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[Let's Read] Legacy of Mana
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8148770" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/allo5Zq.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.imgur.com/8nmX46K.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 9: DM’s Toolbox</strong></p><p></p><p>Hold on a sec, is that even OGL legal?</p><p></p><p>Alright everyone, we’re in the home stretch! This chapter has a little bit of everything: a sample encounter location, adventure hooks, feats, and a bestiary to top it all off!</p><p></p><p><strong>The Mana Well:</strong> So what happens when your epic quest takes your daring band of PCs through the most magic-rich environments in Imaria? Well we get a sample location and general rules for such places of eldritch power! The environment alone is dangerous enough that it’s scaled for 15+ level PCs. Mana Wells are very hard to find and even harder to get into, for they sit in tunnels deep under the earth. A Mana Well is a massive cavern (30-40 miles across) chock-full of glowing blue-white half-gas half-liquid mana. Simply being within the environment causes a d100 table of random magical effects to occur at regular intervals (energy damage, healing winds, physical transformations, gaining flight speed, etc). The closer one gets to the Mana Well the more easily they can draw upon magical powers (more renik charges, bonus dice for spellcasting, etc) but imposes progressive maladies such as disadvantage on Perception checks, provokes a save vs fear against the Mana Well, risk falling into it, and total submersion deals 10d10 damage a round. Anyone who dies in such a manner can only be revived via the Wish spell.</p><p></p><p>We also have rules for regions where mana has been drained by Iltherian interference or other maladies. It’s a straightforward penalty to all manner of magical related rolls, the inability to recover spell slots via rest, advantage against all magical effects, -1d6 dice of damage and healing spells, draining mana saves are at disadvantage (less mana to draw and empower renik steel), and checks made to resist exhaustion are at disadvantage (low mana levels are tiring for even noncasters).</p><p></p><p><strong>Adventure Seeds:</strong> We have 20 short adventure seeds, separated by the major continents and an “Elsewhere” for those not tied to any specific location. They are mostly standard faire: Iltherian remnants stirring up trouble, some local magical horror or monster menacing a village, a patron needs the party to find a rare relic or safeguard passage for a promising apprentice mage, finding and repair a crashed Lunalian airship, and so on. Two of them are particularly notable. “The Undead Threat” mentions sightings of undead creatures wielding renik blades that cannot be put down, which is a call to one of the new monster types in the back of the book. While I cannot be certain, I’m guessing that it’s the “new threat at the edge of the world” implied all the way back in Chapter 1. The other one, the Lost Heir, mentions that the Lynnvander line is believed all but extinguished, and that finding a Blooded member can cause entire armies to rally behind them.</p><p></p><p>And then I just remembered that this is a subrace option for PCs. :O</p><p></p><p><strong>Customization Options:</strong> This mainly concerns multiclassing rules for the 2 new core classes and new feats. Nothing special really, although Iltherian Knights cannot be combined with magical classes. They’re only limited to Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue, and of those classes they cannot have subclasses that grant access to magic.</p><p></p><p>Interesting to hear that monks are explicitly nonmagical in Legacy of Mana, as the Class chapter implied that they would be under threat of the Iltherians were it not for their isolated lifestyle. Then again said empire is also anti-intellectual, so it’s totally within their boundaries to destroy whatever they don’t understand or can control.