Champions of Valor

[John Cooper]

Champions of Valor is a comprehensive guide to playing valiant heroes in the Forgotten Realms setting. The counterpart to Champions of Ruin, Champions of Valor covers what it means to be valorous in the Realms. The book describes several good-aligned guilds and organizations that characters can join, as well as the benefits for doing so. In addition, the book presents an array of new spells, feats, and prestige classes appropriate for heroes of valor, and opens up new opportunities for adventure, fame, and glory for truly heroic characters.

 

[John Cooper]

CHAMPIONS OF VALOR
BY Thomas M. Reid and Sean K. Reynolds
Wizards of the Coast product number 8829272000
160 pages, $29.95

Champions of Valor is the companion piece to Champions of Ruin, a Forgotten Realms sourcebook focusing on the good guys where the previous book focused on those of evil bent. I'll state up front that I received Champions of Valor as a free review copy, and that I haven't read (and don't own) Champions of Ruin.

The Forgotten Realms has a long history of good-to-excellent artwork on the front cover of their hardcover books; with Champions of Valor, they throw that away with a substandard work by Tomás Giorello. All of the interesting Forgotten Realms trappings are still there - the leather background with fraying edges that make it look like an actual tome - but the wraparound illustration is of pretty low quality. It features a battle between some black dragons, white griffons or hippogriffs, and some standard PCs, with a celestial flying on the back cover for good measure. However, it really looks very comic-bookish, and while I myself enjoy comic book superheroes, here I'm using the term in a derogatory fashion: everyone seems to be "posing heroically for the camera" instead of being involved in what's actually going on (even the dead or dying ones); the armor (and hair styles!) seem impractical and/or downright impossible; there doesn't seem to be much gradiation in the shading that would make the images look more realistic. It's also kind of hard to tell what's going on. Who scratched the female elf on the back cover? There's a black dragon rearing up behind her, but the gashes on her bare thigh are much too close together to have been made by him. What's that celestial got in his hands - a wand? A thin-hafted sword or some other weapon? Who's that the griffon or hippogriff is chewing on the back cover? If it's his rider, why, when there's a mounted griffon/hippogriff happily supporting its rider in combat on the front cover? If not, was the hapless adventurer riding a black dragon, and if so, which one? There aren't any dragons really in his vicinity, and none of them seem to be wearing saddles in any case. How does the elven warrior on the front cover keep her pants up, when they come down to what would surely be the top of her pubic hair if elves, you know, had body hair? And who stole the pupils from her eyes? And why did the (apparently dead) woman in purple decide to put on so much eyeliner that it looks like she's wearing a domino mask? (It looks like the bare-thigh-scratched elf on the back subscribes to the same beauty standards.) All in all, this is the most disappointing Forgotten Realms cover I've ever seen. I hope Tomás does a whole lot of improving before we ever see his work grace another cover.

The interior artwork, however, is much better. (This in itself is kind of odd: wouldn't you think you'd want your strongest stuff on the cover to draw the casual shopper's eye? Oh well, whatever.) 10 different artists provide 7 monochrome and 46 full-color illustrations, and famed Dungeon cartographer Christopher West provides 11 excellent maps in full color. Christopher's maps are outstanding: pleasing to the eyes, easy to figure out, in short everything a D&D map should be. The artwork is well above average, I'd say, with some truly exceptional pieces thrown in, like Lucio Parrillo's valorous female elven wizard fighting off two Red Wizards of Thay on page 10 (great shading, body proportions, and detail work); William O'Connor's Knights of the Eternal Order battling a dracolich on page 101 (animated skeletons of any sort are hard to depict, but he does a great job here); Wayne Reynolds' female centaur fighter on page 146 (fantastic detail work on her armor); and Ralph Horsley's Ramas-Teth Ankh on page 149 (very intricate Pharaoh-type ornamentation on his garb). Even the most cartoony piece, Kalman Andrasofszky's female dwarf Berronar Valkrie on page 35, really isn't that bad of a piece, although the style isn't one of my favorites. In fact, about the worst I can say about the artwork is that Ralph Horsley's well-detailed illustration of the dwarven warhammer Oath-Hammer is mistakenly captioned as Dornavver, which, it turns out, is actually a bastard sword. Taken as a whole, though, the artwork in Champions of Valor is well above average, helping to make up for the substandard cover artwork.

