JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Compilation and update of undead to 3.5 rules
Dread Codex
- Thread starter JoeGKushner
- Start date
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Solid content dragged down by too little context.
The Dread Codex
Written by Bret Boyd
Published by Adamant Entertainment
110 b & w pages
PDF and Print
Bret Boyd brings together numerous resources to update and collect all things relating to the undead. The majority of the book deals with monsters, but it also includes new magic items and spells for your fantasy d20 games.
If content alone were king, the Dread Codex would easily rate four stars. For me however, a product is more than just text. Let’s look at the file. My review copy does not include any bookmarks. I don’t know if that’s true of the standard product, but it doesn’t make a good impression. Let’s look at the art. Not a lot of it here, which for monsters, is a bit of a bad thing as in print, we already have a company, Expeditious Retreat, collecting and updating monsters in both print and PDF format. A few of the illustrations here are really top notch and show what might have been a great looking book as opposed to page after page of text.
How about layout? This is where I’m a little confused. Now Wizards of the Coast, the largest company in the RPG industry, took a tremendous amount of flak for their Monster Manual organization where monsters were printed one right after another even if on the same page. That sin is repeated here and with no illustrations to break up the majority of the text, makes reading a chore sometimes.
What’s worse, is that since this is a PDF book, unlike a printed book, there really is no reason why it should’ve been organized like this. Each monster could’ve easily had it’s own page.
Next, where is there no master list of monsters broken down by say location, type or CR? I know that most would be undead, and that most locations would be things like ruin, but to not have a listing of CR is out of place, even for a PDF compilation.
In addition, there are different styles of tables in here. For example, the table on page 24 looks like an MS Excel novice did it, and the ones on page 39 and 41. On the other hand, those on page 86 and 88, while simple, are easier on the eyes and fit the book easier.
What about a hook? One of the great things about Ambient Press book that latter was published by Mystic Eye Games, The Necromancer’s Legacy, was that it had an excellent framing device of fiction using various elements to bring it all together. No such device is here and instead, we get a lot of content.
Now taking those things aside, the Dread Codex offers a lot of content. It starts off with a table of contents, proving page listings for each monster, as well as the new magic items and new spells. In addition to having statistics, each monster comes with suggested treasure hoard and campaign notes on how the creature might be used in your campaign.
My game mechanic skills aren’t up to the par of fellow reviewer John Cooper, but one nice thing about the undead, is that their type has a poor base attack bonus, which means for every two hit dice, they get +1 on bab. A quick random sampling shows that they’re in good shape, as are number of feats , armor class, and grapple checks, taking into account things like size modifiers. I don’t know about perfect, but it passes the casual use test. The only addition I’d like to see made in future versions of the product, is where the initiative bonus is coming from for quick checking. For example, looking at the Akyanzi it’s easy to see that the +3 is coming from Dex, but the Bloodwarith has Improved Initiative and +4 from Dex, giving it +8, correctly noted, but requiring a few seconds more stat checking. Speed should also have number of squares, not for mechanical reasons, but for ease of use reasons.
One of the nice things to see here is the use of templates. Although I’d prefer the templates in an appendix or isolated in their own section, it’s always good to see classic monsters get template treatment. For example, how about a barrow wight? How about a ghoul template with a ghast PrC? Good stuff.
Challenge ratings tend to focus on the lower level of the scale. Sadly, some of the most powerful creatures seemed to be themed together as plants. Deadwood trees, CR of 12, are on the opposite end of treants, but aren’t undead treants. Gallows tree, sentient plants that feed on internal organs and body fluids of the living, clock in at a CR 13. One of the more powerful creatures, the sacred guardian, CR 16, is actually a protector of graveyards and other burial sites.
Most of the monsters tend to be humanoid and fall into either the spectral, zombie, or skeleton type and have CRs ranging from 1 to 7. Bloodwraiths’ are CR 4 that have translucent skin and drains Constitution on a permanent basis. Cadaver’s are the remains of humanoids not buried properly or buried alive, clocking in at a CR 2, they have the additional benefit of regeneration unless handled in a specific manner. On the slightly higher end of the scale, weighing in at a CR of 7, the cinder ghoul not only has energy drain but can set it’s opponents on fire.
