John Cooper
Explorer
DUNGEONSCAPE
By Jason Bulmahn and Rich Burlew
Wizards of the Coast product number 956847200
160-page hardcover, $29.95
The latest in the "environment" series of books by Wizards of the Coast (previous entries include Frostburn, Sandstorm, Stormwrack, and Cityscape), Dungeonscape details an environment of high importance to many PCs: the subterranean dungeon, where there are monsters to fight and loot to be discovered.
The cover, a painting by Michael Komarck, depicts a human fighter with a flame blade and his dual-sword-wielding satyr ranger companion (although he may very well be a diabolus from Dragon Compendium Volume One - the two races tend to look an awful lot alike) in battle against a beholder on the front cover. The human fighter is a lefty; I noticed a lot of the figures in the box of Unhallowed D&D Miniatures I was sent to review also had a significant amount of lefties as well - perhaps this is some kind of sinister conspiracy? I like the fighter's armor - very detailed - but both he and his ranger friend seem like they're striking menacing poses rather than actually, you know, fighting. Fortunately for them, the beholder seems more interested in showing off how many different times he can miss his opponents with his eye rays; here, he's shooting off four at once, and none of them are anywhere coming close to striking their targets. (This is especially strange to me when I consider that the eye rays are emanating from the beholder's eyes - wouldn't you think that a beam that gets shot at whatever that particular eye is actually focusing on would have a pretty good chance of hitting its target? But there I go overanalyzing D&D "givens" again.) In any case, if you flip the book over to the back cover, where the rest of the scene is depicted, you'll see that there's both good news and bad news for our two intrepid heroes: the good news is that they've got some assistance in the form of a human ranger with a bow (looking particularly Robin Hoodish - must be the goatee) and a floating human wizard with a glowing wand in her hand; the bad news is that there are also three more beholders headed their way. Michael does a pretty good job with the humanoid figures (although the wizard's head looks quite a bit oversized compared to the rest of her body), but I'm not a big fan of his beholders. I know beholders have had all kinds of different styles over the years, but I've never been a fan of the "eyestalks as thick tentacles" look. Still, I like the way Michael found a compromise between the "there should be no light in the Underdark" concept and "you need sufficient light to see the figures in the painting or what's the point?" reality. Apparently the scene depicted is close to the surface, because we've got light spilling into the caverns from two different directions.
The interior artwork consists of 60 full-color illustrations, 7 monochromatic drawings, and one color map by 13 different artists and cartographer Mike Schley. For the most part this is about average, perhaps just a tad bit above the norm, but nothing particularly struck me as being far above average. There are three full-page illustrations: Gimble, Lidda, Tordek, and Jozan equipping themselves for their next foray (Brian Hagan, page 31); the same four fighting a trio of gargoyles on a stone bridge, where one gargoyle helpfully gives Gimble a lesson on the bull rush maneuver (Carl Frank, page 65); and Alhandra, some orc (I hope that's not supposed to be Krusk) and an unidentified figure in the back fighting a purple worm that somehow manages to look less like a worm and more like an exotic plant (Franz Vohwinkel, page 90). I guess my favorite pieces in the book are some of the smaller works: Jon Hodgson's "Asian-themed" gnolls on page 73 (nice to see something a bit out of the norm every once in a while); Daarken's acidborn shark on page 112 (effectively creepy and yet natural-looking); Steven Belledin's trio of adventurers figuring out a puzzle door on page 119 (maybe it's the fact that these three look like average, run-of-the-mill adventurers instead of muscle-bound warriors and scantily-clad bimbos - the female wizard in the middle is actually appropriately dressed for dungeon delving!); Carl Frank's picture of Ember being taken out by a psionic trap on page 137 (excellent pose - it really sells me on her having just been caught completely unaware and ending up stunned); and Warren Mahy's simple painting of skeletal remains on a set of stairs on page 154 (I think I just really like the pose that the poor guy died in - it looks very natural, and I credit Warren for doing an excellent job on the skeleton itself, which is hard to do). Of course, there are some "clunkers" in the artwork department as well, chief among them Daarken's rather goofy-looking Demogorgon on page 67 ("Behold!--I am a Demon Lord made out of Silly Putty!"); David Roach's "watch me channel Dennis Crabapple's art style" female half-orc warrior on page 128; and just about every picture of Tordek throughout the whole book (I know it's the way he's been depicted from the beginning, but for some reason every time I see him here in this book I just want to scream "Dwarf! What the hell happened to your mustache?"). On the plus side, though, each new monster gets its own illustration, which gets bonus points in my view.