Champions of Valor is broken down into the following chapters:

• Introduction: A quick breakdown of how the book is structured, as well as a listing of what you need to use this book and a reminder of how swift and immediate actions work
• Chapter 1 - The Valorous Hero: Sections on rewarding valorous behavior, DMing for valorous heroes, creating valorous challenges, valiant hero archetypes, good vs. good, adding races from other supplements (goliaths, illumians, and raptorans), and a chart of 50 quests to get the creative juices flowing
• Chapter 2 - Character Options: 18 regional backgrounds (each providing bonus languages, favored deities, available regional feats, and bonus equipment), 30 new feats, 24 substitution levels of standard character classes (making them specific to a certain religion or organization), 33 new spells, 2 new weapon special abilities, and 20 magic items (plus an updated version of glassteel)
• Chapter 3 - Valorous Organizations: 8 well-detailed organizations (with details on their history, foes and allies, membership, and their numerical breakdown), plus 66 more that just get a paragraph each
• Chapter 4 - Prestige Classes: Knight of the Flying Hunt (pegasus rider), Knight of the Weave (spellcaster out to protect Faerûn's magical Weave), Moonsea Skysentinel (dire hawk rider), and Triadic Knight (paladin-type serving Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater)
• Chapter 5 - Places of Valor: 7 areas you can use in your game, one of which is a planar touchstone
• Chapter 6 - Agents of Good: 10 fully-statted NPCs, a new monster (the battle effigy, an animated dwarven statue), and 21 breeds of horse/pony

Okay, you all know this is coming (at least those of you who have read one of my reviews before), so let's get this part out of the way: the proofreading and editing jobs (which I consider to be distinct from the stat block work) were both pretty good, although a bit more seemed to slip by than is normal for a Wizards of the Coast product. Specifically, there were several instances of improper punctuation (a comma instead of a period at the end of a sentence, no period at the end of a sentence), extra spaces between words, lack of a space between words ("bonusof"), wrong word usage ("your" instead of "you," "an" instead of "and," "water" instead of "fruit," and "[ts3]" in a stat block instead of "×3"), misspelled words ("aburation," "blindced," "eagcles"), extraneous words, and one thing I'm not sure how to classify ("theocratROF"). There's also a character mentioned on pages 119-120 called "Joatra" half the time and "Joastra" the other half. Still, while not particularly outstanding, it's still head and shoulders above many of the proofreading/editing jobs done (or not done, as the case may be) by some companies out there.

I have to admit, I came into Champions of Valor not particularly enthused, as the "good guy stuff" tends to be not as exciting as the "bad guy stuff," and I wasn't really expecting all that much. Perhaps it was this ho-hum attitude that made the book work out for me much better than it might have otherwise. There is plenty of material in Champions of Valor that I found to be not only interesting, but also pilferable (for those who, like me, don't run a Forgotten Realms campaign). I was rather pleased with the substitution levels of the existing character classes, as it's a good way to create basically a new character class very similar to an existing one without having to take up a whole lot of space, and it beats creating a prestige class for the organization/religion/region in question, as it (in many cases) allows you to swap out features from your very 1st level in the class. I mean, we get the equivalent of 24 "new" character classes in the span of 18 pages; try doing that with full character class (or prestige class) writeups! Also, there are many instances where certain class abilities are just no use for a given creature; the best example here are the "Lion Legionnaire" paladin substitution levels for wemics, as just what would a wemic (a lion-centaur) do with a special mount anyway?

The new spells and magic items had some pretty cool samples as well. I particularly liked the spells convert wand (a great way to bulk up on some much-needed healing when the spell repertoire is getting low) and spellsong (you can immediately "swap out" this 6th-level spell slot for a spell of 4th level or lower, making it a great way to "grab" a spell you hadn't prepared earlier). As for the magic items, my personal favorites include the Dukar hand coral (implant this magic, living coral under the skin of your hand and you gain an increased healing rate, the ability to slowly regenerate missing limbs, the ability to hold your breath underwater for a longer amount of time, and it even glows when in the presence of someone else with an imbedded coral in their palm, making it an easy way to identify allies) and the glassteel flying hunt armor (with built-in feather fall property, perfect for an aerial rider). I also liked the fact that the unique items each had a very detailed history. I even noticed that Shamur Uskreven was tied into the history of one of the magic swords; I don't read a whole lot of Forgotten Realms novels, but I remember her as being one of the Sembia Seven from the "Stormweather" series, and it was nice seeing an established Forgotten Realms character (besides Elminster, for once) playing a role in a magic item's past. Also, the personality they gave the sword Albruin seems particularly well-suited to a DM whose players often ignore obvious adventure sites (like the one he specifically prepared for the night's adventure!), so I was suitably impressed with that one. I also liked the fact that Chalsembyr's Heart absorbs the soul of a paladin of Torm that dies while wielding it, so he can act as an advisor to the next paladin of Torm that wields it. It's little flavorful bits like this that make this book such an interesting read.

