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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2011291" data-attributes="member: 172">Aasimar & Tiefling: A Guidebook to the Planetouched is a racial resource book in Green Ronin's Races of Renown series providing new details for "planetouched" races. The book is written by Robert J. Schwalb, who wrote the Unholy Warrior's Handbook and contributed to the Book of Fiends.A First Look[imager]http://www.greenronin.com/images/product/grr1107_200.jpg[/imager]Aasimar & Tiefling: A Guidebook to the Planetouched is a 96-page perfect bound softcover book available for $19.95 US.The cover of the book is illustrated by James Ryman, and depicts a fiendish looking woman emerging from a portal to an infernal realm, locked in combat with a golden-haired man (an Aasimar, perhaps?) emerging from a portal to a heavenly realm.The interior is black and white and illustrated by Britt Martin, Caleb Cleveland, Toren "Macbin" Atkinson, Ilya Astrakhan, and James Ryman. Ryman does many of the fiendish creatures herein, and his style lends itself well to such creatures.Conspicuously absent from the art credits is Jennifer Meyer, who has a few pieces in the book (though some might be re-used.) Her style is as nice a match to the feel of celestial creatures as Ryman's is to fiends.The books presentation is nice, and I noticed few editorial errors. One interesting error I did notice suggests they must have used a spreadsheet to make the tables for the stock NPCs in the appendix. One entry of the attack progressions for one of the classes had a decimal number, indicating that the spreadsheet read the iterative attacks (e.g., +11/+6) as a division. I also caught a cut and paste gaffe in the class section, where it was obvious that the astral reaver text as a boilderplate and forgot to revise the class name.A Deeper LookAasimar & Tiefling generally follows the formula of most of the Races of Renown books, providing new options for the race(s), as well as new prestige classes, feats, items, and magic.The book goes beyond just the two classic planetouched races of aasimar & tieflings, however. The book also covers half outsider races such as half fiends and half celestials... and opens up the door to many more. But more on that in a second.The book is organized into six chapter and an appendix featuring stock NPCs.The first chapter is entitled Children of the Planes. It is this chapter that provides most of the basic variants and ideas regarding planetouched races.The chapter begins by speaking of the two planetouched races that appear in the Mosnter Manual and are the namesake of this book: Aasimar and Tiefling. This includes a PHB-style writeup of the two races (so you don't have to dig up the FR book for such a resource). This section also includes discussions of archetypes of the characters, how well they serve as specific classes, and variant rules. They even mention the psion and psychic warrior, though since the publication of the XPH, this advice is a little dated.Six pages of this chapter form the most ambitious and potentially useful section of this book. In short, the chapter provides the GM (or players, under supervision) with a system for creating their own planar races. By referring to a number of tables, you can come up with cross breeds of particular prime races with either general planar traits or those of specific outsider types. The GM/player also selects a number special abilities. Then, but tabulating according to the tables, you generate a level adjustment for the race you created.Using these methods, you can come up with a great variety of original planetouched or half-planar creatures. As if to drive the point home, how aasimar and tieflings fare under this system are shown, and the chapter closes with fleshed out versions of seven races created using this system, given distinctive names in the same style as half-races in Bastards & Bloodlines: the fetch (quasit/halfling), jinx (gnome/fiend), janjanni (human/janni), khazerkas (azer/dwarf), negraz (fiend/orc), silvan (astral elf), and similen (invisible stalker/elf).The second chapter continues the discussion of races, providing fleshed out PHB style writeups for half celestial and half fiend characters, which it renames nephilim and cambion respectively. In addition, as these races/templates carry a heavy burden in level adjustment, the chapter discussing using the celestial template and presents a celestial elf as an example.The third chapter covers feats for planetouched characters. The central edifice of these feats are the ancestry feats. These feats all require the feat awaken ancestry, which requires that the character be planetouched and provides a bonus to interacting with outsiders. The further ancestry feats give the character abilities derived from those of certain outsiders, which are presumably part of the character's lineage. This can be things like a kiss that fatigues the victim (presumably from a succubus) or improvement of the damage of electricity spells (derived from arrowhawks.) Overall, this is a nice mechanic that hearkens back to the excellent blood feat mechanics introduced in Hammer & Helm.The fourth chapter details a number of prestige classes appropriate for planetouched characters. Note, however, that many of these classes are not exclusive to planetouched characters, and are  useful to planar