</p><p></p><p>We have 14 new feats, of use to both mundane and magical roles. I won’t go over all of them, just the most interesting ones. <strong>Renik Smith</strong> can only be taken by Iltherian Knights and grants proficiency with Smith’s Tools, allows them to craft a renik weapon out of any melee weapon (not just swords), can potentially give it the +1 property (but nonmagical) if they roll a high enough Smith’s Tools check; <strong>Bastion of Thought</strong> grants immunity to the Charmed and Fear conditions and can grant allies advantage on such attempts via spending a reaction, which is great as the vast majority of ‘mind control’ effects in 5th Edition use one of those two conditions; <strong>Magic Adept</strong> is nigh-obligatory for every spellcaster, increasing their spell save DC by 1 and immediately granting knowledge of two new spells at a level of which they are capable of casting; <strong>Tactician</strong> allows one to substitute Intelligence for initiative rolls, can use the Help action on any ally within line of sight and grant them temporary hit points when doing so, and as a bonus action can grant an ally within hearing distance the ability to take one weapon attack, Dodge, or Use Item actions as a reaction; <strong>Blade Dance</strong> treats all one-handed slashing and piercing melee weapons as finessable, can be treated as wielding them two-handed and attack an additional time with said weapons as a bonus action if wielding no shield or off-hand weapon; and <strong>Arcane Preparations</strong> can only be taken by prepared casters (but divine as well), granting them an additional number of spells prepared equal to their spellcasting ability modifier +1.</p><p></p><p>A lot of the new feats are nice options, although predictably spellcasters get the best ones by far. A few of the bleh ones I didn’t mention <strong>(Fighting Style Expert</strong> grants a Fighter’s Fighting Style, <strong>Shield Bash</strong> makes you good with using shields as improvised weapons) don’t have enough pizazz to justify taking over an ability score increase or another better feat. <strong>Renik Smith</strong> is situational, as it would only really be taken if a PC wants a non-sword, non-polearm renik weapon. And perhaps for the most situational one of all, <strong>Trade Savvy</strong> grants advantage on Persuasion checks when bartering, getting additional rewards from nobles, can locate the best shops in town, and pay only half lifestyle costs.</p><p></p><p><strong>Old vs New:</strong> Some feats were slightly altered, although one was removed entirely. <strong>Casting Veil</strong> grants access to a new cantrip, Spell Feign. It is cast as a reaction when an Iltherian Knight tries to Mana Drain the caster, causing them to absorb the worthless cantrip instead of a spell if they fail a Perception check. Additionally the caster can also use a bonus action to empower a spell with a spell slot one level lower, granting advantage on spell attack rolls and disadvantage on attempts to Mana Drain the spell.</p><p></p><p>Also, the feats used to be in alphabetical order. Now they’re randomized.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/PcmIBT0.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Monsters:</strong> We have 8 monsters divided into 3 broader families. First up we got <strong>Iltherian Purists,</strong> whose antagonistic role should be self-evident. You won’t be mowing them down like Stormtroopers unfortunately; even the least-powerful Iltherian Defender is a very capable combatant. They have high HP and AC values for their respective Challenge Ratings, and they also have access to several of the Iltherian Knight class features. But most notably their rest-based abilities are changed to per-day uses, and amusingly all of their renik weapons can explode if overcharged beyond their capacity; Iltherian Knight PCs don’t have to worry about this as they can’t go above the limit, they just fail to drain/counter spells that would put them above the limit. We have the meager Iltherian Defender (CR 3), who is very much a melee-based frontline combatant and can go from a sturdy 18 AC to whopping 21 by empowering their armor with renik charges. The Iltherian Inquisitor (CR 5) has the mid-level abilities of the class and subclass, a startlingly-high Wisdom save (+10), and can also cause any spellcaster they reduce to 0 HP to be non-resurrectable save by Wish on a failed Constitution save. An Iltherian Relic Hunter (CR 6) has proficiency in a lot of roguish skills, has all but the 18th-level ability of their eponymous subclass, and are the only Iltherian NPC with a decent long range attack via a Longbow and Multiattack they can use with any wielded weapon. Finally the Iltherian Captain (CR 14) is a dirty rotten cheater; they have a mixture of Defender and Inquisitor abilities, can take 3 reactions per round, are immune to the Charmed and Frightened conditions, and also have Legendary Resistance (up to 3 times per day can choose to succeed on a failed saving throw) as well as the Inquisitor’s anti-resurrection ability. While the Captain sounds like a veritable foe, they’re not exactly a great boss encounter; one, while they are good with a bastard sword their ranged attack is a naughty word Heavy Crossbow with a mere 1d10 piercing damage. They also lack any Legendary or Lair Actions that most 5e boss monsters have.