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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009323" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Hammer and Helm is the first in Green Ronin's Races of Renown series. It is also the first OGL Interlink product, an excellent co-operative enterprise between Green Ronin and Paradigm Concepts to help reduce the number of 'race' books released on the market and hopefully ensure the survival of both companies - Paradigm's Races of Legend series will be alternating with GR's Races of Renown series to produce different 'race' books.H&H is $19.95 for 112 pages. This is very slightly more expensive than average for its type and size. Use of space is fairly average, with decent font size for the main text and margins, but large subtitle fonts and a fair amount of space between paragraphs. The internal mono art is good, though I was less impressed with the cover art - good use of colour and light on the mountains but I did not like the skewed perspective or the lack of clarity on the climbing dwarven figures. The writing style isintelligent if a little nebulous at times, and editing is fairly good.Chapter 1: The Way Of The Mountain, contains three sections:1. Playing A Dwarf Character gives a brief overview of four dwarf archetypes - Stoic Soldier, Battlerager, Forge Priest, and Locksmith. These are useful for new roleplayers and serve as a counterpoint to the alternative concepts later in the chapter.Brief advice is given on the core classes in relation to a dwarf PC, with some ideas given for changing things around - like a GM option for changing a dwarf's favored class to barbarian or paladin, to skew the feel of dwarves. Most of these ideas and the advice was a little fluffy or just plain common sense, but would still be relevant for those new to roleplaying.2. Alternative Dwarven Racial Concepts gives eight ideas for changing the role of dwarves in a campaign setting:* The Dying Race* Isolationist Artisans* Desert Warriors* Light Haters* Lords Of Battle* Skyfarers* New Arrivals* Minions Of EvilEach idea has some basic encounter hooks, and suggestions for changing dwarven racial abilities to better suit the concept. There is also a sidebar giving some ideas for creating idiosynchratic dwarven clans.3. Sample Dwarven Pantheon. Short overview of three dwarven deities with their domains, for any fantasy campaign setting. Does not include specific information on favoured weapons.Chapter 2: Feats, offers 61 new feats, also usable by non-dwarves. Many of these are linked to three new feat types:* Bloodgift Feats - characters must take a single Prime Bloodgift at 1st Level, then build on it with further related Bloodgift feats as they gain levels. An example is the Prime Bloodgift 'Deepblood' (+4 to Spot checks with darkvision) with related Bloodgift feats of Deepsight (darkvision range increases by 10 feet, can be taken multiple times), and Shadowblend (increased Concealment in darkness or shadows). These can give a good specific feel for a dwarf or dwarves, and would make an interesting concept for creating different dwarven clans with different Bloodgifts, as mentioned in the sidebar in Chapter 1.* Bonding Feats - each Bonding feat requires a lengthy ritual costing 1000 gp and 500 XP and characters are usually limited to one Bonding feat. A bonding feat is effectively a magically binding oath which links the dwarf with an Otherworldly force. An example is Oath Of Dreams, a feat which binds the dwarf to the Fey, making her a Fey being, and gaining the Trackless Step druid class feature. This one is better suited to elves to my mind, but others were more appropriate and some linked in with Bloodgifts by having them as Prerequisites.* Spell Channeling - involves sacrificing spells to power other magical abilities. An example is Mystic Sight (where for every level of the spell sacrificed (or 'channelled') the dwarf gains a +2 bonus to Spot checks and at higher levels low-light vision).Other feats include those which change the base ability on which some spellcasting bonuses are based, and combat feats for sieges and co-ordinated attacks.Chapter 3: Prestige Classes, offers 16 new prestige classes, a mixture of 5 and 10 level classes, with one 3 level class:Acolyte Of The Crystal Path - gains crystalline aspects, until entirely crystal.Cavern Strider - can walk on cave walls and ceilingsCavernsgaarder - experts in co-ordinated close combat tacticsClanheart Disciple - arcane spellcaster with bloodgift-related class featuresGemscribe - uses gems to create metamagic effectsImmolated - character smolders and burns, devotee of fire and has fire-related class featuresIronbound - focused on maximising armour defenceKnight Of The Black Forge - slays Undead and gains their powersMagesmith - benefits to magical craftingMountain's Fury Devotee - stone-related barbarian-type combat abilitiesSpirit Stone Defiler - necromantic-types that use 'spirit