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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Krug" data-source="post: 2009610" data-attributes="member: 2141">(Review copy supplied)Everyone Else is a 70 page PDF product from Ambient games, who have established themselves as one of the best d20 companies out there, particularly with their well-received Librum Equitis products and the award-winning Portable Hole Full of Beer. The zipped file provides two versions of the book; one that's more aesthetically pleasing and another that's easy on the printer ink. The goal of Everyone Else is to give stat blocks for those NPCs you'll find in any situation, from bartenders to fishermen to aristocrats. The book itself is divided into twelve sections, giving the NPCs one would encounter in each situation. So the barracks section gives stats for conscripts, field officers and military types, for example.Each profession has a short description, their role in society, some have a rules to remember section which is useful, four stat blocks given at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th level and finally customization notes. As expected, most of the characters use the Commoner or Expect NPC class.I have some issues with the stat blocks. The characters are all totally average, and the rather odd weapon choices. The weapon a Courtesan wields is a club... while smugglers wield quarterstaffs? Farmers as well, wield clubs. Even Miners too, wield clubs. I really think it wouldn't have been too complicated to come up with stats for rakes or pitchforks or picks. Also, since most of the stats are similar, in the 8 to 13 range for ability scores, the only great spot of deviation is in the skills. The stat blocks also don't include items or equipment, which means the DM would probably still need to come up with them if he intends to make greater use of the NPC in his campaign.  It's fine for low level riff raff, since most of them would be totally average. But wouldn't a master stonemason possibly have a magic item to help him in his craft? Surely a 7th level Knight would have some weapon (and armor - by default no armor is listed) to differentiate himself from the 1st level soldier. I realise including equipment would have made the NPC less generic, but making it so undetailed does mean you can't just plug-and-play these NPCs. Furthermore, all stats given are for humans only which further means more work if you want a non-human NPC. It's not as simple as having an ability score increase or decrease, since it has to be reflected in the skills, and since some races receive bonuses in certain skills, most DMs will have to do some book-flipping to make sure things are correct.The artwork, composed of classic woodcuts and Juan Navarro is an odd mix. You get a medieval woodcut which has very little shading, and then an ink-heavy showing halflings and orcs. The artwork is actually good; it just doesn't look well together side by side and I think they should just gone with one or the other. Otherwise, the presentation is top-notch, and kudos to Ambient for supplying two versions of the product.Everyone Else is one of those products I find really hard to 'grade'. It'll be very useful for DMs who emphasize role-playing and city-based interactions, and possibly less so for for DMs whose games are more dungeon and hack and slash oriented, or who don't writeup their own adventures, or who prefer to use high level characters for interactions with their party members. It is certainly useful, but more as a time saving device. The stat blocks merely lay a foundation for the DM to embellish further, particularly for higher level characters. Perhaps a list of items to go with each character would have made it a product one can use instantly. Overall, it's a good product but not essential. However, if you're a DM who spends a lot of time building NPCs, you might want to take a look at this product which would definitely save you time.</blockquote>

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