Endzeitgeist
First Post
Into the Armory
This pdf is 59 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages Necromancers of the Northwest-logo and ad, 1 page back cover, 1 page OGL and 1 page table of contents.
That leaves 52 pages of content for this file. Let’s dive in:
The pdf kicks off with an introduction on two concepts, i.e. Quasi-magical items (magical items that cost less than 2500 gp and may very well have no aura) and siege weaponry. Quasi-magical weapons have one supremely cool feature, which I’ve been using for years in my game: To construct them, you need ingredients, which are also listed. I’d love to see that more often.
Chapter 1 details armors (11 pages):
We get two new mundane armors, one medium and one heavy. We also get 3 new quasi-magical armors: One woven from clouds (think good-looking PCs and strong winds), exploding armors (essentially suicide bomber armors that deal a whopping 20d6 damage – might not be appropriate for every group and should be used with care by both PCs and NPCs…) and swarmnest armor, which transports a swarm but unfortunately lacks hard rules for the swarm – I guess that it does behave like the creatures from the bestiary and not the spell, but I’m not 100% sure.
Then, we’re off to steam-punk-county with three so-called Golem-armors, which essentially are mechas your PCs can pilot. 2 One-man armors and one that can be piloted by up to 5 PCs. I like the concept and they don’t seem to be that powerful. Might be a nice addition for some campaigns.
We get 11 new armor properties, which are interesting, but one of them, “Modular” should be flat-out disallowed. It makes it possible for PCs to change the particular enchantments for a armor every day. Flat-out OP.
After that, we get 7 specific magic armors. Notable examples would be “Iron Body”, which makes you strong but stupid for 24 hours, a rust-monster hide and a powerful armor for paladins that punishes not adhering to a VERY strict moral code. The “Rust Monster Hide” seems a little OP for low-magic/rare-magic campaigns to me, but works well in other settings.
Chapter 2 has new shields for you (4 pages):
We get two cool new quasi-magical items and 3 new shield special abilities, one of which (Insignia shield), unfortunately fails to mention how long the summoned creature stays. The next 6 new specific shields are quite useful, balanced and cool, especially the Planar Gateway Shield: One second, it’s a shield, the net second it’s your gate to another plane.
Chapter 3: Weapons (11 pages):
We get 10 new mundane weapons, all of which I liked.
7 new, quasi-magical items are included in the mix, ranging from a grappling shot over net grenades up to a whip blade. We also get 19 new specific magical weapons. I liked the ideas within, especially the “Lightning Trident”, (which should be modified to always include the wielder, though), but “Nocturne’s Fang” does not specify which potion corresponds to what kind of blood and the “Scythe of the Wretched” is op beyond belief: Once per day on a crit you are practically guaranteed to kill your enemy. If you’re lucky, this could kill just about anything.
Chapter 4 deals with new equipment (10 pages):
We get the concept of randomized potions and 4 new rings, my favorite being the “Ring of useful things” – complete with a 10ft-pole) and my least favorite being the mood ring. A suggested DC of 15 to change what a character feels? Yeah, right. We also get a new rod and the concept of the randomized wand. 16 wondrous items are up next. Some of them are really cool, e.g. the “Lens of the Sun” or the “Gem of Vision”. The rest is rather standard-fare.
Chapter 5 deals with miscellaneous items (9 pages):
The 6 new alchemical items presented are extremely cool and useful. You’ll like these. We are then introduced to 3 new so called “Living Items” – alchemically treated living organisms that range from a flower that makes you breathe water for 3 minutes and swarms-in-abottle, i.e. magebane and necrotic wasps. Good ideas there. 5 new poisons are also within these pages, from rather mundane choking/sleeping powders to the far-out polymorph poison.
We also get 7 new special materials to craft items from, favorite among which is the so-called Talectini, a symbiotic, living armor. My least favorite of the materials is Soul Steel, which is a little bit OP in my opinion.
The last chapter deals with siege weapons (6 pages):
We get short and concise rules for using siege weapons, including stats for 4 siege weapons. The chapter also has 4 special weapon abilities, 5 magical ammunitions and closes with 4 specific siege weapons.
The fonts used in this pdf are clear and concise. There are some minor editing glitches and the pdf features a brownish background, which is not perfectly printer-friendly. The fluff-texts for the chapters and comments of the vendor of those items are quite nice and, while not brilliant, they are entertaining. Art-wise, you get a picture at the beginning of each chapter, but don’t expect too much.
Conclusion:
The pdf suffers from some problems of “First Pdfs”, i.e. some glitches have slipped past and some rules could be clearer. Some of the items seemed a bit OP for my rather conservative tastes when it comes to PC-strength. However, both the siege weapons and especially the quasi-magical items are very cool: I think that suggested ingredients should be provided in the craft-stat-block of any magical item – it only enhances enjoyment and makes fighting enemies even cooler, as your PCs try to scavenge monster-parts and then enhance their boastful stories of their exploits when drinking in the tavern.
While this pdf may be far from perfect, it is a valiant effort and contains some rather far-out and/or excellent/useful ideas.
Plus: This pdf is FREE.
Normally, I’d rate this somewhere between 2.5. and 3.5. stars, depending on the price, but come on, it’s free. Thus, my final verdict is 4 stars.