</p><p></p><p><strong>Regiments of the Blooded</strong> were a group of Lunalian humans who sought to create a bloodline of their own...which seems odd given that the Phoenixborn are a thing. Maybe it was a dynasty of non-Blooded Lunalians or something? Unfortunately they were so desperate that they resorted to dark rituals that corrupted the mana for their test subjects. They gained powers, but also mutations and madness. The Regiment would have been reduced to leaderless bands of scavenging monsters were it not for the Moon-Slayer, a former Lunalian princess who killed her own mother in the belief it would make her a Blooded. Now the Regiment live in a ruined kingdom, one day hoping to become a true bloodline.</p><p></p><p>There are 3 major Regiment types. Rageful Blooded (CR 2) are not very notable combatants save for their high HP (60) and roll a d6 to determine a random mutation (minor spellcasting capability, can multiattack due to extra arms, etc). Gargantuan Blooded (CR 5) are merely Large size who hit hard with their claws and gain advantage on attacks when reduced to less than half their hit points. The mighty Synthetic Blooded (CR 10) has spellcasting potential (up to 4th level, mixture of damaging and battlefield control) along with being adept with a longsword and the ability to exert mental domination over any other Blooded.</p><p></p><p><strong>Necrovitae Magi</strong> are powerful, renik-wielding undead. Although Iltheria’s plans for world domination have failed, the wicked necromancer Trahlyle who put the idea of conquest in Bravensca’s head still lives. Seeking yet another means to make the world a worse place, he abducted choice Iltherian Knights, transforming them into powerful undead who can persist even with the anti-magic interface of renik steel. Consumed of an all-encompassing need to consume mana, Necrovitae Magi are capable of turning other Iltherian Knights into more of their kind via kidnapping them back to their necromantic creator’s lair.</p><p></p><p>Statwise they are a high CR 15, and defy the rules by being both the Humanoid and Undead types. They have a hardy 190 hit points and 20 AC, can detect magic at will, and can make up to 3 attacks with a longsword that deals bonus necrotic damage. Furthermore, they can Drain Mana much like an Iltherian Knight can, and when they hit a creature with magical abilities and/or ancestry they can deal bonus necrotic damage and gain renik charges if the target fails a Wisdom save. The Necrovitae Magus cannot really do anything with said renik charges; they have no limit to how much they can hold, but they take 1d20 damage per round they have no charges and consume charges at a rate of 1 per day(or 1 per round when in combat.</p><p></p><p>This is a terrifying monster to lower-level people, but as a high-CR monster it’s a bit lacking. Besides having no Legendary, Lair, or utility actions besides the mana-draining countermagic, they have no ranged capabilities to speak of or movement speeds to keep up with fast and flying opponents. They’re really just a big ol’ bag of hit points who only knows how to slash and stab.</p><p></p><p><strong>Old vs New:</strong> Way way back in the first two initial versions of the book, there were stats for Iltherian Infiltrators and Berserkers. The Infiltrators (CR 8) were spies and assassins who had Sneak Attack and Assassinate features as the Assassin subclass, and wore renik rings they could use to store charges and drain mana. Iltherian Berserkers (CR 2) were lightly-armored tough guys who could be Reckless like a Barbarian (advantage on melee attacks but enemies have advantage on attacks vs them). The Iltherian Captain more or less replaced them.