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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010248" data-attributes="member: 18387">Eldest Sons: the Essential Guide to ElvesParadigm Concepts Author: Dina and Shawn HavranekCover art: Marc Evans$19.99 128-page d20 sourcebook Upside: Wealth of information on Elves and how to adapt them to your own campaign.  Well written with sound rules structure, well thought out Feats and Classes.Downside: Elves, hasn't this been covered already? No index.The Book: This is a 128 page resource about Elves. The layout is clear and easy to read and it is easy to find the rules you need or want.Organization: The book works through the various stages of character creation, starting with concept and ends with Gamemaster information on example Elven communities including a section detailing the Elorii, the flavor of Elf found in Arcanis, Paradigm's campaign setting.Rules: The rules are well balanced and creative. The feats and classes cover ground not exploited by the other Elf books already on the market. The spells are very creative and do not fall into the trap of "it's a fireball, only better", that is to say, they are largely new concepts. There are a great many anti-psionic spells that are modifications of anti-magic spells though, these appear to only exist to satisfy one of the new core classes.Flavor: The book is very adaptable in feel until you get to the Elorii section. The book works through why D&D elves should act a certain way based upon the features found in the PHB. For example: D&D Elves must have a tradition of magical power as they have Wizard as a favored class and such a tradition of magic affects their society in a certain way. The Arcanis work is very good, but aimed squarely at the players of the Arcanis campaign. The page count dedicated to Arcanis is not huge, so non-Arcanis players would not be wasting money.Appearance: The cover is average, and the elves aren't very.... elf-like. The highlight of the cover art is when it is set side by side with Wrath and Rage (Green Ronin's Orc book). The interior art runs from good to outstanding with some truly amazing pieces, mostly by Richard Pace. The layout is clear and crisp with little wasted space with an average sized font.Value for the Dollar: At $20US, this book is less than most 128-page titles now on the market and the word count per page seems nice and heavy.  The value is very high if you play Arcanis and average if you do not.Conclusion: If you run a D&D game and want to make your elves distinct or if you play Elves and want to break the cookie-cutter mold of pointy-eared humans, then this book is worth the money. In my judgement it is the superior Elf title available now, Recommended.</blockquote>

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