John Cooper
Explorer
LEGENDS OF SORCERY: GEMS
By Charles Rice
RPGObjects product number RPO4501
16-page PDF, $2.50
Legends of Sorcery: Gems is a short little PDF that expands onto the spellcasting material from Legends of Sorcery (see my separate review on that product). As such, you'll need to have Legends of Sorcery so you'll know how the spellcasting works in this PDF, as the Legends line uses a different spellcasting mechanic than standard d20 fantasy games do.
The cover art is by Jeremy Simmons, and except for the title, it's the same as the cover to Legends of Sorcery (a much-needed cost-saving measure, no doubt). It's a nice cover, if nothing elaborate.
The interior artwork is once again by Joseph Wigfield (who's done most, if not all, of the artwork I've seen in RPGObjects' products), but this time it's limited to a single black-and-white illustration on page 4 of a nearly-nude female spellcaster, presumably a nature-oriented geomancer. It's a tastefully done piece (she's covered in all the right places, if just barely), although personally I don't find a piercing stud just below the bottom lip to be particularly "nature-oriented" and could easily have done without it.
With only 13 pages of actual material to work with, Charles manages to fit in two new character classes (the jeweler and the geomancer; more about them later), two new skills (Craft (gemcutting) and Craft (jeweler)), 5 new spells, a section on gem quality, cut, and size, and then finally specific properties of 20 different real-world gems, detailing how they can be used to magically enhance weapons, armor, jewelry, clothing, wands, staffs, rods, or spells.
However, as much as I hate to say it, this "gem" book didn't receive nearly as much "polishing" as it needed. (So sue me, I went for the cheap pun.) Errors abounded throughout the PDF, mostly in the realms of incorrect punctuation and spacing, ignoring standard d20 conventions like italicizing spell names and capitalizing skill names, some very obvious "copy-and-past" errors (like a section where the jeweler is referred to as "the artificer," one of the classes from Legends of Sorcery), and at least one place where something was apparently renamed during the course of writing the PDF and they didn't change all of the "old names." Also, what do you make of the number "2,5500" from page 9? I'm guessing there's simply one "5" too many there, as "25,500" seems too high given the context.
Worse yet, the PDF isn't even completed. Both of the new classes use the geomancer spell list (this is not unusual in the Legends line; quite a few spellcasting classes have their own spell lists), but the geomancer spell list is not present anywhere in the PDF! I'd imagine that anyone wanting to run a jeweler or geomancer PC is going to be hurting just a little bit by the fact that he's not sure what spells his PC can cast. (Besides the 5 new spells included in the PDF, that is - but I sure hope those aren't the only spells available to him!)
Some of the material in Legends of Sorcery: Gems is of questionable utility, too. To pick on the poor geomancer again, one of his class abilities is "stonefist," which enables him to make his fist as hard as a rock for up to 15 rounds. During this time, he can fight unarmed without provoking attacks of opportunity, and deals various die sizes of damage depending upon how valuable a gemstone he drains (and makes worthless). Here's where the trouble lies: the gemstone values range from 4,000 gp (which allows the geomancer to punch for 1d4 points of damage with his fist) to 12,000 gp (which bumps damage up to 1d12 points of damage). I ask you, what geomancer in his right mind is going to waste a 12,000 gp gemstone for a mere 15 rounds of 1d12-point punches, when he could simply invest in a permanent magic item? If he's so gung-ho on punching people, how about a +1 amulet of mighty fists (DMG, pp. 246-247) for a mere 6,000 gp? That'll get him a +1 to attacks and damage with his unarmed strikes for the rest of his life, whereas the same 6,000 gp spent on the "stonefist" class ability gets him 1d6 points of damage for up to 15 rounds (depending upon his level), and then that money's gone. Stonefist needed some more time in development, I think.
Likewise with one of the new spells, exploding crystal. It's a 4th-level spell that lets me throw a gem at my opponents, which I've charged with energy (kind of like Gambit of the X-Men with his playing cards, I guess) and which will explode, doing a variable amount of damage depending upon how valuable a gem I used. Again, the cost is somewhat exorbitant: if I use a gem worth 1,000 gp, I deal a whopping 1 point per caster level, maximum level 10; I can also opt to use a gem as valuable as 12,000 gp that'll cause 1d12 points of damage/level to my enemies. Here's where I'm left scratching my head: for 6,750 gp, I can purchase a caster level 9 wand of magic missiles that will shoot 5 missiles with each charge, each missile doing 1d4+1 points of damage, and with a total of 50 charges, for a maximum damage potential of 1,250 points of damage (with no save on top of everything else!). For 6,000 gp, using the exploding crystal spell, I can cause up to 10d6 points of damage to my opponents (who get to save for half damage), for a maximum damage potential of 60 points of damage. To make casting the spell worthwhile, I'd need to have at least 21 enemies (with guaranteed poor Reflex saves) all standing within a 20-ft. radius. I don't know about you, but I think this spell needs some major rework!
The last 5 pages of the PDF are where most of the best material in Legends of Sorcery: Gems is to be found. That's where 20 gems are examined in detail, with specifics about what magical properties they will imbue various items (this ties in with the jeweler class, who specializes in imbuing items with power via gemstones). These make for an interesting read, and if nothing else might come in handy when designing magic items for your own campaign.
I usually enjoy Legends PDFs much more than I enjoyed this one, but then it usually seems as if a lot more effort went into them before they were put on the market. There are some interesting ideas in Legends of Sorcery: Gems, but this is by no means the "gem" of the Legends line. In fact, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give my first RPGObjects product a "2 (Poor)" with this one. I can only hope that this material will get some serious rework, and that we can expect better from future products in the line.
