Hardhead
Explorer
You can't reivew Anger of Angels in the normal reviews part of ENWorld, and I've never posted a review on the message boards before, so sorry if I put this in the wrong place. 
Stars: ****
Anyway, I picked up Anger of Angels, the new book by Sean K. Reynolds today. And I have to say, it's going to be a *great* resource for campaigns in the Outer Planes (especially if you're an old-school Planescape player). Basically, it's a treatment of the Judeo-Christian Heaven and Angels, but "D&Dified."
Here's a quick overview: Chapter One is a brief history of "Heaven." Heaven is treated as the only good-aligned afterlife/plane here, but it's devided into seven heavens, and shares many traits with Mt. Celestia, and it's easily adaptable to that D&D plane. Also, most of the story that is told here is ancient and deals with a creation-of-the-fiends mythology, so obviously takes place in a very ancient time (perhaps back when there were less Outer Planes, as some old Planescape sources hinted). Either way, while the book doesn't try to fit into D&D cosmology, it's all still very adaptable to it.
Chapter Two talks about Angels in general, discussing gender, free will, and other important topics. One interesting idea, I thought, was a sidebar on "evil angels." Evil angels would be normal angels created to be evil from the begining (as opposed to fallen angels, that become so). Evil angel's jobs are to do thinks like destroy Saddam and Gomorrah, things no purely good being could do. They serve good dieties, but do "evil" in their name. Neat idea, and I wish it had a bit more room in the book.
The rest of Chapter Two gives us full descriptions of eleven "classical" angels, including the Cherubim (not the cupid-like ones we see today, the original bad ass ones), Malakim, Grigori, Seraphim, ect. And lists a dozen more in (very) short form. One interesting design decision was to create "weak" angels. For instance, a Malakim (what Michael is) has only two HD. However, the DM is supposed to give them class levels as well, so that two Malakim can be very different. It's not a traditional MM-style writeup at all. While this is handy if you're going to play in a campaign where the players are angels (something this book is designed to let you do) or if you're going to have lots of Angel NPCs, this is less useful as on-the-fly NPCs to fight (though, I suppose, players don't fight angels very often). I'm not sure if I like this or not.
Chapter Three is all about Angel Politics, roles, et cetera. It also discusses how they interact with mortals, ranging from how they appear to them to what exactly happenshappens when they're summoned. That kind of thing. It's actually all very interesting. Trust me.
Chapter Four is the geogprahy of heaven and hell. This is actually a relatively short chapter, which is unfortunate since I found it so interesting. Several sites in this chapter could fit into D&D planes like a glove.
Chapter Five is all about specific angels, mainly the Archangels. This is a really neat part of the book. The seven Archangels basically serve as good counterparts for the Demon Princes and the Lords of the Nine. The ones detailed are Gabriel, Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Remiel, Uriel, Zerachiel, and Metatron (aka The Word, who may be a/the God incarnate, and not really an angel).
For instance, this is what he has to say about Uriel:
Unfortunately, the Archangels are missing full stat writeups. Apparently, knowing their angelic "race," class, and Dominion feats, we're supposed to work them out ourselves. Boo! Hiss!
Lastly, this chapter is rounded out by giving brief descprtions of a couple dozen more angels. For example:
Chapter Six is all about organizations. One interesting one is the Council of Wings, a group of Fiends and Angels alike who are just tired of the constant war for mortal souls. I mean, really, they've been doing it for millenia and they can only take so much. They're just weary of the constant battle, and so they're working to end the war, or at least minimize it. Obviously, neither side is happy about the Council's existence.
Chapter Seven is feats. Most require being an angel (or a fiend in some cases), and so are for further angelic customization. Many can also be taken by half-celestials and aasimar. Many of the feats are "Dominion" feats and can only bestowed upon an angel by a god. These are named as "Angel of Hope," "Angel of Baptisim," "Angel of Repentance," ect. These are all more powerful than normal feats, but hey, they're only for Angels chosen by their god, so it figures.
Chapter Eight is Prestige Classes, all generally for Angels. Angel of Death, Angel of Destruction, Angel of Terror. This chapter is very short.
Chapter Nine is Magic. It has a few new items, a seven new domains (chant, fiendslayer, grail, heaven, martyr, prophecy, righteousness), and about 30 new spells that angels and fiends often use against each other (but can just as well be used by/against PCs, for the most part). One interesting solution to bringing outsiders back to life is here, with spells like Fiendish Reincarnation, that lets you bring a fiend back, but as a lower-HD creature (for instance, a Pit Fiend could be brought back as a Glugeon). Then, he'd have to work for promotion to Pit Fiend all over again.
Chapter Ten is Creatures. A few new fiends populate these pages, along with a "Fallen" template for Angels that have turned evil but aren't any specific type of fiend, and some Angel NPCs that helps fix the problem of no MM-style entries for Angels in Chapter Two.
Overall, it's a good book, and I gave it four stars. However, if your campaign doesn't make use of the planes or celestials very often, it will be significantly less useful for you than it will be for me. But for what it is - a D&D treatment of angels - it's very good.
Though it has it's flaws, it's a wonderful take on the good side of Outsiders. While I think D&D "evil" has benefited immensely by adapting real-word mythology, much of this has been lacking from the "good" side, simply because authors have been hesitant to use Judeo-Christian mythology in D&D. Anger of Angels remedies this nicely. The one sticking point to me is price. At $10, it's an expensive pdf, even if it is 128 pages. Honestly, you may want to wait for the shelf version for this one if you don't have easy means of printing.
