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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010580" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Faeries is a sourcebook on the fey from Bastion Press.Faeries is a 128-page colour softcover product costing $27.95. The book makes good use of space with font and margins good, and white space minimal. The art varies in style and quality. On the positive side, there are some superb pieces that evoke the beauty and ethereal quality of the fey excellently. On the downside, there are many fey creatures offered in the book that have no illustration and much of the art seems unrelated to the text. Occasionally, the sidebars overlap the text causing missing words and letters. The writing style is appropriate to the context - concise and clear for rules information, and more descriptive for the creatures, lands, etc. Editing seems good. Chapter 1: Fey CharactersThe first section of this chapter uses ECLs to allow players to take on a number of fey PC character races. These are the Bogie (trickster servants of the noble fey), Deep Fey (suspicious underground fey), Faeries (common fey such as dryads or satyrs), Feeorin (noble fey), Half-fey (mixture of fey and PC race), Scath (half Deep Fey, half mortal), and Sprite (half Feeorin half mortal, 2 foot fey with gossamer wings). Each race gets a number of points as they advance with which to purchase certain racial abilities - this keeps the races as varied as faeries should be but would need further playtesting to check their balance as they progress. I was uncomfortable with some of the rules offered in this section such as the use of odd-numbered racial adjustments, choice of fighter as the favored class for the Bogie (who excels in spying and sneaky behaviour), the generic use of the term faerie to cover such distinctly different fey creatures as a dryad and a satyr, and the similarity of abilities between the feeorin and the sprite with the feeorin given a +2 ECL and the sprite only +1 (despite gaining flight and invisibility 3 times a day, more fey traits, and only losing out on a lesser resistance to illusion and charm compared with the feeorin).The next section attempts to show how other fey creatures can be presented as a sort of class rather than a race, giving them their full racial abilities when their class level reaches their ECL, with lesser abilities beforehand and greater abilities afterwards. A nymph is used as an example creature. Though the system is an interesting concept, there is a mistake in the example given, as the author gives the nymph a +1 Strength whereas the nymph only has a Strength of 10 giving no modifier. The racial traits then listed propose a +3 to Cha, +1 to Wis, -2 to Str, and -1 to Con. I was left a little bemused. ECLs for other fey creatures are reprinted from Dragon magazine #293, which I thought was closed content. The following section proposes an expanded spell list for various classes played by fey characters (such as allowing druids spells from the arcane Divination and Illusion schools), and offers two new domains - enchantments and illusions. Three new skills are proposed - Knowledge (Fey), Knowledge (Folk Tales) and Speak Language (Fey, actually a dialect of Sylvan). Eighteen new feats are also proposed - from the evocative 'Crossing Over' (which allows reduced travel time in FaerieLand) through various enhancements to fey spellcasting and resistances to those related to prestige races and Aspects of Nature (see below).Ten 10-level prestige classes are also offered:* Faemancer - spellcaster whose special relationship with a fey being grants limited arcane spell and divine domain access. Benefits from good BAB, Ref and Will saves.* Faerie Hunter - this PrC seeks the extermination of all fey, and gains bonuses to defence and attacks against fey and can craft magical items from the remains of dead fey. Good BAB, limited spell list.* Faerier - adaptation of the PrC first introduced in Bastion's Spells and Magic, this PrC gains fey traits and can create faerie portals and trods.* Fae-Walker - this PrC excels at travelling to and from Faerie allowing fast travel and evasion techniques.* Fey Guardian - strong in good transformatory magic, with abilities centering on polymorphing and wishes.* Fey Prankster - this PrC benefits from a tricky mind and luck, with an appropriate limited spell list.* Fey-Touched - time spent in FaerieLand transforms this PrC to becoming more fey, including a longer life.* Knight Of The Fey - patrollers and defenders of FaerieLand that uphold the laws of the Faerie Queen.* Mage Of The Circle - uses circular diagrams to allow a choice of 3 spells to be written onto a special scroll, allowing any one of these spells to be cast using a verbal component only, at which point the spell slot is used up.