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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old Fezziwig" data-source="post: 1492985" data-attributes="member: 59">Chapter IV: The World ForgeThis chapter details the World Forge (surprise!), the subterranean smith of Urgan, the god of smiths and such in the Celestial River pantheon.  That description of him is probably a bit vague/basic, but it's probably the simplest I could go while still being factually correct.  The main difference between the previous three areas and this one is that this is, in fact, Urgan's home.  He lives here, and the faithful that can reach the Forge live here with him.  The idea of a smith god living deep inside the earth has a really nice, mythic feel to me.  I could see some nice quests and plot hooks coming out of that.  Another thing I liked was the way Urgan himself was handled.  We don't get stats for him, which is good.  The text points out that he's "immune to all attacks and magic" and "if pressed into a physical confrontation, he attacks once per round...at a [BAB] of +40" doing "8d20+40 damage," which seems viciously high, but (1) he's a god, and (2) I don't think I'd ever need that info, so it's pretty easy to ignore.As a god, he seems very well suited towards most good warriors, and is probably (given his NG alignment) more suitable for most paladins than Dorana, even if she has aspects concerned with justice.  Then again, I'd probably be using the CG and NG paladin variants in the first BoHM with this pantheon anyhow, which'd help me avoid a lot of work.  The character presented, Gothri, is Urgan's spokesperson.  He's basically a (hairless) dwarven paladin that got the hell beat out of him in a battle with a red dragon, got depressed, and wandered deep into the earth, ending up in the World Forge.  I'm being flip, but I do like Gothri well enough, and could see using him as a plot device, certainly.After this comes the usual array of mechanical stuff--feats, weapon and armor masterpieces, a domain, some spells, two items, and a prestige class:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The feats include two creation feats (Master Armorsmith, Master Weaponsmith) and three feats that convey mechanical bonuses onto smith characters in various situations, including the rather neat Druid of Earth and Metal.  This last one allows druids to wield metal weapons and armor that they've crafted themselves, although it does not grant proficiency.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Weapon and armor masterpieces basically are masterwork weapons only slightly better in that they allow bonuses that exceed +1 on items created by master smiths.  This could be really handy for a low magic game looking for something better than masterwork weapons without using magical weapons.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Forge domain is, in my opinion, the least exciting of the new domains.  The idea of gaining additional weapon proficiencies (hammer and light hammer, along with Weapon Focus for one of them) for picking it up doesn't quite sit right with me.  Maybe something more in line with forging would have worked better with me (bonuses to craft skills?  free item creation feats?).  The spell list, however, is cool.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The spells look fine; nothing jumps out at me mechanically, although, from a flavor standpoint, Earthen Claw is interesting.  Of the two items, true clay seems more interesting.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The PrC, Hammer of Urgan, is well-designed as far as I can tell and would port very easily into other worlds, where it could be used with good effect for dwarven gods of the forge's followers.</li> </ul>About ten or so pages left; I imagine I'll get to them later this afternoon.  Still enjoying the book very much.  It's definitely a winner, IMO.Best,Nick</blockquote>

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