doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
So, I am very excited about this book, and thought I'd share my thoughts on it, here.
Last night, my wife and I use the Heroic Chronicle (with a lot of rerolling because we are picky) to make two elves from the Menagerie Coast, loyal to the Clovis Conclave, from Port Damali (her) and Gwardan (me). We both got some cool extras, she's a Grinner with a circus background and I'm a Cobalt Scholar (and my home city even has a big temple/center of learning dedicated to Ioun, so that's perfect!) with a faithful pseudodragon companion. She got the prophecy that she will someday meet the princess of the empire and hold the fate of the empire in her hands, and I got the one where I will stand before the Bright Queen without realizing who she is, and we both got the one about befriending a flying beast and riding it. We both also have a sibling rival, and an ally or two, and I got a periapt of health that if I lose it I will suffer a terrible disease that it is magically suppressing.
The new backgrounds are very interesting, and really help develop the setting.
The lore on each settlement and region is good, but honestly I do wish it was a little more detailed, and had some naming conventions. I still don't know what a Noldar is, except that they run my new character's home city of Gwardan. I also don't know that much about the Ki'Nau, in spite of reading every entry in the book that mentions them. They are native to the region, have some ancient history that isn't expanded on, and have successfully negotiated with the Clovis Concord that certain places be left alone, and seem to be a pretty powerful faction in coastal politics. Cool. But like...what are they like?
The factions are really interesting, and quite well fleshed out. I like them a lot. I really like the hooks and conflicts for a member of the Cobalt Soul, and I think my character wants to be an archeologist type, but is being drawn toward Expositor training by a keen insight and instinct for spotting corruption and false intentions. Which is to say, there are plenty of interesting hooks to inspire play from both the DM and Player perspective.
The new subclasses are well done. I don't really care about the wizard traditions, but people who like those concepts seem to love them. The Echo Knight is a new favorite, however. It's just really, really, cool.
The new subraces add a great deal to the book, and the reprints make sense. I wish they'd taken the opportunity to make Goliaths a little more mechanically appealing, but otherwise it's fine. The new elf and halfling subraces are great. The lore on where the races all fit has some fun surprises and plenty of hooks to inspire characters and plots. The new Hollow One supernatural gift is a great alternative to the Revenant race option.
The magic items I haven't dug into much yet, but do seem pretty well made and interesting.
The spells are...good, but a little disapointing for me. I was really hoping for some geniunely new effects, and most of them are just things that plenty of existing spells already do. Wristpocket is fun, though. I'll be taking that in the campaign where none of the "only dunamancers should have free access to these spells" stuff applies.
Last couple things I've looked at are the art, and the maps.
The art is gorgeous, as I expected. The styles are often familiar as someone who watchs the show and sees a slideshow of fan art every time.
Devin Rue's maps are top notch. I want vinyl prints of the continent map, and the character scale maps.
What about everyone else? any favorite bits? Things you don't like? Things you feel like are missing?
Last night, my wife and I use the Heroic Chronicle (with a lot of rerolling because we are picky) to make two elves from the Menagerie Coast, loyal to the Clovis Conclave, from Port Damali (her) and Gwardan (me). We both got some cool extras, she's a Grinner with a circus background and I'm a Cobalt Scholar (and my home city even has a big temple/center of learning dedicated to Ioun, so that's perfect!) with a faithful pseudodragon companion. She got the prophecy that she will someday meet the princess of the empire and hold the fate of the empire in her hands, and I got the one where I will stand before the Bright Queen without realizing who she is, and we both got the one about befriending a flying beast and riding it. We both also have a sibling rival, and an ally or two, and I got a periapt of health that if I lose it I will suffer a terrible disease that it is magically suppressing.
The new backgrounds are very interesting, and really help develop the setting.
The lore on each settlement and region is good, but honestly I do wish it was a little more detailed, and had some naming conventions. I still don't know what a Noldar is, except that they run my new character's home city of Gwardan. I also don't know that much about the Ki'Nau, in spite of reading every entry in the book that mentions them. They are native to the region, have some ancient history that isn't expanded on, and have successfully negotiated with the Clovis Concord that certain places be left alone, and seem to be a pretty powerful faction in coastal politics. Cool. But like...what are they like?
The factions are really interesting, and quite well fleshed out. I like them a lot. I really like the hooks and conflicts for a member of the Cobalt Soul, and I think my character wants to be an archeologist type, but is being drawn toward Expositor training by a keen insight and instinct for spotting corruption and false intentions. Which is to say, there are plenty of interesting hooks to inspire play from both the DM and Player perspective.
The new subclasses are well done. I don't really care about the wizard traditions, but people who like those concepts seem to love them. The Echo Knight is a new favorite, however. It's just really, really, cool.
The new subraces add a great deal to the book, and the reprints make sense. I wish they'd taken the opportunity to make Goliaths a little more mechanically appealing, but otherwise it's fine. The new elf and halfling subraces are great. The lore on where the races all fit has some fun surprises and plenty of hooks to inspire characters and plots. The new Hollow One supernatural gift is a great alternative to the Revenant race option.
The magic items I haven't dug into much yet, but do seem pretty well made and interesting.
The spells are...good, but a little disapointing for me. I was really hoping for some geniunely new effects, and most of them are just things that plenty of existing spells already do. Wristpocket is fun, though. I'll be taking that in the campaign where none of the "only dunamancers should have free access to these spells" stuff applies.
Last couple things I've looked at are the art, and the maps.
The art is gorgeous, as I expected. The styles are often familiar as someone who watchs the show and sees a slideshow of fan art every time.
Devin Rue's maps are top notch. I want vinyl prints of the continent map, and the character scale maps.
What about everyone else? any favorite bits? Things you don't like? Things you feel like are missing?
