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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 2009492" data-attributes="member: 2209">Joe's Book of Enchantment is a $5.00 66 page electronic pdf sourcebook on enchantment magic. The book mainly focuses on providing a lot of new rules material. New uses for old skills, optional new skills and types of skills, new feats, bardic music, alcohol poisoning rules, prestige classes, spells, magic items, alchemical items, monsters, sample NPCs and organizations, and some general discussion of enchantment magic.The type is small and tight and care has been made so that sidebar and table shading does not overlap if two sided printing is used. There is a single small black and white graphic of two potion bottles and there is no border or cover image. Overall it is well laid out in standard two column format with clear headings and subheadings breaking up the text. It lacks any electronic bookmarks common to pdfs but has a thorough table of contents on the front page.The book starts off discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the enchantment school of magic, the various opposition school options for the enchanter specialist wizard and enchantment spells. Included here is an analysis of standard spells the author feels have been misclassified based on their saving throw or type of effect.Most of the new skills chapter deals with new uses for charisma based skills and skills that can become part of a performance. A new rules set for composite skills is introduced here, suggesting that for certain activities where multiple skills could apply, the character be allowed their choice of skills to apply. As an optional rule it is suggested that characters be able to take ranks in composite skills so that there can be expert hagglers or seducers who are not also masters at the base skills. Composite skills seemed to be a mechanical award for specializing in individual skills over splitting your ranks in multiple applicable ones, and given the limited number of skill points for characters I am a little torn on whether that is a good or bad mechanism to implement. Finally, issue command is an optional class skill for spell casters to replace the straight Charisma roll in establishing dominant conflicting enchantment orders. Later in the feats section, another new optional skill hypnotize is presented as a variant instead of bluff for the new Hypnosis feat.I like the feats section a lot. Permanent Charm, for example, fills a literature and RPG role well. There are 24 new feats and a suggested revision for skill focus. Some of these may be on the high end of power, however, and I would suggest DM care in deciding which ones to allow. For instance, Augmented Spellcasting provides two extra levels for all caster checks and stacks with itself and Spell Penetration. This is better in every way than Spell Penetration since it works against dispels as well and stacks. A few make specific skills class skills in addition to providing another bonus. Eleven of these feats are general magical ones that are not specific to enchantment or persuasion and 13 which are only applicable to enchantment magic and persuasion abilities.Feat templates are an excellent idea providing guidelines for creating balanced feats applicable to most game features. Three templates are provided, Extra Uses (how many extra uses per time period a class/feat/innate ability a feat can increase based on how often the base power can normally be used), Increased Bonus (bumping feats that grant a single +2 bonus to +4), and Paired Skills for all those +2 to this and +2 to that skills. 68 enchantment spells are presented ranging from cantrips to 9th level. Mostly these are for wizard/sorcerers but there are also a number for bards, clerics, druids, rangers, paladins, adepts and assassins. In addition there are three new domains: charm, domination, and hatred. None of the spells are capped by number of hit dice affected and most are of the save or be crippled in some way type, although there are a number of morale based buffing spells. Again, some seem on the high end of power levels, such as the fourth level stupidity, a feeblemind that only lasts hours, or cripple, a second level permanent duration spell that makes the opponent think he is paralyzed from the waist down. I found the instantaneous exhaustion spells that mentally make the target fatigued or exhausted to be an ill fit to enchantment magic, but the enchantment fear spells seemed a good development showing that some effects can be produced differently by multiple schools of spells. The new magic items chapter introduces a new type of item, charm tokens. A charm token is a figurine with a single enchantment spell which is unleashed upon the first person besides its creator who touches it. Sort of a spell trap potion which is unlimited in level. Also introduced are magic item abilities that can be added to any item for a percentage increase to the base cost. The five abilities are guarded, hardened, plain, resistant, and self readying with percentage increases ranging from 20 to 60 percent.Of the 37 new items or magic item abilities, my favorite is the clay figurine on which a spellcaster stores enchantment counterspells causing a limb of the figurine to swell for each spell. When a spell is counterspelled, the limb goes back to normal but has a chance to shatter. It is a cool sympathetic magic item that evoked neat images for me. At the end of the book aromatics are introduced, perfumes made with alchemy that affect all but the wearer in a short radius for a number of hours. Of the 15 presented, only insect repellant seemed like it would not affect the wearer, so these seemed more appropriate to me as new potion or wondrous item types of magical creations.There are eight new prestige classes presented, most with 10 levels:Animal Trainers: Have their own minor spell lists and are focused on magical abilities dealing with raising animals. Seemed very appropriate for fey or nature focused spellcasters but mundane people qualify easily.Charlatan: Magical con artists with their own spells and supernatural abilities, again, seemed great for fey trickster archetypes but mundane rogues qualify easiest.Disenchanter: High level court security mage. Five levels and gains four out of five spellcasting advancement. They gain detection, protection, and dispel abilities for enchantments and illusions. This fills a campaign niche for why it can be tough to get at a ruler who has high level magical henchmen.Fear Eater: A humanoid shaman type powered by fear and negative energy. They have neat rituals that require the subjects to participate for hours and make saves to get buffed. I like the class, but the requirements are oriented to pure warriors who happen to have very high wisdom.Fey Disciple: People chosen by fey who gain abilities based upon terrain type and choices from a list of fey abilities. I like the class flavor, abilities, and choices this prc offers. Hand of Jherana: Cleric/monks with mind-affecting martial art strikes. A very cool class that due to the religion it is from is not that appropriate for PCs.Reveler: Party bards with carousing style abilities and 2/3 bard spell casting. Introduces three new types of bard music, including a very powerful 20 rank prerequisite inspire legend ability.True Enchanter: High level dedicated enchanter specialist. Five levels with full spellcasting and abilities at every level for an extra opposition school cost. The prerequisite of never having used a 4th or higher level spell of that school seemed a poor balance mechanic to my tastes.Sample NPCs for each of the classes and some organizations and plot hooks flesh out the classes. Jherana is a goddess who takes an active role in the lives of her followers and demands absolute unquestioning obedience to her will and to superiors in the church hierarchy. To join, petitioners must do increasingly personally repugnant acts ordered by the church or the goddess to demonstrate their unquestioning obedience. She offers the domination domain and seems like a good villain organization, but I do not forsee many players wanting to join her faith. There is a neat little plot presented with a humanoid tribe and political/religious schisms.Many of the others did not really grab me, such as the traveling reveler circus and the NPC histories for the sample charlatan and animal trainer, although I found Wubbly the awakened baby purple worm amusing.For the nine new monsters there are five fey, with most being new kinds of Greek style (as opposed to D&D standard) nymphs rounded out with  a bigger than colossal peaceful glade where a fey has merged with the land (including rules for colossal + N creatures). There is a brain digger which brought back 1e death vermin memories, and two outsiders, one a minor mischief demon, the other, task hound, is a servant of Jherana in the form of a lawful giant golden retriever. Finally there is a half fey template which shrinks a creature one size category (usually), changes its HD to d6s, and gives them charming, traveling, and defensive abilities. The monsters are interesting but I was left wanting more of a description/background for them, particularly the nymphs.There is a lot of good material in this book. I would modify a bunch of it before implementing in my own campaign, but there are plenty of good ideas and material to work with even for most things I do not like the exact execution presented. I particularly liked the feat templates and Jherana has grown on me as a villain I would like to see thrown down. The book of enchantment is a solid supplement for both those looking to add more options for enchantment magic as well as for general magical and campaign material.</blockquote>

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