Dungeonscape is laid out as follows:
For the most part, I like the new material presented in the book. In many similar books, things like alternate class options occasionally seem kind of forced, but I really liked these; I think my favorite is the monk's "wall walker" class feature, for which I would gladly give up the required "slow fall" ability - this alternate is just too cool. (I work with a guy who pretty much has this "alternate class feature" in real life - you should see him run up a wall!) The paladin's "divine spirit" is similarly very impressive: by giving up your special mount, you instead get to replace it with a celestial spirit that increases your ability to heal damage, deal damage, or gives you damage resistance or fast healing 10, depending upon your paladin level. This is definitely much more useful in a dungeon environment than a celestial horse that you're probably not going to get much use out of in a series of caverns.
I'm not a real big fan of the new character class, the factotum, for reasons that several others have already pointed out before me. The name, while at least accurate, doesn't really seem to have a lot of "punch," and while I can see - and appreciate - the attempts to make the factotum a sort of "jack-at-all-trades," some of the specifics don't really work that well for me. Divine magic, in my mind, should only be provided to those individuals truly devoted to a deity (or equivalent); I really can't see a factotum just kind of "winging it" when it comes to channeling divine energy (although I appreciate that the creator of the factotum class drew the line at having the factotum actually casting divine spells). As for arcane spellcasting, I also don't really like the conflicting views of a factotum "pulling out something useful when the situation is desperate enough" and having him prepare spells ahead of time like a wizard; the sorcerer seems like a much, much better fit for the "feel" of a factotum's slipshod grasp of arcane spell mechanics, where he's cranking out spells as the situation warrants. So, while I like the versatility provided by the class, I don't think I'd ever be tempted to run one (or allow one in my game) without some major tweaking first.
The sections on dungeon terrain were interesting, and the authors came up with some pretty cool substances with which to create walls, floors, doors, and so on (although much of this stuff is so "out there" that I'd recommend using such materials very sparingly), although I don't see the advantage of explaining the concepts in Chapter 1 and then rehashing it, with specifics, in Chapter 7. That not only makes it aggravating to reference the material, but it also makes the second part that covers the same material read as "filler," even though useful information is provided.
Chapter 2, Tools of the Trade, had some interesting material - I especially liked the utility of the various "kits" at the end of the chapter, sure to make restocking in town between dungeon adventures a streamlined proposition - and while I liked most of the new gear, a few items seemed a bit wonky. A wand bracer, for example, seems like an excellent idea, but the way this one was designed seems eminently impractical - how can a spellcaster be expected to properly make the required hand gestures comprising the somatic part of a spell if every time he moves a finger he triggers a wand-ejector? (Perhaps making this a mundane piece of equipment was a mistake - wasn't there a magical bracer of wands in Dragon a while back?) Also, how does a firmament stone (which tracks the progress of the sun or moon across the sky) work in a world that has multiple moons? (Doesn't Eberron have 12 or 13, for instance?) Still, with cool concepts like acid neutralizer, ghost shellac, lava stones, and swarmguard armor, this chapter is much more hit than miss.
I think I was actually more impressed with the fact that there were only 9 new feats in Dungeonscape than I was with any specific feat; often times it seems like there's an impulse to cram all kinds of new stuff into a book whether the new material is really worth it or not (the "quantity over quality" approach). There aren't a whole lot of new feats in the book, but the ones that appear make sense to be included in a book about exploring dungeons. The prestige classes in Chapter 3 were both pretty interesting; of the two, I found the beast heart adept a bit more to my liking. The Dungeon Design and Dungeon Encounters chapters covered the basics (and may seem a bit too basic at first for experienced DMs), but it included a new look at the dungeon design process that some may find useful. I found the sidebars to be the most intriguing parts of these sections, covering topics like "Three Myths of Dungeon Design," "Ten Traits of Legendary Dungeons," and "Ten Reasons Encounters Get Trashed."