The prestige classes were okay, but I was a bit disappointed that of the four, two of them were built for characters who ride flying mounts into battle. I'm not entirely certain that there's enough difference between a guy who rides a pegasus and a guy who rides a dire hawk to justify two separate prestige classes, although I suppose that they were each focused enough on theior geographical areas that they managed to make them sufficiently different.

I also really liked (for the most part) the locations provided. I especially liked the hermit's cave, as having to atone for alignment violations probably crops up eventually in most games that haven't ditched alignments altogether, and it's nice to have a place all set up for the atoning character to go to in order to receive his atonement quest. The Weeping Garden was pretty interesting, too - how many times does a PC get to spend as much time as he wants healing up in the garden of a god, only to return to his world to find that no time has passed? (Actually, according to the information about the Garden, just once.)

When it comes to the creature and NPC stats, though, Champions of Valor hits a new, all-time low for a Wizards of the Coast book. Let's jump straight to the percentages: I count 27 different stat blocks, out of which I found errors (many of them quite significant) in 26 of them. That's an error-rate of 96%! The only one that made it to print unscathed was the wolf animal companion on page 145, but he's straight out of the Monster Manual with the exception of the 1 bonus trick that got added as a Special Quality, so it would have been pretty difficult to screw up. However, designers Thomas M. Reid and Sean K. Reynolds, aided and abetted by developer Andy Collins and development manager Jesse Decker, managed to screw up the other 26. Here's my "unofficial errata" for Champions of Valor; please chime in if you spot an error I made or find something I missed:

