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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8255085" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/sm2JXU3.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The final chapter of Beowulf: Age of Heroes is also the longest, culminating in 65 pages before hitting an Appendix. Granted, a fair portion of the chapter is artwork and stat blocks, so this Let’s Read Entry may not be as long as it ordinarily would be. The authors drew inspiration from the poem itself as well as other contemporary writings, folktales, and oral traditions of the region and era. The text prioritizes using the Old English spelling of a monster’s name, along with modern names and spellings. The book’s bestiary functions more or less the same as other 5e sourcebooks, with a few key differences.1. Monsters can gain Inspiration thanks to the Monster Pool, so some special abilities require them to spend it.2. Every monster has a sample list of Gifts and Burdens to adjust their difficulty. Some of them are significant enough to change their Challenge Rating, which in turn can affect their Proficiency Bonus. In such a case, variable entries for relevant categories are given.3. Every monster has a brief list of how the Defeated condition can be imposed upon them. The vast majority can suffer this by dipping below a certain HP value, but some other effects are given as well.4. Barring the entries for human enemies, every monster also has discussion of how they can become the Monster and thus Undefeatable in an adventure. 1-2 means of overcoming this condition are also provided for GM inspiration.5. Monsters are sorted alphabetically by category, said categories being folkloric rather than by typical 5e monster type. Within those categories, individual monster entries are organized alphabetically.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/pHUfLy4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ceorlcund are creatures who are seemingly human but possessed of obvious monstrous disposition, or were once human that trafficked in dark magic or fell prey to a curse that twisted them on the inside. Galdre are sorcerers who gained immortal status but at the cost of turning into barely-living husks held together by shadows. They can inflict harm with but a gaze, and they have the most Gifts of any monster by far with a wide selection of magical features: plunging an area into darkness, teleport a la Misty Step, change a creature’s size, charm creatures, etc. Haegtes, or Fury-Witches, can afflict people of any gender and most commonly befall humans who become obsessed with an all-consuming hatred. They are very much melee-based fighters who can enter a barbarian-style rage and have natural claw attacks, and their Gifts include those of the Galdre’s Magical Features as well as others such as a Climb speed, the ability to take on a magical illusion, and mimicking other sounds and voices. Healfhundingas, or Wulvers, are dog-headed humanoids who live in their own communities but are capable of peaceful interactions with humans. Conflict is most common when some outside Monster corrupts a Wulver leader with its fell influence as well as the typical troubles of land disputes, religious conflict with the Church, and famine reducing many to raiding. Hreoplings, or Screamers, are short humanoids who shout in an incomprehensible language. Some have knowledge of primal earth magic that can elevate some of their number to undead forms, which is a Gift. They seem to be perpetual wanderers and outcasts, inevitably coming into conflict when humans settle in their territory.Healfhundingas and Hreoplings are the stereotypical fractional CR humanoids with few natural abilities. Their Gifts are reflective of this in giving them better weapons, increased Strength, and more HD and thus Hit Points, although the Hreoplings have some more supernatural Gifts like Grave Travel where they can teleport between barrow-mounds (provided they’re undead).<img src="https://i.imgur.com/USBy16t.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Deofol are fiends who are most active at night and of relatively unknown origin. Nihtgengas, or night-demons, hunt for unguarded humans at night to strangle to death, and their stat block and Gifts reflect them as being stealthy ambush predators. Sceadugenga, or shadow-walkers, are gaunt Huge-sized four-armed fiends who kidnap people to draw into dark mists never to be seen again. They are large bruisers who exude a poisonous stech and whose limbs can be individually attacked, and their Gifts tend to enhance their natural attacks.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/M1UXTri.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Eotenas are lesser giants who are far shorter than their true Gigantas brethren but are still notably bigger and stronger than humans. Ogres are obese humanoids who crave the taste of human flesh and are possessed of a desire to rule over an area, which makes them tyrants of humanity and bitter foes towards their own kind. Trolls are dumber than ogres and don’t possess any pretense of civilization and act more akin to two-legged animals. Both of them are pretty close to their standard 5e stat blocks in mechanics, although trolls have a connection to water which can be incorporated as a weakness when they’re the Monster of the story.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/4XQL6Pf.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Firas are regular human enemies shorn of any special features. They include the ever-iconic Bandits and Raiders who at CR 1/8th are perhaps the weakest enemies in this chapter. What separates them is that raiders’ weapons and Gifts tend to emphasize mobility and long-reach weapons, while bandits are more generic long-seax wielding melee brutes.For those of a more proper challenge, we start with the well-armed but ultimately cowardly Braggarts who become easily Defeated if they suffer the Frightened condition or have no allies within sight at the start of their turn. The Fallen once served a ruler who they outlived, considered a dishonorable fate in Anglo-Saxon culture; they are pretty tough CR 2 enemies with an AC 17 and a Parry that can add +2 to that value, and their Beaded Axes and Angons can render a foe weapon or shieldless on a critical hit. Oathbreakers are the lowest of the low and are held together as roving societies of violent outcasts motivated by material survival, which makes them