Dragon Lords of Melnibone

[Psion]

"Sure, it's a cut-and-paste job from the Elric! RPG with d20 rules cut in. But damn, the Elric! RPG is excellent"

That it may be. But very little thought went in to how the material relates to the d20 system. Just because the Elric RPG is good does not dismiss the shameful lack of worksmanship in this book.

"The illustrations are top-notch"

Did you look at some of the artwork? Take a look at the hideously contorted picture of the Myrrhn. This book has the worst artwork I have seen in a d20 system product. Give me Jeff Dee's version in the old DDG; that whips the snot out of the artwork in this book.

 

[Sayburr]

I usually read, but don't often make comments, but:

" The new spells are all good except for ONE that I found problems with (+4 enhancement to AC at level 1 for 1 hour / level as a level 1 spell is too much) but the remainder are VERY welcome additions to my game."

The spell you describe is not new, it is Mage Armor from the PHB:

Mage Armor

Conjuration (Creation) [Force]
Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of mage armor, providing a +4 armor bonus to AC. Unlike mundane armor, mage armor entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Since mage armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can?t bypass it the way they do normal armor.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

You are right, Psion, I over-rated it based on my love of the setting.

Sayburr: No, this spell is worse than mage armor because it provides +4 enhancement bonus to your SHIELD. The other spells of this level from this book provide a damage bonus of +4 for the duration (not an enhancement bonus - therefore balanced), whereas Hell's Bulwark is added to a shield, thus stacking with a lot of stuff that mage armor specifically DOESN'T stack with.

 

[Sayburr]

Ahh, now I see.

 

[Archer]

The spell might as well be called Mage Shield. There is already a spell called Shield that is better but "Mage Shield" stacks with them all. If you have no shield you get +4 AC Armor (shield) bonus, if you have a shield you add the base +1 or +2 to that 4.

 

[trancejeremy]

The artwork is somewhat odd, because apparently they took the best (?) artwork of all the international versions of the Elric and Stormbringer games, and presumably resized them to fit in DLOM. The resizing made some of it uglier, since I don't think they kept the same proportions.

Still, the US version of Elric was really really ugly. That Geier guy did much of the artwork. I've never been much of a fan of his. So DLOM looks really good in comparison. (The original Stormbringer was a combination of early RPG artwork and some really nice color stuff. The cover of DLOM was a inside plate for Stormbringer)

 

[CRG]

Maybe I'll rewrite this review and give it a one. I generally agree with your reviews but this product is one I found really, really disappointing.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I don't get it, your review reads as almost uniform praise, but your rating 2/5?