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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="Berandor" data-source="post: 2620652" data-attributes="member: 225">The Chainmail Bikini has long been the center of controversy - cheesecake or sexist imagery? Now E.N. Publishing takes on this topic in a semi-serious accessory. As a reader of other humorous d20-books like “Slayer’s Guide to Rules Lawyers” or “Nymphology”, I know it’s  a fine line to walk. Marrying humor with the often boring mechanics is not an easy task, so I was curious whether Ryan Nock would walk that line more succesful than his predecessors.Note: I received “Chainmail Bikini” as a free review copy.First ImpressionsThe zipped folder contains three PDF files, two versions of the cover (in 150 and 300 dpi, respectively), and the book itself. The cover contains the title on a brownish background, as well as the drawing of a woman dressed in the titular garment. The same image is found on the first page of the book, albeit without the coloring. The PDF file is bookmarked.Images throughout the book are black and white only. The majority of these images are drawings by J.L. Jones. These images are competently drawn, but lack details - they’re more like sketches. There’s one image of a man in a torn shirt by Matthew C which is also alright, and an exceptional piece of a sorceress by Benjamin Richards. All images contain scantily clad women (and two men. I think the topic might have warranted more detailed art, though.The design is clear and easy to read. The style is almost colloquial in places, with random references thrown in, and quite serious in others. For those who are interested in those things, the whole book is Open Content (save for a few titles). Finally, the PDF contains three hyperlinks in the first pages, one to an image, one to another E.N. Publishing product, and one to the Bikini Atoll.Chainmail BikiniThe first of five chapters starts with the (semi-fictional) history of the chainmail bikini and its statistics in a game (basically the normal armor types with less penalties). The effective use of a bikini in a D&D game relies on a new rule called “naked defense” which is also provided here. Also, we get new options to improve chainmail bikinis (and other armor) during the crafting stage; for example, for 150gp and a craft check DC 20, you can custom fit your armor and reduce its check penalty by one. Finally, there’s a new ability added to the game: Beauty.Here begins the strange dichotomy that plagues the book. Some of the material in here is clearly meant to be humorous, while other parts could be used in any D&D game at all. This makes the humour stand out more, but it also means you second-guess some remarks that would not be appropriate in a normal D20 accessory. It also means it’s a very easy defense for the author, since he can deflect all criticism by referring to the book’s humorous nature. I’m not sure I like that.Finally, the Beauty ability has its own problems. It is not rolled or otherwise determined, but a player may choose his or her own score, even though using the prestige classes in this book might make this ability quite powerful. Also, “Beauty Checks” simply mean you check who the highest beauty has; in d20, the name check has a clear meaning ot rolling the dice and adding a modifier, so “Beauty Comparison” might have been a better name.On the other hand, I really like the armor enhancements and will likely use them in my (bikini-devoid) game from now on. A very nice idea.Fighting and FeatsSomewhat confusingly named, this chapter contains just feats, 21 of them (one epic). Again, these feats contain the humorous (Anatomically Over-Endowed) and the useful (Armor Specialization) side by side. The feats are generally well done. Sometimes the humor dropped too low for my tastes, like Smother enabling you to take a creature’s breath with your breasts (a creature up to two sizes larger than you) or Cleavage giving you attacks with them (that’s gotta hurt!). But Tan Lines granting you fire resistance was a very nice idea. All in all, the feats’ names were funnier to me than the actual effects.  Bikini Prestige ClassesThis chapter gives us two prestige classes, the Nereid Diva and the Bolojitsu Striptease.The Nereid Diva is a spellcaster that uses Beauty to cast and gets some nymph-like abilities. The class might be unbalanced since Beauty has not many other uses than powering spells, so a caster doesn’t have a lot of reasons not to (temporarily) burn her Beauty.Bolojistu Stripteases require sneak attack, but then the abilities enhance monk features, which might be a design oversight. This class enables characters to fight with bolas and use them as clothing, too, so they can strip these bolas off and employ them as weapons at the same time. This might even be a useable prestige class.  Swimsuits of the MultiverseWherein the author gives us a few ideas about using Beauty or bikinis in a game, followed by rules for beauty contests and an example, the nereid’s ball. The rules use the Drege of Success system from “Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns”.There are some nice ideas in this chapter, but these ideas don’t go into much detail. The rules of beauty contests mainly showcase the DS system. Since this system is quite elegant, the resulting contests are also well done.Bikini MagicThe final chapter contains one spell, one new weapon and seven magic items. The spell (Endow) is quite silly, the weapon (a volleyball) is even sillier, since it does 1d8 damage. And as a note to the author: Explaining that you know that this is an inane amount of damage doesn’t help. The magic items are mostly useful or at least nice additions.Finally, we get a new deity, Elea, the goddess of sexual escapades, and a tale of her sole male priest, Quick Don. The goddess’ write-up contains a non-too-subtle political comment, whereas the folk tale contains a lot of male wish fulfillment. ConclusionThe mechanics of Chainmail Bikini seem mostly well done (except maybe for the Beauty score and the Nereid Diva’s spellsystem relying on it), and my problems with this product come mostly from its style. This is not a strictly funny book, and being part serious makes me consider the humor in a slightly different view. The humor is masculine and of the mostly juvenile kind. This is not bad, per se, but in a book named after such a hot button topic as chainmail bikinis I would have expected (and wanted) making fun of male views as well. Instead they’re almost celebrated, especially in the goddess Elea and the tale her Chosen. But beefcake, or males in speedos, are only referenced in very minor ways. Indeed, one of the two male pictures shows a big-bellied scotsman (with pierced nipples), whereas all women adhere to the classical ideals of beauty.Finally, I must say it seems like D&D rules are too dry to make humor shine through in more than a very short book. Also, I fear the workable and usable material in this book is sort of thrown away, since most DMs will not allow feats from a “clearly” humorous book. So with the humor not always working and being too centered on the male view for my taste, and the good parts likely not to be used in most games, I can’t help but think this book could have been done better.I rated this book 3 of 5 mostly since however doubtful their use, the mechanics are well done.</blockquote>

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