I have to say, though, that the new monsters section was my favorite. I was a bit surprised to see the templates outweighing the new monsters (at five against two), and even more surprised at how well the templates were done. Again, some templates seem to be included into a given book somewhat willy-nilly; these all had a reason to be included into a book about dungeons, and each is interesting enough to make me want to use them in my own games. (Odd that they alphabetized "hivenest monster" to fall after "sentry ooze," though.) Of the five, although I really like all of them, my favorites are the dungeonbred monster (kind of a subterranean creature version of a bonsai plant - specifically bred to fit into a smaller place, allowing the DM to use some of the larger-sized monsters in a dungeon with standard-sized passageways, so he can get the most out of the Monster Manual and similar books) and the hivenest monster (what's not to like about an undead monstrosity that has a swarm of living creatures nesting inside of it, ready to spill out and attack in conjunction with the undead?) Constructs and plants can also be the host bodies in a hivenest monster, but I think the undead gets the coolest visual out of the deal; no doubt the template's creator agrees, as he chose to use a minotaur zombie as the sample. (And while I dislike the "shaggy Sasquatch" look of the Monster Manual illustration of the minotaur, William Mahy's hivenest minotaur zombie illustration brings the minotaur back to its bovine roots.)
And this would be a good place to mention the stat blocks. There were a few problems, in this chapter and with the NPCs plugged into other chapters. Here's my recommended "unofficial errata" for Dungeonscape:
The traps section was pretty well done, with some interesting ideas for making traps viable for higher-level play (since the trap CRs in the DMG peak at CR 10). I like the idea of the encounter trap, where the trap is more or less treated as if it were a monster, striking during its turn in the initiative sequence and so on. Similarly, the greater poisons will be a godsend for DMs running parties of higher-level PCs who scoff at such simple fare as greenblood oil or carrion crawler brain juice, with their paltry DC 13 saves. The boon traps section was also an interesting read - I really like the idea of "positive benefit traps" that can be purposefully triggered by those who know of their locations, like a healing glyph that casts cure serious wounds once/day to the first person to step upon it. That can make for some rather interesting encounters, when the PCs' foes have a few of those lying around ready to be used.
Finally, as I mentioned before, the last chapter came across as mostly filler - I think most of the actually useful information could have been shunted over to chapter 1, where it would have fit in rather seamlessly. But taken as a whole, Dungeonscape is an enjoyable read, with some interesting ideas (many of which will see use in my own campaign, which is a pretty good indicator of my overall assessment of the work). Sure, there were some stumbles along the way, but in the end I rate Dungeonscape as a fairly high "4 (Good)."
By Jason Bulmahn and Rich Burlew
Wizards of the Coast product number 956847200
160-page hardcover, $29.95
The latest in the "environment" series of books by Wizards of the Coast (previous entries include Frostburn, Sandstorm, Stormwrack, and Cityscape), Dungeonscape details an environment of high importance to many PCs: the subterranean dungeon, where there are monsters to fight and loot to be discovered.
The cover, a painting by Michael Komarck, depicts a human fighter with a flame blade and his dual-sword-wielding satyr ranger companion (although he may very well be a diabolus from Dragon Compendium Volume One - the two races tend to look an awful lot alike) in battle against a beholder on the front cover. The human fighter is a lefty; I noticed a lot of the figures in the box of Unhallowed D&D Miniatures I was sent to review also had a significant amount of lefties as well - perhaps this is some kind of sinister conspiracy? I like the fighter's armor - very detailed - but both he and his ranger friend seem like they're striking menacing poses rather than actually, you know, fighting. Fortunately for them, the beholder seems more interested in showing off how many different times he can miss his opponents with his eye rays; here, he's shooting off four at once, and none of them are anywhere coming close to striking their targets. (This is especially strange to me when I consider that the eye rays are emanating from the beholder's eyes - wouldn't you think that a beam that gets shot at whatever that particular eye is actually focusing on would have a pretty good chance of hitting its target? But there I go overanalyzing D&D "givens" again.) In any case, if you flip the book over to the back cover, where the rest of the scene is depicted, you'll see that there's both good news and bad news for our two intrepid heroes: the good news is that they've got some assistance in the form of a human ranger with a bow (looking particularly Robin Hoodish - must be the goatee) and a floating human wizard with a glowing wand in her hand; the bad news is that there are also three more beholders headed their way. Michael does a pretty good job with the humanoid figures (although the wizard's head looks quite a bit oversized compared to the rest of her body), but I'm not a big fan of his beholders. I know beholders have had all kinds of different styles over the years, but I've never been a fan of the "eyestalks as thick tentacles" look. Still, I like the way Michael found a compromise between the "there should be no light in the Underdark" concept and "you need sufficient light to see the figures in the painting or what's the point?" reality. Apparently the scene depicted is close to the surface, because we've got light spilling into the caverns from two different directions.
