combat chapter is short, and focuses primarily on various fighting schools popular in different areas of Tellene, and career paths of various warrior creeds. Both include a bit of exposition about the school and creed. The fighting schools descriptions outline what tactics are used, and include details such as which skills and feats the schools teach. The career paths are similar, but outlines more specific feat chains that a character who is a member of the named fighting force is likely to take. This is an interesting and useful technique to help make characters fit the world.

Chapter 9: Adventuring

Chapter 9 is something of a miscellany for adventurers. It includes notes on what travel is like in various sections in Tellene, as well as details on diseases, nobility, and position in the clergy.

The section on diseases outlines a number of diseases common in Tellene. Though it does spell out the basic game characteristics of the disease, it goes much deeper, describing regions where the disease is founds and symptoms of the various stages.

The section on nobility discusses details of nobility should a player character find themselves in the situation of holding a noble title. Ideas are provided for entry into the nobility and running adventures with noble PCs. Details are provided on the nature of nobility in various regions of Tellene.

The section on temple rank describes the benefits and responsibilities that a character who holds a position of authority is likely to have. Ten ranks (plus sainthood) are described. This section and the section on nobility provide a good deal of information for running PCs in positions of authority.

Chapter 10: Magic

The magic chapter is divided into two sections: Channeling Positive Energy and Divine Right of Kings.

The Channeling Positive Energy section (a slight misnomer, since it describes channeling of negative energy as well) describes the abilities granted by the Channel Positive (or Negative) Energy feat, and builds off of the reference in the DMG that speaks of alternative uses of channeling energy.

The exact ability gained depends entirely upon the church that the cleric follows. For example, clerics of the mule gain an ability called "barrier" that protects them from elemental energy (although it refers to the four classic elements vice the five D&D energies), and clerics of the corruptor gain an ability that can bind enemies (as if bound by rope) unless they can make a strength or escape artist check. Unfortunately, you may find the table difficult to use unless you are thoroughly familiar with the deities of Tellene, as the table lists the abilities by name of the clergy vice deity name. However, I do find the concept compelling and it is a definite candidate for conversion to other games.

In Tellene, deities grant special favor to the sovereigns in the land of Tellene. The next section, Divine Right of Kings, describes special abilities that nobility and royalty gain in Tellene. The abilities begin at the rank of Baron and increase until the rank of emperor. Barons get a bonus to certain saves, the uncanny dodge ability, and the noble bearing feat. Higher ranks of ability gain other save bonuses, damage reduction, other class abilities, and spell resistance.

Chapter 11: Spells

This chapter introduces a number of new spells and domains for the D&D game, including those for new classes in Tellene.

As mentioned earlier, a number of domains are included in this product from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book and Defenders of the Faith. From FRCS, only the racial domains other than elf are excluded. The elf domain has been re-titled "Moon: Diadolai", and the Moon Domain becomes "Moon: Pelselond." The DotF prestige domains are presented as standard domains, which in some cases may represent a balance issue as some prestige domain abilities are significantly more powerful than normal domain abilities.

In addition, eight new domains are presented for the KoK setting: cold, moon: veshemo, oblivion, sentinel, tempest, terror, timing, and warding.

A new type of spell is introduced, scalable spells. Scalable spells can be cast at different levels with differing results. Examples are spellscatter (which causes the target to lose a number of spells of a level half or less of the level spellscatter is cast at) and summon fey (which summons a fey creature with hit dice equal or less than the level the spell is cast at.) I initially found the concept rather intriguing. After seeing a few examples, the concept seems sound, but I don't see any spell concepts that wouldn't work just as well without the scalable concept.

Of course, the chapter is filled with a plethora of new spells, the details of which are beyond the scope of this review. New spells in the domains reprinted from FRCS and DotF are likewise reprinted. The spells are much like those in the D&D PH in that they are primarily combat oriented, though many of them are of use to adventurers in other ways.

