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Alchemy & Herbalists
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<blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 2010326" data-attributes="member: 2013"><p>Alchemy & Herbalists</p><p>Bastion Press</p><p>96 pages, full color</p><p>$24.95</p><p></p><p>For an explanation of the scoring given below, please visit <a href="http://www.cooleys.org/ogc/scoring.asp" target="_blank">http://www.cooleys.org/ogc/scoring.asp</a></p><p></p><p><strong>Executive Summary:</strong> Alchemy & Herbalists is an exhaustive look at two disciplines that are staples in a low-magic fantasy world; Alchemy (making minor, almost magic items from inorganic materials) and Herbalism (doing the same from organic matter). It contains Prestige Classes and Feats (of the item creation variety, for the most part) centered around the two disciplines (White, Red, and Black Alchemists take care of alchemy, for instance - all of these classes are basically built around picking up extra Alchemy Feats), but the bulk of the book is basically a "how-to" guide and a "what you can make/do with Alchemy and Herbalism."</p><p></p><p><strong>Adaptability 10</strong></p><p>The sheer volume of herbal and alchemical substances found in this volume gives you such a wide variety of things to choose from that you can't go wrong. You're sure to find things - probably many things - that you can adapt to your campaign with little difficulty. The section on plants and their in-game uses as part of the herbalism section is a nice little extra for rangers and druids, too.</p><p></p><p><strong>Balance 4</strong></p><p>This is probably the biggest failing of A&H - the plethora of Feats needed to create all of the alchemical and herbal creations makes it all but impossible to have a master alchemist who can whip up just about anything at the drop of a hat. In addition, the costs for producing items the labor cost and raw materials cost are out of proportion with the market value of the materials (and the book does not suggest that a different system than the Core rules Craft Checks should be used). Finally, some of the costs for the various items seem to be "off" when compared with the potential game mechanical utility. The mechanics and items are "neat" but just don't seem balanced with the Core rules.</p><p></p><p><strong>Clarity 6</strong></p><p>A&H suffers a bit when trying to present their material as well, particularly as it relates to the different types of alchemical items. The lines of "what Feat is required to make this item" are not particularly well-drawn, and their attempt to incorporate some of the Wondrous Items from the Core Rules into their system - and yet still make these items able to be created using the Craft Wondrous Item Feat - makes the system seem unclear. In the Core Rules, lines are clearly drawn between wands and potions, staves and rods, wondrous items and weapons. Here, the lines between "Chymicals" and "Powders" and "Unguents" seem less clear. Because a major focus of this work is "how to create these items," this is a bigger issue that it might otherwise have been. The remainder of the book is more or less clear (once you get past some of the odd choices for naming item categories, such as "Chymicals" instead of "Chemicals").</p><p></p><p><strong>Focus 10</strong></p><p>For all the problems they have with clarity, Bastion never loses sight of the goal - to explore Alchemy and Herbalism (two separate disciplines). Everything in this book, from the Feats to the Prestige Classes to the new items to the new monsters, is done with an eye towards being either a tool for building the system on which they present the alchemy and herbalist disciplines or a product that a character conversant with these disciplines can produce.</p><p></p><p><strong>Granularity 8</strong></p><p>While any of the items or plants presented in this work can easily be picked up and dropped solo into a game, the process for creating them requires either the adoption of Bastion's Feat chains (and suffers the clarity problems discussed above) or a wholesale discarding of such things and a manual tweak to the creation DCs of items (read: conversion). This dependency (you really must use the system presented to get to the end result of the alchemical items and such) detracts somewhat from the book's granularity.</p><p></p><p><strong>OGC 10</strong></p><p>One of my favorite companies as far as OGC designation goes, the entire text of this one (except the Bastion Press name) is Open Game Content. Simple and effective and generous.</p><p></p><p><strong>Originality 10</strong></p><p>I have always been fascinated by the possible applications of alchemy (in a low-magic world, for instance), and this book knocks the ball out of the park in terms of depth, breadth, and new twists. While the "uses for plants" may have been old hat, the rest of the book breaks a lot of new ground in bringing the A&H disciplines, and all their attendant possibilities, to the d20 system.