The interior artwork consists of 60 full-color illustrations, 7 monochromatic drawings, and one color map by 13 different artists and cartographer Mike Schley. For the most part this is about average, perhaps just a tad bit above the norm, but nothing particularly struck me as being far above average. There are three full-page illustrations: Gimble, Lidda, Tordek, and Jozan equipping themselves for their next foray (Brian Hagan, page 31); the same four fighting a trio of gargoyles on a stone bridge, where one gargoyle helpfully gives Gimble a lesson on the bull rush maneuver (Carl Frank, page 65); and Alhandra, some orc (I hope that's not supposed to be Krusk) and an unidentified figure in the back fighting a purple worm that somehow manages to look less like a worm and more like an exotic plant (Franz Vohwinkel, page 90). I guess my favorite pieces in the book are some of the smaller works: Jon Hodgson's "Asian-themed" gnolls on page 73 (nice to see something a bit out of the norm every once in a while); Daarken's acidborn shark on page 112 (effectively creepy and yet natural-looking); Steven Belledin's trio of adventurers figuring out a puzzle door on page 119 (maybe it's the fact that these three look like average, run-of-the-mill adventurers instead of muscle-bound warriors and scantily-clad bimbos - the female wizard in the middle is actually appropriately dressed for dungeon delving!); Carl Frank's picture of Ember being taken out by a psionic trap on page 137 (excellent pose - it really sells me on her having just been caught completely unaware and ending up stunned); and Warren Mahy's simple painting of skeletal remains on a set of stairs on page 154 (I think I just really like the pose that the poor guy died in - it looks very natural, and I credit Warren for doing an excellent job on the skeleton itself, which is hard to do). Of course, there are some "clunkers" in the artwork department as well, chief among them Daarken's rather goofy-looking Demogorgon on page 67 ("Behold!--I am a Demon Lord made out of Silly Putty!"); David Roach's "watch me channel Dennis Crabapple's art style" female half-orc warrior on page 128; and just about every picture of Tordek throughout the whole book (I know it's the way he's been depicted from the beginning, but for some reason every time I see him here in this book I just want to scream "Dwarf! What the hell happened to your mustache?"). On the plus side, though, each new monster gets its own illustration, which gets bonus points in my view.