Chapter 12: Magic Items

This chapter provides the DM with a variety of new items for use in the game. Items of every type are included, including weapon and armor qualities, cursed items, and artifacts. Examples include:

- Dodging Death (armor quality): When a character wearing this armor is reduced below 0 hp but not killed, they receive the effects of a cure minor wounds spell, stabilizing them.
- Magic-Drinking (weapon quality): This weapon affects the target with a dispel magic if the victim does not make a successful will save. If any effect is dispelled, the weapon gains a temporary +1 to its enhancement bonus.
- Potion of Blood: A character who imbibes this potion temporarily gains the racial abilities of another race.
- Gem of Illusion: This gem can be placed on the ground to create a specific programmed illusion.
- Book of Souls: This artifact is a treatise listing the names of many dead people. The user of the book can speak any of the names in the book to summon forth the ghost of the named person.

Other Materials

In addition to the game material, the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide contains appendices including a list of references (of WotC books that the book duplicates material from), a glossary of terms in the KoK setting, a d10,000 based table to determine the character's place of origin by race, a compiled feat index containing all KoK and WotC feats, a character sheet with a Kalamar logo, and spell planning sheets for the core and KoK classes. There is also a complete index.

Conclusion

The Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide is a very meaty book, with much useful material. The book should be useful even if you are not you are playing a game in the Kingdoms of Kalamar. However, if you are the book is essential.

I thought the major weakness of the book was the new classes chapter, which showed many problems with both utility and system compliance. The book may also be less useful to you if you already own much of the reference materials such as the FRCS or the WotC classbooks. However, if you held off on buying those books for whatever reason, you get a much higher ratio of "crunchy bits" in this book, which has little in the way of exposition and specific campaign details.

If you already own most of the referenced books, or you are not playing in the Kingdoms of Kalamar, you might want to read this product as a "3".

-Alan D. Kohler

Dungeons and Dragons
Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide

For those that are unaware, this "Rulebook IV" -- as they've rather sneakily called it (presumably Wizards sat on them when then tried to call it "Core" Rulebook, having had their fingers burned by another "big boy" in the d20 world, mentioning no names... -- is the "missing half" of the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting Sourcebook, which, at least in its 3E version, has been available since March 2001. For your information, this earlier volume sets out one of the most detailed and thorough campaign settings of a traditional D&D world that I've encountered, but its primary focus (to some critical disapprobation) was almost entirely on the human races. Fine, that is certainly a vital part of what makes adventuring on "Tellene" (the actual name of the world, not "Kalamar") so exciting. But this new Player's Guide does a great deal to correct that perceived imbalance, and for all those who were put off the original Campaign Setting sourcebook by its concentration on history, politics, religion and intrigue in the human lands -- this is the part you've been waiting for. New Variant classes, New Prestige classes, New Feats, New Skills, New Spells, lots and lots of lovely, lovely tables... the list is almost endless. Combining the two books together you'd have the Kingdoms of Kalamar equivalent of FR, but at more than double the word count!

For the sake of completeness, I shall repeat what others have already detailed here. The book is hard-bound, 272 pages long, with the "typical" faux leather and metals clasps ancient tome look on the cover. The inside covers have a double-page spread of the map of Tellene, and for those slightly frustrated by the unclear, hard-to-read sepia-tinted version in the Campaign Setting, this is a particular relief. (After a year, I still haven't got around to unfolding and pinning up the massive rug-sized colour map that shipped with the Campaign Setting, so I refer to these inside covers a lot!).

However, those expecting full colour illustrations throughout (like the Wizards Core Rulebooks), or even the occasional colour plate of the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting Sourcebook (henceforth, KoKCSS) will be disappointed. The book is B&W throughout, and also on less-expensive, uncoated paper -- a slight disappointment, but no more. Certainly the print quality and the accompanying images are perfectly acceptable, many extremely good, and besides, this volume is a little cheaper than the KoKCSS anyway, so one can't grumble.

