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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cooper" data-source="post: 2886191" data-attributes="member: 24255">CHAMPIONS OF VALORBY Thomas M. Reid and Sean K. ReynoldsWizards of the Coast product number 8829272000160 pages, $29.95Champions 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: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 5 - Places of Valor: 7 areas you can use in your game, one of which is a planar touchstone</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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</li> </ul>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: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">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.</li> </ul>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!</blockquote>

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