</p><p></p><p>An entry for the Monsters of Revilo were excised completely. They represented strange monsters from an island of the same name which is never mentioned elsewhere in the book. I can get why they were cut, for they didn’t really fit in with the rest of the setting. They are five largely weak creatures. Reapers of the Brood Tribe (CR 5) are bipedal beings with an additional head in their torso, can cast spells as a warlock, and have a Confounding Gaze that gives them advantage on attack rolls and resisting saving throws on a creature that fails an opposed Persuasion/Insight skill check. Burnadazi (CR ½) are humanoid lizards with rocky scales, live in hot environs, and are stereotypical “dumb brute” humanoid mook monsters. Salazarites (CR 2) are horse-sized six-legged arachnids capable of great leaps (50 feet long, 25 feet high) who hunt in caves. Horvaths (CR 0) are dog-sized harmless creatures prized as pets for their rainbow array of colors. Karkathians (CR ½) are highly intelligent (17 INT and WIS) kangaroo-like creatures who spread a rumor that their carved horns bear the souls of slain opponents. They do this to make people too scared to fight them, as in reality they are Lawful Good.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Overall I’m rather mum about this chapter. Nothing really leapt out and grabbed me. I most especially like the new feats, even if a few of them are unbalanced, and a Mana Well can be a cool place to have a dramatic final battle. The Iltherian stat blocks make for rather dangerous opponents for mages to take on head-on, although barring the Relic Hunter aren’t really good at non-melee combat and unorthodox tactics. In fact the new monsters suffer from being unimaginative melee brutes, the Synthetic Blooded being a notable exception.</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Thoughts:</strong> When I first saw the pitch for Legacy of Mana I was very excited. The idea of a Lawful Evil empire of knights with magic-draining swords hit all the Epic High Fantasy spots for me. In a way, it is still delivering on that core concept, although for various reasons my enthusiasm has waned. There’s no doubt that part of this likely influenced my review of this work, although I’ve done my best to review the product as it is and not the process that went into it.</p><p></p><p>Legacy of Mana is...okay. It is not a terrible book, either mechanically or aesthetically. The art is serviceable if a bit static, and while there are various unbalanced options there is a standard of quality that runs through the book in the creation of races, class archetypes, and other rules. But even so, there are numerous cracks in the foundation. For instance, the nonsensical revisions that took out many important and interesting parts from the prior version of the book, or the frequent mentioning of people, places, and things that indicate something of import but don’t permeate naturally through the rest of the setting. We don’t exactly know Trahlyle’s end-game and why someone who is a mage would want to destroy the world’s mana supply. In spite of the emphasis on a chaotic world with roving warbands there’s a larger than usual number of otherwise idyllic or conflict-lacking realms. And even in cases where conflict is to be had, said the material is undetailed to the point that the GM must make up their own warriors and factions jockeying for territory. The conflict centers on the Iltherian Empire to a large extent, but we don’t have much mention of rivalries between other power groups beyond the vaguest of terms: which houses of Blooded hate each other’s guts, for example? The Silver Swords and Vanguard are mentioned at having tension, but what exactly are they butting heads on? The setting is very bog-standard in checking off fantasy cliches, which I may find forgivable if it had more material to work with, but as it stands that makes it harder to stick out from the crowd.</p><p></p><p>Legacy of Mana is a focused setting, in that it is built for a certain kind of campaign: fight the evil empire, return the exiled mage-kings to their thrones, and help repair the environment’s ley lines in doing so. The various new options for player characters point to a more heroic vibe, from the races to the class archetypes, and being a more antihero or “take what you can warlord” or political intrigue is not in line with the Epic High Fantasy feel. That can be a strength in a way over a kitchen sink approach. But as of now we have more of a toolkit world to emulate this, and one that unfortunately seems to have lost just as much as it gained.</p><p></p><p>Legacy of Mana has a promising idea, and part of me hopes that it can grow into something truly great. In spite of the abandoned KickStarter the author still has a fondness for the world, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx73ytEdrCFd8OyGlp5WM85wwMU79_p4o" target="_blank">running sessions set in it on his YouTube channel to this day.