</p><p></p><p><strong>Presentation 8</strong></p><p>This is a full-color book, and has quite a few nice illustrations of the plants and so forth. However, some of the sinewy, distorted people depicted in this work (particularly in the prestige class chapter and typical of early Bastion Press products) are visually jarring and distract from the content. I like the understated cover, though. And that name, "chymicals" instead of "chemicals" throws me for a loop every time - it got distracting and knocks the Presentation score down a tiny peg, too.</p><p></p><p><strong>Price To Content 4</strong></p><p>Make no mistake, there is a TON of content in here. However, the $25 pricetag is a bit steep. Bastion products to this point (I know they are changing in the near future) have been full-color affairs throughout, and that extra expense is passed on to the consumer. While I love the color, I'm not a fan of all the artwork they use (see Presentation) so I don't know that I want to pay for that. This is good stuff, but it is expensive - $20 seems to me to be "about right."</p><p></p><p><strong>Wow 10</strong></p><p>I couldn't wait to include this stuff in my campaigns once I bought this book. I had all sorts of visions for different alchemist shops with different specialties, and it's especially good for the awkward "tweener" levels of 2-5 - levels where permanent magic items proper are still in short supply, but where the party already has plenty of masterwork equipment. I was floored by this one. It gets maximum points for "wowing" me.</p><p></p><p><strong>HIGHLIGHTS:</strong></p><p>Swathes are symbiotic magical plants - they can provide a character with benefits and protection. I saw these as wonderful potential additions for druids - a character literally wrapped in ivy that gives him benefits would make a fascinating druid. Also among my favorites are the various "alchemical waxes" for use in making seals - if the seal is broken without applying the right type of counteragent, the wax can burst into flame, or change into acid, or otherwise ruin the parchment it was attached to. Great for "subterfuge/intrigue" campaigns. And of course, my personal favorite - the Lash of Saumar - bascially a whip made out of magical mercury.</p><p></p><p><strong>THE FINAL WORD:</strong></p><p>If you are looking for a bazaar of alchemical/herbal items for your world, this is IMO the definitive work. The rules for creating such items could probably use a little tweaking, but the list of "finished products" is unparallelled. This book dislays the roughness around the edges of earlier d20 offerings, but has been among my favorites since its advent. If price is no object to you, definitely add this book to your collection. A valuable resource to DMs for ideas and new items to throw at a party, and a lot of fun for the "MacGyver" type character who wants to have 100 different tricks at his disposal.</p><p></p><p>TOTAL: 80 (<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses B-)" data-shortname="B-)" /> -- Four stars</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Sigil, post: 2010326, member: 2013"] Alchemy & Herbalists Bastion Press 96 pages, full color $24.95 For an explanation of the scoring given below, please visit [url]http://www.cooleys.org/ogc/scoring.asp[/url] [b]Executive Summary:[/b] Alchemy & Herbalists is an exhaustive look at two disciplines that are staples in a low-magic fantasy world; Alchemy (making minor, almost magic items from inorganic materials) and Herbalism (doing the same from organic matter). It contains Prestige Classes and Feats (of the item creation variety, for the most part) centered around the two disciplines (White, Red, and Black Alchemists take care of alchemy, for instance - all of these classes are basically built around picking up extra Alchemy Feats), but the bulk of the book is basically a "how-to" guide and a "what you can make/do with Alchemy and Herbalism." [b]Adaptability 10[/b] The sheer volume of herbal and alchemical substances found in this volume gives you such a wide variety of things to choose from that you can't go wrong. You're sure to find things - probably many things - that you can adapt to your campaign with little difficulty. The section on plants and their in-game uses as part of the herbalism section is a nice little extra for rangers and druids, too. [b]Balance 4[/b] This is probably the biggest failing of A&H - the plethora of Feats needed to create all of the alchemical and herbal creations makes it all but impossible to have a master alchemist who can whip up just about anything at the drop of a hat. In addition, the costs for producing items the labor cost and raw materials cost are out of proportion with the market value of the materials (and the book does not suggest that a different system than the Core rules Craft Checks should be used). Finally, some of the costs for the various items seem to be "off" when compared with the potential game mechanical utility. The mechanics and items are "neat" but just don't seem balanced with the Core rules. [b]Clarity 6[/b] A&H suffers a bit when trying to present their material as well, particularly as it relates to the different types of alchemical items. The lines of "what Feat is required to make this item" are not particularly well-drawn, and