Eldritch Sorcery

[Crothian]

Everyone talks of the Spell Compendium but I haven't heard much on Eldritch Sorcery. I know how good the Spell Compendium is, 5 of my 6 man group own the book. Eldritch Sorcery is the same type of book, a collection of spells, by Necromancer Games.

Eldtrict Sorcery has a good collection of feats (25), some new domains (19) and plenty of spells (I'm not counting those). It has a nice collection of seplls for all the usual classes (PHB spellcasters) and the DMG prestige classes that have unique spell lists.

The spells are fun and creative. If I had a lot of free time it would be interesting to see what kinds of spells the two books duplicate in theme and effect. There are some overlaps like with spells that create acid storms and other basic conmcpets. That is to be expected really.

There are some fun spells. Megalomanis makes someone believe they are greater then they really are. I think some players should be immune to it. I like Raise Shipwreck. Raise Island is neat. Nearsighted is a potentially powerful first level spell. It does give a will save each round, but it is the kind of spell that can really have potential outside and in combat. Hemophila is another creative spell allowing a target to take con damage with damage.

I've been very pleased with the book. THere are some great things my players won't be expecting from here. So, other people hav a chance to use or read the book? What say you EN World?

 

[the Jester]

I haven't actually seen it, but I'm very interested, especially since there are conversions (so I understand) of several old skool 1e spells that aren't otherwise in 3e.

 

[Psion]

I have it... wouldn't have missed it. I was a big fan of the concept from the start, as their announced intention was to recapture some bygone 1e/2e spells, and obviously inspired by Eldritch Wizardry.

(They also announced the intention to do artifacts, but that slipped. I heard that a certain vampric rodent was writing something to fill that niche, though.)

The druid PC in the campaign that ends tomorrow used the snot out of it. There's a lot of cool spells in there.

There are a few mechanics I am not fond of. Like rimeshatter's. I house ruled this:
- change level to Sor/Wiz 8, Druid 9
- instead of listed con damage, inflicts 1 con per 10 points of cold damage actually inflicted. This both makes the con damage scale smoother and takes into account cold-resistant creature.

Know Alignment is probably one old spell I might leave dead... it's a bit too much of a mystery killer.

Chariot of Fire... what, is Sustarre a PI term?

Lots of nostalgia here, and lots of plain cool spells.

The prestige classes didn't make it to the book, but are up in the Freebies section of the necromancer games website.

 

[Nightfall]

Eldritch Sorcery is a great book. I'm glad I have it.

 

[Treebore]

Psion summed it up nicely.

 

[Nightfall]

Agreed. I liked Psion's summary very much.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I haven't had a chance to use the book yet, but I love it as a good representation of Necromancer's motto - "3rd edition rules, 1st edition feel."

There are a lot of cool spells in there, many of which are missing from 3e. Sticks to Snakes comes to mind, as do not one, but two spells that cover the old glassteel (sp?) spell.

This is one of the few 3rd party spellbooks I own, and is the most likely to see use in my game.

Or...what Psion said.

 

[Nightfall]

Cool! If Dragonhelm likes it, you know it's good.

 

[Soel]

It is a great book. There is a big feeling of older editions here, with revamps of old spells. Many of the new spells also have the feel of old spells as well, sometimes even in their mechanics, which might seem a bit clunky to newer players.

There are a couple of spells that some might question balance-wise for their level, but they are few.

 

[Treebore]

Which is easy for a DM to up a level or two.