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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9520830" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/UCrlcjO.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Character Creation is a brief overview that summarizes the following chapters. I should also note that all of the content in this post (minus the Astras) are also available in the Devabhumi Player’s Guide, which also includes the History of Devabhumi and People of Devabhumi chapters in addition to the Welcome and Epilogue. Said guide’s content more or less has everything the same, save for a formatting error on page 12 where the colored sidebars for particular entries don’t exactly line up with the text. An error that isn’t in the main campaign PDF.The book mentions that backgrounds and classes from the SRD can fit into the world without trouble, although it doesn’t really talk in detail about how the classes would be different in flavor than the typical Western fantasy realm. The mentioning of the SRD is an odd choice, as the only applicable background from that is Acolyte. I presume that the author meant to say that Devabhumi is built with allowing the Player’s Handbook options, but can’t outright say that on account of being a third party creator.There are eight major Races of Devabhumi, which more or less replace the ones from the core rules. Humans are by far the most populous race, followed by half-apsaras and half-asuras. Unless noted otherwise, the following races are medium humanoids with walking speeds of 30 feet.Humanity was created by Brahma during the Satya Yuga, with Manu being the first among them. Thus, many humans call themselves Manushya, or “children of Manu.” They used to live peaceful, egalitarian lives before Kausilya became the first king, imagining himself to be greater than all the others. This caused humans to divide themselves over all sorts of matters. In terms of stats, humans use the Variant Human option from the PHB, although they don’t get a bonus skill.Thoughts: There isn’t much to say that hasn’t been said about Variant Humans, although I am curious why they don’t get a bonus skill in this case. They’re still a really good option due to their bonus feat.Half-apsaras are humans with apsara lineage, the latter of whom were creations of the gods made to entertain them. Apsaras sought to leave the heavenly realms to explore the world, so the gods punished them by casting them into the mortal world naked without any of their belongings and limited to mortal lifespans. Half-apsaras are known to look beautiful and have a great passion for art, crafting, and scholarship, but have a shorter lifespan than humans where they die of old age in their 50s. In terms of stats they have +2 Charisma, +1 to another ability of their choice, have Svarga as a bonus language, a once per day Inspiring Voice ability that grants up to 6 allies a bonus on ability checks and saves equal to the Half-apsara’s PB (proficiency bonus) for 1 minute, and a Warding Light which is akin to the Light Cleric’s Warding Flare but whose use is based on PB rather than Wisdom modifier.Thoughts: The Warding Light is too powerful to include for a race, as it’s part of the reason why the Light domain is one of the best subclasses for Clerics. Furthermore, the Inspiring Voice really messes with bounded accuracy at middle-to-higher levels. A +2 bonus alone is still a significant boon.Half-asuras are humans with asura heritage. Asura in Devabhumi serve the narrative purpose of demons and the text even describes them as “demons” and “demonic” at times. While half-asura have free will, they experience urges throughout their lives to do violent and wicked deeds. Half-asura that continue to give in to these impulses have their physical appearance grow more and more beastlike. In terms of stats they have +2 Strength, +1 to another ability of their choice, darkvision 60 feet, gain Patala as a bonus language, and a unique feature based upon whether they have an evil or non-evil alignment. Non-evil half-asura are particularly strong-willed specimens who gain proficiency in Wisdom saves and advantage on saves to avoid becoming charmed and frightened. Evil asura can assume a more monstrous form once per short rest (no action type listed), causing any hostile creatures who see them to become frightened for 1 minute should they fail a Wisdom save, and can make a new save every round to shake it off.Thoughts: Aside from the naga, the half-asura are the only race in Devabhumi that have darkvision by default, which makes them rather useful for dungeon-delving and night-time encounters. Their alignment-based features are both quite strong, with