Chapter 1 details the races of Tellene that are most suitable for PCs. Humans get much shorter shrift here than they did in the KoKCSS, but there are still brief descriptions of the six main races: Brandobians (think small, sea-faring colony-building European explorers); Dejy (spiritual, nomadic, tribespeople for the most part); Fhokki (Viking-like warrior race, largely oral culture); Kalamaran (Roman-like, educated empire builders); Reanaarian (important trading/seafaring nation); and Svimohz (cradle of humanity, African-type cultures). However, all these races and cultures are detailed far more intensely in the KoKCSS. The KokPG makes room for the demi-humans, and what a mouth-watering list they make, all with different ability modifiers of one type or another.

Hill Dwarves; Mountain Dwarves; Stone Dwarves
Dark Elves; Grey Elves; High Elves; Wild Elves; Wood Elves; Half-Elves
Deep Gnomes; Forest Gnomes; Rock Gnomes
Hobgoblin; Half-Hobgoblin (Kargi); Half-Hobgoblin (Krangi)
Half-orcs
Golden Halflings; Lightfoot Halflings

And the information is just like a massively expanded version of the D&D Player's Guide, each race in turn being given details of their lands, their relations, their religion, languages, physical descriptions, and typical personalities, much like the Forgotten Realms did, and naturally enough, quite a large debt is owed to that revered institution. (But see later). The chapter finishes with useful charts detailing the additional attributes for such characters: their ages, heights, weights and naming conventions.

Chapter 2 starts work on the various classes, and the geographical regions whence they are most likely to hail. Although there is the well-publicized oversight of forgetting the Monk, they do have the courtesy to include Psions and Psychic Warriors, in addition to all the usual standards. The concept of New Variant Classes (notice the absence of the word "Prestige" there) has met with some resistance, but personally I love the thought of expanding initial classes so that your character can be a little more special even at Level 1. It means, of course, that he doesn't need to reach the required Knowledge (_____)+8 rating required by many of the Prestige classes. And why should every adventurer start in the same class, anyway? It's not as if the local Jobcentre has aisles marked "Fighter, Cleric, Wizard" -- there must be all sorts of different paths one can take to start a life of adventuring.

The additional starting classes we're provided with here include "Basiran Dancer", basically a take on the Bard class, whose primary focus will be immense fitness and Weapon finesse -- adding the dexterity bonus to Melee attack rolls rather than Strength -- I can't help thinking of Zorro here, or an Arabic houri from 1001 Nights! "The Brigand" is ultimately a cross between a fighter and a rogue, an excellent addition with plenty of role-playing potential without the need for multiclassing, but the "Gladiator", I feel, is a bit weak and limited to be included here as a Variant class. Perhaps a Prestige class would have been better for him, but that's a minor niggle that might stem more from the way I prefer to play my games, which has little of the hack and slash about them.

"Infiltrators" are, as you might surmise, a variant rogue class who specialize more in learning and wisdom than sheer thuggery/thievery. An ideal occupation for a gnome! Think in terms of a character with a ranger's skills turned to the bad. "The Shaman" is very much the druidic priestess that you might expect from the name, although at higher levels she will gain the ability to polymorph herself into her totem spirit -- sounds like lots of fun, and it's not surprising this was the class they felt compelled to add in their adverts for the KokPG! "The Spellsinger" is a sorcerous bard, the magic comes directly from him, but only through the power of song -- an old concept, but nicely done. All these classes have their own tables and spell lists (where applicable), but I'm sorry to report that you should check on the errata list at Kenzer & Co. to double check them, because some unfortunate errors have cropped up here, and the quick reference chart and the class specific charts don't quite match up as they should. Naughty Kenzer, but hardly unusual in this respect. Wouldn't it be nice to have a d20 product that comes out without an errata list following a couple of weeks later?