By Charles Rice
RPGObjects product number RPO4501
16-page PDF, $2.50
Legends of Sorcery: Gems is a short little PDF that expands onto the spellcasting material from Legends of Sorcery (see my separate review on that product). As such, you'll need to have Legends of Sorcery so you'll know how the spellcasting works in this PDF, as the Legends line uses a different spellcasting mechanic than standard d20 fantasy games do.
The cover art is by Jeremy Simmons, and except for the title, it's the same as the cover to Legends of Sorcery (a much-needed cost-saving measure, no doubt). It's a nice cover, if nothing elaborate.
The interior artwork is once again by Joseph Wigfield (who's done most, if not all, of the artwork I've seen in RPGObjects' products), but this time it's limited to a single black-and-white illustration on page 4 of a nearly-nude female spellcaster, presumably a nature-oriented geomancer. It's a tastefully done piece (she's covered in all the right places, if just barely), although personally I don't find a piercing stud just below the bottom lip to be particularly "nature-oriented" and could easily have done without it.
With only 13 pages of actual material to work with, Charles manages to fit in two new character classes (the jeweler and the geomancer; more about them later), two new skills (Craft (gemcutting) and Craft (jeweler)), 5 new spells, a section on gem quality, cut, and size, and then finally specific properties of 20 different real-world gems, detailing how they can be used to magically enhance weapons, armor, jewelry, clothing, wands, staffs, rods, or spells.
However, as much as I hate to say it, this "gem" book didn't receive nearly as much "polishing" as it needed. (So sue me, I went for the cheap pun.) Errors abounded throughout the PDF, mostly in the realms of incorrect punctuation and spacing, ignoring standard d20 conventions like italicizing spell names and capitalizing skill names, some very obvious "copy-and-past" errors (like a section where the jeweler is referred to as "the artificer," one of the classes from Legends of Sorcery), and at least one place where something was apparently renamed during the course of writing the PDF and they didn't change all of the "old names." Also, what do you make of the number "2,5500" from page 9? I'm guessing there's simply one "5" too many there, as "25,500" seems too high given the context.
Worse yet, the PDF isn't even completed. Both of the new classes use the geomancer spell list (this is not unusual in the Legends line; quite a few spellcasting classes have their own spell lists), but the geomancer spell list is not present anywhere in the PDF! I'd imagine that anyone wanting to run a jeweler or geomancer PC is going to be hurting just a little bit by the fact that he's not sure what spells his PC can cast. (Besides the 5 new spells included in the PDF, that is - but I sure hope those aren't the only spells available to him!)
Some of the material in Legends of Sorcery: Gems is of questionable utility, too. To pick on the poor geomancer again, one of his class abilities is "stonefist," which enables him to make his fist as hard as a rock for up to 15 rounds. During this time, he can fight unarmed without provoking attacks of opportunity, and deals various die sizes of damage depending upon how valuable a gemstone he drains (and makes worthless). Here's where the trouble lies: the gemstone values range from 4,000 gp (which allows the geomancer to punch for 1d4 points of damage with his fist) to 12,000 gp (which bumps damage up to 1d12 points of damage). I ask you, what geomancer in his right mind is going to waste a 12,000 gp gemstone for a mere 15 rounds of 1d12-point punches, when he could simply invest in a permanent magic item? If he's so gung-ho on punching people, how about a +1 amulet of mighty fists (DMG, pp. 246-247) for a mere 6,000 gp? That'll get him a +1 to attacks and damage with his unarmed strikes for the rest of his life, whereas the same 6,000 gp spent on the "stonefist" class ability gets him 1d6 points of damage for up to 15 rounds (depending upon his level), and then that money's gone. Stonefist needed some more time in development, I think.
Likewise with one of the new spells, exploding crystal. It's a 4th-level spell that lets me throw a gem at my opponents, which I've charged with energy (kind of like Gambit of the X-Men with his playing cards, I guess) and which will explode, doing a variable amount of damage depending upon how valuable a gem I used. Again, the cost is somewhat exorbitant: if I use a gem worth 1,000 gp, I deal a whopping 1 point per caster level, maximum level 10; I can also opt to use a gem as valuable as 12,000 gp that'll cause 1d12 points of damage/level to my enemies. Here's where I'm left scratching my head: for 6,750 gp, I can purchase a caster level 9 wand of magic missiles that will shoot 5 missiles with each charge, each missile doing 1d4+1 points of damage, and with a total of 50 charges, for a maximum damage potential of 1,250 points of damage (with no save on top of everything else!). For 6,000 gp, using the exploding crystal spell, I can cause up to 10d6 points of damage to my opponents (who get to save for half damage), for a maximum damage potential of 60 points of damage. To make casting the spell worthwhile, I'd need to have at least 21 enemies (with guaranteed poor Reflex saves) all standing within a 20-ft. radius. I don't know about you, but I think this spell needs some major rework!
The last 5 pages of the PDF are where most of the best material in Legends of Sorcery: Gems is to be found. That's where 20 gems are examined in detail, with specifics about what magical properties they will imbue various items (this ties in with the jeweler class, who specializes in imbuing items with power via gemstones). These make for an interesting read, and if nothing else might come in handy when designing magic items for your own campaign.
I usually enjoy Legends PDFs much more than I enjoyed this one, but then it usually seems as if a lot more effort went into them before they were put on the market. There are some interesting ideas in Legends of Sorcery: Gems, but this is by no means the "gem" of the Legends line. In fact, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give my first RPGObjects product a "2 (Poor)" with this one. I can only hope that this material will get some serious rework, and that we can expect better from future products in the line.
