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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010515" data-attributes="member: 1129">The back of the Dragonstar Player's Companion pretty much sums up what's in the book. Over 20 prestige classes, specialty schools, feats, spells, psionics and psionic information, and spellware. It's a book packed to the gills with crunch that doesn't sacrifice the role playing information.The book starts off with classes. The good thing is that many of these PrCs are just about perfect for any game system. The Celestial Guardsman continues to gain in divine spellcasting ability, even as she gains powers similar to a paladin. Could fit into almost any fantasy based campaign. The Dragon Slayer is another PrC that has abilities with a tight focus, killing dragons, that could easily fit into most settings even as the Noetic Warrior, a monk-psionic based character, would fit into most campaigns that utilized psioincs.That's not to say that there are no classes that would be difficult to move into a standard setting though. For example, the Imperial Legionnaire is built around a military force that knows how to use guns with archaic weapons and gains abilities in using those guns as he rises in levels. Not to say you couldn't tinker and put it into Freeport or a similar setting. Another one that might not fit is the Infowarrior, a PrC that specializes in hacking data.The PrCs start off with the name and focus of the PrC, going into requirements, class skills and class features. This covers all of the mechanical aspects of the class like special abilities, spells per level, and unique powers. The role playing aspect comes afterwards with a sample group. For example, the Ecoterrorist have the Green Cabal that “defends the ecologies of the galaxy's worlds by any means necessary.” This background information includes a line about the leader, current activities and methods of integrating the group into the Dragonstar setting. The nice thing about this is it's a take it or leave it deal where the campaign isn't going to suffer if you make your own Ecoterrorist organization for example. The only bad thing is with twenty PrCs, you've got a lot of organizations running around.One thing I always tip my hat to FFG for is the introduction of Legendary Classes and this book continues that fine tradition.  The classes range from the impressive Galactic Conqueror, a master of warfare, to the Rebel, a warrior whose goal is to throw off the Red Age reign. Some of these PrCs were much more specific to the setting like the Faithful Servant who serves one of the grand dukes or the Machine Man, a legendary class for the Soulmech.Chapter Two brings together the Feats and Schools and includes such useful feats as Blood Bond, where the character sacrifices hit points to establish a bond with a chosen weapons to the dreaded +2 to two skills in the form of Internal Compass with a +2 bonus to Intuit Direction and Navigate checks. Most of the material falls in the middle though with some odd balls mixed in for exotic characters who want Robotic Familiars or the ability to utilize evocation magic to a higher degree with Destructive Spell. For those worried about Skill Focus in 3.5 being +3 bonus instead of 3.0's +2, Skill Adept here does the same thing.Now another area that is under debate in terms of game balance and playability are schools. Schools range in level from 1st to 10th level lessons each one costing more experience ,money and time with a level cap. Each level of the school provides an ability, generally getting more powerful as the school's level goes up. To me, this is the one of the ultimate ways to customize a character. Now the bad news is though, if you're using other material like Guildcraft from Bastion or Oathbound with it's prestige races, you can come up with some characters who just break the rules without trying.The schools provide all the game mechanics and role playing information for the GM to incorporate the material.  The only thing I was disappointed in is that there were no wandering masters of the schools here as there were in the various Path Of books. My favorite school in this book is probably the Children of the Blade, an archaic group that focuses on using the sword to end an opponents life instead of a blaster. The good news though is not all of the schools are focused on combat. The Imperial Society of Arcane Magic is a school that provides various benefits to wizards while the Vigil of Sakar school is practiced by the Adamantine Order and House Aranath with abilities relating to spying and data gathering. It's a nice mix and in tandem with the PrCs can make for some very specialized characters.Chapter Three's title is a bit misleading, Spells and Spellware, as it also includes two new domains, Dragon and Technology. The new spells have no master list but start off in alphabetical order ranging from Arms of the Marility, a 2nd level spell that creates duplicate arms that confuse the enemy to Wyrm, a 9th level Dragon spell that basically turns the caster into a dragon. A lot of the spells have a dragon or celestial focus and the book isn't afraid of introducing several high level spells to the setting.The Spellware includes goodies like Armored Skeleton and Energy Wings, in addition to other goodies like Image Recording. The material will fit well in the standard Dragonstar campaign but most of it will be out of place in a standard d20 fantasy game.A pleasant surprise was Chapter Four, Psionics. A new race, the Tsalokhi is introduced, as well as integration notes for standard races, most of which act normal save for the Soulmech who have unique circumstances to their power.  The treatment that the standard classes received in the first Dragonstar book is repeated here for the core and prestige classes with appropriate new skills and abilities notes. A new core class, the Bio-psion, a being engineered for psionic power has a little more versatility than the standard psion in some aspects but can't master the higher psionic powers. New PrCs help round out psionics in the setting including the Netwalker, a master of utilizing the Net with psionics and skill to the Ascetic of the Noetic Order,  Compared to spells and spellcasters, psionics get the short shift with feats, powers and equipment, but the mere inclusion of them goes a long way in making this book fit my style of space fantasy.The internal covers aren't used and we get two pages of advertising this time around. The layout is two column standard with good editing. The art is up to FFG's high standards and will evoke the setting for anyone looking through the book for ideas.If there are complaints, it's going to be how useful is this material. Because some of the goods are highly optional, like Legendary Classes, Schools, and Psionics, the books utility may not be all there for some. In addition, spells and PrCs, like always, should be playtested to insure that they fit with your campaign. Some may decry the lack of hard information on the various organizations and guilds introduced here as there are no NPCs statistics listed out, maps, or other important information but those people aren't looking at this as a Player's Companion. On a meta-note, for the psionics, I wish they provided notes on using Mindscapes version of psionics with or instead of the Player's Handbook as many people have noted that it's a different and perhaps superior way to play with psionics.In the end, the Dragonstar Player's Companion does all that it sets out to. It augments the listing of PrCs, introduces legendary classes, schools, and psionics, and augments the spells and spellware that are available to the players even as it expands the setting with numerous guilds and organizations.</blockquote>

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