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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2551735" data-attributes="member: 1129">A hunting we will go.Demon Hunter’s HandbookWritten by Patrick YountsPublished by Goodman Games<a href="http://www.goodman-games.com" target="_blank">www.goodman-games.com</a>ISBN: 0-9746681-8-4GMG432096 black and white pages$19.99When I first saw the Demon Hunter’s Handbook, I was taken back by how stupid the main character looks with that pointy hat. It’s not that it’s a bad picture. The fallen demon in the background looks great, the main figure, outside of the hat, looks decent. Perhaps it’s all the Solomon Kane books I’ve had in one edition or another, or the Van Helsing posters I’ve seen, where this puritan style character is represented with a flat hat instead of a pointed one. It’s like the artist decided that she was a witch demon hunter and added that point in. Going past that however, I see that the Demon Hunter’s Handbook is a toolkit for using demons and other evil outsiders in your personal campaign. Written by Patrick Younts and published by Goodman Games. Interior artists include Alex Kosakowski, Doug Kovacs, Claudio Muniz , Matt Morrow, and Mikolaj Ostapiuk. Interior art is well done, dark and grim, matching the source material.Layout is standard two-column format.  Outer borders change with each chapter. Outer borders are one of the illustrations from that chapter. Upper outer edges shows the name of the chapter, while inner upper corner shows the section and page number is in the middle of the page.. For example, flipping to page forty, I see I’m in chapter two and looking at demon hunter abilities.  The background color of the paper is gray with a pentagram faded into the background. The black text is easy to read against the gray background. The book is broken up into five broad chapters. The first section starts off with ideas on how demon hunters fit into a standard fantasy campaign. Patrick focuses on the motivations and methods of demon hunters of different alignments and classes, and sprinkles some new game material into the text at the same time.For example, while aasimars are a standard good selection for a race that would hunt demons, the steward archon, a being whose been blessed with some of the divine energy from a archon, is new. In addition, while the class information on how the different classes could potentially hunt demons, including recommended skills and feats and character concepts, many will want to see the new crunch in the form of the new PrCs.It starts with the bound spellcaster, a 10 level PrC with spellcasting every other level who gains more power by binding itself to demon flesh. This includes numerous bonuses like darkvision, ability score increases, and special abilities like claw and bit attacks that are considered magic weapons. It’s an interesting class and one that doesn’t blindly grant spellcasting at every level in addition to a ton of special abilities.The preserver takes the druid and focuses on it’s role as a protector of the forest from unnatural predators. They get spellcasting at almost every level, but also gain special abilities like learning how to turn into a celestial beast and using wild shape to turn into huge creatures.  A different take on the druid as far as purpose and origin.The Righteous Sword on the other hand, is pretty much a paladin dressed up in demon slayer abilities. Nothing wrong with that as it takes a class already pretty good as killing demons and makes it even better. Note that a fighter-cleric could make it into this PrC, or a cleric, or a fighter who had a lot of skill points and time to burn.  Since the class continues to advance in spellcasting at a reduced rate, it’s good that they get things like smite evil and the ability to permanently destroy an outsider.The reformed cultist on the other hand, is perfect for those who want to play the former rogue whose decided to work against his past masters. They gain the ability to sense demons, as well as some sneak attack dice and even a bonus feat with some other abilities.A good set of PrCs that each include some fiction to introduce them, some background to cementer them, and all the game mechanics, ranging from requirements and class features, to the good old ten level PrC charts.When looking at ways to augment your demon hunter, you’d want to quickly flip to chapter two, demon hunter abilities.Here’s where they have things like new feats, most of which are focused on overcoming an outsider’s abilities. For example, Cracks in the Armor gives you a +2 to all caster checks to beat the spell resistance of evil outsiders. For skills, there are some new uses for knowledge, mainly exorcism. The book provides new rules for possession and beating possession to allow those players who want to have their clerics whip out the holy water and scented candles the opportunity to do so.  Possession takes some time to initiate, and has two phases, tainting and full possession. Exorcism is in essence a knowledge religion check with the result being the Will save that the demon has to make. Failing it banishes the demon. It’s a nice little subsystem that doesn’t add a lot of complexity to the d20 system but seems to do the job well enough.A few new domains and spells help round out the section. How about a domain for exorcism, purity and righteousness? How about new spells like Destiny’s Spear, a 4th level paladin spell that does 1d4 points of force damage per casting level and can even have a smite attack channeled through it? Overall it’s mainly focused on combat magic against demons and in that regard, does a good job. The spells and other material is packed with background information which makes reading the book smooth and easy. The section on equipment isn’t quite as useful. While the new weapons, mostly simple, are good little additions to a campaign, they don’t do a whole lot and won’t be useful against most outsiders unless they’re magical in nature.  Some of the miscellaneous equipment, like the holy write and holy censer, give minor bonuses to the character in turning attempts of other areas.  I was a little disappointed that while it went into brief detail about making weapons out of fallen demons, that it didn’t provide any named magic weapons or new properties against demons and other evil outsiders. It was a good opportunity to showcase some unique ideas and put the fiction of the author to work and they seemed to go for the generic route. Chapter three is great for those looking to add demons and other outsiders to the campaign as that’s it’s focus, the campaign.  It’s solid advice on running a campaign with various themes ranging from the “dying of the light” to “yeah, demons are tough but they’re but one in a million enemies.” This would be good reading for someone getting ready to game master Dark Legacies, Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing, or any number of games where demons are a major force to be reckoned with and no quick victory is around the corner. In addition to campaign advice, there are also adventure seeds to get the creative juices flowing.  They’re broken down by type, so there are intrigue based, action based, and are grouped into wilderness and city for ease of use. To further help the GM with his own campaign, chapter four, organizations, provides background details on what types of cults the GM may decide to use. Will he add in a mystery cult? How about a cabal of powerful spellcasters? How do religions fit into the big scheme?  What about secret societies within the religions? Orders of knighthood or secular organizations like governments? The author hits most of the major ones and a few of the minor ones that would be appropriate.  Patrick also provides ideas on how to make your own organization, whether it’s a celestial one that works against demons, or an apocalypse cult that seeks to bring about the end times. While several sample organizations are included, along with a few NPC’s, they aren’t broken down as say, WoTC might do it. You don’t have knowledge checks to see what the players would know, or have a breakdown of all the forces that each organization may have. Instead, it relies on putting that power in the GM’s hands.  For example, the Broken Dolls are noted as having “little money”. What does that mean? Well, as a GM, common sense will have to dictate the terms. Chapter five ends with allies and enemies. This includes new monsters like the powerful Corrupt King, a monstrous demon that clocks in at a CR of 18, as well as several NPCs to act as patrons and allies, as well as enemies. For example, can the party help Magdalena finish her years long quest and kill her nemesis or will they fall pray to the fallen knight, Estaban Esbach whose possessed by a pit fiend?The book provides a lot of free hand tools for the GM to use in his campaign. It doesn’t break out all the little details or go into specifics but for the most part, that’s a good thing.</blockquote>

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