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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010586" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Friends & Familiars is the second in Bastion Press' Legends Collection offering NPC compilations, this one providing a selection of cohorts, allies and familiars.Friends & Familiars is a 32-page full colour softcover product costing $14.95. Each NPC takes up two pages - on the left page is a 3/4-page illustration of the character with a few adventure hooks, whilst on the right are the stats and background. Margins are large, particularly the top one and there is some wasted space on all the right hand pages as the text is not sufficiently long to complete the page. The background to all pages is a light tan colour with an attractive border design in a slightly darker colour. The quality of the character illustrations is excellent, and colour usage and texture evocation is superb. It's a shame that the writing style does not live up to the quality of the art - being basic at best and long-winded, repetitive and nebulous at worst. Editing seems good.Thirty NPCs are presented in Friends & Familiars, from Abernath, a chaotic good undead ranger, to Wildwind, a guardian Pegasus. Other NPCs presented include a shadow mastiff, a clockwork automaton, a pixie adept, a nightmare, and a wandering wizard. Challenge ratings vary from 2 to 14, but mainly lie at the lower end of the scale. High PointsThe art is attractive. The characters presented could, with some work, be integrated into an adventure or campaign, and would best suit a high fantasy setting.Low PointsThe hooks are simplistic, the background information is of little utility, and there is a fair amount of wasted space with large margins and empty space. The stat blocks vary in make-up - for instance, the Challenge Rating is in the fourth line for some NPCs, towards the end in some others, and missing in yet others. Information in the stat blocks, like its predecessor, is just plain wrong, and stupidly so. For example:Eriv, a 4th-level Fighter with 15 Dex and the Improved Initiative feat has "Initiative: +7 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)" - yep, that's a direct quote. His Fort save is listed at +5, when it should be +6. His skills don't take into account his armour check penalty, cross-class skills or maximum rank limits. His longsword attack does not take into account his strength modifier, but the damage from the weapon does, except they even get that wrong by giving a +3 for a Strength of 15.Succinctly put, the Legends Collection must get the vote for the worst stat blocks in the d20 industry.ConclusionThe only thing that stops Friends & Familiars from getting a 1 is the art, which is very good, but little else in the book makes it worth paying the $15 for.</blockquote>

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