the non-evil one being more broadly applicable and also persistent in use rather than per rest. Frightened is still a very potent condition to apply to foes, and being able to target multiple foes makes it even better. Even evil half-asura aren’t necessarily suboptimal, depending on the right build.Garuda are humanoids with birdlike wings, heads, and feet. They were created by the god Vishnu, where a sage with two wives prayed to the god in order to conceive children. Vishnu answered each woman their wish: one asked for a thousand offspring, the other asked for just two who would be equal to the other’s thousand. Both laid an egg, one of which hatched two eagles that became the garuda, the other hatched a thousand snakes that would later become the naga.Garuda and naga have a fierce hatred of each other, much like eagles and snakes. Naga are nocturnal, while garuda operate during the day, and naga are fond of kidnapping garuda eggs to eat. Garuda have a tradition known as the Shahi Shikar, where a young member of their species goes on a hunt for a dangerous creature as part of a coming-of-age ritual. Those who fail in their hunt are exiled from their society, which can be a background story for a garuda PC.In terms of stats garuda have +1 to Dexterity, Wisdom, and third ability score of their choice. They have Svarga as a bonus language, a flying speed of 40 feet provided they’re not wearing medium or heavy armor, their talons are unarmed strikes that deal slashing damage and grant advantage on checks to grapple targets, and once per short rest can Mark Prey by granting themselves advantage on all attack rolls until the end of their next turn. This last one doesn’t require an action type to activate.Thoughts: The flying speed alone makes the garuda a powerful race. While they don’t get a boost to strength by default, advantage on grapple checks opens them up to some rather potent combos: if they get some speed-boosting effect like Cunning Action or Haste, they can fly upwards with a grappled foe and drop them from a great height. Furthermore, their Mark Prey is useful for Rogue’s Sneak Attack or a Fighter’s Action Surge in really being able to up their potential damage.Vaanar are monkey-like humanoids with fur and long tails who live in isolated jungle communities. They were created by Brahma in order to aid Rama in fighting Ravana who kidnapped the latter’s wife. Vaanar worship their creator deity as well as Hanuman, who was also a fierce foe of Ravana while he still lived. Vaanar society is divided into groups of clans and tribes, the former being smaller and higher priority in loyalty. They spend their childhood years in schools known as Gurukulas to be instructed in practical skills along with language and spiritual matters. They are incredibly social and enjoy spending time with their fellows, so exile from a clan is considered a fate worse than death and reserved for only the most heinous crimes.In terms of stats, Vaanar have +2 Dexterity, +1 to another score of their choice, speak Vaanar as a bonus language, have a climbing speed of 30 feet provided they aren’t wearing heavy armor, can Disengage as a bonus action, and have a prehensile tail that can carry objects weighing up to 10 pounds and spend a bonus action to perform various simple tasks. Tails cannot be used to wield weapons or aid in spellcasting.Thoughts: The Vanaar’s features come up short in comparison to the other races here. A climb speed isn’t as impressive as outright flight, and their tail is more of a situational utility.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/OyNWKLJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Naga are serpentine shapeshifters who can assume various forms between a full giant (human-sized) snake and humans who have telltale signs such as faint scales and yellow eyes. A naga’s human form is always unique to themselves and cannot be used to impersonate others, and in all of their forms they possess a meena, a forehead jewel that constantly emits a radius of light. Many humans regard nagas as beautiful, but such unions are the story of tragic romances, for both societies look down upon inter-marriage and they cannot conceive children with each other.Statwise naga have +2 Charisma, +1 to another ability score, gain Patala as a bonus language, are resistant to poison damage and saves vs the charmed condition, their meena shines bright light up to 10 feet and dim light up to 20 feet but can be covered up by a hat or head wrap and loses its light if a naga is knocked out or dies. They can assume a fully Serpent Form that melds their equipment into their body in order to gain darkvision 60 feet, natural armor of 12 plus