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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="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2704357" data-attributes="member: 1129">NPCs not meant for the sword!Fantasy PersonaeSages, Spies, and InformantsWritten by Alex FreedPublished by Inner Circle PublishingProduct Number: INC200036 full color pages 34 black and white pages$7.00Sages, Spies and Informants is a book aimed at GMs and provides them with non-player characters designed to add some utility and plot hooks to a campaign. The book comes in two versions. A printer friendly version that’s in essence text on white background, and a screen version, messy in terms of background elements as it has the look of faded parchment but has some excellent full color art to go with it. I wish that the printer friendly version had black and white illustrations of the characters in grayscale but I can see the utility. The file also makes full use of bookmarks so that each major character has a bookmark, as well as a separate book mark for the “cameo” characters. The book separates each main character for ease of printing, but this does result in some white space.Some may like that the book makes heavy use of third party materials. This includes mechanics from the d20 Modern reference document, as well as other sources like the Advanced Bestiary or the Book of Templates Deluxe Edition. For me, it’s nice to see the OGC material used in a way that helps the writer make interesting and colorful characters.Characters are detailed as follows: quote, description, background, attitudes, reputation and rumors, adventure ideas, alternatives, statistics, and source. The characters are a diverse and interesting lot. One of my favorites, is also one of the first characters, Cogswrack. He’s a clockwork gargoyle expert that used to serve powerful mages on the island fortress of Thul Barakor. Those mages disappeared and Cogswrack doesn’t let anyone know and keeps things moving. It includes numerous hooks on things that may happen for the mages to come back, as well as ideas on how to use Cogswrack. The only thing that might’ve made this better, is following WoTC lead and including some mini-encounter maps as well as some potential unique magic items left behind by the former masters. One of the nice things though, is that by making Thul Barakor on an island, it doesn’t require a lot of work to fit in. For example, I may use him in my Shackled City campaign as Cauldron isn’t that far from a coastline itself.Another interesting character is the prince of mosquitos. I like it because it’s a djinni that uses elementals, especially those that are prone to being summoned, as his eyes and ears. Using summoned creatures outside of their initial summoned status when they’re in combat at a player’s behest, is something rarely used. It makes the character initially more appealing and gives him an insight into any group that uses conjured monsters. A more traditional use of information broker would be Tabra Marto, a zoologist who can help the players identify the weird and strange species that adventurers are wont to encounter. The thing is though, Tabra is no ordinary man and has his own secrets. Overall, the ten characters present interesting opportunities for the GM to customize his campaign. While they do have campaign seeds and adventure ideas, the GM who puts work into using them to fit his campaign will get the most out of them.In addition to the main characters though, there is a section called Cameos. These are quick seeds for NPCs that have names and backgrounds with abbreviated game information. For example, Jukarus of the Sea is a female pegasus cleric level one that loves to explore the sea and knows the oceans like the back of her hoof. She can trade information to players who can enable her to explore more. Closer to the ground, Mikt is a dromite that knows the inns and outs of the underdark.If you’re looking to expand the reach of you’re NPCs beyond the realm of hack and slash, Sages, Spies and Informants is for you.</blockquote>

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