Experts

[knight_isa]

Experts: A Comprehensive D20 Sourcebook for Fantasy Role-Playing Games
Skirmisher Publishing
ISBN 0-9722511-0-3
112 pages (4 pages title/copyright/TOC/OGL, 1 page ad)
$19.95 at amazon.com or skirmisher.com (I haven't seen it anywhere else.)

This is not a playtest review.

I stumbled upon Experts quite by accident. I was doing some random price-checking at amazon.com back in September or October when I saw it in one of those recommendations. You know, the ones that say "So-and-so recommends product x in addition to this product." I had never even heard of Experts or Skirmisher Publishing before, but I was intrigued by the concept. Over the course of about a month I managed to find only one other review and a website, but that was it. My FLGS had never heard of it, and Skirmisher said that at the time it was only available through them or amazon.com. I eventually bought it, based solely on my hopes and a single review. I wasn't disappointed.

Experts is all about the expert NPC class from the DMG. It's a fairly attractive book with regards to layout, but there is some pixelization of the art on the front and back covers. The interior art ranges from passable to good, and mostly comes from the Dover Pictorial Archive Series.

Introduction. (4 pages) This section talks about the versatility of the expert, the availability of experts relative to commoners, and explains the use of "metaclasses" to define subsets of the expert. Many of the metaclasses offer minor adustments to the expert class to make it more specialized. It also includes information on how to read the metaclass descriptions presented in the subsequent chapters. [4]

Chapters 1-5 (the metaclasses). (52 pages) These chapters cover different subsets of the expert class based upon what the expert does. The subsets are Craftsmen (armorers, jewelers...), Entertainers (acrobats, courtesans...), Professionals (barristers, physicians...), Scholars (alchemists, scribes...), and Tradesmen (exterminators, stewards...). Each of these chapters describes a base metaclass for the subset involved and has several sections further defining the roles and class abilities of the various experts that belong to that subset. All you have to do is look up the sort of expert you need, and there is an explanation of everything you need to make one. [4]

Chapter 6: Prestige Classes. (4 pages) There are two prestige classes and a sidebar about apprentices. The prestige classes were the Guild Master and the Militia Leader. To be honest, I generally don't pay much attention to prestige classes until I need them, and I haven't needed these yet. [no grade]

Appendix 1: New Skills (28 pages) This appendix introduces cartography, cast spells (expert only), several craft, knowledge, and profession skills, prospect, read magic text (expert only), smell, smelting, taste, and utilize magic item (expert only). The flavor and rules explanations for the skills was great--it's a real pity that none of this section is OGC. I'd make a few changes to the general skills (like making cartography and smelting craft skills, prospect a profession skill, and combining taste and smell). As for the expert only skills... well, I don't really see the point of read magic text or utilize magic device, for starters. The expert can get access to use magic device which is better than both of these combined. The only real reason I can see to have them is to dodge the "only two exclusive skills" thing. As for cast spells... well, it does require a feat to use, but I'm still not sure that I like it for an expert. [4]

Appendix 2: New Feats. (1 page) This section has three feats:

• Alternate Key Ability--allows you to swap one physical key ability for another or one mental key ability for another one for the purposes of skill checks. I kind of like this feat.
• Cross-Class Proficiency--like the Cosmopolitan feat from the FRCS/FR Guidelines pdf only without the +2 bonus.
• Use Magic--allows an expert to use the cast spells skill and take item creation feats.

This section is all OGC. [3]

Appendix 3: Sample Characters. (9 pages) A number of characters generated with the rules presented in Chapters 1-5. There are lots of different races and ability score ranges, and the characters come with a short bio. This section is probably good if you have a question about how some of the new mechanics work, but I'll most likely be generating my own characters as needed. [3]

Appendix 4: New Magic Items. (2 pages) A handful of magic items. They were ones I had hadn't seen before, and prices seemed mostly okay, although there was one where I think they were high by a factor of ten. All OGC. [4]

Appendix 5: Guilds. (4 pages) A brief overview of guilds, including organization, regulations, and types of guilds. All OGC. [4]

Appendix 6: Costs for Expert Services. (2 pages) Brief guidelines on the cost of hiring skilled labor. It includes guidelines based upon the skill of the person being hired and situational modifiers (such as exclusivity, overtime (for 24 hour/day travel with a party, for example), and hazardous duty). Also discusses cash equivalent methods of paying (like giving a miller a percentage of the flour he grinds). All OGC. [4]

Appendix 7: Expert XP Awards. (1 page) Gives guidelines for giving XP awards to experts. An oddity that is here as well as in a couple of other places in the book is that the chart is by skill rank and goes up to skill rank 25 and minimum level 22, but the book never mentions epic level experts. All OGC. [4]

Appendix 8: Expert Work Areas. (1 page) A very brief overview of expert work areas. [3]

Appendix 9: OGL. (1 page) Section 15 is not correct (it only lists the OGL).