* Mortal Slayer - the mortal enemy of the Faerie Hunter and can create special fey glades that help heal fey.One of the most popular aspects of Bastion's 'Oathbound' setting was the concept of prestige races, where a speeded up evolutionary process allows the character to gain greater 'natural' abilities at the game cost of XP and the requirement of a feat (Evolve). This concept fits well with the unusual nature of FaerieLand and the Fey.  Seven Foci (each with four powers) are offered as possibilities for this "enchantment of the flesh":* Focus Of The Beast - the character gains animalistic powers such as natural weaponry.* Focus Of The Changeling - focuses on concealment, including chameleon-like powers.* Focus Of The Fey - becomes more fey-like, with improved charisma, sight, and resistance to charm.* Focus Of The Green - becomes more plant-like, allowing barked skin and regenerating photosynthesis.* Focus Of The Hordes - becomes more goblinoid.* Focus Of The Seersighted - gains abilities to perceive better, gaining powers such as clairvoyance and see invisibility.* Focus Of The Shapeshifter - shapechanging and polymorphing powers.Aspects Of Nature are a variant on prestige races, designed to allow fey creatures to take on foci related to nature and the elements. Each Aspect has five powers with accompanying bonuses and penalties, as well as changes to the appearance of the creature. Each power costs 500 XP and can only be taken once per level. The bonuses tend to be offset by the penalties with minor enhancements and restrictions to spellcasting, or minor bonuses to AC, attack, damage or saving throws which must be 'paid for', before or after the bonuses are used, with an equivalent penalty. The Aspects given are Air, Animal, Autumn, Darkness, Dawn, Dusk, Earth, Fire, Lights, Plant, Predator, Prey, Spring, Summer, Water, and Winter.Chapter 2: Lore Of FaerieThis short chapter is presented as a treatise by an expert on fey, and presents a few paragraphs each on aspects such as movement, sleep, time, work, food & drink, social interactions, belongings, morality, laws, etiquette, and rulership (including the lands of Between (which lies between FaerieLand and the mortal world)). The most interesting section in the chapter looks at 'lures and banes of the fey' - a listing of the things that attract and repel fey with some game effects. However, most do not have any more effect than to cause an increased chance of fey being or not being in the vicinity and I would have liked to have seen some further discussion of effects of aspects such as cold iron and holy objects.Chapter 3: World Of FaerieThis lengthy chapter presents Bastion's concept of Faerie Lands. It begins with an overview of FaerieLand (also appropriately deemed the Twilight Lands) and defines the plane in terms borrowed from The Manual of the Planes - morphic trait, gravity, time, magic, etc. These aspects are then expanded upon with further detail regarding the passing of the seasons, Celtic-style holy days, constellations, and the strange distances that exist in FaerieLand. The next section looks at magical fey portals and roads that allow instant travel between two places and also allow access between the mortal world, FaerieLand, and Between. Also discussed are Paths, which are magically created by the land itself, based on the strongest desire within the group, to lead them to their desired destination. It also discusses the dangers inherent in leaving such a path and the means of leaving FaerieLand.A colourful two-page spread gives a map of the regions of FaerieLand and the next section gives a brief overview of these regions and interesting sites and NPCs to be found within these areas. It also includes information on legends and lore about the region, the main population centre and regent, as well as its distance in FaerieLand's odd measurements of distant, nearby, or remote. A few of the strange NPCs that wander FaerieLand are also statted out and given a general background and appearance. A quick check on stats showed the number of spells per day for a 19th-level human sorcerer had been muddled with the number of spells known to give a larger variety of spells than should have been available and some error with the number of skill points available, though the main stat block clearly showed how the individual stats had been worked out, which was a nice touch. We learn about the Unseelie Court or Slaugh who live in Between, the Sisters Three who perform divinations in the their Sea Cave at the base of the Cliffs of Madness, the Fungal Forest in an underground area of FaerieLand, the Land of Eternal Spring with its faerie rulers Queen Titania and King Oberon, whilst the Land of Eternal Winter holds the legendary Old Man Winter and Jack Frost. The