adventurers in general.It is worth noting that the 10 level classes herein have epic progression notes, made possible by the inclusion of epic level material in the 3.5 SRD.The prestige classes include: -Astral Reaver: The astral reaver is basically a marauder that specialized in waylaying planar travelers, particularly in the astral. Their class abilities let them adapt to different environments and take advantage of them in their trade. -Cosmosopher: This class is a spin on the somewhat tried concept of an "atheist" class that highjacks divine power. The class has continued spellcasting advancement and spell like abilities that let them emulate divine abilities. I much prefer the balance and feel of this class to the Ur-priest in the Book of Vile Darkness and Complete Divine. -Energist: This is a 7-level epic class targeted at the druid. The character gains abilities to transform into elemental forms and ignore elemental effects as it advances. -Ethereal Pilot: This short 5-level class is based on the concept of an ethereal barge, a new item introduced in this book. The class gains improved spellcasting ability as well as improved ability to navigate the planes and manipulate the ethereal barge. -Planar Guide: This is a 5-level class, a rugged survivalist able to navigate the byways of harsh planes. Class abilities include energy resistance, uncanny dodge, and ability to use open lock on planar portals. -Planomancer: This unusual class has some pretty disparate requirements: the character must be able to use arcane and divine spells and psionics. The class has slow (6 levels) continued spellcsting advancement and gains power points as well. The class is sort of an elemental magic specialist, and gains resistances, the ability to convert elemental spells to other elements (like making an airball or casting fire walk.) Finally, the character gains the ability to apply metamagic feats to a small number of low level spells without additional cost. Overall, considering the entry requirements and slow advancement, the class comes off a little weak to me. -Plane Singer: If you were to guess this is a planar bard, you could be right. The class is a short (5 level) class that does not continue in spellcasting advancement. The perks of the class are songs that use bardic music uses to achieve certain planar effects. -Warrior Maidens of the Valkyrie: These are female warriors who serve the actual valkyrie and gain some of their commonly attributed abilities. They excel in mounted combat and can eventually allow their mount to fly. At 10th level, the class gains the ability to choose worthy or unworthy, which applies significant bonuses or penalties respectively. -Xen Chi Mystic: In the same vein as the plane singer being a planar bard, if you were to guess that this class is largely a planar monk, you would be right. The class isn't exclusively open to monks, but it is the most likely candidate. They gain some monk abilities such as AC bonus and speed, and gain movement abilities that are useful on the planes.The fifth chapter introduces a variety of spells and magic items, and a few variant rules for planetouched creatures using magic. Most of the spells are useful either directly for plane travelers or have effects derived from various planes (such as bloom, which creates a wild magic zone.) Items are similar, and includes such things as element-forged weapon qualities (inflict bonus damage against creatures of the opposing element subtype) and the staff of travel (one stop shopping for travel spells).In addition, this chapter includes a number of special materials associated with specific planes. For example, driftmetal is metal that has been left to drift on the astral or ethereal plane; such metal bypasses DR against magic.The sixth chapter, planar perils, provides a small bestiary of planar creatures. It includes basic monster writeups for the new races introduced earlier in the book, as well as a variety of other new menaces for characters to face, such as the aforementioned ethereal barge (constructs that allow planar travel[/i], lost souls (astral undead spirits of those lost on their journey to the afterlife), and the organ thief (extraplanar fey whose ghastly mission is to travel to other planes and extract organs to ensure the continuation of their race.)As with most books in the Races of Reknown series, there is an appendix detailing stock NPCs of the race in question. Stats are provided for 20 levels each of a aasimar paladin, a nephilim cleric, a cambion necromancer, and a tiefling rogue. Fortunately, these stock character listing are in the format used by the 3.0 DMG, which provide a quick, complete character, and not like the 3.5 DMG, which provides less fleshed out information.ConclusionsThe Races of Renown series of books is fast becoming one of my favorites, and this book is a sample why. A few of the classes and races aren't all that impressive to me, but the planetouched race construction system is a neat and flexible tool to craft unusual PC races without having a large book detailing each of dozens of possibilities. Further, anyone who wants to embrace the planar aspect of these races should find most of the book of good use, even if they are not playing a planetouched character.Overall Grade: B+ -Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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