Calastia: Throne of the Black Dragon, I reviewed it! Now go get it!

[Graf]

high powered?

Thanks for the review. I can now go lurk around the local book importer for a few weeks until it shows up here (not that I was going to do anything else...)

Do you really think SL is high powered?
(my game is getting high powered because of the WotC experience point progression system but that's mostly my fault)

Compared with the other published settings its pretty low-powered in my opinion. Fewer magic items, much lower level NPCs (except maybe for DL), lack of drow, planetouched, etc as PCs, the setting isn't really high powered.
I'm creeping through Ruined's SH and I finally got through Ashes & Wormwood and they both seem to dovetail with my own rough approximations of power level.

Just curious.

 

[Ruined]

Great review, Nightfall. Man, I've been wanting that book for months... Must go by the FLGS tomorrow - who needs groceries?

Hey Graf, saw your post afterwards. I think that SL is a bit high-powered in my opinion. What does it for me are the HD and CRs of the monsters. I was running Trean's session before I had my own copy of CCII, so I was like 'and in your travels around Vesh, you and your group battled a few pisceans.' No problem, right? Hah, they're like CR 12 or 15 or something... And a lot of the cooler creatures are hulking like that.

Still though, I like a nice even progression, so the characters will get power and Exp at my pace, not by what the standard power levels in the setting would normally require. They'll likely never know the difference.

 

[Nightfall]

Re: high powered?

Thanks for the review. I can now go lurk around the local book importer for a few weeks until it shows up here (not that I was going to do anything else...)

Do you really think SL is high powered?
(my game is getting high powered because of the WotC experience point progression system but that's mostly my fault)

Compared with the other published settings its pretty low-powered in my opinion. Fewer magic items, much lower level NPCs (except maybe for DL), lack of drow, planetouched, etc as PCs, the setting isn't really high powered.
I'm creeping through Ruined's SH and I finally got through Ashes & Wormwood and they both seem to dovetail with my own rough approximations of power level.

Just curious.

I think it's high powered for the MONSTERS more than the players. I mean with spell availablity (divinely speaking) and the very essence of the world often at your fingertips, it can be quite epic. However I do think the low magic item count and lower level NPCs DO help to keep the gritty flavor. Not to mention the fact they use a lot of NPC classes to great effect. In my own campaign, there are only a few high level NPCs that the players are working with. They have some magic items, but they don't have the "buffingness" of a world say like Faerun, being dependent on magic items to help improve them. Instead they got that way through faith and luck. Doesn't mean I skimped on the magic items though.

 

[Nightfall]

Great review, Nightfall. Man, I've been wanting that book for months... Must go by the FLGS tomorrow - who needs groceries?

Well you could always try out for the Thorned Purifier.

 

[Tuerny]

Eh, though it says in the first Relics and Rituals book that the Scarred Lands is less magic rich then most settings, I am really not seeing it.

Especially with the NPCs in the Wise and the Wicked having a disproportionate amount of magical gear and artifacts it seems to easily be on the level of the Forgotten Realms.

Having two thick hardbounds on magic also lends to the overall feel of high magic in the setting.

It is still a very dark setting in my eyes, it just seems to be a dark, very magical setting.

 

[Nightfall]

Well they did fix Anteas's battle-blade. It's still a two-bladed sword only now has flaming and frosting.

The Wise and the Wicked though are kind of the BIG npcs. Not to mention if you look at Woodarbor and Meleeh(sp), they don't have much in the way of magical equipment.

It's high magic yes, but it's also low magic item count, at least in my books.

Btw Tuerney, wish I could help you with your Shelzar campaign. All I can say is "Enkili guide you! "

 

[Nightfall]

Bump!

 

[Knight Otu]

Grr... I should have bought it the day my LGS offered it me last friday, instead of waiting to buy the MMII this wednesday. Now I have neither... The former wasn't on the shelves, the latter didn't arrive.

Well, I have Dragon # 300 now. I kind of like the fiendish dragons.


The review furthers my feeling that the general feel of Calastia and Virduk is similar to the arkonid empire and the immortal Bostich from my favorite Sci-Fi series. If I didn't know better, I would think that one was inspired by the other.


Does the book tell more about a certain event in Geleeda's Grove?

 

[Tuerny]

Eh, despite any changes that Calastia made I still see it as a pretty high-magic setting. Especially with its talk about the use of graveskulls, for examples, as a common tool of law enforcement and the sheer number of introduced magic items and artifacts. Even if there is only one copy of each item, in addition to the inevitable number of standard magical items than you will still have a huge variety and number of magic items in the setting.


Your milage may vary.

 

[Nightfall]

The review furthers my feeling that the general feel of Calastia and Virduk is similar to the arkonid empire and the immortal Bostich from my favorite Sci-Fi series. If I didn't know better, I would think that one was inspired by the other.


Does the book tell more about a certain event in Geleeda's Grove?

Well now that you mention it, yes Geleeda's Grove DOES play a PROMINENT role in the book BUT it doesn't talk about what was mentioned in the Wise and the Wicked.


Tuerny, perhaps then you'd enjoy Termana more. Believe me, it's MUCH more sparesly populated AND having LESS material wealth to go around. Oh and I think you'll like the new race in there. Plus LOTS of Gnolls.