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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Krug" data-source="post: 2009354" data-attributes="member: 2141">When a self-depreciating post promoting Joe's Book of Enchantment popped up on the d20 publishers' forum, nobody knew what to make of it. What was this product about? It didn't sound too enticing, and the rather unexciting title gave the impression that it was some product thrown together by a redneck with spare time on his hands and a PDF distiller. Well rest your fears, because JBOE is a solid product that succeeds in fleshing out the enchanter. It's all text, discounting an illustration of two bottles, spans 66 pages and costs $5. Chapter 1 gives a rundown on playing enchanters. There are suggestions on the campaigns that'll bring out the skills of the enchanter (those high in political intrigue), suggestions for choosing the opposed school and a quick study of enchantment spells. It’s well worth perusing, as JBOE expands the ideas of what constitutes Enchantment and how it should be handled.Chapter 2: Skills, gives a rundown on how to use existing Skills for different purposes. Joe has refused the easy path of creating a bevy of new skills and throwing them into the supplement. Also introduced are Social Composite Skills, which rely on a base skill. It’s a questionable mechanic, but interesting nonetheless. Chapter 3: Feats presents several new feats, such as Hypnotism and Permanent Charm. Also introduced are Feat Templates, which are basically a structure for creating new and balanced feats. Useful reference for would be new feat writers.Chapter 4: Prestige Classes introduces 8 Prestige Classes. Animal Tamer, Charlatan, Disenchanter, Fear Eater, Fey Disciple, Hand of Jherana (a monk class that uses enchantment), Reveler and the True Enchanter. They’re well thought out and as an added bonus, there’s a minimum path guide to show how a character would make their way to the PrC. The Fear Eater (humanoids that feed on fear) and the Reveler (a bard based class that even attracts groupies), are especially intriguing.Chapter 5: Spells presents more than 60 new spells. The Enchantment school has the fewest spells in the PHB, and JBOE has come up with many new spells to expand the selection. Some interesting ones include Anathema (one act becomes repulsive to the affected), Mundane (the subject can no longer use spell-like abilities) and that’s just a start. I would say this is the best section of the books; they definitely add a lot to the Enchanter. Chapter 6: Magic Items presents items such as charm tokens and a plethora of magic items that employ enchantment effects. Chapter 7: Monsters introduces new monsters, including nymphs and a Half-Fey template. Chapter 8: NPCs and Organizations introduces sample enchanters and examples of those using the Prestige Classes in Chapter 4. There's even an animal trainer with a purple worm 'Pet', nicknamed Wubbly. There are two Organizations featured; The Church of Jherana and The Circus of the Crescent Moon. The latter is particularly interesting, and both come with stats of notable figures in the organization.Chapter 9: Odds and Ends features aromatics, which grant potion-like effects, new 'Conditions' or mental states bought about by Enchantment effects and new spell descriptors.For me, an exceptional product makes me want to use the material contained therein, and this book definitely has succeeded. It’s very well-thought out, the writer is very familiar with game rules and the material strives to be balanced. I would have preferred more illustrations, but that’s a minor point. Given the title, I wasn't expecting a supplement this good. I'd give it a 4.5 since there are minor typos and the lack of illustrations, but I'd bump it to a 5 considering the price. The most important thing about this supplement is the wealth of ideas and a fresh approach to a much-ignored magical school. Hopefully it won’t take another year for Throwing Dice Games to produce their next work.</blockquote>

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