Dungeonscape is laid out as follows:
- Introduction: Just a single page this time, with most of it allocated to a short fiction blurb, followed by the standard "What You Need to Play" (not surprisingly, it's just the three core rulebooks)
- Chapter 1 - The Dungeon as Enemy: Examinations of dungeon challenges; alternate class features for each of the 11 main character classes making them more dungeon-oriented; a new character class, the factotum (sort of a "jack of all trades," but that particular title was already taken); and dungeon terrain (new materials with which you can find walls, floors, doors, bridges, and the like in the dungeon environment - here we're talking about using air, ice, flesh, magma, souls, webs, etc. as building materials)
- Chapter 2 - Tools of the Trade: 19 new items of dungeon gear/equipment, 4 new weapon/armor modifications, 7 new alchemical items, 4 new armor/weapon special abilities, 5 new wondrous items, 5 adventuring kits (groups of items for a similar purpose, purchased all at once), and a discussion of the essential skills, feats, and magic items that make dungeoneering that much easier for the adventurer
- Chapter 3 - Character Options: 9 new feats, 2 new "teamwork benefits" (from DMG2), 2 new prestige classes for PCs (the beast heart adept, who gains magical beasts and/or aberrations as the equivalent to animal companions; and the trapsmith, master of designing and bypassing traps); and dungeoneering guilds (with 3 sample guilds)
- Chapter 4 - Dungeon Design: The advantages of dungeons as adventure locales; dungeon functions; making dungeons; the dungeon's "cast of characters" (various inhabitant roles you might find in a dungeon); dungeon themes (with a random dungeon theme generator); dungeon rooms; and dungeons in play
- Chapter 5 - Dungeon Encounters: Why dungeons encounters are different; combat encounters; the encounter template (in which you assign broad, general monster roles - ambusher, archer, blocker, cruiser, buffer, etc. - to an encounter before figuring out the specifics); some stock encounter templates; alternate feats for 10 standard dungeon monsters; 2 new monsters (ascomoid and rot grub swarm); an NPC-only prestige class, the Dungeon Lord; and 5 templates (acidborn monster, dungeonbred monster, guardian monster, sentry ooze, and hivenest monster)
- Chapter 6 - Traps: Trap strategy; encounter traps (traps that attack in initiative order and must be overcome like monsters), with 16 examples from CR 1 to CR 22; creating encounter traps; new standard traps; greater poisons; sample high-level and complex traps; "boon traps," where setting the "trap" off has a positive effect; psionic traps; and hazards, with 4 new specific hazards
- Chapter 7 - Dungeon Features: Creating dungeon terrain; constructing conundrums (here focused on riddle doors and the like); and other finishing touches to your dungeon design
For the most part, I like the new material presented in the book. In many similar books, things like alternate class options occasionally seem kind of forced, but I really liked these; I think my favorite is the monk's "wall walker" class feature, for which I would gladly give up the required "slow fall" ability - this alternate is just too cool. (I work with a guy who pretty much has this "alternate class feature" in real life - you should see him run up a wall!) The paladin's "divine spirit" is similarly very impressive: by giving up your special mount, you instead get to replace it with a celestial spirit that increases your ability to heal damage, deal damage, or gives you damage resistance or fast healing 10, depending upon your paladin level. This is definitely much more useful in a dungeon environment than a celestial horse that you're probably not going to get much use out of in a series of caverns.
I'm not a real big fan of the new character class, the factotum, for reasons that several others have already pointed out before me. The name, while at least accurate, doesn't really seem to have a lot of "punch," and while I can see - and appreciate - the attempts to make the factotum a sort of "jack-at-all-trades," some of the specifics don't really work that well for me. Divine magic, in my mind, should only be provided to those individuals truly devoted to a deity (or equivalent); I really can't see a factotum just kind of "winging it" when it comes to channeling divine energy (although I appreciate that the creator of the factotum class drew the line at having the factotum actually casting divine spells). As for arcane spellcasting, I also don't really like the conflicting views of a factotum "pulling out something useful when the situation is desperate enough" and having him prepare spells ahead of time like a wizard; the sorcerer seems like a much, much better fit for the "feel" of a factotum's slipshod grasp of arcane spell mechanics, where he's cranking out spells as the situation warrants. So, while I like the versatility provided by the class, I don't think I'd ever be tempted to run one (or allow one in my game) without some major tweaking first.
The sections on dungeon terrain were interesting, and the authors came up with some pretty cool substances with which to create walls, floors, doors, and so on (although much of this stuff is so "out there" that I'd recommend using such materials very sparingly), although I don't see the advantage of explaining the concepts in Chapter 1 and then rehashing it, with specifics, in Chapter 7. That not only makes it aggravating to reference the material, but it also makes the second part that covers the same material read as "filler," even though useful information is provided.