all the more vicious with Multiattacks and their swords and war bows. Finally, Schemers are basically wannabe Wormtongues who sow strife in communities with their words. They possess magical amulets which grant them resistance to normal weapon damage and can succeed at a saving throw 2/day, and can pronounce words of doom and destruction which can impart psychic damage; they’re remarkably easy to Defeat, which happens if they fail a DC 10 Charisma save in combat when they take any amount of damage.One other thing I noticed in the Fira entry. Some Gifts allow a human to be mounted, granting them advantage on melee attack rolls against unmounted creatures (this also exists as a Gift for followers). Directly attacking a horse is considered unheroic and if the Hero does it or orders a Follower to do so they impose the Troubled Condition on their Followers. In my Northlands Saga review I also happened to notice a similar setting reluctance in exposing horses to danger. With the help of a Norwegian friend we found <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_horse_in_Britain#Roman_Britain_to_the_Norman_Conquest" target="_blank">a Wikipedia article </a> that lent some credence to this. They were primarily used for transportation and held religious significance among the pagan communities. There is evidence of them being used in combat and in some rare cases being slaughtered for meat, however, suggesting that people still manage to find exceptions.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/iNJVyGb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Gigantas are true giants who live at the edge of the world. Although huge and powerful they are none too smart. One-eyed Giants are remnants of a formerly-great civilization who now exist as but a few tribes within the Dark Forest. Two-Headed Giants have better natural vision and can be cleverer on account that two heads are literally better than one for scheming. Both monsters are rather standard middle-CR Huge melee brutes, but they have a good assortment of Gifts that can enhance their combat prowess.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/ngZPJJM.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Gryrefugol are ‘evil birds’ with likely supernatural origins. Eormenultur are horse-sized beasts with bronze beaks (or iron beaks and even metal feathers as Gifts) who are nimble fliers, while the Nihthroc (night-ravens) are said to be spies for the Old Gods and thus only come out at night. The latter birds are not very strong, being CR 1/4th creatures. They do have advantage on sight-based Perception checks and can perfectly recall any detail in the last 24 hours.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/tdUlaOj.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Mererunan are mighty creatures of the sea, natural and otherwise. The hwael and kraken have the Siege Monster ability, where they deal double damage to objects and structures which makes them deadly against ships. Hwael are mundane yet still dangerous whales, and those of a more evil disposition have been known to pose their backs as false islands to then sink and drown sailors once they set afoot (this is one of its Gifts). The Kraken is lower-CR than its Monster Manual counterpart but it is still a giant tentacular horror who can spurt a blinding, poisonous ink cloud. Its Gifts can grant it Legendary Resistance and actions along with immunity to non-magical non-energy damage sources among other things. Rounding out this section is the low-CR Nicor, humanoids who can transform into seals via a special skin cloak. They sometimes marry humans during times of peace, and it is said that they are the sworn enemies of sea dragons and their spears are designed to cut through their hides.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gwbteeN.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Orcneas are the walking dead, souls cursed or voluntarily tasked with staying in the mortal world until certain preconditions are fulfilled. The Dreag are revenants obsessed with accomplishing some purpose in life; in a few cases it can be an honourable one for Heroes to assist, but sometimes their good intentions are warped or they rise to perform wicked ends instead. They are CR ½ undead who can Multiattack and fight with shield and spear. Heags are tomb guardians who patrol ruins and barrow mounds; they are well-equipped with ornate armor fashioned during more prosperous ages, manifesting in a high 20 AC. They are very much endurance/defense focused undead, regenerating hit points when inside their burial area, can avoid dropping to 0 HP vs non-radiant and non-critical damage on a successful CON save, and can Parry to raise their AC as a reaction. Some of their Gifts include Magical Features to boot.Mearcstapa, or March-Steppers, are mist-like undead with disproportionately-stretched bodies. They are said to arise when a corpse is not given a proper burial or who are disturbed from such a rest, being forced to wander the world. They can Multiattack with a great spear and and make a retaliatory reaction attack, and they are constantly surrounded by mists granting them obscurement vs ranged attacks. Some of their Gifts boost their combat abilities directly, but they also get the ability to create a magical disguise or expand their personal fog into a larger radius.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/KJp6ua4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Wideor are mundane animals of the land, detailing bears and wolves. They are similar to their monster manual entries, but can become Monsters via supernatural interference. We also learn that the word Aarth, the proper Anglo-Saxon name for bears, is bad luck to say in the belief that it summons them. Instead they’re called Bera, the brown one, instead. And instead of stats for normal wolves, we have Evil Wolves who live in the darkest reaches of the Forest, possessed of uncanny intellect and are known to be the pets and servants of more powerful evil creatures. They are akin to dire wolves statwise but have 9 Intelligence and can speak the Trader’s Tongue.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/30kRj1B.