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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khur" data-source="post: 2031069" data-attributes="member: 5583">The Fachan is a monster from Scottish legend and the heart of the first of the Bardic Lore series from <a href="http://www.dmperez.com/highmoon/" target="_blank">Highmoon Media Productions</a>. An eight-page PDF (plus one for the OGL), The Fachan was written by Daniel M. Perez and illustrated by John Brown and Rick Hershey. It is a two-color book (green and black), retailing for $1.25.As is usual for Highmoon's work, The Fachan is relatively attractive in its presentation, with only a few testy bits of justification problems around the illustrations. Brown's art style is cartoonlike, which would be fine, except for the fact that fachans are supposed to by monstrously horrific and vicious. Other than this quibble, the artwork is fine. Perez continues to do a wonderful job indexing his PDFs.The Fachan details its subject—a single monstrous humanoid derived from myth. Horrid in appearance and brutal in living style, fachans are not truly evil. Travelers should beware of them nonetheless, because fachans seldom take kindly to strangers.Information about fachans includes average monster statistics, descriptive text, racial facts, and results for Knowledge or bardic lore checks regarding this enigmatic species. The Fachan goes on to provide a paragon class (derivative of similar classes in Unearthed Arcana) for fachans who wish to become fearsome examples of their race. All this information is put to good use in a sample fachan NPC that would make a good villain for a mid-level adventure. Typical of Perez's work, this creature is out of the ordinary and, one could say, inimitable in its bizarre body configuration. Bardic Lore: The Fachan is conceptually solid in its treatment of the subject matter, presenting many angles on fachans. The book is not just a monster presentation, though; it's a well-rounded survey of the whole monster. The only thing missing might be page on strategies and tactics against fachans.Some of the details spark the imagination more than others. Perez's treatment of horrific appearance is a superb idea, if a little loose with the d20 rules. It's worth application in other situations, especially in horror games.But Daniel's writing remains quirky in places, and the PDF could use a more thorough proofreading and paring down of the repetitiveness that creeps in. More importantly, the fachans themselves could use more depth and history. Right now, the lore is too general and the prose is wishy-washy on the fachan's true ferocity, especially when presenting them as a possible PC race and as a racial paragon.Critical HitFachans are a cool breed, and Bardic Lore: The Fachan supports their utilization in a big way for players and DMs. A DM can use the creature as a monster, NPC, or even recurring villain with the tools presented here. Further, the lore section is a nice touch that provides some ready play material. Players can easily be a fachan in weirder games. They're provided with all the necessary statistics and a decent paragon class. This survey format is a superior one for playability, and excellent as an example of a holistic view on gaming utility. Critical FumbleStatistically, The Fachan is off base in a number of ways. The monster statistics are generally good, though the racial bonuses to Intimidate and Jump seem like tools to make the skills work out the same as they would have in 3.0 D&D.  But fachans are Challenge Rating 1, despite being as tough as a bugbear (CR 2), and they have no Level Adjustment, even with heavily unbalanced ability score modifiers (giving great advantage in combat), significant racial bonuses to skills, and a considerable natural armor bonus. Fachans should have an LA of +1 or even +2. The sample NPC, Gwrgenau, has the wrong attack bonuses for his full attack. He also has too many skill ranks, since the barbarian class doesn't have Spot as a class skill.Coup de GraceBardic Lore: The Fachan presents a unique creature and makes it accessible to DMs and players. Only its limited scope (one very strange creature) holds it down in playability. While the mechanics are quirky, they're certainly fixable. And The Fachan is would be a first-rate model on the brief treatment of creatures for gaming, if it had more depth and fewer irresolute descriptions of the fachan's attitudes. It's an attractive publication, regardless of the illustrations' failure to make fachans look frightening, and the richness of information raises its value. If you have a buck to blow, and you'd like to take a chance on a new and unusual creature for your campaign (fachans needn't be restricted to fantasy), give this Bardic Lore book an eye.Final Grade: 3.75 <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh    :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /> Available at <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3736&src=EnWorld.com" target="_blank">RPG Now</a>.This review originally appeared at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com" target="_blank">d20 Magazine Rack</a>.</blockquote>

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