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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2011952" data-attributes="member: 1129">When looking over new review products, one is Legends of the Samurai. I looked over the old Legends of Excalibur and realized that I hadn’t done a review of it before. Part of the reason was that I received it for Ennies and review and well, the Ennies were more important at the time. With a little more free time on hand, and to act as an example of where the author is coming from, I decided the time was good for a review of Legends of Excalibur.Unlike Relics & Rituals Excalibur, this book provides you with historical earth as it’s background setting. It provides you with maps, characters and a new magic system. It makes some chances to the d20 system to handle wizards casting fireballs and other high fantasy elements that might not be appropriate for a d20 Arthurian campaign.Broken up into six chapters, Legends of Excalibur clocks in at 160 black and white pages for $29.95. A little expensive for a book of that size, but not unheard of. The interior covers are used and are in full color, providing maps of several important locals including the city of Yorke, Cameliard, Orkney Islands, the Known World, the town of Caerleon, Sir Ector’s Realm, and Tintagel. Interior art appears to be all public works which to be honest, isn’t my favorite type. I didn’t like it in the Atlas books and I’m not crazy about them here. The book includes a single page table of contents but lacks an index. Layout is standard two-columns. Many sections are introduced with quotes from various sources like Idylls of the King or Le Morte d’Arthur.The book starts off with the idea of bloodlines. In some ways, these are similar to backgrounds from other games. They range from criminal to middle class to royalty with ability adjustments and favored class modifiers. Bonus feats come from limited lists and also include other traits like bonuses to skill checks, and information on starting funds. In addition, characters can have an optional nationality that can provide things ranging from extra favored classes to class skills.The Player’s Handbook classes aren’t worthless though. Notes are provided for those classes which are appropriate, including those which aren’t appropriate like the paladin, surprisingly enough to the sorcerer and wizard. So how do you make up for some of those missing elements?You’re provided with new core classes. Some of these help fill out middle age elements like the Fool, Minstrel, and Skald, to fighting appropriate men like the Knight and Yeoman. Others fill in the missing spellcasters like the Hedge Mage and Priest. Each one is fully listed at twenty levels and includes all special abilities. Some of them would easily work in a standard d20 campaign but others would probably be out of place due to their limited fighting or survival if you will, options.The Noble here is a bit of a religious figure in that they are beyond the common man. This includes many abilities that might be attributed to the Paladin in other systems like an Aura of Courage that makes them immune to fear or Divine Wrath, similar to the ability of a Paladin’s Smite.Prestige classes are focused towards the flavor of the game. Take the Alchemist or an old favorite, the Berserker who can share space with the Changeling, a master of animal shape changing, or the Court Mage. Others are specialized versions of core classes like the Crusader or the Quest Knight, while some capture classic elements like the Enchantressess or Lady of the Lake.It’s a good mix of new core classes and PrCs that allows the GM to throw in individuals like the Black Knight or hermit recluse Saints, to various Spectral Knights like the famous Green Knight.When looking at a new setting, there are often new skills and feats. We don’t get a lot of new feats here, just Prophecy, with a listing of DCs to forecast events in the near future ranging from 24 hours to 4 days or more but requiring very high checks to do so.On the other hand, there are several new feats. These ranging from Dark Heritage where the mage’s spell DCs are increased by 1, to Heritage of Nobility, where the character gets a bonus to his Nobility score. These 1st level feats are similar to Talents from Arcana Unearthed or Regional Feats from the Forgotten Realms.Thankfully, the author didn’t do a half-job with the feats. See, it uses a different spell system, one that relies on points and so it notes what effects the metamagic feats undergo like Extend Spell has a +2 spell point cost while Maximize Spell is increased by +6 points.So I’ve mentioned Nobility. It has a base range, determined by your blood line and then is modified by the transgressions you commit or the virtues you follow. Some of these are obvious like dishonesty or cowardice while others might not be so accepted, like