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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9713788" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Faib1H9.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 673px" />Items & Equipment is a relatively short chapter, providing us with new gear and magic items for both dragon and non-dragon characters. We start out with several new materials from which to make weapons and armor out of, such as the orc-forged Baaka whose armor grants fire resistance to its wearer, or Fai Glass which is made of Dream-wrought crystal whose weapons deal bonus psychic damage and whose armor is easier to maneuver in (represented by no disadvantage to Stealth and higher DEX bonus to AC). We get 12 new weapons that are specific to the various major cultures, such as the Atlatl spear-thrower whose ammunition is akin to long-ranged thrown spears (but don't count as a thrown weapon, oddly enough), or the Blood Blade gauntlets from Tyveria which are akin to scimitars statwise but have the finesse property. We even see some conversions of pre-5e official weapons such as the Repeater Crossbow and the Spiked Chain, the former of which comes in light and heavy versions but jams on a natural 1, and the latter of which is just as overpowered as its 3.5 counterpart. Not only does the spiked chain have a massive reach of 20 feet, the user may choose for any Large or smaller target it strikes to be grappled on a failed save, and suffer disadvantage on Strength checks and saving throws when remaining so grappled.We also get some alchemical weapons known as Shev Explosives, which come in damaging acid, foul gas that imposes the loss of actions, and a sticky bomb that can restrain creatures. They're all relatively cheap for the effects that they can do, such as the Acid Bomb costing only 50 gold but deals 4d8 acid damage in a 10 foot radius.Dragons also get equipment of their own, specifically three different types: Dragon Barding and Dragon Saddles are basically like the equipment of similar names for mounts, but have increased cost and weight multipliers for Huge and Gargantuan creatures. For weapons, Swivel Ballistas are basically siege weapons that can fit on a dragon's back or a flying vehicle; it deals less damage than a typical ballista, but it can also shoot alternative bola bolts that can reduce a struck creature's movement speeds, if not outright immobilize them, depending on the success/failure of their Dexterity save. For melee, Tailspikes are sharp implements added onto a dragon's tail, letting them alter their tail attacks to deal either slashing or piercing damage depending on the shape and design of said tailspikes.Finally, we end this chapter with 17 new magic items, all but 3 of which can be crafted using the new crafting subsystem at the end of this book. Every magic item relates to the lore of the setting or dragon-fighting in some way. Some of the more notable items include Dragonbane Oil, which grants bonuses on attack and damage rolls against dragons as well as unique debuffs against particular broods based on the oil's ingredients;* Grounding Arrow, which forces a Dragon it strikes to reduce its speed to 0 for 1 round if it fails a Constitution save; the Heart of Kadmos, the sphere-like remains of the long-dead Protogon of the same name, which grants a variety of spells that consume charges to use, defenses against common features of dragons like immunity to breath weapons, and has an Orb of Dragonkind-esque ability to telepathically dominate dragons; Jewelry of Vaala Resonance, which can be used to store a number of Vaala Points based on the item's rarity to be used for later; and the Skyhook Scepter, a rod which can let its wielder and one willing creature soar into the air up to 60 feet through the air as an action.*For example, oil made of spores causes fungi to spread across the bones of a Nix dragon, making it unable to use its Kadmic Runes for 1 round if it fails a Wisdom save.Thoughts: I am getting flashbacks to my 3.5 days, where just about any melee Fighter worth their salt took Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) for all sorts of builds. And much like those days, a lot of the equipment in this chapter is very spuriously balanced. Besides the spiked chain's crazy reach, the acid bomb is so much better than the base acid vial while being only twice as expensive. I'm not fond of the natural 1 jam for repeating crossbows, as critical fumbles hurt player characters far more than NPCs and monsters. The dragon equipment is perhaps my favorite entry, as the barding, swivel ballista, and tailspikes all look both cool and practical and don't feel all that overpowered.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/0dEii8K.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 689px" />The Magic chapter is where we finally go in-depth regarding the new rules for Motes of Affinity and Vaala Points, along with 5 new schools of magic and a whopping 63 new spells. Motes of Affinity represent a character's ties to one of the three Aspects of Fai, Id, or K'aab, with represented as a value of 1 through 5. PCs can only ever gain a maximum Mote of Affinity of 3, so presumably the 4th and 5th magnitudes are meant to represent particularly powerful NPCs and monsters. A character has a number of Vaala Points equal to their Proficiency Bonus plus their class' primary ability modifier. For every Mote of Affinity a character has, they can reduce the cost of a special ability or augmentation requiring it by a like amount, to a minimum of 1 point. A character regains half their maximum number of Vaala Points after finishing a long rest. NPCs and Monsters