The new magic items are broken up by type and then from general, such as qualities or properties, to specific items. It starts off with armor, moves onto weapons, potions, rings, rods, staffs, wondrous items, cursed items, minor artifacts, major artifacts, and new materials.
To help fight against all the necromantic goodness in the book, they’ve include a new quality, celestial bone. It shines with daylight, cannot be broken by normal means, has some spell ability, adds the weapon’s enchantment bonus to the turn undead checks of clerics and paladins, and gives two negative levels to any non-good creature that picks it up. Probably worth the +3 enchantment cost.
Taking a shot at an old favorite, vampiric qualities are also discussed. Unlike the old ring of vampiric regeneration where you gained half the hit points in damage you did, this one gives you a die to roll depending on how much damage you inflicted. For example, inflict 20 points of damage, head 1d8. Does 31+, roll 3d8. It’s an okay system but I still slip in the old version occasionally.
Spells are not arranged in any order, nor introduced with an abbreviated format, as is common in some products. Instead, it just jumps right into the spell selection, going in alphabetical order. Spells start off with the 6th level wizard spell, Acid Symbol, allowing undead to inflict an extra 1d6 points of fire damage when they strike with natural weapons, and ends with the 4th level wizard spell, Voice of the Grave. This spell traps incorporeal undead within the caster’s own body. I can see some interesting uses for it, especially for say a necromancer trying to get an undead into a specific place, but it’s a different type of spell to say the least.
It’s focus on undead also means that some concepts appear over and over again, and it’s lack of a framing device makes the repeating a little hard to swallow. For example, many of the undead listed here come back when something happened to them while alive. How about a few paragraphs talking about ways to incorporate the act of dying into the campaign to later set it up for the dead character to come back as an undead? Things like that would help the utility of the crunch of this book.
The content of the book is strong, but is held back by lack of art, layout, bookmarks and other little things that will hopefully be improved upon in future revisions.
The Dread Codex
Written by Bret Boyd
Published by Adamant Entertainment
110 b & w pages
PDF and Print
Bret Boyd brings together numerous resources to update and collect all things relating to the undead. The majority of the book deals with monsters, but it also includes new magic items and spells for your fantasy d20 games.
If content alone were king, the Dread Codex would easily rate four stars. For me however, a product is more than just text. Let’s look at the file. My review copy does not include any bookmarks. I don’t know if that’s true of the standard product, but it doesn’t make a good impression. Let’s look at the art. Not a lot of it here, which for monsters, is a bit of a bad thing as in print, we already have a company, Expeditious Retreat, collecting and updating monsters in both print and PDF format. A few of the illustrations here are really top notch and show what might have been a great looking book as opposed to page after page of text.
How about layout? This is where I’m a little confused. Now Wizards of the Coast, the largest company in the RPG industry, took a tremendous amount of flak for their Monster Manual organization where monsters were printed one right after another even if on the same page. That sin is repeated here and with no illustrations to break up the majority of the text, makes reading a chore sometimes.
What’s worse, is that since this is a PDF book, unlike a printed book, there really is no reason why it should’ve been organized like this. Each monster could’ve easily had it’s own page.
Next, where is there no master list of monsters broken down by say location, type or CR? I know that most would be undead, and that most locations would be things like ruin, but to not have a listing of CR is out of place, even for a PDF compilation.
In addition, there are different styles of tables in here. For example, the table on page 24 looks like an MS Excel novice did it, and the ones on page 39 and 41. On the other hand, those on page 86 and 88, while simple, are easier on the eyes and fit the book easier.
What about a hook? One of the great things about Ambient Press book that latter was published by Mystic Eye Games, The Necromancer’s Legacy, was that it had an excellent framing device of fiction using various elements to bring it all together. No such device is here and instead, we get a lot of content.
Now taking those things aside, the Dread Codex offers a lot of content. It starts off with a table of contents, proving page listings for each monster, as well as the new magic items and new spells. In addition to having statistics, each monster comes with suggested treasure hoard and campaign notes on how the creature might be used in your campaign.