Conclusion. While there were some smaller sections that weren't much above average, overall this book seemed to be a solid 4--it does a very good job of covering the expert class, which is what it set out to do. Probably my biggest disappointment in the book is that not much of it was OGC, so the really cool features (expert class customization, skills) wont make it into other products.

This book will obviously be most useful to DM's who use a lot of expert NPC's, but players with the leadership feat might find it useful to flesh out their followers. Players that like using craft or profession skills will probably like Appendix 1, too.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

One of the most intriguing and versatile classes described in the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide is the Expert. Skirmisher Publishing has just published a comprehensive, 112-page book that thoroughly expands upon that brief description and is the ideal resource for anyone interested in designing highly skilled specialists of all sorts.

Experts is packed with useful and interesting information and includes:

• Nearly 30 fully detailed Expert types, including the Alchemist, Blacksmith, Courtesan, Merchant, Miner, Navigator, Physician, Sage, Sailor, and Weaponmaker.
• Five broad metaclasses—Craftsmen, Entertainers, Professionals, Scholars, and Tradesmen—that can be used as templates for quickly and easily creating all sorts of Experts.
• Two new prestige classes, the Guildmaster and Militia Leader.
• More than 100 new skills, including dozens of new Crafts and Professions and detailed rules for creation of everything from
  weapons and armor to buildings and ships.
• Three new feats.
• Guidelines for creating Experts with spellcasting abilities.
• Information on creating Guilds and using them in the game.
• 28 ready-to-use NPC Experts that can be used as-is or easily modified to suit any campaign or adventure.
• 17 new magic items.

 

[JoeGKushner]

One of my favorite supplements for AD&D 2nd edition was Sages & Specialists. This book provided several classes that weren’t as good as the players in most aspects but possessed skills that were necessary for most fantasy worlds to have that spark that shows that more than merely fighters and wizards roam the land. While looking over Johnn Four’s excellent GM Mastery NPC Essentials, he touches on the numerous rolls NPCs have to offer, but doesn’t go into any real mechanical detail on how to showcase those specialists in the game.

Skrimisher Publishing on the other hand, apparently from way off left field, makes a book that gets no press and no announcement and just shows up at my bookstore one day. A few inquiries latter, I have a copy of my own. I note on my review of NPC Essentials that one of the things I wanted was a Guildmaster Prestige Class and chuckle a bit as its one of the two PrCs offered here. I break out my old blue covered Sages & Specialists so I can see how 3rd edition handles what 2nd edition always had a hard time with: Experts.

In 3rd edition, an Expert is a little beyond a commoner. They have a wide variety of skills with which to customize the class in a variety of ways. The book Experts showcases the versatility in the class in a few ways. It breaks Experts down into five broad categories: Craftsmen (Armorer, Artificer, Blacksmith, etc…), Entertainers (Acrobat, Courtesan), Professional (Barrister, Engineer, Navigator, Physician), Scholar (Alchemist, Archaeologist, Sage, Scribe), and Tradesmen (Animal Trainer, Brewer, Exterminator, etc…). These five niches are introduced with a template that provides a list of general skills and abilities available to each type of Expert and then goes into further detail with each sub-class.

For example, under Professional, you look at Engineer and get background, what type of Engineers become adventurers and how often, what characteristics and alignment are common to them, what religions they tend to follow, and what backgrounds they hail from. The religion section sticks with the Greek Mythos and this is a good design choice since many have read, heard, or seen movies and television stories that take elements of the Greek Myths. In addition to the name of the god though, they also provide the domain or area of expertise. So when it mentions Athena, it also mentions Law and Wisdom. This makes slotting the mini-classes easy.

Many of the mini-classes boast special little abilities that they gain as they go up in levels. In our example of the Engineer, they gain specialties in different fields that is in essence, a Skill Focus feat for different areas of their work. Other classes can gain weapon, armor, or even some alchemical abilities depending on their realm of ‘expertise.’

In addition to the numerous Expert variants, the book also provides a slew of new skills that tend to fall into two board categories: Craft and Profession. The good thing about these skills is its not just a random listing with a brief one sentence definition, it provides the appropriate stat, retry, and special information when appropriate.

Lets say you like the Black Company and have wanted to make an NPC based on Croaker, the physician historian. You go through this book and decide that the Physician is a good place to start. Right off the bat you’ve got an Expert with skills tailored to heal. You’ve also got a page of medicinal compounds like Invigorating Draught, which provides a bonus to Con based on the Physician’s level, as well as Poison Antidotes. Each compound has the DC to craft, cost to make, cost to sell, time to make, and how it’s taken.

Not satisfied with this though, you decide that you’re Physician is going to have some ‘extra’ oomph. You take the new feat Use Magic, which allows you to give the Expert access to the skill Cast Spells. This way you’ve got someone who can cast some healing spells as well.

