Elite Studies: Lethean - review by Jason Lund (Anio)
Elite Studies: Lethean (ES:L) is a 9 page PDF (including 1 cover page, 1 flavour narrative page and 2 OGL pages) written by Rodney W. West for Primal Urge Games. This product comes with two PDFs, one a landscape, screen-friendly version and the other a portrait, printer-friendly version. This is the second in a series of PDFs from Primal Urge Games that each present a new prestige class for DnD 3.5.
While the daring thief living infamously by his devilish charm and razor wit is certainly one common archetype of the rogue, another archetype is the silent professional, that of the grifter, the spy or the thief, all forgettable, unseen or unknown to their chosen prey. This is where the lethean prestige class brings its own stylistic brand of stealth and guile to the D20 game. The lethean's namesake, the Lethe, was a mythological river in Hades whose waters caused forgetfulness, and it is from this wellspring that the lethean prestige class gains its inspiration.
The PDF begins with a single page scene involving a woman looking for a lost ring who cannot quite remember who she hired to recover her stolen ring. It is through this story that we are introduced to the lethean and their sorrowful burden. As described in this PDF, the ".. letheans wrap themselves in cloaks of memory, excising themselves from the minds of those they encounter." While my initial impression was a character similar in nature to The Shadow, the man with the power to cloud men's minds and make himself invisible, the lethean works by making himself invisible to memory as his class abilities grow in power until, at his height, the lethean is forgotten as soon as he is out of sight. I really liked the imagery evoked by the class and its abilities and consider this combination of common and uncommon abilities as innovative but still simple in its execution. The class is also packed with flavour as the power gains come at a price.
The class most likely to find its way into this prestige class is the rogue, with prerequisites including high Bluff, Disguise and Hide skills as well as strength of personality (an unmodified Charisma score of 16 or higher). Based upon these prerequisites, it may seem that the bard is a good secondary choice for making its way into this class, but the lethean is entirely based around being forgotten and it is highly unlikely that a bard would want that. Sorcerers and psionicists are also potential candidates, with their high Charisma scores and powers that can dovetail nicely into the lethean's class abilities. A staggered progression at every even-numbered level for Spells per Day or Powers Known is also part of the lethean prestige class, should they have come from an arcane or psionic class, though their continued power gain in these areas is limited to a select few schools of magic or psionic disciplines.
At first level, we realize why the lethean is unlikely to come from the ranks of rangers, clerics, druids or paladins: one of the first effects of becoming a lethean is that the character choosing this path begins to fade from the memory of divine powers. The way this is initially handled seems heavy handed. While I understand that the mechanics are intended as a balancing agent, the side-effect of being forgotten by a god seems extreme for an 8th level character (likely the earliest that a character will start on the path of the lethean). I would have preferred to see a scaling side effect that possibly reduced access to divine spells rather than removing them entirely at 1st level. Putting this aside, other class side effects handle the character being forgotten by divine powers in a much better way. I call them side effects because they can seem harsh and are not controllable by the character. As the lethean rises in power, Raise Dead and Resurrection will no longer work upon them, and while the lethean adds his lethean class levels to all saves versus divine spells and effects, even something as simple and beneficial as cure light wounds must be saved against, for instance.
The real meat on the bones is the combination of new, unique abilities mixed with common powers. The more common abilities seen in roguishly inclined prestige classes are here, including a progression of Sneak Attack up to 4d6 at level 9, the ability to use the Hide skill even while being observed and class bonuses to Bluff, Disguise and Hide skills. The lethean also gains the ability to use nondetection (as the spell) a number of times per day. More interestingly, however, the lethean begins to fade from memory by 5th level and creatures must roll a Will save to remember them, a power that stretches so far as having any writings referring to the lethean becoming just as vague and frayed in description as the memories of others. 5th level is also the beginning of more aggressive use of this focus in powers, including the ability to cause creatures to forget skills, feats and even special abilities for 24 hours, growing to the penultimate ability of the lethean: the ability to drain the memory of creatures by permanently draining their levels. At the highest levels, the lethean will be forgotten the moment they are out of sight, even as the lethean's mind is strengthened to become completely immune to mind affecting spells and abilities.
As already mentioned, though, this power comes at a price. A major side effect of being forgotten by the gods manifests at 5th level: upon a character's death, the soul of the lethean will linger because it has no place to go and eventually rise as a ghost. The high level lethean will run into difficulties of ownership as documents referring to them will fade, memories will wither and the lethean's greatest success can become their greatest burden. Further considerations are provided after the class mechanics, with notes relating to the lethean in combat, their advancement and their resources leading into how the lethean is likely to be viewed by NPCs, how they may be organized and, possibly most importantly, how a lethean player character may fit into and adapt to a campaign.
Aside from the front cover, this product contains no artwork (something that befits a class based upon being forgotten). The screen version of the product is laid out in three-column format while the printer version is in two-column format. Both are edited well, easy to read and have borders at the top and bottom of each page. With a recent update, ES:L also includes complete bookmarking to all headings within the PDF.
Summary
After reading through the hundreds of prestige classes that abound in the D20 market, it is very easy to become dulled by them as each new class can begin to feel like a remixing of old abilities. Into this jaded environment steps Elite Studies: Lethean from Primal Urge Games, an innovative and flavour-packed prestige class that offers far more interesting abilities than just hitting better, doing more damage or gaining more spells. The class is interesting, evocative and unveiled in an engaging manner without sacrifices in the provision of crunch, editing or bookmarking. Most importantly, this product does not include flavour as an obligatory afterthought but makes it the very basis for its development. While some of the abilities of the lethean prestige class may need to be looked at a little closer, this is a good little product and would gain a 5 star rating if the class were a little more accessible to players. As is, this is a solid 4 star product and bodes well for future products from Primal Urge Games.
Review by Jason Lund (Anio)
ave Caspall
