terraleon
Explorer
Incantations in Theory and Practice is a very dense product for one weighing in at a modest nine pages-- laid out in a landscape format great for onscreen reading. Two of the nine are filled with a cover image, the necessary legalese, and the OGL. The lone piece of artwork is James Keegan's handiwork, a cool image of an aborigine-like elf and some spirits. Enjoy it, because once you flip that first page and start digging in, this PDF is solid.
The authors do a great job of creating a document that covers all the details you'd need to craft incantations of your own, discussing the mechanics, the modifiers, the checks and the all important backlash. Sidebars discuss creation considerations and the fact that you can use incantations to simulate a number of different effects-- from alchemical or mechanical devices, holistic practices, to inspirational speeches or songs. The flexibility allows for easy incorporation into high or low fantasy or magic campaigns, increasing the incantations' utility.
This document is everything you'll need to make incantations a part of your game, and that's its greatest strength. While the previous offering from Zombie Sky Press gave you a generous helping of incantations-- and don't be fooled, there are three more full incantations in this PDF-- this file is your proverbial blueprint. It shows you how to build incantations with baseline skill DCs for creating effects equivalent to spells from different schools of magic. And while most incantations are meant to emulate high level spells, the authors also provide you the considerations for lesser effects, and effects that might target hostile or summoned creatures, requiring opposed skill checks.
Think of this product as the nine pages of mechanics and examples that should have made it into your core rulebook in order to really do incantations right. While ZSP might have given you a really big fish with Incantations from the Other Side: Spirit Magic, Theory & Practice is the only lesson you'll need to go fishing all by yourself.
The authors do a great job of creating a document that covers all the details you'd need to craft incantations of your own, discussing the mechanics, the modifiers, the checks and the all important backlash. Sidebars discuss creation considerations and the fact that you can use incantations to simulate a number of different effects-- from alchemical or mechanical devices, holistic practices, to inspirational speeches or songs. The flexibility allows for easy incorporation into high or low fantasy or magic campaigns, increasing the incantations' utility.
This document is everything you'll need to make incantations a part of your game, and that's its greatest strength. While the previous offering from Zombie Sky Press gave you a generous helping of incantations-- and don't be fooled, there are three more full incantations in this PDF-- this file is your proverbial blueprint. It shows you how to build incantations with baseline skill DCs for creating effects equivalent to spells from different schools of magic. And while most incantations are meant to emulate high level spells, the authors also provide you the considerations for lesser effects, and effects that might target hostile or summoned creatures, requiring opposed skill checks.
Think of this product as the nine pages of mechanics and examples that should have made it into your core rulebook in order to really do incantations right. While ZSP might have given you a really big fish with Incantations from the Other Side: Spirit Magic, Theory & Practice is the only lesson you'll need to go fishing all by yourself.
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