My game mechanic skills aren’t up to the par of fellow reviewer John Cooper, but one nice thing about the undead, is that their type has a poor base attack bonus, which means for every two hit dice, they get +1 on bab. A quick random sampling shows that they’re in good shape, as are number of feats , armor class, and grapple checks, taking into account things like size modifiers. I don’t know about perfect, but it passes the casual use test. The only addition I’d like to see made in future versions of the product, is where the initiative bonus is coming from for quick checking. For example, looking at the Akyanzi it’s easy to see that the +3 is coming from Dex, but the Bloodwarith has Improved Initiative and +4 from Dex, giving it +8, correctly noted, but requiring a few seconds more stat checking. Speed should also have number of squares, not for mechanical reasons, but for ease of use reasons.
One of the nice things to see here is the use of templates. Although I’d prefer the templates in an appendix or isolated in their own section, it’s always good to see classic monsters get template treatment. For example, how about a barrow wight? How about a ghoul template with a ghast PrC? Good stuff.
Challenge ratings tend to focus on the lower level of the scale. Sadly, some of the most powerful creatures seemed to be themed together as plants. Deadwood trees, CR of 12, are on the opposite end of treants, but aren’t undead treants. Gallows tree, sentient plants that feed on internal organs and body fluids of the living, clock in at a CR 13. One of the more powerful creatures, the sacred guardian, CR 16, is actually a protector of graveyards and other burial sites.
Most of the monsters tend to be humanoid and fall into either the spectral, zombie, or skeleton type and have CRs ranging from 1 to 7. Bloodwraiths’ are CR 4 that have translucent skin and drains Constitution on a permanent basis. Cadaver’s are the remains of humanoids not buried properly or buried alive, clocking in at a CR 2, they have the additional benefit of regeneration unless handled in a specific manner. On the slightly higher end of the scale, weighing in at a CR of 7, the cinder ghoul not only has energy drain but can set it’s opponents on fire.
The new magic items are broken up by type and then from general, such as qualities or properties, to specific items. It starts off with armor, moves onto weapons, potions, rings, rods, staffs, wondrous items, cursed items, minor artifacts, major artifacts, and new materials.
To help fight against all the necromantic goodness in the book, they’ve include a new quality, celestial bone. It shines with daylight, cannot be broken by normal means, has some spell ability, adds the weapon’s enchantment bonus to the turn undead checks of clerics and paladins, and gives two negative levels to any non-good creature that picks it up. Probably worth the +3 enchantment cost.
Taking a shot at an old favorite, vampiric qualities are also discussed. Unlike the old ring of vampiric regeneration where you gained half the hit points in damage you did, this one gives you a die to roll depending on how much damage you inflicted. For example, inflict 20 points of damage, head 1d8. Does 31+, roll 3d8. It’s an okay system but I still slip in the old version occasionally.
Spells are not arranged in any order, nor introduced with an abbreviated format, as is common in some products. Instead, it just jumps right into the spell selection, going in alphabetical order. Spells start off with the 6th level wizard spell, Acid Symbol, allowing undead to inflict an extra 1d6 points of fire damage when they strike with natural weapons, and ends with the 4th level wizard spell, Voice of the Grave. This spell traps incorporeal undead within the caster’s own body. I can see some interesting uses for it, especially for say a necromancer trying to get an undead into a specific place, but it’s a different type of spell to say the least.
It’s focus on undead also means that some concepts appear over and over again, and it’s lack of a framing device makes the repeating a little hard to swallow. For example, many of the undead listed here come back when something happened to them while alive. How about a few paragraphs talking about ways to incorporate the act of dying into the campaign to later set it up for the dead character to come back as an undead? Things like that would help the utility of the crunch of this book.
The content of the book is strong, but is held back by lack of art, layout, bookmarks and other little things that will hopefully be improved upon in future revisions.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
In terms of content, it's solid. But I'm not one of those people, and we've all heard 'em in the forums somewhere, where they would want a black and white product printed on newsprint with three columns with an incredibly small sized font.
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