Ink & Quill
Bastion Press
65 page PDF (No front cover in the version I have, 1 page ToC, 1 page OGL)
FREE
I downloaded Ink & Quill mostly out of curiosity. I was looking into some scholarly options for a character when I ran across it, and thought I'd give it a try. I really should have done this sooner.
Ink & Quill is all about books (both magical and mundane), writers, and the like. It is well-organized with logical chapter divisions, and other than the color-intensive, odd-looking border, it is very easy on the eyes. Editing was good, although I did see a couple of tables where the shaded bands were off. Art was good for the most part, but uses a lot of dark colors, which isn't very printer-friendly. Bookmarks were placed in logical places.
Chapter 1: Introduction. Typical introduction, it explains the scope of the book, including why a character might care about "the force of words."
Chapter 2: The Writer's World. Briefly discusses various organizations that would include writers, as well as stereotypical types of writers/artists (ie the Hedonist or Tortured Artist). [4]
Chapter 3: Feats and Skills. 19 new feats related to writing or performing, and a discussion about Perform vs. Profession checks. My favorite feat here is Prolific Writer, which halves scroll/spell scribing time. Given that my PC's group rarely gets any peace, I wish I'd taken Prolific Writer instead of Craft Magic Arms and Armor. [4]
Chapter 4: Prestige Classes. There are 9 prestige classes, namely Barrister, Cryptographer, Musical Composer, Playwright, Poet, Warrior Poet, Lyrical Poet, Scholar and Scribe. I generally dont pay a lot of attention to prestige classes, so I can't really say if these are balanced or not. One concern that leaps out at me, though, is the names of the prestige classes, because most of them sound like normal professions. [No grade]
Chapter 5: Spellbooks and Scrolls. Cool options for books/scrolls. This section sports different kinds of paper, book covers, scroll cases, ink, and pens. It has notes about mechanical security devices for books, but no solid prices, and a handful of spells that provide magical security. Some of the spells seem to bit overpowered for their level, but I haven't done any playtesting. [3]
Chapter 6: Manuals. Non-magical books that convey an insight bonus to their readers. The system for writing/understanding manuals seems a little complex, but I really like the idea. There is also a chance to misunderstand (and thus be misled by) the book, and you must keep the book around to maintain the bonus (to refresh your memory from time to time). Writing a manual requires a feat (Write Manual) and 8+ ranks in the appropriate knowledge skill. Good stuff.
EDIT: I tried playing with the equations for building a manual and noticed that the total number of pages in the book is related to the writer's CON modifier, but has no impact on the benefits, thus making a sickly author more concise than a healthy one. Odd. After further thought, the second problem I had with the equations wasn't really a problem. I'm adjusting the score for this section again. [4]
Chapter 7: Magical Books. All sorts of magical books that convey different special abilities. The ideas behind this section are good, but the items seem to be priced way too low. For example, the Manual of Slaying grants a +2 compentance bonus to all attacks for only 8,000 gp. [2]
Chapter 8: Artifacts. I pay less attention to artifacts than I do to prestige classes. [No grade]
Conclusion: This is a mixed bag, but most of it's good and all of it's free. I especially liked Chapter 6 (the manuals). Averaging the scores I get a 3.4, which places it at a solid 3. Adding a few concrete examples of pricing for the mechanical security devices in Chapter 5 and revamping the pricing schemes in Chapters 6 & 7 would push this product into the solid 4+ range.