• p. 111, Vashan Nanther, male Nimbrese human fighter 7/Knight of the Flying Hunt 2: He has 8 feats, but he should have 9 (4 as a 9th-level character, 1 human bonus feat, and 4 fighter bonus feats).
• p. 116, Aravilar Moondown, male Halruaan moon elf fighter 5/Knight of the Weave 2: I'm not sure why he has the magic training spells ghost sound and light, since the Magical Training feat (from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) grants dancing lights, daze, and mage hand. (He is listed as having mage hand.)
• p. 117, Aravilar Moondown, male Halruaan moon elf fighter 5/Knight of the Weave 8: +1 composite shortbow damage should be 1d6+3/×3, not 1d6+2/×3 (+2 Str, +1 magic weapon bonus). As an 8th-level caster, spells known should be 4/4/3/3/2/2, not 2/2/3/3/2/2. I'm not sure why he has the magic training spells ghost sound and light, since the Magical Training feat (from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) grants dancing lights, daze, and mage hand. (He is listed as having mage hand.)
• p. 121, Ephryn Nidry, female Chondathan human fighter 5/Moonsea skysentinel 2: Will should be +0, not "+0 (+2 against enchantments)," as she's a human, not an elf. (This may be a copy-and-paste error from Aravilar Moondown's stat block.) +1 composite shortbow damage should be 1d6+3/×3, not 1d6+2/×3 (+2 Str, +1 magic weapon bonus).
• p. 122, Ephryn's dire hawk steed: With a +4 Con bonus and 9 HD, hit points should be 108, not 76 (dire hawk steeds get maximum hit points; it's one of the benefits of the prestige class). Will should be +8, not +5 (+6 as a 9-HD dire animal since dire animals have all good saving throws, +2 Wis). Only spent 8 out of 12 skill points; I recommend bumping Listen up to +8 and Spot up to +8 (+16 in daylight).
• p. 122, Cureh Lantinye, male half-moon elf ranger 5/Moonsea skysentinel 6: HD should be 11, not 13 (check it for yourselves). 72 hp at 11 HD is certainly within range, but he was pretty lucky with his die rolls! (Average hit points would be 53.)
• p. 122, Cureh's dire hawk steed: With 10 HD at maximum hit points and a +4 Con bonus, hp should be 120, not 81. Will should be +9, not +5 (+7 as a 10-HD dire animal, +2 Wis). Only spent 9 of 13 skill points; I recommend bumping Listen to +8 and Spot to +9 (+17 in daylight).
• p. 126, Haelimbrar, male Damaran human ranger 3/paladin 4 of Torm/Triadic Knight 7: HD should be 14, not 12. With an 8 Dex, he doesn't qualify for Two-Weapon Defense (he qualifies for Two-Weapon Fighting since it's a bonus ranger feat that ignores the normal Dex 15 requirement). The "Aura" line in his stats should reflect "good" as well as "courage." Base Attack Bonus should be +14, not +12 (+3 as Rgr3, +4 as Pal4, +7 as TKn7). Grapple should be +17, not +15 (+14 BAB, +3 Str). +1 keen longsword attacks should be at +18/+13/+8 melee, not +16/+11/+6 (+14 BAB, +3 Str, +1 magic weapon), or +16/+11/+6 melee when used with Two-Weapon Fighting, not +14/+9/+4. +1 evil outsider bane short sword attacks (using Two-Weapon Fighting) should be at +16 melee, not +14 (+14 BAB, +3 Str, +1 magic weapon, -2 Two-Weapon Fighting). Turn undead 6/day should be listed as "(+5, 2d6+4, 1st)," not "(+5, 2d6+5, 2nd)," since a Pal4 turns undead as a Clr1. Paladin spells/day should be 2/1, not 1/0, and at caster level 9th, not 7th (TKn7 adds +5 caster levels to Pal4 for a 9th-level caster level; 1/0 spells as a Pal9, plus 1/1 for having a +3 Cha bonus). His special mount should last for 22 hours/day, not 8 (TKn7 stacks with Pal4 for special mount abilities, and a special mount lasts for 2 hours/level).
• p. 126, Heavy warhorse special mount: Base Attack Bonus should be +7, not +3 (+7 as a 10-HD animal). Grapple should be +16, not +11 (+7 BAB, +5 Str, +4 size). With 10 HD, it should have 4 feats, not 2.
• p. 143, Bakra Hispul, male ogre dire werebear ranger 6, ogre form: Fort should be +19, not +23 (+4 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +1 Con, +1 cloak of protection). Ref should be +15, not +16 (+1 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +0 Dex, +1 cloak). Will should be +15, not +16 (+1 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +2 as a Rgr6, +1 Wis, +1 cloak, +2 Iron Will). +1 keen battleaxe attacks should be at +24/+19 melee, not +16/+11 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str, +1 magic weapon, +1 Weapon Focus). If using Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, 2 +1 battleaxe attacks should be at +20/+15 melee each, not +16/+11 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str, +1 magic weapon, +1 Weapon Focus, -4 for Two-Weapon Fighting feat using two one-handed weapons).
• p. 143, Bakra Hispul, male ogre dire werebear ranger 6, hybrid form: AC should be 19, not 17 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +9 natural). Flat-footed AC should be 18, not 16 (-1 size, +9 natural). Fort should be +22, not +28 (+4 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +5 Con). Ref should be +15, not +17 (+1 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +1 Dex). +1 keen battleaxe attacks should be at +34/+29 melee, not +16/+11 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +15 Str, +1 magic weapon, +1 Weapon Focus), or +30/+25 melee with Two-Weapon Fighting. Bite attacks should be at +27 melee, not +21 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +15 Str, -5 secondary attack). Claw attacks should be at +33 melee, not +26 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +15 Str, +1 Weapon Focus). +1 battleaxe damage should be 1d8+16, not 1d8+6 (+15 Str, +1 magic weapon). Bite damage should be 1d8+7, not 1d8+8 (half of +15 Str bonus, rounded down). Claw damage should be 1d6+15, not 1d6+16 (+15 Str).
• p. 143, Bakra Hispul, male ogre dire werebear ranger 6, dire bear form: AC should be 19, not 17 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +9 natural). Flat-footed AC should be 18, not 16 (-1 size, +9 natural). Fort should be +22, not +28 (+4 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +5 Con). Ref should be +15, not +17 (+1 as an ogre, +8 as a dire bear, +5 as a Rgr6, +1 Dex). Bite attacks should be at +27 melee, not +21 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +15 Str, -5 secondary attack). Claw attacks should be at +33 melee, not +26 (+18 BAB, -1 size, +15 Str, +1 Weapon Focus). Bite damage should be 1d8+7, not 1d8+8 (half of +15 Str bonus, rounded down). Claw damage should be 1d6+15, not 1d6+16 (+15 Str).