Dexterity modifier, and a natural bite attack that deals 1d6 piercing + 1d6 poison damage which has the finesse property. They can assume such a form as a bonus action, but can also enact partial cosmetic transformations, such as having the lower half of a snake and upper half of a human, a human with a snake head, and so on. However, the mechanical benefits of their Serpent Form only activate when fully snakelike.Thoughts: Naga are the only other race that has darkvision, but their meena also grants them a continual source of hands-free light which can aid their party members in dungeon-delving. Their Serpent Form’s bite attack is effectively as damaging as a greatsword but suitable for Dexterity builds, but is hobbled due to poison being one of the most resisted and immunized damage types. A base Armor Class of 12 isn’t very impressive on its own, so naga focusing on a bite build are likely going to be Rogues, Monks, or Mage Armor gish casters.Yakshi are nature spirits who look like humanoids with flowers, stones, and other natural features growing upon their flesh. They live in remote forested regions, and while there are many tales as to their origin no outsiders can be certain and the yakshi aren’t forthcoming. While most are staunch defenders of their woodland homes, yakshi have a natural curiosity which leads some to venture out into the wider world. In terms of stats they gain +2 Wisdom, +1 to another ability score, speak Varali as a bonus language, are fey instead of humanoid in type, have a base AC of 13 + Dexterity modifier when not wearing armor, and once per short rest they can dig their roots into a patch of soil at least 5 feet deep in order to regain maximum hit points for each hit die rolled to regain health. Yakshi also gain bonus spells at 1st, 3rd, and 5th level akin to tieflings, with the bonus spells being Druidcraft, Entangle, and Spike Growth, using their Wisdom modifier for casting checks and DC.Thoughts: Yakshi are a very strong race, in that being nonhumanoid makes them immune to a variety of effects which specifically target that creature type, and as their rest-based healing is activated as part of a short rest its usage limitation is effectively a nonissue. Furthermore, Entangle and Spike Growth are very useful bonus spells suitable for all manner of builds.Jambavan are humanoid bears who are rare in number. In fact, most live solitary existences, most only ever encountered a few dozen others of their race, and are raised by their mothers and expected to live on their own once they demonstrate adequate skill in hunting and building. They are known for being expert hunters and craftspeople, and are known to build multiple cabins to serve as homes for them to stay in while surveying their territory. In terms of stats they have +2 Strength, +1 to another ability score of their choice, get Varali as a bonus language, have a climb speed of 15 feet, their unarmed attacks deal 1d6 slashing damage due to their claws, can communicate with bears and have advantage on checks to convince bears to help them, treat themselves as one size category large for push/drag/lifting purposes, gain proficiency in one set of artisan’s tools of their choice, and have advantage on checks to build and repair any kind of construct, object, or structure. Thoughts: Much of a Jambavan’s features are situational rather than broadly applicable. Their climb speed is worse than a Vanaar’s, bear communication is highly reliant upon DM Fiat in encountering such creatures, and 5e by default doesn’t have a crafting sub-system so their tool proficiency and advantages may not see that much use or get easily eclipsed by spells such as Mending.Devabhumi provides us with five new Backgrounds representing unique cultural vocations and organizations. They adhere to the standard of core backgrounds in providing two skill proficiencies, bonus equipment, a unique feature, and tables for personality traits. However, their bonus languages and tools can differ in that not all line up to being two in total. For example, the Pehelwan has only one bonus language and no tool proficiency, while a guru has a whopping three bonus languages and one tool proficiency, and the ayurved has proficiency in two bonus languages and a herbalism kit. The five backgrounds are Ayurved (practitioner of traditional medicine who are trained by gurus and believe that illnesses are caused by disturbances in both the mind and body and that healing one isn’t enough), Guru (general term for a teacher of some kind of subject and schooling consists of individual student/mentor relationships), Pehelwan (practitioners of akhada, a mud wrestling sport), Sarathee (charioteer, either for