base their Motes of Affinity and Vaala Points off of their Challenge Rating and Proficiency Bonus + ability modifier of the DM's choice, respectively, and like PCs they only go up to a value of 3.Beyond the specific class and subclass features that call out augmented enhancements, there are general-purpose Augmentations that can be used by anyone with the required number of points and the appropriate Aspect. There are 10 such universal options: Alter Damage (change your damage one to one affiliated with the Aspect), Blinking Blade (make an additional weapon attack against another target within 15 feet, but can only affect a target once in this way), Burst of Speed (increased speed and/or jumping distance), Channel Elements (cast an elemental-themed cantrip), Dreamwise (cast a utility-based cantrip), Elemental Resistance (gain resistance or immunity to a particular chosen damage type), Extend Range (increase range of spell or weapon attack based on amount of points paid), Increase Ability (gain advantage on a physical ability check), K'aab Retribution (use reaction to deal damage of an elemental type to a nearby attacker), and Reflect Charm (spend reaction to either negate or reflect a charm spell or effect targeting you).Augmentations do not require actions of their own to utilize, and their major limit beyond the required points is that they cannot be used in conjunction with features and abilities that provide similar effects. An example the book gives is a range-extending Augmentation cannot be used in conjunction with the Distant Spell Metamagic option.Finally, a spellcaster can spend Vaala Points in place of spell slots, requiring a number equal to 3 + the spell's level to be spent. You can also cast a spell you don't know this way, but the cost is 3 + twice the spell's level, you must ordinarily be capable of casting said spell at your character level, the caster takes force damage, and they cannot use this function of Vaala-based spellcasting again for a number of days based on the spell's level. While by default any Affinity can be used to empower any spell, there's a sidebar talking about using the Vaala system with spells from other sourcebooks, and maps each school of magic to the relevant Aspect. This makes me believe that the kinds of spells one can cast using Vaala were supposed to be restricted based on Aspect and school, but I can't find any such rule in the book.A PC typically starts with 1 Mote of Affinity during character creation, and gains a 2nd Mote upon attaining their first subclass and a third Mote at 14th level. The rules specifically disallow multiclassing to gain Affinity faster, a one can only gain the relevant Affinity/Vaala Point increases twice and at those particular level minimums. If a multiclassing character would gain a Mote of Affinity in a second Affinity, they can choose to lose their prior ties to a particular Affinity and gain power in another or continue advancing in their original Affinity.Thoughts: While the new subsystem has options that can help all manner of classes and builds, I can't help but notice that mages get even more of a boost given that Vaala Points effectively give them a pool of extra spell slots. And being able to cast a spell you don't know in exchange for force damage and a higher cost can give said spellcasters a nifty versatile trick to pull out when the chips are down. Combined with the earlier Jewelry of Vaala Resonance in the prior chapter, Dragonbond spellcasters are going to really shine. While the setting does feel sufficiently high-powered that I don't mind a straight upgrade, I would've liked to see martials and noncasters get some exclusive toys of their own.We have five New Schools of Magic reflecting traditions specific to the setting. They include Blood, used by the mages of Tyveria to control the vital forces of others; Dreamshaping, which fashions reality out of fantasy and was first discovered by the Ellari; Rune, which originated among the dragons to get around their cursed inability to use magic; Null, a corruptive influence gained meddling with this force of unreality, including a subsystem for Null corruption points that permanently turns the caster into a monster should they accrue too much; and Weaving, a Nahuac-based tradition that teaches one to manipulate the interconnectivity of nature to change and influence the physical world. The corruption points gained from the Null spells are temporary points equal to the spell's level, and one permanent one that can never be healed. The only way to get rid of temporary points is 1 for every long rest. At 15 points or higher, the caster needs to make a DC 18 Wisdom save each time they gain more to avoid the permanent monstrous transformation.Thoughts: Besides Null, I don't really see the need for these new schools, as most of them already thematically fit into the existing D&D system. Weaving sounds like Transmutation, Dreamshaping like Conjuration, Blood like Necromancy, and we already have runic spells in the base game such as Glyph of Warding.  In practical terms, a PC can only ever cast Null spells 14 times safely at best, which makes learning such spells unappealing for long-term campaigns but a potentially consequence-free power for one-shots and short adventure arcs. While many Null spells have potent effects, the rapid accumulation of incurable corruption punishes their use with any real frequency.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/5KRoP2W.