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Wyrmas are to dragons what ogres and trolls are to true giants: poor excuses for their mightier brethren, but still dangerous to most humans. Wyrmas are serpents who make their lairs in the wilderness and are mostly of animal intelligence. They are prominent in Biblical folklore, and those who are throwbacks to the serpent who tempted Eve have sapience and speak the tongues of humans, manifesting in a Gift of the same abilities along with the ability to charm targets who fail a Wisdom save. Otherwise, the Snaca and Merenaedre, Serpent and Lake Serpent respectively, are huge beasts who can swallow smaller targets. The former can constrict opponents while the latter can spit powerful blasts of water and mud that can respectively damage opponents and impose disadvantage on attack rolls. Lake Serpents are more magical and can select from Magical Features as Gifts.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gdAP7tP.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Wyrmeynnes are actual dragons and are suitably the highest-CR enemies in this bestiary. There are many types throughout the world, but four species are presented here. They all have appropriate lair actions (and legendary with the right Gifts), and a list of sample universal Gifts are provided irregardless of species. Each one also has their own species-specific Gifts. Their great ages mean that they speak a high number of languages: all but the air dragons speak Ancients, Draconic, English, Latin, and Trader’s Tongue. Ligdraca, or fire dragons, are the typical fire-breathing kind with powerful scorching breath and prefer to live in mountainous regions with hot geological activity. Lyftfloga, or air dragons, are capable of flying to other worlds with their wings and live exclusively in the highest places in the world. Sometimes they are of friendly disposition, flying down to the lowlands to advise a human ruler in some course of action. Statwise they’re similar to Fire Dragons but with an icy breath, and can speak every language in existence along with a natural telepathy. Saedracan, or sea dragons, call the deepest and most remote reaches of the world’s oceans their home, and are amphibious and can breathe lightning. Ythgewinnes, or lake dragons, are the smallest breed (about the size of horses) who bitterly fight each other for freshwater territory. This variety has a non-damaging breath weapon which emits a thick fog cloud that it can see through but others cannot.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/4gbF1Kv.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ylves and Dweorhas, or elves and dwarves, are special cases. They are nigh-unknown supernatural entities who can take all manner of forms and are in a state of existence somewhere between mortals and gods. As such they do not have proper game statistics and are not overcome by typical martial prowess. Although both elves and dwarves have traits similar to their folkloric inspirations, they aren’t really a categorized species even if some of them share similarities in habitat and personalities. Elves are selfish, mysterious beings who have long memories and live in places of nature far from humanity. Dwarves are more approachable and are known to craft the highest-quality items and wargear; they are more understandable than elves, often motivated to collect rare items and feel jealousy towards other dwarves of greater power and status. They live under the ground and know much about the rare metals of the world and all manner of dead things buried beneath.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/2wHzRYD.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The true final section of Beowulf: Age of Heroes summarizes material that can’t easily fit in the rest of the book. Most of it concerns details on generating material on the GM’s side, including lists of Old English names, the generation of communities, meadhalls, monster lairs, and interesting details about NPCs. Material from earlier chapters is reprinted here such as the Portent Table, and character sheets for Heroes and index card-style templates for Followers are provided and can be filled in. And our true final section is the Beowulf Reading List, a bibliography the writers used in the research of this era in the making of this sourcebook. I’ll repeat it here for those interested parties:<img src="https://i.imgur.com/pnjmZjF.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Thoughts So Far: The monsters are overall pretty cool, and I like how much they can be customized via the use of Gifts and Burdens. There was one choice that puzzled me: Magic Resistance grants advantage on saves vs magic, and is considered powerful enough to increase their CR by 1. This would be a great boon in a normal 5e campaign, but in Beowulf where the Hero and their Followers are more or less non-magical, this will hardly see use save against certain magic items. But overall I have few complaints for this chapter.Final Thoughts: Third party publishing for Dungeons & Dragons is a fraught one. All too often there remains the risk of one’s work passing into obscurity. Proper game design and balance often have no role to play in whether or not a product becomes a best-seller, and many Dungeon Masters refuse to use any non-official sourcebooks at their gaming table due to such concerns. Compounding this are many people who try to fit square peg genres into the dungeon-crawling fantasy round hole, trying to turn 5th Edition into a genre it cannot adequately support.Beowulf: Age of Heroes manages to more or less avert many of these perils. Albeit set in a very different campaign setting than most in its ruleset, the concept, culture, and formula maps well enough to 5th Edition. Material in this book is easy to reference and manage, and it’s clear that a lot of love and care was put into it. But perhaps of greatest interest to those who wouldn’t be ordinarily inclined towards Dark Ages historical fantasy, the rules for 1 on 1 style play look functional to this reader’s perspective. They may take some work in adapting to a more standard high fantasy setting, but Beowulf provides a solid skeleton in which to build upon.In short, Beowulf: Age of Heroes more than deserves its spotlight, and is a world in which I can see myself both running and playing. I look forward to seeing more of what Handiwork Games has to offer in the future, both for this line of products and others.As for myself, I plan on Let’s Reading Seas of Vodari next. I’ve been promising to review that one for quite some time, and after enough procrastination I should use the energy from my writer’s inspiration to get out some drafts this weekend.</blockquote>

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