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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jdvn1" data-source="post: 2300125" data-attributes="member: 26424">There are a lot of movies and television shows that feature a heroine in skimpy clothing.  Is it practical?  Not really.  Does it provide adequate protection from attacks?  No.  Does it make for good cinematic effects?  Definitely.  Well, now there are some good rules for it.  Chainmail Bikini is part of the E.N. Armoury line, and boy does it rock.  I was a bit skeptical when I saw this pdf because I thought it’d be a really silly, stupid excuse to talk about women in very little clothing (I decided to review it because it was a free reviewer copy).  Actually, it’s a really silly, smart excuse to talk about women in very little clothing.The pdf starts of a bit slow because it discusses historical accounts of bikini armors – as if they were trying to justify the concept or make it less silly – well, it doesn’t work.  Thankfully, they don’t spend too much time on that.  Apparently there was some Celtic lady in the 7th century by the name Grace McCulloughan.  I’m not in to all of that history stuff; I just want to play the game.  The first chapter continues and goes into rules for being scantily clad (and naked), different types of bikini armors, gender and racial preferences of bikini armors, and bikini armor improvements.  While bikini armors are better than normal armors (and more expensive) it’s the armor improvements that make the exotic armor proficiency feat really worth getting.  Improvements do a variety of things ranging from reducing armor check penalties and reducing swim penalties to adding a quick-release mechanism.The sidebars in this pdf are all very useful, and some of them could be expanded into their own pdf’s.  The one at the end of chapter one is a change of pace – it is for all of you wanting more realism in their games.  I’ve seen way too many tables and house rules using appearance as an attribute, but this sidebar does it very well.  In the sidebar, Beauty is a stat the player can choose – but it has little or no mechanical benefit, and it takes penalties when dealing with members of a different race.  It seems to be mostly a numerical representation of a purely fluffy character trait.Phew.  That’s chapter one, and probably the best chapter of the pdf – it has definitely made me optimistic toward the rest.  I kind of glossed over the rules in chapter one, but it’s all pretty straightforward.  No surprises, really.  It provides most of what you need to use bikini armors in a game.The feats chapter (chapter two, although they’re not actually numbered) is amusing and has interesting uses for Charisma (some of which seem out of place due to the discussion of Beauty vs Charisma), sex, and various parts of the body, but it strikes me as over-the-top at times.  There are some goods feats, but I feel they’re not too consistent.  The rest of the pdf takes a more tongue-in-cheek approach to sex and such, but this chapter includes phrases like “you may attack with your breasts” which is just kind of weird.  Who knows, maybe that phrase will boost sales.  Some of the feats also seem kind of forced – that doesn’t mean none of them are good, though, and some feats oppose Naked Defense, which is the other extreme.  Feats are a very mechanical part of the game, so they rarely have any color in them.  Weapon Focus gives a +1 to attack rolls, but it doesn’t explain why.  Interesting feats try to incorporate some color into the crunch, and many of these feats have some color.  However, there are twenty-two feats, so you kind of get bogged down, and it does start to seem like rule after rule.Prestige classes (the third chapter) are more of a mix.  I like reading the opening descriptions of prestige classes and seeing how the benefits match the description.  Although there are only two prestige classes here, they are both excellent.  The first is a beauty pageant contestant/caster class that specializes in combining her beauty with spells.  Rather fitting.  The contest they originate from is described later on, so that adds a nice extra bit of flavor.  The next is a monk/striptease class who wears bandages, and uses her bandage clothing as bolas to grapple and attack.  The themes of each of the classes are entertaining and they look really fun to play.  I’m inspired to adjust the classes (while keeping the same style) for other base classes.The next chapter (yes, that’d be four) describes how to incorporate bikinis and beauty scores and … well, all of this stuff into a world or campaign.  It provides a wealth of ideas and includes rules for beauty contests – which apparently involves combat at times.  After all, what’s the point of looking stunning in your chainmail bikini if it’s not also functional?  It’s a useful chapter for GMs wanting ideas, which is most of us some of the time.The last chapter is kind of short, but what is there is pretty good.  They only have one new spell (it grants the benefits of a feat listed earlier) – it’s not a great spell, but you can easily house rule similar spells to grant equal feats from the feat chapter.  One spell in the pdf and it’s not great.  I think it should’ve been dropped or they should’ve put more in, but this seems skimpy.  The new weapon in this chapter (again the only one, which is mildly disappointing) is the volleyball.  This is actually a neat weapon – does a decent amount of damage, has multiple attacks, but it would be nice if they also included whips and such.  This would not have been the first time they mentioned dominatrices.  There are seven magic items, which are well done and interesting, some that contain a lot of color.  Two of three of them are also tied together.  A staff with a small bag of holding for holding spell components and daggers is a neat idea.  They list one new god (I don’t say ‘just’ because I feel that is enough in this department), who has an amusing anecdote tied to her.I feel I should mention two other things: it’d have been nice to have sample characters, and the artwork here is phenomenal.  I’m biased toward the artwork, though, being a fan of JL Jones, who does most of the artwork.  The other artwork is also excellent, but I’m biased toward JL Jones in particular.By the time I finished this pdf, I was laughing.  It’s very well done while being silly.  Anyone whose game is silly enough to include this idea should really consider investing in this pdf.  $4.95 for this 26-page pdf is an excellent deal.</blockquote>

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