Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011865" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackInitiative RoundDoom Striders is a 128-page sourcebook published by Bastion Press . The author is Sam Witt. The cover is by Kari Christensen and features two doom striders locked in mortal combat and it is available for $22.95.Doom Striders is the next in Bastion Press’ series of fantastic ideas to use in your D&D game. Much like Airships, Doom Striders crosses genre to bring the towering menace of Mechwarriors to your game. These are not the laser and rocket spitting metal giants that you associate with Mechs, but wood and metal vehicles that can wield swords and spells like a giant golem. The introduction suggests that Doom Striders are a natural evolution of arms development technology on a magic driven world, evolving from golems and magical armors. Much like Spelljammers, a Doom Strider is controlled by a pilot or captain who provides either motive or fuel to power the vehicle. Chapter one involves your campaign and how to introduce the Doom Strider to it. This is accomplished by suggesting various scenarios where an arms evolution might take place or an enlightened community where mages, inventors or master smiths might be advancing their knowledge in this field with experiments or a military necessity in an arms escalation. This is also presuming upon a later period of play where clockwork automation or a Steampunk atmosphere is prevalent in the campaign. It isn’t a requirement but makes more sense as far as a logical continuity. The development of this kind of system is costly in magic, material and other resources. Keeping this a secret is a major undertaking if it is needed to be so. The drain on materials and manpower is enormous. The existence of Doom Striders should be treated with the same reaction as the world had to the existence of atom bombs at the end of World War II. If a nation does not foot the bill of creating the Doom Strider then the cost falls falling on the captain and crew who are essentially privateers working for the highest builder although they tend to be more loyal or patriotic than mercenaries who are also discussed. The details of operating a unit of Doom Striders, finding work, selling services, reputation, and contracts are covered. Other factors include expenses; salvage rights and maintenance are also included. This includes the cost of breakdowns, repair and salvaging from downed Doom Striders.Construction factors are the focus of chapter two. This chapter is filled with charts on construction material, size, abilities, armor & defenses, controls, miscellaneous augmentations, energy sources and weapons & accessories. Many esoteric materials are used for Doom Strider construction, from exotic woods and metals to bone and other necrotic tissue. The modifiers for using each of the factors are included in both the charts and the more detailed descriptions that follow. Doom Striders must be at least medium in size and can be constructed to colossal size. A new Craft [Doom Striders] skill is then introduced. The abilities of a Doom Strider include Hit Points, Initiative, Speed, Armor Class, Attacks/Damage, Saves and the Ability Scores of the Captain. Defenses include things like Avoidance systems and Spiked, Dragonscale or Ablative Armors. Controls range from mechanical to mental or organic controls. Augmentations such as Passenger Platforms and Strength boosters can be added. Doom Striders can be powered in a number of ways such as Arcanofurnaces, Prayer Engines and Vampiric Harnesses. Weapons also run a large gamut of magical and physical effects from enchanted weapons to Blizzard, Fire and Lightning ProjectorsChapter three discusses Doom Strider combat factors. Tracking energy consumption and using a battle grid are important factors in this style of combat. DMs and players familiar with Battletech or Mechwarrior know this but users new to this style of play may want to pick up one of those products to become familiar with it as well. It’s not required, just a suggestion. Combat stats and attack, initiative and damage are handled just like in normal combat. Damage may be directed to the head torso or limbs of a Doom Strider and damage to specific areas may become devastating, such as the energy source becoming destroyed, releasing the remaining energy points of the Doom Strider in a blast of magic energy. If the captain becomes unconscious or killed the Doom Strider is also in serious trouble. Larger Striders with crews or passengers may be able to recover or repair the damage. Weapons and spells may be used as normal actions. Movement is handled by the Doom Striders movement rate and cannot be altered without supplemental movement options added to the Strider. Full round actions are in many ways similar to a character’s full round action and these options are listed also. Weapon attacks, magically powered weapons and spellcasting are covered along with special maneuvers here too. Mass combat rules are essential here. Doom Striders are intended for wading into battle lines of orcs or goblins.The captain and crew are featured in chapter four. The captain is the only required position on a Doom Strider. Of course, a medium sized Strider would only have room for one being, but colossal Striders may have extensive crews of engineers, pilots and weaponeers on board. The captain, however, is linked to the Doom Strider and his death or the destruction of the Strider proves fatal in both directions. Seven new feats are given for Doom Strider use including Natural Pilot, Scavenger and Hardened. Three new skills are also presented here. These are all Profession skills concerning a Doom Strider like pilot or engineer. Prestige classes such as Doom Strider Captain and Master Engineer are given.Chapter five deals in sample crews and mercenary groups entitled Allies & Adversaries. These crews and groups include biography and stat blocks of the characters, Doom Strider(s) and history and goals of the groups. Groups like the Witch Hunters and Lost Angels are samples of two of the companies. The Witch Hunters hunt and destroy mages while the Lost Angels seek revenge on the deaths of their parents by Doom Striders. The Banshees are dungeon explorers. Each of these groups has very different motivations and Doom Striders. The remainder of the book gives Doom Strider designs on Doom Strider sheets wrapping up with some blank sheets to design your own style of Doom Strider.Critical HitDoom Striders goes a long way in genre-crossing action, making the worlds of D&D and Battletech or Mechwarrior work within one another. It also combines many elements of the Steampunk genre into the mix. This would work well in Privateer Press’ Iron Kingdoms setting or with Fantasy Flight Game’s Sorcery & Steam products. With its high end technology or even Renaissance magic system it would not sit well in a low-magic or early medieval period setting games. They could however become a method to bring change into those genres in much the same way that the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks brought powered armor and laser swords into 1st edition D&D, thus shaking up the norm of your game and allowing big change to infect the game.Critical FumbleUnfortunately as great as this work is in crossing genres it is a limited style and pinions itself much as a Spelljammers or similar setting. This isn’t to say that this is bad but merely that it has limited use depending in your campaign. Epic level settings or settings like Privateer Press’ Iron Kingdoms or Bastion Press’ Oathbound may adapt well into this supplement.Coup de GraceRegardless of its limited use in a major game, Doom Striders is a great adaptation of the Mechwarrior genre to the D&D game. It can throw a unique dynamic into an existing party or serve to introduce new NPCs (a Doom Strider crew) to your group and bring a different tone to the game. The Doom Strider sheets are very Michelangelo-esque in nature, adding that Renaissance feel to it. While limited in application it could take your game onto new levels of playing and excitement. Just developing the technology for the Striders could become months of searching and questing for the materials to even construct one or defeat one. Like Airships, this is for the adventurous DM to introduce to his campaign. It won’t work well in all settings but on a limited use or high to epic level, makes for a magnificent challenge.Final Grade: B+</blockquote>

Verification