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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010457" data-attributes="member: 18387">Publisher: Mongoose PublishingAuthor: Shannon KalvarPluses+ Quality professional-level game supplement.+ Provides a unique and alluring system of magic based on cosmic myth and legend.+ Superb streamlined and organized rules system.+ Nice price.Minuses- Slow advancement to reach equivalent levels of power with standard wizards and sorcerers; not recommended for bard players seeking power over role-playing opportunities.- Requires careful decision-making and patience to benefit from advancement.The language used in Star Magic is breathtaking.  This fantastic game supplement contains not just a simple and viable rules system but a mystic quality all its own.  The designer obviously wrote this work with such sensitivity and love for the topic that introducing the system into your campaign should be a pure joy.  While the text does seek to provide a new rules system it does so without reading like a set of stereo instructions.  Star Magic manages to teach the rules while using inspiring images of celestial mechanics that become sapient and almost liquid.  The system will allow the characters in your game to reach up and drink in the light of the universe to one day bristle with cosmic, timeless power.  It is the wait that may be concerning to your players though.  Still, interwoven with imagery and ideas from philosophy, mythology, nature and the seasons, human emotion, the tarot, ancient timekeeping, cosmology, history and more, the stars and even the black places in the night sky become mystical and alive.  The night sky is no longer just something the characters ride or camp under on the way to their next adventure.  This work offers the possibility of energizing your game with a whole new way of thinking about magic.Physical DetailsThe supplement is 64 pages in length as with other books in the Encyclopedia Arcane series.  The cover features a pair of characters standing in a ruin, bathed in the light of a rod topped with a green glowing crystal.  The female figure examines a set of runes or glyphs on a wall while holding the glowing rod.  The second figure, a large humanoid with a sword, stands with his back to her, allowing her to take notes on his back, on a piece of parchment.  A few indistinct sword-wielding red-eyed shadowy figures menace the two from the cliffs above.  The cover has a luminescent quality more than appropriate to the subject.  The work costs $14.95, not a bad price for a new magic system.  The inside cover features a robed figure gazing through a telescope at the first star to appear in a sunset sky.  The black and white interior art is excellent in places and just so-so in others; some pieces could appear in any book on magic.   The tarot cards in the Star Magic Mechanics section (i.e. the spells section) fit best.  There are an unusual number of typos when compared to other Mongoose publications, none of which seriously hamper comprehension or enjoyment.  The writing style is elegant, poetic, succinct and uncomplicated.  The arrangement of elements is good though the repetition of the spell lists and rules summary at the end seems unnecessary.  Still this is a professional product with just a few minor flaws.Content DetailsStar Magic is divided into several enjoyable sections:The Introduction is brief and to the point.  The designer shows some care here in pointing out that the system is not for every player which is elaborated on later.  An interesting and entertaining adventuring diary of a magus - this is what star wizards are called - also starts in this section.The Star Magic - Overview discusses the channeling of stars in campaign terms.  The section also points out that careful planning and selection is required to reap the rewards of study as well.  Most of all, the unusual idea of channeling Stars (i.e. casting individual spells from single stars) and Constellations (i.e. spells consisting of combinations of previously learned stars) is presented.  The mindset of wizards that pursue this difficult body of knowledge and what these wizards believe to be true about the world is also discussed.  The section offers some good perspective on how this form of magic fits into the lives of individual wizards, campaign society, and humanoid and primitive cultures too.  There are no rules in this section, just good backdrop information. The Playing With Fire section is brief and continues the next section by highlighting some of the general rules.  The next few subsections are fascinating and primarily focus in on two things: the character classes that study star magic (bards, sorcerers, and wizards) and the four levels of commitment or dedication to that study (ignorant, dabbler, scholar, and magus).  The section ends with a very useful table summarizing the rules for quick reference.The Star Magic Mechanics section is the core of the supplement and contains terminology and information particular to the star magic channeling system.  All the Stars (lowest level spells) and Constellations (higher level spells) are also housed here and this is the most exciting and exhaustive part of the work.  Here is just a small fraction of the more exciting stellar-specific effects: conjure a bow and arrow made of starlight, create a zone of darkness and cold, create a hypnotizing wave of light and fire, call demons from hell to attack, fill an area with star light that reveals invisible creatures, create a protective windstorm that moves the caster away from harm, predict emotions, dominate others, read information about targets from the stars, change skill rolls and/or improve bonuses, create light that harms undead and necromancers.  There are a total of 50 spells!  The section ends with guidelines for creating your own Stars and Constellations either from scratch or from existing core spells.Most of the Feats are useful in any campaign.  The designer incorporates the idea of being born under particularly favorable stars, a unique and interesting idea that aids character development.  The feats are well thought out and interesting.  There are a total of 15.There are four stimulating Prestige Classes including the astrologer, who studies the stars in depth to learn more about the world; the guardian of the secret path, who keeps the balance of the planes by denying egress to or from the material plane; the magus, who wields great star power; and nomad shamans, living proof that knowledge of the stars does not just exist in musty old tomes in civilized lands.  The Illuminated Items section contains guidelines for the creation of stellar magic items.  The weapon and armor properties are particularly imaginative.  Some other very fine magic items are also provided, including magical lenses that aid in the channeling of Stars.  There are a total of 15 magic item descriptions.The Using the Calendar section presents extremely brief and thankfully simple instructions for determining the horizon of the stars (above, on, or below) that essentially has an effect on the power of individual stars.The Help For Games Masters section is a welcome discussion of useful adventure ideas and ideas for how to introduce Star Magic into your campaign.The Designer’s Notes is a brief discussion of the designer’s long journey toward the final product.  As with other works in the Arcane Encyclopedia series, this section adds some nice personal perspective.The Rules Summary is simply a repeat and summary of information presented earlier.Overall CommentsThe most prevalent image of wizards in pop culture today depicts an old man with a conical hat and robe sewn with stars and moons - and yet the idea of calling down magical power from the heavens is only just now being presented for d20 games in this little powerhouse.  How many times in fiction have the words, “the planets are not in alignment” or the “stars are not in position” been used to somehow represent access to the magic present in the universe?  There has never been a game supplement like this one, giving players and game masters the rules for pretending with classic primordial power as old as the cosmos itself.  How exhilarating is that!?  It just goes to show you that even new ideas and game systems can reverberate off the old icons and fictions.  Case in point: does anyone remember an old 1981 box office flop turned classic called  Dragonslayer?  Strangely, and quite out of left field, I was reminded of this movie as I read parts of Star Magic.  Some of the spell effects in the work are reminiscent of things that happen in the movie, particularly a distant shooting star (just over the wizard’s shoulder) and perhaps even the lightning and wind with which the wizard battles the dragon.  In any case Star Magic makes it possible to return to the roots of fictional magic, drawn from the most distant and mysterious realm known to man even today.  The work never uses the modern term but even the concept of black holes is present in the spells that gather shadow and cold.  The point is that embodied in this work are classic ideas reborn in a new system of magic that is sure to enhance any campaign.</blockquote>

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