sport or battle), and Yogi (veteran practitioner of yoga).Unlike other background Features which tend to be more geared towards vague roleplaying for DM Fiat, the ones in Devabhumi all have explicit mechanical benefits. For instance, Ayurved can create a batch of consumable herbs once per day by spending 25 gold on ingredients to end a disease or the blinded, deaf, or paralyzed condition. Sarathee earn 2d4 gold pieces a day when using their skills to entertain others, guru gain a noncombatant NPC student companion, a Pehelwan can maintain a Comfortable lifestyle in a population center free of charge by either competing in wrestling events or training others at a lodge, and a Yogi can once per day meditate for 10 minutes to regain an expended Hit Die and remove the frightened and charmed conditions upon themselves. Alternatively, yogi can choose a variant Feature known as Tantra, which lets them recognize magical effects and the appropriate spell school via a successful Wisdom check. There’s no sample DC or action type for this latter ability, so this is more up to DM Fiat.Thoughts: The sample backgrounds are higher-powered than the PHB ones, if more due to the fact that their Features provide explicit benefits and several grant one or two more tool/language proficiencies than normal. But as the latter proficiencies are quite situational in most campaigns, none of them are unbalanced enough to be a problem in the average session.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/KvHx5LC.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Devabhumi has 10 new Feats, and seven of them have some sort of prerequisite (usually race) in order to be selected. Most are quite powerful in being worthy options to take for particular builds or broad options, such as Bhakt (devout worshiper of a particular god, +1 ability score of choice and advantage* vs charmed and frightened conditions), Charred (yakshi who got burnt, gain +1 to their Natural Armor, +10 maximum hit points, and learn Flaming Sphere as a racial spell at 5th level), Dhanudara (amazing practitioner of the bow, bow attacks deal extra damage equal to PB, can spend a reaction to shoot a projectile and negate a ranged weapon attack within 30 feet), Gadadhari (deal extra damage with maces equal to PB, critting with a mace causes targets to be stunned on a failed Constitution save), and Might of the Wild (Jambavan only, +1 Strength and can make a bonus action unarmed strike whenever they successfully grapple a target). One of the feats, Vaanar’s Cunning, breaks convention with the feat format in granting +1 to not one, but two different ability scores (Intelligence and Wisdom) along with granting expertise in one skill of the PC’s choice and can perform the Help action as a bonus action. Personally, I’d reduce the ability score increase to just one ability rather than two, as it’s too tempting to select otherwise.*the book says resistance, but that’s for damage types, not saves.The remaining four feats are more situational in terms of build. Two of them involve mounted combat of some sort, with Hathi-Yodha for elephant riders and Ratha-Yodha for chariots, along with advantage on rolls for repairing/controlling their vehicle of choice. The latter doesn’t grant proficiency with land vehicles, but only for their particular mode of transport. Charioteers actually make good sniper builds, for when wielding a ranged weapon in a chariot they ignore disadvantage on attack rolls at long range, but otherwise Sharpshooter is the superior choice for this. Fierce Hunter is the garuda racial feat, granting triple damage on critical hits and darkvision up to 60 feet along with a +1 ability score increase, while Naga’s Charm grants Charm Person once per day, +1 Charisma, and can let them appear as a full human with no telltale snake signs.Thoughts: In terms of balance, Charred is perhaps the most powerful in regards to granting a substantial hit point boost along with a (not so powerful) bonus spell and situational Armor Class increase. Dhanudara is going to be a no-brainer for most archer builds for the damage bonus, but I don’t think it will win out over Sharpshooter; the likely case is that a PC will take both of them rather than one or the other. Hathi-Yodha is going to be of situational use, only taken by that one player who really likes the idea of an elephant war mount, and same for Ratha-Yodha. Bhakt is also a good option in applying to a wide variety of mind-affecting effects.Equipment is a chapter for new gear, mounts, and magic items for campaigns set in Devabhumi. In the major urban centers, the subcontinent’s technological wonders are on full display, and there’s even day-to-day