</a> As one who saw the very, <em>very</em> rough initial 2017 PDF release as a backer I can say that the later versions have come quite far. However, there’s not a lot that can make me choose this campaign over something like Dragonlance, which warts and all has more material to work with in the Epic High Fantasy subgenre. For now, I can take solace in my review, ensuring that this work is not forgotten to the annals of crowdfunded vaporware.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8148770, member: 6750502"] [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/allo5Zq.png[/IMG][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/8nmX46K.png[/IMG] [B]Chapter 9: DM’s Toolbox[/B][/CENTER] Hold on a sec, is that even OGL legal? Alright everyone, we’re in the home stretch! This chapter has a little bit of everything: a sample encounter location, adventure hooks, feats, and a bestiary to top it all off! [B]The Mana Well:[/B] So what happens when your epic quest takes your daring band of PCs through the most magic-rich environments in Imaria? Well we get a sample location and general rules for such places of eldritch power! The environment alone is dangerous enough that it’s scaled for 15+ level PCs. Mana Wells are very hard to find and even harder to get into, for they sit in tunnels deep under the earth. A Mana Well is a massive cavern (30-40 miles across) chock-full of glowing blue-white half-gas half-liquid mana. Simply being within the environment causes a d100 table of random magical effects to occur at regular intervals (energy damage, healing winds, physical transformations, gaining flight speed, etc). The closer one gets to the Mana Well the more easily they can draw upon magical powers (more renik charges, bonus dice for spellcasting, etc) but imposes progressive maladies such as disadvantage on Perception checks, provokes a save vs fear against the Mana Well, risk falling into it, and total submersion deals 10d10 damage a round. Anyone who dies in such a manner can only be revived via the Wish spell. We also have rules for regions where mana has been drained by Iltherian interference or other maladies. It’s a straightforward penalty to all manner of magical related rolls, the inability to recover spell slots via rest, advantage against all magical effects, -1d6 dice of damage and healing spells, draining mana saves are at disadvantage (less mana to draw and empower renik steel), and checks made to resist exhaustion are at disadvantage (low mana levels are tiring for even noncasters). [B]Adventure Seeds:[/B] We have 20 short adventure seeds, separated by the major continents and an “Elsewhere” for those not tied to any specific location. They are mostly standard faire: Iltherian remnants stirring up trouble, some local magical horror or monster menacing a village, a patron needs the party to find a rare relic or safeguard passage for a promising apprentice mage, finding and repair a crashed Lunalian airship, and so on. Two of them are particularly notable. “The Undead Threat” mentions sightings of undead creatures wielding renik blades that cannot be put down, which is a call to one of the new monster types in the back of the book. While I cannot be certain, I’m guessing that it’s the “new threat at the edge of the world” implied all the way back in Chapter 1. The other one, the Lost Heir, mentions that the Lynnvander line is believed all but extinguished, and that finding a Blooded member can cause entire armies to rally behind them. And then I just remembered that this is a subrace option for PCs. :O [B]Customization Options:[/B] This mainly concerns multiclassing rules for the 2 new core classes and new feats. Nothing special really, although Iltherian Knights cannot be combined with magical classes. They’re only limited to Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Rogue, and of those classes they cannot have subclasses that grant access to magic. Interesting to hear that monks are explicitly nonmagical in Legacy of Mana, as the Class chapter implied that they would be under threat of the Iltherians were it not for their isolated lifestyle. Then again said empire is also anti-intellectual, so it’s totally within their boundaries to destroy whatever they don’t understand or can control. We have 14 new feats, of use to both mundane and magical roles. I won’t go over all of them, just the most interesting ones. [B]Renik Smith[/B] can only be taken by Iltherian Knights and grants proficiency with Smith’s Tools, allows them to craft a renik weapon out of any melee weapon (not just swords), can potentially give it the +1 property (but nonmagical) if they roll a high enough Smith’s Tools check; [B]Bastion