Chapter 2, Tools of the Trade, had some interesting material - I especially liked the utility of the various "kits" at the end of the chapter, sure to make restocking in town between dungeon adventures a streamlined proposition - and while I liked most of the new gear, a few items seemed a bit wonky. A wand bracer, for example, seems like an excellent idea, but the way this one was designed seems eminently impractical - how can a spellcaster be expected to properly make the required hand gestures comprising the somatic part of a spell if every time he moves a finger he triggers a wand-ejector? (Perhaps making this a mundane piece of equipment was a mistake - wasn't there a magical bracer of wands in Dragon a while back?) Also, how does a firmament stone (which tracks the progress of the sun or moon across the sky) work in a world that has multiple moons? (Doesn't Eberron have 12 or 13, for instance?) Still, with cool concepts like acid neutralizer, ghost shellac, lava stones, and swarmguard armor, this chapter is much more hit than miss.
I think I was actually more impressed with the fact that there were only 9 new feats in Dungeonscape than I was with any specific feat; often times it seems like there's an impulse to cram all kinds of new stuff into a book whether the new material is really worth it or not (the "quantity over quality" approach). There aren't a whole lot of new feats in the book, but the ones that appear make sense to be included in a book about exploring dungeons. The prestige classes in Chapter 3 were both pretty interesting; of the two, I found the beast heart adept a bit more to my liking. The Dungeon Design and Dungeon Encounters chapters covered the basics (and may seem a bit too basic at first for experienced DMs), but it included a new look at the dungeon design process that some may find useful. I found the sidebars to be the most intriguing parts of these sections, covering topics like "Three Myths of Dungeon Design," "Ten Traits of Legendary Dungeons," and "Ten Reasons Encounters Get Trashed."
I have to say, though, that the new monsters section was my favorite. I was a bit surprised to see the templates outweighing the new monsters (at five against two), and even more surprised at how well the templates were done. Again, some templates seem to be included into a given book somewhat willy-nilly; these all had a reason to be included into a book about dungeons, and each is interesting enough to make me want to use them in my own games. (Odd that they alphabetized "hivenest monster" to fall after "sentry ooze," though.) Of the five, although I really like all of them, my favorites are the dungeonbred monster (kind of a subterranean creature version of a bonsai plant - specifically bred to fit into a smaller place, allowing the DM to use some of the larger-sized monsters in a dungeon with standard-sized passageways, so he can get the most out of the Monster Manual and similar books) and the hivenest monster (what's not to like about an undead monstrosity that has a swarm of living creatures nesting inside of it, ready to spill out and attack in conjunction with the undead?) Constructs and plants can also be the host bodies in a hivenest monster, but I think the undead gets the coolest visual out of the deal; no doubt the template's creator agrees, as he chose to use a minotaur zombie as the sample. (And while I dislike the "shaggy Sasquatch" look of the Monster Manual illustration of the minotaur, William Mahy's hivenest minotaur zombie illustration brings the minotaur back to its bovine roots.)
And this would be a good place to mention the stat blocks. There were a few problems, in this chapter and with the NPCs plugged into other chapters. Here's my recommended "unofficial errata" for Dungeonscape:
- pp. 52-53, Daktar Goretusk, male half-orc ranger 5/beast heart adept 4: His Weapon Focus feat isn't geared to a specific weapon; it looks like it should be "(short sword)."
- p. 53, Bonecracker, male girallon: This is arguably the worst stat block in the whole book, because it's basically just a "standard" girallon's stats with the "link" monstrous companion ability added on. Here's what else should have been changed by Bonecracker being a monstrous companion to a 4th-level beast heart adept: HD should be 9, not 7. Average hp should be 82, not 58. Str should be 24, not 22. Con should be 16, not 14. AC should be 18, not 16 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +6 natural). Fort should be +9, not +7 (+6 as a 9-HD magical beast, +3 Con). The saving throw line should note that Bonecracker has evasion, as one of his "perks" for being a monstrous companion. BAB should be +9 (as a 9-HD magical beast), not +7. Grapple should be at +20, not +17 (+9 BAB, +4 size, +7 Str). I'm not sure why this girallon is running around with a masterwork trident (perhaps this is simply an artifact from a previous stat block that this one was grafted onto or something?), but let's run with it, just in case: its masterwork trident attacks should be at +16 melee, not +5 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +7 Str, +1 masterwork), and its damage should be 2d6+7, not 1d8 (a Medium trident does 1d8 base damage, so a Large one does 2d6 base damage, +7 Str). Claw attacks should be at +15 melee, not +12 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +7 Str), and their damage should be 1d4+7, not 1d4+6 (+7 Str). Bite attacks should be at +10 melee, not +7 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +7 Str, -5 secondary attack). Rend damage should be 2d4+10, not 2d4+9 (1.5 times +7 Str = +10). In its "Speed" line, "swim 40 ft." should be "climb 40 ft." (which further leads me to believe the masterwork trident should be scrapped altogether, as it seems this stat block was written over some aquatic creature's stat block, and not everything was changed). Finally, he spent 10 of 12 skill points, and Climb should be +15, not +14 [0 ranks, +7 Str, +8 racial]; plug those 2 missing skill points wherever you see fit. It also might be worth mentioning which "tricks" he knows, both from Daktar's Handle Animal skill and Bonecracker's two bonus tricks.