violence. Thankfully, the virtues are also relatively simple, like honesty and bravery, but also others like gentleness.Some other ideas like Renown and Allegiances are present and many sample allegiances are listed, such as Code of Chivalry and Oath of Silence. These alliances have game effects and when broken, game effects that are harsher than the benefits gained.Other ideas include Fate and Destiny Points. A player can pick a fate or so for himself, but then the GM selects his destiny. When the player spends his fate points, the GM gets destiny points that he can use to insure that the character’s destiny comes to pass. Like action points, the higher the character’s level, the more dice he rolls. Unlike action points though, this is a sum value, not the highest die.For those looking for more role playing value for their characters, Knightly Orders are a good step. These details include a brief background section, as well as prerequisites and benefits. Perfect for the GM wishing to provide enemies or allies to a new group of knightly players.While a few items and weapons are included, more space is provided for mount traits and includes various rankings of mounts, ranging from bag of bones to noble steed, each like a mini-template, to mount traits, ranging from being skinny, to tough as nails.One thing I’m not sure is needed, but makes sense overall, is the material on Epic Level Characters, including all of the core classes and PrCs and even many Epic Feats.It’s only when we get to Chapter Two, that we get to magic. Characters gain spell points based on level and a spell’s cost is depending not only on the spell level, but also the caster’s level. This is a matrix like the player level against the monster’s CR. For example, a 1st level caster needs 12 spell points to cast a 2nd level spell, while a 20th level caster only needs to spend 2 points. Rules for how spell points are recovered, as well as how different sources of power effect spellcasting, are included. These are different for different characters, which is a nice touch. Why should a hermit, who gains fewer spell points in the city, have the same type of recovery as a priest, who gains more when on Hallowed Ground?Spells for the new characters include several standard PHB ones like Cat’s Grace and Knock, but are missing the Evocation or “Boom” style spells. This doesn’t mean that higher level mages are easy to destroy however as the Power Word spells are still here and mages still have a lot of versatility.New spells are included that capture the feel of the setting. These range from Gawaine’s Morning Star, where the spellcaster continues to gain strength as the sun rises and then loses strength as the sun sets. Other spells focus on the spell point system effecting how the character gains or loses spell points.Chapter Three is perhaps the biggest departure from R&R: Excalibur. Here, we get a decent background to Arthurian Legend with ‘historical’ details and a gazetteer, as well as a ‘Who’s Who’ in Arthruian England, Chapter Four continues that departure by providing several locations and black and white maps, the same as the full color ones on the interior cover, but here, we get the details of what’s in those locations. These are brief details but provide a good grounding for any GM or player looking to start an Arthurian game. Role playing notes include ideas on how to run quests and campaigns and incorporate things from campaign set-ups to recurring themes and supporting cast. Opinions on how to use Arthurian campaigns, ranging from following ‘cannon’ to deviating highly from it, are introduced, along with a sample campaign, the Childhood of Arthur.So after that’s out of the way, we move back to game mechanics. Here we get things ranging from armor and shield special ability descriptions to specific armors and weapons. Not all of these are swords though as we have things like Albion’s Bane, a battle axe that’s a giant bane and against those giant’s of Albion’s Bloodline, the weapon does even more damage. Of course no sourcebook on this era or time period, would be complete without it’s own version of Excalibur or the Holy Grail.The last chapter, Bestiary, includes notes on monsters appropriate from the  Monster Manual, to several new monsters. These monsters are not illustrated and don’t include the general descriptions, but are 3.5 game terms including modifiers for armor class and details on base attack, full attack, number of squares in addition to movement listings, and level adjustment, when appropriate. This is a much different book than Relics & Rituals Excalibur. It takes the Arthurian myths and brings them into the D&D game and provides game stats for them, as well as a world for them to live in. It provides a new spell system and by eliminating inappropriate spells, is very true to the setting.</blockquote>

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