Allies & Adversaries

[Arnwyn]

"However, this requires _constructive_ criticism..." I did give _constructive_ criticism - specifically, I wanted to see an example of what you consider broken. Your review was unhelpful because all you did was spout out "broken" without any examples so readers can judge for themselves.

I'm with ASEO on this one - that list is *exactly* what I want to see when some reviewer says something is "broken". Simply saying that isn't enough, as many people have wildly differing views on what is considered broken, and how badly. You need to list examples for us to be able to make an informed buying decision. There's no way I'm going to take some internet reviewer's word for it.

For example, a couple of missing skill points does not constitute "broken" (to me), though it might to others. I need to know what you mean.

Thanks for the details, that helps very much. (I don't expect a full list of everything that is broken, but I do expect a well-detailed example. If you are absolutely insistent on not putting it into a review because it would be "boring", maybe you can add it to the comments section right after the review?)

 

[Simon Collins]

ASEO/Arnwyn

Thanks for your comments.

I will take what you have said into consideration in future reviews - I hope you will see a continuing improvement in the area of more detailed explanations of my comments/opinions.

Its detail like you've given above that helps improve things, and I take that comment on board for myself too when reviewing.

Simon Collins

 

[Psion]

Allies and Adversaries

Allies and Adversaries is a "legendary character collection" for d20 System fantasy games published by Bastion Press. Though the book is a slick-paged full color book, it departs from the standard Bastion format, being quite a bit thinner. Also, Jason Engle (frequent contributor to the art in Dungeon magazine) is the art director and main illustrator is this book. The writing is by Paul Schmookler and J. Darby Douglas.

A First Look

Allies and Adversaries is a 32-page saddle-stitched softcover book priced at $14.95. The book is full color with glossy pages. There are no comparable full-color d20 System products of this size, but you get half as many pages with this book as a typical black-and-white d20 System book of the same price.

Allies & Adversaries is lavishly illustrated in full color, primarily by Jason Engle. Every character has a handsome full-page illustration. The pages are colored with a velum-style background.

The character descriptions are in a rather large font. Considering the book is expensive for the amount of pages that you get in the first place, this means you are paying a lot if you are looking at the content of the book.

A Deeper Look

Allies & Adversaries contains NPCs for use in d20 System fantasy games. Each character is laid out on two facing pages. The left hand page has an attractive illustration that takes up most of the page, save for a paragraph of role-playing notes. The right-hand page has the game statistics and background of the character.

Each of the characters has between 10 and 20 total levels, making them most suitable for high level games. The backgrounds are generally written in generic terms, allowing them to be used in general D&D games, though some are specific enough they might defy adaptation. However, I found the level of insight into the character personalities to not be that impressive; the role-playing notes present pretty cliche character archetypes like power mad wizards and cold calculating tacticians, and there is very little insight into the motivations of the characters.

Mechanically, the characters look solid at first glance, but a deeper look reveals some significant errors that I don't think anyone with a deep understanding of the d20 System should overlook. For example, Nebezzar is a 13th level wizard lich. Under the d20 System rules, his HP should be altered to 13d12. Instead, the statistics shown here merely add 1d12 to his HD, for a total of 13d4+1d12. Another character, Emerald is a drow cleric. His background indicates that he was an assassin trained by mind flayers, and he has some skills to this effect (like a high hide rank.) However, he only has cleric levels and has many non-clerical skills at way higher rank than is possible under the cleric class or his skill point allotment; it seems as if many skill points have been lumped on by fiat. Given that his history was to reflect the life on an assassin, he should have been a multi-class character. There are other examples.

Conclusion

I was a little dismayed at the price tag on this book, and am not so sure I would be willing to pay a dollar per character unless I knew I would use them all, especially considering that I did not find many of these characters anything I couldn't conceive or create myself with far fewer mechanical errors.

It seems to me that this book is primarily an art book. It succeeds on that score, with several nice illustrations. But as a gaming supplement, there are other NPC books out there that deliver more, more interesting, more mechanically sound characters.

Overall Grade: D+

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Brad Mix, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing Up the Target
This review is for Allies and Adversaries written by J. Darby Douglas, Paul Schmookler and Aaron or Jeannine Acevedo. Only the last name is given on the front cover but both Aaron and Jeannine are listed inside in different capacities. Published by Bastion Press this 32-page booklet details 15 NPC’s and retails for $14.95.

First Blood
At first I wasn’t sure what to think of this book. This only contains 15 NPC’s. A great portrait of the character dominates the first page then a few roleplaying notes are given. Page 2 gives all the stat block information including skills, feats, and possessions mundane and magical. This style is then repeated for the next 14 characters.

The different characters are: A 14th level Dwarven Fighter. A Human Rogue5/ Fighter 6/Assassin 5. A 10th level male Drow Cleric. A Human Wizard10/Loremaster 10. Then Human Druid 3/ Ranger 3/ Paladin 4. A Half Fiend Bard 11. A Half Celestial Cleric 12. A Human Fighter 4/ Wizard 12. A Human Paladin 10/Blackguard 4. A Human turned Lich Wizard 13. A Half Elf Fighter 8/ Rogue 7. An Elf Ranger 12. A Human Barbarian 16. An Elf Druid 15. And last but not least an Elf Cleric 5/ Monk 13.

All the alignments are represented except for Neutral, or True Neutral as it used to be called. 7 of the 15 are human, 4 Elves (including the Drow) are listed and smattering of other races thrown in.

Critical Hits
I usually don’t comment on artwork unless it is really bad or was not included when it should have been, like in monster books. But Allies & Adversaries sets the standard for future books of its kind. Each character is well drawn and in color. The pictures match the descriptions for the major items. If the character in the portrait is holding a battle axe, then there is a battle axe listed in the equipment. The best example of this is the Fighter 8/ Rogue 7. The possessions list Bracers of armor +8 and in portrait he is wearing bracers.

Critical Misses
I had to think to my self would I buy a book that only listed 15 artifacts, or a monster tome that only had 15 monsters in it for $15.00. When I truthfully had to answer, “no” I knew that either the book was overpriced or there needed to be more content. I can’t see myself paying a dollar each for anything in a book.

Coup De Grace
The background information of all the characters is imaginative and well thought out. There is no basic Elf grew up in the woods and became a Ranger stereotypes here. All the information is given in general terms and is not specific to any campaign.

The feats and skills make sense for an adventuring person as well.

I could see this being a big help to a new GM who needs a well developed character in a pinch. But nothing can take the place of hard work when coming up with a villain for your party.
Everything except the art work is open content, always a plus.

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to Fast Tracks at www.d20zines.com.