bizarre Sands Of Time lie in a remote part of FaerieLand, and contain time dunes created by the use of fey roads and portals - these magic sands can be used as a wild magical power source by the fey.Chapter 4: Magic Of Faerie This begins by looking at power sources for fey magic such as the magic sand mentioned above, breath (which is extracted (normally fatally) from mortal lungs to power their dark magic, and True Names, which are hard to discover but can be used against targets to enhance magical attacks against them.Nearly seventy new spells are provided including spells that are able to create fey portals and roads, and befriending the guardians used to protect them from mortals. There are spells for detecting, controlling, summoning and dismissing fey beings, spells that use cold iron (which we learn here can do greater damage to fey, though this is not mentioned in Chapter 2) and spells that create mischief such as sleepless curse, laughing gas, faerie dance, and fool's gold.A variety of magical items and special qualities are discussed, from magical items that resize themselves with the owner's size, to plant armour and cold iron weapons. Charm bracelets can hold up to eight charms and the power of the charms described here seems to allow an abuse of the limits to worn magical items with some pretty powerful effects available. There is also a discussion on the manufacture and uses of magical dusts. Other magic items from minor items such as the fan of dusting to major artifacts such as the sword, Foul Feyslayer, are also described and priced.The Creature AppendixThis appendix introduces seven new creatures that can be found in FaerieLand and elsewhere - magical Doorway Guardians, Faerie Dragons (a sub-family of the pseudo-dragon), fey steed, Greater and Lesser Jabberwocks (variant fire dragons) and two types of satyr - fauns (with the legs of a deer) and korred (with the legs of a goat). There are also four templates - Fey-born (normal creatures born in FaerieLand with a +3 CR), Half-fey (fey crossbreed which, though having practically the same increased abilities as the fey-born template, only receives a +1 to CR - ??), High Fey (mystical fey that are the epitome of their race, with breath weapon, damage reduction, fast healing, spells, SR 12, various other spell-like abilities, and significant increases to saves and abilities - yet only receive a +1 to CR), and Shadow-born Creatures (normal creatures born in Between, these creatures gain dark magics that can be used to plague their enemies.The High PointsFaeries gives a wealth of possible ideas for developing fey and Faerie in your own campaign and I feel that the book works best as a grab bag of ideas from which one might want to pull a few gems that suit your setting. The lower-powered stuff here generally works the best - I liked the Aspects of Nature (though more for NPCs than PCs as the penalties are probably off-putting to players), some of the Faerie Lore tidbits, as well as the fey portals, roads and paths, true names, and the resizing magical items. Interesting sites and characters from the gazetteer section can also be pulled apart to form your own concept of Faerie or even integrated into a standard campaign setting in most cases with a little work. I was also pleased to see the Faerie Dragon in all its glory (though the open status of its source must be somewhat in question).The Low PointsA regular annoyance for me with Bastion Press is over-powered rules and Faeries is no exception to this - the charm bracelet is probably the worst offender. However, Faeries has a number of seemingly unbalanced or non-standard rules, particularly in Chapter 1's race and prestige class sections, and where the CRs of the templates in the Creature Appendix do not corroborate in comparison to each other. I found the presentation of information to be fairly average, important information such as the effect of cold steel being strung across different chapters - even the chapters themselves could have been better organised to provide a more cohesive understanding of Faeries. Another petty annoyance for me is the attempt to present for a generic world - I thought this was going to be impossible in Faeries, but somehow the hodge-podge of legends and lore from different cultures creates a sort of literary brown soup when reading through the whole of the gazetteer.ConclusionWith a plethora of ideas yet weak in rule presentation, Faeries seems best used as an ideas generator for creating your own Faerie rather than a grand overview of Faeries and FaerieLand that it seems intended to be. Its usefulness as a grab bag of ideas is enhanced by its overall lack of cohesion and the rather wide cultural backdrop used to create the gazetteer.</blockquote>

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