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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009405" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains major spoilers.This is not a playtest review.Bodies And Souls is a .pdf accessory giving 20 creature templates influenced by the concept of possession.Coming in at $5, this is fairly standard for most .pdf's and the good use of pop-up boxes and bookmarks, switch-off art, and light grey backgrounds to sidebars adds to the value, especially when printing. Mono art runs from poor to good. I found the writing style quite difficult at times - more attention was paid to the stats than to descriptions, and explanations of game mechanics were hard to grasp on first (and even second) readings. The style is very informal, almost like the author is sitting next to you explaining what he's done - "I’ve separated off the elemental scions and standard possessions since they group naturally". After a while, I found this a bit annoying - I have only so much interest in why the author has done something this way or that. It also makes for a long, drawn-out discussion where a short clear explanation would have served better. Editing, unusually for a .pdf, is good.After a short introduction to the material, the author takes some time to discuss the possibility of PCs taking any one (or more) of the templates. The author suggests making these templates available to PCs if they proceed through a ritual, which costs gold to perform (an alternate payment system using 'Author Points' which the players gain in play instead of gold is also suggested - the ritual is then not required). In addition to this, they must sacrifice a level of a standard class, much like taking a prestige class. Each template is given a cost to gain for a PC. A sidebar suggests replacing NPC's magical items with these templates, thus reducing the problem of PCs getting their hands on an over-powerful item after defeating a villain. Some options for gaining these templates on credit or for free are offered.The next section purportedly deals with possession. However, there are no game rules for how a possession occurs: "I pretty much leave it to the gamemaster to determine how they end up attached to a character or monster. Possessing demons and devils choose targets in some fashion then inflict themselves on the victim, probably through some kind of long and arcane process."What the book does give is a mechanic for exorcism. The exorcist must succeed at 3 successful Turn/Rebuke Undead checks in a row, and the exorcist must have the Exorcist feat (provided at this point). This extended series of checks is then expanded on - the author terms the extended skill check 'Stability'. Advice is given on using this Stability mechanic with other types of skills, and there is a sidebar on using it for the Search check.Next up are the templates:* Atomic - irradiated, with an example crocodile, more suitable for superhero or post-holocaust game than fantasy.* Bonesmith - evil outsider animates object and imbues it with a lust for bone marrow - messy - with example catapult.* Cutter - mover between worlds, with abilities to blink, blur, dimension door, teleport, etc. at the cost of intelligence, example is a heavy war horse.* Demon Flock - evil outsider that can possess flock of birds, swarm of rats, etc., gaining fiendish spell-like powers - very hard to defeat as flock can disperse and regenerate. Advice is given on this subject. A Raven flock example is given. Trad horror.* Faded - creates a creature fading from the world for one reason or another (GMs call), weaker than standard creature of the same type. Manticore example given.* Fly Lord - swarm of flies surrounds and is controlled by demonic being. Wizard example given.* Gray Marble - living statue, drains life force. Ogre example given* Insect Scion - half-insect receives 'vermin points' to spend on special abilities such as strength, leaping, cocooning, poison, tremor sense, burrowing, etc. Ghoul example given.* Machine Coded - high intelligence, limited emotion - ally or enemy. Human fighter/wizard example given. * Mechanized - much like the Borg from Star Trek, these creatures are part machine. Example orc given. Might fit quite nicely with Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms setting though at first does not seem to fit a fantasy setting.* Rabid - creature with rabies. Peasant example given.* Red Candescence - evil red glow that possesses inanimate objects. Greatsword example.* Tiger Scion - half-tiger, suggested for PCs, bulette example given.* Elemental Scions (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) - four templates involving possession by elemental beings with appropriate elemental attacks. More suited to superhero game of strong elementally influenced fantasy setting.* Standard Possessions - three possessions by outsiders - succubus, kyton and ghaele.Conclusion:There are some very interesting ideas presented in this book. Unfortunately, they're not presented as well as they could have been. This is partly due to the authors writing style and partly due to the insistence on the use of templates. I felt that some of the templates would have been equally good as Prestige Classes, whilst the powers of the Elemental Scions could have been offered as feats (similarly to Bonding Feats from Green Ronins recent Hammer & Helm). Rabid could have just as well have been presented as a disease (as to a certain extent could Atomic). In other words, the ideas felt as though they'd been pulled into the shape of a template rather than fitting nicely. Some of the ideas were also weak (Red Candescence, Gray Marble, and Bonesmith). I would have liked to see a comprehensive ruleset on possession, not just exorcism.However, the author has definitely broken new ground with his use of templates in this book, and some of the ideas are excellent (I particularly liked the Cutter, Fly Lord and Demon Flock). The Exorcism/Stability mechanic is interesting and worth further playtesting to see its true benefits.Several of the templates would be hard to fit into a standard fantasy campaign. The most useful and pertinent rules for standard fantasy campaigns are the ideas on standard possessions and the exorcism mechanic. This is certainly the crux of the book and it seems a shame that further fiends were not given in this section. Along with rules for possession (rather than just exorcism), this would have greatly improved the usefulness of the book.</blockquote>

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