of Thought[/B] grants immunity to the Charmed and Fear conditions and can grant allies advantage on such attempts via spending a reaction, which is great as the vast majority of ‘mind control’ effects in 5th Edition use one of those two conditions; [B]Magic Adept[/B] is nigh-obligatory for every spellcaster, increasing their spell save DC by 1 and immediately granting knowledge of two new spells at a level of which they are capable of casting; [B]Tactician[/B] allows one to substitute Intelligence for initiative rolls, can use the Help action on any ally within line of sight and grant them temporary hit points when doing so, and as a bonus action can grant an ally within hearing distance the ability to take one weapon attack, Dodge, or Use Item actions as a reaction; [B]Blade Dance[/B] treats all one-handed slashing and piercing melee weapons as finessable, can be treated as wielding them two-handed and attack an additional time with said weapons as a bonus action if wielding no shield or off-hand weapon; and [B]Arcane Preparations[/B] can only be taken by prepared casters (but divine as well), granting them an additional number of spells prepared equal to their spellcasting ability modifier +1. A lot of the new feats are nice options, although predictably spellcasters get the best ones by far. A few of the bleh ones I didn’t mention [B](Fighting Style Expert[/B] grants a Fighter’s Fighting Style, [B]Shield Bash[/B] makes you good with using shields as improvised weapons) don’t have enough pizazz to justify taking over an ability score increase or another better feat. [B]Renik Smith[/B] is situational, as it would only really be taken if a PC wants a non-sword, non-polearm renik weapon. And perhaps for the most situational one of all, [B]Trade Savvy[/B] grants advantage on Persuasion checks when bartering, getting additional rewards from nobles, can locate the best shops in town, and pay only half lifestyle costs. [B]Old vs New:[/B] Some feats were slightly altered, although one was removed entirely. [B]Casting Veil[/B] grants access to a new cantrip, Spell Feign. It is cast as a reaction when an Iltherian Knight tries to Mana Drain the caster, causing them to absorb the worthless cantrip instead of a spell if they fail a Perception check. Additionally the caster can also use a bonus action to empower a spell with a spell slot one level lower, granting advantage on spell attack rolls and disadvantage on attempts to Mana Drain the spell. Also, the feats used to be in alphabetical order. Now they’re randomized. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/PcmIBT0.png[/IMG] [B]Monsters:[/B] We have 8 monsters divided into 3 broader families. First up we got [B]Iltherian Purists,[/B] whose antagonistic role should be self-evident. You won’t be mowing them down like Stormtroopers unfortunately; even the least-powerful Iltherian Defender is a very capable combatant. They have high HP and AC values for their respective Challenge Ratings, and they also have access to several of the Iltherian Knight class features. But most notably their rest-based abilities are changed to per-day uses, and amusingly all of their renik weapons can explode if overcharged beyond their capacity; Iltherian Knight PCs don’t have to worry about this as they can’t go above the limit, they just fail to drain/counter spells that would put them above the limit. We have the meager Iltherian Defender (CR 3), who is very much a melee-based frontline combatant and can go from a sturdy 18 AC to whopping 21 by empowering their armor with renik charges. The Iltherian Inquisitor (CR 5) has the mid-level abilities of the class and subclass, a startlingly-high Wisdom save (+10), and can also cause any spellcaster they reduce to 0 HP to be non-resurrectable save by Wish on a failed Constitution save. An Iltherian Relic Hunter (CR 6) has proficiency in a lot of roguish skills, has all but the 18th-level ability of their eponymous subclass, and are the only Iltherian NPC with a decent long range attack via a Longbow and Multiattack they can use with any wielded weapon. Finally the Iltherian Captain (CR 14) is a dirty rotten cheater; they have a mixture of Defender and Inquisitor abilities, can take 3 reactions per round, are immune to the Charmed and Frightened conditions, and also have Legendary Resistance (up to 3 times per day can choose to succeed on a failed saving throw) as well as the Inquisitor’s anti-resurrection ability. While the Captain sounds like a veritable foe, they’re not exactly a great boss encounter; one, while they are good