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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
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Eldritch Sorcery
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<blockquote data-quote="JustKim" data-source="post: 2749258" data-attributes="member: 5478"><p>Eldritch Sorcery is a book of spells covering all the core classes as well as the Assassin and Blackguard. It weighs in at 144 pages for $26.99, and though the back cover strangely does not give a spell count, a quick scan through the index turns up just under 500 of them. This is more than twice what a spell-heavy book normally contains, though with a long list of contributing authors, it is a grab bag in terms of quality.</p><p></p><p>My particular copy of the book has a warped cover which bends inward, and other copies I've seen also carry this noticeable defect.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter One: Using This Book</strong> is three pages of advice on how to incorporate the book into a game, but does not refer to the material in the book except one spell name as an example. The advice is regarding spells in general and is not particularly helpful in dissecting the book. Why are there no references to particular spells when the chapter discusses possible problems? In a book of 500 spells, this would have been nice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter Two: New Feats</strong> is five pages of feats, most of which supplement the spell theme of the book and some which are almost out of place. The book is not about these feats, so it's no great disappointment that they're all probably ideas you've seen done elsewhere. Like the spells, these are a grab bag- one head scratcher, Colorize Spell, mentions Leadership "rolls" in a skill context and is not at all consistant between description and benefit. Others simply add to the DC of certain spells or under certain circumstances, such as seasons and phases of the moon.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter Three: Spells</strong> is the main body of the book at around 130 pages. It begins with spell lists in the Wizards of the Coast format, broken down by class and by level, with additional separations of Sorcerer/Wizard spells by school and a short description of what each spell does. I was very happy with the way the spell lists were presented, but for the Cleric domains. There are a number of alternate spells for existing domains, but these options are not collected anywhere. Instead the book notes that such spells are marked with an asterisk in their extended description, which means it's impossible to tell at a glance what options there are for someone with the plant domain. The asterisks would have been more useful in the spell lists, where readers will naturally be looking for spells.</p><p></p><p>The spells themselves subscribe in some ways to Necromancer Games' motto of "first edition feel". Although the book does not call attention to them, many favorite spells from previous editions are among the new spells, and these were my primary reason for buying the book. It's worth noting that many of these spells were culled by WotC for 3rd edition for a reason- that is, under the streamlined rules spells like <em>alter normal fires</em> and <em>protection from undead</em> are no longer particularly useful. With that said, these spells are invaluable for expanding the sometimes methodic flavor of magic in 3E and preserving the feel of previous editions.</p><p></p><p>Of course, there are many more useful spells in the book for those not particularly nostalgic about <em>sticks to snakes</em>. Every level of every class is covered nicely, and if you're willing to overlook some questionable spells here and there it makes an excellent resource. There are quite a few new high-level spells to add variety to high-powered games, utility spells for making a spellcaster unique, and of course new and inventive ways of blowing things up. Although the <em>summon undead</em> creature lists fill a void left by the unusable lists in Player's Guide to Faerun and Libris Mortis, most of the creatures are drawn from other Necromancer Games books Tome of Horrors I and II. This is good news for folks who own those books, but may leave a bad taste with others who are left with a very limited selection. It's also unclear whether the list is balanced for the original Tome of Horrors or the 3.5 revised Tome of Horrors.</p><p></p><p>The book concludes with an alphabetic index of spells, and a much smaller index of feats.</p><p></p><p>Overall I was very pleased with the presentation and selection of spells in the book and would recommend it to DMs or players looking to expand the flavor of magic in a game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JustKim, post: 2749258, member: 5478"] Eldritch Sorcery is a book of spells covering all the core classes as well as the Assassin and Blackguard. It weighs in at 144 pages for $26.99, and though the back cover strangely does not give a spell count, a quick scan through the index turns up just under 500 of them. This is more than twice what a spell-heavy book normally contains, though with a long list of contributing authors, it is a grab bag in terms of quality. My particular copy of the book has a warped cover which bends inward, and other copies I've seen also carry this noticeable defect. [b]Chapter One: Using This Book[/b] is three pages of advice on how to incorporate the book into a game, but does not refer to the material in the book except one spell name as an example. The advice is regarding spells in general and is not particularly helpful in dissecting the book. Why are there no references to particular spells when the chapter discusses possible problems? In a book of 500 spells, this would have been nice. [b]Chapter Two: New Feats[/b] is five pages of feats, most of which supplement the spell theme of the book and some which are almost out of place. The book is not about these feats, so it's no great disappointment that they're all probably ideas you've seen done elsewhere. Like the spells, these are a grab bag- one head scratcher, Colorize Spell, mentions Leadership "rolls" in a skill context and is not at all consistant between description and benefit. Others simply add to the DC of certain spells or under certain circumstances, such as seasons and phases of the moon. [b]Chapter Three: Spells[/b] is the main body of the book at around 130 pages. It begins with spell lists in the Wizards of the Coast format, broken down by class and by level, with additional separations of Sorcerer/Wizard spells by school and a short description of what each spell does. I was very happy with the way the spell lists were presented, but for the Cleric domains. There are a number of alternate spells for existing domains, but these options are not collected anywhere. Instead the book notes that such spells are marked with an asterisk in their extended description, which means it's impossible to tell at a glance what options there are for someone with the plant domain. The asterisks would have been more useful in the spell lists, where readers will naturally be looking for spells. The spells themselves subscribe in some ways to Necromancer Games' motto of "first edition feel". Although the book does not call attention to them, many favorite spells from previous editions are among the new spells, and these were my primary reason for buying the book. It's worth noting that many of these spells were culled by WotC for 3rd edition for a reason- that is, under the streamlined rules spells like [i]alter normal fires[/i] and [i]protection from undead[/i] are no longer particularly useful. With that said, these spells are invaluable for expanding the sometimes methodic flavor of magic in 3E and preserving the feel of previous editions. Of course, there are many more useful spells in the book for those not particularly nostalgic about [i]sticks to snakes[/i]. Every level of every class is covered nicely, and if you're willing to overlook some questionable spells here and there it makes an excellent resource. There are quite a few new high-level spells to add variety to high-powered games, utility spells for making a spellcaster unique, and of course new and inventive ways of blowing things up. Although the [i]summon undead[/i] creature lists fill a void left by the unusable lists in Player's Guide to Faerun and Libris Mortis, most of the creatures are drawn from other Necromancer Games books Tome of Horrors I and II. This is good news for folks who own those books, but may leave a bad taste with others who are left with a very limited selection. It's also unclear whether the list is balanced for the original Tome of Horrors or the 3.5 revised Tome of Horrors. The book concludes with an alphabetic index of spells, and a much smaller index of feats. Overall I was very pleased with the presentation and selection of spells in the book and would recommend it to DMs or players looking to expand the flavor of magic in a game. [/QUOTE]
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