• pp. 143-144, Brown bear animal companion: Initiative should be +2, not +1 (+2 Dex). Touch AC should be 11, not 10 (-1 size, +2 Dex). Flat-footed AC should be 16, not 17 (-1 size, +7 natural).
• p. 144, Brenvol Whitebrow, male human werewolf ranger 4 of Selûne, human form: Senses line shows Listen +9, Spot +10, but Skills entry shows Listen +6, Spot +6. Fort should be +8, not +10 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +1 Con). Ref should be +10, not +12 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +3 Dex). Will should be +4, not +5 (+1 as a Rgr4, +0 as a wolf, +1 Wis, +2 Iron Will).
• p. 144, Brenvol Whitebrow, male human werewolf ranger 4 of Selûne, hybrid form: AC should be 23, not 19 (+5 Dex, +4 +1 studded leather, +4 natural). Flat-footed AC should be 18, not 14. Hit points should be 37 (the same as his human form; lycanthropes don't change their hp when changing forms), not 172. (Bit of a difference there, huh? Obviously, it's a copy-and-paste error from Bakra Hispul's stats that nobody caught.) Fort should be +10, not +12 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +3 Con). Ref should be +12, not +14 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +5 Dex). Masterwork heavy mace attacks should be at +7 melee, not +6 (+5 BAB, +1 Str, +1 masterwork). Masterwork shortbow attacks should be at +12 ranged, not +10 (+5 BAB, +5 Dex, +1 masterwork, +1 Weapon Focus), or +10/+10 ranged with Rapid Shot, not +8/+8.
• p. 144, Brenvol Whitebrow, male human werewolf ranger 4 of Selûne, wolf form: AC should be 19, not 17 (+5 Dex, +4 natural). Flat-footed AC should be 14, not 12. Hit points should be 37, not 172 (see above). Fort should be +10, not +12 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +3 Con). Ref should be +12, not +14 (+4 as a Rgr4, +3 as a wolf, +5 Dex). Bite damage should be 1d6+1, not 1d6 (+1 Str). Grapple should be +6, not +2 (+5 BAB, +1 Str).
• p. 146, Breyarg Stonebreaker, male gold dwarf paladin 6 of Gorm Gulthyn in service to Helm: Aura line should include "good" as well as "courage."
• pp. 146-147, Dalthyria, female centaur fighter 4: Initiative should be +2, not +6 (+2 Dex, no Improved Initiative). Grapple should be +17, not +16 (+8 BAB, +4 size, +5 Str). Speed should be 65 feet (13 squares), not 100 feet (20 squares). (Base speed is 50 feet, which drops to 35 feet due to the chainmail barding; horseshoes of speed add +30 feet to her speed.) Lance damage should be 2d6+9, not 2d6+7 (1.5 times +5 Str = +7, +2 due to Weapon Specialization). When charging, lance damage should be 4d6+18, not 4d6+14. No hoof attacks are provided in the stats even though she has Weapon Focus (hoof); as a secondary atack following a longsword attack, 2 hooves would strike at +7 melee for 1d6+2 points of damage each. She has 7 feats, but she should only have 6 (3 as an 8-HD character, 3 bonus fighter feats as a Ftr4).
• pp. 147-148, Dorgafal Shiverock, male rock gnome bard 7: Short sword attacks should be at +5 melee, not +3 (+5 BAB, +1 size, -1 Str). Light crossbow attacks should be at +9 ranged, not +7 (+5 BAB, +1 size, +3 Dex). Due to his fochluchan bandore, the following should be added to his spell-like abilities, 1/day: light, flare, mending, and message.
• p. 148, Kerri Talindras, female half-moon elf cleric 5 of Sune: Initiative should be +3, not +2 (+3 Dex). AC should be 18, not 17 (+3 Dex, +4 +1 studded leather, +1 ring of protection). Flat-footed AC should be 15, not 14. Also, while not a stat block error, the illustration shows her with a shortbow, not the light crossbow listed in her stats.
• p. 149, Ramas-Teth Ankh, male human diviner 9: Flat-footed AC should be 13, not 3 (+2 bracers of armor, +1 ring of protection) - no doubt just a typo, but still. Spells/day should be 5/6/6/5/3/2, not 5/5/5/4/3/2 (it looks like they forgot to add his bonus spells for having a +3 Int bonus).
• p. 150, Rindon Wasatho, male human ranger 8 of Selûne: Initiative should be +4, not +3 (+4 Dex). Ref should be +10, not +6 (+6 as a Rgr8, +4 Dex). Will should be +3, not +2 (+2 as a Rgr8, +1 Wis). +1 short sword damage should be 1d6+2, not 1d6+1 (+1 Str, +1 magic weapon).
• pp. 150-151, Dog animal companion: Initiative should be +4, not +3 (+4 Dex). Touch AC should be 15, not 14 (+1 size, +4 Dex). Flat-footed AC should be 14, not 15 (+1 size, +3 natural). Fort should be +5, not +4 (+3 as a 3-HD animal, +2 Con). Ref should be +7, not +5 (+3 as a 3-HD animal, +4 Dex). Will should be +2, not +1 (+1 as a 3-HD animal, +1 Wis). Still need to spend the 2 extra skill points he gained with his 2 extra Hit Dice; since he's a bloodhound, I recommend putting them into Survival, so it's +3 (+7 tracking by scent).
• p. 151, Sarada Gedreghost, female human transmuter 12: Touch AC should be 12, not 20 (+2 Dex). They forgot about her +3 cloak of resistance, so Fort should be +9, not +6; Ref should be +9, not +6; and Will should be +12 (+14 against illusions), not +9 (+11 against illusions). Spells/day should be 5/6/6/6/5/4/3, not 5/6/6/5/4/4/3 (4/4/4/4/3/3/2 as a Wiz12, 0/1/1/1/1 for having an 18 Int, and 1/1/1/1/1/1/1 transmuter spells for being a specialist mage).
• p. 152, Stormwing, male giant eagle ranger 6 of Lurue: Initiative should be +4, not +3 (+4 Dex). Senses lists Listen +6, Spot +15, but Skills lists Listen +12, Spot +18. The "hp" line is missing "(10 HD)." The "Feats" entry is missing Endurance as a bonus ranger feat.
• p. 153, Battle Effigy: No Space/Reach entry is given; should be "5 ft./5 ft." Also, it's rather odd that the fast healing description points out that this construct can't restore hit points lost from "starvation, thirst, or suffocation" - none of which should ever come into play for a chunk of animated stone.