stone' (stone that holds clan memories) to enhance undead servitors and necromantic magicStonesinger - uses magical song to communicate with stone and stone-related creaturesStormhammer - Battlehammer specialist, can feely multiclass with paladinThunderthrower - experts in throwing hammers and axesTundrin - like the Immolated, but with iceChapter 4: Creatures, offers five creatures and four templates. The creatures are:* Eldlorn - fey dwarves* Gore Mole - giant mole with two horns, used by dwarves as mounts* Isen - Arctic dwarf* Stonestrider - spiderlike elemental with ethereal abilities, used as mounts by dwarves* Thaneguard - armoured constructThe templates are:* Defender Of Mar-Namor - undead lawful neutral guardians with mass combat abilities. A Ghoul Soldier example is given.* Hammerstruck - those failing a quest demanded by the spell 'Test Of The Forge God' become mindless slaves of dwarves. A Hammerstruck Dwarf Ranger is given as an example.* Iron-Souled - certain underground creatures who are born with an innate relationship to iron - they are slower but have increased natural armour, slam damage and magnetism. An Iron-Souled Gray Render is given as an example.* Tempered - those succeeding in a quest demanded by the spell 'Test Of The Forge God' become temporarily 'tempered' - natural AC, increased Str and Con, holy smite, and treat armour as one category lighter. Alternatively, this can be applied to a creature from birth. An example Tempered Large Earth Elemental is given.Sidebars give information on dwarven mounts, and summoning some of the creatures offered.Chapter 5: Spells & Magic, offers 5 new domains (Armor, Construct, Fortitude, Stonehearth, and Sword) and 57 new spells. Spells range from the ubiquitous (and gross) Acid Burst (a shower of acid bursts from the caster's body), to more dwarf-specific spells like the aforementioned Test Of The Forge God and Ancestral Guidance. Various other spells cover animation of objects, armour enhancements, weapon enhancements (axes and hammers), and stone-related spells. The spells cover all the core spellcasting classes plus the new Clanheart spells, and are fairly well spread across the 9 levels.Chapter 6: Equipment, begins by introducing a range of exotic armour and weapons including dwarven plate, throwing shield, helmet spike, and dwarven battlehammer. There is also a sidebar giving advice to GMs wanting to creat their own exotic armour. Special and Superior Items include such alchemical items as Crafter's Salve, which aids crating items by speeding the crafting process up. Magic items include a selection of armour, shields, weapons, rings, and wondrous items. There are various special abilities for weapons and armour including tempered armour (which actually temporarily grants the features of the tempered template to the wearer rather than it being tempered itself), and grafted weapons (an extension of a limb). All items are given a creation cost in addition to the standard stats. Various siege engines are also discussed, giving some new ones, discussing ways of improving siege engines (through masterworking and magic), and gives a unique siege engine (a giant flamethrower). The chapter ends with a brief discussion of three special materials - blending earth (infused with elemental earth), spirit stone (contains the spirits of dead clan dwarves), and steelstone (strangely enough, a kind of cross between steel and stone).The Appendix contains stats for a range of typical NPCs including Legionnaires, Master Artisans, Forge Priests, Dwarven Fighter, Stoneborn Sorcerers, and Dwarven Rogues. Each covers their stats at all levels and includes likely equipment for those NPCs at each level.Conclusion:Inevitably draws comparison with Bad Axe Games' Heroes of High Favor: Dwarves since they were released so close to each other. Though they theoretically cover some of the same ground (feats and prestige classes), they are very different beasts. Whilst HOHF<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> is compact, concise and craft/fighter-focused, Hammer & Helm is more expansive, more magically-orientated and covers more ground. Hammer & Helm really attempts to re-create the magical dwarf and largely succeeds. Thats not to say that there is not cross-over material - the formation fighting feats for example - but much of the material in the books is very different.There is plenty to recommend Hammer & Helm, particularly if you want to have a dwarf spellcaster as a PC. A well-rounded work with some innovative ideas and covering a wide range of topics. Never the less, I would have liked to have seen more information on dwarven fortresses, building techniques (particularly traps and defences), the political makeup of a dwarf clan and other information that would have aided a GM in building on the blocks given in the book to create her own unique dwarven society for her own campaign.</blockquote>

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