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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010279" data-attributes="member: 1129">Guilds and Adventurers is the latest resource for d20 fantasy games from Mystic Eye Studios.  At 128 pages, it's very reasonably price at $19.99.It starts off with a general introduction and brings in some new game mechanics with the Guildsman Prestige Class and the Guild Expert, a NPC Core Class.  The interesting twist with the Guildsman is that they gain rank in the guild as they go up in level and Guildsman abilities.  The abilities are determined by what guild you belong to. This is a simple solution to making a multi-purpose prestige class that's easy to use and understand. Each guild has different requirements and different class skills and abilities.  Makes it very easy to add to most campaigns with little fanfare. The Guild Expert gains Guild abilities and rank slower, has more skill points but less hit points and is generally something that unlike the Expert, isn't ever going to be looked at by a player who if interested in such a thing, would take the Expert and go into the prestige class.The guilds themselves are listed with title, brief description, guild symbol (described and illustrated), guild requirements, associate membership, guild dues, guild specialized knowledge, class skills, guild feats, guild rank and aptitude and guild ability.  Right away I can see another unique thing about the Guildsman Prestige Class in Synergistic Advancement.  This means that they gain their standard class abilities, hit points, skill points, bab, saving throws, special abilities, etc... for their original class, but the skills and feats native to the guild may now be taken by the Guildsman.  The potential abuse comes in the fact that they still gain rank and guild class abilities. In almost every case where synergy is possible, it'd be foolish not to take it. Speaking outside this product, I didn't find this to be a huge issue as I use the Guildcraft book from Bastion Press and the various Schools from both Mongoose's Quientessential books and Fantasy Flight Games various Path books.  These books rely on experience points as a trade off for extra abilities. I'd never allow a player to mix and match abilities from all three books. I figure, pick a path and go with it.As far as the guilds go, there are thirty of them so almost every important avenue is covered.  All purpose Adventurer's Guild?  Check. Alchemist? Check. Apothecary? Check. Armorer? Check. Artificer? Check. The list goes on and on. Most of the brief descriptions place the Guild in the Hunt setting but its a minor reference.  The only real weakness here is that the guilds have is that most are self serving and has no reference to how they interact with others guilds.  For example, the Shipwright's Guild has no connection to the Seafarers Guild which has no connection to the specialty Salvager's Guild.One thing I did was to do is look over the special abilities and see how I could incorporate them into the campaign and what role these guilds would take. The Weaponcrrafter's Guild for instance, has several properties they can craft to blades like Razor-Edge, a +1 bonus to damage if the target has a combined natural and normal armor bonus of +5 or less. Tempered grants weapons made of metal a +5 hardness bonus.  A small sampling but right away I can see using these as minor items for low level parties.  Like everything else, game balance is in the eye of the beholder so before a GM just gives the nod to any ability, they should reference it for their interior game balance.While the general guilds are perfect for most gaming needs and fill almost every common niche, I enjoyed the second part of the book, the ten Specialty Guilds. Take the Arrowhead Order.  Lots of detail with the ability to call upon the Spirits of the Marsh for different abilities and bonuses as well as new monsters in the forms of the Blight Pod and Polyp with adventure seeds and NPCs listed.  This doesn't count the new druid spell or prestige class, Heron Councilor.  Sure general guilds are good for adding a little this and that, but this guild provides a solid foundation that the GM can easily build upon and insert into his own campaign.Most of the other specialty guilds don't get as much attention but are different enough to stand out.  I can already see someone making use of the Lottery, a guild that puts its foes onto a kill list, and combining it with the Society of Secret Sport from E.N. Publisher's own Deadly Games or having the party seek out the Sererance Guild to handle some unruly ghosts whose secrets are so hidden that they can't find a means of permanently destroying it.Those looking for a compilation of game material are out of luck.  Material is in the context. For example, the feat Superior Demeanor gives the user a +2 bonus to Will Saves but a -3 penalty to Charisma (but stacks with Iron Will so has some merit), is found under the Viniculturists' Guild. This alone provides a solid reason for reading through the book as you never know what nugget will be hidden in an area.One thing that failed on the layout is the borders. These borders don't cover the whole page and the text at the top and bottom bleeds over into these areas and looks unattractive.  Otherwise layout is solid in most cases. Guilds are separated by icons and internal borders.  Art is good and fits the subject matter.  Another good thing is that the interior covers are used so that the book itself is text devoted to the subject.Some may complain that the material is tied into Gothos, the setting of Mystic Eye Games campaign, the Hunt.  While there may be some difficulty in erasing all ties to that setting, most of the material is so campaign neutral that it'd be really sad to see a GM who had issues overcoming those ties.  Even the Traveler's Society of Gothos with its name is little more than a guide guild and is easy to throw into most campaigns with a minimal amount of work despite losing some of the strengths of the Hunt tie in like the Merchant Class.Guilds and Adventurers provides the GM with lots of toys to add whole or in piece to his campaign and players who want to try their hand at something different can benefit from joining these guilds using the Guildsman Prestige Class to gain some unique abilities that tie into their goals.</blockquote>

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