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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2009687" data-attributes="member: 1129">Forged in MagicEdited by Melissa L. Miller and Nelson Rodriguez128 b & w pages$19.99Forged in Magic has some strengths going for it.  First off, it covers some unusual types of magic items.  Next up, it covers a lot of items.  I mean there are something like 400 new magic items found in the book.  There’s bound to be something for almost everyone.  I also enjoyed the new materials, something I feel that we haven’t seen a lot of in 3rd edition yet.  Now if only someone would do a supplement on power components and their use in the game…The book is broken up into different sections so if you want to look up rings, you’d look at rings and check the alphabetical listing under that section.  The prestige class and feats are put at the back of the book and are followed by tables for GMs who love to randomly roll stuff.  Need to see minor potion?  Look at table 5 and see if you get Warpaints of the Skohir or go for the major potions and hope for a Salve of Trollskin.The contents of the book really are going to provide every GM at least a good read as the items aren’t just cut and paste of powers and abilities, but stories and backgrounds tied into the Arcanis setting.  Does this make the book useless for different settings?  Well, I run a SL campaign and because this book has a table of Arcanis Gods and other goods for the setting, I don’t have to break out my Arcanis book to decide which SL god equates well to which Arcanis god and this is important as there are several items within the book that are related to gods and their ilk.On other areas, like with weapons wielded by orcs and their humanoid kin, does it matter what the specific name of the region they hail from is?  I mean most are going to come from some type of mountain terrain and the names of the characters can always be incorporated into your own campaign without using the specific name of the location he came from.  Take the sword Heartsfang, used by the leader of the Orcs of the Crimson Blade.  Does it really matter what mountain range they came from?  Could they come from the Kelders in the Scarred Lands for example?  Yup.  Could Chief Splittusk still be holding a grudge against the forces of Mithril for example, instead of Enpebyn?  Sure.Even when the history is completely useless, the GM gets a lot of material to work with.  Take for example the magic properties of weapons and armor.  These are non-campaign specific and can be added to any setting.  Need a piercing weapon equal to vorpal?  Try skewering.  Need a new type of damage for your weapons instead of frost or fire?  Try concussive and concussive burst.  How about destruction, the disruption ability for slashing weapons.  Another innovation is the section on disadvantages.  These range from battlelust, where you may not start a fight, but you’ll never walk away from one, to unlucky, where the wielder doesn’t score critical hits as easily.The new materials section is also something for all campaigns.  Need some black iron to forge a powerful masterwork armor that’s got inherent acid resistance and reduces chain of spell failure?  How about some glass steel that acts as it’s made of crystal for purposes of psionics?  Oh yeah, it’s lighter and has a decreased spell failure chance.  Good stuff eh?In terms of crunch, there are also new feats, spells, and a prestige class, the master smith.  The feats include imbue with essence and improved snatch.  The first allows non-spell casters to forge magic items at great cost while the second allows a snatch attack.The new spells are mostly low-level attack based like acidic tough and force strike, with a with odd ones like Invisibility to Humans and Battle’s Rage.The master smith PrC is meant to be…yes, a master smith.  The class reminded me a bit of the lance forger from the Dragonlance series in that they’re damn good at what they do and can easily craft masterwork items that are superior to standard ones with greater hardness and hit points and other goodies as they go up in level.  Excellent support prc but I doubt many players will be using it for themselves.For me, some of the rarely covered items I enjoyed seeing are the items found under Weapons of War.  Need some constructs meant to house men and use them as tanks?  How about banners?  Magical siege engines?  One subject rarely seen covered are the magic standards and here we get ten properties that banners can have as well as several unique ones like the Standard of the Crimson Moon.  All of these things are good and add depth to a campaign.  I’ve always found it strange that individuals can be running around with more armor and arms of magic than a whole town and not see war sized items of magic.  Between this and some older stuff in Dragon, I may actually have enough goods to start laying the smack down on my players in the Scarred Lands.The artwork ranges from okay to good with several excellent pieces.  I felt that less artists with the same amount of art might’ve resulted in a more unified look for the book.  The book uses standard two-column layout with the text being boxed by a border.  Interior covers are not used and the OGL takes up a single page, with another page going for the credits, and four going for the table of contents.There are some weaknesses to the book.  First off, I guess I got used to Carnival of Swords with its tightly packed text.  This book isn’t fluff, don’t get me wrong, but it’s well spaced.  Next up, there are too many variations in the way stats are laid out.  I have nothing against history and stats being on the same page but it’d be nice to have game effects clearly labeled and all together.  I don’t like reading the bonus of the sword at point A and the other powers at point C.  Next, I’m hoping that more companies will put the cost to the creator in both gold and experience points in books like this.  Lastly, although I own Arcanis, there are some rule effects native to that setting alone.  Unlike Psionics that are part of the core rules, not everyone is going to know what bloodlines are and how to use some of the material in here.Outside of those problems, each of which is minor in their own right, the book is truly a gem of a magic item collection.  If you enjoyed Swords Into Plowshares, you’ll enjoy Forged in Magic as it has a campaign history behind it with over 400 items and several all purpose sections that’ll enhance any campaign.</blockquote>

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