I have to say, I'm really disappointed in the stats in this book; if nothing else, I'm very surprised that a veteran like Sean K. Reynolds was associated with this dismal level of quality, as I've really come to respect his abilities in such matters. Hang your heads in shame, guys!

Fortunately, Champions of Valor isn't a Monster Manual-type book, so the stat blocks don't play anywhere near as important a role in the overall score I'll be giving the book. (A really good thing, too, or it would tank.) I'm going to allow Champions of Valor to squeak into a very low "4 (Good)," despite the pitiful stat block job. There's plenty of good material here to keep players of good-aligned characters busy, no matter what campaign world they're playing in. I just hope the developers spend a bit more time on the stat blocks in future books. Missing a point of AC here or there is one thing, but being off by 135 hit points is a bit much!

 

[Cam Banks]

John,

Excellent work as always on spotting stat block errors.

One thing, though - I don't think auras of good or evil go into the Aura line, since they don't actually do anything. That line seems to be reserved for things that have an effect. I couldn't find any examples of this new stat block format where the Aura line includes the alignment of a divine spellcaster.

I would really love a proper set of guidelines for these things!

Cheers,
Cam

 

[JoeGKushner]

Champions of Valor
Written by Thomas M. Reid and Sean K. Reynolds
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/forgottenrealms
ISBN: 0-7869-3697-5
Hardcover
160 full color pages
$29.95

Champions of Valor is the latest supplement in the Forgotten Realms series. Written by Thomas M. Reid and Sean K. Reynolds, it brings new background and game mechanics to the setting.

Like many of the Forgotten Realms series, this hardcover boasts some of the best layout and design in the industry. The pages are designed to replicate an aged scroll fell and capture it well. Page numbers are on the bottom in the middle of the page while chapter headings are at the top of the page. Interior artists include fan favorites like Jason Engle, William O’Connor, Wayne Reynolds and Wayne England among others. While the book has no index, but several pages of ads, it does use a very complete table of contents to ease navigation.