their attempt to incorporate some of the Wondrous Items from the Core Rules into their system - and yet still make these items able to be created using the Craft Wondrous Item Feat - makes the system seem unclear. In the Core Rules, lines are clearly drawn between wands and potions, staves and rods, wondrous items and weapons. Here, the lines between "Chymicals" and "Powders" and "Unguents" seem less clear. Because a major focus of this work is "how to create these items," this is a bigger issue that it might otherwise have been. The remainder of the book is more or less clear (once you get past some of the odd choices for naming item categories, such as "Chymicals" instead of "Chemicals"). [b]Focus 10[/b] For all the problems they have with clarity, Bastion never loses sight of the goal - to explore Alchemy and Herbalism (two separate disciplines). Everything in this book, from the Feats to the Prestige Classes to the new items to the new monsters, is done with an eye towards being either a tool for building the system on which they present the alchemy and herbalist disciplines or a product that a character conversant with these disciplines can produce. [b]Granularity 8[/b] While any of the items or plants presented in this work can easily be picked up and dropped solo into a game, the process for creating them requires either the adoption of Bastion's Feat chains (and suffers the clarity problems discussed above) or a wholesale discarding of such things and a manual tweak to the creation DCs of items (read: conversion). This dependency (you really must use the system presented to get to the end result of the alchemical items and such) detracts somewhat from the book's granularity. [b]OGC 10[/b] One of my favorite companies as far as OGC designation goes, the entire text of this one (except the Bastion Press name) is Open Game Content. Simple and effective and generous. [b]Originality 10[/b] I have always been fascinated by the possible applications of alchemy (in a low-magic world, for instance), and this book knocks the ball out of the park in terms of depth, breadth, and new twists. While the "uses for plants" may have been old hat, the rest of the book breaks a lot of new ground in bringing the A&H disciplines, and all their attendant possibilities, to the d20 system. [b]Presentation 8[/b] This is a full-color book, and has quite a few nice illustrations of the plants and so forth. However, some of the sinewy, distorted people depicted in this work (particularly in the prestige class chapter and typical of early Bastion Press products) are visually jarring and distract from the content. I like the understated cover, though. And that name, "chymicals" instead of "chemicals" throws me for a loop every time - it got distracting and knocks the Presentation score down a tiny peg, too. [b]Price To Content 4[/b] Make no mistake, there is a TON of content in here. However, the $25 pricetag is a bit steep. Bastion products to this point (I know they are changing in the near future) have been full-color affairs throughout, and that extra expense is passed on to the consumer. While I love the color, I'm not a fan of all the artwork they use (see Presentation) so I don't know that I want to pay for that. This is good stuff, but it is expensive - $20 seems to me to be "about right." [b]Wow 10[/b] I couldn't wait to include this stuff in my campaigns once I bought this book. I had all sorts of visions for different alchemist shops with different specialties, and it's especially good for the awkward "tweener" levels of 2-5 - levels where permanent magic items proper are still in short supply, but where the party already has plenty of masterwork equipment. I was floored by this one. It gets maximum points for "wowing" me. [b]HIGHLIGHTS:[/b] Swathes are symbiotic magical plants - they can provide a character with benefits and protection. I saw these as wonderful potential additions for druids - a character literally wrapped in ivy that gives him benefits would make a fascinating druid. Also among my favorites are the various "alchemical waxes" for use in making seals - if the seal is broken without applying the right type of counteragent, the wax can burst into flame, or change into acid, or otherwise ruin the parchment it was attached to. Great for "subterfuge/intrigue" campaigns. And of course, my personal favorite - the Lash of Saumar - bascially a whip made out of magical mercury. [b]THE FINAL WORD:[/b] If you are looking for a bazaar of alchemical/herbal items for your world, this is IMO the definitive work. The rules for creating such items could probably use a little tweaking, but the list of "finished products" is unparallelled. This book dislays the roughness around the edges of earlier d20 offerings, but has been among my favorites since its advent. If price is no object to you, definitely add this book to your collection. A valuable resource to DMs for ideas and new items to throw at a party, and a lot of fun for the "MacGyver" type character who wants to have 100 different tricks at his disposal. TOTAL: 80 (B-) -- Four stars [/QUOTE]
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