I know, some have already thought, “Well, there goes game balance.” But… for the use of a feat and putting ranks into the skill, what you get back isn’t impressive. At 25 ranks, you can cast 3 0, 2 1st, 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th, and 1 5th level spell. So that puts the character at something like, 22nd level Expert. So can it unbalance a game where an Expert who is Epic level can cast a 5th level spell? I’d hope not.

For those who need a little more than the Expert variants, there are two Prestige Classes: The Guild Master and the Militia Leader. Neither one would be very appealing to most players, but they fill important roles in a fantasy setting. The Guild Master is an overseer, a person who mid to high level characters may do dealing with. The Militia Leader is a member of the guard whose good enough to lead his men in battle. It’s not a soldier who works for an Empire, but rather a man whose position puts him ahead of his fellows on the frontier.

One of my favorite aspects of the skill listing though, isn’t the sheer variety. It’s the detail. When looking up Profession, Herbalist for example, you get almost a full page of suggested properties of herbs. Need to know what Arrowroot does or Jasmine? It’s in here. When looking up Craft, Armorsmithing, need to know what the DC is to add Armor Spikes and Adamantine to a small steel shield? It’s in there. Along with the time to create, repair, cost, and cost to repair.

In addition to providing the mechanics and examples needed to flesh out the Expert, there are new magical items that fit into the non-adventuring lifestyle of the Expert like Fireseal Wax. This wax is fire resistant and lasts for years. How about Incense of Identification? The user burns the incense and experiences a vision of what an item, mundane or magical can do. How about the strange Mini Mecha Golem? A foot tall iron golem powered by gears and pistons.

For those using Experts in a large city like Freeport where there are numerous Experts in alliance with Commoners, you’ll find the section on Guilds useful. It’s a bit short compared to the rest of the book, but it’s Experts, not Guilds. GMs reading this will love the different tables like regulations, guild presence, structure, common guilds, rare guilds, and local organizations. The GM can bust out some percentile dice and have several guilds up in no time with a few flicks of the wrist.

But how much does all this cost? The table, Costs for Expert Service answers this question with a breakdown that provides the Expert effective level, which can be higher or lower than actual level, and a base cost in silver pieces broken up by day, week month and year. There are modifiers to add to get your final results though as Experts may have to work overtime or be subject to hazardous duties and of course, the goods themselves often have costs that are separate from the service.

Not content to leave well enough alone, Experts does something I haven’t seen touched on in too many products. Experience Points for non-violent activities. You know, using your skills. It provides a table, the Expert Base XP, on which skill rank, level, XP per Month and XP per year is listed. So if you’re a 2nd level Physician with 5 ranks, you’d get 50 a month or 650 a year in XP. This system looks like it’d work great for campaign that have a lot of down time and want a base guideline on what NPC’s and perhaps even PCs are earning in terms of XP when they’re no adventuring. Those who work hard and fast, creating masterwork items, earn bonus experience points.

The only places where Experts is a little weak isn’t in it’s mechanics, it’s in the execution. The top and bottom margins creep up on the book putting all of the two-columned text straight in the middle. Makes for very quick, very easy on the eyes reading. Little too much margin taken up on the top and bottom though and the margins aren’t anything to note. The second flaw is the amount of clipart. In most cases, the clip art fits perfectly the subject and it doesn’t look gaudy or out of place, but it doesn’t rise to the top like some of the other products on store shelves might, causing it to be overlooked. This happens with the cover to a limited extent. There’s some pixilation which gives the cover a less than pristine example of what might be inside where almost none of the art suffers this effect.

In addition to providing a lot of raw mechanics, the book includes almost thirty pregenerated NPCs. That’s one for each sub-type of Expert in the book. Need an Alchemist? It’s in here. Need an Undertaker? You’re covered.

Experts fills a niche that many GMs may not even be aware existed. It builds upon the best strengths of the old Sages & Specialists and provides a lot of raw material that GMs can use to craft their own campaigns and form their own specialist. It expands and expounds on skills to provide more detailed examples of what exactly skills can do. It makes non-magical healing a little easier to achieve for those wanting a darker, more grittier game. It provides a way to gain experience points without being on the road 24-7. In short, it’s a book that despite some graphic problems, deserves to be on every serious GMs shelf.

REVIEWER NOTE: This review originally appeared at RPG.net at the publisher's request but I have shown them the 'error of their ways and their new book, Warriors, will be reviewed here soon.

 

[Turjan]

I got this book as a gift from my Game Shop nearly a year ago. They were not able to sell it, obviously because it didn't get any coverage. I didn't expect too much from the book when I looked at the cover, but was really astonished when I discovered how useful it really is. This book came into heavy use. I hope that Warriors will be as good.