This pdf is 59 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages Necromancers of the Northwest-logo and ad, 1 page back cover, 1 page OGL and 1 page table of contents.
That leaves 52 pages of content for this file. Let’s dive in:
The pdf kicks off with an introduction on two concepts, i.e. Quasi-magical items (magical items that cost less than 2500 gp and may very well have no aura) and siege weaponry. Quasi-magical weapons have one supremely cool feature, which I’ve been using for years in my game: To construct them, you need ingredients, which are also listed. I’d love to see that more often.
Chapter 1 details armors (11 pages):
We get two new mundane armors, one medium and one heavy. We also get 3 new quasi-magical armors: One woven from clouds (think good-looking PCs and strong winds), exploding armors (essentially suicide bomber armors that deal a whopping 20d6 damage – might not be appropriate for every group and should be used with care by both PCs and NPCs…) and swarmnest armor, which transports a swarm but unfortunately lacks hard rules for the swarm – I guess that it does behave like the creatures from the bestiary and not the spell, but I’m not 100% sure.
Then, we’re off to steam-punk-county with three so-called Golem-armors, which essentially are mechas your PCs can pilot. 2 One-man armors and one that can be piloted by up to 5 PCs. I like the concept and they don’t seem to be that powerful. Might be a nice addition for some campaigns.
We get 11 new armor properties, which are interesting, but one of them, “Modular” should be flat-out disallowed. It makes it possible for PCs to change the particular enchantments for a armor every day. Flat-out OP.
After that, we get 7 specific magic armors. Notable examples would be “Iron Body”, which makes you strong but stupid for 24 hours, a rust-monster hide and a powerful armor for paladins that punishes not adhering to a VERY strict moral code. The “Rust Monster Hide” seems a little OP for low-magic/rare-magic campaigns to me, but works well in other settings.
Chapter 2 has new shields for you (4 pages):
We get two cool new quasi-magical items and 3 new shield special abilities, one of which (Insignia shield), unfortunately fails to mention how long the summoned creature stays. The next 6 new specific shields are quite useful, balanced and cool, especially the Planar Gateway Shield: One second, it’s a shield, the net second it’s your gate to another plane.
Chapter 3: Weapons (11 pages):
We get 10 new mundane weapons, all of which I liked.
7 new, quasi-magical items are included in the mix, ranging from a grappling shot over net grenades up to a whip blade. We also get 19 new specific magical weapons. I liked the ideas within, especially the “Lightning Trident”, (which should be modified to always include the wielder, though), but “Nocturne’s Fang” does not specify which potion corresponds to what kind of blood and the “Scythe of the Wretched” is op beyond belief: Once per day on a crit you are practically guaranteed to kill your enemy. If you’re lucky, this could kill just about anything.
Chapter 4 deals with new equipment (10 pages):
We get the concept of randomized potions and 4 new rings, my favorite being the “Ring of useful things” – complete with a 10ft-pole) and my least favorite being the mood ring. A suggested DC of 15 to change what a character feels? Yeah, right. We also get a new rod and the concept of the randomized wand. 16 wondrous items are up next. Some of them are really cool, e.g. the “Lens of the Sun” or the “Gem of Vision”. The rest is rather standard-fare.
Chapter 5 deals with miscellaneous items (9 pages):
The 6 new alchemical items presented are extremely cool and useful. You’ll like these. We are then introduced to 3 new so called “Living Items” – alchemically treated living organisms that range from a flower that makes you breathe water for 3 minutes and swarms-in-abottle, i.e. magebane and necrotic wasps. Good ideas there. 5 new poisons are also within these pages, from rather mundane choking/sleeping powders to the far-out polymorph poison.
We also get 7 new special materials to craft items from, favorite among which is the so-called Talectini, a symbiotic, living armor. My least favorite of the materials is Soul Steel, which is a little bit OP in my opinion.
The last chapter deals with siege weapons (6 pages):
We get short and concise rules for using siege weapons, including stats for 4 siege weapons. The chapter also has 4 special weapon abilities, 5 magical ammunitions and closes with 4 specific siege weapons.
The fonts used in this pdf are clear and concise. There are some minor editing glitches and the pdf features a brownish background, which is not perfectly printer-friendly. The fluff-texts for the chapters and comments of the vendor of those items are quite nice and, while not brilliant, they are entertaining. Art-wise, you get a picture at the beginning of each chapter, but don’t expect too much.
Conclusion:
The pdf suffers from some problems of “First Pdfs”, i.e. some glitches have slipped past and some rules could be clearer. Some of the items seemed a bit OP for my rather conservative tastes when it comes to PC-strength. However, both the siege weapons and especially the quasi-magical items are very cool: I think that suggested ingredients should be provided in the craft-stat-block of any magical item – it only enhances enjoyment and makes fighting enemies even cooler, as your PCs try to scavenge monster-parts and then enhance their boastful stories of their exploits when drinking in the tavern.
While this pdf may be far from perfect, it is a valiant effort and contains some rather far-out and/or excellent/useful ideas.
Plus: This pdf is FREE.
Normally, I’d rate this somewhere between 2.5. and 3.5. stars, depending on the price, but come on, it’s free. Thus, my final verdict is 4 stars.