with a bastard sword their ranged attack is a naughty word Heavy Crossbow with a mere 1d10 piercing damage. They also lack any Legendary or Lair Actions that most 5e boss monsters have. [B]Regiments of the Blooded[/B] were a group of Lunalian humans who sought to create a bloodline of their own...which seems odd given that the Phoenixborn are a thing. Maybe it was a dynasty of non-Blooded Lunalians or something? Unfortunately they were so desperate that they resorted to dark rituals that corrupted the mana for their test subjects. They gained powers, but also mutations and madness. The Regiment would have been reduced to leaderless bands of scavenging monsters were it not for the Moon-Slayer, a former Lunalian princess who killed her own mother in the belief it would make her a Blooded. Now the Regiment live in a ruined kingdom, one day hoping to become a true bloodline. There are 3 major Regiment types. Rageful Blooded (CR 2) are not very notable combatants save for their high HP (60) and roll a d6 to determine a random mutation (minor spellcasting capability, can multiattack due to extra arms, etc). Gargantuan Blooded (CR 5) are merely Large size who hit hard with their claws and gain advantage on attacks when reduced to less than half their hit points. The mighty Synthetic Blooded (CR 10) has spellcasting potential (up to 4th level, mixture of damaging and battlefield control) along with being adept with a longsword and the ability to exert mental domination over any other Blooded. [B]Necrovitae Magi[/B] are powerful, renik-wielding undead. Although Iltheria’s plans for world domination have failed, the wicked necromancer Trahlyle who put the idea of conquest in Bravensca’s head still lives. Seeking yet another means to make the world a worse place, he abducted choice Iltherian Knights, transforming them into powerful undead who can persist even with the anti-magic interface of renik steel. Consumed of an all-encompassing need to consume mana, Necrovitae Magi are capable of turning other Iltherian Knights into more of their kind via kidnapping them back to their necromantic creator’s lair. Statwise they are a high CR 15, and defy the rules by being both the Humanoid and Undead types. They have a hardy 190 hit points and 20 AC, can detect magic at will, and can make up to 3 attacks with a longsword that deals bonus necrotic damage. Furthermore, they can Drain Mana much like an Iltherian Knight can, and when they hit a creature with magical abilities and/or ancestry they can deal bonus necrotic damage and gain renik charges if the target fails a Wisdom save. The Necrovitae Magus cannot really do anything with said renik charges; they have no limit to how much they can hold, but they take 1d20 damage per round they have no charges and consume charges at a rate of 1 per day(or 1 per round when in combat. This is a terrifying monster to lower-level people, but as a high-CR monster it’s a bit lacking. Besides having no Legendary, Lair, or utility actions besides the mana-draining countermagic, they have no ranged capabilities to speak of or movement speeds to keep up with fast and flying opponents. They’re really just a big ol’ bag of hit points who only knows how to slash and stab. [B]Old vs New:[/B] Way way back in the first two initial versions of the book, there were stats for Iltherian Infiltrators and Berserkers. The Infiltrators (CR 8) were spies and assassins who had Sneak Attack and Assassinate features as the Assassin subclass, and wore renik rings they could use to store charges and drain mana. Iltherian Berserkers (CR 2) were lightly-armored tough guys who could be Reckless like a Barbarian (advantage on melee attacks but enemies have advantage on attacks vs them). The Iltherian Captain more or less replaced them. An entry for the Monsters of Revilo were excised completely. They represented strange monsters from an island of the same name which is never mentioned elsewhere in the book. I can get why they were cut, for they didn’t really fit in with the rest of the setting. They are five largely weak creatures. Reapers of the Brood Tribe (CR 5) are bipedal beings with an additional head in their torso, can cast spells as a warlock, and have a Confounding Gaze that gives them advantage on attack rolls and resisting saving throws on a creature that fails an opposed Persuasion/Insight skill check. Burnadazi (CR ½) are humanoid lizards with rocky scales, live in hot environs, and are stereotypical “dumb brute” humanoid mook monsters. Salazarites (CR 2) are horse-sized six-legged arachnids capable