magical effects helping maintain city infrastructure. But there’s a large divide as seen in rural communities, where artisanry is more basic and given over to small smithies and woodworking. Many city-dwellers act elitist to their “primitive” neighbors, while visitors from the country are often gobsmacked at seeing how people live in a metropolis.Horses and elephants are favored Mounts in terms of “mundane” animals, although we have stats for five new monster mounts as well as new rules for chariots and elephants. Chariots have variable speeds depending upon how many horses are pulling them, ranging from 40 feet for 1 horse to 70 feet for 4 horses, while most chariots have room for two occupants. As for elephants, they are traditionally used as powerful cavalry in war, although they require a special proficiency in elephant-riding in order to ride one in combat. Those mounted on an elephant are out of reach of non-reach melee attacks,* but in return they cannot make non-reach melee attacks against those on the ground. Elephants are particularly mercurial, where an Animal Handling check is required to avoid it going berserk whenever the mount takes damage. The DC is equal to half the damage dealt, rounded down. A berserk elephant acts erratically as determined by a d4 table, such as attacking a randomly-determined target, fleeing, or freezing up and doing nothing. The elephant stat block is reprinted in the book, but with a curious addition of natural claw attacks instead of stomping, and can Multiattack with one gore and one claw attack. Damn, Devabhumi elephants must look extra-scary!*What about Large and larger melee attackers? Presumably they have a better chance, but the book doesn’t specify.Chariots and elephants can also be outfitted with their own unique gear and customization. Elephants get barding types and giant sword extensions for their tusks, while chariots get armor plating and wheel scythes that deal AoE damage to adjacent targets for up to 20 feet.The other five mounts include Gajasimha (CR 1 beast with head of elephant and body of lion, move as fast as a riding horse but have a core and claw multiattack), Farasa Bahari (CR 1 amphibious green-maned horses from Jalpurush, swim speed and advantage on Stealth checks to hide in aquatic environments), Bhimthadi (CR 1 horse breed found on the central plains, have a trample attack to knock a foe prone and bonus attack against them if this happens, can Dash or Disengage as a bonus action and rider can Help horse as bonus action), Kathiawari (CR 1 desert-dwelling horse breeds that have advantage on saves vs exhaustion and only needs half food), and Makara (CR 1 creature with elephant head and crocodile body, are used by humans and vanaar as naval cavalry, gore attack that deals double damage to ships and naval vessels).The following section lists a variety of Clothing and Mundane Items, of less specific interest to adventurers but do much for world-building. They all derive from things that originated from the real-world Indian subcontinent, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bansuri" target="_blank">bansuri</a> bamboo flute that is used by shepherds to call their animals, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gajra" target="_blank">gadra</a> flower garments that are traditionally worn by women during festivals, holidays, and other times of celebration, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudraksha" target="_blank">rudraksha</a> stones that are incorporated into prayer beads for worshiping Shiva.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/AiE1MCA.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Weapons & Armor more or less replace the ones from the SRD, which the book says can still exist in Devabhumi but “might be rare.” Unfortunately we don’t have a handy table for reference listing all of their stats and properties, which makes it harder to compare at a glance. We have 5 simple melee weapons, 1 simple ranged weapon, 10 martial melee weapons, and 2 martial ranged weapons. For armor we have two types for each category of light, medium, and heavy armor as well as 2 shields. Like the prior section, all of these implements of warfare are based off of real-world South Asian inventions, such as the iconic Bagha Nakha “tiger’s claw” of three sharp blades or the Katar “punching dagger,” although the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dao_(Naga_sword)" target="_blank">dao sword</a> shares the same name as one that’s Chinese in origin yet is functionally distinct.I won’t go over each piece of gear, instead highlighting those of particular interest. Such entries for weapons include Bichuwa (basically a dagger, but