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 635px" />As for the New Spells, the arcane classes such as Bard and Wizard get a generous amount, as does the Druid. The Cleric, Paladin, and Ranger get a lot less, and of the new classes in this book only the Dragon Herald gets a listed write-up. Since the Vaala Adept draws from existing classes, it effectively gains access to the most spells in this book. For groups that don't want to make use of the new schools, spell entries also list a traditional school of magic for them.There's too many spells to cover in full, so I'll highlight some of the more notable ones: Arcane Amplification (5th level rune magic, touched creature has advantage on all spell attack rolls for 1 minute), Aura of Apathy (2nd level Null magic, all hostile creatures in a 30 foot aura are vulnerable to all damage types, no save, and must make a Wisdom save or take psychic damage and halved movement), Biting Winds (4th level weaving spell, line-based AoE that deals cold and slashing damage as well as forced movement and one level of exhaustion), Bolster Will (3rd level blood magic, reaction lets a creature within 30 feet who reroll a failed death save), Charmed Reverie (2nd level dreamshaping, implant a desired goal by influencing a sleeping target's dreams, charming the target and gaining advantage on checks made against them in pursuit of this goal), Consume Vaala (3rd level Null magic, deal necrotic damage and make a target lose Vaala Points), Fai Jump (teleport up to 60 feet and can make a melee attack against an adjacent creature upon arriving at destination), Hive Heat (4th level weaving, summoned beas deafen, restrain, and deal fire damage to a target they engulf), Invoke Elements (1st level weaving, create a 5 foot pillar made up of one of the four elements, causing damage and debuff against those within the area), Ishtotl's Intuition (5th level rune, touched creatures gains the ability to cast a 3rd level or lower spell a number of times equal to your spellcasting ability modifier), Kel'Teoti's Arcane Focalizer (3rd level enchantment, target has advantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration for 1 minute), Mass Dispel Magic (6th level Null, a 60 foot AoE that automatically dispells spells and magical effects of 6th level or lower, 7ty and higher are subject to a dispelling check as normal), Power Word Strike (3rd level enchantment, cause a target to spend its reaction and make a melee or ranged attack on the nearest target, target below a certain HP threshold is automatically effected and threshold is based on spell slot level), Regenerative Carapace (3rd level transmutation, for the next minute target gains +5 AC, movement speed is halved, and as an action can restore 1d4+spellcasting ability modifier hit points to itself), Runemark (1st level rune, for the next 8 hours or until dispelled can telepathically communicate with target provided you're within each other's sight and can sense their location up to 25 miles away, higher level slots let you share telepathic communication with more targets), Shape Momentum (3rd level evocation, cast as a reaction when a ranged attack misses a target, you roll a ranged spell attack to become the new result), Tana Whispers (1st level divination, can ask the natural world one question and gain an answer, question has to pertain to events in the spell's immediate vicinity), Wingward (2nd level abjuration, target cannot be affected by 3rd level or lower spells that reduce/negate its flying speed), and Yahum Lift (3rd level transmutation, imbue a Medium or smaller stone to be able to fly for up to an hour, can hold up to 300 pounds, higher level slots imbue more stones).Thoughts: I've noticed quite a bit of unbalanced spells. Several are underpowered, such as Charmed Reverie being like a Suggestion but with required pre-planning, or Fai Jump being twice as far as Misty Step but requires an action and you can only make one attack with it by default. Since Misty Step can work in conjunction with Extra Attack or regular actions in requiring only a bonus action to cast, it has more general-purpose use. Kel'Teoti's Arcane Focalizer is even worse than Enhance Ability, whose Bear's Endurance lasts for much longer and applies to Constitution saves in general, on top of temporary hit points plus only requiring a lower-level spell slot!Correction: Enhance Ability doesn't grant advantage to saves. Therefore, Arcane Focalizer is a decent spell to have.Then there are the more powerful spells, such as Biting Winds which imposes exhaustion (a powerful debuff) on top of forced movement and two different damage types, or Yahum Lift which is basically a longer-lasting Fly spell that can technically transport targets other than the caster in its use. Regenerative Carapace is practically a no-brainer for any martial build just for the AC bonus alone. There is one case of unclear implications for the Runemark spell, where its material component is alchemical powder and ink worth at least 100 gold. But as the spell doesn't specifically say that it's consumed upon casting, that implies the ink and powder is reusable. As a consumable spell, this is a mighty heavy price to pay, but if it's meant to be reusable then it's a pretty convenient way for low-level parties to establish magical walkie-talkie/GPS equivalents.Thoughts So Far: Both chapters suffer from a lack of balanced options, and while this is not unique among 5e books, the discrepancies feel more egregious than normal when juxtaposed against existing core options. While there are some things I like, this doesn't make up for the fact that I'll have to do more work in allowing/disallowing/rebalancing options should I try to deploy them in a campaign of my own.Join us next time as we take a tour of Valerna in Chapter 6: the World of Dragonbond!</blockquote>

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