Chapter 3 details additional Prestige classes, including Alliance Merchant, Bounty Hunter; Mariner; Golem Master; Muse; Order of the Slayer (thinking Buffy? I did. Couldn't help it!); Restorer; Sentinels of Providence; Slaver (such a Kalamaran class, that one!); Vessels of Man and Warlord. To detail them all would take too long, and besides you should buy this book. (Have I said that yet? No, I don't think I have. Well, you should.) Only you can know whether these things have a place in your campaign, of course.

Chapter 4 is the Skills Chapter, where some possibly less than exciting information (Craft: Basketweaving -- Basketweaving includes the ability to make many items out of woven reeds or strips of thin wood, including (most commonly), baskets... coo, well, bugger me, who'd've thought?) is presented alongside some very exciting takes on the original skills. "Pickpocket: Normal Use: Use the Pick Pocket skill to lift a carried item without its owner noticing or to perform sleight-of-hand tricks. New Use: You can conceal somatic gestures when casting a spell. If an obsever's Spot check exceeds your Pick Pocket check, the person realizes that you are casting a spell..." Fabulous!

Chapter 5 is my favourite chapter of all. The Feats. Nearly one hundred new ones, and nearly all extremely good and useful, and well thought out. The great bonus is that some of these are regional feats, which if you are thinking of setting a game in the Kingdoms, are absolutely indispensible. Naturally, many of them will transfer lock, stock and barrel to home-grown or indeed other campaign settings, but they fit superbly the world they were crafted for.

A few examples: "Born to the Saddle": Your people are practically born on horseback, spending more time mounted than on foot. Prerequisite: Born and raised in Drhokker or Dodera. Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all Ride checks and +1 dodge bonus to AC while mounted. Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character. Tremendous! I'd often argued this point with some of my DMs, making a special case that a Fhokki character brought up on a farm breeding Drhokkeran Chargers, should have some special bonus for such checks, but this feat does it for you. And there are plenty of others just like it for the different regions. It's just nice to have them written down, so you don't need to argue the toss with every character you create -- and with rule stickler DMs, that can be a great bonus! Not all are region-specific though: Inheritance: You inherit a tidy sum of money from a wealthy family member or a patron. Benefit: You gain an additional 200 gp (or the equivalent in gems or jewelry) at character creation. Anyone fancy going shopping with Daddy's Little Rich Girl? -- I can hear the screams resulting from that first scratch on that new set of armour even now! A great idea, but terribly simple. And again, something you can take, without having to get permission from your DM first (assuming they allow you to use this book, of course!).

Chapter 6, Religion, will probably only be of interest to those planning on running or taking part in a campaign set on Tellene. It lists this particular campaign setting's pantheon in great detail (in addition to the exhaustive information in the KoKCSS), including their sacred religious texts, the name of the gods for the demihuman races, the tenets of the faith, and some useful conversion tables of Forgotten Realms Gods to the appropriate Kalamar version.

Chapter 7, Equipment, details some specific roots, poisons, salves and potions native to Tellene, and rather fascinatingly some details about slaves. You initially wonder at the inclusion of that here, because it seems so out of place, but then suddenly you think of the idea of "possession", and of course, it makes perfect sense. Many new weapons such as leaf blade, bear claw, ball arrow, etc, are detailed here, as well as details of Kalamar's region specific armours: the cord armour of Svimohz Shamans, the lamellar armour of the world's tropical regions.

Chapter 8, Combat, I can't help feeling has been included because there is a chapter called this in the original Player's Guide, and they seem to have been using that's layout as a template. Some details of Fighting Schools, and career path progressions within them will be very useful for DMs, but I can't help but wonder in their inclusion in a "Player's Guide." There are four new combat options tacked on the end, Kick, Shield Disarm, Throw and Unbalance, but clearly these would not have warranted a chapter of their own, but it's good to have them.

Chapter 9, Adventuring, ah yes, definitely following the pattern of the original PG. However, this chapter has much more right to be here. Diseases, Perils of the Road, Nobility, Temple advancement, Punishments... all the stuff you wouldn't know where else to look for is here.

