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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011825" data-attributes="member: 18387">By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rackb]Initiative Round[/b]Artifacts of the Ages: Rings is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Green Ronin Publishing and The Game Mechanics. This 80-page black & white perfect-bound softcover features cover art by Clarence Harrison depicting a gold-skinned angelic woman giving a magical ring to a kneeling warrior. It is written by JD Wiker and Gary Astleford, with interior art by Pete Schlough. Artifacts of the Ages: Rings retails for $17.95.The first part of the book describes the basics of the system, the scions. Even veterans to the Artifacts of the Ages series should thumb through this section, as the prestige classes change slightly from the information presented in Artifacts of the Ages: Swords and Staves. For the uninformed, a scion is a prestige class that permits a character to make full use of a legendary magic item’s abilities. There are four scion classes; the battle scion, the spell scion, the faith scion, and the swift scion. In large part, there is little difference between a scion and the base class that the scion represents. Spell and faith scions continue to gain spells per day or spells known, battle scions continue to gain feats, and swift scions learn special abilities related to their base class. More importantly, only by attaining levels in the scion prestige class can a character unlock the special powers of legendary objects.Each ring described in the next chapter has a set of requirements which a character must meet in order to become a scion. These requirements may be as simple as being a female of good alignment, having 5 ranks of Knowledge (nature), and having undead as a favored enemy to being of neutral alignment, having 8 ranks of Balance and a Will save bonus of at least +5, possessing the Mobility feat, and spending at least one month living no less than 200 feet above the ground. Once the requirements have been met, the individual can begin advancing as a scion of the item. Furthermore, each legendary item has its own scion path, even though they may be of the same type. Thus, two faithrings require entirely two different prestige classes, even though both utilize the faith scion class. What’s more, a character may not become the scion of two similar items (two different spellrings, for example). The scion class is not even open to a character until he or she meets the prerequisites to become a scion of the legendary item.Each legendary ring comes complete with a history of the item, annotated as to the DC required for a Knowledge check of the appropriate type (history for battlerings, arcana for spellrings, religion for faithrings, or local for swift rings) or a standard bardic knowledge check to reveal a particular clue from the ring’s past. Each item also has the prerequisites to become a scion for the item, any restrictions the item imposes on the scion, notes on how to destroy the item, and the special abilities the item provides as the scion increases levels in the appropriate prestige class.A total of twenty-nine legendary items are described in Artifacts of the Ages: Rings, ranging in power from minor magical items to minor artifacts. Generally, the more powerful an item has the potential to become, the more difficult it is to qualify as a scion for it. Still, the fact that powers are only gained as the character increases in level, the use of legendary items in play is well-balanced. Critical HitLegendary items can add a lot of flavor to a campaign. These artifacts are more than mere magical goodies, they are heirlooms that any character will treasure for many years to come. Being selected as a scion (for no one comes into possession of a legendary item by mere coincidence) is a great honor, revealing that the character is worthy of greatness.Critical FumbleAs cool as legendary items are, they tend to overshadow “normal” magical items in a campaign. After all, how much is a mere ring of air elemental command worth when you can claim yourself as the scion of Zafir, the Sapphire of the Summer Sky? The other problem with introducing these items of legend into a campaign is that they single out a particular character as being worthy of becoming a scion. What about the remainder of the party? Does the fact that they don’t have a legendary item make them any less worthy or important? Of course, you could correct this by simply offering a legendary item to each member of the group. After all, there are more than enough to go around, but does this create more problems than it solves? Just how did so many worthy scions come together in the first place?The other weak point is the same as I discussed in my review of Artifacts of the Ages: Swords and Staves; a typical campaign will probably see use of only one or two of these legendary items over the course of the entire campaign. Is it worth purchasing a whole book of them? That’s a question that individual GMs will have to answer for themselves.Coup de GraceIt’s a good concept, but suffers from the same weaknesses as the other product in this line. The big issue is cost. Specifically, will a GM make enough use of the material herein to make it cost effective? If your campaign sees a lot of magic items, or if you play in a number of different campaigns, then by all means, this book will provide you with a wealth of material. Alternately, you could ignore the requirement to be a scion and the limitations on having more than one legendary item of the same type and simply allow the characters to gain the appropriate powers as they increase in level.Overall, I can’t rate the artwork as superior, but it is visually appealing, and each of the legendary items is fully illustrated, a big help when describing something to your players. Just photocopy or scan the page, crop out the offending text, and hand the illustration to your players. If you’re handy with a paint program, you might even add some color to them. There’s no index, but that’s hardly a problem, considering the fact that the table of contents more than serves adequately.Final Grade: B+</blockquote>

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