has the 1d6 Versatile property and deal 1d6 piercing when two-weapon fighting with Bagha Nakha), Dao (rectangular sword dealing 1d6 slashing damage and doubles as an axe and shovel), Bagha Nakha (claw-like weapon, 1d6 slashing that has light, finesse, and Versatile property and deals 1d8 when two-weapon fighting with Bichuwa), Dandpatta (1d6 sword that grants +1 AC to the wielder as its hilt is also a steel gauntlet), Gada (sharp two-handed mace that deals either 1d12 bludgeoning or 2d6 piercing), Katar (basically a dagger without thrown property, and when wielding it and no other weapon can make an additional attack with it for free), Talvar (1d6 saber with light property that grants advantage when attacking with it while riding a horse or chariot), and Chakra (1d4 throwing disc with light property that ignores half and three-quarters cover). For armor we have the Sunwheel (has a dozen wooden balls affixed that when spun with both hands can automatically deflect any number of ranged projectiles within a 5 foot radius, no action required) and the Kavacha (steel breastplate, basically half-plate but no disadvantage to Stealth checks and is 500 rather than 750 gold). For the heavy armor, the Varman and Chilta Hazar Nakh (coat of a thousand nails) grant the same AC as splint and plate mail respectively, although they are both much more expensive than their PHB counterparts at 1,000 and 2,000 gold pieces.Thoughts: I like the new mounts and chariot rules, although I think that forcing an Animal Handling check for every time an elephant mount is damaged is going to make it a very suboptimal choice. The more times a player has to roll, the more times they risk failure, and as an elephant’s default AC isn’t very high at 12 (plus being a big tempting target for enemies) is going to make it so such a scenario is going to happen a lot.As for weapons and armor, I think it would’ve been better to have the weapons as supplementing existing common ones rather than a general replacement. Even though the book says SRD weapons “may be rare,” I imagine that daggers, shortbows, spears, leather armor, and the like are “common” enough across cultures to more or less be allowed without any major hassle. A few weapons are going to be optimal choices, like the Bichuwa/Bagha Nakha combo for two-weapon fighting given their high damage dice, and the Katar’s additional attack is going to work nicely with poison and other damage-stackers. I personally think that the Vadda Chakkar/sunwheel shield is too strong in auto-negating multiple ranged projectiles in an AoE. Even if it requires both hands and thus prevents a character from easily using weapons and spells, using a summoned creature/companion with opposable thumbs or even a hireling is going to be something many gaming groups try.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/djLvNzb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Magic Items wraps up our equipment section with 25 new supernatural treasures to reward your PCs. In terms of rarity we have 1 Uncommon item, 10 Rare ones, 8 Very Rare ones, and 6 Legendary ones. And of those 25, 15 require attunement, in some cases requiring an appropriate race or alignment (no evil ones, however). Some of the more interesting magic items include the Amrita elixir (legendary consumable whose effects last for 24 hours, regain 1d10 hit points per round and can only be killed by an Astra), Anklet of a Gandharva (uncommon item worn by celestial dancers that let you choose from 1 of 4 magical dances that grant certain effects to onlookers such as +1 bonus to damage rolls for the next hour or compelled to dance along on a failed Wisdom save), Conchshell of Kurukshetra (very rare, when blown summons 1d6+1 bhootas who fell during the Marahbarata war and will attack any creature you point to for the next hour, cursed to have 50% chance that they will attack you instead and will summon once per day even if not blown), Guru’s Upanaya (very rare, holy threat containing accumulated knowledge of a wise sage that grants additional effects as the attuned person’s PB increases, such as gaining an additional proficient skill, Wisdom score increase, or regaining a spent spell slot once per day), Kalachakra (+3 chakra weapon, can intercept a ranged weapon projectile attack as a reaction a number of times per day equal to PB, can swap two creatures’ initiative results once combat begins, reduce speed of creature they crit to 0 feet for 1 turn), Manisha (legendary +3 khanda sword, grants one clear-sightedness in various forms such being able to see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane and immunity to blind and defeaned conditions), Teerpani Wand (rare, can spend 1 of 3 available charges to turn a stone of up to 200 pounds into a pool of fresh water, can use 2 charges to turn an incoming ranged projectile into harmless drops of water as a reaction), and Vayuratha (legendary chariot once used by Indra when fighting asuras, was given to a mortal warrior during the Mahabharata and disappeared; rider cannot be knocked off chariot through nonmagical means, immune to grappled and restrained conditions, chariot is immune to all damage types and cannot be destroyed).Thoughts: I like most of these magical items, and find that they have both interesting flavor text and neat abilities. I don’t have any real complaints about them.Astra are technically magical artifacts, but their special niche in Devabhumi makes them deserve an entry of their own. They are divine weapons created by the gods, and intended only to be used by them in times of great need. In the setting they are akin to nuclear weapons, but on a much larger scale. They have enough fearsome power to destroy the world, but there have been a few rare times when a mortal got their hands on one. Either via stealing it from a god, being rediscovered if lost, or being bequeathed to a mortal by a god during a time of great need.Astras do not take on physical forms. One comes into possession of an astra as an unseen spiritual force that is activated by the chanting of a specific mantra. Once activated, its powers can be implanted in a weapon or piece of ammunition. An Astra can only be activated once per day, and only one Astra can be used in a day even should one end up possessing multiple Astras. An Astra that is given to another or otherwise surrendered causes the last user to lose all memory of it. Otherwise, Astras use the format of spells in terms of game stats, albeit with no level or school of magic and often with extremely large ranges and areas of effect.The sourcebook provides us with six Astras and what gods are known to possess them, and their names correspond with said deity. Devabhumi mentions that the ones listed here are “all of the Astras,” which feels a bit limiting in that one would think that leaving their total number open would allow for making more for future sourcebooks, to say nothing of encouraging the DM to come up with their own. They are Agniastra (shoots out a 200 foot line of fire that deals 6d10 fire damage, but affected creatures, objects, and spaces catch fire and continue to burn over 1 minute and can only be put out by Varunastra), Brahmastra (summons a cloud of divine light can be used either to counter the effects of another astra or deals a pool of 1,050 radiant damage to be spent on killing all creatures in an area, strongest to weakest), Brahmashira (the most powerful astra, summons a fiery spear and dark stormclouds that can target anything up to a city or mountain in size, the target and all living within it are utterly erased from existence and nothing can grow in the location for 10 years), Indrastra (takes the form of a lightning bolt that takes the form of a 50 foot radius up to 1 mile away that deals 10d10 lightning damage to all within), Manavastra (not known to be possessed by any god, was first used by the original human Manu, lets one teleport themselves to a location that they have seen or heard, including unknown locations provided that they are adjacent to known locations), and Varunastra (releases a giant wave of water in a 100 foot radius up to 1 mile away, dealing 10d8 bludgeoning damage to all within, can be used to counter the effects of Agniastra).Thoughts: The Astras are a cool conceptual plot device, the kind of stuff that should define campaigns. So barring the Brahmastra and Brahmashira, they still feel less than I would’ve expected. Take in point Manuvastra, which is basically no-error teleport but can only target yourself rather than a group. Or Agniastra, which can affect a large area but its raw damage output isn’t going to be enough to put a dent in epic-tier foes. And when you look at Meteor Swarm, which has a similar range yet greater damage (but smaller radius) as Varunastra’s AoE, these feel less like world-ending magic nukes that even epic-tier PCs marvel at, but rather high-level spells with altered stats of existing baseline ones.Thoughts So Far: I overall like the new races, feats, and backgrounds, but would definitely knock the half-apsara down a peg and give the Vaanar a bit more to chew/climb on. I was let down by the astras, and the weapons and armor are another weak point particularly in not having tables.Join us next time as we finish this review by going over Devabhumi’s new Monsters!</blockquote>

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