Chapter 10, Magic. I just know some of you have come straight down to this bit. Shock, horror. Kalamar is a "low magic world", how can they have a chapter about spells and magic and stuff. Well, basically, this quoted statement is rubbish, nevermind how often you'll hear it. Yes, there aren't Level 45 wizards stalking the countryside in Kalamar, but then Kalamar's big attraction is the "reality" of the setting. A contradiction in terms, naturally, for a fantasy world, but yes, the culture, history, politics, intrigue, and nature of the world give you plenty of other things to concentrate on, and not just the hack and slash, spell "kaboom" or other products -- notably, of course, Hackmaster! That other staple of the Kenzer world. [Oh, but that is so not me! A shame, because I won a Hacklopaedia of Beasts in a recent competition... but that's by-the-bye, of course...]

Back on track. Pretending that there is no or limited magic in the world of Tellene is completely wrong, however. There are 43 deities, for starters. There's going to be a great many clerics out there as a result of that. And coupled with the new feat of "Channel Positive Energy" in Chapter 5, there's a better reason than ever to be one. The energy that make would use to Turn or Rebuke undead can be channelled now into a different outcome now, depending on which god/goddess you worship.

For example, clerics of the Guardian can knock open manacles and doors in a 30ft radius around you (Irrepressible Freedom). Clerics of Rotlord can infect people with the "fen waste" disease in a 60ft cone (Plague). Worshippers of the Church of Endless Night (The Dark One) can cast a Blanket of Darkness. Gorgeous...

The chapter finishes with some details about "Divine Right" -- a cool concept that allows the nobility to have benefits from the gods, just because of their position in life (Baron, +2 on Saves against charm effects, uncanny dodge, Noble Bearing {a feat}; King: Immune to poison, cannot be duplicated, damage reduction 10/+1). Naturally, were the Royal personage to offend in some way, then the protection might be removed, and then, well, who knows...

Chapter 11, Spells. Far too much here to list in detail. Scalable spells, new domains, and new spells are all there for the taking. But, oh, it's so much more than that. This is an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that's come before in the D&D world. Nearly all the domains of the Forgotten Realms are included in the listings, as well as those from the original PG and, indeed, Defenders of the Faith. In alphabetical order. I'm amazed it's legal, but apparently they've done it, but it certainly is useful! This one book contains just about everything you would ever need in addition to the original PG.

But it's not all about clerics. Plenty of brand new spells for wizards, sorcerors, and, of course, the new variant classes introduced earlier in the book. All nicely detailed, and plenty of fine illustrations to liven things up. Too many to go into here, but quite a few are combat-oriented, which should please many.

Chapter 12 adds plenty of new magic items for inclusion into your world, a few favourite examples would include:

Chain Shirt of Sinking: When immersed in water, this suit of armour gives its wearer a -20 circumstance modifier to her Swim checks. The chain shirt provides a +2 enchancement bonus to AC when the wearer is on land. Whenn fully submerged in water, however, the bonus becomes -2. A remove curse spell allows the wearer to remove the item. Bwahahahahhaaah! Why has this idiotic, evil DM smile about providing a "free" Chainmail +2 suit of armour just before the room with the water trap in it, spread across my face...?

Fey Robe: This sheer garment is both comfortable and atterctive. The wearer gains a +4 circumstance bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks made in woodland settings. He can also use locate creature and speak with plants, each once per day.

Well we're only up to page 205, and it's still miles until the end of the book.

What's left. Well, in a sense, one of the most useful features of the book.

A 7-page glossary -- you're confused by all the gods' names? Don't be.

The Kenzer-invented d10,000 table of origins (the same system that they use for their random encounter tables in the adventures. Why do we need so many numbers? Well, let's just try. I rolled a 6, a 4, a 7 and a 5. 6475: In the Young Kingdoms that would give me a Human from a Rural Thorp in the Korak region, or a Rural Hamlet inhabiting elf from the Kalalili Forest, or a Halfling from the Imomena Hills, in the Ozhvinmish region of the Svimohzish Isle. It's all in the detail, you see. And one roll (or rather four), does it all very quickly.