Broken into six chapters, Champions of Valor starts off with a quick introduction. This includes some notes on good in the Realms in general. For example, there are more good deities then there are evil deities. An interesting observation to be sure, but the coverage of divine or near divine powers, seems to suggest otherwise as demon lords, devil lords, and other races, like Mind Flayers, whose whole pantheons are in essence evil, aren’t really being counted. And some of those gods who aren’t evil or good, like Tempus, have powerful followers in their own right.

Also included are a notes for players and game masters. One bit of advice that should probably be repeated in every game product is that it’s up to each game master to customize the Realms for his own use. Don’t worry about what the novels talk about. Let the players be the stars of the campaign. For players, there are some ideas on how they can take the core classes and apply heroic concepts to them using some real world concepts.

For example, it notes that unarmed combat has been around for over a thousand years and mentions a few heroic style monks such as Li Mu Bai from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and gives a reference to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for curious minds to look at various monk orders.

The introduction does a nice job of setting the tone of the book. Showing that even when all members of a party are good, doesn’t mean that they’ll get along, as well as notes on some of the dreaded game elements that may crop up like killing or capturing an enemy.

There have been some rumblings about Wizards of the Coast including some supplement information on other races from the Races of series. I don’t see how a paragraph or two of detail on placing the Goliaths, Illumians, or Raptorans into your campaign is going to break the book.

For me, I’d rather see more stuff like this. It gives me some idea on where these new races might be suitable. Some argue that how do you change history to accommodate these new races? In some cases, it doesn’t matter. When introducing new character options, it’s the rare player who wants to poke holes in a campaign’s history as opposed to enjoying the new material allowed in the game.

The chapter ends with a quick list of fifty things for valorous characters to do. These are little sentences that are ideas. For example, “Stop a Cyricist plot to murder the firstborn of all good priests in Waterdeep.” Good but something I’m glad is a sidebar.

Chapter one starts off with character options. Begining with regional backgrounds, each background is a detail of the character’s history and includes region permitted, automatic languages, bonus languages, favored deities, regional feats, and bonus equipment. For example, you could be a knight squire from any region where martial knights support the government. The only bad thing about this is that it means a lot of time the information filled in from that point is “As region” which seems a bit wasteful.

The real perks come in the variant bonus equipment. For example, the knight squire gets a masterwork weapon or chainmail and light warhorse or a potion of cure moderate wounds.

It’s an interesting idea but without adding anything more to the mechanical benefit is more for those looking for ways to customize their character’s backgrounds. For those who aren’t familiar with how to do that and generally work off of game mechanics, it might make for an interesting change.

The book moves into feats, including exalted and initiate feats. The exalted feats are all supernatural abilities that make the character radiate good and require high moral standing while the initiate feats showcase a special bond a worshipper has with her god.

There are also several general feats. For example, Silver Blood makes you immune to lycanthropy and any lycanthrope that bits you may take damage if it fails a Fortitude Save.

Innate feats include Anhur, Arvoreen, Baravar Cloakshadow, Eilistraee, Holy Ralm, Horus-Re, Milil, Nobanion, and Tymora. These feats vary in power, but most provide new spells to the worshipper’s spell list, as well as some innate power. For example, those who follow Eilistraee can replace one spell-like ability with magic missile 1/day and gain three new spells for their list.

Next up are substitution levels. To me, substitution levels are a great mechanic because they provide more options to customize a character. Each substitution level is a replacement level for a certain class. Originally, they were used to showcase how different races may approach the same core class. Now they’re used to show how different organizations approach a class.

They usually come in three ranks but the levels that they substitute for vary. For example, the Eternal Order has a replacement level for 1st, 3rd, and 6th level. The one for the Mystic Fire Knight has one for 4th, 5th, and 6th level.

The nice thing about these levels is that you don’t have to take all of them. So if you wanted to take a standard level at 1st for the Eternal Order and take the 3rd and 6th level substitution levels, you could.

After that, we get new spells. Unlike many WoTC products, there isn’t a quick spell list broken up by class and level, but rather, a quick discussion of sanctified magic, and then the spells themselves. It’s a short section, but does give us some options like Golden Dragonmail, a 3rd level wizard spell that is treated as +1 mithral full plate for all purposes and if you’re a sorcerer, you also gain resistance to fire 10. Many spells are specific to an initiate. For example, dispel silence is a second level spell that can only be used by an initiate of Milil.