Stars: ****
Anyway, I picked up Anger of Angels, the new book by Sean K. Reynolds today. And I have to say, it's going to be a *great* resource for campaigns in the Outer Planes (especially if you're an old-school Planescape player). Basically, it's a treatment of the Judeo-Christian Heaven and Angels, but "D&Dified."
Here's a quick overview: Chapter One is a brief history of "Heaven." Heaven is treated as the only good-aligned afterlife/plane here, but it's devided into seven heavens, and shares many traits with Mt. Celestia, and it's easily adaptable to that D&D plane. Also, most of the story that is told here is ancient and deals with a creation-of-the-fiends mythology, so obviously takes place in a very ancient time (perhaps back when there were less Outer Planes, as some old Planescape sources hinted). Either way, while the book doesn't try to fit into D&D cosmology, it's all still very adaptable to it.
Chapter Two talks about Angels in general, discussing gender, free will, and other important topics. One interesting idea, I thought, was a sidebar on "evil angels." Evil angels would be normal angels created to be evil from the begining (as opposed to fallen angels, that become so). Evil angel's jobs are to do thinks like destroy Saddam and Gomorrah, things no purely good being could do. They serve good dieties, but do "evil" in their name. Neat idea, and I wish it had a bit more room in the book.
The rest of Chapter Two gives us full descriptions of eleven "classical" angels, including the Cherubim (not the cupid-like ones we see today, the original bad ass ones), Malakim, Grigori, Seraphim, ect. And lists a dozen more in (very) short form. One interesting design decision was to create "weak" angels. For instance, a Malakim (what Michael is) has only two HD. However, the DM is supposed to give them class levels as well, so that two Malakim can be very different. It's not a traditional MM-style writeup at all. While this is handy if you're going to play in a campaign where the players are angels (something this book is designed to let you do) or if you're going to have lots of Angel NPCs, this is less useful as on-the-fly NPCs to fight (though, I suppose, players don't fight angels very often). I'm not sure if I like this or not.
Chapter Three is all about Angel Politics, roles, et cetera. It also discusses how they interact with mortals, ranging from how they appear to them to what exactly happenshappens when they're summoned. That kind of thing. It's actually all very interesting. Trust me.
Chapter Four is the geogprahy of heaven and hell. This is actually a relatively short chapter, which is unfortunate since I found it so interesting. Several sites in this chapter could fit into D&D planes like a glove.
Chapter Five is all about specific angels, mainly the Archangels. This is a really neat part of the book. The seven Archangels basically serve as good counterparts for the Demon Princes and the Lords of the Nine. The ones detailed are Gabriel, Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Remiel, Uriel, Zerachiel, and Metatron (aka The Word, who may be a/the God incarnate, and not really an angel).
For instance, this is what he has to say about Uriel:
Unfortunately, the Archangels are missing full stat writeups. Apparently, knowing their angelic "race," class, and Dominion feats, we're supposed to work them out ourselves. Boo! Hiss!
Lastly, this chapter is rounded out by giving brief descprtions of a couple dozen more angels. For example:
Chapter Six is all about organizations. One interesting one is the Council of Wings, a group of Fiends and Angels alike who are just tired of the constant war for mortal souls. I mean, really, they've been doing it for millenia and they can only take so much. They're just weary of the constant battle, and so they're working to end the war, or at least minimize it. Obviously, neither side is happy about the Council's existence.
Chapter Seven is feats. Most require being an angel (or a fiend in some cases), and so are for further angelic customization. Many can also be taken by half-celestials and aasimar. Many of the feats are "Dominion" feats and can only bestowed upon an angel by a god. These are named as "Angel of Hope," "Angel of Baptisim," "Angel of Repentance," ect. These are all more powerful than normal feats, but hey, they're only for Angels chosen by their god, so it figures.
Chapter Eight is Prestige Classes, all generally for Angels. Angel of Death, Angel of Destruction, Angel of Terror. This chapter is very short.
Chapter Nine is Magic. It has a few new items, a seven new domains (chant, fiendslayer, grail, heaven, martyr, prophecy, righteousness), and about 30 new spells that angels and fiends often use against each other (but can just as well be used by/against PCs, for the most part). One interesting solution to bringing outsiders back to life is here, with spells like Fiendish Reincarnation, that lets you bring a fiend back, but as a lower-HD creature (for instance, a Pit Fiend could be brought back as a Glugeon). Then, he'd have to work for promotion to Pit Fiend all over again.
Chapter Ten is Creatures. A few new fiends populate these pages, along with a "Fallen" template for Angels that have turned evil but aren't any specific type of fiend, and some Angel NPCs that helps fix the problem of no MM-style entries for Angels in Chapter Two.
Overall, it's a good book, and I gave it four stars. However, if your campaign doesn't make use of the planes or celestials very often, it will be significantly less useful for you than it will be for me. But for what it is - a D&D treatment of angels - it's very good.
Though it has it's flaws, it's a wonderful take on the good side of Outsiders. While I think D&D "evil" has benefited immensely by adapting real-word mythology, much of this has been lacking from the "good" side, simply because authors have been hesitant to use Judeo-Christian mythology in D&D. Anger of Angels remedies this nicely. The one sticking point to me is price. At $10, it's an expensive pdf, even if it is 128 pages. Honestly, you may want to wait for the shelf version for this one if you don't have easy means of printing.
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