A fabulously quick reference list of every feat (including original PG, Kalamar PG, Songs and Silence, Forgotten Realms, Oriental Adventures, Tome and Blood, Defenders of the Faiths, Masters of the Wild, Magic of Faerun, Dragon Magazine, Sword and Fist, Psionics Handbook... are you getting the idea. Priceless. 13 pages of the stuff in about the smallest typeface they could get away with, without resorting to giving away a free magnifying glass away with the book!

A 2-page Character Sheet for the Kingdoms, which is also available as a download from the forums of their website. Character Sheet Right click (Mac: Ctrl + click) and save to disk for best results

28 pages of Spell Planner: Memorized boxes; Level; Spell Name; Type; Components; Casting Time; Range; Target/Effect; Duration; Saving throw; SR; Source

Unbelievable. Exactly what they did with the feats above. Every spell from every KoK and WotC book, I shan't repeat the list, but you'll get the idea.

That only leaves the index, but what a hoard! Fed up travelling to conventions with everybook you possess -- take this one, and you'll have a reference to just about every spell and feat you could wish for! This (as long as you have the original Player's Guide as well (and, who, reading this, does not?) contains just about everything a player (and many, many DMs!) could actually wish for in a single reference book.

I'm not saying that it's worth buying for this composite chart alone, but you know what? It nearly is! Coupled with the fact that the material prior to this glossary part is so exceptionally excellent, well written, laid out and accessible, I cannot see my way to giving it any less than the full five, even though I did have one or two minor niggles (see above). Even if you're the sort of person that staves off buying anything from outside the WotC stable, you should pick up this volume. It's far classier than many of the original supplements, and contains much of that information anyway.

If you're the sort of person that can't hold more than one fact in your head at a time, you're probably the sort of person that thinks too much detail makes the Kingdoms of Kalamar "bland" and "boring" -- I've seen it said! -- then even you should consider buying this for its composite nature and gathering of sources.

If you're already playing a game in the Kingdoms of Kalamar, then I can't believe you haven't got a copy of this book already!! Stop playing and go and get it right now. I mean it.

In short, I can't praise this book highly enough. Value for money is about the best you could hope for, to boot! It is perfect for the sort of campaigns I like to run, and to play in, which I appreciate doesn't necessarily mean it would suit everyone. However, if you like roleplaying replete with detail, then the Kingdoms of Kalamar would welcome you with open arms. If you are mostly a player, then you could get away with only purchasing this book, but if you happen to have the funds and fortune to possess both the Kalamar Player's Guide and the Campaign Setting Sourcebook, you are fortunate indeed. Not even when human lifespans are extended to the length of elves will you run out of material for your campaigns! Thumbs up for this one, Kenzer. Great job!!

First off, for those who hadn't noticed, this is not your run of the mill OGL book. This one has the seal of approval of WOTC, just as Forgotten Realms does. So it will be easier to persuade your DM to allow the use of some of the stuff in this book, than say the quintessential books.

Divine casters - a ton of new stuff. I really liked the Channeled Abilities section. It adds both an interesting role playing aspect to divine casters, as well as neat new abilities that seemed fairly balanced, though some consistency in duration and DC's would have been nice. Similarly I liked the Temple Rank section, with powers and duties for temple membership. And finally, the domains section was excellent, and making the former Prestige Domains into just additional normal domains makes good sense (the prestige domain system introduced in Defender's of the Faith never really worked for me). Why they didn't finish the job and include 100% of the FR domains I do not know, since they seemed determined to include domains from all authorized WOTC products.

The feats section is massive, though I was disappointed by the amount of stuff that was repetitive of former products (though the combined official feats and spells lists in the appendix was a fantastic idea, and I was particularly happy they referenced dragon magazine feats and spells there). There were plenty of new, interesting feats here however. Enough has been said about balance with one of the metamagic feats (though I do not think it is quite as off-balance as most do). The rest are fairly well balanced.