Next up are magic items. These include some holy weapons like Dornavver also known as Demonbane. Each magic item includes history, description, activation, effects, aura/caster level, and construction. This includes creator costs and market costs. Strangely enough, while there is a great picture of a war hammer, Dornavver is described as a bastard sword.

We also get a new material, or a new update to an old material. Glassteel makes another appearance. Weights half as much as normal and counts as lighter armor and has all sorts of other neat little abilities in exchange for a huge cost. For example, a weapon forged of it has a base +2,000 gp cost.

The first chapter is the real meat of this book. The magic items, substitution levels, feats, and spells make it a compelling chapter that players will return to again and again and GMs looking for plot hooks will easily find them there.

Chapter two moves away from game mechanics and moves into valorous organizations. These organization have their own format, including name, size, type, alignment, racial mix, dues/salary, associated class, associated skills, favored in guild benefits, and requirements. The favored in guild benefits is gained through the new feat, favored in guild. Similar in some aspects to the bonded item feat from the Dungeon Master’s Guide II where you can gain more benefits by spending a feat on the benefit.

The details are rich in history and lend themselves to game play quite well. Having the allies and foes allows the GM to use as wide a variety of material as he wants without having to invent new ties. For example, the Knights of Imphras II are paladins and clerics who owe fealty to the crown of Impiltur and defend the Realm of the Sword and the Wand. They struggle against the demoncysts buried beneath the land and are allied with the monarchy. Those who are favored gain a small (10%) discount on purchasing goods and services such as training, spell access, and magic items. The favored also get a free spell cast on them once a month for free and receive a disposable magic item (scroll, potion or wand) equal to 10% of his expected wealth.

Why prestige classes get their own chapter as opposed to being folded into chapter one, character options, I don’t know. The prestige classes here have the usual assortment of details that recent WoTC products have had. This includes game mechanics and table advancement, as well as background, how to become the PrC, playing that PrC, combat tactics, advancement in the PrC, typical resources, how they fit into the world, including material on daily life, notable members of the PrC, organization, typical NPC reactions, lore (four different levels of DC checks), how the GM can work the PrC into the game, notes on adaptations, and encounters.

The nice thing about the PrCs is that they can be combined a bit with some of the other material. For example, the Moonsea skysentinel is a dire hawk rider that is a member of the Knights of the North. So you can combine the PrC with the information about the Knights of the North. The only thing I’m a little leery of is multiple NPCs for the PrCs. One NPC to showcase the abilities of the class or to provide a typical member of an organization is fine. I don’t need two. Some game masters may like it as it provides them with ready to use NPCs.

The next chapter moves onto places of valor. Each place has background, history, game effects, and keyed locations tied to the maps. For example, the Cave of Brother Luiman has five keyed locations. Another mechanic I like, planar touchstones, where you take a feat and key yourself to a powerful location, is included here for the Darkmaiden’s Leap.

The locations are brief and can be included or dismissed according to each GM’s use. Their inclusion however, clearly tells me that WoTC wants the product to be useful for both players and game masters and by providing these locations, they’ve given the GM several instant hooks to add to the game.

The book ends off with agents of good, several NPCs for the GM to add to his own campaign. Added with the previous NPCs from the prestige class chapter, the game master has his options of using good allies for the players as friends, allies, rivals, patrons, or even enemies if running an evil campaign. These include some individuals like Bakra Hispul, an ogre raised by druids and Rindon Wasatho, a range of Selune.

Also included in this section, are new monsters. Well, one new monster in the battle effigy. More impressive then this stout construct though is the material on equines. Not a lot of game details, but a lot of background. The game details replace little bits for the base creature like a mini-template. For example, the dale pony is a normal pony but has a great Con (+2), and a +2 racial bonus on several skills.

I see a lot of potential in this book. The new use for substitution levels opens up a wide variety of possible options in the future. The initiate feats are always something I’m looking to see more of. I wish that we had a Forgotten Realms book that collected and expanded upon the idea so that if you wanted to play a priest of Tempus for example, you could just look up one book for that initiate feat as opposed to realizing that it’s probably not even a feat now despite the numerous books for the Forgotten Realms available.

The high quality art and layout also make reading this book a pleasure. Together with the rich details on everything from magic items to organizations, those equating background details with character and campaign immersion should love this book.