Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010600" data-attributes="member: 1129">101 Divine Spell Components is a 33 page book that provides spell components with a religious theme to augment spellcaster's powers. The spellcasters powers are augmented by using the component to boost the spell's effect. It's a pretty simple idea, already done for Arcane Spell users in Philip's 101 Arcane Spell Components.Unlike the previous book though, this one is broken down into twenty two categories or clerical domains as per the 3.0 PHB with an extra domain of stuff that the author explains can be used with all of them. The material components have a Knowledge (Religion) DC that they have to make in order to unlock the secrets of the components. Want to use a Chaos Gem? Then you've got to beat a DC check 22 to know the powers. The effects range from moderate to very powerful and GMs should carefully pick and choose which ones they'll allow into their campaign.To me, the good thing is that there is a chance for a negative effect to occur. If you roll a 1, the text states when making a Spellcraft Check, you suffer a Negative Side Effect. This is a good thing because it helps keep the amount of times a player willingly uses these options down. Remember that Chaos Gem? The bad thing is that if you roll a 1, it absorbs the highest available spell slot that you have. Now that's a side effect. That's harsh, perhaps even more harsh than the Antimagic Ring whose negative side effect is power word kill on the user.The components are a bit more esoteric this time around. Under the Luck Domain, there is a component called Rogue's Luck. If you're within 10 feet of a rouge who rolls a natural 20, that luck is collected by the spellcaster and can be used within 30 days giving the caster a maximized effect on a spell. More impressive is that you have a 50% chance of keeping this luck for another spell. Thankfully, the author notes that no other components can be used with this one. GMs who run high fantasy campaigns or those based on myth will enjoy the nature of these components, kind of like the old ones you have to gather in 2nd edition at times to make magic items, “The Breath of a Mountain” or something along those lines. Nothing like watching that priest of Tempus gather the power of war itself to inflict more damage upon his foes.One thing that Philip has over some of the competition is that his book isn't just the printed version in PDF form. It's landscaped so its easier to read on the computer. It's full color with illustrations by Christopher Shy, so it looks fantastic. Last, all of the text is OGC so that eliminates any doubt as to what the hell is reusable. The biggest weakness in the book is that it never provides the reader with ideas on how to create their own divine components. Another thing is that it doesn't provide alternatives. For example, if you feel that a skill check by itself isn't enough to justify the extra power, what about adding a Feat, “Use Component” or something along those lines?101 Divine Spell Components organization allows players to look through it quickly, the Negative Side Effects are a good balancing factor and as always, Christopher Shy's artwork makes this a great book to look through.REVIEWER'S NOTE: The product is currently on sale for $3.75 from it's normal $5.00 (as of 7-25-03')</blockquote>

Verification