of great leaps (50 feet long, 25 feet high) who hunt in caves. Horvaths (CR 0) are dog-sized harmless creatures prized as pets for their rainbow array of colors. Karkathians (CR ½) are highly intelligent (17 INT and WIS) kangaroo-like creatures who spread a rumor that their carved horns bear the souls of slain opponents. They do this to make people too scared to fight them, as in reality they are Lawful Good. [B]Thoughts So Far:[/B] Overall I’m rather mum about this chapter. Nothing really leapt out and grabbed me. I most especially like the new feats, even if a few of them are unbalanced, and a Mana Well can be a cool place to have a dramatic final battle. The Iltherian stat blocks make for rather dangerous opponents for mages to take on head-on, although barring the Relic Hunter aren’t really good at non-melee combat and unorthodox tactics. In fact the new monsters suffer from being unimaginative melee brutes, the Synthetic Blooded being a notable exception. [B]Final Thoughts:[/B] When I first saw the pitch for Legacy of Mana I was very excited. The idea of a Lawful Evil empire of knights with magic-draining swords hit all the Epic High Fantasy spots for me. In a way, it is still delivering on that core concept, although for various reasons my enthusiasm has waned. There’s no doubt that part of this likely influenced my review of this work, although I’ve done my best to review the product as it is and not the process that went into it. Legacy of Mana is...okay. It is not a terrible book, either mechanically or aesthetically. The art is serviceable if a bit static, and while there are various unbalanced options there is a standard of quality that runs through the book in the creation of races, class archetypes, and other rules. But even so, there are numerous cracks in the foundation. For instance, the nonsensical revisions that took out many important and interesting parts from the prior version of the book, or the frequent mentioning of people, places, and things that indicate something of import but don’t permeate naturally through the rest of the setting. We don’t exactly know Trahlyle’s end-game and why someone who is a mage would want to destroy the world’s mana supply. In spite of the emphasis on a chaotic world with roving warbands there’s a larger than usual number of otherwise idyllic or conflict-lacking realms. And even in cases where conflict is to be had, said the material is undetailed to the point that the GM must make up their own warriors and factions jockeying for territory. The conflict centers on the Iltherian Empire to a large extent, but we don’t have much mention of rivalries between other power groups beyond the vaguest of terms: which houses of Blooded hate each other’s guts, for example? The Silver Swords and Vanguard are mentioned at having tension, but what exactly are they butting heads on? The setting is very bog-standard in checking off fantasy cliches, which I may find forgivable if it had more material to work with, but as it stands that makes it harder to stick out from the crowd. Legacy of Mana is a focused setting, in that it is built for a certain kind of campaign: fight the evil empire, return the exiled mage-kings to their thrones, and help repair the environment’s ley lines in doing so. The various new options for player characters point to a more heroic vibe, from the races to the class archetypes, and being a more antihero or “take what you can warlord” or political intrigue is not in line with the Epic High Fantasy feel. That can be a strength in a way over a kitchen sink approach. But as of now we have more of a toolkit world to emulate this, and one that unfortunately seems to have lost just as much as it gained. Legacy of Mana has a promising idea, and part of me hopes that it can grow into something truly great. In spite of the abandoned KickStarter the author still has a fondness for the world, [URL='https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx73ytEdrCFd8OyGlp5WM85wwMU79_p4o']running sessions set in it on his YouTube channel to this day.[/URL] As one who saw the very, [I]very[/I] rough initial 2017 PDF release as a backer I can say that the later versions have come quite far. However, there’s not a lot that can make me choose this campaign over something like Dragonlance, which warts and all has more material to work with in the Epic High Fantasy subgenre. For now, I can take solace in my review, ensuring that this work is not forgotten to the annals of crowdfunded vaporware. [/QUOTE]
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