- p. 57, Jeris "Twitch" Twitolin, male gnome rogue 5/trapsmith 4: Speed should be 20 ft. (as a gnome), not 30 ft. He has 5 feats, but as a 9th-level character, he should only have 4. Skills should include Craft (alchemy) +5 [0 ranks, +3 Int, +2 racial], Jump -4 [0 ranks, +0 Str, -6 speed, +2 synergy bonus from Tumble], and Survival +0 (+2 following tracks) [0 ranks, +0 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search]. Spent 126 of 124 skill points.
- p. 105, Ascomoid: Since it has 6 HD, it seems odd that its Advancement only goes to 16 HD, not 18 HD. Usually a creature advances to three times its "standard" Hit Dice.
- pp. 106-107, Rot Grub Swarm: Skills should include Move Silently +10 [0 ranks, +2 Dex, +8 racial].
- p. 111, Ixxiata, mind flayer dungeon lord 3: Dimension door spell-like ability should be 6/day, not 5/day (+6 Int). Skills should include Appraise +6 (+8 traps) [0 ranks, +6 Int, +2 synergy bonus from Craft (trapmaking)], Disguise +5 (+7 acting) [0 ranks, +5 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff], and Survival +2 (+4 following tracks) [0 ranks, +2 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search]. Spent 117 of 112 skill points.
- pp. 111-112, Acidborn Shark, Large: Spent 9 of 10 skill points; I recommend bumping Spot up to +8. The template should probably state that if an animal becomes a magical beast as a result of the template being applied to it, its HD, saves, and BAB do not change.
- pp. 112-113, Dungeonbred Blue Chimera: 30 ft. does not equal 8 squares! Since a Large chimera has a base speed of 30 ft. and the template has no effect upon a dungeonbred creature's landbound speed, that should read "30 ft. (6 squares)."
- pp. 113-114, Guardian Gorgon: Average hp should be 84, not 85, using the standard rounding rules. The template should probably state that if an animal becomes a magical beast as a result of the template being applied to it, its HD, saves, and BAB do not change.
The traps section was pretty well done, with some interesting ideas for making traps viable for higher-level play (since the trap CRs in the DMG peak at CR 10). I like the idea of the encounter trap, where the trap is more or less treated as if it were a monster, striking during its turn in the initiative sequence and so on. Similarly, the greater poisons will be a godsend for DMs running parties of higher-level PCs who scoff at such simple fare as greenblood oil or carrion crawler brain juice, with their paltry DC 13 saves. The boon traps section was also an interesting read - I really like the idea of "positive benefit traps" that can be purposefully triggered by those who know of their locations, like a healing glyph that casts cure serious wounds once/day to the first person to step upon it. That can make for some rather interesting encounters, when the PCs' foes have a few of those lying around ready to be used.
Finally, as I mentioned before, the last chapter came across as mostly filler - I think most of the actually useful information could have been shunted over to chapter 1, where it would have fit in rather seamlessly. But taken as a whole, Dungeonscape is an enjoyable read, with some interesting ideas (many of which will see use in my own campaign, which is a pretty good indicator of my overall assessment of the work). Sure, there were some stumbles along the way, but in the end I rate Dungeonscape as a fairly high "4 (Good)."
