The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
Heroes of High Favor: Elves
Bad Axe Games
80 pages, softcover, digest size, black and white interior
$9.95
For an explanation of the scoring given below, please visit http://www.cooleys.org/ogc/scoring.asp
Executive Summary: The typical "Bad Axe" treatment - a cross-section of new feats and skills and uses for the Craft skill, some interesting new campaign options (especially ley lines and nexuses), the "favored class - every other core class" combo prestige classes (in this case wizard - core class), and as a bonus, a section on creating spells slapped on the end. If you've seen other Heroes of High Favor books, you know exactly what you're in for.
Adaptability 10
This little beauty has something in it for everyone, even those who DON'T like elves (and believe me, I'm as big an "elf-hater" as I can think of). The feats, while having considerable focus on "arcane magic" can be useful for nearly all characters, not just elves (I particularly liked the fact that there's at least one Feat dedicated to each school of magic that lets you do interesting things; for instance, there is a feat that allows a wizard to store positive or negative energy in a spell slot rather than a spell, allowing him a very limited ability to heal or activate things that would normally take a cleric's turn attempt). The new uses for the Craft skill - things like exceptionally flexible armor that doesn't inhibit spellcasting - are also welcome additions to the game, I think... I love little touches that can make a character's equipment just a little more "personal." And of course, no matter which core class you like, there's a prestige class in here for it.
Balance 10
Bad Axe once again does a good job with balancing things; nothing is overpowered, and in fact, some things might be slightly underpowered. The biggest thing to look at for balance is the appendix that gives parameters for creating new spells, and even this looks to have erred slightly on the side of "weaker, not stronger" than the Core. I didn't find any egregious rules problems, unless you consider allowing an arcane caster EXTREMELY limited access to positive negative energy a problem as mentioned above (and at the cost of a Feat, I don't think it's a problem).
Clarity 10
As usual, all the rules presented are easy to follow, and most fit within two or three sentences, or a paragraph at worst. Perhaps the "crown jewel" in the book is its treatment of ley lines and ley line nexuses - a truly inspired idea that lets wizards tap into natural areas of exceptional magical power - the rules are at once simple and flexible and still allow for a ton of new options to play out.
Focus 10
Everything here is devoted to elves and/or their "favored class" of wizard. Nothing in the book cannot be traced back to either an "elvish feel" or "helpful for making wizardly stuff." As usual, Bad Axe does a commendable job of staying on task.
Granularity 9
Almost every item in this book can be pulled out alone and plopped into a campaign, with the exception of the "creating new spells" rules, which require you to take the whole of the "extra" 16 pages at one large swallow, and some of the "Ley Line"-related Feats, which require incorporation of the Ley Line and Nexus rules. Because of this slight interweaving, it's not perfectly granular, but even these "interwoven" pieces are generally sharply focused, so I can't ding them too much.
OGC 10
Bad Axe continues to be one of my favorite publishers when it comes to OGC. They put "Open Content" on every page that contains open content - and all the text on the page is open. All their "crunch" is always OGC, and it easily passes my "six-year-old with a highlighter" test. A great resource for those wishing to incorporate things into their own works.
Originality 9
This was the third entry in the Bad Axe line, so I can't say the "favored class-core class" prestige classes are too original any more, but with ley lines, spell creation, arcane feats, and elvish craft items all thrown into the mix, there's a ton of stuff that will open your eyes and expand your campaign. Great stuff here.
Presentation 10
It's the standard Bad Axe fare; the layout is nice and clean, the text and pictures work together well, and whitespace is kept to a minimum. The easy marking of OGC is a plus, too.
Price To Content 10
The "extra" 16 pages dedicated to creating your own spells make this even bigger than most HoHF releases - and they weren't a bad bargain to begin with. The pages are not full size, maybe 5 x 8-ish, but there's little to no wasted information here; all of this stuff is great. $9.95 is more than fair for this puppy.
Wow 10
I have a high expectation from Bad Axe, but this wowed me even for them. I wanted to pretty much drop everything from this book into my campaign world as soon as I read it. The most embarassing part was going, "wow, this is even cooler than the last section" over and over as I read. I was bowled over by this product, even for Bad Axe!
THE FINAL WORD: If you can only get one "elf race book," this should be it. In fact, with all the other options included in here, I really recommend this book for ANY campaign that has magic of any stripe in it. Simply put, HoHF: Elves is on my "must have" list for d20 gaming and I'd recommend it heartily to anyone. In my opinion, it's quite simply one of the best products on the market, if not THE best, period.
TOTAL GRADE: 98, A+ (B) -- Five stars (I think this is the first "A+" I've given with my 1-100 scoring system. It's that good.)