I was very unimpressed with the Prestige Class section. Virtually all of these seemed like good NPC's, but rotten PC classes to take. The new base classes were similarly uninspiring, with Shaman being so close to Druid as to be almost not worth a second thought, and Spellsinger seeming damn close to Sorcerer as well (though I admit to not reading it very carefully, so far). A few of the other base classes looked interesting, but I have not had a good chance to read through them yet. In particular the Infiltrator and Brigand look good, and the Basiran Dancer does not.

The races section was fairly solid. Hobgoblins (and the half-Hob version) do deserve their own section, and get it here. Some of the more powerful races from FR that had level adjustments have been dumbed down to get rid of the adjustments (like Dark Elves instead of Drow), yet make them playable from 1st level still, which is a nice option. I like the combined Gnome section, but was disappointed the full Dragon Magazine inclusion of river gnome and arcane gnome were not there. In addition, some of the derivative races seemed to be missing core-race abilities, without explanation.

The magic items section is solid, but short. In particular I liked the Bracelet of Attunement and Bracelet of Secrets, which give a +1 DC to spells cast by the wearer for Divine and Arcane casters, respectively, for not much money. I can see these being added to spell-focus folk quickly.

The skills section seems fairly weak to me, as far as brand new skills. With the exception of Pantomime, the entire section is either new uses for old skills, or new Knowledge, Craft, Profession, or Speak Language skills. Now not to say that some of those are not fun (particularly Craft: Poisonmaking, and some of the Knowledge combat-oriented skills), I just expected some more entirely new skills, rather than expanded old skills. However, the new applications, and development on these three areas of skills, is useful.

The Equipment wasn't bad. I like the Alchemical Mixtures, Herbal Mixtures, and Poisons sections (and on a related note, the new diseases were a useful addition as well). The slaves section seemed unnecessary, and the new weapons, armor, and ammo were acceptable, but not thrilling, and quite short.

The Fighting Schools section is a nice role playing touch, though probably will be used more often for DMs in a Kalamar setting than PC's not in a Kalamar setting (however the vast majority of this book is useful for folks playing in any setting). On a related note, the new combat options are a nice addition, though I wish there were more than just the 4 new options. I'm definitely going to try a Throw maneuver next time I find myself with the advantage in a grapple.

The spells section was also well done, though again I was disappointed by the number of repeat spells from other official non-PHB supplements. Still, plenty of new spells to make me happy here, and again that combined appendix is quite useful. Scalable spells are also an interesting addition here, and make sense.

Organizationally, I was very disappointed. This book needed better editing. The decisions on splitting sections up were pretty rotten at times. Here is one of several examples: if you want to see what your converted greyhawk cleric can do with this book, here is what you may need to do: 1) Find your current God on a chart in one place, and track that to the equivalent Kalamar God. 2) Now go find that Kalamar god, in another chart, and look up their domains. 3) Now go find the domain section, and look up those domains. 4) Want to know the cannons of the church for your new god? That's another section. 5) Want to know about Temple Ranks for your new temple? Another separate section. 6) Decided to take the channel energy feat and want to know what Channeled Abilities your new church knows about? Yet another section. All of this should have been in the chapter titled Religion, and we should have had one big chart for all of it. I understand the desire to follow the PHB format, but when you start adding in this much new religion-oriented stuff, that system breaks down.

Other editing errors were even worse, with one spell in particular citing a list to be found below, with no list to be found at all.

Overall I like the book, and I think it is well worth the $30 I paid. I will get as much, if not more, out of this book than I will out the of the Forgotten Realms book (assuming I play in neither specific setting). I just wish there was a bit more attention paid to editing and final touches. Personally, if I ruled the Kalamar publishing universe, I would put out a KOK PG version 1.1 (instead of just an errata and FAQ), fixing all the rotten editing errors and decisions. Sure, some people would bitch, but I think more people would buy the product (and be happy with it) in the end. I rated it a 4 out of 5.