Bad Axe Games
80 pages, softcover, digest size, black and white interior
$9.95
For an explanation of the scoring given below, please visit http://www.cooleys.org/ogc/scoring.asp
Executive Summary: The typical "Bad Axe" treatment - a cross-section of new feats and skills and uses for the Craft skill, some interesting new campaign options (especially ley lines and nexuses), the "favored class - every other core class" combo prestige classes (in this case wizard - core class), and as a bonus, a section on creating spells slapped on the end. If you've seen other Heroes of High Favor books, you know exactly what you're in for.
Adaptability 10
This little beauty has something in it for everyone, even those who DON'T like elves (and believe me, I'm as big an "elf-hater" as I can think of). The feats, while having considerable focus on "arcane magic" can be useful for nearly all characters, not just elves (I particularly liked the fact that there's at least one Feat dedicated to each school of magic that lets you do interesting things; for instance, there is a feat that allows a wizard to store positive or negative energy in a spell slot rather than a spell, allowing him a very limited ability to heal or activate things that would normally take a cleric's turn attempt). The new uses for the Craft skill - things like exceptionally flexible armor that doesn't inhibit spellcasting - are also welcome additions to the game, I think... I love little touches that can make a character's equipment just a little more "personal." And of course, no matter which core class you like, there's a prestige class in here for it.
Balance 10
Bad Axe once again does a good job with balancing things; nothing is overpowered, and in fact, some things might be slightly underpowered. The biggest thing to look at for balance is the appendix that gives parameters for creating new spells, and even this looks to have erred slightly on the side of "weaker, not stronger" than the Core. I didn't find any egregious rules problems, unless you consider allowing an arcane caster EXTREMELY limited access to positive negative energy a problem as mentioned above (and at the cost of a Feat, I don't think it's a problem).
Clarity 10
As usual, all the rules presented are easy to follow, and most fit within two or three sentences, or a paragraph at worst. Perhaps the "crown jewel" in the book is its treatment of ley lines and ley line nexuses - a truly inspired idea that lets wizards tap into natural areas of exceptional magical power - the rules are at once simple and flexible and still allow for a ton of new options to play out.
Focus 10
Everything here is devoted to elves and/or their "favored class" of wizard. Nothing in the book cannot be traced back to either an "elvish feel" or "helpful for making wizardly stuff." As usual, Bad Axe does a commendable job of staying on task.
Granularity 9
Almost every item in this book can be pulled out alone and plopped into a campaign, with the exception of the "creating new spells" rules, which require you to take the whole of the "extra" 16 pages at one large swallow, and some of the "Ley Line"-related Feats, which require incorporation of the Ley Line and Nexus rules. Because of this slight interweaving, it's not perfectly granular, but even these "interwoven" pieces are generally sharply focused, so I can't ding them too much.
OGC 10
Bad Axe continues to be one of my favorite publishers when it comes to OGC. They put "Open Content" on every page that contains open content - and all the text on the page is open. All their "crunch" is always OGC, and it easily passes my "six-year-old with a highlighter" test. A great resource for those wishing to incorporate things into their own works.
Originality 9
This was the third entry in the Bad Axe line, so I can't say the "favored class-core class" prestige classes are too original any more, but with ley lines, spell creation, arcane feats, and elvish craft items all thrown into the mix, there's a ton of stuff that will open your eyes and expand your campaign. Great stuff here.
Presentation 10
It's the standard Bad Axe fare; the layout is nice and clean, the text and pictures work together well, and whitespace is kept to a minimum. The easy marking of OGC is a plus, too.
Price To Content 10
The "extra" 16 pages dedicated to creating your own spells make this even bigger than most HoHF releases - and they weren't a bad bargain to begin with. The pages are not full size, maybe 5 x 8-ish, but there's little to no wasted information here; all of this stuff is great. $9.95 is more than fair for this puppy.
Wow 10
I have a high expectation from Bad Axe, but this wowed me even for them. I wanted to pretty much drop everything from this book into my campaign world as soon as I read it. The most embarassing part was going, "wow, this is even cooler than the last section" over and over as I read. I was bowled over by this product, even for Bad Axe!
THE FINAL WORD: If you can only get one "elf race book," this should be it. In fact, with all the other options included in here, I really recommend this book for ANY campaign that has magic of any stripe in it. Simply put, HoHF: Elves is on my "must have" list for d20 gaming and I'd recommend it heartily to anyone. In my opinion, it's quite simply one of the best products on the market, if not THE best, period.
TOTAL GRADE: 98, A+ (B) -- Five stars (I think this is the first "A+" I've given with my 1-100 scoring system. It's that good.)
